Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 98

For the past quarter moon Honeypool had been plagued by dreams where she searched fruitlessly for something. Worse, she never knew what it was she was searching for. During the day it left her restless and unable to focus. She roamed camp and the meadow but there was no easing the urgency that tugged incessantly at her. Then the dreams changed.

Honeypool dreamed of holes: open and ominous pits of darkness. Yet, she felt no fear for from them came the sounds of happy, excited kits. No matter how she called them, the kits never appeared. Nor could she follow them. These dreams caused nothing but confusion.

StarClan, what do they mean?

Never before had the young medicine cat been so bewildered by StarClan. No matter how much the dreams consumed her thoughts, no answer came to her. She awoke at dawn after a fitful night's sleep. Her nest looked worse than any rat's all tangled grass and scattered feathers. The normally tidy medicine cat had given up trying to keep it in order.

Honeypool gave herself a few brisk licks though her mind felt cloudy as her latest dream clung as stubbornly as any burr. At the height of greenleaf there were no pressing matters she had to attend to, and she may have stayed brooding in her nest indefinitely if she hadn't been interrupted.

"Good morning, Honeypool!" Hawkstar chirped as he entered her den.

Honeypool blinked, drawn out of her thoughts by the arrival of her leader. "Good morning, Hawkstar." She responded automatically but her mew sounded hollow even to her own ears.

Hawkstar cocked his head and studied her with a concerned look in his amber eyes. "Is everything alright?"

Honeypool gave an abrupt nod. "Everything's fine. I just haven't been sleeping well lately, is all."

"I'm always here if you need to talk. I may not have a personal relationship with StarClan like yours, but I am still the leader of this Clan and I care deeply about all of my Clanmates, including you. Honeypool. I know exactly how it feels to have the weight of responsibility land squarely on your shoulders. But you're not alone and I'd like to help, if I can." Hawkstar gently placed his tail on Honeypool's shoulder.

Honeypool was warmed by Hawkstar's compassion. "Thank you, Hawkstar. I'll keep that in mind. Now, how can I help you this morning?"

"Brightwhisker and I are caring for the elders today. I'm here for some mouse bile."

"Coming right up!" Honeypool fetched the foul substance and gave it to Hawkstar.

She followed him out as he left her den. To her surprise, the camp was quiet. The patrols had gone out for the day, the elders were sunning themselves on the Meeting Stone and the kits-

Were nowhere to be found!

Normally, all of the kits would be tearing around camp at full speed and volume by now. It wasn't like them to be out of sight and sound, especially not Riverkit. As one of the older kits, she usually led the others in games and mischief. So where were they? Honeypool headed for the nursery to find out.

Stonesplash and Wildbloom were sharing tongues outside the nursery.

"Good morning, Honeypool!" Wildbloom chirped, pausing to greet the medicine cat.

"Morning!" Honeypool cast Stonesplash a curious look. "What are you doing here?"

"Swanflight went on her first patrol today, so I volunteered to help watch the kits," Stonesplash explained.

Right! She had heard about the decision for all the warriors to share kit watching duties. GrassClan was small but growing. With all of the kits weaned now it made sense to rotate their care between warriors. This way it would free as many warriors for duty as possible and made caring for the Clan easier overall.

"Speaking of the kits, where are they?" Honeypool asked, once more looking around the seemingly kit-less camp.

"Playing hide and seek," Wildbloom meowed.

"You mean they chose to play a quiet game for once?"

"We weren't about to argue."

"Makes our day that much easier," Stonesplash meowed, rolling to scratch his broad shoulders and expose his white belly to the sun.

Wildbloom exchanged an amused look with Honeypool.

"For now," Wildbloom conceded. "I'm sure the kits will get up to something later."

Reassured that her fears were unfounded, Honeypool left Wildbloom and Stonesplash to enjoy the rest of their morning.

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Honeypool's restlessness had returned. She was just on her way out of camp when she saw a small ginger tail whisk behind the apprentice den. Curious, she followed. She was just about to round the den wall when Sunkit stumbled to a halt in front of her.

"Oops!" Sunkit squeaked. "Sorry, Honeypool!"

"What were you doing back there, Sunkit?" Honeypool asked.

"Waiting for Smokekit."

"Waiting for Smokekit?" Honeypool echoed, confused. "Where is he?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm waiting for him to come back."

"Waiting for him to come back?" Honeypool felt a spike of alarm. "Where did he-" She didn't get to finish the question as a cry of alarm echoed through camp.

Honeypool rounded the apprentice den back towards the main clearing. Hareflight had returned from dawn patrol and was with the four other warriors that had been in camp. Even from this distance she could see spiked fur and raised tails in alarm.

"What's happening?" Sunkit asked, popping up between Honeypool's forepaws.

"I don't know but let's find out," Honeypool meowed.

As the medicine cat and kit approached, Hawkstar gave out orders and four of the five warriors, save for Hareflight, raced out of camp.

"Trouble?" Honeypool asked.

"It appears that four of our kits snuck out of camp this morning. The others are out looking for them now," Hareflight explained.

Honeypool gasped. Then she realized something. "How did they get out of camp?"

Hareflight shook his head. "We don't know."

"I found Sunkit behind the apprentice den and she told me she was waiting for Smokekit to come back."

"Show me!"

Sunkit led the warrior and the medicine cat to the back of the apprentice den, but it was too narrow for either of them to fit or get a good look.

'This is how your denmates snuck out?" Hareflight asked Sunkit.

Sunkit nodded. "Smokekit only left to try and bring the others back."

Hareflight sighed. "This would have been helpful to know before the others left." He exchanged a look with Honeypool, her own fear reflected back at her.

Together, they returned to the nursery, the other kits subdued by the situation.

Honeypool sent a silent prayer to StarClan. Please bring our kits safely home.