Wolfpaw wheezed as he ran through the flickering mists. Forest, mountains, desert, tundra, marsh, beaches: they all flashed around him like lightning strikes.
“You can’t run!” Iceflower yowled, her dainty features contorted with rage. “You’ll never escape us, Wolfpaw. You belong to us!”
“Never!” Wolfpaw shrieked, feeling blood slide down his cheeks and splatter against his paws. He had to keep running. He had to get away!
The medicine cat was so absorbed with fleeing away that he didn’t realize he had raced straight out of the mists. As he slowed, sides heaving from the effort, he realized he was in the tundra. Snow crunched under his paws and the chill set in his fur. “Where am I?” He murmured, squinting against the glare of the sun.
In the distance, Wolfpaw could make out three cats. One, a pure white tom, was barreling down on a rabbit. The two were evenly matched in speed, but the rabbit was slowing down from exhaustion. Wolfpaw padded closer, feeling his heart sink as he heard a distinctive creak.
Behind the tom, the remaining cats were shouting something that Wolfpaw couldn’t quite hear. He watched in horror as the white tom paused and turned back, and he could see the sheer terror in his eyes as he tried hurrying back to solid ground again.
Too late. With a resounding crack, the ice the white tom had been standing on suddenly shattered. The water, freshly disturbed, was whipped into a whirlpool of dangerous ice. Suddenly, Wolfpaw was beside the white tom. They plunged into the frigid water together, both yowling and thrashing around as the liquid filled their noses and throats.
Neither cat was in control of their bodies – the waves were merciless and cruel. As soon as Wolfpaw was right-side-up, another wave would knock him into ice and crush the air from his lungs. I need to make it to shore. He thought as he tried to scramble onto the ice, only to be yanked back into the whirlpool. At this rate, the glacial water would steal all the warmth from his limbs and kill him.
Through the drifting ice, Wolfpaw caught sight of something that made his terror increase tenfold: a massive sheet of solid ice had risen up. It’s going to trap us! He thought, feeling his heart seize. He kicked through the numbness that was beginning to spread up his legs and tried to haul himself up.
It was no use.
Like a titan bent on destruction, the sheet of ice crashed down and trapped Wolfpaw and the white tom under the water. No! The apprentice scrabbled at the ice, trying desperately to break free. Not yet, not yet! StarClan I’m not ready! His claws ripped away, filling the water with blood, but the ice refused to budge.
Slowly, Wolfpaw’s lungs began to burn as he tried to hold his breath. Ice was beginning to form on his fur, making him heavier and heavier, and his vision began to blur. The crushing weight of the water was too much to bear.
Finally, Wolfpaw gave in. He finally breathed in, accepting his death-
And woke.