The last spark in your eyes

The black tabby she-cat was running breathlessly through the charred woods of her home, her skin feeling hot as if her pelt was already on fire. Red specks whirled all around her and terror filled her green eyes, aware that every little spark could ignite her fur and she would have no way of making it out alive.

Another cat, a muscular but slender tom, was running just a few tail-lengths ahead of her. His dark pelt was the only thing that Lynxshade could follow, the only guide for her aching, burning eyes. A red, eerie mist was filling the sky as long flames rose from the ground and devoured everything in its path; prey's screeches were audible in the messy background of noises. An eagle was diving up and down, taking advantage of the cataclysm to prey on the weakest.

"Wait, Tigersun! I can't.... keep up.. anymore!" She struggled to shout ahead of her, feeling her lungs starting to fail her. It aches... it's burning me alive! She thought with despair, coughing out the little air that remained in her body to expel gray ashes. I'll suffocate!

The tom had suddenly halted, an alarmed expression filled his tired eyes. Now Lynxshade noticed how much of his Tigersun's pelt had been scorched by the flames. The she-cat couldn't have known, but his brother's body had shielded hers from the hot air by letting her behind. "Lynxshade, we can't stop! They are closing us in!" He yowled with urgency, walking back to help her sister regain her breath and the reason. "Where.. where are our clanmates?" She asked with a faint voice. Her brother gritted his teeth while she glanced around, trying to make out any shape beyond the wall of flames and ashes that run through the forest. He knew the answer wouldn't help her go on.

"We lost them... half-way from here. We need to go. Now!" He urged again, this time raising his voice. "Go!" He pushed her with his forehead, even though his pads burned with every paw step as if his skin had been peeled away and left just bare flesh. How much time since they started running away? The fire had seemed to appear out of nowhere in a moment, but in no time it grew everywhere and soon embraced their whole camp. Where's the sun? Is it even day anymore? The sky was gray and orange. There was no landmark to orient themselves. They were utterly lost.

Minutes passed, and something about the ground told Tigersun that they had already crossed their borders and were now in unknown territory. Trees fell in the grasp of the fire, huge trunks cutting their way once, twice, before they reached the depth of a dead forest. "We are trapped!" Lynxshade yowled in despair, hopelessness in her weak voice. She turned right and left, back and forward, but everywhere looked the same.

Tigersun turned back again to her sister, clouded eyes watering as he tried to focus on her and find the courage for both of them. Will we die here? She thought in terror, her mind starting to lose clarity and her thoughts swirling in her head like the blazes all around them. Our clanmates will never find us. We will never see them again.

While Lynxshade believed to have started losing her mind, Tigersun was looking around frantically like a kit who had lost his mother too early. But even though his eyes were starting to fail him, his whiskers twitched and his ears perking in every direction to catch even the slightest, useful sound.

That day, in the most despairing moment a miracle made its way to the two lost cats and reached Tigersun's senses. The huge black tom raised his head to the sky, amber eyes widening as he understood what was going on above them. They are... geese! I can hear them! And they brought hope! Now Tigersun had a plan, and he was determined to make it out alive. I'll save you, my little sister. Please hold on a little more.

"Lynxshade, follow me!" He yowled with more voice than he thought he could summon at that moment, sprinting away just after checking that she had heard and was following behind. The wind was starting to rise, and it brought lethal flames with it. Death was following, too.

The birds know! They know where to go, so we just need to follow them! Why hadn't he thought of it before? Tigersun followed the flock with his ears, for his eyes were no longer working and couldn't distinguish their dark shape against the orange-gray sky. "Tigersun, where are you going?!" She shouted breathlessly as she run beside him, doing her best not to think about the legs that would soon give in and let her body collapse. "The birds, Lynxshade, the birds! They know where to flee! Follow them, I can't see them!" He ordered her, slowing only as he got sure that his sister had seen the flock and was now guiding them through the forest.

The birds were getting lost in the distance, but Lynxshade wasn't worried about that. Because now she could see their salvation. Hope sparked in her eyes, and suddenly her legs seem to regain more energy than she thought was possible to carry her away from the wildfire. Ahead, she could finally see clearly. A large, brownish river cut the landscape in half and offered safety to all creatures who could cross it. "Come on, Tigersun, we've almost made it! There's a river!" We've basically made it! She thought with a new wave of exhilaration coming out of her. Adrenaline filled her body and hid the pain that came out of her scorched pelt and pads.

They had almost reached the shore when the trees around them started to collapse.

"Tigersun!" Lynxshade yowled, nudging him toward a path between two crossed trunks where the ashes had suffocated the flames enough for them to walk past it. The black molly was still behind her brother, unsure of why his brother had slowed down so much. But Tigersun's lungs were ceding, and for a moment he couldn't breathe nor see anything. Lynxshade tried to push him forward, but a screeching sound suddenly cut the air and one of the biggest trunks fell just on them and enveloped everything in the fire.

A burning, tearing sensation brought Lynxshade awake. Green eyes opened to see the river just in front of her, but her body wasn't free. Her legs were stuck under the scorched bark and scratched her skin. With a huge effort, she pushed herself free and noticed how much blood she was losing from her injuries. Suddenly she noticed that Tigersun wasn't around.

Terror filled her chest as she realized he wasn't around, and that if she'd been hit by the tree... "Tigersun!!!" She yowled with horror, realizing her brother had been crushed entirely by the dying tree. The black she-cat tried to push the huge tree away without any result. Despair filled her whole body as she came to the conclusion that her brother couldn't be alive anymore. His spine must have been destroyed by the heavy weight. An instant death.

Tears filled Lynxshade's eyes as she remained still, unmoving, staring at the tip of Tigersun's legs that came out from under the tree trunk. The flames were enveloping them, but the black molly didn't want to leave her brother's side. It's my fault... my fault... my fault...! She thought with gritted teeth, head bent down as silver tears fell down on the charred grass.

A shriek of pain left her mouth as a blaze hit her back violently, pushing her away from Tigersun's death place.

With a huge effort, Lynxshade dragged herself beyond the tree that had just destroyed her brother's life and let her body collapse in the water of the river. She was too tired to try and swim, so she let her body float on the filthy water while the current took her away. Half-closed eyes stared at the last ashes that followed her in the wind. This must surely be the end.
It can't... continue.

I am... sorry, brother.



In the days that followed Lynxshade had awakened on the shore on the other side of the river, not too far away from the territory she'd escaped from and where she'd abandoned the only sibling that had remained by her side during all her life.
The black molly, exhausted and half-starved, walked directionless until a searching patrol of her old clan found her and brought her back.

Tigersun's body was never found, and Lynxshade's following vigil lasted 3 days and 4 nights.


...Goodbye, my brother. I will never forget what you did for me.