Falconpaw dragged his paws through the thick snow, grumbling as the snow clung to his pelt. He despised the snow, it made hunting hard and stuck to his pelt. He was constantly shivering and his paws burned. With stinging ear tips, Falconpaw trudged through the snow beside Cherryleaf.
He glanced at his mentor who had a look of intense concern on her face. Throughout the entire journey, Cherryleaf had a look of fear in her eyes and Falconpaw couldn't place what it was. He was concerned for Cherryleaf, but he couldn't get her to tell him what was going on. They had been travelling for several days now, and he just wanted to stop. He missed his home and he missed sleeping in the apprentice den. Most nights the Clans slept in tiny dens without much moss. He longed for a den with only his fellow apprentices.
The Clans hadn't been in a forest in over two days and Falconpaw felt exposed. The mountains were getting closer, but still seemed so far away. The Clans followed a large gorge that had been going on for a long time. It was deep and every cat was warned to stay away from it for a risk of falling.
As they continued walking through the snow, Cherryleaf caught his attention even more. He narrowed his eyes at his mentor and finally decided to confront her. He weaved through the group of cats until he reached Cherryleaf.
"Hello, Falconpaw." She greeted kindly, but avoiding his gaze. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," Falconpaw replied. "How are you?"
Cherryleaf became visibly nervous. "I'm fine as well."
"You sure?" Falconpaw questioned. "You seem worried about something, and more worried than the rest of us. You looked scared."
Cherryleaf swallowed, flattened her ears every so slightly. "Don't worry about it, Falconpaw."
"So something is wrong." Falconpaw snorted. "I'm going to worry because you're my mentor and my Clanmate. If something is wrong I want to know."
Cherryleaf finally looked at him, flattened her ears and letting out a sad sigh. "Very well, I guess I should tell you. The only other cats who know are Pebblestep, your mother and Cloudspots, so don't go spreading it around, okay?" Falconpaw agreed, relieved to finally learn what was wrong with her. She lowered her voice and continued. "I'm expecting Cloudspots's kits."
Falconpaw's jaw dropped, that was the last news he had been expecting. "You're expecting kits? When did you find out about this?"
"Before we left." Cherryleaf mewed sadly. "I'm about a moon along." Falconpaw looked at Cherryleaf closer, she did seem bigger than usual.
"Wow." Falconpaw said, exasperated and unable to think of any other words to say. He sighed. "So, you'll be having them in about a moon."
Cherryleaf nodded slowly. "Yes." She said quietly, her voice pained. "I'm so scared for them, what if they're born while we're still travelling? How will they be strong enough to travel?"
"Maybe you should talk to Mosswind of MoonClan, she's expecting kits too right?" Falconpaw looked for the tortoiseshell she-cat. "Maybe you could be friends or something."
"Maybe." Cherryleaf seemed unsure, she also didn't seem like she wanted to talk about it anymore.
"I know I'm just an apprentice but," Falconpaw said awkwardly. "If you need any help, just let me know. I'll make to sure work extra hard for you and your kits when they're born."
Cherryleaf let out a soft purr. "Thank you, Falconpaw. That means a lot." Falconpaw and Cherryleaf continued walking until Cherryleaf went to go talk to Briarrose. Not far from him, Breezepaw, Sorrelpaw and Fogpaw had started playing together.
Falconpaw rolled his eyes, ignoring the apprentices. He didn't feel like playing right now, his mind was too focused on Cherryleaf. She was expecting kits at the worst possible time. He wasn't mad at her, but he couldn't help but feel that she was making a mistake. What if the kits were born while they were travelling? He knew that Mosswind of MoonClan was also expecting kits, how could they make newborn kits travel?
"Can SunClan cats catch?" Breezepaw teased, batting a ball of snow at Sorrelpaw. The tortoiseshell she-cat quickly reacted and knocked it back. Fogpaw hit it down to the ground before Breezepaw could catch it.
"Please be careful." Ebonywing mewed, looking at her kits with concern. "You're getting too close to the edge."
Breezepaw rolled his blue eyes. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." The black and white apprentice jumped towards Sorrelpaw. She playfully bounded away, jumping up as he swiped at her legs.
"Honestly you two." Brackenpelt sighed. "This is taking long enough without you lot acting like a bunch of foxes in a fit."
"Sorry." Sorrelpaw purred, flicking her tail playfully. "But it's fun playing with Breezepaw, even if he is from MoonClan." She shot a challenging glance at the apprentice.
"Say that to my face!" Breezepaw jumped, tackling Sorrelpaw to the ground. The two apprentices rolled through the snow, kicking up a flurry of powder. They stopped rolling, Sorrelpaw landing on top of Breezepaw and the two laughed happily.
Falconpaw actually felt a little bit of joy watching the two of them play. Even in a horrible time like this, they can still find joy. That's good for them. Falconpaw's ears twitched as he heard a crack. He looked around, looking for the source. As he turned his head away from Breezepaw and Sorrelpaw he heard a bone chilling screech. He whipped around and saw that the ground underneath the two apprentices started to give way. The stone crumbled underneath them and shook under their paws.
"Sorrelpaw!" Larkpaw cried out to her sister, running closer to her only to be stopped by Yarrowtail, his green eyes filled with horror. Breezepaw and Sorrelpaw scrambled to their paws, running away from the edge, but as the ledge gave out they were no longer ground level. Breezepaw gave a mighty jump off the falling rock, landing safely on the snow. However, Sorrelpaw was still falling.
Feeling something similar to when he saved Sedgepaw, Falconpaw rushed forward. I got you, Sorrelpaw! He thought, pushing himself to run harder and faster.
"Falconpaw! Come back!" Dawnstar shouted behind him, but he ignored his mother and kept running. He nearly reached the edge, reaching out to grab Sorrelpaw but the tortoiseshell she-cat fell out of his reach. He locked eyes with her, watching her as she fell into the freezing water down below, crying the entire way.
Her body hit the water and Sorrelpaw vanished under the surface, surely being dragged away by the rushing current. He watched the water, waiting for her head to poke up, but nothing happened. He laid frozen in place, his paw still outstretched over the edge. The look of terror in Sorrelpaw's amber eyes and the sounds of her cries as she fell to her death was burned into his mind.
Falconpaw heard pawsteps behind him in the snow and looked over his shoulder to see Lionclaw standing a few taillengths again. "Falconpaw, come on." His father's eyes were dark and pained. Falconpaw couldn't find his voice, so he just stood up and walked over to his father. He looked up at Lionclaw, waiting for him to say something, anything. Then Falconpaw remembered Larkpaw, he looked to the young she-cat and saw her with wide eyes, staring at the ledge where her sister had fallen. She's watched both her siblings die. I just wish I could've saved Sorrelpaw. His heart twisted into knots. I should've been able to save her, I should've moved faster.
"This was your fault." Larkpaw let out a dangerous growl, her fierce green eyes filled with hatred as she looked at Breezepaw. "You knew it was dangerous but you kept playing with her!" Breezepaw flattened his ears, he looked just as horrified as Larkpaw. Falconpaw noticed Larkpaw's claws were out and she bared her teeth.
"Larkpaw I--I didn't mean for that to happen." Breezepaw stammered.
"You killed my sister!" Larkpaw jumped forward, tackling the MoonClan apprentice to the ground. They kicked up a flurry of snow and Larkpaw hissed in rage. Brackenpelt raced to his daughter's side and pulled Larkpaw off Breezepaw, nearly throwing her to the side.
"That's enough, Larkpaw!" He shouted. Larkpaw flattened herself to the ground, flattening her ears.
"Breezepaw knew the dangers but so did Sorrelpaw. This is not his fault and taking your anger out on him won't bring her back!" Larkpaw stared at her father, eyes wide with shock and pain. The cold air filled with an uncomfortable silence. "There's nothing we can do to bring her back." Brackenpelt's voice trembled. "But we can't start fighting among the Clans now, Sorrelpaw would want us to continue and find a new home where you can be safe. Fighting with Breezepaw won't fix anything."
Larkpaw closed her eyes and turned away, running to Squirreltail's side and burying her nose in her mother's ginger fur, Rosewind stood beside them as well. Falconpaw looked at his paws. We've already lost one of our cats. How many more are we going to have to lose?