Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 47: Sùton

Chapter 47: Sùton

Scorch darted around dripping tussocks of grass, shivering as they dampened her pelt when she brushed past them. Her paws thrummed in rhythm with Boulderpaw and the two raced through the bramble and fern filled forest toward the WindClan border.

Scorch leaped over a ditch with a shallow leaf-filled streamrunning through it and recognized it as the WindClan border. Boulderpaw thumped onto the ground behind her and sped past her, tail streaming and gray paws a blur in the early morning light.

Fog coated the moor heavily, shadowing the damp gorse and heather against the sky. The peat beneath her paws was soft and squishy, nearly all the snow already melted except for a few piles where it had drifted against the hills.

"We need to be careful," Boulderpaw hissed.

Scorch nodded, but ran faster over the moor. Her heart beat heavily in the eerily silent hills and she felt hope slowly dying. If there was a battle, there would be noise enough to wake the dead. "Do you think they made it out okay?" she whimpered, pausing to regather where she was.

Boulderpaw didn't look at her. "I thought I smelled them, but we won't know until we check out the camp. We can just hope they made it to the ShadowClan border okay. If we're lucky, they managed to meet up with WindClan and defeat Pinefur's troops before he sent reinforcements," he purred optimistically.

"I know... but Pinefur is supposed to be here. He would have fought and I don't think it would have been an easy fight. We should have heard them by now," she worried, peering into the gloom. The gray blanket of cloud blocked her vision and she shivered, feeling suddenly very alone on the huge moor.

Boulderpaw touched her gently with his tail, "We won't know until we see for ourselves," he looked at her, his gaze calm and steady. Scorch felt a rush of gratitude toward him, he was comforting her even after seeing his Clanmates bruised and beaten, awaiting judgment from a cruel leader. She couldn't have stood to leave her family if that had been them. "Now," he continued, "Let's get moving. We need to hurry and meet Crowstar at the border."

He took the lead into the moor and Scorch paused, nose twitching as she caught a familiar scent. She flashed a glance at Boulderpaw, "I can smell Painted!" Joy and relief surged beneath her pelt as she bounded forward with Boulderpaw following her reluctantly.

"We need to get to the camp first," he mewed uncertainly.

She looked back at him, confused, "We should meet up with our patrol fir-" She stopped mid sentence as another scent hit her. Strong and metallic, it bathed her muzzle with it's hideous and mouth-watering taste. Blood. A lot of it- the scent was heavy in the moist air.

Scorch could feel herself trembling before she even processed the smell and red completely engulfed her vision as she imagined her Clanmates lying- drowning- in their own blood. "We need to hurry," she mewed huskily and Boulderpaw pressed against her, steadying her trembles by running his tail softly down her spine comfortingly.

Scorch stopped- heart at her paws- as they turned to look down a steep slope. Blood mixed with dirt and water to run in little streams down the ravaged slope, pooling in the niches that the tumbled down rocks had created as they got stuck on the slope. The traps we set.

Scorch's heart twisted, but she breathed a sigh of relief. There had definitely been a battle, but who had won? It was abandoned now- no warriors or corpses- just the lingering trace of fear and anguish that tried to form mirages with the fog.

Beside her, Boulderpaw scanned the slope and hollow slowly, eyes searching. Scorch started with fear as his eyes widened in horror and his fur bushed up to twice its normal size. He looked at her and she saw fear glittering in the blue depths, "Let's leave, right now. We need to know what happened," he mewed desperately.