Hi again! I'm not even going to apologise this time. School started again, and I was so busy, and I could tell you all my excuses, but it wouldn't change the fact that I've worked on this for five weeks. Well. It has the number five in! But it wasn't the five days I talked about. The previous chapter should be called Song of a Memory. Anyway:


Song of a Glacier Crossing

Chapter 6


The glacier rose before them, intimidating and silvery in its sheen. Bluesage gulped. It was much bigger than it had sounded when Blizzardriver had told them about it earlier that day. It was terrifyingly snowy, due to the late night fall, powder reaching up to his shoulders. At the very least, it wouldn't be as hard as clambering up over the windswept, hard-packed snow that was created by the leaf-bare storms that had passed by half a moon ago.

That was right, it had been half a moon since he'd volunteered to go on the quest.

Beside him, Meltpaw shook. Bluesage smiled gently. The apprentice's green eyes were wide as he stared up at the towering sheet of snow. Due to the clear blue skies, the nonstop walking had brought the warrior's body temperature up, and he blinked away a droplet of sweat and thought longingly of jumping into that fresh powder. Instead, he nudged the brown tabby and spoke.

"Follow my tracks. It won't be too hard."

Unable to respond, Meltpaw shivered out a nod. Bluesage smiled and shook out his coat again. Excitement gleamed in his grey eyes and he dashed forwards to where the glacier met the rocky path they were traveling on.

It had been a quarter moon since they'd started traveling. His pawpads were rock hard from the trails they'd gone on, and he could sense that Blizzardriver chafed at their slow pace due to the snowfalls. Bluesage breathed in the cleansing air. It was strange to be away from all the cats he'd normally see, and just view the valleys and ranges that stretched endlessly out before him. It ignited a flame in his chest, and his throat closed up in a familiar mix of excitement and fear. It wasn't that he was scared of the danger, as he lived with that back in his Clan, due to the terrain, but out here, there was the fear of being left alone and being by himself for too long that just hissed sharply when he lost sight of the medicine cats.

They were at alpine, and the trees had thinned out to tips of green that had poked out of the snow several fox-leaps lower. Up here, there was no green to be seen except for the lower parts of the mountain. The trees and flora just didn't grow at this altitude. It made the white, snowy surface unbroken, and almost unreal.

Bluesage tensed his hindquarters and leapt over a large boulder shouldering the path. His forepaws dove down until he was chest high in the snow. Meltpaw glanced at him, the paw's green eyes flashing with snowlight, and snorted. Bluesage sighed. It was cold enough to effectively refresh him and clean his fur of the sweat that had clung to him for the past few hours as they trekked through the warm forest. He smiled and thought of that morning.

Bluesage had slept in, so of course, Blizzardriver woke him up, a scowl ready on his face. The white tom had walked away, while Meltpaw shook with laughter from the safety of the worn dirt path. Annoyed and sleepy from the startling awakening, Bluesage lashed out at the tree trunk behind him. Due to the heavy snowing that night, the boughs and leaves were weighed down with snow, and at that slight tremor, almost all of it fell onto him.

Thinking of that now, Bluesage sighed with longing. The sky was overcast, and therefore the heat stayed, slowly roasting him as they trekked up through the thick snow. It clung to him, forcing the warrior to shake his coat every few steps. Eventually, Blizzardriver led Bluesage and Meltpaw to the highest ridge, which had blocked the famous view of the glacier from a certain point upwards.

As they crested the barely covered rock, Bluesage's breath flowed out of him in one gasp. This was his second time seeing it, but it was even more imposing close up. He swallowed tightly. The glowing blueness hinted at slick ice beneath the surface, and at the top, a cornice awaited. Bluesage turned around, and lost his breath yet again.

The dirt path which they had traveled on looked like a small brown stream from up here. His grey eyes traveled over that evergreen forest, blanketed with the white and silence of the snow. After the forest cut off, he saw the place they'd spent the first night. And below that, the pure blue of Lake Jaysong, lit by a single break in the clouds. Further back, a pillar against the stormy background, his home. The twin peaks; everything. It was beautiful. He breathed it in, the fresh mountain air, and let his gaze rest on it, framed by the mountain ranges. His breath caught, and he let out a whoop.

He'd done it. He'd explored beyond the territories. Tears came to his eyes, and he smiled. His heart beat frantically and he let a tear fall. He whispered a goodbye to his home, letting the wind carry it away to his family. He turned away and started down the glacier's caldera, following the medicine cat's tracks. With each step he took, his guilt fell away, leaving his heart lighter than it had ever been before.

He was starting on his adventure.


Stormlake gasped, her chest heaving, after another nightmare. "What?" she breathed. Gladegaze, sleeping behind her, grunted, and blinked his eyes open.

"Stormlake? You okay?" He said sleepily. She turned to him, careful not to wake Rushkit and Splashkit, who were slumbering at her paws.

"It was nothing. Don't worry." That had been her fifth nightmare. But this time, it was different. That voice was gone, and in its wake lay a kernel of loneliness. She gazed at the dark walls of the nursery. This time, Bluesage had been brutally sliced open by a mysterious tom. The only thing she'd seen was a flash of bright green eyes before she'd woken up. Who was it? She knew that it meant something important, but she couldn't just work it out.

She shook her head and stood up, careful not to wake Gladegaze or the kits. Stepping over them, Stormlake eyed the exit. Faint blue light was glowing through it. She quietly brushed through the thorns and walked out to a pre-dawn sky. The stars glimmered dimly in the newly clear sky. The late snowfall had blasted them all away. She padded through the camp, relishing the silence and privacy it gave her. Stormlake slipped through the curtain of willow, and walked through to the other side, where she carefully dropped down onto the path that led to Bluesage's favourite spot. Staring out over the space, she noted the things she could see, slowly calming down as she did so. She breathed in the sweet mountain air, and looked up at the stars.

Stormlake smiled, imaging that each star she could see was a member of her family, alive or dead, that loved her. As the sun rose, the stars blinked out. Stormlake shuddered, her breath tightening in her chest. She saw the brightest star, the one remaining, and spoke to it.

"You wouldn't leave me, Bluesage. You promised, remember?" Hopr shimmered in her voice. Stormlake didn't breath as she watched it, looking for a sign that confirmed her wish. And then, the sun rose up over the horizon.

The star winked out.