Warriors: Skytail's Reckoning (COMPLETED)

Chapter 25

"Touch your nose to the pool and close your eyes." Instructed Shadeheart as he stood at the edge of the Moonpool. His dark brown tabby fur was highlighted in silver from the ominous glow of the Moonpool. "StarClan will come to you."

Skytail gulped as she neared the water's edge, warily watching the pool as though it would drag her to its depths and drown her. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea." She glanced at the medicine cat uncertaintly, fear crawling into her belly.

Shadeheart scoffed softly and touched his tail to her shoulder before whisking it away as quickly as possible. "Don't be a mouse-heart," he blinked at her. "Redstar chose you to be his deputy, and he believes in you." He paused, his tone softening. "We all do."

"Even Bluestar?" She muttered bitterly. She knew her old friend didn't want her to be leader, and expressed her displeasure openly. Sapfoot, Bluefstar's mate, agreed with whatever his mate said and backed her up. We were so close when we were younger. Where did that go?

Skytail remembered when she had first encountered Bluestar, Bluepaw, at the time. She was a loner living in the nearby barn and grew up knowing of the Clans being nothing but vicious and bloodthirsty. When she met Bluepaw for the first time, she knew she wanted to become a Clan cat and life as a warrior.

When her mother found out, she was furious. Cherrywhisker had attacked Bluepaw, giving her a scratched left ear from her teeth piercing through her flesh. Skytail had helped fight her mother off and since then, she'd been living in WindClan.

Her brothers, Juniperblaze and Marshfrost, had joined the Clan soon after and the three littermates have been living in the Clan since. One day, Cherrywhisker showed up and said Maple, their father, was killed. She begged to be let into WindClan to be with her kits but Redstar refused and had Skytail and Bluefeather chase her away.

"Skytail," Shadeheart's mew cut into her memories and she blinked at the tom. "It's time."

Letting out a sigh of defeat that she couldn't wait any longer, Skytail crouched down at the water's edge and touched her nose to the glittering surface, shocked by how cold the water was but refused to flinch back as she was sucked into a dream.

"Skytail," a deep voice made her open her eyes and she scrambled to her paws, head reeling as she saw the cat in front of her. It was Maple, her father. Her heart leaped in her throat and she longed to press against her father, to feel his paws wrapping around her comfortingly. "You're becoming a leader, Skytail. Do not dwell on the past."

Skytail hesitated and looked around, seeing eight more cats ringed around her and her father. "Wh-where's mother?" She whispered and looked up at her father.

"Cherrywhisker will never walk with StarClan, and has yet to pass." He rumbled and leaned forward. "With this life, I give you compassion." He touched his nose to her forehead and Skytail felt a bolt of lightning shoot through her. She staggered, breathing hard as the pain subsided and she stared up at her father.

"Th-this is StarClan?" She growled through clenched teeth, forcing back the pain. Blinking up at Maple, she winced at the raw emotion in her father's eyes. "H-how are you here?"

"I was chased out of ShadowClan a long time ago," he meowed. "I believed in StarClan when your mother and I were forced to leave and live in the barn. When she killed me, I was greeted by my brother and here I am." Maple dipped his head and headed toward the ring of cats.

A cream-furred cat padded forward and Skytail's heart cracked as she saw the curled ear of Softear, the medicine cat before Shadeheart and his mentor. "Skytail," the dead medicine cat meowed, her voice warm and full of pride as she looked at the she-cat. "With this life, I give you honor." The curled-ear she-cat leaned forward and brushed her nose against Skytail's forehead.