Chapter Eight
Later that night, Bloodpaw was having trouble falling asleep. It didn’t help that he was in the light of the claw-moon and being bathed in its pale silver glow didn’t help matters any better. The snores of his fellow apprentices’ definitely didn’t help him rock him to sleep. It only just prevented him from easing into slumber. All he could do was let his thoughts run rampant in his mind, while his eyes grazed over the sleeping forms of the others until his gaze rested on Creampaw and Sagepaw. Both of them were sleeping and huddled close together close to the far wall.
Most of the time he could stomach the two of them together, but with what he felt earlier stoked the flames of jealousy he felt for the pair and brought out fresh hot tears into spilling over his paws beneath his chin before they dripped into the loose dirt. But he dared not utter a sound for fear of making the situation worse. Forcibly shutting his eyes, it finally took him a long while before his body found the exhaustion lingering beneath the surface and brought it up to encircle him completely. Soon, the young apprentice found himself joining the chorus of gentle snores within the den.
It wasn’t long until the blood red ginger found himself waking up with a start. The snores that had drifted around him, had fallen eerily silently. Thinking less of it, Bloodpaw began to drift back to sleep until a hot wind suddenly washed over his pelt. And with it, a stinging sensation of what felt like sand slamming into his body forcing him wide awake; only to make him narrow his eyes as a dust storm started to blow into the den.
“What the-” Jumping to his paws, Bloodpaw scrambled to look for the others to warn them. Unfortunately, he didn’t see anyone else around him. No Graypaw, no Creampaw, and strangely enough, no Sagepaw. ‘Wait, why am I worried about him all of a sudden?’ Muttering beneath his breath and calling himself a flea breath, Bloodpaw had to tilt his head to the side while closing his eyes and mouth as he entered the fierce dusty and hot wind as he ventured out of the den.
“Hello?!” He called out in that fierce wind as he pushed himself further and further into camp while he could feel himself almost slipping and losing his balance in the loose sand that seemed to gather beneath his paws. “Smokestar?! Pinebolt?! ANYON-cough cough!” Opening his mouth to scream louder, Bloodpaw started coughing and gagging as he got a mouthful of debris that filtered down his throat.
Bloodpaw didn’t know how long or how far he’d been walking. He just knew that he was already getting frustrated, scared, and anxious. He really didn’t know if he was dreaming or not, it just felt too real for him. When he thought it couldn’t get any worse, the wind suddenly stopped blowing hot sand in his face before dying out completely. That’s when he found out he wasn’t even in Shadowclan any longer. Nor was he in the gorge either. Or that’s what he thought. Because, he most definitely looked as though he was in the Thunder gorge.
If said gorge didn’t look as though the sides looked loose enough and sandy. ‘Where am I now?’ Bloodpaw thought as he walked around the area trying to gather as much sense of where he was. Reaching a pile of rocks, Bloodpaw could smell various scents of prey piled upon each other.
“Interested in our fresh kill pile?” Mewled a voice so soft, that it made Bloodpaw jump about six paw-lengths up into the air. Shivering as he landed back down, and turning his upper body partially to the right, Bloodpaw found himself staring into the light hazel eyes of a sandy black tabby she-cat whose pelt looked so stiff. Like she had just been shocked by something, but her eyes felt familiar. Very familiar. “Sorry about that. I seem to keep forgetting I have that effect on other cats on how silent I can be.”
“Who are you?” Bloodpaw asked the tabby as he turned around to fully face her now.
“You may call me Hazelbrush.” She mewled with a knowing look in her eyes. Bloodpaw could tell she wanted to say something else, especially from how her posture was tensed up. But, he didn’t press her for any information. And that made her give him a light glare, however she brushed it off with a casual flick of her left ear. “You’re probably wondering where you are, right?” Bloodpaw would only nod his head. “Figures as much since you’ve been dreaming about this place for a long while.
And it would appear as though it is unfortunate that the other clans’ have completely forgotten about us.” She continued before turning around on her paws and headed towards the east. Bloodpaw hesitated a few steps before starting to sprint to try and keep up with her fast pace. Kind of hard when the ground was kind of loose and hard beneath your paws, but the ginger tabby found it easygoing after awhile.
“I’m going to guess that the other clans’ talk as though there are only four clans?” Silence from the ginger behind her gave her the answer she needed to know. “Hmph. No wonder we haven’t appeared in any cat’s dreams as of late. Even Starclan has completely forgotten about us.”
“Er, I’m sorry for being rude and all, but can you get to the point?” Bloodpaw asked before stumbling a few paces back as the sandy brown tabby threw him a harsh glare as she turned her head around. “S-sorry.” He felt like he’d just interrupted a mother giving her kit a story or a lecture.
Giving him another light glare, and daring him to interrupt her again, Hazelbrush waited for a few long seconds before continuing. “This place used to be the territory of Skyclan. Those that are comfortable climbing trees like it were as natural as breathing. But because we kept getting raided so much, losing territory time and time again, we broke up our clan and decided to seek out other refuges.
Some of us have even integrated in the other four clans, long since forgotten where we came from. Sadly, as the moon passed, we’ve forgotten.” She repeated that last line with a misty look in her eyes that Bloodpaw resonated with longing. But, scrunching up his face and walking up to the left flank of her, he wondered about something.
“What does this have to do with me, though?” He mewled with a curious lint to his voice. Hazelbrush turned her head sharply to look at him with an incredulous look. Like he’d just swallowed a bunch of deathberries on a whim. Although, and looking at the expression on his face, the tabby could understand his confusion.
“If you truly want answers, then seek out Gaia the Badger. She lives on the old abandoned twolegs farm on the left side of the Thunderpath.” She began speaking. Ears suddenly twitched as a very faint echo suddenly entered the eardrums of Bloodpaw, the blood red ginger couldn’t help but try and focus on what Hazelbrush was saying. “....tell no one.” The sandy brown tabby was saying before she was suddenly lost to the air as Bloodpaw found himself all by himself.
Feeling his pelt being ruffled roughly, Bloodpaw suddenly jolted awake with a loud yelp as the sound of someone falling backwards with a soft yet loud thump as they hit the ground. Breathing hard, and darting his eyes about the place, the blood-red tabby flicked his gaze downwards upon noticing Graypaw looking at him with wide scared eyes. Shaking himself off as the last remnants of his dream, or was it a vision of some sort, Bloodpaw leaped up to his paws as his heart calmed down a little. “S-sorry about that, Graypaw. You kind of startled me.” He stammered out a reply as his friend picked himself up.
“Well, it was kind of my fault there. I heard you muttering in your sleep and I thought you were sleep-talking.”
Blinking a few times, it took Bloodpaw a few moments to realize that it was already light out. That’s when the exhaustion hit him harder than a log rolling down a hillside. ‘Guess I didn’t get any kind of sleep at all.’ He thought groggily as he tried to steady himself on his paws’. Noticing how Bloodpaw was wobbling, Graypaw definitely knew something was up. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to ask him that question and he didn’t really want to know what was on his friend’s mind. It was his business after all.
“Okay, will you stop staring at me like that, Graypaw?” Bloodpaw mewled with a tired chuckle. “You’re looking like I’m about to drop dead and join Starclan.” So many things were on his mind that it was kind of hard to piece everything at once. On top of that, he still wanted to know why he felt a sudden connection to that tabby named Hazelbrush. He definitely needed answers, and he now knew where he could get them. The question was: how was he going to find this badger named Gaia without causing a scene? It was hard enough to sneak away from the gazes of Smokestar and Longssky.
And even harder to sneak away during hunts. “....Paw? Bloodpaw, are you listening to me now?”
“Huh?” Realizing that he had allowed his mind to wander while Graypaw was still speaking to him, Bloodpaw mentally and physically shook his head before taking a glance at the other apprentice. “Sorry about that, Graypaw. I've just had a bad night. I didn't really get much sleep and now I can’t seem to focus on things.” He mewled glumly.
“Well, I think you should get your focus straight.” Graypaw said as he began walking out of the apprentice den with Bloodpaw following close behind him. “Pinebolt is taking some of us out on a hunt. We’re going to be going quite close to some twolegs nest.” Shivering at the thought of those monsters probably roaming the place and twolegs dominating the land with their weird speech and movements, the dark silver tom kind of chuckled a bit in dry humor.
Bloodpaw, on the other hand, wasn’t really paying much attention. Sleep still clung to the fringes of his mind and his thoughts were still being dominated by his dream. He swore on the name of Starclan that he was getting visions and being visited by this Skyclan. It was as though they were trying to tell him something about his past. But, how did he and his parents fit into all of this exactly? ‘For Starclan’s sake, Bloodpaw, quit asking the same questions over and over again.’ He berated himself.
Silence grew around the two apprentices’ as they approached the meeting spot, where Pinebolt was waiting patiently with Sagepaw and another apprentice. A lanky and lithe she-cat tabby with fiery orange eyes and snowy gray pelt whose ears were always angled sharply to the side. ‘Oh, Silverpaw is going to join us?’ Bloodpaw thought with a bit of a curious spark igniting in his mind. Only for it to be drowned out the moment his eyes locked onto those of Pinebolt’s. Their interaction and conversation from yesterday, hadn’t really left his mind whatsoever.
There was a light tension between mentor and apprentice, but neither would speak about it; especially in front of the other three. “Hm, it seems that we’re all gathered here finally. Today, we are going to freshen our hunting lessons and see how well you three can handle hunting by yourselves for a change.” Pinebolt mewled as he tore his gaze away from Bloodpaw and looked upon all three of them. A ghost of a smile twisted at the corner of his mouth, tail flicking a bit behind him as he rose up onto his paws. “Shall we get going then? We have a long trek ahead of us. So it’s best that we head out immediately.”
“Don’t know why I’m here for a freshen up lesson,” Mewled Sagepaw beneath his breath as he strode past Bloodpaw. “I also don’t know why I need to be under a different mentor instead of Dreamshrew. A waste of my time really.”
“Stop getting your whiskers in a knot, Sagepaw.” Pinebolt answered without even turning around to face them as he led them out of the camp. “You know very well that Dreamshrew is currently attending to her kits and Smokestar made sure that you had a mentor to keep an eye on you. Now quit your whining like a little kit, and keep moving.” Bloodpaw couldn’t help but let loose a tired snigger beneath his breath as Sagepaw merely scowled at the earth.
‘At least something good happened.’ He thought as he pushed himself through the narrow space. With the morning reaching its current peak, the breeze that blew through the moors washed over his face; making the exhaustion slowly get pushed back. It was going to be a cool day, that much Bloodpaw could tell and he was actually glad for it for once. Dew had gathered on the long stalks, and as the group pushed through them; the young ginger couldn’t help but lick at the drops to satisfy his thirst a bit. It wasn’t much, but the freshness and sharp cool of the dewdrops made him shiver a little.
It wasn’t a dream for sure. Bloodpaw was definitely in reality, even if his mind kept playing around with him. With the shadows stretching overhead, the troupe took their time heading towards the old abandoned twolegs nest. Soon enough, chatter started to rise up from Pinebolt, with Graypaw and the other two chiming in; there was slight argument from the three, but it was a peaceful conversation. This allowed Bloodpaw to gather his own thoughts without having to be interrupted.
And the first thing that emerged from the depths of his thoughts, was the sandy brown tabby: Hazelbrush. He felt connected to her somehow. Like he’d known her in his past moons, or was it just his imagination? Were any of his visions and dreams even real? ‘They sure felt like it.’ Bloodpaw thought as a soft yawn started to escape his mouth. Ears flat against his head, and tail drooping low to the ground, Bloodpaw was growing more tired than ever. As much as he wanted to keep protesting, every step felt like he was slipping deeper and deeper into thicker water.
Sounds and voices began to flow into a mixture, ruffled and hard to tell where one voice began and another ended. It was getting too much for the young apprentice, and his body started to slow down. Before he knew it, Bloodpaw collapsed to the ground with a soft thud, crushing the grass stalks beneath his body. He didn’t have any strength left to even tell the others to wait for him, and he actually didn’t care if they left him or not. Giving up resisting, the ginger apprentice finally allowed his eyes to close upon themselves. With the trees waving and blowing in the gentle wind, creating a blanket of cool air around the apprentice, Bloodpaw was soon snoring gently.