The Path (A Warrior Cat Story) (Book 2)

Chapter 18: You must find them

I laid myself to rest, I had knew that it was not safe in twoleg places. I knew that some owners often let their dogs out in the yard. This place had a fence though, and the home looked like it had not been used it quite some time. We had gotten here so late in the night as well.
I looked over at Oister, she was already asleep, but she was coughing her lungs out. I needed to find a cure soon, I hoped that any night Jayfeather would come into my dreams and teach me what it was that I needed. I could tell day by day Oister was getting worse and worse.
We had forgot the medicine a while ago, but in the end that would only help the suffering last a little longer. I could feel the pain radiating from her body, I felt bad for her. Kettle must be so worried about her, he must not be asleep quite yet.
He will fall asleep soon, the night's of little rest would soon catch up to him. I felt bad for him though, I trusted Kettle but even for me, it would be hard to let him go out alone with Mint with the situation that they were both in. Mint was healing, I could see it though.
But just as Mint was beginning to heal, it seemed like there was going to be something else to slow us down. It had not been slowing us down too much like Mint had, but if it got any worse. Soon she would just like Mint, or she may die. I could tell that the cats I had seen in my dream knew what it was that the kits had, they knew that it was going to kill their kits.
I had to get there soon, not just for the kits, but to also save Oister. If we lost Oister, we would lose Kettle as well. Whether it be him leaving us physically or him leaving as in the mental sense. I needed help, I needed to find out, what it was that would save all of them.
I did not understand, was I not meant to save the kits? Was I not meant to save Oister? Had we gone all this way for a pointless hope? They took me in the dream to see the cats, but they had not given me a vision to see what it was that I could save them with.
I could not lose faith in Starclan, even I knew that. They always knew what was for the best. I shivered as I looked over to Oister. She was not shivering at all, in fact she seemed to be burning. I felt bad for her. I needed to speak to Starclan, they would help me... Help me find the path...
I closed my eyes and did my best to get a little bit of sleep. I was so tired already, it easily caught up to me, as I fell into a deep rest within just a few more moments of thinking to myself.

I woke up, I was in a dream. But it was not a dream about Starclan. I knew the places that I was at when Starclan came to talk to me. No... Where I was, I was somewhere deep in the twolegs nest. All around me I could see fences from what seemed to go on forever.
I shivered, I wanted to get out of hear. Maybe when we woke up in the morning I would tell Oister that we needed to leave. I hated thinking back on the old times when I used to live in one of these places. I shook my head and looked around to scan my surroundings.
I didn't recognize where I was at, was this where the cats and their kits were supposed to be at? I could not smell the lake anymore as I sniffed into the air. This seemed like a completely different area than I remembered. I must be in another place this was not right.
I then heard coughing from the other side of the fence that was behind me. As I turned around I realized that it was not a fence at all. In fact it was a completely broken down twoleg den. The walls that were supposed to be there, had several large holes in it, the place looked as if it were about to fall into shambles.
I heard the coughing once again, this time it was a kit coughing. I then heard several more kits cough as I leaned in a little bit closer. I then heard one of the cats begin to talk. I tried my best to hear what it was that the cat was trying to say. It was a she cat I could tell by the sound in her voice.
"Piper... We don't have much longer, Sneeze is on death's bed. We need to take the kits somewhere safe." I heard the she cat say to her mate. I realized the exact place that it was coming from, and then I began to walk towards the room that they were in.
Once I was in I looked around to see what was in the room with me. At first I did not see anything, but when I turned my head to the right side of the room, I could see 2 large cats with 4 much smaller kits laying beside them, they looked helpless. I felt bad for the kits, but in a weird way I felt even more bad for the parents.
I could not imagine what they must be going through right now. I knew that Oister must be going through the same sort of pain right now. But for the kits it was on a much larger scale, they were young and their body could not handle all that was going on with them right now.
"Storm... We have to keep hope, the cat, he was there the other day... He said he would find us. Don't you think that was starclan that told you that? Your parents used to tell you stories about them, I believe that they were real.
I looked at him, and I nodded, he was right. I looked back over at the mother, as she began coughing, a little bit of blood spit out of her face and the tom, that her mate looked at her sadly and moved closer towards her to try and make her feel better.
It did not seem to do much luck, as the she cat kind of pushed him off of her. I looked at the Tom, I could tell that he was in a lot of pain right now, he did not know what to think. He must be feeling like he was clinging to a false sense of hope.
"Starclan left us... There were clans, my mother told me about them. The cats above, they left us to die... Just like they are doing right now." She said, hissing, not really at him, but more at what it was that she was thinking about in her head.
I looked at the poor cats, the she cat looked to be in worse condition than the rest of kits. But she was still holding on to the best of her ability. I then looked over at the kits, I felt bad for them as well. They were less than a moon old, they did not know what was going on.
"Storm... If he is not here by tomorrow, we will let them go. I don't want to, but if that is the right decision, and it will save them, than we will have to make that hard choice." Piper said back to her. She looked at him for a few moments, and then she nodded to him, before she lowered her head to the ground.
Then she moved herself a bit closer to the kits, as the began drinking from her breast. This must he how she got the sickness, last time I had seen her, she had not been anywhere near this ill. I looked at the kits sadly. I then realized I had not said anything, they did not know I was in the room.
"Hey! I am here, I'm almost there! Don't give up... Where are you guys? I am near the lake." I said to them. At first it seemed like they had heard me. They both looked over at me a bit scared, but then I realized that it was just a rat that was walking through the room.
I looked at the ground a bit sadly, why was Starclan doing this to us? One dream they could hear and see me perfectly fine, but then another they wont help us at all. I shook my head as I then looked over the Tom as he began hissing. He then ran over at me, I dodged him last moments.
I turned around, had he seen me? Did he think that I was going to attack his kits? But then I realized that he had just ran after the rat that was on the far side of the room. He tore it open easily, it was a bit of a smaller rat. Then he through it out of the room after he had killed it.
"These rats must have been the reason that we got sick..." Piper said, walking back over to his mate. She looked at him for a few moments, wondering if it could possibly be true, then she looked back over at her kits a bit sadly.
She then ghasped, I once again wondered if they had noticed that I was in the room finally, but then I realized that she was not looking anywhere near me. She was looking down at one of her kits, and I could see the pain on her face, she looked afraid at the same time as well.
"No! Sneeze..." She began saying. She was looking at one of her kits. The kit was not moving, she did not look to be breathing either. Meanwhile the other kits were drinking the milk from their mothers breast. Piper walked over to her I could see the pain that was on his face as well.
"I'm sorry Storm, you were right... We were clinging to a false hope. We can't let our other kits die, we have to let them go in the morning." He said to his mate. I looked at the poor young tom cat sadly. I could tell that he was gone, be was not moving or breathing.
I looked at the ground sadly, I should have gone to help them before I had gone to see Youngtail... This was all my fault, if I found the cats I don't think that they could ever forgive me. I then heard another cat walking into the room, the others did not seem to hear it.
It was too late for me though, maybe the kits were just not destined to be a part of the clans. I turned around to see what cat it was that was coming into the room with us. I then noticed that it was Jayfeather. He was walking in with a more happy face, much unlike the rest of us.
With him was a small little kit, the same kit that's dead body was laying on the ground with the other cats, looking helpless. But this version of the kit, I could slightly see through it, and it had stars on its pelt like the rest of the starclan cats.
Jayfeather looked at me for a few moments, and then he nodded. I was about to say something to him, some sort of apology for being too late, but he just kept on walking right past me, with the small little kit laying by his side, following him.
They walked over to the kits dead body, then Jayfeather nudged against it, he began to smile. As he looked over to the starclan kit that was standing beside him, he began to talk to the little kit, as the kit looked at him, nodding to every word that he was saying.
"Go back home little kit, this is not the end for you." He said to the kit. The kit looked at him for a few moments, then he smiled at Jayfeather, before he eventually nodded to him. I looked at the cats as they stared at each other for a few more moments.
It was all silence, I waited for either one to talk. The cats that were sitting there beside them seemed not to notice at all, they were already in to a deep sleep. The kit then began talking to Jayfeather, he nodded to me notifying me that he knew I was in the room with him.
"Thank you Jayfeather, you have taught me so much in the little time that we had together." The kit said back to him. I looked at the kit a bit surprised to see that it was even talking at such a young age.
None the less talking, it seemed like it was already talking like it was a wise old elder cat. I looked back at the kit and I nodded to him. He smiled at me, and then he looked back at Jayfeather as Jayfeather began smiling as well.
Then he the kit jumped into the dead version of his body and he seemed to disappear, I looked a bit surprised and a bit confused. Then the kit pulled itself up, and began drinking from its mothers milk just like the other kits that were with him.
"He found us, because his father had faith. His father taught them, believe it or not, kits do listen to what you are saying, all it takes is a little bit of hope Moon." He said turning back over to me. I looked back at Jayfeather for a few moments, I was still a bit surprised at what I had just witnessed unfold in front of me.
I looked at Jayfeather, I still was not sure what to say back to him, words could not express what I was thinking in my head right now. I just looked him right in the eyes, and I nodded to him. After a few more moments, I finally managed to come back to my senses and speak to the medicine cat.
"Thank you Jayfeather... You have taught me so much. Much like the other starclan cats. I will use what you have taught me to the best of my ability. I will not let you all down." I said to Jayfeather. Jayfeather looked at me for a few moments, and then he nodded, almost as if he was nodding to himself.
He then turned away and began to look through the cracks in the roof of the twoleg den, looking at the small section of the stars. One of the stars gleamed, but I did not think too much about it. Jayfeather then looked back over to me and he nodded to me.
"Moon... You do not have much longer, your destiny is going to arrive soon. The kits, are a part of that path, you must find them."