Going Down

Prolouge
Smokepaw heard a crack, and looked down just as the rock he was standing on lurched down at an angle. He wailed in surprise as he was pitched toward the empty gorge. He clung to the crumbling rock, his jaws drawn in a silent wail. A flash of ginger caught his eye; Russetfur was lunging to grab him. Her extra weight would only send the rock down quicker.

"Russetfur, no!" He howled, trying to claw his way farther up the stone. It was no use. It only cracked and shattered more, and he saw the deputy's amber eyes flash with surprise as the rock shifted under her weight. She leaped off just as the rock disconnected itself from the cliff. Smokepaw fell with it.

He yowled all the way down, feeling the wind bite through his thick gray fur. Then, the rock slammed into a ledge, with Smokepaw was caught between the boulder and the ledge. He saw shapes moving on the cliff where he had been a moment ago, which faded away just as his vision blurred, then blackened completeley.

Chapter One
"Is he dead?"

"I dunno."

"Touch it, Myra."

"Eww! I'm not touching it! What if it is dead? Then I touched a dead cat!"

"Stop it! I'm tired of hearing you two fight."

"Yeah, your voice isn't the most beautiful, either!"

Smokepaw heard the voices bicker and argue. His whole body ached, and there was a terrible pain in his right shoulder. He moaned and rolled over, hearing the female voice shriek.

"It moved! It's alive! Run!"

Smokepaw rolled over and slowly rose to his paws. Three cats stood in front of him: A white she-cat with blue eyes, a black and white tom, and a dark brown tom. The she-cats eyes were stretched wide in terror.

"I...I won't hurt you. I just want to know where I am." The she-cat still looked frightened, but the dark brown tom seemed friendly enough.

"Sure. You're on Hunters' Edge," He mewed, pointing with his tail to the yawning abyss below. "It's a long way down, so we use the other boulders and smaller ledges to get up the main trail. This is the biggest ledge on this mountain, and there is a lot of prey. This is mainley where we hunt, hence the name." Smokeapw blinked slowly. Hunters' Ledge. Huh.

"Thank you," Smokepaw murmured. His back right paw ached something terrible, and it hurt to breathe, but he should be able to get back up to the main trail and catch up to his Clan. "My name is Smokepaw. Can you help me get to the main trail? I need to get up there so I can keep traveling and get back to my family. We're traveling to a new home." The white she-cats eyes stretched wide.

"But...we watched you fall! You have to be hurt somehow. You have to be thankful for surviving that fall, and you want to go back up?" She mewed in disbelief. The black and white tom nodded agreement.

"My back paw hurts, and my chest is sore, but other than that I'm fine. I have to keep moving! Every minute I waste, my Clan is getting farther away."

"What's a Clan?" The brown tom asked, tilting his head to the side. Smokepaw sighed, unsure of how to respond.

"It's a large group of cats that live together," He mewed at last. "There are four of them; ShadowClan, RiverClan. WindClan, and ThunderClan." He stretched his sore paw, trying to get some feeling into it so he could walk back up the trail.

"Wow," The white cat breathed. "And which Clan are you from?" Smokepaw was impressed by how quickly this cat could catch on.

"I'm a ShadowClan cat," He boasted. "We're the strongest, bravest Clan. My father is the leader, the cat who tells the other cats what to do. His name is Blackstar. Now I really have to go!" He tried to take a few steps towards the nearest boulder, so he get to the main trail, but his back paw gave way, and he rolled dangerously close to the edge; if it weren't for the black and white tom grabbing his scruff, he would've plunged right back over the side. "Thanks!" He gasped.

"You're staying with us until you're better," The brown tom ordered. "Just until you can walk. Then you can go back to Blackstar and ShadowClan. I'm Rat, and these are Crow and Myra. We'll take you to our cave." Smokepaw sighed, but murmured agreement. He wouldn't get very far with an injured paw, anyways.

Rat and Crow each shoved their shoulders under Smokepaw's, half-carrying, half-dragging him to the edge of the ledge. Once there, they slid down the sleep slope until they could land on the ledge below that. They continued with this until they reached the bottom of the gorge.

Chapter Two
"Here we are!" Myra announced.She was bouncing in front of a large gap between two boulders. It was wide enough for four cats to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and still spread out. "This is our cave!" She ducked into it when a hungry meowing sounded from inside the cave. Crow and Rat settled him down in a nest of springy, crunchy moss.

"Sorry about the nests," Crow muttered. "There's no soft moss on this side of the mountain, and we're not traveling all the way around just for a soft nest." Smokepaw shrugged - wincing when his shoulder muscles started to throb - and tried to position himself so he didn't ache. In the back of the cave were three mewling kits, looking to be about two moons.

"Smokepaw, these are mine and Rats' kits," Myra murmured, curling around them. "This is Olive-" She pointed to the little tortoiseshell. "Shrew-" The gray she-cat with black paws. "And Scorch." The black tom. Her eyes shown with pride as she nuzzled Olive back towards her, who was trying to wriggle towards Smokepaw.

"Mama, who is this?" She squeaked, her blue eyes flickering with curiosity. She finally broke free of her mothers grasp and bounded up to Smokepaws feet.

"He's Smokepaw, dear," Myra murmured. "Come now, Olive, leave him be. He's had a rough day." The little gray she-cat called Shrew approached more slowly.

"Where did you come from?" She queried. She gave him a sniff and wrinkled her nose. "You smell like pine needles and marsh. It's icky."

"Shrew dear!" Rat snarled. "We don't want him to feel unwelcome, and telling him he smells bad won't help!" Shrew shrugged, widening her pretty amber eyes helplessley. Scorch rose to his paws and nudged his sisters back into the nest.

"Sorry about my sisters," He muttered. "They've never met anyone besides our family." He flopped down beside Shrew, who snuggled close.

Smokepaw was too exhausted to reply. Before he knew it, a black wave rolled over him, and he was asleep.

Chapter Three
Smokepaw woke when he felt a soft pelt agaisnt his. He opened his eyes to find softer, spongier moss tucked around him. Olive was peering down at him; the shaggy fur on her chest was brushing his face.

"I though you'd never wake up!" She meowed loudly. "Myra and papa went out and got you more moss. Crow is hunting. Me, Shrew, and Scorch want to play; you need to pretend to be a scary eagle and try to eat us!" Smokepaw groaned and rolled over. His paw still hurt, but it was wrapped in some sort of herb that seemed to help. He shoved to his paws; he swayed a bit but stayed standing.

"Alright, alright!" He yelped as a flurry of gray, black, and tortoiseshell hit his legs; with a yowl, he was sent flying across the den with all three kits clinging to him. He managed to shake them all off, then huffed and looked around the den.

The walls had lots of gaps, indents, and small ledges for pawholds. He scrambled up one side, towards a particularly wide ledge, and heard the kits mutter and squeal to eachother. Once at the top, he looked down on them.

"Eeeeaaaaaar!" He tried to imitate the screech of an eagle, and heard the kits squeal with mock terror. He bunched his muscles under him, took a deep breath, and leaped off the ledge, straight towards the kits. Their eyes grew wide, then howled and scattered. Smokepaw managed to grab Shrew between his paws before she scuttled away, and held her firmly. She squealed, twisted, and wriggled, but couldn't escape his grasp.

"I'll save you, Shrew!" It was Scorch; somehow he managed to get to the eagle ledge, too, and was preparing to jump. He howled as he did so, a ferocious wail, and landed on Smokepaw's back. He bent and nipped Smokepaw's spine, then grabbed Shrew's scruff and dragged her free. "Aha!" He mumbled through her soft gray fur.

Smokepaw stood, still crouching, and growled. "You made the eagle veeeery angry," He warned. "Very." He leaped into the air and twisted at the height of his jump. He came crashing down on top of Olive, who had been creeping up on them.

"What-" Olive screeched as he gently nipped her ear. "How did you know i was there?!" Smokepaw snorted and nudged her shoulder.

"At that last step you took, you nudged a stone loose."

"But...I couldn't even hear the stone roll!"

"Clan cats have good hearing."

Olive's eyes huge, as were her siblings.

"I think I like this cat," Shrew giggled as she climbed Smokepaw's back.

Chapter Four
Crow returned shortly after Smokepaw had finally gotten the kits to calm down and take a nap. He was dragging a large hawk and a rabbit in his jaws. He set them down in a corner and bent over the kits, sniffing them.

'I hope they didn't give you much trouble," The black and white tom joked as he cut the hawk into chunks.

"Not at all." Smokepaw was watching him cut the bird, and his mouth was watering. Crow put away five of the pieces, picked up two, and padded out of the cave, beckoning with his tail for Smokepaw to follow. The fluffy gray tom made sure the kits were still asleep before following.

"So," Crow mumbled around a mouthful of hawk. "If you're gonna get back to your Clan, we'd better leave tonight, before the big rainstorm washes away all the scent they left behind." Smokepaw choked on the bite of prey he'd been eating.

"Tonight?" He squeaked. Crow seemed confused and nodded. "But..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say. ''Mouse-brain! He just told you that you can go home tonight, and you don't want to?'' "Sure." He nodded, feeling another tough lump in his throat. He swallowed hard, only to find it wasn't warm hawk flesh that was stuck, but something hard and cold.

''Hope you enjoyed! :) Keep a look-out for book two, Chasing Dreams, coming soon!''