Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 15: Tainted

Chapter 15: Tainted

Scorch yawned, the cold air nipped at her exposed face and she wrapped her tail around her nose to try to stay warm. Soon she faced the inevitable and decided to get up, knowing she wouldn't fall back to sleep in this chill. She looked around the dim den, unsatisfied with the shallow gorse walls that let in more then a few cracks of light and air.

She missed their old den that they'd left just two days ago, and more specifically, her warm moss nest. The cold ground seemed to suck up all her warmth and made sleeping almost an impossibility. But Painted had been adamant about moving further from Clan territory as soon as Mira could be moved. And so move they did.

Though to Scorch, they'd only moved further from the ShadowClan border, but were still just as close to the ThunderClan border, making it just as easy to get there in time for training with Leafpaw. It had already been one whole moon since she'd started, and, honestly, it was going better then she could have hoped for.

Her days had fallen into the schedule of training with Leafpaw at dawn, getting back at sun-high, and then either collecting herbs or sometimes doing training exercises with Painted in the afternoon. She was well aware that Pained and Jump were highly suspicious of her going out early and staying out so long, but neither had pressed her very much after the first few times.

I guess they're just happy I'm busy and I'm coming back with food most of the time. She thought, getting up and exiting the den, proceeding to follow the new route to the border. At least now she didn't need to cross the stream. Not that is was a problem to cross anymore, she'd grown in the last moon, her legs were longer, her muscles more developed.

And not just physically had she changed, even though she still wasn't very strong when it came to fighting, she had found ways to use her now superior speed and wit to win fights. She was even coming close to beating Leafpaw in a few mock battles.

That was another thing, although she wouldn't say she and Leafpaw were particularly close, their mindsets were really just too different for that, Scorch felt a strong bond of trust and assurance between them. They were different, they knew it, but they wouldn't hesitate to count on the other for anything.

Scorch gave a side-long glance as a white cat rolled around on the ground, the flower patch was now brown and wilted as the cold season, leaf-bare as Leafpaw called it, grew closer. But to her mirage it was evidently full and flowering.

My mirages are getting stronger... but I still have no idea what to do with them! The familiar sense of helplessness and fearful desperation churned in her belly. She tried her best not to think about it, but her mirages were appearing more and more often. In fact, unless she was focused on a physical act or sleeping, she could usually spot one of them around her.

But it was harder to notice now, since the colors didn't fade so much and the sounds didn't dull quite so greatly either. It made her fear the line between her mirages and reality was slowly dissolving. But how do you fix something,when you don't know what it is? And she hadn't seen Song lately either, so there was no way to ask her.

Who do I turn to? She wasn't sure, she didn't know, and she didn't even know what she would say if she was to talk to a cat about this. But she was at the border now, the cold day dawned gray and cloudy. Pale, icy-gray light shone on her fur and the frosted grass and ferns, making them glow ghostly white.

She looked around for Leafpaw, not seeing the familiar red she-cat. Odd... She's usually here before me, no matter how early I get up. It was as if Leafpaw always knew precisely when she'd be at the border, so that the apprentice knew just when to get there so that she could tease her about being lazy.