Warriors: Dawn Legacy- Smothered Flames
Prologue
The small black tom leaped at the mouse, and it was too late for it to respond. It was over quickly.
The tom, Blazepaw, proud of his catch, headed back to Fireclan camp. He had trained alone almost all day, so he had decided to catch some prey to ease his mentor's annoyance of him leaving the camp by himself.
He threaded his way through the familliar, Fireclan scented path to camp, his tail held high.
He reached the outskirts, but met no one. Odd, the sun hadn't gone down yet. He rounded the corner into the center of the camp.
"Wha... what is this?!"
The dead bodies of his clan-mates were littered across the camp. Blood was everywhere.
Not a single cat was spared, even Silktail and her kits had been killed. Blazepaw's eyes filled with tears. he recognized his den-mate, Gentlepaw, a liffeless bundle of cream fur stained with scarlet. Copperstripe was a bloody mass on the ground.
"Smokestorm!" he cried as he sighted his mentor, his eyes glassy, blank, and unseeing.
His throat had been torn open, and blood flowed into a pool that soaked his cold fur.
Blazepaw touched his nose to his dead mentor, sharing tounges with him for the last tine.
Who could have done this?
He catiously padded into the leader's den, dreading what he would find.
"Mum? Dad?" he searched throughout the tunnels, but couldn't find it. He approached the sleeping quarters...
He froze as he heard a scuffling sound.
"Hello? Is anyone there...?"
There was no answer.
"Come on, Blazepaw..." he told himself. "Go on... go in..."
He stepped forward.
"NO! MUM! DAD!" he screamed. He ran to the bodies of his parents. His mother, Dovewing, had been killed first, it seemed. His father had fallen on top of her when he died. But his father, Flamestar, the leader of Fireclan, had had eight of his nine lives remaining, so whoever murdered him had done so eight times!
The scuffling sound came again, and a dark cat stepped from the darkness into view. He was black, with crimson marks on his face and shoulders. Shadecrow, the deputy, Blazepaw's brother.
"Shadecrow, what's... what's going on? What happened...?"
Shadecrow swiped his claws at him.
"Shadecrow...?" whimpered Blazepaw. Then it hit him.
Shadecrow did it. Shadecrow murdered Fireclan.
"Brother...?" Blazepaw whimpered. "What have you done?!"
Shadecrow just looked at him.
"Why?!" Blazepaw cried, tears leaking from his eyes again. "Why?! WHY?!"
"They were worthless, all of them. And I thought it interesting... to test... my new power."
"Your... new power?" Blazepaw asked, clueless.
Shadecrow closed his eyes. "Forbidden Twilight... Moonlight!" his eyes suddenly reopened, and seemed to bore into Blazepaw.
Moonlight flooded into the den, casting an eerie glow to appear on the red marks in Shadecrow's fur.
Blazepaw felt the world shift beneath his feet. He could have sworn that the den was spinning, and he fell over. When would this end?!
And as suddenly as it began, it stopped. He quickly got up, and drew a sharp intake of breath as a dead cat fell at his feet. Shadecrow stood behind Copperstripe, he had struck him down.
"Shadecrow, DON'T!"
Gentlepaw fell, dead. Four of the warriors charged at him, claws unsheathed...
"Please, no..."
Slash! All four of them fell.
"No... no... NO, NOT SMOKESTORM!"
Shadecrow leapt onto his mentor and tore open his throat.
"Silktail... her kits... no..."
The kits screamed in terror as their mother was killed, and then they fell with her, one by one.
The scene suddenly changed... Dovewing with her back to Shadecrow...
"Mother... no, Shadecrow... DON'T DO IT, DON'T DO IT!"
She screeched, and a gurgling sound escaped her throat before she hit the ground.
Flamestar charged out of the hallway, snarling in fury.
"NO, FATHER! FATHER!"
Shadecrow tussled with him for a while, and then tore his underbelly. The leader lay still as he lost a life... and then got back up. Shadecrow attacked again. Blood splattered on the floor as the leader fell... again and again... and his own son took out his final lives with a single blow, and he dropped and moved no more, it was as if he was losing all the blood in him...
"SHADECROW, STOP IIIIITTT! STOP IT STOP IT! DON'T!"
The world spun again, and suddenly, he was back in the den.
Blazepaw pulled himself to his feet. "YOU'VE GONE MAD!" he roared, running at his brother, claws unsheathed...
But before he could land a single blow, Shadecrow had smacked him with his paw hard enough that Blazepaw coughed violently, and fell.
"No... no..." Blazepaw jumped to his feet. He knew his brother could smell his fear-scent. "NO!" he screamed again, turning from Shadecrow and bolting out of the den. He ran as fast as he had ever run in his life, tears streaming from his eyes...
"DON'T KILL ME, SHADECROW!"
Shadecrow jumped in his way. "Of course not. It wouldn't matter whether I killed you or not."
"Brother... if you won't kill me, I'll kill YOU!"
His brother coolly knocked him to the ground again.
"What match for me are you in your current state? Nothing- at least, not yet."
Blazepaw glared at him as he got up again.
Shadecrow smiled. "Do you want to kill me? Then you must hate me. You must let your rage fester and burn within you. Think only of my destruction, and then come and find me when you have become strong. Cling to your survival to destroy me. I will be waiting for you... though you're as weak as a kit compared to me now. Run, run away, my brother..."
Blazepaw could hardly feel himself turn. He hardly felt his paws touch the ground as he fled from Fireclan camp, trying to outrun the horrible memories and images. The only thing that felt real was the image of Shadecrow's cold eyes staring deep into his.
He darted in the direction of Thunderclan territory, as they were the closest clan to his camp... he needed them now. Especially the leader, Ravenstar, with his tremendous insight and intelligence.
But all too soon, he felt his strength leave him... his paws gave way, and he fell... with his brother's command ringing in his ears...
"Run..."