ColdClan: Sky Of Blood [2]

6. Sunstorm

The posse of cats wandered out of the shelter of the camp, watched by their worrying clanmates. Tales of the Brightplace were often told to frighten kits to keep away from twolegs, and even though many of the more fearful cats were now adults, their worries were not for nothing. With so many predators all in one place, Sunstorm knew her group would have to be more careful than ever.

Bringing up the rear of the group alongside her friend Stagfoot, the young cat trod carefully on the crumbling rocks of the mountain. Though sure-footed, her fear of slipping was inevitable as she guessed that with one stumble, she could fall to her death. There had been a strange quiet descended on the group since they'd left, and she could only put it down to their fear. Mudstar led at the front, alone and independent, followed by Spidertail who was guiding Mistheart on the safest route. Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, Sunstorm laid eyes on Spidertail's lanky body and watched him momentarily as he assisted Mistheart to stop her from falling. His kindness made her warm a little inside, knowing that she was friends with someone so gentle. 

With HeatClan land quickly coming into sight as the trees at the base of the mountain got more sparse, Mudstar began to slow down and allow his clanmates to catch up with him. The cats moved together in a small, tight formation as they approached the border, worried that a HeatClan attack could happen at any moment.

To their surprise, no attack came. Instead, a solemn cat appeared on his own, clearly meaning no harm to them. They still stopped at the edge of the border out of courtesy, though they could have easily overpowered the cat if they had wished.

"Mudstar." he said in recognition, with little emotion whatsoever. 

"Mintstep," Mudstar responded. "We were just coming this way to-"

He was cut off by the large tom taking a step to the side, moving away from blocking their path. "Cloudstar has decreed that any ColdClan cat can pass through our borders." Though Mintstep wasn't attacking them, Sunstorm could tell in his tone that he wasn't particularly happy about letting a group of strangers walk through his territory. 

"Tell Cloudstar thank you from me, and also let him know that we are passing through to reach the Brightplace. We're investigating further for him." 

Clearly no more words needed to be said, as with one final firm nod, the cat disappeared back towards the hidden thickets of the HeatClan den. With flat, dry ground ahead of them, the cats could make much better progress now.

Filing into one line, Sunstorm couldn't help but feel watched, as though round every thicket there was a HeatClan cat coughing up furballs over the fact they had been allowed to walk freely through their land. It made her smirk a little. Those hot-blooded, quick-tempered fools should be thankful to them -- they were the ones doing the work for them. 

Trudging on in near silence, save from the occasional reminder from Stagfoot to watch her step, the group make quick progress in their journey. They soon had left behind the plains of the HeatClan territory and there on the horizon like the rising sun sat the Brightplace. It was unlike anything Sunstorm had ever seen before, and her eyes widened in response as they drew to a halt. Tall, strange blocks protruded in the sky, their drab colourings making them look unnatural. Sunstorm wondered what the twolegs could use such massive rocks for. Even with some distance, she could hear the roar of the monsters, and it sounded like more than she'd ever seen in one place before. Even more strangely, what she'd originally passed off as birds flew over the skies and landed in the midst of the Brightplace, but did not flap their wings. Never had she seen something so odd, and her eyes darted around in a mad attempt to take it all in. 

"Don't get too distracted," muttered Stagfoot from a little behind her. "You don't know what's lurking behind these corners."

Leaping up onto a fence, Mudstar still led the way, but the group moved as one unit to protect themselves... and each other. They were on the very outskirts of the Brightplace still, but they could now see bustling twolegs going about their business. Sunstorm watched, a little amused as they went in and out of what she guessed were their dens. One female twoleg rocked a smaller twoleg kit to sleep, whilst another was sat upon some weird, moving contraption that had two spinning circles underneath. Sunstorm's head swirled with the movement of the circles and she quickly became dizzy, digging her claws into the wood of the fence.