Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Thirty-Five

Briarpaw

"Tell me," Sunpool said.  "One more time. What happened?"

Briarpaw took a deep breath, and Rainpaw opened her mouth and began to speak. Brairpaw cut her off. "No, Rainpaw. It was my idea. I want to explain."

So she turned to Sunpool, and began to explain.

-=-

Earlier that morning.

Briarpaw hadn't really been sure how it happened, but somehow, someone had complained to Applestar about her working them too hard, and Applestar had relented and allowed them one day of rest. Briarpaw and her sisters had been sitting in the camp all day, as they weren't allowed to go out without their mentors, when a thought suddenly struck Briarpaw.

She had been thinking a lot about sneaking out of camp. She looked at Rainpaw and saw streaks of rebellious, and wanted to do something forbidden before their apprenticeship was over. She had tried to squash that side of her down, but she hadn't been able to. And that side popped an idea into her head: why didn't she and her sisters go out into the forest together? They didn't even have to go anywhere. All Briarpaw wanted to do was go out. And the more the thought prodded at her, the more she wanted to do it.

Finally she growled, aloud, at herself, and padded over to where Rainpaw and Fernpaw were sitting, arguing, and where Emberpaw was watching, eyes droopy, from next to them. "I've had an idea," she announced.

Rainpaw stopped arguing with Fernpaw and turned sharply to Briarpaw. "Ooh. This sounds good. What's your idea?"

"I think we should sneak out of the camp."

There were three different reactions:

"Let's do it!" Rainpaw cheered.

"What? We can't!" Fernpaw exclaimed, apparently quite shocked.

Emberpaw yawned.

"We should. We've not done anything interesting when we were apprentices. It's time we did something actually interesting," Briarpaw declared. Rainpaw nodded vigorously. "I agree 100 percent," she announced.

"Sounds boring," Emberpaw complained, and yawned. Briarpaw frowned at her. If she was so exhausted, she should go and sleep instead of annoying them with her refusal to do anything fun.

"Fine," Briarpaw said. "I'm going, though, and so is Rainpaw by the looks of this. Fernpaw, are you coming too?"

"What're we going to do?" Fernpaw asked.

"I was thinking we could wait until Applestar's gone out to hunt or something and follow her, by tracking her scent, but she wouldn't know and we could surprise her and tell her we used our stalking abilities to follow her," Briarpaw said, all in one breath, and decided to slow down her words. If she didn't she'd end up like Rainpaw, who spoke so quickly and mumbled so much that hardly anyone actually knew what she was saying. On top of that, she also had horrible hearing.

Fernpaw nodded slowly. "I guess that sounds fun. Yeah, sure. I'm in."

"Awesome!" Briarpaw said cheerfully, then turned to Emberpaw. "Don't tell anyone, okay? If they ask, just say that we went to make dirt, or something. Okay?"

Emberpaw nodded sleepily, and curled up on one of the big stones. They were all taken today, by the elders and senior warriors, but Emberpaw had spotted one and had gotten on, because no cat had been using it. It was one of the smaller rocks, but Emberpaw was still so big that she almost fell off.

"Let's go," Briarpaw said. So they went, but not the way that every cat could see them. No, the day before, Briarpaw had spotted a gap in the camp boundary that was big enough for cats to squeeze through, so they slipped through that. It was right behind the nursery, and therefore was out of sight.

When they were outside, Fernpaw suggested that they taste the air to find Applestar's scent. When they tasted it, it was fresh, but also very close to the little gap, which made Briarpaw wonder if Applestar had also known about the escape hole. She wondered why, if she did know, she didn't tell anyone. That was unlike her, Briarpaw thought.

But she brushed the thought aside and followed Fernpaw through the trees, their tongues tasting the air every few moments to stay on the right track. Although she knew it wouldn't happen, Briarpaw was slightly apprehensive that they were going to get lost. Though it was still midday, she didn't like the prospect of getting lost in the forest, at night. It was a terrifying prospect to her, even though she knew she shouldn't be so scared.

Briarpaw tried to place her paws down as silently as she could, but she and Rainpaw made much more noise than the slighter Fernpaw did. Still, they were a silent group as they made their way through the forest, until Fernpaw finally stopped short.

"I hear something," she whispered.

Rainpaw looked around. "Go up that tree," she hissed. She leaped up the tree, going up noiselessly. Fernpaw followed, slightly less agilely, and Briarpaw brought up the rear. Together, they watched from the top of the tree.

It was Applestar, and Briarpaw tensed her muscles to leap down and surprise her mother, but Rainpaw stopped her with a flick of her tail. "Wait." 

Applestar was not alone. 

She was with Whiteswirl, stalking around him, her paws smoothly making little sound as she walked. "Oh, Whiteswirl," she said. "You do know this is going to serve a greater good, right?"

"What greater good?" Whiteswirl asked, and briar paw bit back a cry. What was going on? She looked over at her sisters; Fernpaw looked confused, and Rainpaw's eyes were dark, unreadable.

"The greater good," Applestar said deliberately, "that assures my power."

And she leaped at Whiteswirl.

It was over in less than five heartbeats. She leapt straight for the throat, and Whiteswirl tried to dodged, but she was faster, and secured her jaws about his neck and bit down. Blood spurted from between her jaws and Whiteswirl let out a scream of pure agony that was quickly silenced.

He was dead, and Applestar had killed him.

-=-

The rest of the time passed in a haze. Briarpaw had followed her sisters down from the tree, not even trying to stay silent, as they dashed, full out pelted, through the forest. Applestar didn't follow them. She either hadn't seen them, or hadn't heard them over the rustling she was making.

Briarpaw hadn't even realized she was unfeeling until she reached the camp with her sisters. They wiggled through the gap, and Rainpaw took the lead, muttering something under her breath. She went to Emberpaw. "Come on. You need to come with us. Now."

Emberpaw didn't even argue. Something in Rainpaw's tone seemed to convince her that something important was happening.

They left the camp and didn't look back. When Fernpaw asked where they were going, Rainpaw calmly said that they were going to Sunpool's camp. After she had explained what had happened to Emberpaw, Briarpaw asked why they were going to Sunpool.

Rainpaw just said, "Our mother just killed a cat. She needs to be stopped. And Sunpool is going to stop her. Unless any of you want to go back?"

Of course, nobody argued, and by the time they found the camp, it was nightfall. The nightfall of Briarpaw's old life.

Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

So there's my chapter, I know I should have updated earlier but honestly I was not doing well in the inspiration category, my stomach has been decidedly strange, and this isn't great anyway.

Oops sorry.

Only a few chapters lefttttttttt D:

-Rainfeather