Fawnstar's Return

Chapter 11

Dewpaw gasped as Oaktail stared at the tom, blinking. The river had flooded at last! He had heart Fawnstar talking about her dream... this must be what she meant...

"We'll come right away," Oaktail mewed. "We must gather a patrol of warriors. I'll lead it and take Briarspot, Frostheart, Birchstripe, Appleleap, Bushtail, Doefur, and Dewpaw." He gaped at the deputy. Why had he been chosen?

"B-but why Oaktail? I'm only a medicine cat apprentice..." his voice trailed off.

"We need you there if any cat gets hurt. Jaywhisker should stay here, we can't spare more that one medicine cat." With a flick of his tail Oaktail bounded down from the High branch to where the warriors he selected for the patrol were waiting. "Come on! We'll follow Bouncetail." Oaktail led his warriors out the tunnel after the brown tom. Quickly, Dewpaw sprinted into Jaywhisker's den and grabbed all the herbs he could carry, then raced out of the camp behind the patrol.

"I'm not sure we'll make it in time," Bouncetail meowed hoarsely. Dewpaw shook his head.

"Don't think like that!" Oaktail urged him. "We have to keep going. As Fawnstar always said, 'It never hurts to try, so lets go!'" Bouncetail flashed him a glance of understanding, and picked up the straggling pace. The patrol crossed the Lightclan scent markers and charged right on the border of Rockclan. Thankfully, they didn't meet a patrol and made it to the marsh that bordered Moonclan and Rockclan territory.

"How much farther?" Dewpaw panted to Briarspot. She leaned down to whisper a reply.

"Not much farther. The river is just up ahead." She pointed with her tail down towards the raging river. Dewpaw gulped as he saw what lay ahead. The river was so swollen, it had seeped out over the marshy ground on either side, completely covering it. The water trickled down rocks and flew into a pond a little deeper into Moonclan's territory. As far as he could see, the water was moving across the land even faster. Suddenly, a yowl sounded ahead. Oaktail stopped and looked up the slope to where the river cascaded down. A rush of water sped from the top, engulfing the deputy in water. It continued on, and the rest of the patrol was swept away.

Dewpaw opened his eyes. He was laying on a ledge above a body of water. At first he thought it was the river that swept him away, but no, this was a much, much larger body of water. He struggled to stand up, coughing as he went. Looking around, he saw a few ragged lumps of fur on the ledge next to him.

"Oaktail?" he rasped. A lean brown shape raised his head and stood on wobbly legs. 

"Are you okay Dewpaw?" he panted. Dewpaw nodded slowly. Oaktail looked around, helping the other cats get up. Quickly, Dewpaw checked to see they had everyone, but realized one cat was missing.

"Where's Bouncetail?" he whispered. Briarspot looked at the ground sadly.

"He drowned," she forced out. "I tried to save him, but he got thrown into the strongest part of the river before I was swept away." Dewpaw bowed his head. The Moonclan deputy had been a good and strong warrior, and his clan would mourn him.

"We should get back to our camp before the flood waters get there," Appleleap remarked. Dewpaw glared at him.

"No!" he meowed. "We have to go and save Moonclan! You think we came all this way only to be stopped in our tracks?" Oaktail nodded.

"He's right Appleleap. To bad your herbs got swept away in the flood," he said, looking down at Dewpaw. The medicine cat apprentice nodded. Those were precious herbs, but they were probably all soaked and soggy by now.

"How long have we been out?" Birchstripe rasped. The older warrior raised his head to look around. Oaktail shrugged.

"A few hours maybe, but I don't know for sure..." his voice trailed away, but the brown tabby deputy straightened himself out. "If worse comes to worse, and we can't cross the river, we'll just hope a Moonclan patrol will see us across the river, and we can tell them about the news of Boucetail, then head home from there. Another possibility would be to go around Twolegplace to get to Moonclan territory if the flood waters are too high." Birchstripe nodded in agreement, and picked himself up. Once the patrol was ready, Oaktail looked for a way to get down from the ledge.

"Over there!" Bushtail meowed, flicking his tail towards a path that led down from the large ledge. Oaktail nodded in agreement and led the patrol down the spiraling path, out onto a flat layer of sand, next to the large expanse of water. He sniffed the edge, then cautiously circled the edge.

"I've never seen anything like it," he remarked. 

"I know what it is!" Frostheart piped up. "When I was just a kit, the elders would tell me the tale of the cats who lived beside the lake. A lake is a big body of water, just like this one." 

"Good thinking!" Oaktail meowed. Dewpaw padded up behind Frostheart.

"What were the cats who lived beside the lake?" he asked in a hushed voice. The elderly warrior sighed.

"Well now, let me remember. In ancient times, there were five clans, just like ours, who lived beside a lake just like this one. Come to think of it, this may be their lake! Anyways, the clans were called Thunderclan, Windclan, Riverclan, Shadowclan, and Skyclan. Now Thunderclan was fierce and brave. Windclan was swift and loyal. Riverclan was clever and strong. Shadowclan was wily and proud. And Skyclan was, well, hard-pawed and sleek. These clans had a number of mysterious prophecies, and some say these clans are our ancestors."

"Are they still around today?" Dewpaw inquired..

"Some say they are, and some say they aren't, but no one knows. Perhaps we'll see some of these cats at this lake." She flashed him a grin. Dewpaw shivered. To think, there were other cats just like them, living in clans just like theirs!

"Come on you two!" Oaktail called. "I just said the river might start from this lake." He led the patrol along the bank until they came to an unusual looking Twoleg nest. Jutting out from it was a normal twoleg fence, but the yard wasa huge, and there were huge creatures running around with paws that looked like they could crush a cat.

"What are those?" Dewpaw fretted. 

"Horses," Birchstripe reported. "I heard from the elders from Sunclan at one gathering, that they were called horses. We'll be fine as long as we stay away from them." Oaktail nodded. 

"Doefur, Bushtail, and Appleleap, go check past the Horseplace to see what's over there," he ordered. The three cats nodded and bounded off. "The rest of you, we'll stay here for now, and find some fresh-kill." He called the rest of the patrol besides Frostheart and Dewpaw, for she would stay with him and guard him in case danger came. Dewpaw settled onto the ground and Frostheart sat beside him.

"Look," she meowed. She pointed with her tail to the far side of the lake. There was a moor, just like the one on Sunclan's territory. But Dewpaw saw something else. It was a few cats, running across the hills. Dewpaw gasped.

"Could that be Windclan?" he asked.

"Maybe," Frostheart meowed. "You never know." She settled down to lick her pelt thoroughly, and get all the water out of it. Dewpaw did the same.

A little bit later, both patrols returned with fresh-kill, and news. Oaktail and his patrol dropped their catch in a little prey pile. "What did you find?" he asked the other patrol.

"Not much," Appleleap meowed. He described what they found, a few streams running around an island in the middle. They heard movement in the island, so decided not to check it out. Oaktail nodded.

"We shouldn't go in there. We need to focus on getting back home." He deposited the fresh-kill between the cats, and soon they were fed and on their paws ready to go. "Let's head in the direction of the moor," Oaktail told them. "I'm pretty sure our territory is past there somewhere." He led the patrol away from the Horseplace, and out onto the first hills of the rising moor. Something behind Dewpaw rustled.

"Who's there?" he meowed, and whipped around to see a black head with blue eyes staring out from a gorse bush. A cat, Dewpaw realized. But as soon as he saw it, the cat was gone.

Hehehe see what I did there? Who's the cat from the moor? *hint: It's from Erin Hunter's four clans. Just so everyone knows, I am not going to actually publish this book because that would be copyright! Thanks for reading everyone!

-Fawntail_19