Warriors: Hail In the Wind

Chapter 7

“He’s dead!” Milkpool yowled. “Asheye is dead! The Twolegs killed him!” Stormpaw shook inside his wire web, following the shaking of the monster as it roared down whatever Thunderpath they were on. Was he only the first death? Would the Twolegs kill them all? He need Hailpaw. He needed Doepaw. He needed his parents, and his clan, but the only clan members with him were stuck in wire webs as well. Yowls and cries filled the guts of the monster, terrified once again.

    “What do you expect?” Snailpaw exclaimed in the wire web to Stormpaw’s right. “He’s blind in one eye. Twolegs don't want a blind cat.”

    “Asheye was a loyal Shadowclan cat, and deserves more than an insult from a dumb apprentice!” Rockfoot hissed.

    “Don’t tell me what to do!” Snailpaw hissed. “You aren’t even in my clan!”

    “It wasn’t the Twolegs that killed him!” Smokemint hissed. Oh, no. The Twolegs got a medicine cat? A dark gray paw moved toward the wire web that smelled like death. “It was their wire webs.”

    “She’s right,” Runningpelt exclaimed. “Great Starclan. He must have tried to move the web with his paws.”

    “It’s stuck there!” Squirrelpaw cried.

    “We can’t even bury him!” Duckwing yowled. She slammed into the side of her wire web, yowling with rage.

    “Don’t waste your strength,” Dustcloud sighed. “These things are too tough.”

    “Coward!” Duckwing yowled. “At least try!”

    “Dustcloud’s no coward!” Cloverheart yowled. The screaming once again filled the inside of the monster, a chaotic, dark, hard den.

    “Everyone shut up!” Rainspring yowled. The cats quieted down, looking to Stormpaw’s left. “It won’t do us any good to fight. If we want to get out of here, we have to work together.”

    “She’s right,” Smokemint grunted. “We may all be from separate clans, but if we want to see them again, we can’t argue.”

    “My kits,” Runningpelt sobbed quietly. “I just wanted a break out of camp. I didn’t think…”

    “Starclan, keep Mousetail and Brackenkit safe,” Tallfang prayed. “I want to see her apprentice ceremony.” The cats were talking quietly now, fear scent clinging to the deadly stench from Asheye’s wire web. Stormpaw curled up inside the wire web. At least there was some soft tan fluff lining the web bottom.

    “Rainspring?” Stormpaw asked, looking through the hole filled wires.

    “Yes?” Rainspring asked.

    “Will we get home? Really? We’re so far away by now. They’ll never find us.”

    “Starclan will protect us. We just have to do our part and stay safe. Stormpaw, I must ask something difficult of you. You will have to be kind to the Twolegs.”

    “I’m sorry, what did you say?” Dustcloud asked, sitting up in the web to Rainspring’s right.

    “Be kind to them?” Stormpaw stuttered. “They took us from our home, Rainspring!”

    “Yes, I know. But if we are violent, they will simply kill us. We need to pretend to be willing, so that we can escape.”

    “Of course you think of this plan,” Dustcloud scoffed. “Maybe you’ve always wanted to go back to the Twolegplace, haven’t you?”

    “We may be away from Thunderclan, but I am still your deputy,” Rainspring snarled. “I have been loyal to Thunderclan since I came, and I won’t let one of us die because they wanted to be brave and attack the Twolegs!”