Spiderpaw felt his body burn as he felt a paw prick gently into his side. Who was taking him to StarClan?
"Spiderpaw, you were mewling in your sleep."
The black tom felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him. Slowly, he felt his eyelids part. He was alive!
He flipped himself over, his chest still heaving from the panic of his dream. He let his eyes scan around the large nest. There was no fire.
"Spiderpaw, are you alright?"
He rolled back over onto his belly and slowly got up to his shaking paws. Honeyflower was staring at him with widened green eyes, her thick cheek fur fluffed out with worry.
"I just had a weird dream, that's all."
"Are you sure?" Honeyflower questioned. "I could hear you even whilst I was around the corner sorting the goldenrod."
"I'm fine," Spiderpaw insisted, even though he knew that this was far from the truth. His fur felt hot from the warmth inside the den, although his mind plagued him into remembering the fire that was burning his pelt. "I dreamt the camp was on fire."
He still couldn't believe he was safely on top of his dry moss inside the round medicine cat den, seeing the lichen hanging over the entrance not glowing red.
Honeyflower narrowed her eyes and turned around to walk around the corner again. "Come, tell me more," she called.
Spiderpaw stretches his forepaws out, rolling his eyes tiresomely. He stood up and padded on the grass and followed Honeyflower around the extension that Ryepelt and Cometcloud had worked on for the medicine den half a moon ago.
He watched as the large medicine cat seated herself down and began pricking her paws at the bright yellow flowers. She seemed to be sorting them into piles, some alone and some mixed with coltsfoot.
"Which ones which?"
Spiderpaw narrowed his eyes and bent down to pick up one of the smaller flowers. "This one's coltsfoot," he murmured through the stalk. The smell was a giveaway to him - each and every day he found himself becoming more familiar with the herbs the Clan used.
"Good," Honeyflower meowed, leaning towards him and taking the plant from him to place back into the pile. "So, tell me more about your dream."
Spiderpaw shrugged, settling himself down to begin helping Honeyflower separate the flowers. "What more do you want to know?"
Honeyflower beamed humorously at him. "Dreams apparently always mean something to medicine cats."
Spiderpaw grunted. "A few sunsets ago I dreamed I had caught a mouse," he snapped. "Do you think that meant I was hungry?"
"Stop getting angry. We can't have you bring back the flames from your dream," Honeyflower meowed playfully.
"Bring back the flames," Spiderpaw muttered. His eyes were fixed on his black paws as he remembered the words in his dream. He felt his eyes widening as the words spoke to him again.
"Yes, that's what I said," Honeyflower spoke.
"No," Spiderpaw interrupted. "Only one can prevent the ash from bringing back the darkest flame."
Honeyflower froze. She pulled her paws away from the plants and turned to face Spiderpaw. Her voice was taut. "What?"
"I heard those words in my dream."
Honeyflower raised her head. "Do you think you received an omen, Spiderpaw?"
There was a moment of silence where Spiderpaw was simply wrapped up in his own thoughts. He had heard these words before when he had been accepted by StarClan to train to become a medicine cat - but he didn't think they had been important at the time.
"I don't know."
Honeyflower stared at him for a second. He expected she didn't know what to say. He didn't think he had really received an omen, but the words sounded like a warning of some sort.
"I wouldn't worry," he insisted. "If you think anything of the words we can talk to the medicine cats at the next half..."
He was interrupted suddenly as the sound of the swishing lichen filled the entrance and steps were taken behind them. Spiderpaw turned his back to see a silver fluffy figure standing around the corner.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," his sister meowed. "Have either of you seen Heronkit and Dustkit?"
Spiderpaw's eyes widened, and he shook his head with a sudden sense of worry. The thoughts plagued his mind of the last time one of Echostar's kits had gone missing - how the Clan had found poor Stonekit under Rocktail's grasp.
He shook the thoughts away. He had to focus on here and now.
"We haven't, Briartail," Honeyflower meowed quickly. "Neither of us have been out of the camp yet."
"Echostar and Cometcloud are out hunting together," she meowed tautly. "Of course she ordered her kits to stay in Aspenclaw's sight, but we can't find them anywhere!"
Spiderpaw raised his head quickly. "Stupid kits," he muttered.
"As stupid as they are," Briartail fussed, "We have to find them before Echostar goes ballistic. Can you come and search for them with me?"
Spiderpaw quickly lifted his head and got to his sister's side. "Of course," he spluttered.
He followed Briartail out from the front of the medicine cat den and past the clearing where they had seen Ryepelt exiting from the warrior's den, his tail erect with worry. "I've searched every den," he meowed before pacing up towards the nursery. "Although their scent definitely isn't stale."
Briartail and Spiderpaw locked eyes. "Is the scent fresh enough to follow?"
Ryepelt looked to his paws. "I don't know," he meowed, as if he was far away in panic. "I'm going to keep searching."
Spiderpaw watched as Ryepelt leaped past the nursery and across the grassy pathway towards the warrior's den. He felt his chest tied with worry.
"Come on," Briartail pestered, flickering her silver tail against his side ad she whipped around and began pacing towards the thorn tunnel. "They're kits. They would have been too scared to have wander away far."
"I want to believe you," Spiderpaw stammered. "I just can't stop thinking about last time the kits were missing from camp."
Briartail froze in her paw steps, and Spiderpaw wished for a second he hadn't said anything. He saw Briartail as she slowly turned her head back and moved towards Spiderpaw. "I know that time was a shock to all of us," she meowed. "But I'm sure the kits were just too bored of sitting around in the nursery waiting to become apprentices."
"Of course you would understand," Spiderpaw breathed, a flicker of humour in his voice as he continued. "Can you remember when Honeyflower couldn't find you because you went out of camp and had gotten your tail stuck in stickyweed?"
Briartail narrowed her eyes with a smirk. "That's not funny," she meowed, trying to cover her beam.
"Sure, that wasn't funny until Ryepelt lost a claw trying to pry you away!"
Briartail shushed him playfully. "See what I mean? Kits do stupid stuff all the time. But if they're becoming apprentices soon, they need to learn what is not right to do."
Spiderpaw felt a rush of relief down his pelt. "I guess you're right," he admitted. "But we still need to find these kits well before sundown. I wouldn't want you to miss your first Gathering as a full warrior."
"Me neither," she admitted. "But I'm going hunting with Ryepelt straight after, and I want to have time."
Briartail began to pad forwards and out of the camp, signalling to Spiderpaw with her tail to follow her lead. "I feel like there hasn't been a full moon for ages."
The two cats were well beyond the camp border now. Briartail's silver muzzle was planted in the ground as she took several whiffs from the ground. "They have definitely been this way," she murmured. "And their scents are getting stronger too."
"The reason they haven't returned yet is probably because they got lost," Spiderpaw added. "They wouldn't want to disobey the Clan, and they haven't been out of the camp this far."
Briartail rolled her eyes, continuing to move forwards as she spoke. "They should have known Echostar would turn them into crowfood for leaving the camp."
Spiderpaw scanned the clearing. "If we run into her and Cometcloud, they'll want to know what we're doing."
"We can just say we were hunting too."
Spiderpaw nodded, feeling sort of stupid for not realising that would have been an option. "That works," he muttered.
"Hey," Briartail suddenly whispered, bending down closer to the ground and flowing her tail over Spiderpaw's mouth. "Can you hear that?"
At first, Spiderpaw heard nothing but silence. He pricked his ears quickly into the air, focusing until he picked up the sound of the voice of a young male kit.
"Follow that sound!" Briartail whispered, gently slamming her paws against the forest floor as she broke into speed. Spiderpaw followed her, and although he tried to be quiet like his sister, his paws continued to hit dried leaves on the floor, sending cracks into the air.
"They're close now," Briartail muttered. "Just listen."
Spiderpaw could hear the quiet noise which seemed to be echoing from afar. His pelt tore as the words went through his head, and panic surged beneath him.
"Heronkit! Wake up, please!"
Briartail quickly turned to lock eyes with him before pacing off into a sprint. Spiderpaw raced after the silver she-cat, staggering over several logs as he caught up.
Briartail stopped abruptly as she reached a thick wad of trees. Spiderpaw's lungs heaved as he caught his breath and sat besides Briartail.
"Heronkit!"
Briartail seemed to be glancing around the clearing, wondering what direction the sound was echoing from. He watched until her vision froze to the left of them, and her ears dipped back slowly. "I can't see where they could be," she admitted. "The sound is definitely coming from here."
"Come on, Heronkit!"
Spiderpaw swung his head forewards. "They must be in the rockpile," he whispered, using his head to push Briartail's towards the large heap of rocks in the clearing. Spiderpaw examined the boulders. They were nothing new, and in fact Spiderpaw had used them several times to reach leaves from the trees that grew around so they could be used as herbs.
"What if they're trapped inside the rocks?"
"Relax, furball," Briartail snapped. "They aren't newborn anymore. If they could squeeze between the gaps in the rocks, we can too."
"I can't see how you can be so sure," Spiderpaw murmured, following Briartail as she padded softly towards the rockpile. He could hear the kits clearly now, although they weren't speaking. Spiderpaw could hear them so well that he recognised Heronkit's panicked breathing through the holes. He watched as Briartail examined the rocks before approaching a narrow dip. She bent her body low to the ground and began to push herself inside. Instinctively, Spiderpaw bent down to her level and gave her a shove down her lower back, and before he could tell she was through the hole.
"I can't believe this!"
Spiderpaw felt a cold wave of panic down his pelt. He heaved his body into the space, kicking himself forwards with his back paws. He thought he was stuck for a moment until Briartail leaned towards him and pulled him into the space in which she sat.
In the darkness, he could see both Dustkit and Heronkit, their eyes both wide with panic. Heronkit was especially scared, her tail was fluffed up and her ears were flattened. Dustkit on the other hand couldn't meet the eyes of Briartail nor Spiderpaw, and sat in shame staring at the floor.
"Now what do you think you were doing?" Briartail hissed. "Do you know how worried Echostar would have been if she came back in time to be told her kits were gone? Have you forgotten that you're meant to stay in camp?"
Neither of the kits said anything. Heronkit looked down, breathing quickly for a few moments before letting out a wail of panic. Spiderpaw send a mean side-glance at his sister.
"Briartail didn't mean to hurt your feelings," he began, but Dustkit interrupted him, his tail suddenly bushing. "We weren't doing anything bad," he squealed. "Heronkit wanted to take a nap before she returned, so she did."
"No, I don't want a nap!" Heronkit yelled, her light voice croaking. "I don't want to nap ever again!"
Spiderpaw narrowed her eyes, and he noticed that Briartail was doing the same thing. "Why don't you want to nap?"
Heronkit's wailing stopped for a second, and she dipped her head reluctantly. "I don't want to tell you."
Briartail bent her head down. "I didn't mean to snap at you, I was worried. Now, why don't you want to nap?"
Spiderpaw was impressed that Briartail wasn't losing her patience with the kitten. He could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn't as apologetic as she made herself out to be, but he was convinced this was information the kits didn't need to know.
"Did you have a bad dream?"
Heronkit finally met her eyes. She flicked her ears up slightly, and let the hairs on her pelt slide down as she nodded sadly.
"What did you dream about?"
Heronkit backed away.
"She wouldn't even tell me," Dustkit complained. "First we go on a huge adventure and discover the Shadowstone, and then she won't even tell me about her rest."
"The shadow-what?" Spiderpaw repeated.
"The Shadowstone," Dustkit meowed. "Look."
He glanced in the direction in which Dustkit indicated. In the far end of the space did Spiderpaw see a towering, gloomy charcoal black boulder, which gazed into them.
"Cool, right?"
Briartail nodded, not taking her eyes off the boulder. "What made you think this was a good place to nap?"
Dustkit shrugged his shoulders. "This was going to be our nest now."
Briartail's fur was bristling suddenly. "You'll want to stay nesting in this cave when Echostar kicks you out of the Clan!"
Spiderpaw saw Heronkit tense up, her fur flicking on end like little spikes. "You don't really mean that, do you?"
Spiderpaw stepped forwards, glancing at his sister as if to warn her off. "No, she doesn't."
"Whatever," Briartail interrupted. "Let's go back to camp. But if any warrior catches either of you out of camp without permission ever, there shall be serious consequences. Do you understand?"
Both Heronkit and Dustkit hung their heads in shame. "Yes Briartail," they muttered.