Important note:
Hello readers and Warriors fans. I have decided to rewrite this story as a new one called Black Ice, so please read it, I am hoping that it is better written than this version, and have more frequent updates. I will no longer be updating this version of Lily of the Valley.I
Disclaimer: I don't own warriors...
-Key
Swallownose slowly lowered his muzzle into the slushy waters of the moonpool. Shutting his eyes tightly and cringing against the cold, he waited expectantly for what came next. He gradually felt a creeping whirlpool of darkness close around him, giving him a spiralling sensation of falling. He was soon greeted by a sharp glow behind his closed eyes and a swaying sensation beneath his large red paws. He narrowed his eyes against the streaming starry light before scanning his ancestor's hunting grounds with a watchful eye.
To one side of the clearing stood a familiar brown tabby she-cat with sparkling blue eyes.
"Poppyshade!" He greeted respectfully, unable to hide his happiness at the sight of his Starclan guide.
"Swallownose," she responded, her voice holding none of its usual cheeriness.
Swallownose instantly felt the mood darken, "What is it, Poppyshade?" He inquired.
"Swallownose," She began uncomfortably, "There are new challenges that will arise for your clan, and all the others."
"Wha-What do you mean?" He murmured, half-hoping she would give him an answer that held none of Starclan's reputation of cryptic messages and omens.
Instead of responding, the long-legged she-cat suddenly turned around, eyes flashing in alarm as claw connected with claw, fang connected with fang, and fear mingled with triumph, but Swallownose never saw any of that, instead he suddenly saw the landscape change before him. He now stood in a foggy marsh, gazing around, eyes narrowed to slits, as he could start to distinguish a group of cats through the clouded area. In the lead stood a dark brown she-cat with stormy blue-grey eyes, as if a cat had taken a cobweb of snowflakes and dappled her eyes with them, and all around her crowded a group of strange-looking cats. He could clearly see that many of them had a problem of some sort. Missing claws here, a limp there, a tom whose gaze looked clouded and blank, a she-cat who was signalling quite quickly with her tail, and a long line of unidentifiable cats hidden by the misty glare of the swampy land.
A voice suddenly boomed overhead, one he had heard barely moments ago.
"All these cats," the voice sneered, "They will band against you, they will be the downfall of the clans. If you don't believe me, just wait and see." Swallownose was startled by Poppyshade's sudden change of mood.
Moments later, he was overtaken by a swarm of images that swirled through his head, just barely out of his reach, until one in particular stood out, as if specially selected by the Starclan cat herself. Before his eyes, or perhaps he should say his mind, once again stood the same group of cats as earlier, the leading she-cat easily recognizable by her sparkling blue eyes. This time, though, they were surging forwards along with many other cats, ones that strangely resembled rogues, towards cats that her assumed were the clans sometime in the near future. He quickly identified the current clan leaders plunging head-on into the battle, as well as most current medicine cats plus a new addition, lingering to the side. He could see the look of despair on the clan cat's faces as they were easily outnumbered, and the cruel glares of the opposing cats, eyes gleaming with something he remembered from a distant memory. If he had lived during a time of war he might have known, he might have known that this was the look of a broken cat seeking vengeance.
As if this was not enough, Swallownose's attention was almost immediately brought to another scene, this one of the cats leaving their territory, downcast and miserable, as a triumphant call resounded eerily around them. Swallownose willed himself to move, to do something, to tear himself away from the vision, but he was stuck in place, frozen in shock. The fur along his back was rising, and shivers ran down his spine. He shuddered as the ground turned a murky scarlet beneath him.
"Young cat, you need to make sure that this never happens," The voice growled silkily.
"H-how?" he stuttered as the landscape faded back to the muddy marsh, unable to stop himself from letting out a sigh of relief.
" There are some... Different cats in the clan. They will cause this, and you must therefore stop them from ever becoming warriors." Poppyshade's voice mewed again.
"What do you mean... Different?" He questioned.
" Didn't you notice that some cats had... Hindering aspects to them?" She hissed.
"Well yes, but wouldn't that make them less dangerous?" He inquired.
" Not if they are trained properly. If this is the case then they are even more dangerous than a normal clan cat. They have perseverance, and believe me, when come a disadvantage comes an advantage," She stated, as if this were the most obvious fact.
" Why would they revolt though?" He asked.
"Jealousy, they know that they will never be true warriors, if you break them now, they will not stand tall later."
" Are you sure this is right?" He asked.
" Do you trust me?" She purred, and for a moment there was a malicious glint in her eye and Swallownose blinked in confusion, but when he opened his eyes next the glint looked like a starlit gleam again.
"Yes." To that, Swallownose had no doubts, she had never been wrong before.
" My dear Swallownose, these cats will be kept from training, banished if necessary, and everything will be fine. You will be the judge of whichever cats are apt or not, you the leaders, and the other medicine cats. You see, they are receiving the same message at this moment." The brown tabby she-cat purred.
The reddish tom narrowed his eyes," Poppyshade, this isn't like you, you aren't the type of cat to do this. How can I trust that this is real?"
Poppyshade's eyes shone dangerously, " My dear little clan cat, if Starclan disagreed with this we would send you a sign right? Look at your precious little clouds when you come out of here, they are not covering the moon, and neither are there going to be any other contradictory omens. Actually, I am sorry to tell you this, but for the next few seasons we will have to leave you to build your own path, and we will only contact you if absolutely necessary, and even then, only briefly to leave a sign, not to speak."
"Why?" He questioned, is there a problem. A rising feeling of suspicion was haunting him.
" Because, even Starclan does not have the ultimate knowledge of every possible path and if we just so much as touch one ever so slightly we can never know of the future you just foresaw will come true!" She hissed, then added, "Enough talking now! I must leave soon." Her tone was growing urgent. " And if you contradict us, Starclan will have to keep sending you omens, understand, this is the only way to prevent the swelling of our ranks and the lose of the clans."
He glanced up in confusion, why would she need to leave him? It was barely nearing moon-high. Her gaze seeming to soften, the pale tabby bent down to touch his nose, "When you inform your leader of the new rule, please tell your him these exact words:"Starclan said so." She murmured, then her figure started flicking in and out of view, and seeming,y drained of her force, she sat down and waited, her pelt fading out of view. For a few moments, Swallownose stood staring at the lush grass in confusion. It could have been minutes, or hours, but he spent some time contemplating the situation, until the moon reached its peak, and he faded out of view, back to the moonpool gasping as he felt his muzzle stint with the burn of cold water.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (line-break that looks like cats:)
Poppyshade screeched in fury, gaze locking with an exact copy of her. "HOW DARE YOU! HOW. DARE. YOU? YOU. HAVE. JUST. LEAD. THE. CLANS. TO. THEIR. DOOM. YOU PIECE OF FOX-DUNG. WAIT A MINUTE, THAT'S NOT EVEN A GOOD ENOUGH INSULT FOR YOU, YOU STARCLAN CURSED DARK FOREST CAT."
But Hawkstar just smirked, " Well, what were you expecting," he mewed calmly, "When a Dark Forest cat learns that Starclan will be losing contact with their precious descendants it's only natural for it to find a way to flaw that, although I never really saw it coming that the boundaries between our territories would fade."
"Get out of my sight you mange-pelt," She growled quietly, adding every bit of loathing she owned for them in her voice. Then she did what every cat was told never to do from their first moments in the nursery. She turned her back on a Dark Forest cat and padded away, and Hawkstar did nothing to catch her, that would come later.
"I refuse." Swallownose muttered, and so did every other medicine cat, unaware of the dreams that would haunt them until they agreed to tell their leader; the same dream that would haunt leader after leader.
Now believe me, when they finally accepted their task they were not trying to be evil. They were doing it because as promised, no omens came from Starclan, not one, and every time they would try to deny it the Dark Forest's curse would come to haunt them. To be honest it did not take them nearly enough time to get over it and make it a tradition. Many cats disagreed, but how could they leave the place that had practically been their whole life?
Ok... So... Please review!