Warrior Cats: Sky of Storms

Chapter 26

Echostar cried out in outrage and grief, suddenly not caring that the whole den was collapsing. She surged forward, trying to paw out all the rubble that was covering the two RiverClan cats. There was a voice behind her, shouting her name, but she didn't listen. All she cared about now was her deputy and her best friend's son. 

"Come on!" She yelled in anger. The ground felt as if it was shaking, and she lost her footing multiple times as she tried to climb up the mound of Twoleg den rubbish. She cut herself, very painfully once, but kept going.

There was a voice in her head, but she was having a panic attack and couldn't hear it clearly. But she figured the voice said, "Get out of there. You know they're already dead, there's not a point in staying."

But there is! She thought fiercely. She looked around and saw a clear area with a smaller roof above it, like a storage place. She raced over, trying to collect her thoughts. If they're dead, Mosspelt will be devasted, and there is nobody that will lead the Clan better than Bluetail. If he's dead, RiverClan's hopes for a great deputy will die. 

Suddenly, her whole body rippled in sharp pain, and she immediately thought of her kits, Heartkit and Herbit. Will I join them today?

Then she thought of her kits that were still alive. I shouldn't even have brought Tidalpaw, but I was so worried that our Clan wouldn't survive I wasn't thinking right. I'm not thinking of them at all! I've been a terrible mother! I've been ignoring them, acting as if they were apprentices, Iinstead of my kin. 

She dropped her head to her paws and sat in the room while the world crumbled around her. 

***

She woke up with a sharp gasp. Something was digging into her stomach. Something very, very sharp. She opened her eyes with pain that told her to fall asleep again, but strength kept her going. She could hear someone calling her name, and the startling thought of her kits entered her mind again.

She looked down and saw that she was bleeding horribly from her stomach. A piece of metal from the roof that was above her had fallen and was cutting into her skin painfully. 

She noticed soon that the shaking had stopped, and it was quite a moonless night.

She dragged herself away from the metal, sitting up despite the pounding in her head. In front of her was a wall of rubble and fallen walls. Her eyes widened as she realized she was trapped.

"No!" She yelled, jumping up. "Somebody help! Rockheart! Firestar! Waterstorm!" She winced. She had not even meant to call that name out, but it felt right. 

Mudfur? She called. Are you there? There was no answer, but she could hear the smallest patter of paw steps on the other side of the rubble wall. 

She pricked her ears, mewing nervously, "Hello?" But then the wall was thrown away, with an earsplitting thud as it hit the ground. She stepped out into the bursting sunshine, looking around. 

Only a few walls were left standing from the shaking, and everything was so dusty and grimy. Echostar felt as if her fur would never get clean.

But then she saw Stormfur and Blackclaw, emerging from their crouch. They had toppled over the rubble wall. She ran to greet them, mewing happily as she touched noses with them. "You guys are ok!"

She turned quickly and looked forward, to where she had last seen...

Her stomach felt sick. 

She took a step forward, but then felt a tail tip on her haunches, she turned, thinking it was Blackclaw or Stormfur, but to her surprise, it was the cat she was looking for.