Exile [A Warrior Cats AU fanfiction]

[15] Harespring

Harespring jumped as two cats snickered behind him. Spinning around the brown and white tom faced Darkstripe and Thistleclaw. He tried to yowl a warning to his friends but he realised they were gone.

"What did you do to them?" He snarled.

"You fell asleep." The skinny black tom answered, blood trickling from an old slash in his neck.

Harespring shook his head in disbelief as the two cats stepped towards him. "This isn't the Dark Forest."

"You're right." Thistleclaw's amber eyes burned into his, the forest got destroyed and we were chased out by StarClan warriors."

"Good." Harespring spat in the grizzled tom's face.

"We can help you." Darkstripe said, yellow teeth flashing in the dark.

"Help me with what?" He snapped.

"We'll help you prove to those mouse-hearts that you're the leader they need." Thistleclaw rumbled. "And together we'll take revenge on the clans for what they did to you."

"Who said I want to be leader?" He yowled, glaring into the tom's amber, undead eyes. "Nobody wants to take revenge on the clans!"

"We see it in your eyes." Darkstripe spoke up. "You want to be admired, thats why you came running to us in the first place."

"I'm not making that mistake again." Harespring whispered, his voice caught in his throat.

"You can't change your destiny Harespring." The dark cat continued.

The living cat stomped his paw and turned to walk away. "I'm not interested."

. . . . .

Harespring jolted awake and his eyes darted around, worried that someone spotted him but no cat did. Sighing, he stretched his legs as the light of dawn glowed through the trees. The other cats got to their paws too, mumbling and shaking their stiff paws.

Feeling guilty for falling asleep he helped Thornclaw dig the grave for the deceased tom, as they were digging the skinny tom tried not to think about his encounter with the dark forest warriors. They soon finished and the cats carefully nudged Birchfall's body in, they soon smoothed the soil back over, his striped pelt disappeared for the last time.

"So what now?" Larkwing was hesitant to break the silence.

"We could head to the mountains?" Tigerheart suggested.

"It's too dangerous." Dovewing quietly protested.

"There's cats who knew the clans." Thornclaw pointed out. "And we could see for miles at the top, we're sure to spot somewhere else to go.

"What about the old territory?" Harespring asked

"It's gone." The golden tabby answered, "Destroyed by twolegs."

They set off.

. . . . . .

The atmosphere was different. The cats stuck to their ex-clans. They were silent, no conversations, no admiring their surroundings. Perhaps they were chilled at the thought that any moment the group could be mourning their deaths.

Reaching the bottom of the mountain they followed the path up. Cold wind ruffled their fur. They stopped for a while, Whiskernose catching a mountain hare, it wasn't much but each cat got one or two bites. They were all tired but there was nowhere to sleep.

"Are we almost there?" Blossomfall asked over the howling of the wind.

"Not quite." Dovewing shouted back.

Trudging through snow, the cats scaled a scree, Harespring helped pull Minnowtail up who was scrambling with fear, kicking small rocks down the mountain. Once everyone was safe they continued on, cats were mumbling that they should turn back but as they were about to Harespring spotted a pair of felines up ahead.

"Hello?" He shouted.

The cats headed towards them.

"Gray! What should we do!" One of the strangers yelled.

Although Harespring could hear them he heard the cat who who he assumed was Gray.

"Gray! Screech!" Dovewing shouted. "It's me, Dovewing!"

"Dovewing!" The two mud-covered cats padded cautiously towards them. "What are you doing here? Is this your clan?"

"Its a long story." The fluffy grey she-cat answered the tabby. "Can you take us to the cave?"

The two cats cautiously eyed the group before waving his tail to beckon them. The group made their way through the growing snowstorm. Harespring shivered as his paw sunk down into the snow. Soon he could hear a rumble from what he could assume was water.

Gazing up, a giant waterfall soon came into view. Some cats gasped in awe at the sight. They stepped through the entrance and into the giant cave, Harespring strained his neck to look at the stalactites. Many cats who were sitting on jagged ledges perked their heads up.

"Are those clan cats?"

"Gray, what are they doing here?"

Whispers rose up from the tribe cats as Gray turned to Dovewing. "Settle down to catch your breath, you all look tired. I'll get Stoneteller."

Turning away the two cats disappeared into a den before emerging from the entrance with a long-legged grey tom.

"Dovewing, Breezepaw?" His eyes flashed with suprise as his amber gaze swept over the group. "What are you doing here? Is everything well in the clans?"

"Yes. The clans are safe." Dovewing answered. "Something happened and we left."

Harespring noticed several cats glare at Dovewing. She was the only one who left, did she forget the rest of her companions were exiled?

"We're trying to find somewhere to live." Breezepelt interrupted. "I had a vison to follow the rising warrior and it brought us here. Would you mind if we shelter here for a few sunrises as we figuire out what to do next?"

Harespring was surprised, he had never seen Breezepelt so calm.

"Of course." Stoneteller dipped his head. "Your clans saved us multiple times, we owe you as much."

He stepped back, calling a few young cats over. "These are our visitors, take some feathers from the eagle you caught earlier and line the spare nests."

The young cats nodded and ran off.

"Pick a spot and have some rest. Tomorrow we can talk, you're barely standing on your paws."

The exhausted cats trudged across the cave to the spare nests. A grey apprentice-aged cat finished padding the nest with feathers and darted over to another as Harespring curled up in it, letting himself drift to sleep.