Warriors: Blazing Fires

Chp. 4

Chp. 4

...................

2 moons had passed since Olivedust and Sweetcloud had arrived. They seemed to be gaining the trust of most cats, Petalkit realized, even though some warriors still didn't accept a kittypet turning into a warrior. They worked harder than most cats to prove themselves.

Lost in thought, Petalkit barely noticed the throng of cats leaving camp until her father padded over to her. "I'll tell you all about it when I get back, ok?"

"Ok. See you later then," Petalkit mewed as she watched the LeafClan warriors file out of camp and head towards the clearing for the gathering. The clearing is a wide, circular ravine in the middle of all six territories. It was quite huge, as Petalkit had been told.

Feeling bored and frustrated, Petalkit padded over to the nursery and slipped inside the warm, little den. Honeyflower's kits had just arrived a few days ago, so the nursery was infested with many kits. Petalkit laughed at her own joke, even if it was inside her head. She padded to her nest and laid down inside it, watching the other two kits playing together.

The first one, Duckkit, was an all white tom except for some orange feet and an orange muzzle, which must've been why he was called a duck. The second and smallest kit, Raspkit, had a reddish-orange pelt, just like Rosepelt and Redsong, which almost reminded Petalkit of a raspberry. Purring, she imagined the little kit as a huge raspberry and laughed to herself. I wonder if her warrior name will be Raspberry. Petalkit snorted and laughed out loud.

"Why are you snorting about?" came a voice.

"Nothing!" Petalkit turned her head to see Moonfeather staring at her, her whiskers twitching in amusement.

"Well, if you're not going to be quiet, go sleep somewhere else. You four kits take away all of my energy!" Moonfeather slid down into the nest and curled up.

"Eh. I'll stay right here, where I can keep you up all night," Petalkit teased.

"You better not, or you're fresh kill." Moonfeather grumbled drowsily and drifted off to sleep.

Petalkit sat there, washing herself neatly. Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, an idea popped into her mind. If I'm so bored, why don't I go attend the gathering! Pondering over her idea, she became more and more sure that she could do it. Its just across the territory, and no patrols would be out tonight, so it would be perfect! But should I tell anyone, like Thornkit? Nah. Thornkit would be no fun to hang out with, and neither would Nightkit. But Blossomkit? Maybe.

Soon Petalkit came to a decision. I'll go ask her, see if she says yes. Petalkit scampered out of the nursery and searched the clearing for Blossomkit. Seeing her disappear into the elders den, she quickly ran over there, not wanting to be late for her first gathering. "Blossomkit, Blossomkit!"

"What? I'm helping Darkfrost right now, but we can play later, if thats what you want."

Crestfallen, Petalkit mewed back, "Ok. That's what I was wondering. Let's play in the morning."

"Ok," came a muffled meow. Petalkit gloomily turned away and headed for the bramble tunnel. Quickly looking behind her to make sure no one was there, she slipped through the tunnel and out of camp.

Out there, under the trees, Petalkit felt like she was in StarClan; everything was so big! The trees, the bushes, even the grass and piles of leaves seemed huge. Petalkit looked around her, excitement coursing through her veins. Seeing five different trails leading different directions, Petalkit turned to the nearest one and set out on her adventure.

Turning here and there and sniffing everywhere, Petalkit padded along the trail, stopping every second to sniff the leaves, bushes, trees, and the ground. She even found a small pile of squirrel bones, meat, and fur that didn't smell the greatest.

Still following the trail, Petalkit spotted a small tree up ahead that would be perfect for her to climb. Racing through the forest and tossing up leaves as she went, her paws carried her to the small tree. Petalkit leaped and dug her claws into the tree's bark. I'm a natural! Petalkit climbed a few more squirrel hops and then jumped up onto a small, flimsy branch,

Petalkit crouched on top of the branch, observing the forest as best she could. There wasn't all that much to observe except darkness and light coming from the full moon.

Crack! Petalkit's eyes stretched wide in horror as she realized the branch was breaking. She dug her claws into it, and shut her eyes as tight as she could.

For a few seconds nothing happened. Just as Petalkit was about to loosen her grip, the branch gave way and fell to the forest floor with a yowling Petalkit clinging to it. Crash!

Feeling slightly dizzy from the fall, Petalkit got up and examined herself. Luckily, the branch was pretty low, so she only had a few scrapes and bruises.

Petalkit sat down for a few minutes to catch her breath. Her vision was making the forest spin, also making her feel sick. Once she had recovered enough to walk, Petalkit continued her journey on to the gathering.

I wonder if I'll still make it in time. I spent too much time up in that stupid tree! Lost in thought, Petalkit barely noticed the loud crunching sound. As soon as it came again, Petalkit jolted out of her thoughts, stopped, and listened intently for another sound to come and scare her.

Sure enough, the same loud crunching sound came again. Petalkit pricked her ears and tasted the air, picking up a new strange scent that she had smelt earlier. Trying to think from where she smelt it, the same crunching sound sounded again. But closer this time. Petalkit turned around trying to search for where the sound came from, but it seemed to be coming from all around her and she began to panic.

All was strangely silent for a few moments as Petalkit decided what to do. Thinking back to a few minutes ago, she remembered the pile of bones and meat that smelled like this strange scent, but now it was overwhelming. She took a few cautious steps forward, and before she realized what was happening, a horrible shadow drifted over her. Something huge was behind her!

Petalkit slowly turned around to come face to face with a huge beast with big spiky teeth bared in a vicious snarl and foam coming from its lips. Choking from its breath, Petalkit turned tail and fled into the bushes, only to be chased by the vicious beast. It quickly overtook her and gripped her scruff in its jaws.

Petalkit yowled in terror as the creature swung her through the air. The beast lost its grip on her scruff, and Petalkit was soon flying through the air, squealing in terror.

Thump! Petalkit hit a tree, hard. The force of the impact knocked all the air from her lungs and caused black spots to appear in her vision. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was the huge creature coming right at her, its teeth bared in a horrible snarl, and the light of victory in its eyes. The last thing she heard was its low, victorious howl that sliced through the air.

.......................

"Prey is running well in MoonClan. Three new kits were born these past few days and Snowpaw has received her warrior name. She is now called Snowwhisker." Yowls of congratulations broke out among the cats, acknowledging Cloudstar's words. Snowwhisker was a popular cat, Oakfoot realized, and he yowled out some congratulations of his own.

Cloudstar dipped her head, showing that she was done. Kestrelstar stepped forward next to bring news about FireClan. "Prey is running well, and we have two new apprentices. Shiningpaw and Jaggedpaw." Some cats yowled out congratulations for them as well, but mostly cats from FireClan. "Besides that-." Kestrelstar stopped mid sentence as a low howl echoed from somewhere out in the forest.

Oakfoot froze. Was this an omen from StarClan? Some of the warriors huddled closer together, while others remained the same, clearly not thinking about an omen. The medicine cats didn't even seem all that worried. Oakfoot sighed and mentally kicked himself for letting the howl get to his mind. It was probably just some lonely dog. Oakfoot straightened up and listened as the rest of the leaders spoke, putting the dog howl to the back of his mind.