Chapter 7
Petal
The wind gradually died down, the snow stopped coming, and the sky cleared of the ominous grey clouds that had loomed in it for hours. The sheer mountainside was flat except for the parts where it was covered in tall feathery drifts which had floated into place during the snowstorm. Everything was still as a soft breeze blew across the mountain's face, and down into the sheer drop below. Or was that…?
One of the snow drifts shifted, and a snow-covered silver she-cat leapt out, shaking off a large portion of the snow, yet it still dusted her fur in a very elegant way. Her eyes were blue, yet when she turned they shimmered a silvery colour, in an unnerving way.
"Now that wasn't too bad, was it?" she asked herself, glancing at the bland landscape around her. "Yes, actually, it was," she said, answering her own question.
Her paws were slowly sinking deeper into the snow and she stepped lightly out of its way, covering her pelt with licks to try and warm herself up, but to no avail. She just sunk back down into the snow, and, growling, she gave up, and continued to pad on down the mountain, peering into the depths that lay below her. Was that…? Had she really come that far?
Yet even though excitement racked every corner of her mind, exhaustion washed her body, and she couldn't go any faster than the speed she was walking at now. She left deep tracks in the snow, each one clear and defined.
Then her claw caught on something and she slipped, letting out a shrill yowl before she slid the rest of the way down the mountain, onto the treacherous rocks below.
xXx
A shrill yowl echoed through the air, and the young ginger tom was on his paws in an instant. He was surprised to find that Amarthy was already standing, looking in the direction of the huge, snow-capped mountains with a queer look in his eyes.
"Just roadkill," Dimitri snorted.
Amarthy glared at him, and then stalked forwards wordlessly, leaving Dimitri to catch up. The ginger tom hurried to catch up with the grey-and-white tabby, and was panting by the time he caught up ― but he still had to trot to keep up with Amarthy. He frowned. Usually the older tom didn't walk this fast.
There was definitely something strange about Amarthy. Something strange that had pulled him to the large grey tabby, that had made him leave his housefolk. Something strange that had made him travel with Amarthy all the way to the mountains, and not even question the older cat's will. Something that, even when his mind wanted to turn back, made him stay on this path, a force the pulled his body into following. If the choice had been his, he'd have turned back long ago. But the choice wasn't his, Dimitri realised. It was those strange cats that visited him. They were sparkly, like one of the housefolk kits he had lived with. In their eyes there were wisdom and depth, and they were surrounded by a wreathing smoke, that shimmered and wavered in and out of existence. There was usually just one of them, a silver tabby, but recently she had been joined by a fiery tom. And the only words they ever spoke where whispered in a hushed voice, almost so soft that Dimitri could never hear them. Yet as he'd had the dream so often, he'd deciphered their senseless whisperings into words.
"Stay on the path…" they would whisper. "Stay on the path…"
Not a word more.
"Dimitri!" Amarthy yelled.
The ginger tom noticed he'd fallen back and raced to catch up with Amarthy, who simply flicked his tail to get the younger cat to appreciate the view before them.
The mountains rose up in all their magnificence, touched pink by the oncoming sunset. Their sheer sides were beautiful yet deadly, and Dimitri suddenly felt the urge to touch the mountain, feel its strength and beauty under his paw.
He raced across the rocky ground, heedless as his paws got scratched and scraped by the jutting rocks. The mountain was so far away, but he was going to touch it, he promised himself that much. He'd always wanted to live in the mountains that had just been large blue hills in the distance from his nest.
An icy breeze swept across the bleak, windswept landscape that lay before him, and he shivered. He wasn't used to the intense cold that the mountains seemed to radiate. Tucking his head down in front of himself, he hunched his shoulders and padded forwards again, trying to ignore the stinging pain as the rocks cut his delicate pink pads into shreds.
His paw touched something soft and warm, and he instinctively set his paw down instead of walking forwards.
It all happened in a blur. She leapt up, her eyes on fire and her claws a blur of movement. Somehow, he was on the ground in a matter of seconds, cut, and scraped, and bruised all over. The silver she-cat took one glance down at him, sheathed her claws and sneered,
"Kittypet," as if it was an insult.
Dimitri didn't know what the word meant, but it must be something rude, judging by the way she said it.
He didn't like being insulted, and he would have usually made mincemeat out of the cat that had insulted him; but this was no soft cat that lived with their housefolk, used to living an easy life. This was a tough, hardened mountain cat, used to raging blizzards and bone-chilling winds, who had had a hard life.
And that was when it struck him ― her silvery pelt looked familiar, a little too familiar. She must be the cat from his dream! But then she opened her eyes and looked at him, and they were green. He let out a sigh of disappointment.
Petal frowned. The ginger tom beneath her could be no less than a moon or so younger than her. He was a kittypet, she could tell, by his bleeding pads, his incredibly soft fur, and fine, delicate breeding; for example, his paws were small and neat, as were his ears and muzzle. The way he had shivered against the wind had told her more of his story ― he lived in one of the twoleg nests that were set away in the distance, not in one of the closer ones. The kittypets that lived in those houses (if there were any) would have learnt to ignore the wind, like she had. Well, most of them, at least.
"I-I-I h-have backup," the tom stuttered, gesturing with his tail to an almost invisible grey-and-white tabby tom.
Petal cursed. She knew she'd missed something ― but she didn't let her annoyance show. Instead, she smiled. She smiled in a way that her mother had taught her, a cold yet beautiful smile that struck fear into the hearts of all who saw it.
"Oh, I assure you, he won't hear," she meowed coolly, even though, deep down, she was terrified.
To show she meant it, she unsheathed her claws and held one at his fluffy ginger neck, pressing down ever so slightly so it didn't puncture, yet he could feel it.
Dimitri was surprised to see that she was only a little older than himself, yet knew how to handle herself and strike terror in his heart. His bluff hadn't worked. Amarthy was half-deaf ― he wouldn't have been able to hear Dimitri's call even if he tried to.
That was when Dimitri noticed Amarthy creeping up on the silver tabby from behind. He made a 'be quiet!' motion to Dimitri with his tail, flicking it over his mouth and then glaring at the younger tom, like he often did when he was hunting.
The young ginger tom blinked innocently at the silver she-cat, but she suddenly spun around as Amarthy leapt. He had stepped on some tussock grass, something the quite deaf cat wouldn't have been able to hear.
"StarClan save me!" she screeched, ducking out of the way of Amarthy's leap and rolling to one side.
Then Amarthy did something strange. He quelled his leap, and once he landed staggered back, his eyes stretched so wide with a look of shock and almost horror on his face that made him almost completely unrecognizable.
"Did…did you just say that?" he asked, astonished.
"'StarClan save me!'?" she said snidely. "Yes, I did. Why?"
"Have you come to take me back?" Amarthy whispered hoarsely.
"Take you back where?" she snapped.
The huge grey-and-white tom visibly relaxed.
"To RiverClan," he answered.
"RiverClan?" Dimitri was puzzled. "What in Heaven's name are you talking about?"
The silver she-cat just glared at him, and that shut him up quickly. He'd noticed a while ago that her eyes changed colour depending on the light, so they were changing colour as she moved her head around to glare at him. He shivered. That scared him.
"So you're a RiverClan cat," she smiled faintly, playing with the tussock grass. "Perhaps you can help me."
"Only if you help me," Amarthy replied quickly with his eyes narrowed.
"Oh?" she shot back. "Tell me your name."
The grey-and-white tabby tom hesitated, just like he had when Dimitri had first met him. What was RiverClan? Had Amarthy been lying to him? Was Amarthy even his real name? And, most of all, who was this strange she-cat that was sitting, talking to the grey tom that he had grown close to over the past few moons, as if they were old friends…here he paused…or old enemies.
"Amarthy," Amarthy clarified.
The silver she-cat raised her eyebrow sceptically, and he sighed.
"Fine, fine," he meowed. "There's no fooling you, is there?" he didn't wait for her to answer his question, and obviously, she didn't expect to. "My name is Galestorm."
"What?" Dimitri cried, rounding on Amarthy. "Are you saying that you lied to me?"
As he confronted Amarthy, the silver she-cat turned away, her face twisted up in pain and her claws scraping the rock.
"Please," she growled. "Stop."
Dimitri turned towards her.
"And you?" he snarled. "Do you know him?"
She blinked, surprised, and then laughed.
"Me, know him?" she laughed. "Of course we don't know each other, you mouse-brained fool! We're both warriors, though. Clan warriors," she added sternly, shooting a glance at Amarthy ― or Galestorm, whatever Dimitri was meant to call him. "My name's Gladewhisper. I'm a warrior of ThunderClan, daughter of Brambleclaw."
"Bramblestar," Amarthy, or Galestorm, corrected her.
"He's leader now, huh?" she asked. "I spent time in the mountains…on Clan business."
The grey-and-white tom's eyes flickered over her, as if assessing whether she was lying or not. He seemed to assume she was telling the truth, because he nodded slowly.
"I had a mate," he started. "She was called Falconstrike. But the only problem was that she was in WindClan, and I was in RiverClan," Dimitri frowned, no understanding much of what the older tom was telling the silver tabby, who looked like she knew what he was talking about. "We made plans to leave the Clans separately, so as not to attract suspicion to us. She was going to fake her death, and then, six seasons later, I would join her in the mountains after faking my own. I have not found her yet, and I have been to these mountains more than once. No one would suspect us ― it was a plan that had no loopholes, or so we thought then. How were we going to find each other? We didn't know the way to the mountain! It would be six seasons later, for StarClan's sake, and I wouldn't be able to find her scent. The only thing I know of her is that she passed through the twoleg territory just beyond that rise," the RiverClan tom stopped to gesture with his tail. "She left her name with some of the kittypets and rogues that lived around there ― Falcer, that's what she changed her name to. Perhaps, seeing as you were in the mountains, you might have heard of her?" he asked hopefully.
Dimitri noticed that Gladewhisper tensed, and he wondered why she did. She obviously knew the name, so he was curious to hear her answer. He'd given up trying to have any input long ago.
"I have," the silver she-cat answered carefully. "But, as you know, everything has its consequences. You must take me to the Clans, and then I will tell you where Falcer is. Agreed?"
Amarthy shook his head.
"I have no choice, do I?"
Gladewhisper smiled sweetly.
"None at all."
Author's Note: I love Dimitri. He's so adorable!
I tried starting the next chapter, but it just didn't flow. So I'm going to ask you who you want to hear about next. Review with your answer. I want to get five reviews for the first time next chapter. That's all.
Queen Of The Pens
