c-h-a-p-t-e-r

t-w-o


I nearly screamed. I had to clamp my tail over my mouth so that the others wouldn't notice my horror. Not Russetpaw, the lively, bright apprentice who had always been there with a cheerful smile. He was the one who always brought moss to the nursery and elders den without complaint; the one that was always cheerful no matter what. How could this have happened to him? Was the enemy picking at random, or did they have a list? Who was the enemy?

"Look at Russetpaw!" I hissed to Iceflutter, horrified. She tensed beside me, and when I glanced at her face, I saw that her face wore a look of horror and fear.

"Not Russetpaw!" she hissed. "He was so…" My sister shook herself, trying to rid herself of scared thoughts like she was shaking water from her pelt. "How can no one else notice this?"

I frowned. That hadn't occurred to me before. No one else had seemed to notice Stonestreak's and Russetpaw's glazed eyes. But then I saw Minnowpaw, the medicine cat apprentice, standing on the opposite side of the clearing. She had a suspicious look in her normally bright blue eyes; they were dimmed like the moon blocking the sun's light during a solar eclipse.

"Look at Minnowpaw," I breathed to Iceflutter, keeping my voice down as to not arouse suspicion. At moments like these, I was beyond glad that my sister knew of these occurrences and shared my concerns. What would I do if I didn't have her?

Iceflutter's gaze fell on the young medicine cat. She nodded determinedly, obviously deciding to approach her. While the rest of the patrol and the Clan chatted away, clueless, my sister and I crossed the sunlit clearing over to where Minnowpaw was standing, her pose too stiff to be casual.

The suspicion in her eyes vanished as she saw us approaching, as if she was trying her best to hide it. But I never doubted that it wasn't there in the first place. She was just pushing it down; trying to keep the cat of suspicion underneath the calm waters.

"Hello, Iceflutter, Sorrelwing," Minnowpaw greeted, with a respectful dip of her head. "Is there anything I can do for you today?" There was fake cheerfulness in her voice and her smile appeared too bright. Everything about her seemed to set off alarm bells of falsity.

I frowned at her. "Don't pretend you haven't noticed," I said bluntly. My clanmates had always said that I was blunt, too blunt to be kind. I always shrugged it off; how else was I supposed to get through to them?

The pale brown apprentice's fur fluffed up with annoyance. "Haven't noticed what?" she meowed indignantly; she was in denial. Minnowpaw didn't want to believe what she was seeing. But shrugging it from our shoulders wasn't going to save Stonestreak or Russetpaw.

"Haven't noticed their eyes," Iceflutter put in with a slight shudder, blinking. "You know, Stonestreak, Russetpaw… Haven't you noticed how their eyes stare?"

Minnowpaw narrowed her eyes. "Well, I noticed Russetpaw's. But I didn't know that Stonestreak had been affected too..." Her mask of cheerfulness vanished as her voice trailed off; slipping away into an abyss of the past.

The sun seemed too bright, too warm for the chill that seemed to run through my body, raising the fur along my spine. Even our medicine cat was confused. What were we supposed to do?

"This is too serious," Minnowpaw began slowly. "I don't know what has happened to these cats, and we need to find that out so that we can put a stop to it. It's not good."

I thought this over for a moment. I could tell by the silence that Iceflutter was doing the same. My gentle sister and I often copied each other's movements, as if some part of us was still linked after we were born.

"Well it seems to me like something has… I don't know… cast a spell on them?" I began hesitantly, afraid of mentioning the dark times. Minnowpaw and Iceflutter looked at me with shock, their gazes vividly trained on mine. I thought back to the tales the elders had told Iceflutter and me when we were just Icekit and Sorrelkit.

They told us once of dark days in the past, a time when SaffronClan had been shrouded in shadows of fear and horror. They said that there had been a group of cats, loners unlike any warriors had seen before, who could cast what they called 'magical spells' on our cats. This often resulted in incurable sicknesses, horrible welts on the skin and sometimes… even forcing the cat to obey the caster's will. But that was rarely the case, and it was never more powerful than slight influence.

"That's not possible," Minnowpaw replied in a voice that sounded half forceful and half fearful. "All of those special cats were killed off years and years ago, so long that only the elders of our elders remember it. And those elders are all dead now," she added firmly. "Nothing can happen like that again."

"What is to say it won't? Whatever is doing this must be…" Iceflutter couldn't finish. "We… we just have to hope for the best and pray to the stars that no one else is affected or notices… the Clan shouldn't have to be burdened with these troubles."

At that moment, Russetpaw trotted over to the conversation. "Hey guys! What's up?" he meowed cheerfully. Minnowpaw and Iceflutter exchanged glances while I rudely examined his eyes. It seemed to be the only clue to whether a cat had been affected.

Then I noticed stiffness in his legs as he sat down, like he was being forced to against his will. I narrowed my eyes.

"Nothing much." Iceflutter seemed to have regained her composure, shaking her fur. Minnowpaw nodded hurriedly, but Russetpaw didn't seem to have noticed anything nodded cheerfully, keeping an overly happy smile plastered on his face.

I let out a huge fake yawn, making as much noise as I could. Minnowpaw looked at me with disdain, shuffling her paws like she had seen some sort of half-dead slug.

"Really, Sorrelwing?" she mouthed, rolling her eyes. I nodded. Yes, really. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"I'm really tired. I'm going to have a sleep because Redfoot told me I'm needed on the dawn patrol tomorrow," I explained. Russetpaw just nodded, his teeth glinting in the light for a moment.

"Have a nice sleep!" he called as I walked away, shivering.

I pushed through the ferns and into the warriors den, breathing in the sweet scent of saffron. Stonestreak was asleep peacefully in his nest; sides rising and falling evenly. But his face held the slightest expression of discomfort.

I shook myself. Whatever happened, Iceflutter and I would make sure that our father would be okay. I settled down into my nest, tucking my tail over my paws. Nothing could break the bonds of this Clan.

Or could they?

-o0o-

I woke to the sound of pawsteps leaving the den. Blinking open my blue eyes, I realised that Stonestreak was no longer sleeping in his saffron nest. Instead, there was a grey tail disappearing through the entrance.

I slitted my eyes in suspicion. Without thinking, I decided to follow my father to see what he was doing. It was none of my business, but I needed some answers. I rose to my paws, trying not to wake the sleeping warriors around me. The sound of their breathing filled the air around me, thousands of whispers in the night.

I pushed through the exit of the den and stopped dead. Russetpaw and Stonestreak were sneaking through the tunnel that led out of camp and into the forest, their stiff limbs gliding soundlessly over the rocky ground with a grace that looked mechanical and terrifying at the same time. I glanced up at the sky to see that the moon was at its highest point in the sky. Panic coursed through me.

What where they doing out at this time of night?


AN: Dun dun duuuh! /cue evil music

Tell me your opinions on this chapter! What do you think will happen next? What is up with this weird stuff? You'll find out more in chapter three, coming in a week if not before! (depends how soon I write chapter four c;)

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