Warriors - Times of Anarchy (Book 1, The Flame)

Chapter 11

"Wake up, little Flamepaw!" meowed a voice, as the apprentice blinked his eyes awake. He was nowhere near the island on the lake, but it didn't bother him that much. The forest around him was dark, and a odd mossy smell came with it.

A mottled brown and ginger tom peered at him, his green eyes glittering, confident and a bit edgy, as if he'd been waiting expectantly.

"Who are you?" echoed Flamepaw, amazed by the young, powerful tom who had a proud air and a smug smile on his face.

"I am Redwillow, and I'm a friend of Wishstar. Like her, I've given up the world you live in." said smoothly Redwillow, as Flamepaw strained his neck, until he spotted the giant scarred gash on the tom's chest. Flamepaw shivered.

"Where's Wishstar? Can I see her?" asked the apprentice, avoiding his eyes from the tom's wound and peering at the gloomy forest around him.

"Wishstar doesn't tread around here much. Actually, she doesn't care much about the world of the living, or about you... she gave it all up." meowed Redwillow, giving Flamepaw a crestfallen look. The orange apprentice was dumbstruck. That couldn't be true. Wishstar had believed in his amazing destiny. She'd promised she'd watch over him. Was her death the end of that promise?

"I, on the other hand, have always believed great things from you. I see a powerful, glorious cat in front of me, just waiting to achieve a destiny like no other." praised Redwillow, as Flamepaw's worries about Wishstar disappeared and a sense of pride ruffled his fur and made him puff out his chest.

"Every destiny has it's cost, but your seems quite minimal, compared to others. Your must make an easy, easy choice- either you fight alone, with no one, or you fight with my help. Trust me." said Redwillow, bending over Flamepaw, who pinned his ears back. No one? But he was destined for greatness! Surely everyone else could see it too, not just Redwillow?

"If you let me help you, guide you, your destiny will unfurl like a flower greeting sunlight. All I need is utmost... devotion. Loyalty. You must never question my actions. Then you'll get everything you've ever dreamt of." Vowed Redwillow, an odd glint in his eyes.

Wishstar had never asked anything from him, she'd just expected Flamepaw to do the best of what he had. This tom was different, though. He wanted Flamepaw's power all to himself. A selfish voice aroused within him, but a greedier one spoke even louder.

"How can you help me? I'm already receiving special training from Luciddreams!" replied Flamepaw, puzzled, and trying to confront this tom to show his true colors.

"Ah, yes, but you know that this cat can communicate with Starclan already. You must have guessed he knew cats there, right?" mused slowly Redwillow, as Flamepaw frowned and nodded, flicking his tail nervously against his flank.

"I can't communicate with cats like Lucidreams, who are so focused on loyally serving the warrior code and Starclan. Those times are over. True power comes with no borders, no laws. It's your destiny to become powerful and rule the entire forest one day like that." explained Redwillow, as Flamepaw's eyes widened in amazement.

"Tell me more!" he urged, drinking up the tom's words. Redwillow ranted on and on and on about Flamepaw's glorious destiny. He even showed him a few fighting moves Flamepaw had never seen.

He insisted a few more times if Flamepaw was going to vow his loyalty to him. Flamepaw avoided the subject delicatly, but he was staring to realize that Redwillow was getting annoyed that he delayed his response. The training stretched on, to the point where Flamepaw began limping. His destiny didn't seem so easy after all, and his doubts on Redwillow began to creep in his mind.

At that moment, a voice shook his head, and Redwillow frowned at Flamepaw's lack of interest to the training. His face twisted up and Flamepaw was terrorized as his name was called over and over again, becoming louder each time, and as the sight of Redwillow was slipping away.

Then he woke up. Wyverncry nudged him urgently in the flank. "Flamepaw! It's Fangstar! She and her warriors have come on the island... I don't know where my warriors have gone...we must escape and return to camp!" whispered the gray warrior, as Flamepaw got up. His limp seared through his leg and made walking difficult. How was he ever going to run away?

Wyverncry decided there was no time to waste. The powerful gray tom picked up the apprentice by the scruff of his neck and dashed out on the shores of the island, ran over the icy trunk madly, a flurry of scrawny cats following them.

Flamepaw's heart leapt out of his chest, as they began to crawl up after the two Flameclan cats, claws unsheathed. Wyverncry's pace was faster, but it wouldn't be long until they'd catch up once they were in the swamps on the other side.

Flamepaw glanced at that end of the trunk, and his hair rose up in alarm. Fangstar herself was waiting, poised, with even more warriors. They were trapped. Wishstar's dreadful fate was going to happen to them both, and there was no escape.

A shrill order rang out, as Fangstar hissed loudly. "Capture the apprentice and bring him to me! Take care of the other one, and bring him to Molestar so he says to him personally that his son is under my claw, and so is his will!" at that she cackled, as the swarm of cats wrestled Flamepaw away from his protector and showed him a gruesome sight- cats fighting against Wyverncry together and taking away his sight and savagely clawing to shreds his majestic gray pelt.

Hisses and gleaming eyes dragged him away from Wyverncry, towards Fangstar. The she-cat was surely the best fed cat in her clan, yet half a moon of starving showed in her exposed ribs. She sheathed and unsheathed her claws, licking her lips as if he was a juicy piece of prey.

"No! Stop!" wailed Flamepaw, trying to wriggle away from the dark claws holding him down, and the icy glare of Fangstar burning his pelt. "Let him go! Let me go!" he screamed, claws out.

A crushing feeling of powerlessness weighed over him as he was unable to help the warrior. What good was a prophecy dictating he had immense power if he couldn't help the cats he cared about with that power?

Had all this happened because Flamepaw hadn't accepted Redwillow's offer?

***

It's been a while, hm? I've had a pretty busy winter, mind you. Then when the Wattpad update came around, I finally returned to my senses-- I had to write!

Hopefully, if I'm not too busy, I'll be posting more chapters soon!

Miaaaow~!