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The nobles shivered the moment they put a paw into the valley. Even behind the shield of debris they appeared terrified of what lay beyond. What was it about the valley that had every cat running scared? Willowclaw found it almost laughable. Why would anyone be afraid of their home? He certainly wasn't, regardless of how off-putting his Clan's behaviour was. The look Singe had given him when he'd been escorted from the basin had been one of utter sadness and pain. He must think I won't come back. Clearly he's forgotten how stubborn I am.
"Go on," Calder nodded towards the hole, shifting backwards with the other Nobles. "Go serve your sentence."
"And if we decide to return early?" Eaglestrike asked.
Sarff curled her lip. "We'll throw you back out into the valley, or kill you. Depends on the mood we're in. Now's your chance to find out what happened to your homes. Don't waste it; Amory won't give you another chance like this."
"Should've killed you all when you first showed up," Braoin spat.
Icepetal flashed a bright smile. "Oh you never know when you might need us. Turns out we're rather handy when it comes to saving the world and things like that."
"No one believes that you killed Crimson. She's still alive," Calder laughed. "You're all delusional."
"I'm sure Rainpatch and Littleflame are both thinking the same as you, from their graves of course," Willowclaw replied bitterly.
Another Noble, Aricia, hissed loudly, "Just get out of here. We weren't set down here to argue with you over stupid things. Have a nice time trying to survive for the next night and day. You certainly won't be missed."
The Chosen didn't need to be told twice. Finally, after days of looking down at the valley from the basin, they would be able to place their paws back onto the ground of their territories and wander the lands they'd grown up in. But they had forgotten amidst the struggle of rejoining their Clans just how much chaos had occurred in the valley. RisingClan's barren landscape was not a pleasant view, with its skeleton trees and rising pillars of pointed ice. The silence was an unwelcome companion.
Nothing moved save for a breath of wind. Willowclaw scented the air and found not even a faint trace of prey. That he could understand. RisingClan's territory was unfit for anything to live. No water. No cover. Just death and despair. He swallowed uncomfortably, mind drifting to the hole in his camp and to the corpses that called it home. I wonder if I'll have enough time to bury them all properly. No, the others haven't had the chance to see their home yet. Not that he expected Eaglestrike to go anywhere near PhoenixClan's old home.
Stepping quietly through the abandoned territory, the sounds of their footsteps crunching snow echoing loudly, the Chosen had never felt more vulnerable. They had no idea who might be watching them, or who might jump out from the shadows at any moment. It was fair to be scared, right? Whoever it was that now owned the valley had managed to nearly wipe out two Clans and drive six high up into the mountains. That meant they had to be powerful, or had an army rivalling Crimson's in size.
Three against an entire army, Willowclaw snorted, seems entirely fair.
They wandered with absolutely no goal in mind, absently staring at the devastation around them. The skeletal trees were beginning to thin out, as were the towers of ice, but they still appeared. Shadows flickered within the ice and made them jump but every time it was just their own. Nothing else living walked with them. They were alone, completely, and it was entirely unsettling. Clan cats weren't built to live alone. They relied too much on the thick veins of loyalty that ran through each Clan.
Willowclaw understood that now. His heart thudded along with the beat of his Clan's. If they were to die, so would he. They were more than just Clan-mates. They were a family, one that had been upended and ripped apart.
Yet his ties to the two other Chosen were stronger.
His ties to Icepetal were stronger.
He could most certainly understand why Crimson had been so adverse to love. It made one weak. But he found that he didn't care. He enjoyed this one weakness. It made him feel normal. Perhaps that same feeling was why Crimson had eventually let herself fall for someone.
"Let's go to the ocean," Icepetal broke the silence.
"Why the ocean?" Eaglestrike cocked his head, "none of us ever lived by the ocean."
She smiled sadly, "let's go see it for Rainpatch."
"He did always talk about how much he loved the ocean," Willowclaw returned her smile with a bright one of his own. "I'd like to see it."
"Maybe that's where he is now, maybe he returned to the ocean after he...after he died," Icepetal murmured.
"Alright then, let's go see Rainpatch one last time," Eaglestrike purred.
RisingClan's territory, Willowclaw decided, had to be the worst, the most damaged. If all the others looked like this then there really would be no returning to the valley. He hoped there was life in other territories. The silence, the stillness, it was beginning to get to him. How could an entire valley just lose all traces of life? It didn't seem right, didn't seem natural. Nothing about the state of their old homes was natural. A mass grave is never natural; Clans being forced to turn to a stranger for leadership isn't natural. Then again, he curled his lip, nothing about anything has been natural since we returned.
He made the sudden, stark realisation as they crossed over RisingClan's border into the beginnings of WaveClan's rolling hills that Amory's Nobles shared frightening similarities with Crimson's Elites. A group of cats devoted to the protection of one individual, an individual they would lay their life down for. What was it about Amory that made his Nobles so eager to protect him? Crimson had had the promise of a world at their paws. What had Amory promised his?
Eaglestrike flattening himself to the ground with a surprised mew broke Willowclaw from his musings. Out of instinct, and trust, he threw himself to the ground as well, half expecting some stranger to come barrelling through the heather at them. "I smell rabbit," Eaglestrike explained, grinning.
Breathing in a lungful of ocean-tasting air, Willowclaw was pleasantly surprised to find that slightest scent of rabbit hung on the breeze. He twitched his tail gleefully. "Do you know how to hunt rabbit?" he whispered.
"There's no need to worry about us asking you to catch it," Icepetal teased, "we already know all about your abysmal hunting skills."
"I never claimed to be able to hunt well," he huffed.
Eaglestrike laughed, "And we don't hold it against you. I can catch rabbits; we used to get them back in PhoenixClan as well.
"Go on then," Willowclaw rolled over and sprawled onto his back, "go catch us some prey. I've been starving ever since we left."
With an arched brow Eaglestrike rose into a crouch, weight spread out evenly onto all four paws. "When we get to the ocean, Icepetal, remind me to throw him in."
Willowclaw stuck his tongue out and watched the warrior creep away, ears swivelling and nose twitching, searching for the rabbit they could all scent. He patted the ground next to him with a paw, inviting Icepetal to sit with him. She did without a moment's hesitation. "Feels good to be back, doesn't it?" It was only a half lie. It did feel good to be back in the valley.
"Mm," Icepetal hummed her agreement. "It'll be better once everyone else is back down here too."
"Do you really think they'll leave the mountain? Leave Amory?"
"I want to believe that somewhere deep down in all of them is this need to come home. We weren't made to live in the mountains, Willowclaw. We weren't made to hunt mice amongst rocky crevices while keeping an eye on the sky for hawks that want to eat us. It's just not us, and I don't understand why everyone is so against returning. Do they really look up to Amory that much? Has he made them that subservient that they can't even think for themselves anymore?" she sighed and flopped her head back to rest on his stomach. "Maybe I just dislike Amory too much. Would I have left with him if I'd been here? Or would I have been like Singingriver and endangered myself by staying behind?"
Willowclaw shrugged. "Maybe you're over thinking it. What if there is something down here that drove everyone away?"
"If we don't find anything, if nothing tries to kill us or chase us away, I'm going to kill Amory and bring the Clans back," Icepetal vowed.
He didn't doubt her for a second. "What if the Clans don't want to come back?" he murmured, because it was unlikely the Clans would follow Icepetal anywhere. All they saw her as was a murdering rogue, Aspenthorn had seen to that. They would never see her like he saw her, or like Eaglestrike saw her.
"Then I'll live down here by myself and let them rot up in the mountains."
There was a brief pause before she spoke again.
"Would you live down here with me?"
It wasn't really the question she wanted to ask. No, the question Icepetal really wanted to ask was "would you leave behind your family to be with me?" Willowclaw knew that. He smiled softly and reached over to touch his nose to her cheek. "You are my family, Icepetal. I'd follow you anywhere."
"Okay are you two done being romantic?" Eaglestrike dropped the rabbit by their paws.
Willowclaw tried to stifle his howl of laughter, he really did. It looked like Eaglestrike had been dragged through a bush. His fur was a mess, tangled with twigs and grass and mud. There was a small cut on his muzzle, and he looked more than annoyed at Willowclaw's laughter.
"Am I allowed to ask what happened?" Icepetal managed past her quiet giggles.
"No," Eaglestrike spat. "All you need to know is that I caught it."
"I bet you weren't looking where you were going and fell into a ditch!" Willowclaw shouted.
Eaglestrike shoved a paw into Willowclaw's face. "Shut up!"
When they reached WaveClan's abandoned camp the sun was beginning to just near the horizon, golden rays turning pink and red. The only thing that gave away the flat cliff top as a camp was the one remaining den sitting lone and crumpled off to one side. If it weren't for that the Chosen would have walked right past it. The cliff jutted out over the ocean and the view from it was spectacular, an endless vision of darkening skies and even darker water. Far below them waves capped with white lolled against pale sand, and crashed into jagged rocks. No gulls soared on the wind or nested in the rocks.
Icepetal stepped up to the very edge, taking no notice of the plummeting drop, and closed her eyes. "Hello, Rainpatch."
He moved to tug her away from the edge, mind replaying the moment she'd been thrown from the very top of Crimson's mountain, but Eaglestrike stopped him with a paw and a meaningful look. "She never got the chance to really say goodbye to him," he breathed. "Now might be the only time she'll ever get to do it."
"She didn't say goodbye to his body?" Willowclaw furrowed his brow.
"We didn't have time to say goodbye. Crimson was fleeing, her soldiers were tearing the city apart, and Titan's mate was certain more would die."
He glanced back over at Icepetal, "didn't you bury him?"
"I did," Eaglestrike replied. "She refused to help. They were a lot closer than we thought, his death hit her hard."
"No. I did get to say goodbye to him." Icepetal turned her back on the dizzying drop, "when I fell off the mountain I didn't fall far, I ended up on a pathway with more bruises and scrapes than I could count. There was another cat already down there."
"Who was it?" Eaglestrike pressed.
Icepetal looked guilty. "When Aspenthorn says I killed Lightningfall he's not lying. I did kill him."
"No you didn't. We don't even know what happened to him, he probably got caught up with Crimson and died in the war," Willowclaw soothed.
"Don't interrupt me. I know exactly what happened to Lightningfall, and he certainly didn't die in the war. He was the cat I found down on that pathway. Who knows how long he'd been down there, long enough to go crazy and nearly starve to death. He tried to convince me that he'd come looking for me, that he loved me," Icepetal's face twisted, "and then when I refused him he tried to kill me. He might have actually killed me if Rainpatch hadn't shown up."
Eaglestrike gasped, "Rainpatch saved you?"
"He came all the way from StarClan to snap Lightningfall's neck and throw him off the pathway. So, I did get to say goodbye to Rainpatch. I didn't need to say goodbye to him again."
Willowclaw frowned. "How come you wanted us to come all the way out to the ocean?"
"I just wanted Rainpatch to know that we're still thinking of him and Littleflame, and that we miss them. It must be lonely up in StarClan while we're all still down here," Icepetal smiled sadly.
A lump had formed in Willowclaw's throat, and while he would have liked to have said that it was because he desperately missed Rainpatch and Littleflame, it was because there was one cat he hadn't had the chance to say goodbye to either. A friend he'd left behind to die with sickness bubbling in her lungs.
"T-This isn't RogueClan's territory or anything, and I doubt she'd be here, but there's someone I'd like to say goodbye to as well. I don't even know if she made it to StarClan or if she's even listening, I guess it's more of just a closure thing for me?" he said.
Icepetal brushed up against him, a purr rumbling in her throat. "Who is it?"
"Her name was Plummet and she was probably the nicest cat I ever met," Willowclaw admitted. "She doesn't really deserve to rot in that grave."
There was no way Icepetal or Eaglestrike had ever met Plummet, she'd hardly ever been well enough to travel to the borders, or attend gatherings. So why had they both stiffened the moment he'd said her name? Did they know something?
"Oh, ah, um, Willowclaw, Plummet isn't in that grave," Eaglestrike stammered, looking very uncomfortable and very unsure of himself.
"Huh? Of course she is, she was too sick to go anywhere else."
"No, no," Icepetal's warmth left his side. She looked almost in pain. "You're not going to find her in that grave, Willowclaw." Then she said something in a voice that was far too quiet for him to hear.
He tilted his head, "say that again, I didn't hear you."
"She's not in there," she swallowed, "because I killed her, outside the city."
Willowclaw nearly laughed. Plummet, near the city? That's nearly a three moon journey from the valley, there's no way she would have made it that far, or even have wanted to go that far. But then there was that small voice at the back of his mind that said why would they make up something like this? Why would they pretend to have killed Plummet? Why did the idea of Icepetal killing Plummet hurt so much more than knowing she was dead? He thought back to the days before they'd run into the Tribe, the late nights he'd sat up with Icepetal telling her all about Plummet and Singe and his Clan. Did she think about any of that before she'd killed Plummet?
She didn't kill Plummet! "Oh but she did."
"But there was no way she'd be anywhere near the city, she had whitecough," he fumbled for any excuse, any lie, any way to deny what was the truth.
"Whitecough is curable, Willowclaw," Eaglestrike responded hoarsely.
She did, she actually did. After all the times I told her how important Plummet was, she killed her, why did she kill her? Why was Plummet near the city? Was she looking for me? Am I the reason she's dead? No, Icepetal killed her, I didn't kill her. But she wouldn't have been there if I hadn't left.
"Why did you kill her? Why did you kill her?! You knew how important she was to me! Did she just happen to stumble upon you all accidentally? Is that all it takes for you to kill someone now, Icepetal!?" he roared, "you knew. I told you. Why?"
Eaglestrike flinched at the storm cloud that passed over Icepetal's face and took a deliberate step backwards. While he and Icepetal weren't as close as she and Willowclaw were, he knew just how fragile the topic of killing was with her. Of all the times for Willowclaw to bring it up it had to be now.
"Do you really think it's that easy for me to just kill someone?" Icepetal seethed, "all they have to do is walk in front of me? Is that really what you think of me? Am I just some murderer to you? I don't kill for no reason, and it hurts me that I have to spell that out for you. Plummet was a soldier, an Elite. She was on Crimson's side. Sorry your close friend was a traitor."
"Stop lying to me! Plummet would never join Crimson's side! She was a Clan cat through and through, she hated Crimson." His voice cracked, "stop lying to me."
"I know this is really hard and really sudden, Willowclaw, but you need to believe me when I say we aren't lying. We wouldn't lie about any of this," Eaglestrike tried desperately to calm the situation. He should have known that Icepetal had more to stay; her easily wounded pride would get the better of her one day.
"You'd think being part of your family you'd trust me a little more," she spat in his face and marched off in the direction of WaveClan's sprawling territory.
Eaglestrike groaned and called out, "wait, Icepetal, where are you going!?"
"You've all seen your homes, now I want to see mine. I don't care if you follow or not, I don't need you to protect me, I'll just murder anything that crosses my path," she shouted back over her shoulder.
The brief silence that followed was menacing, but it was broken by a loud bark of cackling laughter and Icepetal's cry of surprise. Above them the sky was suddenly flooded with clouds, almost like they'd appeared from thin air. The temperature dropped to icy levels, their breath billowing out before them in small clouds. Beneath Eaglestrike's paws the rock grew a layer of ice and he watched it spread over everything. He shivered.
Willowclaw was already on his paws, dashing towards Icepetal's cry. Eaglestrike couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Romance," he muttered under his breath as jogged after the tabby, "between those two was never going to be smooth."
He nearly ran straight into the back of Willowclaw the warrior had stopped that quick. Peering around him Eaglestrike spotted Icepetal standing in front of four cats he'd never laid eyes on before. She was hissing and spitting with the fury of a storm. They were merely looking at her with amusement, which probably wasn't helping Icepetal's already bad mood.
One of the four, a she-cat with a narrow face and the whitest pelt he'd ever seen, shifted her gaze from Icepetal to him and Willowclaw. He felt a cold shiver trail down his spine. Her eyes were surreal, a blue so icy it felt like they were freezing him solid. A lazy smile pulled its way across her muzzle. "We heard the sound of drama," she said by way of greeting, "and we just couldn't help but come running."
Are these the 'monsters' that drove the Clans from the valley? They don't look like much.
"I don't think we've met before," one of the others, wild fur coloured a fiery red, eyes reminiscent of flames, purred smoothly. "Yet you smell like Clan cats. Who are you?"
"We should be the one asking you that," Icepetal snarled.
The white she-cat laughed, and it was the cackle from before, "you're trespassing in our home and you expect us to divulge all sorts of information first? Someone wasn't taught manners as a kit."
"Ice," the fiery coloured tom whined, "I'm bored. Are you done? Can we kill them now?"
The other two – a thin, fragile she-cat with wiry brown fur and eyes with the sky trapped in them, and a dark tabby tom that rivalled Willowclaw in size – had yet to move or make a sound, they just watched with unnerving eyes that were far too calculating.
Ice grinned, and it was such a cruel smile that Eaglestrike could have sworn Crimson was standing before him in a completely different body. "Go ahead, Fire. We don't need any Clan warriors hanging around our home. All they do is pollute the air with their pretentiousness."
Around them the air crackled with energy. Fire threw his head back with a loud giggle, and when he looked back at them his eyes were flames. He flicked his gaze to Icepetal's left at a patch of heather and a blaze roared to life, eating away at the fragile undergrowth. Icepetal flinched in surprise, eyes darting back and forth between the rapidly crumbling bush and the extremely smug looking stranger.
"Surprise," he giggled and set fire to the ground by Icepetal's paws.
She yelped and jumped back, but there was a devious smile growing. "So you can do a little magic, good for you." Icepetal tilted her head back to meet Eaglestrike's confused stare, "who wants a little bit of a lightshow?" Blue smoke poured from her eyes and she vanished from sight. When she appeared next she was right in front on Fire. She moved so quick the tom could only squawk as his paws were whipped out from under him, his back connecting with the ground in a flurry of limbs.
Furious he turned his gaze onto Icepetal and for a brief moment Eaglestrike could just picture her bursting into flames. He was more than prepared to jump to her air, muscles in his legs bunched, mind ready for the fight waiting for him. Yet when he went to move he found his legs refused with a slight tug. Looking down he found them to be tangled up in brambles. More than confused he looked around for the clump of brambles he must have gotten tangled in only to find none at all. Willowclaw was struggling with the same problem, but he was more aggressive with his escape, tearing at the brambles with his teeth till his gums bled.
"Run, Icepetal!" Eaglestrike shouted, "Get out of there!"
She looked back at him with a pout, blue turning to green in a flash. "I can't do that right now, Eaglestrike. Tornheart's borrowing my body for a little bit." Beneath her paws Fire went rigid and yowled in pain, green sparking from where Icepetal's paws met his skin.
Willowclaw broke free from his binds just as Ice sent ice shards flashing towards Icepetal. They sliced into her skin, and Fire broke free from her grip. It seemed his furiousness fuelled the burning fires. They climbed higher, crawled further, crackled louder. Eaglestrike felt the fur on his side grow painfully hot. A gust of wind blew flames steadily closer to him.
"I don't care who you are!" Willowclaw slammed into Ice, sending them both crashing to the ground in a pile. "But this valley is not your home!"
His claws carved deep into her shoulder but she seemed unfazed. The skin on his neck grew painfully tight and cold, so cold it burned. He tried to shake Ice's paws off him, they were pressed firmly into his throat, spreading ice from them. It was beginning to seep beyond his neck, crawling up to his head and down to his shoulders. The burn in his lungs was different from the burn in his skin; this was a burn from a lack of air. He could hardly get any air down his throat. Looking down he met Ice's gaze and was utterly afraid of what he saw within them: enjoyment.
Beside him Icepetal, or Tornheart apparently, was locked in a vicious scuffle with Fire, green sparking into the air and fire blossoming on the ground. Further away Eaglestrike struggled to fend off the brambles slithering towards him like snakes. They latched onto him, sinking into his skin, wrapping themselves tight around him. Fire crawled frighteningly close to his thrashing form.
Ice spotted the fear that had appeared on his face and leaned up to whisper in his ear. "Welcome home."