Closer to Tomorrow

Contest: April 2016 || Word cont: 1903

The Clans had been travelling now for over a moon, and they had long passed anything that was remotely familiar. When Flickerflame looked back in direction they had come from, which she didn't do often, she couldn't see any of the landmarks that she had grown up around. But they had been hardly recognisable even before they'd left; once the floods had come, nothing looked or even smelled the same way anymore.

The floods had arrived quicker than any of them could have anticipated, even with the warning that the medicine cats of all three Clans had received. Rain during leaf-bare and the lake around which the Clans made their homes swelling as a result had never been unusual, but it had felt like the skies were pouring with water for moons with only the odd day's rest. It might have been easier if the lake had expanded gradually, but the sudden bursting of the banks after days of constant rainfall had meant that BreezeClan had woken up that terrible morning with the dark and swirling pool only a few fox-lengths away from their camp.

The border patrol unlucky enough to be near the lake when the banks burst hadn't stood a chance, and Flickerflame had led out a rescue patrol to discover not only the four sodden bodies but that her dear brother had been one of them. Nearly three moons later her dreams were still haunted by the discovery of that pearly grey pelt half-submerged under the water, mint-green eyes staring wildly and his jaws open from his last gasp for air. She and Galeforce had always been close, their bond only strengthened by the heartache that both siblings had endured in their lives.

That was only the start of their troubles though, for with the floods came a sickness that was a mystery even to the medicine cats. BreezeClan had been torn apart by loss, with the relatives of the sick afraid to look away for a moment for fear they would slip away without warning. The other Clans were no better; at the next Gathering Flickerflame looked with concern at the three leaders who spoke of nothing but bad news. Or rather the twoleaders and one deputy- Frozenstar of MistClan had died from the sickness so his deputy Wolfheart was to be the Clan's new leader. Flickerflame couldn't help but have a little sympathy for the tom, she herself had been made Jaggedstar's deputy two moons ago and couldn't imagine being thrust into his situation.

Until she was.

The floodwater had continued to creep forward, shrinking their territory and making prey numbers drop sharply. Flickerflame and Jaggedstar had been patrolling the new borders themselves to get an idea of how much land they had lost when a shrieking cry for help had split the air. The five newest apprentices, four of them Jaggedstar's own kits, must have been exploring the edge of the lake and not noticed the water spreading around them, and had got themselves stranded on a tree stump. Despite the dangerous conditions, she and Jaggedstar had been faced with no choice other than to rescue the young cats themselves. Flickerflame had just been emerging from the water with the fourth apprentice when she turned around to see Jaggedstar slip under the surface, the scruff of his son still gripped in his teeth as a surprise current swept both cats away back towards the centre of the lake. Plunging into the water after her leader without a second's hesitation, Flickerflame had managed to get Snowpaw to safety but Jaggedstar had been lost to the churning waves. It hadn't even been his last life and the medicine cat suggested that he had drowned multiple times, the very idea making Flickerflame shudder. Snowpaw never woke from unconsciousness and died too later that evening, leaving his heartbroken family with two lost cats but only one body to mourn over.

Less than a quarter-moon later, Flickerflame's aunt Lightsong perished due to starvation from giving up her rations to feed the queens. Flickerflame had thought about the idea that she might one day have to lead BreezeClan, but never in her worst nightmares had she imagined it would be in circumstances like these.

But Flickerflame had never been a stranger to the agonising pain of bereavement. She and Galeforce had never known their mother Dawnstripe, as she died in childbirth along with their brother leaving her surviving two kits to be suckled by another queen. Moorstep's own two kits were mere days older than she and Galeforce, so between her and Lightsong who moved into the Nursery to raise her sister's kits they were brought up happy. But their father Goldclaw never once visited the Nursery; Dawnstripe's death had broken something inside the dark tom. Flickerflame realised from the first time she wandered out of the Nursery and she stumbled into her father that it was the sight of her in particular, her dark ginger pelt an exact copy of her mother's, that brought back memories of his mate that he couldn't bear to think about.

As a result of their almost non-existent relationship, it was hard to grieve when Goldclaw was killed in battle when Flickerflame and Galeforce were nine moons old. But it marked the beginning of a devastating stream of deaths that affected both siblings and lasted for moons. First was Flickerflame's apprentice Oatpaw, struck down by a rogue cat that Oatpaw came across on his first solo hunting assessment. Flickerflame had disobeyed Jaggedstar's orders and tracked down the rogue, killing him herself to avenge her kind and innocent apprentice who was far too young to die. Next was Moorstep's daughter Embernose who had been Galeforce's mate, the pain of her sudden loss to a fox's claws made even sharper by Galeforce's reveal that she had been expecting his kits. The Clan deputy and Moorstep's mate Fallowtail was then murdered by the same vicious animal when he led a patrol to drive it away from the territory.

Flickerflame's old mentor Swiftheart had become deputy then, which Flickerflame couldn't have been more pleased about. The aging tom had been the closest thing to a father figure that she had ever had, and she had stayed just as close with him even after she had been made a warrior. He was the first cat she would turn to if she needed a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or a comforting reassurance that everything would be ok.

"How do you know?" she'd once asked him, tears for her fallen friends still dampening her cheeks, "How are you so certain that everything will be ok?"

Swiftheart had chuckled then, shuffling closer to Flickerflame and laying a tail over her shoulders. "My mentor told me this a long time ago, and it's something that I always remember whenever things are looking a little bleak. Everything will be ok in the end, because if it isn't ok then it isn't the end."

Flickerflame returned to that little piece of advice often, the sound of Swiftheart's rumbling mew in her head bringing a smile to her face every time. Swiftheart had retired to the elder's den a long while later on account of his worsening joints, and it had come as an unexpected yet honouring surprise to hear her own name called out as the new deputy. She had wondered briefly if Dawnstripe and Goldclaw were watching her that night, but the joyful faces of Galeforce, Lightsong and Swiftheart had reminded her that all the family she needed were right there beside her.

That had been less than a moon before the start of the floods, and the coldest leaf-bare that any cat could remember. Swiftheart had grown ill then, a mild form of whitecough that resisted even the effects of catnip. On a night when frost covered the grass and her breath came with puffs of steam, she had spent the night with Swiftheart in the elder's den and woken up to find his body cold beside her. Although Flickerflame missed him dearly, it was a relief to know that he had been freed from his aching body and restored to the youthful tom that he had loved to tell her stories about.

She thought of him now, leading what remained of her beloved Clan away from their old home into new territory. It had reached a point where the land around the lake had become too swampy to live in, and with heavy hearts the leaders had agreed that they would leave the lakeside to look for a new place to make their homes.

The floods had taken everything away from Flickerflame; her brother, her aunt, her leader, and now the place where she had been born, grown up and imagined living her entire life. There were times when it was so hard to carry on, when she wished with everything she had that it could be another cat in her place and she no more than a warrior following orders. She had only been deputy for three moons, and now she was expected to lead a broken Clan away from everything they had ever known. Not for the first time, she would have given anything to have Swiftheart's guiding paw by her side.

"Oh Swiftheart," she said softly to the stars that were just starting to appear in the dusky skies. They would be stopping for the night before long, though Flickerflame felt that a moons' worth of rest couldn't ease the dull tiredness that had crept from her paws into her very soul. "What am I doing here? What should I do next?"

The skies gave her no answer, but Swiftheart's voice echoed in her mind with the question he had asked her after her first day as deputy. "Ask yourself this; is what you're doing today getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow?"

Flickerflame considered for a moment. "Where do I want to be tomorrow though?"she wondered aloud. She'd left everything behind, what future could she dream of having now?

A familiar chuckle sounded, and for a moment Flickerflame could have sworn that it was coming from next to her rather than within her head. "A place where everything will be ok in the end."

"Flickerflame!" called a voice, shaking her from her nostalgia and half-imagined conversation. Windchaser came sprinting towards her, his amber eyes alight with excitement as he panted for air. Flickerflame smiled faintly as he approached her; during the few times she had considered what cat she would make her deputy when the time arose, her mind had settled on Windchaser every time.

"Flickerflame, Featherstar thinks we've found somewhere we could make our new home! It's just over the rise, come and have a look!"

Flickerflame's eyes widened, her spirits instantly lifted by his words. "Show me," she ordered, and Windchaser led her to the top of a small hill where Featherstar and Wolfheart were stood.

Stretched out beyond them, bathed golden by the sunset light, was a place that could only be described as perfect. There were marshy grounds like those that Featherstar's Clan used to inhabit, the dense forests where Wolfheart's Clan, had lived and a wide open moor where her own Clan had once made their home.

'This is where I want to be tomorrow,' Flickerflame thought to herself, 'this is where everything will be ok in the end.'