Warning: This is the sequel to Path of Ice. Without reading that first, you will be confused and spoil everything for yourself. If you haven't already read it, please check out Path of Ice listed on my profile. I know it's pretty long but it's worth it. :)

Chapter 1

Icestar was slowly getting used to waking up without the moor wind blowing in her ears. I guess that's what happens what I combined the clans and moved them to Fourtrees, the leader thought in her den one morning.

Much has changed for the cats since Icestar convinced them to join together over a moon ago. The new Forestclan dens were completed a quarter-moon ago thanks to the hard work of the large clan. Cats were beginning to get comfortable in their new home and territory. Life was just starting to feel normal again.

At least, for the others; Icestar still had much on her mind. The white-she cat often gazed off into the forest with her bright blue eyes wondering where Redshade was. Since the former Thunderclan tom left the clan to build a rebellion, she has seen no trace of him or the others who left with him. Because of his betrayal, she had to give his apprentice, Dawnpaw, to Sunclaw. And because the former Shadowclan cat, Rainshadow, also joined the rebellion, she gave his apprentice, Oakpaw, to the former Thunderclan she-cat, Mosspelt.

Redshade was never too far from her thoughts; she missed his friendship but she knew she had to put that behind her for the sake of Forestclan.

The rebellion hated the idea of one clan and their goal was to separate Forestclan back into four. Icestar was planning on doing everything in her power to make sure they fail. She and her father have put too much into the clan for them to just tear it apart. The rebellion only had four warriors at the moment but was still a threat. If they continued to be a nuisance, more warriors might consider joining.

Shadowthorn, Icestars' father, hasn't been seen for a while either. He isn't welcome to the clan. In fact, no one other then she and a medicine cat, Nightwind, knew he was alive. And that's only because the grey tom decided to spy in on their conversation one night. Icestar remembered it well.

The leaders' thoughts were interrupted when her three deputies walked it. They were once the other clan leaders. After Starclan supposedly chose Icestar to lead them, they have been demoted.

"Hello Hawkwing, Featherstripe and Wolfclaw." She had them change their names back to their warrior names without taking them to the moonstone. Icestar insisted that having nine lives would only make the whole clan stronger. It took a lot of arguing but Icestar won thanks to her position as leader. She couldn't have them talk to Starclan since Starclan is currently against her idea. The clan doesn't know that little fact though. She also managed to keep the medicine cats at camp during the clan quarter moon, claiming the clan needs them and that they are already in the same clan so there is no need to meet at the Moonstone. They'll put up more of a fight next time.

"Streampaw and Dawnpaw are waiting," Wolfclaw announced.

"Already?" The white she-cat meowed. "They must be excited. I don't want to keep them waiting too long," she added and walked out of the leader den with the deputies following. Icestar turned and leaped onto the Great Rock which was also used for her den and called the clan meeting. Since the camp is now larger, she had to yell much louder.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the Great Rock for a clan meeting!" The message spread and soon, the rock was surrounded by cats. Streampaw and Dawnpaw were already up on the Great Rock with Icestar. "Today is a special day for Forestclan; we have two new warriors to welcome into the clan. I, leader of Forestclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn.

"Streampaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your clan even at the cost of your own life?" Streampaw was once in Riverclan. Icestar decided to make her a warrior for fighting the rebels before they left the clan.

"I do," the she-cats said, eyes shining. Streampaw, like Dawnpaw, loved the idea of one clan and showed she would fight for it. The apprentice usually wasn't a fan of fighting to begin with, which made Icestar more impressed.

"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Streampaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Streamheart. Starclan honors your courage and we welcome you as a full warrior of Forestclan." Icestar took a step forward and touched the new warriors head with her muzzle and Streamheart licked her shoulder.

Streamheart stepped away while Dawnpaw came up next. "Dawnpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Dawnfall. Starclan honors your loyalty." The orange she-cat also fought the rebels, including her mentor, Redshade, and her parents, Greyshadow and Flowertail who also wanted to join them. She proved herself well. Icefur lightly touched her head as she licked the leaders' shoulder.

The two new warriors turned to the large crowd as they cheered their names. "Streamheart, Dawnfall! Streamheart, Dawnfall!"

"You two will sit the silent vigil tonight. Clan meeting dismissed." The clan cats scattered. When the two she-cats jumped down, they were surrounded by friends and family.

Streamheart had a sister; Frostpaw. She was probably upset since her sister was made a warrior before her. Streamheart had mostly former Riverclan cats around her, which was understandable, but there were a few others too; Oakpaw and Leafpaw where there as well. They were the only other warrior apprentices so it was easy to see why they became friends so soon.

Dawnfall, on the other paw, didn't really have many cats to talk to. Some came over to say congratulations but that's all. Her brother and sister died right after birth and her mother died by Icestars' claws when she joined Redshade. Her father lived and left with the rebellion. The she-cat seemed to have no regrets about fighting them; she was never popular anyway.

Sympathetic for Dawnfall, Icestar jumped down and padded up to the orange cat. "Are you excited?" She asked her plainly.

Dawnfall shrugged. "I'm excited to protect Forestclan, so yeah," she said with an emotionless expression. She was always so serious…

"That's good," Icestar told her and sat down next to her. "I know you'll always be loyal."

"Unlike my traitor mentor," Dawnfall pointed out, shifting her weight.

"Yeah… You'll start your vigil with Streamheart before you know it," Icestar said, changing the subject. "Make sure to get something to eat before then."

Dawnfall nodded. "I will," she meowed simply.

"Good," Icestar muttered and stood up. "Well I have some things to do…"

Dawnfall stood up as well. "Alright," she said not quite under her breath and walked away to break Streamheart out of the crowd.

Icestar watched for a brief moment before turning away to look for her friends, Rowanpelt, Bramblestripe or Breezetail. Honestly, she would rather find the first two. Since Breezetail admitted his love for her, it's been awkward between the two. She's been too busy with the clan to even decide if she loved him back. She didn't even know what love felt like.

To make matters worse, Icestar noticed her friends were avoiding her. Ever since she absentmindedly killed Flowertail, no one came to her just to chat like they usually did. It's like they were afraid of her.

Redshade told her she changed when she killed his old clanmate. She refuses to believe it. Of course I changed, Icestar reminded herself constantly. We all change. But I haven't become a murderous tyrant like he wants everyone to believe.

Icestar shook her head, trying to forget about Redshade and what he said. She noticed the medicine cats were all gathered outside. Heatherwish, Nightwind, Firestripe, Coldstone, Goldenfur and Whillowleaf; they were all there. Except for Echopaw, the leader noted when she walked over.

"Where's Echopaw?"

"That's what we were talking about," Firestripe replied. "We haven't seen her all day."

Heatherwish added, "This isn't the first time. She's been disappearing for a while every few days recently."

How have I not noticed this? "Has anyone seen her last night?"

"I saw her before I went to sleep," Nightwind informed them. "She either left last night or this morning."

As the cats pondered what has happened to the apprentice, Echopaw padded into camp. She looked tired and worn out. The medicine cats and Icestar quickly joined the silver she-cat.

"Where have you been?" her mentor demanded.

"I'm sorry Coldstone, everyone," the young cat started. "I don't know what you're talking about." The tone of her voice made it very clear how tired she was. She was fighting back a yawn.

"You haven't been in camp since last night," Goldenfur pointed out.

Echopaw hesitated for a moment. "I uh, I was out looking for herbs," she said, more directly at Coldstone. "I wanted to impress you by finding some in other parts of the territory that I don't know so well but I couldn't find anything."

Coldstone didn't look too convinced, as well as the others, but he let it go. "Just tell me next time." The tom padded away. Echopaw left and walked into the medicine cat den to get some rest.

Icestar didn't know how many medicine cats believed her but Icestar sure didn't. Echopaws' hesitation told her that she was lying and just made up the excuse that moment. The white she-cat however didn't have the time to think about it for long before she spotted Bramblestripe leaving the warrior den.

"Bramblestripe!" Icestar called to her friend and padded over to the grey and black she-cat.

"Oh, hi Icestar," she responded. "What's up?" Bramblestripe didn't sound as casual as she usually did. Since Flowertails' death, it seemed like Icestars' friends were afraid to say something and upset her despite it being over a moon ago.

"Not much," she replied calmly. "Just wanted to ask how you're doing."

"I'm fine. But Featherstripe wants me to go hunting so I better get going."

"I'll go with you," Icestar added as the she-cat began to back away.

"Great," Bramblestripe said and they walked over to the edge of camp. In the hunting party were Spottedfire, Longpelt and Leopardfang. They didn't say anything against Icestar joining them but welcomed her.

Hunting with them was much less entertaining then Icestar anticipated. Every time she wanted to talk to Bramblestripe, her friend would only give one word answers, trying to hint to the leader that she didn't want to chat. Icestar wasn't sure if it was because she simply didn't want to talk to her or because she was busy hunting.

Icestar eventually gave up and forced herself to focus on the prey instead.

When they returned, Icestar caught a mouse and two rabbits. The others didn't want to hunt in the moor at first but Icestar managed to bring them there since she wasn't having much luck in the forest.

Icestar dropped the prey in the fresh-kill pile and turned to Bramblestripe. "So how's Breezetail doing?"

"He's fine," Bramblestripe said plainly. Icestar waited for her to farther explain. "I guess he still wants an answer from you; he's thinking you don't like him the same way."

Icestar shifted her weight. "I don't know. I've been so occupied; I don't know what to think." Bramblestripe was starting to act more like her old self. "What about you and Rainshadow?" Icestar asked, changing the topic.

She shook her head. "I wish he didn't leave but…" her voice trailed off. Icestar didn't know what she was going to say and was starting to get tired of the conversation anyway.

"Alright… I'll talk to you later." The white she-cat turned and walked away.

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When she left her den after the sun set, Icestar was reminded that leaf-bare was coming once again when she was welcomed by the cool night air.

There were still a few cats in the camp but Icestar could easily slip past them. She ran behind the dens until she got out of camp. Icestar has gotten used to being awake during the night; at first, it messed up her sleeping habits but its' gotten better.

The white cat trotted through the moor, heading to the old Windclan camp. The powerful winds gave her a warm, familiar feeling.

When she arrived at the camp, it hasn't changed at all. Windclan was the only camp that didn't get taken apart since they don't have dens. The only differences was the absents of life. Instead of cats everywhere she turned, it was empty and barren. Until she turned to the Tallrock and saw her father appear next to it.

"Hello Icestar," he spoke up first. Icestar walked up to him. "How's the clan?"

"It's going well," she told him, thinking back to during the day. "Everyone is getting more comfortable and they're not fighting with each other much."

Shadowthorn nodded. "Good. I plan to join soon."

Icestar had to take a moment to register what he said. When she understood at last, her head snapped in his direction. "What? How do you plan on doing that? You were exiled!"

"I know that," Shadowthorn said in a tone like he had to repeat himself several times. "It's all a part of the plan. I'll tell you more details later."

Icestar tilted her head and frowned. She wanted answers at that moment but it couldn't be helped. "Alright…"

"So what's going on with that little rebellion?"

Icestar sighed. "I hardly know. I haven't seen them since they left the clan over a moon ago. I don't think anyone left to join them either."

Shadowthorn smiled very faintly like he found that amusing. "They're fighting a loss cause," he said, shaking his head. "They're afraid to show their faces in front of you. A few cats are no match for Forestclan."

"That's what I was thinking," Icestar told him, looking out at the forest, wondering once again where Redshade was.

There were a few heartbeats of silence. Shadowthorn watched his daughter closely until he finally said, "Don't worry Icestar." The white she-cat turned to him again. "In time, you'll be able to kill them all off. With your own claws if you have to."

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A/N: Please tell me what you think; I really want to know. Don't forget; the more reviews, the more often I update. X)

I have some pretty good things planned for this story too. Sorry for the wait to those who have been reading since I was updating Path of Ice but it's here now. Hope you like what's to come!

… Also, I didn't finish editing all the errors in Path of Ice yet. It's taking much longer than I expected and since I'm on my 2 week long winter break, I wanted to use this time to write. So I decided to take a different approach to edit it. I'm just going fix it up as I write this. I hated the thought of keeping everyone waiting another two months for the sequel.

Have a nice day~