Warriors: Crazystar's Battle

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

                “What do we do?” Crazypaw whispered to Stonepaw, attempting to hide her terror.

                “Run?” Stonepaw suggested.

                He didn’t have to say it twice. Crazypaw turned and ran back towards the tree-bridge with the beautiful WindClan apprentice at her side. She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the burning tree. The leaders were still battling, and were perilously close to the flames.

                The two apprentices exited the clearing and the tree-bridge was in their sight. A crowd of panicked warriors were desperately trying to push their way to the front and escape from the island. A few RiverClan cats had leapt into the lake and were attempting to swim the long distance across the lake.

                The bushes trembled behind them. Troutstar and Shadestar emerged, still shooting glares at each other every so often.

                “We’ll never get across the bridge,” Stonepaw whispered.

                Crazypaw stared at the lake and suddenly felt confident and determined instead of terrified. A stupid fire and a giant lake won’t defeat me! “We’ll have to swim,” she hissed.

                The WindClan apprentice stared at her in shock. “Are you insane, Crazypaw?” he demanded. “We’re not RiverClan! We can’t swim!”

                “They call me Crazypaw for a reason,” she answered, already making her way around the crowd and towards the water.

                Stonepaw sighed. “I suppose I have no choice but to follow you, right?” he asked, dashing forward to catch up to her.

                Crazypaw looked back. “If you want to survive!” she replied.

                Trying not to think about it, she waded slowly into the water. Stonepaw followed hesitantly. She continued moving forward until suddenly, there was nothing underneath her paws. For a moment, her head slipped beneath the water. She kicked out with her hindpaws and broke the surface, drawing in a deep breath. “Stonepaw, just pretend like you’re running even though there’s nothing beneath your paws!” the ThunderClan apprentice coughed.

                Crazypaw heard a screech behind her and saw a black nose disappearing into the lake. He’ll be fine, I hope…I can’t turn around unless I have to.

                It seemed like forever, but he finally came up, coughing and gasping for air. He splashed around weakly, barely moving his legs enough to keep himself from drowning. Crazypaw paddled slower for a minute to allow Stonepaw to catch up to her. “Can’t do…this much longer,” he panted exhaustedly.

                Crazypaw’s own legs were starting to ache, but she thought she could still make it. “C’mon, you can do this,” she encouraged him. “We’re already halfway through.”

                He coughed again. “Maybe you can, but I can’t,” he insisted.

                Crazypaw felt a drop of cold rain hit her on the head, but they were already closer to the Clans’ territories than the island. She inhaled and kept advancing through the dark water.

                Gradually, Stonepaw’s swimming grew slower, and the WindClan apprentice began to fall behind her. His struggles to stay above the water became weaker until finally his head sank into the murky depths of the lake.

                The shore was near. If only Stonepaw could manage to make it a little farther! But I can’t leave him here to drown!

                She reached her head under the water and grabbed the WindClan apprentice’s scruff. His weight nearly dragged her down too, but using every last bit of her strength, she was able to lift her head and pull him up.

                Every tail-length of water she crossed felt like hundreds. Her legs wanted to give up, and her strength was failing. The water’s end was so tantalizingly close but Crazypaw now doubted if she could reach it. StarClan, save me, please...

A/N: Sorry for not updating and leaving you all on a cliffhanger now! I will update(promise) this next Saturday though! I honestly didn't realize it had been a whole month since I updated this story...anyhow thanks for reading, please comment and tell me what you think!