Cold Blooded: Dapple's Downfall

Ch 5, Little Miracle

Dapple's prov
"Dapple..... You must listen.... you can't live here anymore...... you can't trust the dragons who lay waiting in the mountains.....You have to listen...... you must leave! Before it's too late.... " A faintly familiar voice called out.
"You must save........" The voice shouted faintly but was drowned out.
My eyes flew open and I gasped realizing it was only a dream.
What was that! Who was that anyway, that voice.... it sounds like I knew it once but I can't recall.
I was left laying in my nest, bewildered and puzzled at the mysterious dream I had woken from.
Then I remembered one something Needlefur had told me.
"When you are the leader of our kind, our ancestors at time will visit you in your dreams. They come for only two reasons, the first is to gift you the title and blessings of becoming leader or... to warn of a danger that looms over our heads.
"Oh so you're still here lazy bones, what a surprise!" A teasing voice came from the entrance to my den as I recollected my wits and opened my eyes back to realty.
Looking up I saw the figure of Stonepelt, his eight tails swished behind him as he looked at me with his blue eyes.
"You make me really worry you know Dapple. You're starting to worry everyone, they need you more than ever to lead them." Stonepelt looked down at me sternly, but it was clear that he had sympathy for me for he too was close to Needlefur.
I watched as Stonepelt turned his back to me and began padding out of the den but as he went he stopped just far enough for me to hear him.
"If not for us, do it for her....." He said then padded out of my vision and into the light.
Oh Needlefur, I know you thought I had the strength to lead our kind one day but I can't feel I am fit to lead. I am....
I clenched my fangs as I swallowed my words. Rising to my paws I padded over to the pool of water, I looked into the reflection of myself in it. In it I found a pitiful, sad looking Nightwatcher looking back at me with its icy blue eyes.
I turned away in shame of my own self sorrow and emotions, I began padding towards the entrance. Each paw step felt heavier than the last as I forced myself out into the light away from the gloom.
Closing my eyes I felt the instant warmth of the shining afternoon sun through my fur as my paws could feel the heated rock beneath them. Slowly I opened my eyes, below was the bodies of my fellow Nightwatchers, but they were all looking up at me in surprise. I looked back at them with just as much surprise, then one by one they began smiling and tipping with joy as they began gathering around the stone steps leading to my den. They were cheering my name, as every single Nightwatcher in the camp stood there, waiting for me.
I could feel tears begin to well up in my eyes but I pushed on, paw step and step at a time until I reached the soft dirt covered ground where they waiting for me.
"Why are you all doing this?" I chocked trying to hold back a river of tears looking at the Nightwatchers around me.
"Because you are our leader Dapple, you must push through the hard times in this life and lead us to peace," a voice from behind me made me turn back to see Snowsong standing there with Sunleaf beside her.
"We all know you have lost someone very dear to you but we have too. Needle was a kind and wise leader and a wonderful mother to both you and Sunleaf, we all had a special place in our hearts for her." She said, her icy eyes sparkling in the sunlight telling me she was speaking from the bottom of her heart.
"Nobody can replace the ones we have lost," another voice came from within the crowd and quickly my eyes spotted Streamsong taking her place beside Snowsong.
"When you lose someone you love it leaves a hole in your heart, but it can heal if you let it. Trust me when I say this Dapple, I have lost many of my dear friends and my mate and I learned the same lesson over and over again. You must sometimes let go of the past and look to the future to keep their memories alive, they would not you to suffer and be unhappy clinging to them when they are already gone." The elder reached out her paw and set it on my shoulder, her old blue eyes still shining with life despite her old age.
"They would want you to live on without them, being happy and tell your pups who they were and the precious memories you had with them. I am 139 years old and I have carried with me for all these years memories of the fallen. And one of them was when you were born some 40 years ago, she would be so happy to see you now....." Streamsong said in a sincere voice as she seemed to revive old memories in her past.
Streamsong smiled for she must have seen the surprised and attached look I had on my faces and nodded.
"Yes Dapple, I no we have been meaning to tell you whom gave birth to you. Her name was Flowerheart and she was the most kindhearted Nightwatcher I ever met, she died only moments after she brought you to this world. She was overjoyed seeing you even in her last hour, I was beside her when she drew her final breath laying beside you. She looked happy even when she no longer walked among us and she is with Needlefur, guiding her to the afterlife in the Middle Sector. And you father was never found nor did he ever show his faces once around here so we can't tell you who he is or even if he is still among us in the living."
The news overwhelmingly showed as I felt my tears rolling down my faces as I stood there with Streamsong. Then the elder stepped back, her blue eyes flicked over to Stonepelt who stood in the crowd of Nightwatchers, watching with a smile on his faces.
I nodded and flashed him a grateful glance as my attention was turned to the approaching figure of Sunleaf, who sat down in front of me.
I instantly noticed a gigantic smile stretching across his face as he looked at me with his bright brown eyes.
"What is it Sunleaf?" I laughed, but with my tears still streaming down my faces.
"Well while you have been locked up in your gloomy cave, I found out that Snowsong is expecting a little miracle of our own."