Pale sunlight dappled through the leaves that lined the top of the warrior's den, casting pools of warmth along Pineheart's fur. He laid still for many moments, letting the morning sun soak into his muscles, before slowing blinking open his eyes to take in the sights surrounding him. It was early but many cats had already left the den and the sounds of a bustling clan wafted through the entrance, filling Pineheart's ears with mild chatter. His heart was bursting with pride. He had been appointed as the Thunderclan deputy a mere four moons ago, despite being a relatively young cat, and each morning, if only for a few seconds, he worried about whether he was doing a good job and if the leader had made the right choice. But the second he heard clan life going on as normal, his worries seeped away. Everything's fine. He told himself, No one cares more for this clan than I do. With a quick nod to himself, the dark tabby warrior rose to his paws and padded out of the den, ready to tackle his duties for the day.
Pineheart's day had been completely normal. He organised patrols in the morning, leading the patrol at sunhigh himself, and in the afternoon he took his apprentice, Thistlepaw, out for some hunting training. He had forgotten how tiring it was to have an apprentice; they had so much energy and wanted to see, and do, everything at once, especially when they had just begun their training like Thistlepaw had. The two of them had been assigned as mentor/apprentice only a quarter-moon ago when Thistlepaw and his littermates had turned six moons old and even this early on Pineheart could tell this bundle of energy had all the makings of a fine warrior.
"He needs to learn to contain his excitement while hunting," He mewed aloud, his thoughts finally being given a voice. "He'll scare off all the prey across all the territories if he keeps lashing his tail like that."
"Oh Pineheart, can't you remember what it was like to be a new apprentice? Eager to learn everything at once?" The voice that replied to him was as smooth as honey and as warm as the sun itself.
The deputy blinked in appreciation at the owner of the voice. His mate, Dapplewillow, was lying beside him, gently rasping her tongue over a stubborn patch of fur on Pineheart's shoulder, pausing for a slight moment to blink back slowly at him in comfort, just as she always did. The mother of his kits, Patchkit, Lightkit and Songkit, had been the biggest blessing in his life; it was as if she had been sent to him by Starclan themselves. He turned his head to watch his kits tumbling around with each other near the entrance to the nursery and sent a silent prayer to the starry warriors for his wonderful family.
"You're right, like always, Dapplewillow." He replied, "I'm sure he will make a fine warrior, just like our kits will."
"It won't be long until they're made apprentices now." Dapplewillow nodded thoughtfully, "Has Birchstar given you any hints as to who will be their mentors yet?"
Pineheart shook his head in reply, "Not yet. But I'm sure he will closer to the ceremony."
The couple stayed sharing tongues and watching their kits play until long after the sun had set below the horizon before Dapplewillow rose to her paws and rounded up the kits to say goodnight to their father. Pineheart gently touched his nose to each one in turn before mewing a goodbye to his mate and watched as they all piled into the nursery to sleep. A hint of sadness crept through the deputy as he made his way back to the warriors den. He missed Dapplewillow sleeping next to him at night. As he settled down into his nest, Pineheart couldn't help but shiver. He could of sworn it was a sense of foreboding, but as he curled into a ball he shook his head and passed the feeling off as just a drop in the outside temperature or his thoughts of missing his sleeping companion. Trying to think about patrols for the next day, he closed his eyes and it wasn't long until he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
The sound of cats yowling in terror awoke Pineheart with a start and the second he opened his eyes the thick, bitter smell of smoke filled his nose and lungs. Fire! Fire! Fire! He sprung to his paws and darted out of the warriors den only to be greeted with absolute chaos and horror. Bright orange-and-red flames lapped all around him and into the forest above, cats were sprinting in every direction, desperate to escape the blaze and falling debris that accompanied it and the heat the seared at his pelt and onto his skin underneath had none of the comfort the early morning sun gave. The tom had a mere heartbeat to assess the situation as a smouldering branch teetered on the edge of the hollow, threatening further destruction at any moment.
"Get out!" He yowled into the warriors den at any warriors who might have still been inside, "Now! There's a fire!"
He sprung into the centre of the camp, making a beeline for the nursery which had flames creeping towards it and what seemed like half a second later, the burning branch tipped over into the hollow and directly onto the beech tree where warriors den was, almost immediately combusting the dry bark and leaves until they too were a ball of flames. Pineheart froze in shock. He hadn't even stopped to see if anyone had still been asleep inside and if there was, there was no chance they could now escape alive. The deputy didn't have time to grieve. He once again darted towards the nursery, only to once again freeze in shock. Dotted all around the camp laid the limp bodies of his clanmates; fellow warriors, apprentices and elders alike. Their fur was singed to a crisp and stained a dark grey with ash, the dancing glow of the fire making it look like they were running on the ground. Pineheart scanned the clearing for any sign of Dapplewillow or the kits and was relived to not find their bodies among the rest of the clan. No sign was a good sign right now. The tabby shook his head and continued to the nursery, very aware of how close the fire was spreading towards it. He reached there in a few strides and was startled when Dapplewillow shoved her head out of the den, almost colliding with him.
"Oh thank Starclan you're safe!" She mewed in distraught, thrusting her head into Pineheart's shoulder.
"Of course I am." He replied bleakly, "What about the kits? Are they safe? Where are they?" The questions tumbled out in a single breath.
"They're fine, Palepoppy and Longclaw are just-" She was cut short when the two warriors pushed their way out the the nursery behind her, a kit each dangling from their mouths and Songkit right at their paws. Pineheart nodded his appreciation at his clanmates and bent down and picked Songkit up by the scruff, swinging her around and dropping her at Dapplewillow's paws.
"Take them and go to the beach; it's near the water so it should be safe. Once you're there follow it around to Windclan territory, the open plains shouldn't be effected." He shook his head as Dapplewillow opened her mouth to reply, "No, you have to go right now. I'll meet you there when I can but I have a duty to the clan to stay behind and make sure everyone is safe." He turned to Palepoppy before his mate could protest. "Where is Birchstar?"
"I saw him heading towards the elder's den but I haven't seen him since."
Pineheart nodded and turned back to Dapplewillow. "I love you." He choked out, his words barely audible over the roar of the fire around them. "I love you all. Please stay safe. Now go." He touched his nose to hers for what felt like a lifetime before drawing back and turning to the two warriors carried the most precious cargo in their jaws. "Please keep them safe."
"We will, Pineheart." They mewed in unison through the fur of his kits before a last nod to their deputy and taking off towards the thorn tunnel that led out of the camp.
Pineheart felt as though his heart was breaking into a million pieces as he watched them go and felt tears fill his eyes as he waited until the last tail tip could be seen going through the entrance to the camp. I might never see my family again. He thought in despair. He shook the tears out of his eyes and straighten his shoulders. No. He had to have hope. Starclan would protect them and he had a job to do here. He spun on his ash-covered paws and bolted towards the elder's den, hoping to find Birchstar there so he could guide him through this disaster. However, when Pineheart reached the elder's den he once again stopped dead in his tracks. He was greeted with the sight of the elder's den completely ablaze, the branches of the beech tree and honeysuckle that once guarded the elders from everything now blackened with char, and the bodies of Birchstar and Cedarfur sprawled across the ground. It had looked as though the leader had tried to drag the elder from the burning mass of the den and neither one had survived. This can't be! The deputy despaired; he knew Birchstar was not on his last life. He rushed over to his old mentor's body and crouched beside it, sniffing frantically at his fur for any signs of life. Suddenly, Birchstar's body convulsed and the tom's amber eyes shot open and stared up at Pineheart in fear.
"Pineheart!" He exclaimed, his once fierce voice now hoarse from smoke, "You're alive."
"Of course I am, Birchstar." The deputy tried to smile meekly at the light brown tabby lying at his paws. "And so are you. Let me help you up." He lowered himself closer to the ground so that the leader could put his weight on him. But Birchstar didn't move.
"No my dear deputy." He shook his head with what seemed like all the strength he had, "I am about to lose my last life, this injury is too great for even Starclan to heal." He motioned with his nose to the lower half of his body and for the first time Pineheart noticed the extent of the older tom's injuries; the entire lower half of his body was blackened with burns, his tail looking like the burned branches of the trees around him and not a patch of fur left anywhere. A lump rose in his throat as he turned back to face Birchstar.
"What will I do without you Birchstar? I'm not ready and the whole clan is gone." Pineheart wailed as though he were a young kit who was losing their mother. "Palepoppy and Longclaw have taken Dapplewillow and the kits out of the camp, but there's no one else left! They're all... Gone." Tears rose in his eyes once more as he thought of all the loss that had happened here tonight.
"Starclan will guide you. You will make a fine leader Pineheart; I always knew it was your destiny." Birchstar's eyes flickered in pain as he stared at something behind Pineheart. "You must go now, and so must I." Pineheart shook his head, not wanting to leave the cat that had taken the place of his father after he had abandoned the clan. He opened his mouth to protest once more but was silence with the touch of Birchstar's tail to his shoulder. The tail burned and left a stinging sensation where it touched and the deputy grimaced at the pain his friend must be going through. "Starclan be with you, Pineheart." The leader's voice was barely a whisper as he shuddered and then lay still, the last of his lives fading from his eyes.
Pineheart buried his face in the dead leader's body, letting out a wail of heartbreak as he said an internal goodbye to the cat who had done so much for Thunderclan in all his lifetimes. Heat drummed against his pelt, daring him not to move so he could meet the same fate but the tabby didn't care. He was the only one left who would be able to mourn Birchstar as he passed. So he didn't move. He stayed, with his head pressed into his old mentor's pelt until the flames crept so close that they scorched at his fur and at least Pineheart rose to his paws, taking one last look at the place he had called home his entire life and the clan he had loved so dearly, before running half heartedly across the camp, up into the thorn tunnel and out into the forest beyond.
Pineheart's paws pounded on the dry, scorched earth that was once home to a vibrant and luscious forest. Even in the middle of the night, he could hear the wildlife humming peacefully as they coexisted alongside the clan cats but now he could hear nothing other than intense roar of the fire that blazed all around him. The dark tabby ran blindly through the flames, trying to pick up any scent of his family and just hoped he was going in the right direction towards the beach, not that he could even seen the sky through the fire. After what felt like a lifetime of running, he caught scent of Longclaw. It was close but that made him worry. Had his family not made it out of the flames? He changed direction and chased after the fading scent as quickly as he could, the smell of smoke drowning it out with every passing heartbeat. At last, he skidded to a stop in a small gap of the flames and was greeted with the charred body of Longclaw lying at his paws. Pineheart couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he realised that there were no other cats lying around him, including Lightkit, who Longclaw had been carrying. With a passing touch of his tail to the fallen warrior's body, he leapt into the flames ahead of him once again, hoping to find his mates and kits -and Palepoppy- soon. Smoke was filling Pineheart's lungs, making it harder for him to carry on running, fire was sizzling at his pelt and his paws had lost all feeling from drumming against the hard, hot ground, but still he continued. He must find his family. His thoughts were interrupted when he tripped and skidded along the forest floor, charcoaled branches scraping at his underbelly. He rose to his paws and, shaking the soot off his pelt, turned around to glare at what he thought was a fallen tree trunk, only to be met with the sight of an ash-covered Palepoppy, her once cream fur dark grey. Sadness choked in Pineheart's throat; he had liked Palepoppy, she was a strong and loyal warrior Pineheart had always believed should of been deputy over him. And now he knew his family were along, lost in a forest of fire. He trotted back towards the warrior, limping with every few steps, and touched his nose against her pelt before turning on his paws in one last hope of finding his mate and kits alive.
Pineheart had not been running again for very long before he felt the wind change, now blowing towards him, and tasted the scent of salt from the lake. He pressed on harder, hope of his family reaching the beach giving him new strength. He leapt over tree trunks, dodged around flames and crawled under cindering branches until he was met with a wall of flames that stood between him and the beach. It was a couple of fox-leaps ahead of him and there was no way around it; the only way out for him was to turn around and go back the way he came. The tom stared at it in defeat. There was no time for him to find his family now if he was to survive. He collapsed to the ground and let out a yowl of despair. He laid there for many moments, watching his tears disappear in the dirt the second they dropped and then heaved himself to his paws. He had no energy left. He had lost everything. A gust of wind from across the lake hit him in the face and cooled his burned fur for a heartbeat. Half heartedly, he looked up and his heart fell when he looked through the flames. There they were. Dapplewillow, Patchkit, Songkit and Lightkit laid together in a heap of grey pelts, their bodies not moving. Pineheart swung his head from side to side, desperately looking for an opening through the flames for him to pass through. But alas, he could not get to them. He couldn't say goodbye. But deep down he knew it was already too late for that and that they were already walking with their ancestors.
"I'm sorry!" He screamed to them over the roar of the fire, all energy draining from his body. Pain shot through the side of his body as flames lapped up against his pelt. He couldn't stay here. He knew that but he couldn't bare to leave them on their own. He stood, motionless, his heart breaking into a million pieces as he took one last look at the cats he loved most in this world, begging Starclan to tell him what he did to deserve them taking away his family. He tipped his head back and glared at the sky, and as if in answer a single star shone brightly through the flames. He felt a small morsel of energy flow back into his muscles as he prepared to run once more. He couldn't stay here. With one last glance at his mate and kits through the flames, Pineheart turned on his paws and headed back into the depths of the forest.
The deputy ran blindly through the forest as reality slowly started to dawn on him. He was the sole survivor of Thunderclan. What was he supposed to do now? A branch scraped at his face as though to snap him out of his misery. For now he needed to survive and for that he needed to have a clear head. With a nod of encouragement to himself, he decided to follow his own advice and head towards Windclan's territory; it was his best -and only- option right now. He pressed his paws harder against the ground, eerily aware of the blaze closing in around him, and ran faster than he ever had before. He coughed heavily; the smoke was thicker than ever and he could feel it settling in his lungs. Crash! Pineheart tumbled over his paws as he collided with something. Muttering to himself, he shook off his fur and looked up at the grey -no black- pelted cat that he had crashed into. They were small; they looked no older than an apprentice and though he couldn't smell much through the smoke he knew this wasn't a Thunderclan cat. But what were they doing here? And who were they?
"Who are you?"