Maze of Darkness: Hear Me Now

Chapter 10: Sun

"Moonflight?" The cat named Set paces around me. His dirty, russet tail twitches under my nose. I do not flinch under his amber gaze as I pierces through me. He must not know how scared I really am. If I look too weak, he will see right through me into that little, helpless apprentice I know I am.

"Yes," I say, looking forward. My eyes hold one point, focusing straight ahead to avoid wandering.

"You don't sound familiar. The name is so mature for a little she-cat like you." His voice is smooth, liquid like flowing water, both deadly and pure.

I turn away, his tail brushing against my cheek. My fur bristles up. "Get away! Unless you can help me, go. I don't have time to play around."

"Feisty, are you?" he asks, the rhetorical question burning in my mind. "Say, can you tell me something? Where are we from, you and I? There is the barrier, I just can't remember the details."

I stand back. Why is he so familiar? The fur, though matted, looks like the stripes of the tigers of old. Those eyes, they drag me in, reminding me of something I knew, or someone. "Tigerpaw?" The word silences the steady hum of the air. Set settles down, paws curling under his body. He shuffles awkwardly for am moment before looking into my eyes. In there is a sense of wanting, of begging me. This must not be the Tigerpaw I knew, who is now caged within.

"So that is what I was called," he says, licking a paw and dragging it painfully slow over his ear. "Such a simple name, promoting a monster. I assure you I am not a monster."

I gulp, pulling myself back a little. He can't know, he can't figure out about me. How could he? My mother said as a kit that I would be down here for another reason, even something I cannot control. I feel the fur on my face grow warm. He can probably see my guilt. Set is quicker than me, stronger, and most likely ready to take me down.

Then I notice something, the leg he has been hiding. Before he was moving so smoothly I would have never known. But now I see it. Gray-white bone pulls open between threads of skin that are barely held together. The foot hangs limp, as if it could rip off at any moment. "What is that?" I ask, looking at his leg and flicking towards it with my tail. "What happened?"

Set growls under his breath, but after a moment, raises his head to look a me. "Since I woke up here, it was like this. I know nothing of before the darkness. But this leg, this was because of the fall."

"The fall from the camp?" As soon as the question leaves my mouth I regret it. What kind of stupid question is that? Tigerpaw here most likely can't remember the camp, or cats in it for that matter. This is like Furzepaw all over again. I feel a lump grow in my throat, but try to swallow it back down. Furzepaw, oh how I wish he was here again.

Tigerpaw, or Set, whatever I can call him, sits up. "Just, stop asking questions. Tell me about the camp, wherever we came from, and why we are here. Knowledge is what I seek, and you are the only one I have seen here. This maze yields no answers to a deep mind."

Taking a deep breath, I try to explain the Clan to my former Clanmate. "See, we use to live up at the surface, with the sun on our pelts and the forest under our paws. But our Clan was odd. We once came from the great Clans, the ones of old. After living among others for so long, a leader of old moved the Clan into a hidden forest, sealed of from the outside world. No one can remember the names of those who came, and can barely recall why. Some say it was a thirst for ultimate knowledge, others argue that we are here so that the leader can get something from this new land.

"Now, this leader that brought us to where the Clan above us now stands had a special intent, and a new idea on how to train kits and apprentices into strong, intelligent warriors. That is when this maze was made. No one is quite sure how he did it, but apparently many cats even from the streets outside the Clan came to help. They were payed for their day's tunneling in prey, which was so rare in this season."

"But then, Hailstar, the leader that we left behind took over. The whole Clan just took in the new way of life. Before this maze was used to train, once a day the apprentice coming in to explore a little more and learn with his or her mentor. Kits grew stronger, Hailstar creating an army from the remains of a slipping Clan. Then he began to get hungrier for blood and battle. Apprentices had to complete a portion of the maze to become a warrior. The weak were killed off, the strong grew more powerful. Everything was going according to his will, as evil as it might be.

"Now we are stuck in the maze, searching from the end. I know other cats are here. Furzepaw," she paused to take a deep breath. "Furzepaw came with us, and every few moons, more cats are sent in. One has escaped the maze in my entire lifetime, but we can get out of here together."

"Together?" Set's voice softened. "Moonflight, I agree. We both are injured, but we stand a better chance together. I have seen what monsters lie here, and no longer can I go alone."

I nearly squeal with excitement, stopping myself to make me look mature. "Let's go then!" I stand, letting him struggle into his feet. A new energy enfolds us as we move forward, through the tunnels ahead of us. He moves just like me. Step, Hop. Step, hop. Maybe it is good that I moved on from Furzepaw.

I flop against the cold ground, letting it calm my heart that seems to fly from my chest. Quickly I whip my head around to check behind me, but I can't seem any remains of the cats that nearly caged me in that darkness forever. Those 'Cats of the Maze' or whatever looked like a Clan or sorts, but odd. What were they doing with me there? It looked like some kind of meeting, unlike any one I have seen.

The cats there must have some other system. No one seemed to be leader,but they answered each other and one heart and mind. And those cats that were traveling with me, Opis and all of them, must have gone back to whatever they were suppose to do, as hunters. At least, I believe that they were a hunting party after all that the guards and other cats said. And where is Caleo? He helped me, yes, but who's side is he on? The healer, if he ran away, can't have gone far without a leg.

Another moan escapes my mouth, my legs pulling me forward just a little. That light, the faintest crack of it, drags me onward. It isn't the faint blue tinged glow of the mosses that I have grown used to. No, this is pure sunlight, bright in its yellow-white, joyous way. I have to squint to take it in. As beautiful as it is, it is too much after being down here such a long time. One paw at a time I pull forward, closer to it.

The small break of level ground begins to slope upward again, this time not so steep. My soft paws throb with pain, my clouded head surprisingly empty of pain. Light swells and grows before me, clear and bright, taking over my vision completely for a moment. Then it clears, leaving me with a perfect blue sky outlined by rich brown roots that curl up, forming a den all around me. Twitching my head around, I try to take it in. This is a den that can see the sun, but is made so that I cannot escape. A perfect dome curves above me, several thick notes of birdsong rolling from it.

Turning around, I note several scratches in the walls, some deep enough to reach solid stone, one thick line running over a thin one. Others are light a feathery, adoring the walls with designs of all sorts. But the light, it is so beautiful, the perfect mix of creamy white with a tinge of gold. At that though, an image flashes though my head. Valos, what happened to her? Is this her den?

"Hello," a voice, belonging to a tom, meows. I whip around, a bit afraid. How was I stupid enough not to notice that someone was here? The tom is light gold, fur tinged a warm creamy white like the sun. Quick eyes, the color of the fresh pine forest, dart, scanning over me. I scramble back a little. "Who are you, quiet one?" he asks. "Can't even say hello?"

"Um, hi," I mew, taken aback.

"Don't worry, young one," his voice reassures me. "You haven't been her long. Furze, welcome to the light."