CHAPTER 4

When Chase awoke, he knew immediately that he was dreaming. He stood at the top of a tall, rolling hill. In front of him stretched more hills of moor, flat with gorse and short grass covering it.

He looked around, and scented cats.

Chase started padding down the hill, and all of the sudden, three cats stood before him.

The one on the left was a pale gray she-cat with pretty blue eyes. He stared at her. She was beautiful.

The cat on the right side was a muscular golden tabby tom, with burning amber eyes. He stared at Chase; it was like he was looking into his soul.

The cat in the middle was a gray tabby tom with blue eyes. His eyes didn't move, though they were focused on Chase.

Chase flicked his ear. The gray tabby's eyes didn't waver.

He's blind! Chase realized.

The three cats stood before him, all watching him with unreadable gazes.

Chase felt uncomfortable. He gulped.

All of the sudden, the golden tabby stepped forward.

"You." He looked straight at Chase.

Chase felt a pang of fear. "What? Who are you? What do you want?" he asked, feeling a bit scared now.

The golden tabby raised his head to the sky, which was completely gray. Chase couldn't tell what time of day it was.

"We are the rulers of a powerful and large group of ancient cat spirits who guard generations upon generations of our descendants." He meowed.

Chase's eyes widened. "What?" he asked in confusion. Cat spirits? These three cats are dead?

"My name is Lionblaze," the golden tabby continued.

"My name is Dovewing." The pretty pale gray she-cat meowed. She looked at him calmly. He couldn't get over her deep blue eyes.

"I am Jayfeather." Introduced the blind gray tabby cat.

These cats have really weird names. They must be really old; I've never heard of those kinds of names before.

Lionblaze exchanged glances with Dovewing and Jayfeather. "We have come here to deliver a prophecy to you, Chase." He meowed.

Chase gasped, and took a step backward, feeling his hackles rising.

How does he know my name? He asked himself.

"We are powerful ancient spirits. We can visit our descendants in dreams, save cats; deliver prophecies and omens by a flick of the tail." Dovewing meowed.

"We know your name." she purred.

Chase felt embarrassed now.

All of the sudden, Jayfeather and Dovewing were gone, and Lionblaze was standing before him.

Chase looked around, panicking. They weren't at the foot of the hill anymore; they were standing at the edge of a huge lake.

"Though hard times come and go, we always find a way through. You will find your way through the murder of a beloved one. To escape the cloud of darkness and evil, you must make plans."

Lionblaze started to disappear.

"Go. Now. Run, and find the Clans."

Chase sat up in his nest, thrashing and breathing hard. He looked around, panting. He was lying next to Dominic, who was just grumbling and waking up.

They were surrounded by marsh.

Chase blinked, and rose to his paws.

Find the Clans? What are Clans?! The murder of a beloved one has to be Clio. To escape the cloud of darkness and evil… could that possibly be Denny and Scorch?

Dominic grumbled, and lifted his head to look sleepily at Chase. "What…?" he yawned.

"Dominic, come on. Get up. We have to start trying to find some prey before we leave." Chase sat and started licking his ruffled fur.

The dark ginger tom yawned again. "I just woke up! Can't we wait for a little bit longer?..." he asked, and then flopped back down on the ground.

Chase sighed exasperatingly.

"Fine. I'll find something for both of us to eat right now. But at sunhigh, you're catching my food!" he called, as he bounded away through the reeds.

What are Clans? They must be important. Lionblaze wanted me to find them. Maybe the Clans will help me and Dominic. He wondered.

He wound around bushes, jumped over a small stream, and then right at the edge of a large mud puddle, he saw a fat mouse scuffling around at the edge of the puddle.

Chase crept up on it, trying not to make noise.

Finally, when he thought he was close enough, he launched himself at the mouse.

It quivered its whiskers, and started to scurry off the opposite direction.

But, Chase was faster. He sank his claws into the mouse's back, and didn't let go, even though it squirmed around.

He bit it on the back of the neck, and didn't let go until his claws didn't feel any more thrashing.

Chase pulled his teeth away, and saw the mouse lay limply between his outstretched claws. That was a good catch! He congratulated himself.

He turned around, and found his way back to the small clearing. There was no need to catch anything else; this mouse would keep them both going until sunhigh.

Besides, they were both still full from the feast last night, which seemed like forever ago after everything that happened.

He padded over to where Dominic was cleaning his filthy claws, and dropped the mouse at his paws, feeling proud of himself even though the guilt of what they were doing still clouded his mind.

Dominic looked at him surprisingly. "A mouse? Couldn't you find something a little bigger?"

Chase blinked.

"Do you know how dead this marsh is? I was lucky to find this!" he stared at his ungrateful brother.

He just looked at it.

Chase huffed. "Fine. You don't want it? I'll take it." He scooped up the mouse and carried it over across the small clearing to eat it alone. Dominic was older. He could find his own food.

After a while; when Chase was nearly finished, Dominic rose to his paws and disappeared in the bushes.

I knew he'd come to his senses, he thought with a small sigh of happiness.

It wasn't until the sun was almost a quarter way into the sky when Dominic reappeared. He was carrying a scrawny vole.

Chase stared humorously at his brother, waiting for him to say something about how he should've shared the mouse.

Dominic must've felt Chase staring at him, because he glanced angrily at him, and then flopped to the ground.

Chase purred.

By sunhigh, the brothers were finished eating, and ready to set out again.

Chase led the way through the forest. Warm sunlight filtered through the thin branches. Birds sang and flew gracefully through the air above their heads. Dominic spat grumpily at a blue jay that was swooping continuously over him.

The dark ginger tom flicked his tail furiously as the blue jay cawed, and then flapped away over the trees.

"Don't let the birds bother you. They're just playing." Chase teased.

"It wasn't bothering me. It was just… being a nuisance." Dominic saved. Chase could tell he was just trying to act tough.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Chase and Dominic reached the end of their somewhat familiar forest. It was what they'd been traveling through all day.

They emerged from the woods onto a small expanse of overgrown cattails and sand, which led down a slight slope to a rushing, bubbling river.

The river didn't look too deep, and there were tons of rocks and stones that might offer a walkway across without swimming. Chase looked on, trying to act hopeful in front of his brother. Dominic seemed extremely depressed.

The tom stood next to him, staring at the river with expressionless eyes.

"What're we going to do?" Dominic asked, for once not attempting to act like a wise elder.

Chase nodded to the stones. "We can try to cross by using those."

Dominic looked thoughtful, and then nodded. They padded down to the edge of the bank, right to the river. Chase stepped carefully onto the first stone. The rushing water whipped past his paws.

He could nearly feel the force of the water on his pads.

Chase carefully put his two front paws on the next stone, and his two hind paws on the first stone. All of the sudden, a freezing cold wind rushed through the air. It seemed like the sun disappeared for a moment in time, leaving the foaming river beneath Chase's paws dark and murky-looking.

The freezing wind rushed through his fur. He gasped at the coolness of it reaching his skin, and then his two hind paws slid into the water. His front paws quickly followed, bringing his entire body into the river.

He slowly felt himself drift downriver, bumping into stones and rocks. Chase panicked, hearing Dominic yowl frantically from the bank.

Standing at the edge of the river, Chase remembering thinking that it looked shallow. How could I be so stupid to think that? I can't even feel the bottom!, he thought.

Still in a panic, his paw flailing every which way in the unthinkably cold water, he could barely tell which way was up, or where the bank was.

Chase felt the river slam him into more stones. The world spun. He tried to locate where the riverbank was, so he could make his way toward it, but the freezing water drove him from any type of concentration.

He tried to call out to Dominic, but he couldn't hear or see his brother anymore.

He could feel the coolness of the water seeping deep into his skin, chilling him to the bone. I'll die if I don't get out of this water!, he realized.

But the river forced him into more slippery rocks and stones, tiring him greatly. Chase could feel his paws going numb, and his neck hurt from the impact of slamming into objects, and then being rushed on.

He began to feel lightheaded and dizzy, the trees and sky around him moving too fast to comprehend.

What's going on? Was the last thing he remembered thinking right before everything went black, and the only sound he could hear was rushing water...