A New Beginning: Book 1 Flamestar's Promise

Chapter 3

    I was running, running through the woods. I didn't know why I was running, but I knew if I stopped, I would be in danger. Rain drenched my fur, turning the ground to sloshing mud. Suddenly, I came to a cliff side. A dead end. Then I heard the roar of water as a massive flood raced toward me.
    "Help! Somebody help me!" I cried out.
I tried to scrabble up the cliff, but I couldn't find a good grip. Then I noticed Wasppaw at the top of the cliff, terror on his face. His paw was reached out, trying to help me up.
    "Come on! Jump! I will pull you up!" He yowled.
I jumped once more, but failed again. Then the impact came, knocking me numb. I gasped for air, but choked on water. I tried to swim, but the current was too strong. I heard the faint cry of Wasppaw in the distance.
    "Flamepaw! Flamepaw, no!"
I tried to make it to the surface, but I was growing weaker. Then a log hit my head and everything went black and cold.
    "Flamepaw!"
I felt a paw pride my in the ribs. I opened my eyes and met Smokepaw's face.
    "Are you ok?" He asked, concerned.
I nodded. What just happened?
    "I'm fine, I just need some fresh air." I meowed.
Smokepaw nodded, and I padded outside. The air was crisp and fresh. I could still feel the cold water on my fur. I shook out my pelt, and I felt a little better. I decided not to go back to sleep, so I just laid down and watched the sun rise. Then it hit me, why did Wasppaw try to save me?
    "It was just a dream." I hissed to myself.
But, it felt so real, so cold...
    "And so wet." I said, shaking out my fur again.
I thought that I should mention my dream to Timberstar, but I decided to keep it to myself. At least for now. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't realize that the camp was getting busy. My father started assigning patrols, while queens basked in the morning sun as their kits played. Then I noticed Timberstar walking towards me.
    "Good morning, Flamepaw. Ready for your first day of training?" He meowed cheerfully.
I nodded as Cloudkit brought me a rabbit to share.
    "Well, once you get done eating, meet me at the camp entrance." He added. I was so exited! My first training day as an apprentice! I quickly ate my share of rabbit and bounded to the entrance. Timberstar motioned me with his tail, and we padded out of camp. I had almost forgotten about my dream. I wouldn't tell Timberstar just yet, but I needed answers.
    "Timberstar?" I meowed.
    "Yes Flamepaw?" He answered, he obviously had his mind on something else.
I thought about my questions for a couple of seconds, I didn't want to give anything away.
    "When I was a kit, Mistystream told us stories of StarClan, and she said that they send certain cats dreams. What does it mean if just some random cat had a prophetic dream?"
There, that shouldn't give it away.
He thought about his answer, looked into my eyes, then spoke calmly and clearly. He knew, I could tell.
    "Flamepaw, when StarClan sends a cat a prophetic dream, to any cat, they want that cat to do something. And most of the time, they send it to a random cat only if it's a really important mission." He answered.
    "Flamepaw, did you have a prophetic dream?" He asked calmly. I had to tell him the truth.
    "Yes, no, well, I don't know." I mumbled.
I described to him my dream. Timberstar looked confused when I finished.
"How do I tell if it was from StarClan, or just another dream?" I asked.
"Trust me, you will just know. Let's wait before we jump to conclusions though. We'll see how things turn out." He responded. There was something at the back of his voice, but I couldn't put a paw on it.
I looked up and noticed dark clouds forming, and rain drops started rolling down my face.
"Maybe we should postpone your training for tomorrow, I don't want to be out here if it starts to thunder." He mewed.
I nodded, and we started padding back to camp.
    The rain continued for three days, causing the dusty camp clearing to turn to runny, wet mud. I didn't like mud, I liked my fur clean. So I stayed in the apprentice den for the most part. The rain still hadn't stopped, and the river near the camp was getting pretty high. The river separated ForestClan, my clan, from CliffClan. CliffClan was our ally, but we still didn't completely trust them. They were good cats, but could be quite vicious if they needed to be. If you got in a fight with them, you were sure to lose.
The camp was downhill from the river, so we would be sure to be effected if it decided to flood. The rain was dying down, but the Clan was still worried. And as I walked reluctantly through the mud to the fresh kill pile, there was a loud noise of a tree snapping, followed by the rushing of water. The river had flooded, and was taking trees and debris with it. And it was heading straight for camp.