Flowing Creek

Book one of Water Will Burn Sunset 17:35, August 18, 2010 (UTC)

Prologue
Stars shined and flickered above, but there was no mist here. Just dew, and the rushing of water beside the tiny, pale brown creature. It scuffled in the undergrowth, happy that there were no predators here. Few strayed into this territory. Many just stayed in the “heaven” part.

Sniffing, the sky, with all its full-moon glory, twinkled down at the shrew. The eyes of it lit up. Finally! Some nuts-

Without warning, pain shot up the rodent’s scrawny body. Shocked, it didn’t fell much as the blue-gray paw kept it down. But wait.

The paw was shining.

The stars of the night sky seemed to have fallen- many, many falls- onto the fur of the cat.

Puddlefoot yawned and shifted her paws, squeezing the shrew a little. There was no pain in Starclan, so it just felt like a back massage. Her star-speckled pelt shimmered.

Around them were rocks of many shades. A cat would hurt him or herself if they ran or fell on them. As I said before, few came back here. Most just stayed in the heaven part of Starclan.

“Moss-shine,” Puddlefoot greeted without emotion. The cat, a dark tortoiseshell, was waiting in the shadows. As she slipped out, her lither body wound upon the air. She returned a curt not that followed suit of Puddlefoot’s iciness.

Suddenly, both she-cats broke into laughter with the warmth of a million suns. The shrew, still under Puddlefoot’s paw, was confused. The tenseness before their purrs was almost tangible. It was confused, but just hoped that Puddlefoot wouldn’t eat him.

As the she-cats grinned, the truth was that if they were both alive, they would have been shredded each other without mercy and with fervency. Puddlefoot was an ancient Swayclan warrior, Moss-shine, an ancient Rapidclan. They had been rivals when they grew, always grabbing the chance to tear the other’s fur off. But now, in Starclan, the two had become, basically, sisters.

Besides, where they were now was a copy of Rapidclan territory. This part of Starclan was made to represent the lands of where cats lived when they were alive, for the nostalgic ones. But few rarely came here. They’d rather sleep in the very comfortable lands of the Starclan part of… Starclan…

Anyway, Puddlefoot also caught a shrew. Tresspassing, stealing prey…. All reasons that Moss-shine would have fought Puddlefoot if they were alive.

Moss-shine beamed at her surroundings.

“I remember when I was an apprentice, and I caught my first prey here,” she noted. Puddlefoot purred; it was nice not to feel like a lazy furball, and come back to the harsher terrains in Starclan.

“So, what brings me here?” Puddlefoot asked. She could feel mosquitoes at her tail, thorns at her pads. But the uncomfortable-ness was comfortable.

“I called you to meet me here, of course,” Moss-shine mewed. They were some of the most important cats of Starclan. Puddlefoot purred.

“I know, mousebrain, but why?”

Moss-shine was immediately grim, bright blue eyes casting shadows. “I brought you here so no cat would hear us.” She took a deep breath. “Rapidclan will be cast in fire.”

Bristling, Puddlefoot probed, “Legit? A fire? A blazing thing that eats everything in its path, roaring with heat…?” Moss-shine knew her friend was not being insensitive, but only being specific.

The dark tortoiseshell shook her head slowly, and Puddlefoot relaxed, just a little. But caution stuck her fur up like lightning before the thunder.

“She will burn herself, besides all odds. But by the Blazing Stream she will come out and bring all to a clearer pool.” Moss-shine’s eyes glittered, but Puddlefoot could not tell of what she was thinking of. “Water will burn for all.”

Puddlefoot was shocked.

So the shrew ran away.