Warriors: Troubled Tides ~Series 2 Book 2~

Chapter 6

Flamefur's POV:

Flamefur woke up in her nest with a smile on her lips. It was not even dawn yet. The sun hadn't risen. Flamefur yawned, stretched and crawled out of her nest. That night NoName had soothed Flamefur, telling her that Strike, Tyler and Flare would be punished for killing Greenstare. If Flamefur had been paying enough attention, she would've seen that NoName was lying. But she had been too upset to think about that. All she wanted was comfort and safety away from the three winged cats and that's what NoName provided. For some reason, Flamefur felt safe with the red furred evil she cat. Her glowing white eyes held warmth to them and she offered soothing words to Flamefur.

Shaking her thoughts away, Flamefur trotted into the main clearing to see Dawnheart and Blackleap were already awake and sitting by the fresh-kill pile. She padded over to them and sat down beside Dawnheart as the deputy bit into a day-old mouse. "Good morning." She greeted cheerfully.

"What's made you so happy?" Blackleap snorted. "I never see you so cheerful!"

Flamefur rolled her eyes, "I just had a good dream."

"Lucky." Blackleap muttered. "My dream was about Blizzardstorm becoming deputy."

"How is that bad?" Dawnheart meowed over a mouthful of mouse.

"I want to be deputy!" The black tom replied. "But Stormstar won't choose me because I'm his son."

"I thought that he would choose you as deputy because your his son." Flamefur meowed.

"Not my father." Blackleap sighed.

"Oh well," Dawnheart shrugged. "Not everyone can be deputy."

"Yeah." Flamefur agreed softly, her gaze darting around camp to see if anyone else was awake. "Who's on dawn patrol?"

"I'll be leading it." Dawnheart meowed as she buried the bones of her mouse. "You and Blackleap and come with me. It doesn't need to be a big patrol, we won't be doing much." Then she added, "And I'm sure Smallclan won't attack us. They seem to be pretty peaceful."

"I guess so." Blackleap rose to his paws and shook out his dark fur. His ice blue eyes glowing slightly in the darkness as he trotted toward the camp entrance. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Wait for me!" Iceheart yowled as she stumbled out of the warriors den, shaking bits of moss from her pelt. "I'm coming too!"

Blackleap groaned in annoyance, "Not you!"

Iceheart rolled her eyes at her brother. "Oh shut up." She brushed past Blackleap, her white fur still ruffled from sleep.

Dawnheart chuckled, "Alright Iceheart you can come. But if you squabble with Blackleap I'll have to send you both back to camp."

Blackleap growled, "Why me as well? It's not my fault she decided to come along!"

"No, but you also need to learn not to constantly argue with your sister." Dawnheart reasoned before turning to Flamefur to use her as an example. "Do you fight with Tigerstripe?"

"Of course not!" Flamefur meowed, shocked at the thought of arguing with her brother.

"See?" Dawnheart meowed, turning back to Blackleap. "Be more like Flamefur." Blackleap shot Flamefur a glare and she grinned, sticking her tongue out at him.

________________________

Silvershy's POV:

Long before dawn and deep in her dreams, Silvershy pelted through choking darkness. "Help! Help me!" The blinding black was everywhere. She could barely see her own paws as she raced through the never-ending dark. The sounds of pounding pawsteps sounded closer behind her, signalling that her pursuer was getting closer.

The hot breath of the dog bathed her tail and Silvershy forced her paws to move quicker. It's only a dream. It's only a dream... She tried to imagine herself away from the terrible place, but her mind couldn't focus. It only a dream.... It's only a... nightmare..

Silvershy yowled again, praying to Starclan that someone would save her. "Help!"

Pain seized her tail and she was yanked backwards, falling flat on her belly. She twisted around to see the dog latched onto her tail, its sharp jaws biting deep into her flesh. She yowled and kicked at the dog's muzzle but it wouldn't budge. Its paws lunged for her, holding her down. Silvershy cried in panic and terror.

Within a blink of an eye the dog vanished and Silvershy lay shivering on the ground, alone ans frightened. After a few moments of whimpering, she finally realised that the dog was no longer there and she struggled to her paws and looked around in confusion. Her tail stung and she flicked it toward her face to see it was bleeding.

A soft chuckle echoed around Silvershy, "Having fun?"

Silvershy tensed and stared into thw darkness, panic itching at her pelt. "Who's there?" She demanded

"Oh, just your typical nightmare." The voice held an seductive purr to it. Silvershy felt herself being drawn towards the darkness and in the direction of the voice. Her paws were no longer in cooperation with her mind. They seemed to have a mind of their own, padding softly toward the voice.

"Yes.... Come to me, little warrior." The voice purred again, growing closer and closer until Silvershy spotted a pair of glowing white eyes. She finally forced herself to snap out of the trance and pelted away from the glowing eyes, not stopping until she was certain she was far enough away from it. Silvershy sat down, darkness still surrounding her. She panted slightly from the run.

"Did you have a nice run?" The voice appeared again.

Silvershy jolted to her paws again, fur bristling. "Show yourself!"

"Why should I?"

"So I can report you to Stormstar." Silvershy growled, fighting off her terror.

"Ah, a clever one. I could use you."

Silvershy paced closer to the voice, but kept her distance. "Use me? For what?"

"Just some things I need done." The voice replied short and simply.

"What things?" Silvershy was trying to get information about this she cat to tell Stormstar, but so far it didn't seem to be working.

This time the voice took a while to reply. For a moment, Silvershy thought it had left but suddenly the glowing white eyes were back, glaring less then a mouse-length from her muzzle. Swirls of black mist swarmed around Silvershy and she shivered, backing away slowly. She instinctively crouched low and bared her teeth in a fierce hiss as the she cat spoke.

"Enough! If you must tell Stormstar something, tell him that his worst fears are about to come true! Tell him that an evil so powerful is approaching that the only way to stop it is to run! Tell him that the cat of no names shall be his doom!"

_____________________