Pale Flame

Chapter One

Windswept Stars opened his eyes and his vision blurred as he tried to peer through the shrouding mist. 

Where am I?

Around him, trees towered above, their leaves disappearing into the pink dawn sky. Droplets from a thin drizzle were seeping into his stormy pelt, specked with light colored splotches.  He bit back a yowl of pain as he struggled to sit up.  Twisting his head to inspect one of his front paws, he gasped with shock as he realized that the flesh was burnt and exposed all the way up his leg.  Stinging pain fed on the raw flesh and blood oozed from his wound. 

He suddenly noticed the fading smell of smoke all around him and watched it swirl around in the mist like the spirit of death searching for a victim among the ghostly forest.

I guess a fire must have done this to me.  

 He gazed back down at his paw and turned it over to check the pad. Wincing with pain, he saw that the flesh of his pad was bloody-red and exposed as well as the rest of his paw.  But as he looked closer, on the right half of his paw, a small mark, shaped just like a star, was undamaged.  Confused, he licked his pad, but the mark stayed. 

Windswept Stars shook his head to clear the fog inside.  He couldn't remember anything from before he awoke except the strike of flashing lightning, the crack of a tree split in two, and the hollow thud of bark hitting rain-slicked earth. 

Carefully standing up, he held his paw out gingerly to avoid putting pressure on it.  His head was throbbing with pain, and his muscles ached.  As he gazed around, ahead of him, he saw  a tree trunk lying across the frosty grass.  Splintered wood stuck out at the end like jagged teeth. 

The cracking of wood echoed in his mind once more, urging him to approach it.  He began to limp forward, slipping through sticky mud and dead leaves. 

The tree was charred and black pieces of wood were scattered around it.  Stopping in his tracks, Windswept Stars detected the deathly scent of blood.  The scent overwhelmed him, filling his body with fear.  He slowly padded around the trunk, only able to hear the thumping of his heart in his chest.  The scent of blood was unbearably strong now, and as he passed the splintered end of the tree, his whole body froze as if trapped in ice. 

In front of Windswept Stars was the silver-furred body of a cat.  The cat's body was pinned under the tree trunk.  Sticky blood was clotted in it's fur and stained the earth all around it.  Windswept Stars approached the body, sorrow for this cat twisting in his stomach.  Something about it seemed oddly familiar to him. 

Without thinking, he slowly touched his nose to the cat's fur.  It was cold and lifeless.  This cat was dead. 

He suddenly felt a shock of pain flash inside his head.  He jerked his head back as a jolt seized him and a vision appeared behind his eyes. 

"Windswept Stars, run!" the same cat who was lifeless before him was calling to him through rolling waves of  blazing fire and the crack of thunder. 

"I can't leave you, Silver Dragonfly!" Windswept Stars heard his own whimper in the midst of the flames. 

 In the vision, a wall of fire, rising up like fiery claws, separated him from the cat he had called Silver Dragonfly. 

He suddenly heard the same deafening crack of splitting wood, and gazed in horror as a towering tree began to collapse, the shadow of it falling upon the silver cat.  Windswept Stars  realized that the image of himself had turned and fled wailing, the sound of  his voice lost in the wind. 

Darkness covered his vision.  A thud jarred his whole body and he heard a single word in his own voice echo through his mind.  

"Mother!"

Windswept Stars blinked open his eyes and stared at the cat before him. 

"She's my mother," he whispered, "and she's gone."

He began to remember traveling with her through forests and meadows, feeling safety and comfort around her, the rhythmic lap of her tongue against his pelt, and her soft fur against his as they slept together under the stars and the glowing moon. 

How could I have left her to die like that? 

He began to feel weak on his swaying paws.  Grief and guilt made his throat feel dry and he began to tremble as the pain of loss took over his body.  He raised his head to the misty sky and let out a mournful wail for his mother.  

He collapsed beside Silver Dragonfly, burying his face in her blood-matted fur.  He closed his eyes and let go of all hope, sinking into the black ocean of despair. 

Windswept Stars felt a warm glow seeping into his muddy pelt, and opened his eyes. 

Now it was night and a full moon shone through the trees into the now clear air.  Windswept Stars gazed at it with round eyes. 

The moon was aqua-blue and shed a pale light, like a flame, onto him and Silver Dragonfly. 

His mother's soft voice spoke in his mind. 

Follow the Pale Flame.   

Windswept Stars gazed ahead of him and saw that the light from the moon created a shining path that stretched across the land into the distance. 

"That must be the Pale Flame," he whispered in awe. 

  His mother's voice was so calming and reassuring that he decided to trust her. 

For the last time, he pressed his cheek to Silver Dragonfly's.  He was hesitant to leave her behind, misery and loss keeping his paws from moving away from her body, but he knew that there was nothing he could do for her. 

He stood up, and with one last glance at his mother, turned, and began to follow the lighted path from the moon. 

He wouldn't let his mother down.  He would follow the Pale Flame.