A/N: Hey guys! Did ya miss me? Sorry, I truly meant to have another chapter out before such a long break, but exams sorta caught up to me so quickly... Good news is its all over and I think I can hold a update schedule now! I still need to figure out a good day... maybe Mondays? It would be a new chapter every week. I would like this book to be done sometime in late summer.

Oh! And this is an extra awesomely sad long chapter! Thanks for sticking around!

-Willow


Chapter Eight: Ice

Ravenheart groomed his pelt, his pink tongue clashing against his pitch black fur. His ears were slightly pricked, waiting for both this mate and apprentice to come back from herb hunting. Beside him slept little Streamkit, her gray pelt almost identical to her mother's, as the dapples and tabby markings had faded slightly from when she was a newborn, resembling her mother's monotone pelt. She gave a little contented sigh and Ravenheart wrapped himself all the more tightly around her, enjoying the pretty sunset. He, too, was about to drowse off as the sound of racing paws startled both him and the kit wide awake. A brown-and-white blur skidded into camp, followed shortly by the brown tabby pelt of their medicine cat apprentice, Mosspelt. The slushy ice mess their paws had thrown up flew towards Ravenheart and Streamkit's sun bathing area, causing Ravenheart to shield Streamkit with his own body.

"Dovetalon!"

Ravenheart glanced around, giving his pelt a quick shake before wrapping himself back around Streamkit to keep her warm. Rabbitpaw stood by Mossleaf, the two leaning on each other as they caught their breaths. Soon, it became clear that Dovetalon was not in the camp, instead, very slowly, out of the leaders den peaked a white head, bandaged in cobwebs. Balancing mainly on two paws, and slightly assisted by the others, the white leader made her way down the pillar of stone, her healing injuries clearly visible to all.

"What is it, Rabbitpaw?" Blizzardstar's voice was rough from seldom use.

The apprentices eyes widened at being addressed, by she forced the words out, her sides heaving from the run, "Twolegplace… herbs… followed… Stormdance."

The apprentice paused for a few seconds, in order to get the next few words out, "Stormdance didn't want to lead follow to camp," another deep breath, "Wanted us to take back herbs, faced follower alone… might need help."

Blizzardstar gave a curt nod, "Bouncetail and Ravenheart- you're healthy enough now- and Feathersky, find Stormdance and chase the follower out of our territory, give it some marks to remember us by, but be careful. It could be one of Rezkin's spies."

Ravenheart gave a quick nod, picking up Streamkit by the scruff and burying her back into the kit den, placing her in the gentle care of Snowpaw. As he headed in the direction of Feathersky and Bouncetail he couldn't help but to glance back at the pillar.

Akain's eyes glowed in the confines of the medicine cat den, the hunger for battle bright in them. Ravenheart gave a small shiver, turning from Rezkin's son's gaze and hurrying after Bouncetail and Feathersky.

"I'll go this way with Bouncetail," Feathersky stated, in her mouth tucked a few leaves of marigold and clean, white cobweb swathed her back.

"I'll head toward the pond," Ravenheart grunted, his pelt prickling, "Let me know if you find anything."

"We will," Bouncetail promised before heading off after Feathersky, his claws unsheathed.

Ravenheart found himself surprisingly cool in the situation, his ears perked delicately forward, each paw gliding over the frosty ground. He sniffed the air, trying to pick up Stormdance's soft scent.

A faint hiss ahead of him made Ravenheart increase his speed. He was near the pond and reminded himself to be careful- the pond was bound to be at least slightly frozen. He stumbled on the soft, grassy clearing to the side of the pond, his eyes immediately finding her gray pelt. He breathed out a sigh of relief, Stormdance was well and whole, her pelt unmarked.

Ravenheart was only a few tail-lengths away from her, yet she had yet to notice him. Instead her eyes were focused on a certain point on the other side of the frozen pond. Ravenheart followed her gaze, his eyes finding the shape of a large gray tom- reminding him very faintly of Akain in stature. His pelt was marked with an uncountable number of scars, his fur ragged.

Rezkin.

Ravenheart moved forward to alert Stormdance of his presence, but halted as she spoke.

"You killed them," her voice was filled with a strange clear sharpness, like ice, "You killed my parents. I'm going to flay you. I'm going to dump your rotting carcass in this pond for the fish to eat."

Rezkin coolly ignored her words, licking one gray paw, "Then come and get me."

His voice held none of her coldness, and her temper ignited. In a single bound she began to cross the iced-over pond.

"Wait! It's early newleaf. The ice, the ice won't," he never finished his sentence as the world dropped out from under his mate's paws, "Storm!"

"Storm!" the words sounded all jumbled, blurred in her ears. The cold water had shocked all head immediately out of her body, numbing her limbs.

Ravenheart?

"Storm!"

As she breathed in to reply she felt the water rushing into her lungs and as she choked clarity finally came to her brain. Stormdance reached up, swimming towards the surface. In the frozen water she could see everything clearly. She prepared herself as she reached towards the surface, expecting her outstretched paws to break through. To her cold disappointment her paw thudded against ice, sending chilling despair sinking through her pelt.

"Storm?"

Her lungs began to burn, craving oxygen, and for a moment she felt along the bottom of the ice, praying to either find the spot she had fallen into or a weak spot. Black spots began to fill her vision and finally her instinct kicked in and made her take a breath of frigid water. Her paws lost feeling, slowly her joints froze up, and darkness filled her vision. Her chest felt as if it would burst as she slowly gave up and let herself sink down… down… down.

She numbly remembered her body hitting the bottom of the pond.

Ravenheart… Streamkit… I'm so sorry.

"Stormdance? Storm! Storm?" Ravenheart ran back-and-forth along the side of the pond, his eyes wide in horror as he slowly snaked closer to the edge of the pond. The ice cracked underneath one of his paws and he leapt backwards, his flanks hitting the broad shoulders of another cat. Bouncetail and Feathersky had entered the clearing.

"Ravenheart? What's wr- ohh," Bouncetail breathed out slightly.

The white tom slid past the dark-pelted warrior to the edge of the pond, testing the ice with his own two paws and found it too weak to support him. Slowly he began to break the ice into a cat-sized hole.

"W-what are you doing?" Ravenheart's voice shook.

"We need to retrieve the body," Bouncetail said steadily, his face masking emotion, "Feathersky? If you don't mind can you fetch us a thin vine?"

The tabby medicine cat headed off into the deeper forest after exchanging a nod and few words with the younger warrior.

"She-she's not d-dead," a spark of anger had made its way into Ravenheart's eyes.

Bounceleap did not reply, instead only offering his higher shoulder for the older warrior to lean against. He refused, glaring at the icy waters instead.

Feathersky returned several minutes later.

"Who's going in?" she asked, dropping the long vine.

"I will," Ravenheart grunted softly, offering a paw for the vine to be tied around.

Feathersky made quick work of tying the knot, fastening the other end around her own paw.

"Ok. As soon as you get her or run out of breath follow the vine back to the surface. We'll make sure the hole doesn't ice over again."

Ravenheart made his way down to the bank, dipping his paws in the dark waters. Shivering, he refused to take his paws away, instead continuing in even though his instincts screamed at him to stop. He closed his eyes as his head went under; reopening them once he was completely submerged. In the cold water he could see more than usual and slowly made his way across the pond floor, swimming with powerful strokes. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a mound of gray fur, splayed out across the muddy pond floor, fur waving in the current. His lungs began to burn as he made his way towards her.

Ravenheart looked up towards the surface, his eyes landing on a hole in the ice almost directly on top of where she laid.

In five strokes he broke the surface, taking a few deep breaths of air before plunging back down. Ravenheart carefully grabbed her by the scruff, not wasting and time following the vine back. He reached the shore, falling into a shivering heap. Stormdance's ice cold body was unwrapped from his, the vine sliced off his paw.

"Let's get back to camp," Feathersky grunted, motioning for Bouncetail to help her carry Stormdance's body.

Ravenheart slowly go to his numb paws, eyes fixed on his mate's tail, dragging across the frosty ground.

He felt as if he should feel a deep, overwhelming sense of loss. Yet all he felt was his cold, tired legs as he struggled to put one paw in front of the other. Somewhere along the way another patrol stumbled upon them, and, with hushed whispers, joined the small patrol. Feathersky dropped back, her burden relieved, and pressed her thick winter pelt against his. They entered the camp silently, filing in like a funeral procession.

"Come on. We need to get you dried off and warm before the temperature plunged for the night," The medicine cat motioned for him to lie down on a flat stone on the foot of the pillar.

"Akain!"

The gray tabby's head emerged out of the medicine cat den.

"Could you get me some poppy, thyme, catnip, marigold, and cobwebs?" Feathersky asked before turning back to her patient, her pink tongue hurriedly licking his fur backwards in long, rough strokes.

"Here you go, Feathersky," the large, scarred tom looked quite out of place, holding the leaf wrap gently in his jaws.

"Thank you, Akain."

The tom faltered for a second, "Do you need me here right now? Nimble went hunting just a while ago and I was planning on finding her."

For a moment Feathersky was quiet, finishing up the last few strokes on Ravenheart's back, "Sure. Just no running on that paw."

"Of course."

Feathersky moved away from her job drying out Ravenheart's fur and over to the herbs Akain had brought, carefully sorting them into two piles. She nudged the poppy, catnip, and thyme infront of Ravenheart's nose.

"Eat up," she ordered, returning to her job on Ravenheart's fur.

The black-furred tom obeyed, repressing a shiver. He hadn't a clue whether it was from grief, cold, or the sour taste of the thyme.

"Let me just bandage up your paw- you must've scraped it on the bottom of the pond- and then you can go," the medicine cat said, chewing up the marigold and spreading it on the back of his paw, wrapping it in cobweb, "Try not to walk on it."

"Thank you," his voice was hoarse as he replied.

"Mommy?" a small voice came from behind him and suddenly his world was turned upside down.

It took all the remaining strength Ravenheart had to twist around, gently pick Streamkit up by the scruff, and slowly limp over to Stormdance's cold body. The crowd of mourning cats around him slowly parted, letting both Ravenheart and his kit see the body. Her fur had been licked clean and dry, the small of death coated over with some of Featherksy's herbs. A pang of loneliness shot across Ravenheart's chest, causing him to flinch. Streamkit let out a small squeak at the sudden movement, wiggling out of her father's loose jaws.

Stormdance's once bright blue eyes were glazed over, still wide open: the one last thing remaining in the preparation of the body.

He strode forward before he could quite realize what he was doing, gently stopping at her side. Streamkit pressed herself against him, he could feel her quiet sobs. With one raven black paw he reached forward, sliding her eyelids closed over her blue orbs. Now she truly looked like all she was doing was sleeping, her gray fur darkening as the sun slid behind one of the distant mountains. He laid his tail across her body, his first tear slowly sliding off his cheek, followed by a stream of others.

"Goodbye, Storm."


Again! Thanks for sticking around! Hope you enjoyed!

Q: Where you startled when I killed off Stormdance? Heehee... my evil master plan is beginning!

-Willow