[justify]

The small black cat was motionless in his nest, although he did not sleep. His paws were tucked beneath his body and his long tail was wrapped about him so that his only distinguishable features were his pointed ears, which rose above the thin hump of his form. He was resting, in a sense, but it was a deliberate kind of inactivity in which he held himself, not the placid oblivion of sleep. Ravenstar liked to devote some of his time each day to blanking the cunning machinations that ruled his mind, giving himself some peace from both the restlessness of sleep and the active energy of wakefulness so that his thoughts could organize themselves in silence. It wasn't so much a pleasure as a refuge, as he saw it.

Although there was little to bother him at this time of night, Ravenstar deliberately separated himself from those sounds and scents that did weave their way into his den. So it was that it took him time to recognise the acrid smell that had begun to infiltrate the gloom, and moments more to place it. Ravenstar's eyes snapped open and stared, glowing green in the opaque dimness of his shelter. Something was not right in his world.

He rose fluidly, wound out of the hollow where he slept and leapt atop the Clan's speaking stone to survey the horizon. Black sky studded with stars glittered above, but in the distance a bright orange glow lit the moorlands. It flickered and flared, as the ever present wind brought warm, stinging air and the faint sound of crackling to the camp. With each second that passed, the sound grew stronger, fed closer by the encouraging push of the wind. Ravenstar did not wait to hear it better.

"WindClan!" he shouted, leaping from his perch. "Rouse yourselves! Fire approaches! All cats wake your neighbours and assemble!" This was no forest blaze, fierce but slow-moving. The flames would be upon them in mere minutes, spurred by the wind and the fields of tinder-dry grasses. Fires in the open moorlands spread with alarming speed, and could be deadly to weak or slow animals. He needed to get himself and his Clan to safety now, or it could be too late to evade the sweeping spread of the flames.[/justify]

Smallnose had been on night guard for the camp until moonhigh. The night sky was beautiful tonight, the whole of StarClan stretching out across the vast darkness. However, it was quite chilly. When moonhigh had arrived, the silver tabby had been relieved to be able to retire to the warriors den and curl up amongst her fellow WindClanners in her nice, warm nest. With the number of bodies that were stuffed into the warriors den, the air inside was warmer than the air outside. Smallnose had had a long day of assisting her apprentice with her kits, Brownkit and Squirrelkit, and had spent all morning hunting, with the night guard on top of that. She'd sunken gratefully into her nest and had fallen quickly into a deep, dreamless unconsciousness.

Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten a terribly large amount of sleep. When she was on night guard, the she-cat knew there was at least one thing she could rely on: she got to sleep in in the morning. However, with the sounding of her leader's yowl in the middle of the night, Smallnose was pulled from her sweet sleep. When she first sat up in her nest, her drowsiness overcame her curiosity, and she took a few heartbeats to unravel her thoughts. She hadn't heard Ravenstar's announcement, largely due to the fact that she was still half asleep. But an acrid scent filled her nose, jerking her awake instantly.

Fire! came the cries of her frightened comrades around her. Everybody wake up! Fear-filled shrieks filled the air of the WindClan camp, hanging as heavily as the smell of the smoke. Smallnose wasted no time in forcing herself out of the warriors den, certain none of her fellow warriors would be able to sleep through such a ruckus. The clearing was filling with cats of all ages evacuating the dens, and the scared calls of cats in search of loved ones or cats wondering where they were supposed to go dominated. Smallnose spotted Smokepaw and Mousepaw near the nursery and was confident that Mousepaw's two kits would be taken care of.

Briefly Smallnose considered hurrying over to the nursery, but instead she headed for the elders den. The queens would find cats to help them with their kits, but the elders would also need assistance in escaping the flaming territory.

"Wake up!" she yelled into the den for any of the old cats that might still be asleep. "Come along; Ravenstar wants us all in the clearing." She pushed her way inside the den to help out any of the retired warriors that might not be able to hurry about any longer. Everyone had to get out of camp, and Smallnose didn't plan on leaving even these cats behind.

Something wasn't right. The she-cat's dreams were not like her usual ones. Usually her dreams were nice and peaceful; she was either running across the open moorland chasing rabbits to her heart's content, or dozing peacefully under the shade of a thorn bush, or training her imaginary apprentice which she hoped she would have someday soon. However, her dreams weren't right for some reason. A foul, tangy smell invaded her nose and a bright, angry light was raging. It was familiar, and yet not welcomed at all, and just before she woke up from her very bad dream a terrifying yowl broke her sleep, pulling her roughly into the waking word. Heathertail woke with a start, her heart instantly racing and her ears swiveling around to find where the cry had come from. It didn't take her long to figure out what was going on.

"Fire! Everyone wake up, hurry! We have to get out of here!" The she-cat wailed, immediately turning to the nest next to her and nudging her larger brother, lightly at first but more roughly when he didn't wake up right away. "Dustfur! Stop dreaming and come on!" Her gray-furred brother grumbled at first, complaining, but seemed to realize what was going on as well and quickly started to get to his paws. "Okay, okay, I'm up." he simply said, much to Heathertail's relief. The younger sister then turned to where her other brother's nest was located, but was shocked to find it empty. She glanced toward the den's entrance just in time to see the tabby-striped tail of Harewhisker already disappearing outside. Heathertail gave an annoyed huff. So much for being worried about him.

Dustfur nudged her with his head, urgency quickly apparent by his actions. Heathertail glanced at him once more, saw the worry in his eyes, and she quickly shook her head. "Okay. Harewhisker is okay, so let's go." Dustfur nodded in response and the two littermates fled out of the den, ready to join the rest of their Clan mates and search for safety.


It took Longflower longer than the other warriors to evacuate the den. That was because she had roused from her nest as soon as she sensed the frightened movement from her den mates, then began to make rounds around the warriors' den and make sure every cat in it was up and moving or at least awake to be made aware of the situation, then left to get up on their own. None of them would be left behind as far as she could help it. Any cats that were somehow still sleeping or refusing to rise would not be left there without Longflower shooing them out of the den by any means necessary. "Go on, hurry! You can't stay here or you'll be in danger!" She urged one of the young frightened warriors, a small tom refusing to move from his nest. She butted him in order to get him to stand up and nudged him toward the entrance, then watched contently as he scurried outside. Once the warriors' den was almost evacuated, Longflower began heading out herself. Now all she had to do was rejoin her Clan mates and then-

"The kits!" She suddenly cried out, freezing in her tracks and letting her eyes fly wide open. Mousepaw's distressed call rang above the other terrified yowls of the Clan, calling her immediate attention and sending her running toward the nursery. Of all the cats in the Clan, the former queen felt the most need and urgency to make sure the kits and their mothers were alright, so she dashed straight toward the well protected den and dove inside, barely giving herself time to explain and immediately rounding up all of the kits that she could, curling around them protectively and guiding them toward the exit of the den. "Hush, kits, you'll be alright. Just stay calm and we'll get out of here, understand?" Her eyes fell on Stormkit and Silverkit, her grandkits, and she gave them both a quick sniff just to make sure they were alright. "You'll all be fine, just listen to your mothers and I."


Harewhisker remained calm among all the noise and panic. He couldn't remember the last time a fire had threatened to strike WindClan's camp, but that didn't matter to him; making sure as much order was kept as possible did. "Everyone remain calm!" He hissed, raising his voice in order to be heard over the other cats. "Stay together and help your Clan mates! Wait for Ravenstar's order before leaving camp!" The tom narrowed his eyes as he began moving through the crowd, occasionally jumping back and hissing as a panicking apprentice rushed past him, nearly knocking him over. The fire was still a ways away; they had plenty of time to evacuate the camp well before it reached them. There was no reason for there to be so much panic among the Clan, however he knew it would be useless trying to force them to calm down, so instead he headed toward the elders' den, determined to make sure the Clan's oldest would make it out of camp safely.

Upon entering the elders' den, however, he found that Smallnose was already there. And from the looks of it, Leopardtail was already up and moving as well. Moving further into the den and closer to the other two elders, he said, "Good, you all already know. Do you need my help? We need to get out of camp as quickly as possible." He turned to Smallnose, unsure of how quickly the old cats would be able to move and if he should assist them or find someone else who needed help. Chances were if anyone needed help getting out of camp it would be the elders, but he was also aware of Smallnose's capability to take care of something like this on her own.