W h e r e C r o w s F l y || A Warriors Fanfiction

C H A P T E R 3

Sleep is easy. You close your eyes, relax, and fall into a transe of nothingness. There is an occasional image that shows up in your brain. Formed by fear or love. What about hate and happiness? You have happiness with love. Hate with fear. StarClan can interrupt your peaceful nothingness to bother you with some prophecies or messages, omens or tales of fate. Tonight, however, my sleep was interrupted by... I do not even know. The purr of another cat seeing a lovely image instead of nothingness in their sleep? Or a hiss because of fear? Or maybe I decided that it was time to wake up, do something. Maybe, just maybe, StarClan woke me up to show me something important? I do not recall having a dream.

I am thinking too much. I never tell any cat of my thoughts. What would they think? Leave me? Or not care at all?

Anyway, I rise, leaving the warriors' den. I even leave camp, therefore leaving the safety of the mountains through the Passage of Peaks. The night is lovely, and the moon is going to be full in a couple of sunsets. Most likely next sunset. Which means that the Gathering is at moonhigh tomorrow. Ah, the things the other two Clans will hear. Death, blood, more blood, more death.

I am heading to... I don't even know. I save my head from staring at the green grass by lifting it up. In front of me I see ancient roots pulled out from the ground, hear rushing water, smell wet dirt. The Tree Bridge. I leap up onto the great trunk, cautiously making my way to the other bank. My head is back down, facing the grass. My paws move without myself telling them to, I'm just letting them lead me to wherever.

Soon I find myself at the top of a pile of pale yellow stone. Rubble. StarClan's Hollow... No, it isn't the place where the Clans go to meet StarClan. It isn't even a place where StarClan has control. It's quite the opposite of StarClan, actually. Just... A giant hole made by some deity that isn't StarClan. Some large caves are in the actual gigantic dip in the ground. Odd place. I hate the feeling that I get when I visit this place, it doesn't feel... Protected. Right. Safe.

A rock falls from a mound across the pit. I'm not alone... They probably saw me. But I don't smell anything... They must be disguised. Mud or fox droppings. Or water? It isn't far from the river running through PeakClan territory. The wind is blowing their way, not my way, too, and I have no disguise.

My paws don't let my brain decide as I descend down the stone into the moonlit place. Some weeds are miraculously growing from cracks in the stone, hanging onto the concept of life. I feel something wet on my paw pads. Just a bit of stickiness. I lick my paw, letting the metallic taste merge with my saliva. My paw pads are cracked. This... Is not normal. PeakClan cats usually have very rough paw pads that rarely crack because we walk on stone a lot. They do crack once in a while... But mine have been cracking more often recently.

I haven't yet realized that I am right at the bottom of the pit right now. I can feel that my eyes are staring into nowhere.

And so my attacker takes their chance from behind. I can feel claws sinking into my back as my stomach crashes onto the stone. Pain comes from my forehead and blood flows into my eyes, so I close them. It hurts, but I can not do anything about it. Smart strategy for blinding the victim, as the attacker flips me onto my back and pauses. I am not fighting back. I guess that would confuse one.

Taking the chance, I kick out with my hind legs, throwing out my paws, claws unsheathed, into where I can sense the attacker. As I pin my attacker down, I can feel by the size and lash of the tail that they're a cat. I hear a quiet huff. Potential surprise. Probably surprise, as I did that while blinded. I am, too, surprised by what I was able to do. I'm a hunter, not a fighter, yet... Maybe I don't get the chance to fight much and see how good or bad I am at it.

The cat quickly digs their teeth into my neck. Too much thinking can be very bad. Is very bad. I fall onto my right side. I relax, stiffen myself, and stay as still as I could. Pain. Pain shapes you. Pain makes you who you are. Pain makes you stronger. So I will stay still, paralyzed in my pain. The cat's teeth leave my throat. They nudge my body with a paw, making sure that I am dead. I however, am definitely not dead. Although I may be soon, if the dawn patrol does not find me.

After a while, the blood on my head dries and I open my eyes. Slowly, to make sure that the attacker is gone. They are. I barely lift myself from the ground, getting into a crouching position. The wound on my throat shifts and more blood flows from it. I feel light-headed, so I try to move quickly towards a tiny hollow in the stone. I collect cobwebs on my paw and stick them to the bite. Curling up, I put my tail under my throat so that if blood gets through the cobwebs, my fur will still... Press it in? Collect it? It shall do for now. I can only hope that the dawn patrol finds me.

I realize that I've been staring at the stars for some time. I close my eyes, and let myself faint, or fall asleep. Whichever one will put my out of my pain. Temporarily, not permanently. Permanently would be death...

~~~~~~~~~~
Short chapter, but I'm currently working on another book! And I realized that I probably should update this since... Well, I guess I can't get reads on books if they aren't updated much and are unfinished.