Darkness

Chapter 6

"What are you doing here?" He narrowed his eyes.

"You broke my heart, Silvershade! It's all Dusttail's fault!"

"Darkheart, your creeping me out! Let's go back to camp!" Silvershade whimpered. Darkheart towered over the little she-cat, making her seem fragile like a kit.

"No. I'm going to end my jealousy right here and now!"

"You mean, forgive us?" Dusttail asked hopefully.

A hoarse, raspy chuckle escaped Darkheart's mouth. "You wish."

"Please, don't hurt us!" Silvershade squeaked. Darkheart smirked at her. Then, to Jaypool's surprise, the evil tom leapt onto Dusttail! Silvershade shrieked, and bolted off into the forest, heading towards StormClan camp.

"Silvershade!" Dusttail choked out. Darkheart snapped at his neck gripped his throat in needle-sharp teeth. Dusttail struggled and twisted in agony, blood splattering out of his mouth. Darkheart raked his claws down his side.

At that very moment, Silvershade burst out of the ferns, followed by Dapplestar, the old leader, and a patrol. Jaypool glanced back at the two toms, and gasped. Darkheart shook Dusttail's blood out of his fur and turned around, hissing. To Silvershade's visible horror, Dusttail lay on the ground, motionless. Blood pooled out of a wound in his throat.

"He's dead." Dapplestar said, throwing a terrified look at Darkheart.

Before anything else could happen, Jaypool felt herself being whisked away again.

"I can't show what happened a few moons later because its too gruesome. Darkheart was exiled and chased off StormClan's territory. After spending moons as a loner, he decided to return to pay Silvershade back for betraying him. Unfortunately, he came across Dapplestar on the way, who was our hunting by himself. Fuelled by anger, Darkheart attacked the leader. It was a terrible fight; lots of blood. Dapplestar lost a life, but killed Darkheart. Moons later, Darkheart visited the medicine cat, Sparrowfang, in a dream. Darkheart discovered that Sparrowfang also has a heart of ice. He is jealous of his oh-so-perfect brother, Hailpaw."

Hailpaw?

"By the way, this dream was just after Sparrowfang became medicine cat." Ferndapple continued. "Hailpaw is Hailfeather now; I suspect you know him.

Jaypool nodded. Why had Hailfeather never told her about this? She thought.

"Darkheart made a deal with Sparrowfang to kill Hailfeather if he killed Dapplestar. Darkheart trained him to fight in his dreams, and soon enough, came the moment they had been waiting for. Dapplestar was on his last life."

Jaypool noticed her surroundings morphing into a dark forest. It was about midnight.

"Sparrowfang persuaded his leader to follow him into the woods. As you can see, its night." Ferndapple went on. Jaypool noticed a calico tom pushing through the ferns, following a dark tabby.

That must be Dapplestar and Sparrowfang, she thought. Suddenly, Dapplestar shrieked and collapsed. Jaypool noticed a ghostly, black spotted figure hiding in the ferns! Darkheart!

"Darkheart had captured a snake. It was easy for him, since he couldn't die anymore. Well, not by a cause like that. I'll talk about that later. Anyway, the snake bit Dapplestar's foot. But look who's peeking through the bushes-" Ferndapple pointed out. Jaypool noticed a young light brown tabby hiding in the bushes.

"It's Oakpelt, Dapplestar's deputy. Oakstar now."

"Oakstar! He never said anything about this!" Jaypool cried.

"Why would he?" Ferndapple shrugged.

Sparrowfang raised a paw over the weak leader and killed him with a single blow. Blood soaked the moist dirt. Oakpelt leapt out of the ferns and attacked Sparrowfang. Before she knew it, Sparrowfang lay dead underneath Oakpelt's claws. Darkheart was nowhere to be seen.

"That's it. One more thing, though- Oakpelt became leader, as you know, and told the clan that Dapplestar and Sparrowfang were killed by foxes. It was easier that way." Ferndapple said. As their surroundings changed back to the plain meadow, Jaypool couldn't help but feel betrayed by Oakstar. She knew the story the of both leader and medicine cat dying together in the forest. Oakstar had lied.

"Darkheart had betrayed Sparrowfang, too. He thought even though Soarrowfang had killed Dapplestar like he wanted, he had died in the prophecy. Therefore, the medicine cat had pretty much failed him. So, Darkheart never killed Hailfeather. But StormClan and the other clans are in great danger, because the two of them are planning to destroy the forest of the clans."

"Oh, and only one of the four can kill Darkheart. Like I said before, he cannot be killed by any other cause. You have to stop him and his army!"

"How do we stop them?"

"They have an army. You must unite SandClan, LakeClan, CloudClan and StormClan to defeat it."

"But-"

"Unite the clans, Jaypool." Ferndapple grew paler, slowly disappearing. It's the only way." She faded away completely, leaving Jaypool waking up with a start.

I'm really sorry this chapter is so short!