Warriors: Ashfur's Insanity

Chapter 6

Jaykit soared on the lake.

"Nice!" Mistyfoot called.

Jaykit swam towards her float.

"Do you have RiverClan blood in you? You can swim really well!" Mistyfoot called.

"No! I'm training myself to swim!" Jaykit replied.

"You were born to swim!" Mistyfoot meowed.

Jaykit pricked her ears. "Did you hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?" Mistyfoot called.

"Look out!" Jaykit meowed. A WindClan warrior leaped from the bushes. A brown tom next to him.

"Barkface! Kestrelpaw!" Mistyfoot greeted.

"Is that a kit, swimming in the water?" Barkface meowed.

"This kit is training herself how to swim! She's ThunderClan!" Mistyfoot explained. She had to explain to them how Jaykit got over here.

"We need to talk to Mothwing and Willowshine!" Barkface meowed.

"Ok, I'll take you there," Mistyfoot meowed. Turning to Jaykit, she added, "Stay there."

Jaykit didn't listen. She wanted to get home. To her Clan. A thought struck her. She was gonna float out to the lake! Jaykit put her paw in the water and swam forward in her float.

Jaykit blinked open her eyes. She had fallen asleep! She looked around. Everything was white. It was foggy. The air was hot and humid, promising rain. Jaykit looked around. She was still on her float. She was hungry. She carefully put her paw in the water and swam forward slowly. She had been here for some time. StarClan knows how long. "Hello? Any cat here?" She called. She was in the middle of the lake! No wind would push her float easily. She looked around. Nothing. She dipped her paw back in the water. Then rain poured down from the sky. "Great," She muttered. Mistyfoot is probably looking for me.  Jaykit ignored the rain. Her heart stopped. Her float was coming apart! Jaykit scrambled to the side that had the most half left. The other half floated away. Now the wind was picking up. The fog was starting to clear. It began to rain harder. Jaykit's pelt was drenched. She looked up. A full moon floated in the sky. The time of the Gathering! If she stayed home, she would be an apprentice and she would be going to the Gathering. She unsheathed her tiny claws. She lay down and curled up in her nest. Sleep drifted over her.

Jaykit awoke when her float shook. She sat up, looked around, and felt her blood run cold. A murky brown wave was heading towards her. Jaykit screamed in terror. It was coming in, fast! Jaykit scrambled down and began paddling in the water. Her float would be useless. It was all useless. She was going to drown! The shadow of the wave loomed over her and crashed down onto Jaykit. She screamed as the water washed into her lungs. She scrambled upward but a piece of driftwood hit her heard and knocked her back under. Her lungs were screaming for air. Jaykit could only hear the water crashing in her ears. But she wasn't a kit anymore. She was eight moons old now. She was an apprentice. Jaykit scrambled up and broke the surface. She gasped for air. Her paws were paddling in the water. She looked around. Her float was nowhere to be seen! Where was it? The wave must have shredded it, she thought. Waves crashed angrly around her. They knocked her under but she swam back up. Then she spotted something that she could hold on to. A piece of driftwood. She swam forward. Jaykit planted herself onto the peice of driftwood. She panted and took deep breaths. Jaykit shivered. Maybe she should drown. It was all hopeless. Jaykit gasped in terror as another wave crashed towards her. It crashed onto her. The breath was knocked out of her. She went under the water, deeper into the darkness. Her vision clouded. She closed her eyes. Everything will be ok!

Jaykit snapped her eyes open as she heard thunder crash above the water. She swam upward and broke the surface. Jaykit gasped for air. The water drained out of her lungs. Then she hit something. Something. Sand! She neared land. It wasn't ThunderClan. Jaykit carried herself forward with her forepaws; her back legs trailing helplessly behind. Jaykit pulled herself to the shore. She lay down, her head on her paws. The waves lapped steadily at her back legs and tail. Jaykit shook the water from her pelt, only for it to get soaked again by the hard rain. She'd have to find shelter. She rose to her paws and stumbled over to a rabbit hole. She hurried into it and curled up, sleep and tiredness drifting over her.

Jaykit awoke. She heard voices.

"I smell ThunderClan scent over here!" A tom hissed.

Jaykit peeped out. A black and white tom was standing in the clearing. A dark brown tom stood beside him. A dark ginger she cat stood beside a tortiseshell she cat.

"Look! Is that a squirrel?" The brown tom asked.

"No, mouse-brain! That's a mouse! Lets get it!" The tortiseshell snapped.

"Hey! I'm no mouse!" Jaykit mewled.

"Oh StarClan!" The dark ginger cat meowed. "A ThunderClan kit!"

"She's soaked!" The black and white tom meowed.

"Yeah! I am soaked! I almost drowned in the lake!" Jaykit hissed.

"What were you doing in the lake with weather like this?"  The dark ginger she cat hissed.

"Who are you?" Jaykit asked, ignoring their question.

"I am Russetfur," She meowed.

"Russetfur! Don't give kits information!" The black and white tom hissed.

"Crowfrost, I'm the deputy!" Russetfur snapped.

Jaykit backed away and stumbled down into a tunnel.

"Hey! She's gone!" They yowled.

Jaykit ran as far as her paws could carry her. Her belly grumbled with hunger. It was so dark in the tunnels that she just ran every which way. She bumped into a stone wall. She fell on her back. She had to restore her energy. She had to sleep. Jaykit curled up. She closed her eyes. The darkness drifted over her in a flash.

Jaykit blinked open her eyes. She rose to her paws and stretched. "I'm going to find a way out of here!" She screamed. Her voice bounced off the walls of the tunnels. Jaykit ran through passages. The darkness seemed to engulf her. It carried Jaykit off her paws, leading her to the right direction. Jaykit stopped to sniff the air. Her fluffy tail brushed the ground. She ran through a long tunnel and, stopping, she ran left. She turned to the right. She entered a cave. Now, moonlight glittered in the cave. A hole was at the top. Raindrops battered at the cave floor slowly. She could see better now. Jaykit ran ahead. Her blood ran cold as she ran into another tunnel. She trotted on now. The tunnel was narrow, getting thinner as she went on. Jaykit could see light at the end of the tunnel! She tried to run, but the tunnel walls were so tight around her. She pushed through and ran towards the light. Her pelt brushed against the walls. The rocky walls felt like cats' pelt. Whispers and moans echoed through the cave. Jaykit got creeped out. She ran faster, pushing past the tunnels. At last, she was in the forest. The trees blew in the wind and shadows and mice scent were all around her. She was on ThunderClan ground at last. Jaykit darted through ferns and hopped over tree roots, pelting towards the camp.