Chapter 10:
It was the night before the battle, Stormlight was lying next to Ace, but she wasn't asleep. She was watching the entrance of the den carefully, her eyes focused on the wash of moonlight streaming in through the entrance, silhouetting two figures outside the den.
"Are you sure about this, Violetstar?" Came the voice of Scarletclaw, "we're fighting against all three clans here!"
"I know, Scarletclaw," the Pineclan leader sighed, "but we have Powered cats, that already gives us the advantage."
"But these are all three clans, lots of us will die."
Stormlight placed her head back down on her nest. The same had conversation had been recycled over and over by lots of different cats over the past few days, each worried about the oncoming battle. She had tried to avoid thinking about it, but it was almost impossible to avoid.
'I won't let anyone die,' she told herself, 'I can protect them.'
She glanced down at the sleeping Ace, his body pressed against her head. She lay her head on his flank, feeling herself drift away with the gentle rise and fall of his flank.
"Star cats?" A cat muttered, "what a load of shit."
Stormlight blinked, shaking her head, where was she? She wasn't in camp anymore, she was on a hill, overlooking the lake. Pineclan was directly across it, so she had to be near Heatherclan.
The sky looked like an even bright purple than usual, the moon glowing as bright as the sun.
"Mother? Are you up there with all those star cats?" the voice scoffed, "no, you're not because you were full of crap and lies."
The dialect was familiar, Stormlight realised, the strange words she used sounded a lot like the words Ace would use rather than 'mouse-brain' and 'fox-dung.' Maybe it was a city cat.
"If you were really watching me, then you'd do something about this! You'd fix this mess!"
Stormlight followed the source of the noise, it came from a cat on the slightly higher ground. She followed it, keeping her body low to the ground.
"It's not my fault," the voice said, "I was doing what was best, you know I was!"
Stormlight's first sight of the cat made her freeze, her pelt was messy and bruised, fur bristled as if waiting for something to attack. Her claws were unsheathed and her body positioned in a battle form, though, her head was reared up at the sky.
"So help me, star cats!" The she-cat spat, "help me find him!"
Stormlight blinked, noticing the she-cat wasn't black, but her pelt was so dark it might as well have been. Her amber eyes glowed like fire in the moonlight as she yelled at the stars.
"Are you okay?" Stormlight asked, carefully approaching the stranger.
She didn't react, almost as if she couldn't hear her.
"You always told me to do the best, not my best, the best, mother! And I did, I've always tried so hard! so. why are you letting them kill me?"
The stranger was doing Stormlight had once done often, especially after the loss of her kits. She was yelling at the stars, demanding an answer. It was an almost pitiful sight.
"What way do I go, how do I find him, mother?" The stranger asked the stars, "I need to warn him."
"Warn who of what?" Stormlight tried to attract the cat's attention again but failed.
'This must be a dream,' she realised, 'but this is weird, even for my dreams.'
Stormlight heard a rustle behind her, making her jump. It turned out that the stranger heard it too. She headed to the edge of the hill she was standing on and looked down. Stormlight copied.
She saw two figures, too far away to see in any real detail, but close enough to hear.
"Can you see the bitch?" One asked.
"Her scent trail goes up," the second one said, "she can't have got far."
The stranger reared back out of view from the two new cats and looked around. Her amber eyes seemed to land on the lake, but she glanced up at the sky one more time.
"Mother," she said, "if you're up there, please tell me I'm doing the right thing."
Nothing.
"Okay," the stranger sighed, "I'm about to bring a shit storm on these clans."
"What do you mean?" Stormlight attempted to talk to her again.
Still nothing.
The stranger sheathed her claws and pelted down the hill and out of sight.
"Stormlight!" A voice woke her up, "are you okay?"
"Huh, what?" She blinked, confused.
"You were muttering in your sleep," Ace said, "nightmare?"
"I don't remember," She lied, "probably."
He didn't look to be in the mood to push it, "Violetstar says to eat 'cause we're heading down to the border now."
"Already?" She glanced around.
The den was emptying out, most cats were in the clearing, sharing fresh-kill. The tension in the air felt like a lightning bolt, the anticipation and anxiety making her fur stand on end.
"Yeah, already," he said, "c'mon."
He beckoned her out of the den, she followed, her stomach grumbling. Ace had never been a morning cat. On the other hand, there was Brightfur.
"Hey!" The bouncy black and white she-cat greeted, "are you excited."
"I'm tired," grumbled Ace, tossing the two a mouse each.
Stormlight began to happily eat away as Brightfur continued to chat loudly beside her, not put off by the fact that no one was actually responding to her.
"I'm so relieved we're positioned by the lake," she sighed, "otherwise I'd be useless."
Stormlight hummed in an answer and Ace continued to glare at his mouse like it had killed his mother.
"It's kinda awkward we're fighting our clan, though," she continued, "I mean, what if I have to fight Brownfoot or something?"
Stormlight didn't even bother to say anything in response. They had killed her kits.
"You know, I had this dream where I was fighting," Brightfur rambled on, "it was kinda boring, I don't know why it was just dull. You'd think a dream about fighting would be more exciting but it wasn't. Oh, good morning, Starlingwing."
"Mornin'," she said dryly, "how we all doing?"
"Fine," said Stormlight.
"Great," said Brightfur.
Ace just continued to glare.
"Scarletclaw's calling us up in a few minutes, so hurry up," the black and ginger cat settled down on the other side of Brightfur, stretching and letting out a huge yawn.
Brightfur began to chat to her and Stormlight relaxed slightly, trying to get rid of the tense feeling in her shoulders.
Ace leant his head against her and she could feel him falling back asleep.
"Get up, lazy bones," she said nudging him.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered grumpily, lifting his head back up, "let's go."
"Y'know, Ace," said Brightfur, "a good stroll through the forest will wake you up."
"Whatever you say," the grey-black tom said.
"Lightningclan patrol, over here!" Called Scarletclaw.
The four of them exchanged glances and headed over to the red furred deputy who scanned all of them. "Good," she said, "you're all here. We're gonna head down to the border straight away, our spy told us that they were planning on entering by the lakeside, so we'll be heading down that way. But keep your eyes and ears out for everything just in case. Okay?"
Everyone nodded.
"Good, let's go."
Violetstar nodded goodbye to their patrol as she continued to prep her own. Stormlight gave one last look at the camp, contemplating it for a second, before trotting at a steady pace to keep up with the rest of the patrol.
Scarletclaw was in the lead, Starlingwing and Brightfur just a pawstep behind.
Stormlight kept close to Ace, her eyes scanning the undergrowth carefully.
"Will you stop that?" He asked.
She looked at him, "stop what?"
"You're making my fur stand on end," he gestured to his pelt which looked far more spiky than usual.
She laughed, "sorry."
She let the tenseness in her body loosen slightly and Ace's fur flattened.
"It's okay to be nervous, you know," he told her, "you are fighting your old clan."
"It's difficult to care about them anymore," she muttered.
Ace sighed, "I know what you mean."
'Of course, you do,' thought Stormlight, 'you were happy to burn them alive in the forest.'
She shook the idea from her head when she remembered her conversation with Shadowheart. Then again, she didn't want to think about that either.
"You okay?" Asked Ace.
"Fine," she said a bit too abruptly, "just, y'know, worried."
"Worried about what?"
"If someone's gonna die."
"No one's gonna die, I won't let them."
"What if you can't stop it?"
"I will," he said, "my mother used to always tell me to the best. Not my best, the best."
Stormlight narrowed her eyes, she had heard another cat say that not too long again. No, she didn't need to contemplate right now, she needed to prep herself.
"The best?" She questioned, "what did she mean?"
"To win," he said, "to do the best is to win."
Stormlight couldn't help but think it was a very narrow-minded way to think. But she didn't have time to think about it as they drew closer to the border. Her ears pricked up and her eyes were repeatedly scanning the undergrowth, each paw step careful and precise.
Scarletclaw's tail twitched slightly to the left. Instantly, the patrol moved towards the bushes to the left, hiding behind their thick leaves. Luckily, the wind was coming from the Lightningclan border, so they'd be the first to scent them rather than the other way around.
The newer, but distant, scent of oak and brambles came to her and she almost felt comforted by the familiar smell of her old home.
'No,' she reminded herself, 'remember what they did.'
Scarletclaw turned her head to two cats, Flamefern and Starlingwing, and, silently, ordered them to cross the gap between one clump of bushes and another.
They did as she said and Stormlight heard something.
She wished she could peer through the thick bush leaves to see what was going on. Due to the overwhelming stench, she could guess that the battle patrol was right on top of them right then.
"Did you see that, Greynose?" Asked a small voice.
"Quiet, Redpaw," ordered the Lightningclan cat.
"Don't Lightningclan know how to keep their apprentices silent?" Hissed and unfamiliar voice, from either Rainclan or Heatherclan.
"I can hear something," a voice that sounded a lot like Brackenstar said, "they're close.
"The clan will attack you with or without my permission," he checked the entrance and lowered his voice, "escape to Pineclan, that's the only thing I ask you to do."
Brackenstar had almost saved her and her kits from the injuries she had suffered, but his warning had come too late.
"There!" Another unfamiliar voice said, "behind the bushes."
The paw steps were getting louder now.
There was no point in hesitating.
"Pineclan, attack!"
A/N: Ugh! I'm back at school and very tired so sorry if this chapter is terrible. By the way, the mysterious grey cat we saw in Stormlight's dream won't turn up 'till the sequel, but I reckon most of you can guess who it is.