Warriors: Finding Home

Chapter Three

     Sootpaw took one final glance at his home, and turned tail and fled. His instincts told him to go to the mountains. He listened to them. He let his paws carry him over the land, all the while keeping his eyes up at the night sky. Stars sparkled brightly against the blackness, and he knew his ancestors were watching over him. They made no attempt to stop him, so he guessed that they approved of his actions. The mountains weren't far away, and he should arrive by sunhigh. SunClan made their camp in a hole at the foot of the mountain, and tunnels ran under the huge hunk of rock. At the top, snow permanently stained the rocks white, and wind howled over the empty space.

     All Sootpaw had to do was find their camp and hope they would take him in. Their territory stretched halfway across the mountains. According to the elders, a tribe of viscous mountain cats stole the mountains from SunClan and a battle raged on for three days! SunClan and the tribe cats then decided that they would each get half of the mountain. Sootpaw wondered if any of those stories were true. Probably not.

     His mind probed at his consciousness, and his eyes suddenly felt very heavy. He hadn't slept all day, and if he fell asleep now he could rest while the sun rose. He was on moor land now, so there were no trees in sight, and he had to sleep in the open, the only protection from nature the small thorny bush he hid behind.

     Sarah visited him in his dreams that night. Sootpaw was transported to a moor, like the one he slept on in reality. Sarah's black pelt shone with stars and a thought stuck him.

     If only clan cats made it to StarClan, how did Sarah make it here?

     "What is your real name?" Sootpaw asked sheepishly.

     Sarah smiled warmly at her son. She turned her head and stared at a small dip in the ground. She walked closer and Sootpaw followed. A puddle sat in the groumustand before his eyes it changed to a picture. Then it moved, like he was seeing what had happened. He could hear what was happening, and he watched closely.

     A black she-cat strolled out of the nursery. A gray tabby faced her. Clawstar! He held his head up as the rest of the clan stood shoulder to shoulder facing Sarah. Then Clawstar spoke.
     "Nightleaf. You have betrayed the warrior code by taking a mate from outside the clans. You are hereby banished from MoonClan until you figure out where your loyalties lie."
     A look of shock passed over his mother's face, but was soon replaced by anger. She stepped forward, so Clawstar and Nightleaf were just whiskers away and whispered, "I vow to you Clawstar, that when my kits are born, they will destroy you! Along with any other clan cats!" She whipped her tail back and forth and padded out of camp slowly.

     Sootpaw waited to see what was going to happen next, but the water was disturbed by Nightleaf's paw. She had slapped the water and all images of the past were lost. Her tail TUP twitched unnervingly, and Sootpaw stared at his mother. She had been a clan cat?

     The black apprentice forced the fur along his spine to lie flat, but he could still feel his pelt bristling with rage. How could Clawstar have exiled his mother?

     He opened his mouth to speak, but she silenced him with a flick of her tail. She took one final look at her living son and then faded away, blending into her surroundings until there was nothing left.

     The cold awoke him, and a thick layer of frost covered the hilly surroundings. He stood and shook the white stuff off of his fur. He kept his fur fluffed out to protect himself against the late leaf fall air. Wind whipped at his face, and his eyes stung, but still, he carried on. Clouds covered the sky, dark and threatening, making it impossible to tell the time. A storm was coming, and he wouldn't want to be in the middle of unfamiliar territory when it hit.

     A scent marker hit his nose head on, and he hadn't realized that he had walked so far already. He took a deep breath of the smell, and wrinkled his nose. Home?

     He stepped boldly over the line and padded forward. He could see the mountains straight ahead of him, and they seemed to touch the stars. Although the skies were dark, he knew it must've been at least sunhigh. Why was no cat out hunting or patrolling the border?

     He dismissed the thought and kept going, and reached the base of the mountain within a few heartbeats and sniffed around for a hole big enough to be a camp. He found one a couple of fox lengths away, and stuck his nose inside. The smell of cats was strong.

     This mist be it!