WARRIORS Skydawn: The Ride Begins

Prologue

A silver cat trotted down a rocky slope, the only light being that reflected down by the half moon. The cat was keeping a vigilant watch of his surroundings, eyes and ears turning around and around to catch any movement. The air was heavy and moist, sticking to the dusty landscape, and there was a strong smell of smoke hanging in the atmosphere.

Suddenly a low rumbling arose, and the cat stopped in its tracks. The ground shuddered, and there appeared a large, looming shape out of the darkness. It had large, glowing eyes, a long, tree trunk like tail with a stone attached to the end, and a muscular, velvety body. The most striking feature that this beast had, though, were enormous, feathered appendages on its back; and these turned out to be wings, spanning many foxlengths. The creature brought its massive head to the cat's level, and spoke. "Are you ready?" In a deep, thundering tone that was surprisingly light.

The silver cat nodded, looking a bit nervous. He then revealed a long rope, which he grasped in his jaws as the giant shifted itself and flattened its body to the ground. The cat proceeded to climb up one of the legs and onto the strange animal's back, and dangles the rope down one side of the neck. "I brought this to hold on with, like you suggested." He mewed with gritted teeth.

The beast took the hanging end of this and wrapped it around its thick neck, then returned it to the cat on the other side. The cat was having trouble holding in to both ends of the rope at once, so his stead tied the ends together with unusual paws that slightly resembled those of Twolegs. The cat then grasped the rope firmly in his mouth, got into an anchored position, and brushed his tail along the winged animal's shoulder.

The animal then stood up, stopping to make sure his rider was still hanging on well enough, and started to gallop rapidly, beating its feathered wings, and rose into the night, soaring with the cat riding on back.

Rocky had a plan, to get the rest of his Clan and the other Clans to ride dragons so they could escape the coming danger. There was a terrible winter coming that would wipe out their territories, and they had to travel to a safer place. There was no time to travel alone, and the beasts were in trouble, too.