Goldenheart huffed and grunted as she stuffed herself through the little passageways of the cave. Yarrowstone was nowhere to be found, which made her suspicious. Perhaps the scrawny tom was actually up to something for once, instead of guarding these stupid caves? It was almost as if this entire layout of passageways was built for much smaller cats. She growled with frustration as she came to a nearby fork in the passageways and swished her tail, but really didn't have any room to move her tail. She grumbled to herself, dismissing her thoughts of Yarrowstone as she came upon the place where she wanted to meet a young, bachelor tom, or any tom at all. Not for herself, of course, but something-somebody she could use.
A heart of gold, or at least that's what she had pretended to have back when she was an apprentice. Her morals and reasoning were almost as twisted as her daughter's yet that didn't stop her from going after to achieve what she desired. Some cats of the Dark Forest wanted her gone and it had been a mere risk to travel out this way. She narrowed her eyes as she came upon a dark and dinky pool of water. This was it? This was what she was supposed to use to contact the living world? Had Bluemoo been twisting her around her paw again?
"Bring me him..." She leaned down and whispered to the wavering water. "Bring me something to use..."
And that's exactly what the pool gave her. Somebody must have been listening to her prayers, definitely not the soft-toothed fools of Starclan. She huffed and grunted as the pool seemed to vanish underneath her paws and was replaced by the image of a huge, big, black cat with sharp teeth. Dangerous. She thought, perhaps I should have offered Bluemoon to come with me? She didn't want to provoke a dangerous cat if she could avoid it, she was too tired right now. She could see those big, blasted fangs practically sticking out his mouth, only the canines, of course.
"Wake up, it's time to wake up." She looked down at him and prodded the sleeping beast with one, sharp claw. The eyes of the giant cat flew open, a vibrant, forest green. He heaved himself to his paws, he wasn't larger than she was, just about the same height. Another addition to their screwed-up genepool, she reasoned he would be. Now that she thouht about it he had a rather narrow and elegant face. "Good, now-"
"I demand to know who you are and where I am." He spoke in a proper voice but was very bold with his demands and Goldenheart frowned slightly, not good, not good at all.
"My name is Goldenheart-"
"Ah, I assume you are what is called a 'warrior?" She didn't like the fact that he had interrupted her in mid-sentence but he seemed to be getting the concept. She grunted and gave a slight nod.
"You're in the Dark Forest, the place where cats go when Starclan doesn't accept them." She grunted once more and immediately told him. To her, there was no further point in withholding the absolute truth and reality of the matter from him
"Like, Hell?" He blinked and questioned. Goldenheart curled her lip even further up at the rogue term, but she swallowed down her anger and remembered that she needed this cat. She nodded slowly, expression still composing of the utmost bitterness and just about fury. The mysterious tom did not bristle, nor move an inch away from her at her hostile expression, he remained absolutely collected and calm. "And why, my dear lady, have you summoned me here?" She blinked, he was a sharp one. She hadn't of even hinted that she summoned him here.
"I need you to become my daughter's mate." She decided to take the most brutal way down and tell him bluntly. He had no other options. From the moment he had been summoned here by perhaps random choicing he had involuntarily given up his freedom to choose his own mate. He blinked, momentarily puzzled before piecing together that she was planning something big.
"And why, my fair lady, do you need to speak to me first? Can your daughter not find her own mate?" Goldenheart bristled at the implication that her daughter could not find her own mate, she could, but was dragging it along and Goldenheart was getting bored and impatient with waiting so long. "And if I were to accept this proposal, what would I gain from it?"
"A position of power." Goldenheart gruffly grunted out, glaring slightly and coldly at him. "She happens to be the leader of a clan of strong and powerful warriors."
"A clan leader? Indeed interesting." He mumbled along, looking up and rolling his eyes up in a pondering gesture. "While I have no desire to settle down, a position of power is indeed intruiging. I shall think about this offer-"
"It's now or never." Goldenheart interrupted him and distinctly told him in an impatient voice. A slightly dramatic sigh rolled from his powerful throat.
"I see that such an restless spirit will not grant me the time to think thoughtfully about this proposition." He said, mostly to himself, though. "Alright, then. I shall accept this offer, tell me where I need to go."
And that was all she needed. Goldenheart's lips curled upwards in a slight grin and she knew she had found another piece to add to her game, although he might not be sticking around for long, all she really needed was for her daughter to have kits, new recruits for her. Satisfaction oozed from just about every pore on her body. She began to give him the directions.