Post by BlooRey DVD on Sept 8, 2013 0:31:41 GMT -5
[smear:f3e471]Fallenleaf
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"StoneClan! Retreat!"
The words still rung in the senior warrior's ears, brought into existence by their deputy, Wolfclaw. Pale yellow eyes flicked to catch sight of the great gray warrior as he desperately attempted to herd the entirety of StoneClan into an unknown territory. Her ears were deafened by the wailing of kits, hanging from the jaws of any apprentice or warrior who was still fit enough to carry one. StoneClan's deputy seemed to be doing a thousand things at once, juggling the duties of both leader and deputy for a Clan who had just been chased from their home.
Her eyes shifted from the deputy to Hawkstar, the leader of the battered Clan. The tom was leaning heavily upon a battle-scarred tom by the name of Eagletalon. The pair struggled along over the rocky terrain, the giant sandy brown tom staggering and tripping at every raised piece of terrain. The tom's amber eyes were exhausted, drained of almost all life, as though he were just barely managing to function in that moment. She noticed his eyes roll, and Eagletalon quickly ducking to compensate, and pull the tom back to his paws. She remembered the horror that had spiked through her as he fell beneath the razor sharp teeth of RainClan's deputy.
She moved numbly, her senses exhausted to the edge of her functionality as she moved along near the outside of the group. She'd been one of the 'lucky' ones, she supposed. She was bleeding, but there was no limp to her step, all the scratches having been shallow ones, just barely breaking her skin. Not like some of the rest of StoneClan. She was still alive, and still walking under her own power. She was set up at the edge, along with a few other functional warriors, as guards, protecting the old, the injured and, of course, the queens.
But she was numb inside. She had seen her brother, StoneClan's medicine cat, fall beneath the paws of another. Her pale gaze had moved to the ground once more, the senior warrior having to force herself to pay attention to their surroundings. They were at their weakest, stumbling through a terrain they didn't know. There was no telling what dangers awaited them, lurking just out of their sight. Anything could happen, and after what they had just been through, the thought was horrifying, chilling to the very core of her numbed soul.
"Stop! We can't keep going like this!" Eagletalon's voice caught her attention, dragging the tired she-cat's gaze to the center of the group. Hawkstar was on his knees, his sides heaving, with his best friend standing above him, trying to coax him to his paws once more. Eagletalon's eyes were focused upon Wolfclaw as StoneClan's deputy stood motionless, almost... Distant. Some part of her realized that neither of his parents were still with them. She followed his gaze as his eyes moved to make sure that his sister, Pantherstep, who stood near the middle of the circle, was alright.
Finding her voice, she managed to rasp. "Eagletalon is right, Wolfclaw. Hawkstar needs to rest." Another voice rose into the air, and the senior warrior recognized Riversong's eloquent dialect. "We all must rest." As Fallenleaf gazed upon her Clan, from Cricketleap's shattered appearance, to Melodypond's defeated stance, she realized that even those who had been assigned outer guard seemed exhausted. She felt it weighing heavily in her paws. They wouldn't be able to move much further and still safely reach a place to stay. For a moment, her gaze rested upon Skunkkit, one of the many kits involved. I hope they're alright...
When she pulled her gaze back to Wolfclaw, briefly skimming over Blacksmoke's quiet form near the outer edge of the circle, Fallenleaf noticed the deputy dip his head before his voice rose into the air once more. "StoneClan! Stay together. We'll rest here, until we're strong enough to move on." There was only a moment of silence before Riversong's voice broke the air once more. "Beneath the overhang. We will be safer there." The she-cat's suggestion made sense, and no one seemed to have any disagreement to raise. Slowly, the battered Clan began to stagger towards the overhang, Riversong's body quickly pressing up against Hawkstar's other side.
As the sandy brown tom was lifted to his paws by the combined force of Eagletalon and Riversong, Fallenleaf had to stop herself from falling into step with Dustshimmer. No matter how much she wanted to give her old apprentice some form of comfort in this dark time, she felt the need to stay in the position she had been assigned, guarding those that were in the center of the circle. It wasn't until the whole of the exiled Clan had finally made it to the overhang, their bodies sinking to the ground that anyone seemed to relax even fractionally.
She surveyed them for a moment, noticing how each one of them seemed broken in some way or another. Hawkstar, too exhausted to hold himself up, even with assistance, collapsed onto his side, chest heaving, mouth open in an attempt to draw in air. Some cats, like Melodypond, seemed to just sit and stare at the ground, while others, like Cricketleap, searched for some form of comfort. A sadness gripped Fallenleaf as she watched the newly named warrior curl herself around her younger siblings. How had an entire Clan been reduced into what was left? They had lost lives during that battle. And as she moved her gaze to the trembling form of Cloudkit, she realized that those who had made it out alive had lost their sense of security.
StoneClan had seen the brunt of the world's cruelty, and it had left them shattered. With a silent sigh, she turned away from the Clan, her gaze sweeping over Batear, who stood nearby. She didn't really see them, but she was aware of both Blacksmoke and Batear at her side, or near her, standing guard for their wounded Clanmates. She wondered how long they would last here, in a foreign territory.
Fallenleaf had shifted slightly, to lap at one of the deeper cuts on her body, which ran over her flank. It was perhaps for this reason that she was not the first to scent it. It was Blacksmoke's attentiveness that first picked it up. Fallenleaf noticed the she-cat straighten suddenly, alert to something that the senior warrior had not detected. Uncurling herself and parting her jaws, the pale furred she-cat soon caught the scent that must have been bothering Blacksmoke. Her pelt prickled slightly as she slowly rose to her paws, tail curling, and then uncurling before she took a step forward.
"Batear, Blacksmoke... Cover my spot. I'm going to go check it out. I'll be right back." When she heard Batear mutter something along the lines of "Yes, Fallenleaf.", the senior warrior padded forward, weary of the unknown surroundings. Pale yellow eyes peered about, careful to examine every nook and cranny that she might wander past. It took a moment or so of searching, but finally she found the source of the scent. A tom stood not far away, causing the fur along Fallenleaf's spine to stand on end. For a moment, nothing was said, until finally Fallenleaf spoke up.
"Who are you?"