WARRIORS | The Flooded Trail | Sorrowful Path

Prologue

The sounds of twoleg footsteps were increasing, with even more twolegs and dogs on the way. Northstar stared out into the clearing with her tail low; her clan needed to fight back. Each of her warriors was hidden in the marsh of their clan territory, ready to leap out at the twolegs when the time came. Next to Northstar was her deputy, Ambergaze. The orange she-cat looked up at her leader.

"Northstar, we should evacuate the camp first, it would be the safer option, and it could keep our warriors safe. We can find a better home-" With a flick of her ear, Northstar silenced her deputy. Ambergaze froze for a few moments before looking back out into the clearing. Northstar wanted to agree with her deputy, and secretly, she did. This territory was being torn apart, and the clans couldn't do anything to stop that. There were markers that showed where the twolegs would stop, and there was still plenty of forest left after those markers. But they couldn't appear weak. Not now.

"Ambergaze," Northstar began, "On my signal, I want you to take my warriors past the twoleg markers. I will stay here and fight off the twolegs and their dogs," She heard Ambergaze gasp before nodding hesitantly. Northstar knew what she was doing, she'd be giving her life for her clan. She didn't have many lives left, but she would use them all to keep her clan safe. With one last look at her deputy, Northstar braced herself to send her warriors to safety.

Before Northstar could redirect her warriors, a bunch of twolegs came bursting through camp with traps and dogs. The warriors of Drizzleclan flung out of the shadows and raced to the twolegs. Panic washed over Northstar. She tried yowling out to them, but no cat could hear her anymore. The fight had started. Many warriors went flying in the air, and the scent of blood washed over camp in seconds. Northstar was frozen in place by fear, and Ambergaze took off without her leader to get the warriors out of battle. Soon enough, more large dogs came into camp fearlessly. Their muzzles were stained with blood and they began ripping apart the dens to find more cats. Northstar screeched in fury and barreled into a dog, raking her claws against the dog's eyes. The dog yelped in pain and threw Northstar off, running away with a few other dogs.

Two dogs remained inside Drizzleclan camp, and Northstar snarled loudly, "This is my clan you rotten fleabags!" She hopped onto one of the dogs and began biting it's dark, bloody fur. The other dog backed away as bits of fur came off both Northstar and the dog she was fighting. She gave the dog one last swipe before hopping off of it and stalking towards the other dog. Both dogs growled loudly and Northstar took off into the forest to find her clan.

Northstar, no matter how fast she ran, couldn't get away from the clearing, her body was dripping with blood and she felt as if she were running in circles. The dogs were chasing her at high speeds now and eventually, Northstar collapsed. Both dogs loomed over her, but neither attacked her. Soon other dogs gathered around her, and even Northstar's clanmates were all staring at her.

"The lost will be found, and a freezing storm will flood everything if given power" Spoke Ambergaze. The deputy's eyes were now a glowing white that stared endlessly into Northstar.

The white she-cat stumbled towards Ambergaze, "W-what does that mean?" She begged, feeling blood start to drip out of her mouth. Other warriors chanted the words, and Northstar collapsed. Her eyes felt heavy as blood began to seep into the dirt under her. As the chanting continued the dogs began to stalk near Northstar with their teeth bared. She was going to die. It didn't feel normal. Northstar waited for her body to jolt awake like it did before, but nothing signaled her return to the forest.

"Ambergaze... Foxtail... Lightningstrike.. anyone, help," Northstar drifted off as her breathing slowed. With the last amount of life that was in her, Northstar prayed to Starclan that her clan would be safe through these times.

-

Northstar woke with a jolt, her claws unsheathed and her eyes wide with fear. She began to relax as the dawn light creeped through her den. It was a dream. As Northstar thought about it, she stood up and froze. A dream wouldn't be so vivid like that one, she realized. Quickly, the white she-cat padded into the medicine den.

A light yellow tom sat in the medicine den, paws covered in different herbs. His hears flicked towards Northstar before he looked up kindly. "Up early?" The tom said jokingly, then he noticed Northstar was shaking, "Is something wrong? Tell me".

Northstar sat down quietly and looked at the yellow tom. "Brightspeckle, something's coming," her eyes became wide with fear, and her tail twitched uncontrollably. Brightspeckle hesitated for a moment before flicking his tail towards the medicine den opening. With that, he and Northstar quietly stepped into the leader's den to talk about the dream.

"The forest was covered in twolegs and dogs. They were everywhere in our camp. The dogs ripped up all of our dens, and I started to fight them off. I ran off to go find the others, but I fell down and got surrounded by my clanmates and the dogs. As the dogs came closer, everyone was chanting 'The lost will be found, and a freezing storm will flood everything if given power' and their eyes were glowing as they said that," Northstar meowed, fully aware of Brightspeckle's stunned face.

After Northstar finished describing the horrid nightmare of events, Brightspeckle nodded calmly. "It's for the best that Rowanpaw didn't hear that. He's rather young for something this big," the yellow tom spoke quietly.

Northstar dipped her head, "It would be best if we kept this as a secret to the clans. With Wispclan constantly against us these days, it will be safe to not cause anymore worry," she finished. Brightspeckle agreed before leaving Northstar alone in her den, promising that he would try to find out more about the dream if he could. As Northstar watched the medicine cat pad into the den, her head trailed off towards the nursery.

Kits were a promising bit of news that always gave cats in Drizzleclan hope. Though, there have been old tales told by the elders. They said that twolegs loved kits, and that they would take them out of the clans faster than a squirrel that could climb trees. The warriors pushed these stories away, though the elders were often correct about their stories.

Many moons ago, before Northstar became leader, a few twolegs had raided their camp. They tried to grab a few cats, but they weren't interested in the elders. Once they crushed the nursery, the twolegs immediately grabbed the kits. The queens cried out in terror as their own kits were grabbed violently and thrown into boxes. Many warriors tried their best to fight off the twolegs, only to be thrown in different directions. Every kit had been taken, and only Starclan knows where they are now.

Northstar's eyes flashed with worry as she remembered the nightmare she had. There were only two kits in the nursery, and they were constantly guarded. Northstar watched the two night guards, Tallgrass and Berryclaw, as they stretched and padded to the warriors den, finishing their shift and getting ready to wake the next guards.

Northstar hopped down to call for Ambergaze, but the orange she-cat had already woke. She was followed by a few other warriors that had been called for the dawn patrol. The white leader smiled in amusement at her deputy. Over at the apprentices den, a grey she-cat stepped lazily outside, followed quickly by a white tom.

"That dream can wait for now," Northstar looked up at the dawn sky.

"For now, I must be a leader".