Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter

Okay, so more than a week, but here you go!

Thanks to reviewers: None.


Chapter 8

Sunstorm sighed. The ginger-and-brown tabby's paws felt tired and her eyelid and tail drooped. All day she and Hazeltail had ventured to cats that they thought would be sympathetic to Sunstorm's plight. No one had listened.

Now the sun set, an orange glow suffusing the tree leaves with the last light of day. No moon rose above the horizon this night, and only the glowing sparks of the StarClan cats floated between the trunks of the trees and drifted through the undergrowth. Sunstorm could hear the anxious calls as the searchers traversed the twilight. Cats were scared to say goodnight now, uncertain if their friends would be there in the morning.

No one had listened to Sunstorm because they were looking for the missing sleepers. It was all they could think about this day. Sunstorm's plea for assistance in raiding the Dark Forest was denied. Even when she suggested the sleepers might have been stolen along with the missing warriors. However, when the other cats learned the leaders did not want anyone heading into the Place of No Stars, they said no. They kept looking for their loved ones, and Sunstorm and Hazeltail had to move on.

"Are you coming in?" Hazeltail asked.

Sunstorm opened her eyes and looked over at her mentor. "Not right now." She sighed again. "I can't believe no one will help."

Hazeltail brushed her tail across Sunstorm's shoulder. "We'll try again later, once they realize they can't do anything about the sleepers."

Sunstorm blinked at the she-cat. "I never asked. Did you. . . is anyone you were friends with missing? We spent all day, and I never thought you'd be worried about someone."

Hazeltail shook her head. "None of my friends here were sleepers. I loved to hear their stories, but I was never close to any. I will miss them though."

For a moment they sat looking out over the forest, listening to the searching cats. The calls blended into the hums of insects, as if the world moved on, uncaring of the turmoil in StarClan.

Finally Hazeltail spoke, her ears twitching, "It's like a darkness creeping into StarClan, Sunstorm. Stalking us from the edges of our territory and shrouding the sun. Not like the clouds, but something else—a feeling more than visual. I don't know what is going on. If the Dark Forest is doing this, they are stronger than before. But why? We defeated them not more than a moon ago and yet they've returned to full strength, and more, so soon?"

"I understand," Sunstorm meowed. Perhaps this why everyone was so anxious. They could feel it too, but not put a name to it and that made the fears worse. First they'd lost the warriors during the Dark Night, now it was the sleepers. What new horror awaited them to dim the remaining hope and happiness that typically basked the StarClan territory?

"What do you think of the rumor of a Dark Forest cat being in StarClan?" Sunstorm meowed.

"It can't be true. You know they can't leave the Dark Forest."

"But so many mention they saw a lightless cat yesterday, blood spilling from his mouth and claws."

"Everyone is scared. It is part of the darkness swallowing StarClan. They want answers. So do I." Hazeltail suddenly stood up. "I'll be inside. Everyone else will know where I am that way. I'll see you soon?"

"Soon," Sunstorm meowed, noncommittal. There was something else she had to do. She'd hoped to bring good news, but sadly the ginger-brown she-cat could not.

Hazeltail crawled into the den, the vines shaking in her passing. Sunstorm closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on a starless forest with thorns covering the ground. In a moment, the smell of smoke filled her nose. Sunstorm opened her eyes on the scene she'd imagined, lightless, but for the sparks the flecks in her fur dashed across the prickly undergrowth.

Nearby, a wall of vines stretched from treetop to ground, thick and nearly impenetrable. This formed the bordered to the Dark Forest, hemming the cats into a confined space. Sunstorm had first seen it during the Dark Night when she'd followed her sisters here through a thick mist. If there was an entrance from the StarClan side, it was well guarded by the leaders and medicine cats. The easiest way into the Dark Forest was by thought, something most cats did not realize. Redfur had explained the Dark Forest as on another "level" of the sky, something Sunstorm didn't fully understand. How could a Dark Forest cat have crossed it? The leaders had always been so confident it wasn't possible.

Sunstorm looked around but the she-cat didn't see anyone in the undergrowth near the sycamore tree.

"Morningsong!" Sunstorm yowled. "Morningsong!"

Soon enough the thorns shifted. A shadowed form approached. An ear and nose pushed through the thorns, revealing another she-cat that looked exactly like Sunstorm, except for the matted fur and scratches along her pelt. In addition, Morningsong lacked the glowing starlight that flecked Sunstorm's fur. The other she-cat's fur was dull. As dull as her eyes and voice.

"Well?" Morningsong meowed, coming to a stop in front of her sister.

Sunstorm sighed and took a step forward. She bumped her head against her sister in greeting. Along with the dust was the smell of blood.

"Are you all right?" Sunstorm meowed, pulling away from her sister. The scratches looked fresh and deep.

"Fine. I got into a fight with two cats a little while ago."

"Are you sure you are all right?"

"Yes. We just had a longstanding disagreement. It's been resolved."

Sunstorm didn't like the flat way her sister spoke. There was nothing in the other she-cat's eyes. Unconcerned for herself or for the other cats. Sunstorm just hoped the two weren't still around. Sunstorm and Morningsong couldn't be seen together. Sunstorm did not want to have to deal with the Dark Forest cats right now.

"I spoke with the leaders," Sunstorm meowed.

"They refused you again," Morningsong's didn't sound surprised. She didn't even seem interested. She'd expected this as it wasn't the first time this moon.

"Yes," Sunstorm could hardly meet her sister's eyes. "Even when I told them about the others. They're too scared that by trespassing they will reform the Darkpool." She snorted, "Like that would happen. They are too stuck on keeping balance they fail to see the kit falling off the other end of the branch because its claws can't hold any longer."

"I knew they would."

"I am working on another plan," Sunstorm promised. "You'll be with me soon. I've been contacting those who have lost friends and family during the Dark Night. I'll lead them here and we'll free our warriors without the leaders' help."

"Oh?" Morningsong's ears perked forward and for the first time, interest glimmering in the yellow depths of her eyes. "When?"

"Soon. Maybe. Look, a lot of cats haven't agreed yet—"

"Of course," Morningsong's interest died and she looked away.

"—There's a crisis in StarClan. Some cats have gone missing. The sleepers. They aren't here, are they?" Sunstorm briefly explained the news she'd heard at the Moonpool yesterday.

"No."

Sunstorm growled in frustration. "That would motivate some cats to get their tails over here if they were."

"We could check," Morningsong meowed.

Sunstorm blinked. "But you said—"

"It doesn't hurt to check. The lost warriors gathered about a half-moon ago. Someone started rescuing them from Tigerstar and they started a Clan. Maybe your sleepers are with them."

"You didn't mention this before. Why aren't you with the new Clan?"

Morningsong paused and her tail twitched, her eyes darted away for a moment. "I. . . How else would we meet? You don't know the territory. We've only ever met here. Did you want to see them?" Morningsong stood without pause, ready to lead the way, her voice eager for once.

"Yes!" Sunstorm nodded enthusiastically. The StarClan cats were together? This would make everything easier! And they weren't under Tigerstar's control. If only she could have told this to the leaders earlier, maybe they would have been willing to send a rescue. Coming to the Dark Forest once wouldn't reform the Darkpool, would it? Better than darting in multiple times.

"I'm so glad they aren't being tortured," Sunstorm sighed, following her sister through the undergrowth.

"Don't get your hopes up. More than a few have died."

"Wait. What?" Sunstorm stopped walking and stared at her sister's back. "Died? What do you mean?"

"We spirits can die again. You may want to hurry and tell your leaders about this new development. Maybe they'll come all the quicker."

After Morningsong explained the sudden deaths among the Dark Forest cats and lost warriors, Sunstorm was silent, shocked and a little scared. They could die again? But no one had ever died again. You just fell asleep out of boredom and sometimes woke up for important events. But if the sleepers were gone—

"Do you. . . do you think maybe the sleepers have. . .?"

Sunstorm hesitated to say it. Morningsong did not agree or disagree. She merely continued walking. Sunstorm followed, not wanting to speak about it. That information just couldn't be true. Morningsong was mistaken. The shadow Hazeltail had mentioned just got stronger.

The sisters came across a gash in the ground. The black earth had fallen down into a ravine. Sunstorm glanced over the edge to see a glimmer of water below, a sluggish flow oozing its way downhill.

"That's not the Darkpool, is it?" Sunstorm meowed. She could hardly remember where she and Redfur had seen the pool. This didn't have rings of rocks around it though.

Morningsong turned back, "That? No. The Dark Forest has been a little wetter than usual."

Sunstorm felt a rush of relief. Her trespassing was not causing this.

"We'll head upstream," Morningsong meowed. "There should be an easier way to cross." The ginger-brown she-cat lead the way.

"Morningsong," Sunstorm meowed. "Do you ever miss your powers?"

Morningsong's ear swiveled back. "Do you not get visions either?"

"Not anymore. Not since I died. Well, I did have a prophecy once. About the Dark Night, but it wasn't like before. What about you?"

"Useless powers anyway," Morningsong meowed. Her pawsteps in the dirt suddenly had claw marks in them. "They didn't help you live. They didn't warn me about Soothwhisker and Yarrowthorn coming to kill me either. Fawnfur was always the lucky one. The past is far more useful. And it's not like her powers can fail to warn her when she's going to get killed." Pause. "Do you ever think she wishes she could go back to a moment in time and change what happened?"

"I don't know," Sunstorm said. Before she could ask Morningsong if she wished she could change the past, the other she-cat turned and leapt across the ravine. The ginger-and-brown she-cat extended her legs, flying across the gash like a squirrel between tree limbs. She landed on the other side, raised her nose and sniffed as if searching. Sunstorm quickly joined her sister. The ground here was covered with pine needles, the brambles lower to the ground, like creeping ivy.

"What's up?" Sunstorm meowed when her sister didn't continue into the trees.

Morningsong raised her tail, moving it in front of Sunstorm's mouth. "Shh."

Her ears twitched and Sunstorm tried to listen to what her sister had heard. It was so silent here that she could hear the crackling of dried leaves being crushed behind them. She turned, looking over her shoulder. There was no one on the other side of the ravine.

"They shouldn't be here," Morningsong hissed under her breath.

Before Sunstorm could ask what her sister meant, laughter cackled from the mushrooms and prickled bushes in front of her sister.

Three starless cats strolled passed the undergrowth, spreading out to box them against the ravine. One was a black and gray tom with long front teeth, a dark gray she-cat with white spots, and the other was a white tom with stripes on his legs. There must have been something wrong with Sunstorm's eyes because she thought she could see vegetation through their fur.

The gray she-cat spoke:

"What a delight,
One shiny morsel
Falls into my sight."

She licked her lips and grinned.

Sunstorm knew her immediately. She also recognized the long-fanged tom with her. How could she not? She and Redfur had been their prisoners a short time during the Dark Night.

"Whatever happens," Morningsong hiss quietly to Sunstorm. "Stay in the Dark Forest." The she-cat took a step, placing herself between Sunstorm and the patrol.

"She's mine, Cinderblossom."

"No ordinary cat
is that.
Among the dead
Before
She's tread."

The white speckled she-cat nudged the tom with the long teeth. Longfang had scars over his eyes. One of which was milky. As she looked at him and the others she realized there wasn't something wrong with her eyes. There was something wrong about their pelts. Sunstorm could actually see through Longfang and the others. She didn't have time to concentrate on that oddity. Longfang leaned to one side as if to look at Sunstorm better.

"I'm glad to make your acquaintance again, Dawnflower."

"The feeling isn't mutual," Sunstorm growled back, surprised he'd remembered her false name she'd given him when she'd first met him.

"Let's see, you look just like Morningsong. Is she your sister perhaps? I wonder what your other siblings were called, Risingsun and Newlight?" He snorted and then lost his cheer. "I have business with you. Cinderblossom, Snowclaw, and I were punished for neglecting our duties and allowing the Darkpool to vanish because of you."

"Careful, Longfang," other tom meowed, "You know we aren't allowed to kill any StarClan cats."

"I won't kill her," Longfang snapped at the white and gray stripped tom.

"We need to run," Sunstorm whispered to Morningsong. "There has to be another way to the lost warriors."

"We can all escort her to Tigerstar together," Longfang meowed, turning back to face them. "Unless you were protecting your sister, traitor."

Morningsong's ear flicked back and then to Sunstorm's surprise, her sister stood back. "She's yours. I have no need to keep her only to myself. The destination is the same. She has news for Tigerstar."

"News?" Longfang meowed, "What?"

"I'm not telling him anything!" Sunstorm yowled. What was Morningsong thinking? She wasn't a spy for any cat.

"This way, little Dawnflower," Longfang meowed. He extended his tail, motioning her to follow. The Dark Forest cats moved closer, not giving her the choice.

Morningsong did nothing as they approached. Sunstorm stared at her sister who didn't even glance her way. Sunstorm spun around and leapt back over the ravine, only for another cat to burst from the undergrowth. The cat looked nearly as shocked as she did to come face to face, but quickly that turned to a growl. The red and white tom took a swipe at her. Sunstorm ducked. She turned and dove into the ravine.

The she-cat slid down the steep slope, stumbling to the bottom. Surprised shouts rose up from behind her.

She ignored the yowls and raced downstream. Dusty and wet, she loped across the uneven stones. The ginger-and-brown tabby she-cat splashed through the water. The shadows raced along the edge of the ravine above. The shouts continued as they followed her. Suddenly something splashed behind her. With a glance she could see a Dark Forest cat had joined her. She faced forward, pressing herself to go faster.

The sides of the ravine were getting lower. She could see the ground easing out ahead. They would be on her in a moment. Sunstorm knew she could think her way to StarClan. That wouldn't be a problem, but Morningsong had said to stay in StarClan. Why? Sunstorm had no intention of telling any of StarClan's secrets with these cats. Did she really trust her sister? What was Morningsong planning?

Distracted, Sunstorm's paw hit a stone. She tripped, spilling head first over and into the water. Sunstorm sputtered, getting to her feet. The Dark Forest cat behind her leapt and pinned her back down. Her chin hit the ground, the rest of her body getting soaked by the stream.

The three other Dark Forest cats descended. Dusty trails swirled into the air behind them. There was no contest. Against these cats, she had already lost.

"Mintpelt," Longfang greeted. "What brings you here? Weren't you on border watch?"

"Yeah. Where is Morningsong?"

The cats looked around. Even Sunstorm glanced from her position. Her sister wasn't anywhere in sight. So much for a rescue.

"Took off after letting us have Dawnflower," Longfang laughed. "Thank you for your help in catching her."

"Help? She's mine!" Mintpelt protested, his eyes narrowed. "I caught her."

"It doesn't matter who caught her." The three other cats with Longfang took a closer step.

Mintpelt's ears lowered. He backed off of Sunstorm and she got to her feet, shaking the water from her pelt as the other cats surrounded her.

"Where is your patrol, Mintpelt?" Longfang meowed. "You have an odd habit of having members of your patrol disappear on you."

Mintpelt looked around as if hoping to find his missing companions. "H-have you seen Thistleclaw?"

"No. We haven't seen Yarrowthorn or Sootwhisker either, no need to ask. You should to keep better track of your patrol. Unless they were trying to leave you."

There were snorts of laughter.

"Don't worry about those two," Mintpelt meowed. "You won't see them again."

"Oh, did they follow Thistleclaw into StarClan?"

More laughter.

"You let us know when he finds that supposed opening in the border, Mintpelt," Longfang meowed, his whiskers twitching. "Maybe then you can have Dawnflower back."

"She's mine," Mintpelt muttered. "I bargained for her."

Whatever could he mean? Sunstorm wondered. The red-and-white tom did not elaborate.

"We don't have time to argue," meowed the white tom with the gray stripped legs. "Let's get her to Tigerstar before she escapes."

Longfang seemed willing to listen to the advice. He nipped at Sunstorm's tail. "Get a move on."

-Line-

"Honeybee, it's been two days," Fernstripe meowed. "We need to talk. The Clan knows something is wrong."

"Something is wrong. You're bothering me."

Fernstripe stared after the mud-covered she-cat. For two days Honeybee had refused to speak to her. It just wasn't fair! Today Fernstripe had followed the golden she-cat from camp when Honeybee claimed she was going hunting. Fernstripe halted her supervising of the fish pond and left the other cats to build the pool as she hurried off the island after her deputy.

"Please, Honeybee! I don't understand!"

"How can you not?" Honeybee whirled around to face the light tabby. "Your sister is evil!"

"As are most who come here," Fernstripe meowed.

Honeybee sighed, her eyes glancing upward into the darkness above the tree limbs. "Maybe so. Especially now that I know why you're here."

Fernstripe's ears went back. "You think you know why I'm here?" What did Honeybee know? The golden she-cat refused to listen to reason. She refused to listen at all. Honeybee knew nothing!

"You and your sister tried to take over the Clan. You tried to kill my mother. You also plotted to weaken the other Clans by the lake to make sure ShadowClan was the strongest!"

"You weren't there," Fernstripe spat, "you couldn't be angry about that. Do you get worked up over Tigerstar? Over Scourge?"

"They didn't try to kill my mother recently. Or at all for that matter." Honeybee's voice was subdued. Fernstripe still felt she was correct. There was more than that. Honeybee couldn't hate her just because of what Eveningbreeze had talked Fernstripe into doing. Fernstripe could imagine the rage of her Clanmates who had been there to see what she'd done, but not a kit who'd been born long after the events. Who'd heard only stories.

"I met her once," Honeybee meowed softly when Fernstripe did not answer. "In a dream. I didn't know what her name was then, but I remember her." Honeybee's tail swayed her eyes gazing at the ground. "She. . . she told me I was worthless to the Clan and no better than a kittypet. Later, when I woke up, I lost a battle and-and I ran. I was a coward and I left the Clans. If my brother hadn't brought me back, I'd still be in the twolegplace."

"You came back though."

"Lakefrost was always a good cat. Better than me. Worth more to my Clan."

"He's not here helping me rescue StarClan cats."

"He would. Had he been here. I hope he's not here." Honeybee's brow furrowed.

Fernstripe tilted an ear. "Well I highly doubt he'd have paired up with me to do all that we've accomplished."

Honeybee laughed. "He would actually. He's kind that way."

"Well I prefer you. Thank you for all you've done for me. Thank you for putting up with me and my miserable behavior."

"You aren't miserable."

"I thought I was. You've been avoiding me so often."

Honeybee sighed. She rubbed a paw over her eye. "I just. . . Don't know what to think. You've been kind to me and to the others, you try hard, but you're her sister."

"We never really got along." Fernstripe's tail twitched and she started to pace, only to stop. "Honeybee?"

The other she-cat looked up.

"I'm sorry," Fernstripe meowed. Or she almost did, almost apologizing for even being a part of her sister's plans, living and deceased. She nearly confessed to everything except they were distracted by another cat bursting into the clearing.

The ginger-and-brown tabby she-cat took a few quick steps. Her eyes were wide, but when she saw them, she quickly licked her white chest fur, chest heaving. There were no sparkles in her fur, but she looked very familiar.

"Fawn-!" Honeybee stood. Then her tail lowered. The mud on her back raised, flaking off so that beams of light rippled through. "No. Morningsong." The wrath Fernstripe had watched disappear returned so that Honeybee's eyes were as sharp as claws.

For a moment Morningsong looked confused. Her eyes roved up and down the two she-cats in front of her. "Yes. I'm Morningsong and I need your help."