Walking Always, Getting Nowhere (open ) Week 4

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Sooty black paws paced the leader's den. Of course no one would know they were sooty, for the one bearing them was as black as the night sky itself, but they were sooty all the same. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth they wandered. The amber eyes that owned them flickering here and there apprehensively, the beast's heart beating steadily like a base drum. His tail lashed behind him nervously as he waited for something... anything... to calm his nerves. For he was nervous, that was easily noticeable. He was as nervous as a cat could get. About what, no one really knew. Well, except for him, but even he didn't quite grasp the concept.

He was quite anxious, you see, because this was a big day for him. His first official day as leader. His first official day as leader of AshClan. He was scared out of his mind. He was responsible for so many cats. He was responsible for all of those lives. Not to mention the gatherings and battles and other things he was in charge of. Hiddenstar was nervous. Incredibly nervous. What if he screwed up? What if he was the one who ran the best, most intelligent, quietest clan into the ground? He took a deep breath and sat on the floor of his den. Nothing would go wrong. He had to be certain of that, or this leader thing would never work out.

AshClan was... well, it was the black tom's home. He loved it with all of his heart, and it would be ridiculous to say anything otherwise. The other clans... they were all right. But he had to get a grip on them. If he didn't want AshClan to fall, he'd have to watch his back. FrostClan... well, he got along all right with them. They were of the frigid weather, and he didn't like that, and their hearts seemed nearly as cold as the snow they lived in. But they were all right. AspenClan, of the pines. They weren't too bad either. Kind enough, considerate enough, patient enough... they would do. For now.

SoulClan... that was what he was worried about. The ones who'd landed the surprise attack. They weren't straight-out cold hearted like the FrostClan cats, but there was definitely something going on there. Why would they openly attack at a gathering? It just... it didn't seem right. Hiddenstar allowed a shiver to crawl up his back. He had recently been... "borrowing" prey from SoulClan. Not a whole lot, just enough to get by. AshClan didn't have much prey with the hot, unbearable conditions and all. He had to do something... yes, it was stealing, and it was going against the code, but it was either that, or watching his clan starve, and the latter was completely out of the question.

Get a hold of yourself! he thought, stopping his incessant pacing and sitting down. You are not going to crash and burn here! You were chosen as leader. Out of all of the AshClan cats, you were chosen. Doesn't that mean something? It should. You're younger, wiser, and twice as clever as many of the warriors out there, and not just in AshClan. You can do this! After his pep talk, his amber eyes blazing, he finally took a deep breath. He was Hiddenstar. No one else. He could do this. He would do it right.

Deciding that his den was getting stuffy enough, the large tom ventured out into the world. He stepped out of his den and breathed in the smoky air of the camp. Looking up, he saw the great volcano looming in the distance. Red, hot substance was leaking out of it, the leader could tell that from where he was, but it wasn't going to blow. Not today anyway. That was good, they needed that. They needed it desperately.

Wanting to get away from the camp, Hiddenstar wandered a bit to the drop canyon. The peeks, the fresh air... it would surely take him away. Taking one good look around him, he was off in a sprint, racing to the special place where he knew he could relax. Trees and beings flew by him as he ran, his heart pounding in his chest. He'd be all right once he got there. He just had to get there first.

Finally, he made it. It was a rather long run, and his arms were aching by the time he was done, but he made it nonetheless. He stared around him. He was on the tallest peek in AshClan. And as he was looking down on the world, a vague memory invaded his tired mind.

He was little. Kit age. And he was here... there... the tallest peek in AshClan. But he was not alone. An ivory tom stood next to him. A tom whom he admired so much... It was Emberblaze, his father.

"Son, take a good look around you," Emberblaze had said, smiling at the world. Hiddenstar, Hiddenkit then, couldn't help but smile too. "See those cats way in the distance? Those are our clanmates, son. Look, I think that little bundle is Lilykit, your sister." Hiddenkit had squinted eagerly, searching for his lovable sister, but he couldn't see a thing. The notion never occurred to him later that his father had been making it up. "Look at us, son. We're kings of the world! And some day, I know you'll be leader. You'll make a difference, son. I know you will." And, with those words echoing in his memory, Hiddenstar opened his eyes. He was looking at the same scene he was a few seconds ago. But it was different. It was clearer, it was painful. It was sharp, it was pointy. And he didn't like it one bit.

Heading down the mountain much slower than he'd come up, Hiddenstar stopped and perked his ears before hissing viciously. Someone else was here. He could smell it. He could hear it. And if there was one thing this tom couldn't stand, it was being left in the dark. Someone was watching him. He didn't care if they were from his clan or a different one, and frankly he didn't quite know, but someone was staring at him, and he couldn't see them.

Not bothering to say a word, he sat tail wrapped patiently around his paws as he'd so often seen his father do, and bared his teeth, claws unsheathed threateningly. Whoever was there would be a fool to attack this angry leader. Unless there was more than one of them. He gulped and braced himself for the worst.

((Trespassers allowed!))

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[survvie]

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[atrb=background,http://i52.tinypic.com/2mrf679.jpg] He had been picking his way through the mountain sides sparse trees with the grace of a kitten, stumbling on the sharp rocks and tripping on the occasional gouge in the earth as if he had been born only a day or so before. His lack of grace came not from uneven territory, but unmapped land- he had never been in that part of the canyon before, but the strong scent of herbs had lured the medicine cat from his favored foraging spot and into treacherous terrain. White paws caught twig, pebble, and weed alike, sending him stumbling or falling flat on his face every few feet the feline ventured, and letting an upset sigh escape with every jolt of his body flying forward. Perhaps it was the speed at which he was attempting to travel that made the cat falter so often, or perhaps it was his lack of caution at each footfall, or perhaps a concoction of both, but whatever it was... the medicine cat was chiding himself for venturing out of the zone he knew like the tip of his claws. Muttering several annoyed choice words beneath his breath and maneuvering his average bulk painfully slower over the rocks, the Ashclan cat stopped for a moment to plunge pallid paws into the earth at the roots of a tree, as if some hidden object there, unseen by the rest of the canyons population, was just waiting for him to come along and dig it up. A few moments of clawing out earth later, the medicine cat latched his teeth onto a chunk of root that had been hiding among the trees own. He tugged the medicinal herb form the earth, ripping its ties to the ground with a practiced air, and shaking the dust, dirt, and loose bits of grass from his face in the same fluid motion. Snakeroot. The cat purred softly through the object in its teeth, feeling accomplished for his find. That would surely up his stock of the stuff. Not that snakes were that big a problem for them, currently... but Ermineheart liked to be prepared. He walked a circle around the tree, as if attempting to scent out anything else lying tangled within its roots beneath the earth, but seemed to find nothing, and turned to leave- only to freeze in his place at the hiss of another cat downwind from his position. Unable to smell the other feline, and unable to sight him, the medicine cat simply stopped, sightless eyes turning to the source of the noise... and not having to turn very far. Well. He had been staring at the creature all this time...through the considerable hulking shape of the tree's trunk. Hmm. Ermineheart, not bothering to remove the root from his jaws, simply poked his head around the tree at the feline he couldn't scent, and muttered a few brief words through the obstruction in his mouth. "Well... you're not a patch of coltsfoot." A slight chuckle accompanied the words as he heard them come out. The snakeroot, a blessing though it was to find, made his words come out more like "Weelfr... yoorf norf ar pafrch urff coroltsfrooft," and while it sounded amusing to his ears, saying such a thing to a feline he couldn't smell could draw out a negative reaction, at worst. Ermineheart waited, remaining still and quiet, sightless blue eyes pointed toward the general area he had heard the hiss around. Though, with the pallid medicine cats luck- he was probably 'looking' the complete opposite direction. ermineheart does ermineheart speaks ermineheart thinks ooc: Ermineheart here, ready to make a fool of himself in front the new leader~ xD table (c) survvie, stock credit goes to BGP of flickr

[harmony]

Hiddenstar jumped and whirled around when he heard the cat talk, discovering that the voice was coming from the opposite direction in which he was looking. He leaped to his paws, his heart racing, only to calm it down again when he realized that the cat greeting him was his own medicine cat, Ermineheart. The white tom was looking in the other direction, and though he didn't grin or smile, for he rarely ever did, Hiddenstar called out to him.

"Over here, Ermineheart," the large tom called. His tone was neither irritated nor patient. Just an easy tone. The way he'd speak to anybody. Not cold, not loving. With respect, but firm. And it was rather deep. He tapped his forepaw twice on the ground- a welcoming gesture- as he stepped over a bit to let the skilled medicine cat sit.

"Herb bite your tongue?" Hiddenstar asked playfully. He'd always cared and respected Ermineheart, for when he was a warrior and a deputy Ermineheart had been there for him and the clan. Despite his disability, Ermineheart was very skilled- probably the best at his craft- and he needed to be. AshClan was a dangerous place to live, very easy to be burned and scotched. And on the slim chance that cold weather would drift to the AshClan territory, colds could rise instantly. But Hiddenstat trusted Ermineheart with all of his heart.

The wind was blowing gently across the rocky hills as the two cats sat, one black and one white. It would be a strange site ini the mind of a twoleg, and an even stranger one in the mind of a warrior, for a white cat in AshClan was rather rare. Rare, but not impossible. And though the medicine cat looked like he'd better suit FrostClan, his home was AshClan, just like Hiddenstar's home was AshClan, and the leader wouldn't have it any other way.

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[survvie]

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[atrb=background,http://i52.tinypic.com/2mrf679.jpg] 'Over here.' The words sent a spark of relief down his spine. Over here. It seemed, according to the voice, that Ermineheart hadn't stumbled upon a rivaling clan group attempting to steal what little prey they could scrounge, but upon his own leader. Not that the former hadn't happened before- the medicine cat seemed to fall into trouble quite often- but it seemed Starclan was being kind about his cautionless ways today. He padded over and took a seat beside the leader, who he could scent clearly now and locate... with aid of the tap on the ground the other cat had made to help him find his way. Ermineheart swallowed the slightest sound of a sigh down his white-clad throat- he must seem rather pitiful and sad, to not even be able to find his way toward another cat, regardless of the fact that his fellow feline was downwind. But, never one to dwell on his condition, the medicine cat merely settled back onto the ground and dropped his strong-smelling- or at least to the cat himself- healing ingredient on the earth and let out a laugh at his leaders playful words. "Well, it is called snakeroot," the pallid feline chuckled, pawing at the item he had dropped as if reconfirming this for himself, despite the fact that he knew it from the moment he had started digging. "Though with my luck, I'll probably end up digging up a real snake one of these days." He grimaced, the facial movement making his eyes blink out at the world as blindly as a newborn kit facing the day. Ermineheart seemed to pause for a few moments as if moving on from the playfulness at hand, and began to knead the earth beneath his paws unconsciously, thinking. "What brings you out here?" He wasn't really expecting an answer, as he knew the quietness his Ashclan clanmates contained was not just a face to put on at gatherings, but he asked nonetheless.... partially curious, and partially to hear his own voice in the quietness of the canyons. His mind flickered over to a rather fun memory he had of his medicine cat apprenticehood... the one time Minnowheart had lead him out to the canyons without a backward glance or a cautionary word about the sharp, jutting edges, and steep drops. Yowling into the rusty walls of the place sent your voice back to you, magnified and louder than anything you could ever solely produce, as if a thousand other felines were mewing it back to you. He had loved it, and now.... well, he would have loved to try it once more in his adulthood, but wasn't particularly keen on shouting to himself in front of his leader, no matter how much trust he had in Hiddenstar. ermineheart does ermineheart speaks ermineheart thinks ooc: Ermieeee~ table (c) survvie, stock credit goes to BGP of flickr

[harmony]

Hiddenstar grunted in amusement, his whiskers twitching at the cat's words. Good old Ermineheart. Always working, always there.

AshClan seemed to be one giant cast of toms. Unlike the other clans, some which seemed to be strictly female, AshClan had few she-cats within its borders. The deputy, medicine cat and leader were all toms. Hiddenstar wasn't complaining, it was all right by him, just rather... amusing. And, though it wouldn't seem like it, the tom was considering settling down with a mate and kits. How could that ever happen with so few she-cats?

The tom closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in the clear, worry-free air that curled around his form. But as soon as he closed his eyes, he wanted to open them, for black, impenetrable darkness made him gasp. The shadows were flickering over grass, over Ember Mountain, over AshClan. He opened his eyes, breathing heavily before realizing where he was. That was no ordinary day dream. It was a vision. But he'd seen something similar in his dreams before.

Glancing left and right, to be sure the coast was clear, he spoke in a rather hushed tone to his clanmate. "Ermineheart," he said deeply, his tone hushed. "Ermineheart, I've been getting these... dreams lately. They... uh... they worry me, to tell you the truth." His voice was rather hesitant, for he was not one to freely admit fear, even to the trusted white medicine cat. "It's a black shadow... it's forming over AshClan... Has... uh... has StarClan been saying anything to you recently?" Once again the amber eyes darted around the clearing, making sure no one else could overhear. But as he did so, a little bush shook with the slightest bit of uncertainty. A growl rumbled from deep inside the black tom's chest, as he stared at the bush. It could have been the wind, but he wasn't so certain.

"Show yourself," he hissed at the bush, knowing he could be very well talking to nobody. But he was willing to take that chance. Someone had been spying on them, and he could only hope that his tone had been quiet enough a few seconds ago to conceal the words he'd spoken. Hiddenstar had thought he was alone with the medicine cat, especially here, but something wasn't right...

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[Juniper]

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[atrb=width,600,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][bg=07071d] A lone silver figure scuffled about the dry terrain, limping slightly. Her pale stomach fur was low to the ground, and her once-sleek fur was now a pawful of pitifully dry wisps. Cracked lips parted to taste the frigid air; sore paws toiled along the rocky ground. Overhead, eagles swooped, their golden features highlighted against the pale sky. This was madness. Silverclaw regretted ever stepping out of AspenClan territory, where soft blades of grass sprouted beneath her paws, cushioning them, and dense trees loomed above. She missed the scent of home even, something that frequently disgusted her from within. No! Think about discovering your family. Think how good it’ll feel to finally find out who they are, she urged herself. That was true: she was incredibly eager to find out, but was this torture really worth it? A dry wind reeking of dust and grime ruffled her fur. Narrowing her eyes, she detected some patches of greenery just ahead. Spirits lifted somewhat, she bounded ahead, relishing the cool feeling of grass beneath her paws as she entered the site where Gatherings were held. Her ears were pricked, her nostril twitching. Was that a mouse she scented? It indeed proved to be; she immediately gave a quick chase before delivering the death blow. Discarding all thoughts of such annoyances like the oh-so-great “Warrior Code,” she tore at the rat’s thin flesh ravenously before moving on. Her strength renewed, she easily made it to the vicinity of the Drop Canyon by midday. A little pool of water had formed in a crevice at the edge of the Drop Canyon. Though caked with mud and dust, it was like receiving 9 new lives to Silverclaw’s parched throat. Eagerly, she lapped it all up, grooming herself afterwards. Sudden voices to her left alerted her of the presence of other cats. Probably AshClan cats. Briefly, her mission here was remembered. And not just the one she assigned herself. In order to make it thus far without Icestar, her Clan leader, becoming suspicious, she asked to spy on the AshClan cats. And here was the perfect opportunity to do just that. Stealthily, she crept closer, wincing as she remembered how well AshClan cats could detect other Clans’ cats. Still, she managed to grasp some pieces of conversation without moving too close. It seemed the Medicine cat was speaking with someone, but with whom Silverclaw had no notion of. They were conversing about snakeroot, yes, and chuckling about it too. Disgusted, she turned to leave before a new word caught her pricked ears. Hmm, something about some sort of prophecy. This could prove useful. Apparently, something dark was gripping the Clan. Perfect, if AspenClan were to attempt to steal their lands. Perfect if only AspenClan weren’t so cowardly that they’d shy away from such a grand opportunity. Though Silverclaw would make sure it happened, if she had to kill her own leader to do so. She stalked ever closer, then flinched as the voices abruptly halted. She’d been detected. Warily, she went to confront the two cats. Surprise leaped in her throat as she recognized the leader Hiddenstar and the Medicine cat Ermineheart from the previous and disastrous Gathering. “Hello,” she greeted coolly. “I’ve come to bring you a message from my leader, Icestar.” “Silverclaw speaks” Silverclaw thinks Silverclaw does Word Count; 547 Tags; Hiddenstar and Ermineheart OoC; She’s lucky she can lie well. There is no such message from Icestar. Funny to see what she says.