The Star Chronicles II: Battle of the Lake
Chapter 1: Revelations
The grass rustled faintly in the wind. The warbles of songbirds echoed along the all-encompassing mob of oak trees. Their strong branches scattered the sunlight above, interrupted by the fluttering of wings or the scampering of the occasional vole. On top of a moss-covered rock, sat the thin form of the tomcat, partially obscured from the shadow of a gnarled pine. His mottled fur glimmered dimly with what appeared to be stars, and a dream-like blur surrounded him.
ThunderClan territory. The tomcat's thoughts rang around him. The tangle of trees parted a short distance away, and the caved-in roof of the abandoned Twoleg Nest could be seen. The tomcat jumped down from the mossy rock. His ears twitched as he strained to listen to the distant sound of pawsteps tromping carelessly through the grass. A quick sniff told him the commotion belonged to two ThunderClan cats, one of whom he knew quite well. Leafpool?
Jaypaw had not realized he stumbled into his mentor's dream. Curiosity clawing at him, the gray tabbycat crept forward. His pale blue eyes glistened as he neared the abandoned Twoleg Nest until the forms of two cats could be clearly seen. One of them was Leafpool, the slender form of the she-cat was unmistakable. The second cat, the tom, was unfamiliar to him—his scent, completely foreign. He was much larger than Leafpool, with a curly-haired, gray pelt and cool blue eyes.
"So, are we going to take all day?"
The annoyance was apparent in the tomcat's statement, his fur bristling as he watched Leafpool sort through the various flora with her nose. The tabby she-cat paused and threw a glance at him over her shoulder. The gray tom sat down in the grass, his claws tearing up dirt in an effort to entertain himself—his boredom evident.
Leafpool sighed as she returned to her gathering, "Without borage leaves, the queens will have trouble feeding their kits. Besides, it won't be much longer."
The tomcat scowled, "Oh, come on! That's what you said twenty minutes ago!"
Leafpool, uncovering a patch of blue star-shaped flowers, bit off the small, fuzzy leaves and added them to the pile of herbs beside her. "There! That's it, now we can head back to camp. Skyheart, help me carry these?" The she-cat nudged a few herbs his way, before gathering the rest into her mouth. The tomcat shot her an irritated look, but after a challenging stare from Leafpool, obliged.
Skyheart? Jaypaw had often heard the stories told around the fresh-kill pile about the medicine cat apprentice who had slain the mighty Hawkfrost and shortly thereafter mysteriously vanished. To be honest, he had always expected someone a bit more…heroic. Based what his Clanmates had told him, Jaypaw imagined a massive tomcat with the might of all of StarClan. The Skyheart he observed before him now was quite pitiful in comparison.
Unexpectedly, the dream shifted. The oak trees gave way to strong stone walls and bramble thickets. Before Jaypaw could even blink, he was stood in the middle of the ThunderClan camp: his Clanmates bustled around him as Firestar gathered together a border patrol. Jaypaw bounded over to the medicine cat den, pushing aside the bramble tendrils to slip into the cave entrance, determined to find Leafpool and Skyheart once more.
But before he could actually make his way past the entrance, Skyheart whizzed past, muttering a stream of angry, incoherent words. Leafpool bounded after him: her fur bristling with indignation. "If you're going to be sleeping in until sunhigh, at least do it somewhere else!" Jaypaw rarely saw Leafpool so angry. At least, not when she has to deal with me, he thought with a smirk.
"I'm in pain—! Look at the 'caring, nurturing' medicine cat, picking on the poor cripple!" The term "medicine cat" seemed to hang heavy on his words, like dog attempting to meow—it just didn't come out easily. However, Skyheart's retort was ignored as Leafpool returned to the shadows of the medicine cat den. Growling slightly, Skyheart limped over to the fresh kill pile, eyeing a dead bird with disgust before lying down.
Two young kits were play-fighting across from the gray tomcat, who made a point of ignoring them and attempting to sleep. The kits paused for a moment and glanced over at Skyheart. Both of them fell into an inexperienced hunting crouch, planning to creep up on him. However, Skyheart seemed to expect this, and opened one of his eyes; shooting the kits a death glare.
The kits immediately cowered and tried to hide behind the other with no real success. "S-sorry!" The two kits mewled rather pathetically. "We just wanted to play!"
Skyheart's anger diminished into cold amusement. "Play? I've got a game you can play," he smirked, sitting up.
The kits looked at one another, before nodding enthusiastically, "Let's do it! Play, play!"
"Well, there's only two of you, but…" Skyheart shrugged and pointed a claw at the sand-colored kit, "Okay, so you're Chase. And you—" he turned to the jet-black kit "—you're Foreman. Your job is to be my…ugh…my medicine cat apprentices. Basically, you do whatever I say, okay?"
The kits mewled in understanding. "What do we do?" The sand-colored kit wondered.
"Great job, Chase, you're already in character!" Skyheart said gleefully, "Leafpool is sick with a strange illness that's causing her to be a total bitch, we have to cure it! Chase, go stand over there and look pretty. Foreman, I need you to go and break into the medicine cat den and learn all you can about Leafpool's illness."
"Okay!" The sand-colored kit cried, bounding off happily to go stand in a random space.
The black kit looked up at Skyheart worriedly, "But…Leafpool will yell at me if I go in the medicine cat den!"
Skyheart rambled on about the kit's "criminal record" as a good reason as to why going into the medicine cat den couldn't bother him, but Jaypaw refrained from listening to anymore, not that he really understood what Skyheart was talking about anyway.
This was not Leafpool's dream, Jaypaw slowly began to realize as Skyheart badgered the two young kits—it was Skyheart's. But how? He wondered, his curiosity peaked. The former ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice had been gone for many moons, even before Jaypaw's birth. No one knew where he was, leaving behind a number of crudely-told stories and unspoken mysteries in his wake.
The ground swayed beneath his feet as the dream shifted once more. The world became cramped and dark. If it weren't for the occasional cracks in the ceiling letting sunlight probe itself into the shadows, Jaypaw wouldn't be able to see a thing.
The hazy outline of Skyheart lay on the muddy floor of the tunnel; his pelt spotted with blood. His blue eyes were tired and weak as they gazed up at the strong, muscular form of a dark tabby tomcat. The tabby's claws gleamed as he raised a massive paw. "You are mine, Clan cat."
Skyheart's eyes shifted. Jaypaw stepped back, startled, when he realized the tomcat was staring at him. With confusion dancing in Skyheart's eyes, their surroundings swiftly began to blur and fade. The ground beneath Jaypaw began to shudder, and he looked up. Skyheart stood, his wounds seemingly gone, and his stare distrustful.
"Who are you?" His voice was faint, warbled as the world between them fell apart. Jaypaw's stomach lurched as he was thrown out of the dream completely. The medicine cat apprentice felt himself naturally want to pull back toward his sleeping body, but he paused. Jaypaw wanted to know where Skyheart was, where he had been all this time.
He looked downed. To his horror, a Twoleg—not a cat—lay below him, lightly stirring from sleep.
Jaypaw awoke with a start. The familiar scent of the medicine cat den washed over him. The softness of his moss bed nearly lulled him back to sleep, but he resisted the urge. The early rays of sunlight crept into the cave entrance, and the clamor of his Clanmates signaled the gathering of the morning border patrol.
The medicine cat apprentice lifted himself from his moss bed and stretched. He already missed the sight he was granted during his sleep, and tasted the air carefully—his other senses immediately compensating for his blindness.
"Taking an early start, Jaypaw?" Leafpool's quiet mrrow of laughter snapped the apprentice out of his reverie. The she-cat's amusement radiated from her, almost tickling Jaypaw's fur.
He was so distracted thinking about Skyheart that it took him a moment to realize Leafpool expected an answer. "I had trouble sleeping," Jaypaw explained—it wasn't a total lie.
"Oh? Why's that?"
Jaypaw grew irritated at the tabby she-cat's prodding. "I'm fine. Just a couple weird dreams," he snapped, a little harsher than he intended. Leafpool's hurt stung him like a wave of bramble thorns. Thinking quickly, he changed the subject: "What's the plan for today?"
Leafpool was quiet for a moment, her mind thick with tangles of unspoken thoughts. "We're low on comfrey root," she finally replied, "Go get something from the fresh-kill pile and we'll head out soon, okay?"
Jaypaw nodded silently and slipped out from the mouth of the small cave; his stomach rumbled eagerly at the thought of food. Since the border patrol had left, the ThunderClan camp quieted considerably. A small group of Clanmates had gathered around the fresh-kill pile for a morning meal—Hazelpaw, Whitewing, and his mother, Squirrelflight. They meowed their greetings as Jaypaw tucked his paws underneath him and took a couple hesitant sniffs of the available fresh-kill.
There wasn't much left from yesterday, and the morning hunting party hadn't arrived back yet. Despite this, Jaypaw grabbed a cold thrush and managed to force it down. The medicine cat apprentice listened as the three chatted amongst themselves about the events of the daylight Gathering, which occurred less than a moon ago. Jaypaw blocked out their gossip, the fact that he was unable to take part in the apprentice games still hung heavy over him.
"—Jaypaw?"
The gray tabby froze as his mother addressed him. The dark ginger she-cat let out a mrrow of laughter at catching him off-guard. Unfazed, Squirrelflight repeated herself: "You were born after Skyheart left."
At first, Jaypaw didn't know what to say, he was eerily reminded of his "dream." He nodded in response to Squirrelflight, even though it wasn't truly a question. His mother seemed satisfied, and Whitewing let out an "ah" of understanding. His curiosity peaked, Jaypaw interjected: "What happened to Skyheart, after he killed Hawkfrost? Where did he go?"
"No one really knows," his mother responded, "It's a shame, he was a great addition to ThunderClan."
Hazelpaw laughed, "Are you kidding? He was grouchier than Mousefur!"
Whitewing's annoyance was evident, "Maybe so, but he saved ThunderClan! We'd all be gone without his help!" Hazelpaw respectfully refrained from criticizing the former Clanmate, after all, Skyheart had saved Whitewing's life.
Jaypaw wanted to learn more about Skyheart, but Leafpool had padded up to him during their conversation. "Jaypaw and I are off to gather some comfrey root," she addressed her fellow Clanmates politely, gently touching Jaypaw's shoulder with her tail-tip. Taking the hint, Jaypaw scrambled to his paws and quickly murmured his leave; the mystery surrounding Skyheart wasn't helping him ignore his growing curiosity.
Jaypaw deftly followed his mentor through the thick undergrowth along a path they had used many times to get to the lakeshore. He scented the air, but the forest was absolutely ordinary this morning. The most interesting smell was the hint of deer, which was partially masked by the thick, wet odor of dew clinging to the forest.
On their journey to the lake, they passed a patch of dock leaves, which Jaypaw gathered into his mouth to carry along with them. His paws began to ache when the trees gave way to the grassy clearing that ran along the sand-covered shore. Leafpool bounded over to a strip of white, bell-shaped flowers; their strong, tangy smell left an unpleasant taste in Jaypaw's mouth.
The small tabby she-cat began to dig at the base of the plants until she uncovered large black roots. Leafpool began to bite off chunks of comfrey root until a sizeable pile formed next to her. Jaypaw waited as his mentor worked, his tail twitching uncomfortably.
"You knew Skyheart, didn't you?" Jaypaw asserted. Leafpool paused in her herb-gathering, and nodded without a word before continuing. He sensed the uncomfortable feeling that churned in his mentor's stomach. Despite this, he added: "Do you know what happened to him?"
Leafpool huffed, "Skyheart abandoned ThunderClan long ago—no one knows where he went." Her lie was obvious, and Jaypaw's irritation grew at her stonewalling.
"Right…" he muttered under his breath, deciding not to push the issue.
"…Do you smell that?" Leafpool asked suddenly, her fear clawing into him and causing his own fur to raise in response. He tasted the air—the scent of Twoleg was unmistakable. The two crouched down as an attempt to hide themselves in the grass.
Jaypaw sniffed again, the scent was old by at least a day. "No, it's fine," he said, lifting himself up a bit. Leafpool was more hesitant to stand, but eventually matched him.
"Look at that!" Leafpool exclaimed. Noticing Jaypaw's annoyance at her choice of phrase, she quickly apologized. "There's a Twoleg thing on the shore!" Jaypaw followed her to the odd Twoleg structure. It wasn't a nest, and Leafpool described that it was at least three fox-lengths high and stuck firmly into the ground.
"What is it for?" Jaypaw asked, the thought of Twolegs made his skin crawl.
"I don't know," the tabby medicine cat admitted, "It has strange symbols all over it." She paused and thought for a moment, "We should tell Firestar about this. We shouldn't stay here for too long in case the Twolegs return."
Jaypaw nodded, his unease over Twolegs causing an unsteadiness in his limbs. The pair quickly gathered up their herbs and bounded into the forest toward the ThunderClan camp, glad to leave the Twoleg thing behind them.
Hey, guys! It's been awhile (like, six years, wow)! I hope you guys are still around to take a chance to read this sequel, because I'm quite excited to be finally writing it! I'm currently very busy with college, so please do not expect regular updates, but I will try my best to be consistent. In addition, I have not read Warriors or watched House in AGES, so please, please tell me if something's off or doesn't make sense! Enjoy, and thanks for taking the time to read! :)