“Scarclaw?” Wildheart said carefully, raising an eyebrow. Scarclaw was startled again at the sound of his voice, looking at him with her good eye wide.
“You really want to know what happened?” She asked, swallowing back a stutter. When Wildheart nodded, she flexed her claws in the dirt as if to brace herself from the pain of remembering.
“Let me eat my fresh kill and I’ll tell you…” She said at last, reaching to pick up her food. Wildheart grabbed it before she could and when she gave him a questioning look, he just smiled. Together they padded to the middle of the clearing.
“We were on hunting patrol…” Scarclaw started after the last of her fresh-kill was gone, closing her eye so she could visualize it. “My mentor, Appleblossom, was teaching me some fighting moves as we followed the path towards the abandoned twoleg nest to do some hunting…” She stopped, opening her good eye to look at Wildheart. She was surprised to see him watching her intently as if he was hanging off her every word. “She decided it would be better if we went the other way, near the WindClan border, instead of up the path. We thought we could refresh the boundary markers while we were there too. As we approached the boarder,” She continued, breaking eye contact with the older warrior, “We could hear loud yowling and cats screeching-the sounds made my pelt prickle-but we knew we had to go help. Appleblossom took lead and we rounded the corner. In front of us was a group of strange cats, cats I didn’t know. They were fighting fiercely against my mother and father but my parents were clearly outnumbered. Even with Appleblossom and I there, we were outnumbered. I heard Appleblossom yell to them. She yowled their names, ‘Oakleaf! Dappleflower!’ and hurled herself into the battle. I followed hard of her paws, launching myself onto a huge calico tom. We had chased off a few of the cats, making it easier for us to battle them, but we were becoming weak. One cat pinned me down, standing on my back and smudging my muzzle into the dirt. The cat jerked my head up so I could see again. 'And you witness death for the first time,' the cat was cackling in my ear. I didn’t understand. Suddenly one of the rouges tore open Oakleaf’s throat…” She choked slightly, dipping her head as the memory of the cats splattered her father’s blood across her face as to shake her spirits. She left this part of her story out.
“You don’t have to continue…” Wildheart’s voice was soft with sympathy and pain.
“They continued to assault Dappleflower and Appleblossom in the same way, tearing at their soft skin. I was the only one left alive...” Scarclaw continued, acting as if she didn’t hear Wildheart. She cleared her throat. “I remember getting furious. I was so sad, so upset, that I was angry. I struggled free from the cat that held me down and then I can’t remember anything. I’m guessing, somehow, I managed to chase them off because I remember yowling something and then falling. I felt like I was falling forever but on the way down everything went black. I could hear the voices of Dappleflower, Appleblossom, and Oakleaf. There were other cat’s voices too. When I opened my eyes, the cats surrounded me. They looked at me with kind eyes, starlight in their fur. I knew than that I was looking at all of StarClan. An orange tom padded forward to me, he carried ThunderClan scent, and he spoke to me. ‘Don’t worry, young Orangepaw, this is not the end of your journey.’ I realized that this was Firestar, a legend in ThunderClan. He spoke again, softly to me, his voice was forbidding ‘The days will have no sun and the nights will have no moon; only a sea of sin and demons will remain.’ My blood felt like it turned to ice and I snapped awake. I looked around, and Sandtail snapped at me to stay still. It hit me then what had happened and I realized I was in a world of trouble…” Wildheart inched closer to Scarclaw, his pelt brushing hers in hopes of supporting her.
“When I had found you, you had fallen down the banking and into the stream. You were about to drown… I’m so sorry.” Wildheart said, his voice truly remorseful.
Scarclaw heard Wildheart speak but his voice was so soft that she had to perk her ears to hear him better.
“Don’t be sorry. I can manage.” Scarclaw said, her voice strong but slightly wavering. Wildheart seemed to sense that.
“Do you mind if I sleep in the clearing while you sit vigil?” He asked, continuing as she gave him a startled and questioning look, “WindClan sleep in the open moor and your dens in the brambles make me uneasy.”
“Sure…” Scarclaw said. It was just about twilight now; she’d have to keep silent and stop talking to Wildheart. Her first duty was to her clan. “Sleep well.” She added as he curled up next to her. As she watched him drift to sleep, his breathing becoming shallow with dreams, she realized the funny feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. Ignoring it, she trained her gaze on the bramble entrance and waited for dawn to come.