A/N: Hey there, here is another painfully slow update. This time it took another year to publish the next chapter. So sorry, my readers! :( I am still hoping to finish this book. These random bouts of creativity come from sudden gains of time, so I'm sure you understand. One day, this book may finally be complete! At any rate, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, stay safe and healthy indoors in the midst of this COVID19 mess <3.
Golden light filtered through the trees, casting wispy shadows over the forest floor. The air felt warm and pleasant, with a faint smell of heather and water that carried in the soft breeze. The only sounds that could be heard were the snapping twigs and the lapping lake that came from upwind, along with the occasional chirping of birds in the trees above.
As Icestar's patrol traveled closer to the border, he could see StreamClan territory ahead. The large willow tree that stood center in their island-camp gleamed against the sun, with long leaves flowing gently with the breeze against its wiry trunk. The tree's image reflected off the glistening water below. Hw spotted a few warriors swimming back and forth from the mainland to the island, probably apprentices learning how to swim.
He stopped walking once he reached the scent-markers, and turned around to face Dawnstripe and Volefur.
"This shouldn't take long," he said. "And remember, if you catch any rogue-scent, let me know."
Volefur snorted. "Those bullies should be long gone by now." He padded over to the edge of the border and began marking a tree.
I hope so, Icestar thought, remembering Stonetooth's urgency earlier that day. But the chances are, they must have found their way back to the territories.
"I'll keep my senses open," Dawnstripe said, rolling her eyes at her brother.
Icestar nodded gratefully as she dispersed to a different part of their section. He found his own spot and started to strengthen the scent of MoonClan as well, reassured that if the rogues chose to cross into their territory again, they would be doing so knowing well that they've trespassed.
If that's not a warning, I'm not sure what is, he thought, remembering how casually they crossed into other Clans. They shouldn't expect to be told nicely if they entered some other cat's territory! He'd make them regret ever coming near the Clan again.
Feeling more reassured now, Icestar traveled and marked up the border, picking up faint smells that he knew were only a few days old. Because of the endless rain they have gotten for the past quarter-moon, the smells had washed away almost entirely. Though his sense of smell wasn't that keen, he could still catch the mouthwatering voles that must have had a hollow nearby, as well as the smell of a rabbit.
I almost forgot what those taste like! he thought, remembering how scarce prey had been over the harsh and snowy leafbare. He hadn't tasted the rabbit Amberwind caught during her warrior assessment, but had looked forward to catching one of his own with the warmth of the seasonal change.
No, I can't hunt now. I must focus on keeping the Clan safe!
He continued to mark and scent, paying attention to every place a cat could possibly hide. He poked his head into a tree hollow and caught nothing but a very faint fox-scent. It must have lived there during leaf-bare but seemed to be long gone. There was no trace of a cat, however. He pulled out from the hollow and continued down the border, smelling the roots of bushes, old prey burrows in the ground, and even the undergrowth surrounding various plants and trees in MoonClan territory.
There was nothing.
He sighed as he continued to make his way down the border. By the time the sun had seemed to sink a bit past sunhigh, he finished his section of the border and wondered if the other two were finished as well. He padded downstream to the direction they had gone and suddenly heard faint hissing coming from up ahead past a holly bush. His ears perked up, but the hissing did not stop.
Is it the rogues? he suddenly realized, heartbeat quickening. The rogues liked to travel in a gang, and there were only two cats out on a patrol with Icestar. What if one of his Clanmates got surrounded?
Without wasting another breath, he dashed from his spot, brushing past the holly bush and downhill toward where the hissing sounds came from. As he ran closer, he made out two cats the size of apprentices standing face-to-face on each side of the border—an apprentice he didn't recognize from StreamClan, and MoonClan's own Shadepaw!
A bit relieved to find no rogues, Icestar slowed down to a trot and approached them with concern and a bit of curiosity. After all, why was there so much growling and hissing?
"—you crossed onto our section of the territory first!" snarled the she-cat apprentice from StreamClan. "I could have you captured for that!"
"Not true at all!" Shadepaw rebuked, his fur bristling. "You dirty fish-eaters just want to catch and eat all our forest prey! I saw you stalking a mouse on MoonClan territory—"
The she-cat hissed with rage. "You were the one who wandered too far close to the river!"
"The water doesn't belong to you," Shadepaw spat back. "Neither does MoonClan's prey!"
"You lying fox-heart!"
Icestar heard enough. The argument seemed to have escalated to bickering that reminded him of the way he and Dewstar acted as kits. With a big huff, he held his head up high with authority and padded into the two apprentices' line of sight. As a stick cracked underpaw, their heads snapped up and their eyes widened. They stared at Icestar with surprise as he finally reached them.
"Shadepaw, what is the meaning of this?" Icestar asked, his tail twitching. "Aren't you supposed to be on a patrol?"
Shadepaw looked to the side with embarrassment. "Yeah, well, I kind of got separated from them."
"Because he wanted to come here and cross into StreamClan!" the she-cat apprentice exclaimed. She looked to be no older than six moons old, fresh from the nursery den. Her pretty tortoiseshell coat was groomed back nicely, the ends behind her ears and on the base of her tail sticking up with threat and agitation.
She has no business trying to pick a fight! Icestar thought, but knew that his words couldn't resort to kit-like mockery.
"I'm sure Shadepaw didn't cross the border," he said calmly. "And likewise, I'm sure you didn't either. There is just a misunderstanding here."
Shadepaw looked up with alarm. "But—"
"What is going on here?" a new voice meowed from behind the StreamClan apprentice. Icestar glanced behind her and made out a familiar warrior approaching. He inwardly groaned to himself when he spotted Troutstream, who always seemed to dislike conversing with the other Clans, trotting up to the scene.
Troutstream reached the border, standing behind the apprentice with his fur dripping wet. "Of course it's you causing trouble, Maplepaw." The apprentice sucked her head with embarrassment as Troutstream looked up arrogantly. "Why are you talking to these troublemakers?"
"I was just clearing up a misunderstanding here," Icestar said, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible despite his agitation.
"Yeah right," Troutstream retorted. "Listen, you'd better take your apprentice and go before there's trouble."
The fur on Icestar's haunches prickled up. What blatant disrespect! Have cats completely forgotten what it was like to have allyship beyond the borders within your own Clan? It was as if certain cats were still stuck on the hostility of DarkClan---trust issues with the other Clans could not fade that easily.
He took a deep breath and tried to contain his anger. "We are not here to cause trouble, Troutstream. This is just a mere quarrel."
"We can keep it at that too if you back off," added a retort from behind him. It was Shadowheart, Shadepaw's mentor. "Come here, Shadepaw."
Reluctant to be the first to back off, Shadepaw fell back to his mentor's side, his unbreaking hostile gaze still on Maplepaw. Icestar's tail lashed as he watched the StreamClan warriors take a few steps back into their own territory as a response.
Troutstream nosed Maplepaw back to the direction of their camp. With one final look behind him, he hissed, "If we see MoonClan cats close to the borders again, trust that we will have issues."
Icestar silently watched as they entered the river and began to swim away. Their fur soaked up with cool water, tails following behind as they paddled to the other side of the river. With his eyes upon their vast river, he suddenly knew why the StreamClan cats were so on edge. In the far distance, he spotted the tall silhouettes of Twolegs along their river, albeit far from their actual camp. In all his life, this may be the third or fourth time he had actually seen the strange creatures.
If they're in StreamClan, there's no denying that they will eventually find their way in MoonClan, he thought with unease.
He looked over to Shadowheart, who dipped his head and led Shadepaw away. Their dark pelts merged in with the shadows of the trees as they went on to continue their hunt. With a deep breath, Icestar went off on his own direction to finish marking his territory and hunt for the band of rogues.
* * *
By the time Icestar, Dawnstripe, and Volefur finished their patrol, they found rogue scents but it was not particularly fresh. If anything, the rogues had left soon after Shiningmoon and Stonetooth had discovered their scent. The warriors could do nothing but leave their borders reinforced, hoping that the rogues would not enter the territory again. And if they did, they were sure that they would catch them this time.
Icestar let the two siblings go on ahead to camp so he could find the rabbit he had scented earlier. He stayed silent to his Clanmates about the border skirmish and about the Twoleg sighting, but he could not contain his urge to hunt the rabbit in his territory. The sweet taste of rabbit blood felt like the only thing that could lift his spirits.
He caught wind of its scent, closed his eyes, and crept through the undergrowth in pursuit. The smell circled his nose and flowed deep into his throat, exciting his impulse to hunt. Pushing past tall ferns and grass blades with his nose, he found that he was closing in on it until he could finally hear the prey munching on nuts and plants. He opened his eyes and saw the small brown rabbit, plump now with newleaf, rounded over a small pile of its own food.
Excitement rippled through Icestar as if he were an apprentice all over again, and he leaped from the undergrowth.
The rabbit wasted no time and immediately dashed, leaving Icestar to land on its previous spot. Without missing a heartbeat, Icestar pushed off the ground again and ran after it with all his force, gaining on the fast creature steadily. He whizzed by branches, dodging the thick undergrowth of the forest floor that did so well to protect both prey and predator. The rabbit scrambled under a bush and he leaped over it, landing heavily on his paws once on the other side. He spotted the brown creature scrambling around the trunk of a tree and he followed close after it, cutting to the other side of the tree in an attempt to cut it off. With outstretched claws, he reached for it and grabbed the creature's shoulders, pinning it to the ground despite its struggles. Without another second to waste, he delivered the killing bite, his teeth sinking into its soft and warm flesh, tasting the blood already.
Icestar let go of the rabbit, panting.
A twig snapped behind him. His fur spiked up once he realized that the step was too quiet to have been a Clanmate. He whipped his head around and was met by the dark eyes of Rowan, the leader of the band of rogues that he had been encountering for the past two moons. Two more appeared right behind him: a smaller golden she-cat who he recognized from the fight he had a moon ago, and Jinx, the tabby who had taunted Amberwind during her warrior assessment.
They didn't leave! Icestar thought with horror. If they can hide so well in our territory . . . who's to say there are not more right now?
Absolute fear entered into his chest once he realized that there may be more lurking around. Worse, they may know where the camp is.
"Well, well, look who we have here," Rowan said, completely emerging from the darkness. He stretched as if he had been still for the whole morning, waiting for this particular moment.
Icestar growled. "What are you doing on my territory?"
The rogue licked his paw and drew it over his ear casually. "You know what we're doing here. We've discussed it before, haven't we?"
"MoonClan doesn't have what you want." He looked down for a second, hoping deep within his heart that his other Clanmates were okay. He could handle the rogues, but he couldn't bear to think about what would happen to another if they were in his situation.
They could get hurt, or killed!
"You seem to have a hard time understanding now, Clan leader," laughed Rowan. "We have the higher ground."
"And we know what you did to one of ours," added Jinx with malice laced in his voice.
Rowan must have been talking about the rogue that was imprisoned in the MoonClan camp for a time. The rogue that Icestar ultimately executed. Even though the elders did well to bury and hide the rogue's scent as an extra precaution, somehow these rogues knew about him.
Icestar backed up, and the rogues stepped forward.
Rowan's eyes were sinister. "What's wrong, Icestar? Too scared now that you don't have your warriors to fight for you? Don't worry, we'll go easy on you."
Alarm ran through his body. How does he know my name? Just how much do these cats know about us?
"Mouse caught your tongue?" Jinx taunted. "Speak!"
Finally, Icestar snapped out of his thoughts. "What . . . what do want from me?"
Rowan hissed with annoyance. "You know exactly what we want, Icestar. The cat who destroys. He will destroy us all if we don't stop him in time! He is already destroying this forest, and he will destroy our forest next."
"That-that's not true," the leader protested. "There's no destruction to be had. And those Twolegs---"
"Enough! Turns out what you have to say is not that important after all." Rowan stepped closer again, his claws unsheathing. "You took the life of one of our cats though, so I must kill you for it!"
Icestar bared his fangs, stood his ground, his head dipping and his body preparing in a battle stance. I should have been more careful!
After all, they had completely misunderstood. And how did they even catch wind of the old prophecy anyway, especially after it had been long fulfilled? The rogues became more and more mysterious and dangerous to him the more he ran into them.
For a second, there was a moment of silence. Then as if cueing them, Jinx and the younger she-cat pounced on top of Icestar, pinning him down with their combined weight.
Icestar's back slammed against the forest ground, dust spiraling up into the air from the impact. He gritted his teeth and pushed the she-cat off with his hind paws with all his force, sending her flying off of him. Jinx's claws tore for Icestar's neck, but he used his forepaws to grab around the neck of the rogue on top of him and bring his face down to his own level. With his teeth, Icestar reached forward and bit into Jinx's shoulder. The rogue yowled out in pain, but Icestar's forepaws had him locked in close, unable to escape. Suddenly, the rogue was torn off of him by none other than his own companion, Rowan. Icestar used this opportunity to scramble to his paws, panting.
"Not bad, Clan-cat," Rowan growled. "But you're the one who is outnumbered this time!"
With that, he leaped toward Icestar but the MoonClan leader ducked, scrambling out of the way. Whirling around, Icestar took Rowan's temporary stun to his advantage and pinned the rogue down from behind, his claws digging into the tom's shoulder blades. Rowan's piercing yowl called for the young she-cat to chomp onto Icestar's tail. Sharp and uncomfortable pain coursed into his tail and he promptly let go of the rogue, tackling the she-cat off of him.
Icestar always felt bad for overpowering young, apprentice-like cats, but in this situation, he needed as many of them unable to fight as possible. Three to one was tough!
He bit down onto the young she-cat's ear and scratched her belly with his hind claws, causing her to cry out in utter pain before being torn off of her by Jinx, who was much stronger than his slim self appeared. The tabby tom dug his claws into Icestar's spine, causing him to gasp and roll over, tearing fiercely at the rogue with outstretched claws.
A few of his blows hit Jinx's cheek, and then Icestar suddenly realized that Jinx wasn't fighting back---no, he was holding him down! He felt the weight of the she-cat on his hindlegs, and with enough struggling, Jinx managed to pin Icestar's forelegs back uncomfortably to the sides of his head. He struggled with all his might, scratching and reaching for the two with his claws and teeth with as much strength as he could muster.
It was no use, they had him pinned down.
Rowan's eyes glowed above Icestar, and he stopped struggling to take a good look at the rogue leader who stood over him with victory.
"Pinning you down really is no easy feat, Icestar. But eventually, anything is possible." He laughed. "A true warrior you are. But not true enough!"
Icestar hissed, managing to dig one of his claws into Jinx's legs.
"Yeow!" Jinx growled. "Hurry, finish him!"
Icestar barred his teeth. "You may have pinned me down now, but it won't be so easy to finish me."
If they kill me now, I still have more lives to spare, he thought desperately.
"How can you be so sure of such a thing?" demanded Rowan, pacing over Icestar as if teasing his death. "Look at the situation you are in now. You should have no confidence in seeing another day."
The MoonClan leader spat at him.
Rowan yelped in sudden disgust, wiping his face off swiftly. "Oh, now you've done it, Clan-kitty. After I kill you, I'm going for your kits!"
Icestar's struggles intensified. "You mangy piece of fox-dung! Don't you dare hurt them!"
"Say your last goodbye's," the rogue snarled. With his paws raised high into the air, he stretched out his claws to their full length, and drove down on Icestar's neck at full force.
Fire. That was all Icestar could feel in his whole body from that one spot. His neck burned like fire, felt uncomfortably wet, and for a heartbeat, he didn't realize that the fire was pain. His head rolled back and he stopped struggling, his eyes up past the canopy of leaves above him and into the light blue sky. When Rowan slashed at Icestar's throat again, the leaves and the sky and the feeling altogether left him and he found himself ascending past the rogues, past the canopy of leaves and past the light blue sky, straight into Silverpelt.
* * *
"You know why you're here, right?"
Icestar found himself in a field of grass of silver that seemed to blend into the milky, starless sky. The air tasted sweet, abundant with the smell of heather from the moor, water from the river, prey-creatures from the trees, and mud from the marshes. The dirt and grass below him felt as soft as a moss bed, and every urge in his body said to lay down and sleep in it, out in the open, because he knew he was in a safe place. But he could not sleep now, no matter how much he wanted to.
"Yes, Brightstar," Icestar whispered under his breath.
He turned his gaze up to the eight cats before him, looking at all the faces of each cat. Shard was, of course, not there. Such a traitor would not dare turn up in StarClan again, even though he was the giver of one of Icestar's lives. Each cat there, though, brought comfort to him and almost made him forget about the burning pain in his neck and the familiar tight feeling in his chest.
Brightstar, Sparrowheart, Featherbreeze, Grasspelt, Vinetail, Ripplefur, Whiteeye, and Darkstar all stood before him in.
"You no longer have eight lives, Icestar, but I'm sure you know." Brightstar dipped his head to him. "You fought bravely and valiantly for the Clan."
Icestar nodded sadly. The taking of his eighth life was unexpected: he did not know that he would go into battle today on his own, but that was the fate of being a warrior.
Featherbreeze broke from the formation and started padding up to him. He realized that behind her, a little silver kit followed closely. His heart stopped once he realized who the kit was.
"Lightkit!" he gasped, looking down at his dead daughter. The little she-kit resembled Silverleaf beautifully, with deep blue eyes and stars that speckled her silver pelt.
"She wanted to see you," Featherbreeze said affectionately. "She could not bear to see you in such a situation."
The kit padded up to him and touched noses with him. All of a sudden, the pain in his neck ceased and he felt as if he were healed.
"This is all I can do for you," she mewed, staring up at him with big eyes. Icestar realized that this was the first time he heard his daughter's sweet voice, and it brought warmth to his chest. "It's the best I can do. The rest is up to you."
Icestar reluctantly pulled away from the little kit. He wanted to speak more to her, but he knew their time was limited. "Silverleaf and I miss you dearly, little one . . . I hope you are happy here."
Featherbreeze nudged the kit back. "She's quite fine here." His mother purred. "And you've done a wonderful job with Ravenkit and Dewkit."
Icestar dipped his head to her. "Thank you. Thank you all."
Featherbreeze and Lightkit padded back to where they came from, and all of his lives looked to him with confidence.
Brightstar spoke up once more. "I'm sure you know, but there is much to come, Icestar. There is no telling exactly what it is . . . but danger lurks from all sides. Keep MoonClan safe at all costs, and do your best to look out for the welfare of all the Clans in your alliance." The old MoonClan leader took a deep breath. "Know that we are always with you."
Icestar dipped his head gratefully and took one last look at everyone before he was returned to his body back in MoonClan.
Icestar woke silently. His eyes opened and he took a shallow breath. The gash on his neck was not as deep as it was before thanks to Lightkit, but he could tell it was still there by the sharp pain that stung. He scanned the area from his place limp on the ground and spotted the three bloodied rogues walking away, their backs turned to him, dragging the rabbit he had caught along with them in victory of their battle.
Once they were out of sight, he pulled himself up, wincing in pain and realizing that he felt weak from all the blood he had lost. But this was no time to wait for his Clanmates to find him; no, he had push through the pain to make it back there all by himself.
I must get back to MoonClan . . . I must warn them.
A/N: the amount of readers this book has definitely went down because of how inactive I've been, buuut THAT'S OKAY! I hope they build up again, and if they don't, well, I'm still having fun with the few people who still read my book here. Thank you lovely people for supporting my works!
And as always, since I'm quite the messy human, I'm 100% open to constructive criticism and feedback. But please no hate! D: There's this comment thread that has been going on for the past 3 years on Icetail's Enemy of people arguing about whether constructive criticism is hate or not. The thread is kinda funny but just to clarify, helping me better my story is definitely not hate, if anything it's support! :) Now enjoy, and don't forget to comment to let me know what you think. <3