Crowfeather and Leafpool could barely see in the darkness but it was enough to see the shape of something coming closer and closer, two milky blue eyes glowing in the dark. "Stay back!" Crowfeather growled. "I'm warning you!"
Still it came closer, and as it did so, it began to resemble a cat. A large, hairless cat with a scarred face and a missing ear.
Crowfeather hissed and nearly leaped out at the stranger, but then he stopped. They were trapped in a dark cavern. First of all, leaping out to fight might mean falling into an unseen hole. Secondly, this stranger may be able to help them out.
"Who are you?" Crowfeather yowled, his voice echoing on the cavern walls. His fur was bristling although he tried to hide his fear.
The strange cat spoke in a raspy voice. "My name is Chasm. Who are you and what brings you here?"
"I am Crowfeather of Windclan," the dark warrior answered. But not for long, he thought, I won't be of Windclan when I leave… "Nothing brought us here," he snapped. "We fell down a stupid hole."
"I'm Leafpool," the Thunderclan medicine cat replied quietly, hiding behind Crowfeather. I should be brave. My sister Squirrelflight wouldn't be afraid right now.
"You are probably wondering what a cat is doing down here, living in the darkness."
"Ummm, yes," Crowfeather said. "Very much so."
"It is a long story," Chasm said. "All I will tell you is that several tribes used to live at the lake before your clans. Those tribes are gone now. They have been gone longer than I have been alive, but I am a descendent of those cats. When the downfall of the tribes came, some cats came to live in these tunnels and caverns. They learned to avoid the rising waters that flood these tunnels, and to catch bats and cave fish for prey."
"Disgusting," Crowfeather murmured. Chasm luckily didn't hear him.
"I am guessing you two would like to find the way out?" the hairless cat continued.
Leafpool nodded. "Please, can you show us the way?"
"Perhaps," Chasm responded.
Crowfeather growled, "You better show us the way out, you flea-bitten furless…"
"It's not that I don't want to help," Chasm interrupted. "It's that I may not be able to. I know these caves well but I have never left them."
"Not once?" Leafpool asked. What would it be like to live here your entire life and never feel the grass under your paws? She shuddered at the thought, and from the cold damp that hung in the air.
"Never," Chasm replied, shaking his head slowly, "But I will try to help you find a way out anyway. Follow me." He turned and began walking back towards the direction he had come from.
Leafpool and Crowfeather followed him, and the gust of air became stronger as they did so. They came to a hole in the wall of the cavern, with a huge stone rolled away from it. They entered the tunnel and Chasm rolled the rock back. There's no turning back now, Leafpool thought, not that there was any exit in there anyway.
A damp, cold wind was blowing through the tunnel that they walked through, sending shivers up Crowfeather and Leafpool's spines. Chasm's whiskers twitched in amusement. "You get used to it after a while," he said. "I actually enjoy these nice breezes."
As they walked, Leafpool asked, "Are there any other descendants of the tribe living down here?"
Chasm turned to look at her, sadness in his cloudy, light blue eyes. "No," he said. "There were, until not too long ago. The caverns flooded more than they ever have before. We usually know how to jump to higher rocks and avoid the rising waters, but the flood just kept coming and coming. The water came higher than ever before. I made it to the highest rock, which was jutting out of the wall, and carried up three kits to the ledge with me, so they would be safe. I survived and so did the kits. No one else did. The three kits eventually died; I do not know why. I am much younger than I look, and did not know how to care for kits. I feel so much guilt to this day. If only I had given the ledge to the kits' mother…"
Leafpool wanted to comfort him as she did with her clanmates, but she didn't dare get too close to this strange, hairless cat. "It's okay," she said. "I've done things I regret too." She looked Crowfeather in the eyes. "You just have to move on."
Crowfeather turned away. He knew she was talking to him as much as she was talking to Chasm. First she tells me not to run away from Windclan, then she tells me to move on! Which does she want? There's no way I can continue living in Windclan and forget all that's happened…
Finally they came to the end of the tunnel, where Chasm rolled away another rock. Another gust of cold, strange-smelling air hit them in the face as they entered the next room of the caverns. Leafpool and Crowfeather gasped.
The ground dropped off right in front of them and far below was an underground lake of sparkling green water. The ceiling was high and the room was vast, and sharp, pointed rocks hung from the ceiling. Weak, golden light streamed down from a few holes in the ceiling, and there were a few small stone islands in the lake.
"It's beautiful," Leafpool whispered. "I didn't know there was such a beautiful place, and it's been right under our paws the whole time…"
Crowfeather spoiled the moment by grumbling, "How are we supposed to get down there? This ledge must be hundreds of feet up."
"Watch," Chasm said with a grin. He leaped to the right, straight off of the ledge.
"No!" Leafpool shouted, jumping to try and catch him. Crowfeather held her back and they both closed their eyes, waiting to hear him hit the water or worse, one of the rock islands. All they heard was the soft sound of landing paws. They leaned over the edge carefully and looked down. There was another ledge a little further down, where Chasm had landed. And there was another after that, and another after that, and another after that, and... The stone stairs led down to a little rock island on the emerald lake. "Come on!" Chasm shouted. "It's easy."
Crowfeather and Leafpool looked at each other, uneasy. Finally, Leafpool leaped, barely landing on the ledge. Crowfeather sighed and followed. Eventually they made it down to the bottom, where they leaped onto the island.
Crowfeather looked up. "How are we supposed to get out? The only way out I see are those holes in the ceiling, and there's no way we can get up there, even with your crazy ledge-jumping."
Chasm looked from Crowfeather to Leafpool with a serious expression on his face. "I hope you can swim," he said.
To be continued…