Warriors: Danger Rising ~Series 2 Book 3~

Chapter 15

Nutwhisker's POV:

"Nutwhisker..." Skystar's sickly sweet voice echoed around him. "Where are you?" She sang as she paced around the misty undergrowth.

Nutwhisker cowered behind a clump of ferns, his eyes shut and ears flattened as he tried to block out the voice of the hallucination of his mother. It's not real. She's not real. He willed himself to believe his own words but no matter how hard he tried, the fear was too much. His breath came in short gasps and his chest heaved. His light brown tabby fur bristled in fright as Skystar drew closer.

Her snow white fur was visible on the other side of the ferns, her burning green gaze staring angrily around her as she searched for Nutwhisker. "Come out Nutwhisker... I promise I won't bite." Her voice was smooth like silk but dripped with toxic-filled hate.

Nutwhisker pushed himself further against the ferns, trying not to make a sound. Unfortunately, his tail accidentally swept against some dry leaves and a loud rustling sound echoed around him. Skystar's green eyes fixed on him through the ferns and she flashed him a toothy grin. "What have we got here?" She chuckled and crept around the ferns.

As she emerged completely, her pelt blurred slightly and changed in colour. Green markings appeared on her body and a thick green furred fringe hung down on her face. Her moon, claw and rain drop keychains twinkled and clicked together as her thick green and white tail swished behind her. "You've been a bad little kit, Nutwhisker." She purred, eyes now a bright gold. "Now it's time for your punishment!" She unsheathed her claws and raised them up to slice Nutwhisker's muzzle.

"No!" Nutwhisker cried, backing away. Tears blurred his vision as he stared up at his mother. She brought her claws down and just as they were about to slice his muzzle open he jolted awake in his nest, panting and gasping.

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Flamefur's POV:

The sun had just set when Flamefur crept out of the medicine den tunnel. Her bad leg ached as she forced herself to stalk low to the ground as she emerged into the darkness of camp. She was going to see Metalclaw.

The moon was covered with clouds that night so the forest was darker than usual. Even the dark rippling mass of water on the other side of camp didn't reflect the moon's light as it usually did. Flamefur frowned sadly as she stared up at the star-less sky. "Please, Starclan, don't lose hope in us."

Her plea was answered only by a sudden pick up in the breeze. The warm greenleaf air whipped around her, tugging at her golden pelt. Flamefur stared around her as leaves fell from the trees, rushing into camp. Just as Flamefur was about to answer, there was a sudden squawk of a seagull above her head. She looked up to see a pile of red feathers falling from the sky. It landed close to Flamefur, only a tail-length away. She narrowed her eyes and edged closer to the feathers.

Flamefur inspected the blood-red feathers to discover that it was a dead seagull. It's feathers were stained red- but not by blood- in fact it looked like the bird had been born this way. With red feathers. Flamefur silently looked around her to see the camp was completely empty. She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned closer to the bird, brushing her paw against its eyelid. The lid twitched open to reveal glowing white eyes. Her suspicions had been confirmed. This bird is an omen. It represents NoName.

But why had the omen been sent to her and what did it mean? Flamefur brushed her paw against the feathers and cringed when the strong smell of burning flesh met her nose. She quickly pushed away some of the chest feathers to see the dead bird had been burned by fire. Fire? What could it mean?

Then, a vision flashed before her. She saw Stormstar facing NoName boldly, his paws engulfed in flames. The two cats growled at each other before propelling themselves forwards. NoName's claws reached for Stormstar as they lunged for each other and trendils of her shadows launched themselves for him. Stormstar threw a burst of flames at the shadows before they could reach him and knocked NoName down.

Flamefur blinked as the vision ended abruptly, followed by a soft voice. "Cure the storms of insanity and the cat of no name shall perish by his fire."

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