Curled Silence *Completed*

Chapter Thirteen

A/N Wow, I can't believe we're nearing the end of this story! I promise I'll post see more often. Also, chapter 15, the last one, shall also be extra long and exciting, just for you guys! I'll try to post these last three chapters before the end of February, yeah? I think that's good. Ciao! ~Curl

Two moons later

"Jump!" I jumped over the tabby cat's massive shoulders, landing just behind him. When I had turned around, my opponent already was facing me, getting ready to leap again at me. Before he had the chance, I whipped out a paw at him that struck the top of his head. Instinctively, he looked up, and I used this chance to slide under his belly. As I did so, the cat dropped all of his weight onto me, making me force all my air out of my lungs. I wouldn't get beaten though, so I lifted my back enough for me to turn flip upside down. It was a risky move, but it was nessacary. I put my hind legs on his stomach and heaved. As I had expected, he flew off of me and landed a few tail lengths away with a thump.

I got to my paws quickly and turned, my tail lashing. The ThunderClan leader was, like always, on his paws before me, his eyes shining with pleasure. "I have trained you well, Curlpaw." I nodded my thanks. "That was quite an advanced move you did there." He walked over to me and lay his brown tail on my back. "You will earn your warrior name in no time. But in the meantime, we should go and practice climbing. Enough battle training for today." Bramblestar turned and padded over to the entrance to the clearing, and I followed behind him, a thrill of excitement pulsing through me. My mentor didn't take me tree climbing, like all the other mentors did. I don't know why, because I thought that it was ThunderClan's special skill. I shrugged in my head.

When we arrived at the tree, I looked up. Above my head towered s massive oak tree, with plenty of paw-holds near the base, but the higher it rose, the less there were. The branches became thinner and the actual tree waved in the higher gusts. "Ready?" I glanced over at Bramblestar. His neck fur was slightly fluffed up, as if he was uneasy around the tree. I had never seen him like it before. Usually the leader was very confident and sure about what he was doing, but this was different. Memory sparked in his eyes. He was remembering something.

I looked away, unsettled and disturbed. I placed a paw on the tree and felt a shockwave travel through my body, from paw to tail. It lasted a mere heartbeat, but I was shocked to the bone. My instincts told me to back down, to not climb and give up. But my mind fought back. I put another paw on this time and heaved my body up onto the trunk of the towering tree.

At first, climbing the tree was the easiest thing I had ever done, it felt natural. But when I had gotten to the leaves of most of the other smaller trees, things started to get a bit tougher. The branches got thinner. The trunk was skinnier. When I reached the halfway point, I looked over the flowing forest leaves before me and past that, the lake. The shimmering silver and gray sheet of water glinted in the early new-leaf sun. Looking up, I climbed determinedly higher and higher until I felt the air get thinner. I looked down and saw a tiny speck of brown. A squirrel? No, I realized it was Brambleclaw.

He looked to be as small as an ant from my vantage point and I reached my paw out, pretending to squash him. But as soon as my paw left the branch, I heard a terrible snapping sound from behind me. I didn't get a chance to turn my head, or even take in a breath before I was plunging through the leaves of the tree, down and down to the leaf-strewn ground.

Time slowed down. I saw the leaves whipping my face as I plummeted down, my insides flipping. I could see Bramblestar's shape magnify and I saw he was jumping up in down I panic. He couldn't save me. No one could now, gravity would do its toll on me, and I highly doubted I would survive this fall. In the way back of my mind, I felt fear and desperation as my descend continued. But in most of my head was a strange place called peace. The view was great. I shook my head and almost laughed I could be even thinking of the view right now.