Alright, last chapter was a bit boring, so hopefully this one is much better. This story will probably only have 20 chapters or so, so we're nearing the half way point. The last half of the story is much more exciting than the first half, because the first half is mostly him finding a place a to stay. Anyway, heres the next chapter!
It had been a few days since the battle training, and Duskflame was sinking into life in the Outcasts easily. It was almost like he should have been born here, instead of in DawnClan. He had fitted in there as an apprentice, but he had changed now, different from when Violetpaw was alive.
"Duskflame!" He turned around when he heard his name to see Wing, a tortoiseshell she-cat in which Duskflame had trained with for a while. She had easily been one of Duskflame's friends here. Her twin, Feather, was following close behind, her usual solemn expression on. Wing was the sweetheart of the Outcasts, while Feather thought she was too good for half the cats around here. They couldn't be more opposite if they tried.
"Want to go hunting?" Wing offered.
"I'm sorry, maybe another time. I'm worn." Duskflame meowed, flicking his tail. Wing nodded, and glanced around.
"Alright, I'll ask Flash. See ya later!" Wing meowed and bounded away toward the ginger tom. Stretching, Duskflame turned and trotted to the back of the cave and trotted into a smaller extension of the cave, a low ceiling, smaller cave, connected to the main cave by an arched entrance. Duskflame trotted to the edge of the cave, against the side wall, and lay in his nest, curling his tail around his nose and falling asleep quickly.
He awoke in a green-leaf forest, and he glanced around, confused. He had never been here before. He pricked his ears when he thought he heard pawsteps, and he dropped down into the ferns he lay in, knowing his black pelt wouldn't blend into the green fronds.
"No need to be afraid, dear Duskflame." Duskflame pricked his ears, eyes growing wide. He knew that voice.
He leaped from the fronds to see a silver she-cat with white flecks and light, kind green eyes.
"Fernbird!" He meowed, surprised to see his mother standing before him. She had died when Duskflame was a young apprentice. Now, she had stars sparkling in her light fur, paler than Duskflame had remembered it.
Fernbird leaned forward to touch his nose, eyes sparkling with love. "I've missed you." she meowed gently.
Duskflame purred, and for once in a long while he felt truly happy. He glanced around him, and all around he saw cats, hunting, sharing tongues, sleeping peacefully. It looked like eternal happiness in a green-leaf forest.
So this is StarClan.
He turned back to Fernbird, who was looking at him gravely. "Why did you let me get exiled?" Duskflame meowed quietly. "I didn't do anything."
"You were always destined to be exiled." Fernbird meowed, sitting down, wrapping her tail around her paws. "If you hadn't gotten exiled..." she cut off, eyes narrowing slightly in thought.
"What?" Duskflame pressed, pricking his ears. There was a reason he was here, and Fernbird could be about to tell him.
"Duskflame, StarClan have chosen you to unravel Violetpaw's murder." Fernbird meowed, looking down at her paws before back at Duskflame. Duskflame was shocked into silence. He had gotten exiled from DawnClan for killing her so he could find her killer?
"And you wouldn't have been able to get the motive you needed in DawnClan." Fernbird meowed, glancing as a massive dark tom with stars in his pelt padded over.
"Darkstar." Duskflame meowed, dipping his head to DawnClan's former leader.
"Duskflame." Darkstar meowed in return. "StarClan is grave you were exiled, but its time Violetpaw's killer gets its dose of justice." The large tom meowed, and both started to fade.
"No, wait! I have more questions!" Duskflame meowed, and woke up panting in his den.
"Are you done yowling?" A voice meowed, and Duskflame looked up to see Zap grunting. The light in the cave was dim, and most cats were sleeping in their nests. "You're going to tear apart you nest." Zap meowed sleepily, tucking his head to the side of his body and dozing off to sleep again.
Duskflame sighed and lay his head on his paws, but his mind was whirling too fast to go back to sleep. He arose quietly from his nest and crept from the smaller section and into the main cave, stalking out of the main cave and turning, leaping up onto the nearest rock, and leaping up from rock to rock, landing on the springy grass on top the mountain.
He trotted along the side of the mountain, and pricked his ears for any sound when he reached the field, and he leaned down to lap from the stream before turning and trotting to the edge of the flat top, sitting down and curling his tail around his paws.
Before him, forest stretched out for miles, and he could easily spot DawnClan territory, and the stream that cut DawnClan from SunClan. He sat for a long moment, eyes locked on the stream.
How was he supposed to find Violetpaw's killer?
"Doing some thinking?" Duskflame jumped and whirled around, letting out a sigh and forcing his fur flat when it was Niyol striding toward him, and Duskflame turned back and sat on the edge, looking at the forest, and Niyol sat beside him. "Out here in the middle of the night can be dangerous, you know?"
"Everywhere is dangerous." Duskflame murmured to the welcoming tom, not taking his eyes from the stream.
"Ah, true words spoken." Niyol meowed. "You know," Niyol looked at him. "Sometimes we have to accept the things that are thrown at us in life." Niyol meowed quietly, and Duskflame looked over quickly at him before sighing.
"It's easier said than done." Duskflame meowed gravely.
Somewhere nearby, a long, drawn out coyote howl sounded and echoed through the mountains, and Duskflame felt a chill go down his spine at the sound.
"Maybe we should get back inside." Niyol offered, getting to his paws and trotting toward the caves. Duskflame nodded and stood to follow him, looking down at the stream in the Clan territory before bounding after him.
Alrighty, not as exciting as I hoped, but you know. :) review!