Frostfeather had just started to drift into sleep. She had hunted all day with Hailstorm and Appleleaf, but hadn't managed to catch even a single scrap of prey. Now, she just wanted to get a good night's rest. As she felt her senses gently tug into unconscious, she could hear a faint rustle at the edge of the den. She grumbled softly and flicked her tail tip. "Do you really have to come to bed so late, Pineheart...?"
She opened her eyes and was surprised to find it was not her brother. The cozy warmth of her mossy nest had also dissapeared. She now lay in a field of soft grasses and flowers. Before her stood a calico she-cat with a star studded pelt. Her eyes sparkled with wisdom as she gazed down at Frostfeather.
"My sweet daughter, it is an honor to finally be able to come face to face with you," the calico purred. Her voice was soft and silky, like the freshest honey. Frostfeather stretched her eyes wide. She could hardly believe this could be possible.
"She seems a little shocked," a different female voice meowed from further into the tall grasses. Another she-cat stepped forward to confront Frostfeather, her fur dappled with orange and brown splotches.
Frostfeather opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, she wasn't sure if this was real or just a really cruel dream. "Are you... are you Spottedrose?" she stammered, her heart hammered in her chest. She already knew the answer, it was quite easy to discern that this beautiful cat was her mother.
"Yes, my sweet kit. I have come to bring you a message, the first omen from our ancestors," she meowed seriously.
The other she-cat nodded, her voice grave as she continued, "troubling times are coming for all of IceClan."
The warmth that Frostfeather had felt as she first saw her mother had quickly faded to be replaced with dread. There was a dozen questions she wanted to ask, but all she could muster was three, short words. "But why me?"
Spottedrose leaned forward to push her nose in to Frostfeather's delicate shoulder fur. She felt her pelt tingle at her mother's touch, but the dread still clung hard to her limbs. "Your hard headed temperament may be the only hope for our Clanmates," the brown and orange she-cat mewed.
Spottedrose took a pawstep back and touched her tail to her companion's flank. "Not just her stubbornness, Lilybloom. I know you have felt the tug in your paws, to travel beyond the borders of our territory. In order for IceClan to survive, you must convince our Clanmates to leave the forest."
Leave the forest? Why would we need to leave the forest, Frostfeather thought in a panic. "But things have been so calm and peaceful in the forest," she began to object. But Spottedrose lifted her tail for silence.
"Yes there has been immeasurable peace for the forest and the animals that inhabit it. But nature is mighty and powerful. Its roots have run dry from the blood of our kin, and now it had begun to thirst." Such chilling words, but vague enough that Frostfeather wondered what they really meant.
While her mother spoke, Frostfeather saw a vivid vision flash before her eyes. She sat in the snow covered pine forest once more. The bushes rustled with prey all around her.
The longer she sat, unusual shadowed shapes flitted from the bushes to rush towards her. She could see flashes of red, bloodshot eyes; flecks of spit and foam spattered her legs as the figures nipped at her paws. She tried to pull away, to break away from the tiny creatures that bit and gnawed at her fur.
"It is not longer safe to stay," Spottedrose's voice echoed in her ears. It helped her snap out of the spooky vision. She quickly looked down at her paws, but there were no bite marks or drops of blood in sight.
"What were those things?" Frostfeather gasped as her fur started to bush up all along her spine. She just couldn't understand why this would happen, why they needed to tell this to her and not to someone important like Blizzardstar. What could she even begin to do to convince her Clanmates?
"Herbs and prey will no longer be enough to keep you alive... trust nothing!" Lilybloom urged. Frostfeather noticed that the bodies of the two she-cats had started to fade.
With a tiny wail, she rushed forward to confront Spottedrose. "Don't leave me!" she whimpered. Her eyes stared helplessly at her mother's translucent form.
"I will never leave you, my dear," she purred as her dream abruptly ended. She blinked open her eyes to find herself back in the warrior's den. Pineheart still slept peacefully at her side, his black pelt silky and smooth. She tried to calm the frantic beating of her heart.
There's no way that I just had an actual vision from StarClan, Frostfeather thought wildly. Her mind still whirled with confusion, her white fur spiked and her skin clammy. But that cat just had to be our mother, there's no other way. She was just as Blizzardstar had described her, just as everyone described her.
Fresh anxiety started to rush over her pelt. Her dream would have been much more enjoyable without the stress of an omen. An omen so vague, it made her head hurt to think about. But this much was clear, that IceClan must leave the forest. The idea made her feel suffocated, her lungs struggled for breath. Frostfeather managed to escape the den on silent paws. She looked up at the sky and discerned that it must be nearly dawn. Faint rays of light peeked from across the horizon to shine upon the surface of the snow-laden forest.
Now that she had left the confines of the warrior's den, she tried to let the chill air soothe her nerves. To her surprise, she saw a flash of white out of the corner of her eye. She turned and noticed that it was Blizzardstar. He must have just walked from the entrance of his den.
Maybe I should tell him about my dream, she thought hopefully. As she started to head towards him to go and speak with him, she watched in dismay as he turned and bounded towards Brokensong's den. She hesitated for a moment, not sure if she wanted to bother him if he wanted to speak in private with the medicine cat. I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy to listen to my mousebrained ramblings, she thought.
Just then, a faint noise caught her attention. It sounded like a cat in distress, but the voice was quiet and muffled. Frostfeather ran towards the darkness of Brokensong's den. She braced herself as she squeezed through the entrance, not exactly sure what she would find.
Blizzardstar whirled around as she appeared, his eyes wide. "Frostfeather! What are you doing here?" he demanded. Brokensong was bent over one of the nearby nests, but her attention on her patient had not faltered with the sudden commotion.
Frostfeather peered around her father's shoulder and caught sight of Nightvolt's gray tabby pelt stretched across a bed of moss. His flank steadily rose and fell with the calm rhythm of sleep, but his breaths were punctuated with sharp yelps of pain. The air was punctuated with the scent of infection.
"What happened to Nightvolt?" she gasped as she pushed passed Blizzardstar to get closer to the elder. Brokensong held up her tail in the attempt to keep Frostfeather away from the edges of Nightvolt's nest.
"You still haven't told me what you're doing here," Blizzardstar ordered, his eyes narrowed as he came to block Frostfeather's advances. She shuffled her paws and tried to claw together a believable excuse. Either way, he was bound to be angry at her.
"I just had a bad dream... I think I might just have had some bad prey. I wanted to see if I could get anything from Brokensong," she claimed. She hoped that he would believe her. That's not entirely a lie, she tried to convince herself.
"It's best you stay back," Brokensong murmured, "Nightvolt has developed a fever rather quickly and I'm not quite sure what has caused it."
Frostfeather's heart pricked with sympathy for the elder. It was always hard for the oldest and youngest of the Clan to get sick, they didn't always recover. "Yes, maybe it would be best for you to return to your den," Blizzardstar insisted as he started to shoulder Frostfeather away from Nightvolt's nest.
Deep down, she knew she had to obey Blizzardstar. Despite that he was being overly protective, she knew that he would be upset if she caught some kind of sickness being reckless. Before she allowed herself to be herded from the den, she turned to take one last look at the elder's slumped form. But something she saw was enough to make her fur feel as cold as ice.
Are those... bite marks? All over Nightvolt's paws and legs, there were angry red bite marks covered in puss. She flashed back to her vision and thought of the horrible burning sensation she had felt as the shadowy creatures gnawed on her pelt. She stumbled as Blizzardstar once more tried to urge her towards the den entrance. "You can check on Nightvolt after his fever has come down," he grunted in frustration.
She let Blizzardstar escort her from the den. She could feel dread swamp over her once more. "Just wait, one second please," she pleaded as he started to pad away, back towards his den.
As he turned around to look at her, she saw urgency flash in his blue eyes. "What is it? Is something wrong?" he asked, his protective demeanor instantly overtook him. Should I really tell him about the dream? He's already so high strung as it is...
"I... I just wanted to ask... who is Lilybloom?" she asked. To her relief, he seemed to relax slightly at her simple question.
"Oh, were the elders telling you about her? Back when BreezeClan were still living in the forest, Lilybloom was their medicine cat. She was actually Spottedrose's mother, meaning that she is your kin," he explained.
"Oh, I never knew that..." Frostfeather muttered. All she was ever told was that Oakstar was Spottedrose's father. She had never stopped to think who her mother might have been. But, despite her ignorance, her kin still watched over her from StarClan.
"Now that I've answered your question, can you listen to me just this once and return to your nest? You look as if you haven't gotten a wink of sleep," he demanded, concern thick in his voice.
She dipped her head and meowed softly, "yes, Blizzardstar." Before she turned to leave, he padded back to her side and brushed his muzzle along her cheek. A weak purr vibrated in his chest.
"You know I just want what's best for you," he murmured, his voice cracked with emotion. Frostfeather felt herself lean into his soft fur, their white pelts merged together like a blanket of snow.
"I know," she whispered. After a few more uninterrupted moments, Blizzardstar stepped away and returned to the darkness of his den. Frostfeather stared after him and wished she could confide in him about her dream. But she wasn't sure what it would do to him, with the anxiety he already had.
"Maybe it really was just a dream," she muttered as she padded back to the warrior's den. By now, the sun had begun to rise and the other cats had got up for the day's patrols.
"Are you only just now going to sleep?" Hailstorm snorted as he appeared from under the branches of the den.
"I had a bellyache... Blizzardstar told me to return to my nest," she replied. She didn't want him to scrutinize her, especially now that her mind was weighted with the burden of this strange dream.
"Well, I hope you feel better soon," he remarked before he turned to go and organize the daily patrols. She was relieved that he didn't question her further. Before anyone else could stop her, she slid back into the stuffy den.
"Where have you been?" Pineheart asked cheekily. Of course he hasn't left his nest yet, she thought to herself.
"Don't worry about it," she retorted as she started to curl up in her nest. She didn't need to justify herself to him, or any other cat. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and forget all about this stressful dream.
She heard Pineheart snort, "whatever."
She tried to ignore him as he blatantly made as much noise as he could getting out of his nest. "I guess I'll just go and catch all the prey in the forest while you're sleeping," he puffed before he ducked under the den entrance and vanished into the camp. She wanted to yowl after him, but remained silent.
The prey... the prey is no longer safe; she could hear a faint voice in the back of her mind. She wanted to hold on to those words for as long as she could. But she was utterly exhausted, and as fast as she had closed her eyes, she fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep.