Beyond the stars: Ripple of fire (Book #1)

Chapter - 7

Ravenpaw woke up stranded in the forest, her claws clicking over the forest floor as she glanced around, the place looked haunted: shadows danced between the trees, hissing into Ravenpaw's ears as she backed away, and the forest's eyes seemed to be on her as she watched the ghostly trees sway to the wind's beat. Everything was wrong; she knew something was wrong.

Just then, she heard a roar of fury and pain whip through the wind, sounding from somewhere Ravenpaw couldn't see. She heard another roar of agony and recognized the distant call of kits, like a cry for help, pleading with her to come and find them. 

Ravenpaw started to run, recognizing Oakit's shrill scream sounding through the air, she dived through bushes and slid between the trees, calling out to the young kit, but no matter how much she ran, she couldn't find where the noise was coming from, as if the cries were just a figment of imagination, barely crossing the line from reality to real life.

She finally gave up, collapsing on the ground as a soft cry echoed through the forest as if the kit knew that Ravenpaw had stopped. 

"Ravenpaw!" The kit called out.

"Ravenpaw, get up!" the voice called out again.

Wait... that's not Oakkit's voice.

"Wake up you mouse-brain!" a voice howled, cutting through the forest like it had just ripped it up.

Ravenpaw's heart pounded as she opened her eyes, only to see Dovepaw standing over her with an annoyed expression, describing how Ravenpaw had been thrashing around and yelling like an idiot. Ravenpaw got to her paws unsteadily, nearly tripping over but waking herself up and out of her dream as Dovepaw stalked away in annoyance.

What. was. that! Was that another dream? After a moon of complete silence, Starclan decided to confuse me even more with a nonsensical dream! Seriously, this was getting bad, and Ravenpaw was so tired she felt like falling over! I can't keep this secret anymore, I have to tell someone: maybe Maplesky or Ravenstream, or should I just talk to Cloverstar, since she knows about the prophecy?

Ravenpaw jumped to her paws, deciding to talk to Cloverstar as she swallowed her nerves and bounded out of the apprentice's den, and poked her head into the hollow rock where the leader slept.

"Cloverstar?" Ravenpaw called out, padding into the stone-cold den with a nervous squeak.

"Ravenpaw?" the leader asked, lifting her head off her body sleepily.

"Uhh.. I have to talk to you about something, Clovertstar. It's very important-", Ravenpaw mewed, quickly dipping her head in greeting.

"Cloverstar!" A voice cut in.

Ravenpaw turned her head to see Pikepelt panting heavily as he raced into the leader's den. He took no notice of Ravenpaw as he nearly collapsed onto the ground.

"Pikepelt? What is it?" Cloverstar asked, getting up and shaking out her blue-grey fur in confusion as she glanced at the black tom, worry clear in her eyes as she took in the tom's scraggly condition: his pelt had collected twigs and leaves as if he had run a marathon through the forest, and his eyes were wide in fear.

"Dogs! Patrol...", Pikepelt panted, waiting momentarily before speaking again, "I mean, dogs are attacking the patrol".

"What?" Cloverstar asked, her eyes turning wide.

"There are three of them, they are beating us! They are out in the forest, near the river", Pikepelt hissed quickly, leading their leader out of the den and into the camp.

Ravenpaw anxiously trailed behind as Cloverstar let out a loud yowl, summoning the clan cats to gather around her. As she quickly assembled a group of cats to accompany her, Ravenpaw felt a pang of worry as she realized she wasn't included in the patrol. However, she pleaded with Cloverstar to let her join, knowing all too well that her mother was part of the patrol that had been attacked. They raced out of the camp and into the forest, twigs and leaves collecting onto Ravenpaw's midnight pelt as she ran with her patrol, through the trees and between the bushes as fast as she could, she sped up when she heard a yowl of fury in the distance. 

Finally, they burst between the trees to find some Oakclan cats fighting off three large dogs. The first one was large and scraggly, with floppy ears and a long, golden coat that shined in the sunlight that crept through the cracks of the trees. The second dog was a rich brown color with a short, dense coat and a chain around its neck, it also had blood on its bared fangs, which made shivers creep up Ravenpaw's spine. The third dog was black in color with a white chest and underbelly, a drooping face, and long fangs bared at Ravenstream, Ravenpaw's mother.

Ravenstream was fiercely holding her ground, although blood was splashed around her muzzle as the dog attacked her and sliced her, letting out a hiss of fury, Ravenpaw attacked, landing on the dog's face and scratching at its eyes until it roared and threw her off. Ravenpaw felt her chest heave up and down in slow motion as the dog leaped at her, but at the last moment, Ravenstream reared, making the dog stumble a bit, it quickly pushed Ravenstream over and sliced at her chest, but missed as the black she-cat ducked and Ravenpaw jumped to her paws and hissed at the creature.

Suddenly, there was a yowl, and two two-legs appeared, one male and one female, with short, unnatural yellow hair with brown strands between. The male two-legs yelled something to the dogs, and the first dog trotted over to them, but the other two stayed where they were, still attacking the clan cats furiously. The male two-leg jumped forward and grabbed the two other dogs, pulling them away as the female yelled something else.

Just then, the third dog turned his head around, letting out a fierce yowl and getting out of the two-legs grip, and racing to the Oakclan cats with a menacing look in its eyes. Ravenpaw gasped in horror, frozen in position before getting back to her senses and racing away from the dog chasing them through the forest.

She ran faster than she ever did, her pelt collecting leaves and twigs as she raced into the forest, blood roaring in her ears and her paws thundering against the floor as she turned her head back, only to see the dog still chasing them, an excited look on its face as it caught up with Ravenpaw.

Ravenpaw ran faster.