Chapter 22: What's your name?

I looked at the small little dog for a few moments, with a bit of a surprised look on my face and then I moved back a little. The dog began to laugh, and now it was scaring me. I could fight off this small little dog if it came to it, I knew that Starclan would be by my side.

This wouldn't be the end of the road for me and Oister. If I died, than so did she, I did not even know what it was to save her yet. The dog then looked down at the ground and nodded to me, she knew that I had every right in the world to be afraid of the dog.

Even if it was a small dog, the dog was still a fair bit bigger than me. If it took me down to the ground, there would be no getting up for me. It nodded to me, and I stopped moving back and stood still, in a good spot in the case that I needed to scram.

"I'm not like those other dogs... I try my best to talk sense into them... There are some evil dogs out there however, they are not hard to notice." She said to me. I looked at her and then nodded, she was opening up to me about what dogs were really like, it was good for me to get a better understanding.

The dog then turned away and went inside of a little den that it had in its yard. I looked at it for a few moments, thinking that it might have gone in there and just decided to not come back out. In which case, it would be time for me to head off and find the cats that I was supposed to be looking for.

I had already wasted so much time already today, and I was not really to waste any more time. As I turned around I heard the dog bark behind me to get my attention before I left its small little yard. I looked back over at the dog a fair bit annoyed.

"I'm sorry, but I really must go... I am trying to find some sick cats." I said to the dog. The dog looked at me a but surprised and confused at the same time. I picked up the tansy that I had left on the ground when I had first attacked the dog and then turned back around.

I really needed to go, I did not know how much longer that those cats would have with the kits. The sun was already halfway through the sky, so I had already wasted a fair amount of half of this day. I knew that Starclan would not let me down, they had saved me so many times.

Not counting the times that they had taught me how to hunt, and several other things. I shook my head and then I hopped over the top of the fence, trying to see if I could remember anything from the dream that I had just last night... But luck seemed to come at no avail.

I closed my eyes for a few moments, trying to focus, there had to be some way. Something that would show me the way, these cats could not just be coming into my dreams for no reason at all. I could not let kits just die, they were meant to be the future of the clans.

I opened my eyes back up, not to focus on where the cats might be. But because I noticed the dog was talking to me once again. I turned my head over to the dog to hear what it had to say. The dog nodded to me noticing that I was paying attention to it.

"You said sick cats? Just the other day, there were some sick cats that passed through, they had 4 little cats... They told me they were looking for someone. Do the names Piper and Storm ring a bell to you?" The dog said to me. I looked at the dog for a few moments, trying to recall the thoughts of my dream that I had.

It was so blurry, I always cursed myself for not remembering any of my dreams to the full extent that I needed to. However, the names did sound familiar, and if it was true, this would be my last hope at being able to find out where the cats might be at.

I looked at the dog, and then I hopped back down in the yard. This could be something very important, this could be the next step to the end of my journey. I looked down at the ground for a few moments, I did not want the journey to end so fast.

I knew that Kettle wanted to go lead his own clan, our little group would split apart... I shook my head thinking about it though, I could not be greedy like that. Starclan had blessed me with the gift of leading my own clan, I would find plenty more friends in that clan.

I realized the dog was looking at me to respond to the question that it had just asked of me. I looked at the dog for a few moments, and in the end I eventually nodded. Still not sure if it was true, but the dog said they had 4 young cats with them, so it had to be them right?

This had to be where I needed to go, Jayfeather told me that I would get help, I could not do all of this alone. I shivered and then I looked at the dog dead in its little black eyes, and then I began talking to the dog, as serious as I possibly could.

"Yes... I think those are the cats that I have been seeing in me dreams... Do you know where they might be at?" I asked her. She looked at me a bit confused and a bit surprised for a few moments. She then shook her head at me, and I looked at the ground a bit disappointed.

I was hoping that this would be it, but maybe it was just the fact, that I needed to follow the path of the sun. Just like I had to follow the path of the sun to get to the lake in the first place. Then the dog nodded to me, I looked at it a little bit confused. The dog had to make up its mind, did it know where the cats were, or did it not?

"Well... I don't know exactly where they are staying, but I do know where they had headed off to." She said to me. I looked at her and then nodded, it was not exactly what I had been hoping for at all, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. I know that Summer had told me to go down a certain way... If this was the same way, then this would definitely be a win for me.

I had been lucky to find this dog in the first place, maybe it was destined for me to nearly be hit by that monster. I looked at the dog, it was looking at me for me to talk next which I was a bit surprised and confused about at the same time.

"Well... Where did they go off to?" I asked the dog, the dog looked at me for a few moments, she did not look so sure as if she remembered where it was that they had gone off to. This was definitely not good at all, but I still had to keep my hopes up.

The dog looked around the fences of the yard, it was trying to remember where the cats had gone off to. It was like the dreams that I had, it must be a vivid memory for the dog. The dog then looked at a certain part of the fence for a few moments, and then it turned to me and nodded.

"Yes... I believe they went that way." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, and then I squinted, it was not the same direction that Summer had told me to go at all. I did not know who to believe in the situation, my choices were a cat and a dog, and I was sure I had to choose the cat.

I looked at the fence once again, maybe we were talking about different cats. This was the time of the year where cats seemed to get sick the most. I shook my head, the odds of cats having the same name and the same amount of kits seemed too slim to me.

Starclan had taken me to this spot for a reason surely right? I then looked at the dog, just making sure that it was thinking correctly. Because to me, it did not seem as if the dog even believed itself right now.

"Are you sure? I was told that they went in a different direction." I said to the dog. The dog looked at me a bit confused, and then it moved slowly over to the fence to see if she was remembering where the cats had gone off to correctly.

Then it turned back to me, looking at me dead in my eyes this time. And the dog nodded to me, I looked at the dog for a few moments and then I nodded back to the dog. This was my last hope, I had to trust what the dog was saying was true... I had not told them how many kits there were or if they even had kits, so there is no way the dog was trying to trick me, surely right?

"Yes... They went that way..." The dog said to me. I looked at the dog for a few moments, and then I nodded. I ran and hopped back on top of the fence. Looking, I had no idea where they might be in that exact area but I would give it my best guess.

I looked back at the dog with a small little smile, the dog looked at me and then smiled back at me. This was a good dog, I knew most dogs seemed to hate cats, but this one seemed a lot different than most others. I wondered if Starclan might let me bring the dog into the clans...

"Thank you... For all that you have done..." I said to the dog. The dog looked at me and then nodded. Then I turned away from the dog. This was it... This was what I had been searching for, for quite some time now.

Just before I was about to head off though, I heard the dog say one last thing to me that caught my attention.

"Good luck... Hey! What's your name?"