Hey guys! So luckily I didn't have much homework this weekend so I was able to bring this lovely chapter to you!=) However I'm going to Disney next weekend with my family so I wouldn't expect an update then=/
Bramblewhisker88- Yeah I think the battles are going to be really fun to write now;) As for the council they normally call them for like one specific issue, but thanks for letting me know what you thought=) You don't get to see the reaction yet, that will probably be in the next chapter because this one goes to a different issue. Hope you enjoy this!
Jayleaf1- Thanks I think it's different you know? And I'm not posting the book because I want to get it published as an actual book. Yeah I'm thinking I should have skipped the journey since we saw that when they were coming but ah well. Gotta love those marathons, they have one like every month=) Yeah it's only going to get harder for Bramble on that front=/ This is kinda weird, I was listening to the Goblet of Fire soundtrack when I wrote this…XD hope you enjoy!
Spottedstar2013- Don't worry about it! We all have tech issues… trust me, I have more than most;) I'm glad you loved the chapter=) Yeah erm I was going for British but Canadian works too;) It's just a thing my Harry-Potter-obsessed friends and I do. Glad you love the story, and I hope you like this chapter!
Okay so fair warning, this gets a bit intense. We find out a question that's been asked, so I hope you didn't forget about it…. Check chapter 23 in Fading Shadows if you have forgotten.
Chapter Thirteen
Somewhere in the Dark Forest
The cream cat paces the shadows, her tail flicking back and forth, and her eyes cutting through the darkness. She is so ready for this: her plan, her perfect plan, almost in place. Just a little longer… all she needs is one word to spring into action.
She freezes suddenly, sensing another presence and turns to where ice blue eyes stare at her from out of the gloom.
"I thought Tigerstar was directing this." She mews at once, her voice a bite of impatience.
"Change of plans." The dark tabby growls as he strides out of the shadows toward her, "Father had other places to be, so I volunteered to ensure that you wouldn't screw this up.
Lillywinter laughs, and it's cold, spine tingling, filled with anger. "Screw up? I never screw up which is more than I can say for you Hawkfrost!" she spits at him, showing her teeth.
Fury flashes through his eyes, but Hawkfrost doesn't rise to the bait. "Just get on with your little game. I don't know what you expect to come from it. We don't work with kittypets Lillywinter."
"Your father didn't mind." Lillywinter replies, her voice as cold as ice, "He thought the plan was genius. But you don't know the whole plan do you? Get a front row seat and watch brilliance unfold."
"You have an unfortunately high opinion of yourself." Hawkfrost drawls, and Lillywinter bristles, her legs tensing almost imperceptibly.
For a moment she goes rigid, allowing anger to wave over her before she moves forward, batting her eyes softly, "It doesn't have to be this way…" she mews softly, but Hawkfrost just scoffs.
"You're not catching me in your little web. I'm no fool."
"You're not?" And Lillywinter sounds almost amused now, "And who was it you brought to this place? All the traitors."
An angry snarl bubbles in Hawkfrost's throat as he growls, "Get out!" Lillywinter complies at once, disappearing as his paw flies out, landing in clear air. He curses angrily and turns around, stomping to a pool where he watches Lillywinter race deep into ShadowClan territory.
*Tigerheart*
"Okay go down a little lower, that's good right there. Can you feel the power building in your legs? Jump up, when I say, and kick out hard okay? Go!"
I sit watching Emeraldpaw, and nod encouragingly when she lands. I move on to the next apprentice as their mentors rest behind me, watching the apprentices with haughty looks trying to discern whose will be the best in the little impromptu assessment.
We're right outside camp and I've gathered all of the apprentices I could find to help with their training. Darkpaw and his sidekick Bonepaw are missing as usual, but I couldn't find Frostpaw either and that made me nervous.
Ebonypaw is up now, but she seems off today, clumsy like she normally isn't.
"Ebonypaw what's wrong?" I ask soothingly.
"Frostpaw." She replies tersely and a shiver goes through the other apprentices. "I haven't seen him all day." She continues, dark eyes frightened.
"I… I saw him this morning…" Sootpaw, a gray tom whispers softly.
"Well what was he doing?" Emeraldpaw demands, striding toward him.
"Going out into the forest… with Darkpaw."
A paralyzing fear settles on my spine as a hundred awful scenarios rush through my brain. The apprentices look horrified, Emeraldpaw staggers, and Ebonypaw looks as though she's been slapped.
Quickly I turn, moving as though in a dream, "You all can head back to camp now if you like." I call to the mentors, interrupting their half-fake half-serious argument about who is the best apprentice. They haven't seemed to notice anything, so they look rather surprised at the offer.
"You sure Tigerheart?" Oakfur asks, "We don't mind hanging around."
"Nah I think I can handle this lot. You all promise to be good?" I ask, turning back to the apprentices. They've caught on so they all nod and a few manage to joke.
The mentors shrug and clear out in twos and threes. I continue on the training until they're all gone and turn sharply to Sootpaw, "Did they say where they were going?"
"No." Sootpaw whispers, "They weren't talking at all. It was just the two of them so I thought maybe they were going out hunt, like they'd made up or something? Frostpaw was going willingly… and… well he didn't look afraid."
A few apprentices frown at this as they mulled over the possible meaning. "You don't think –"
"Of course not!" Emeraldpaw snarls at once, cutting the poor girl off viciously, "Frostpaw wouldn't do that!"
"Guys calm down." I mew, "We don't know what happened, so we can't go making assumptions. What we should do is look for him. You can split up in groups like you're hunting and fan out over the territory to find them."
"What will you do?" Ebonypaw whispers.
"I'll check out the twoleg nest." I reply. A glimmer of shock goes through the paws, but soon they nod. I split them up into groups quickly and we're about to set out when a pungent smelt rolls through the forest.
I stiffen at once and everyone pauses, tasting the air with wide eyes. There's no mistake.
"Back to camp now!" I hiss, shunting a few of them in the correct direction. They scatter at once and I disappear into the underbrush my eyes peeled, shock still waving through me.
Within moments I'm rewarded with a horrible sight. The two kittypets waltz into the area, tails held high, following Lillywinter and trailed by two twolegs. The twolegs seems to be annoyed, they keep turning around and when they do a kittypet rushes over and nips at their heels. I watch Lillywinter urging them on.
"We're close now," she hisses.
They're leading them to camp!
I wriggle backward out of the brush and run around, practically falling into camp. As soon as I right myself I draw in a lungful of air and yowl:
"RUN NOW! EVERYONE OUT! TWOLEGS ARE COMING!"
Chaos breaks out. I see my mother, unnerved but yelling at everyone, urging them on. A queen has her kits by the scruff, following her mate. Paws races forward, urging our two elders on.
"Go, go!" I hiss as warriors race past.
"Where? Where?" the panicked question reverberates and I make a split second decision
"ThunderClan. Midnightstar will help."
The message is relayed and cats disappear. I race to the medicine den to see Dawnpelt arguing with Littlecloud.
"We need to leave NOW! Leave the herbs, Littlecloud come on!"
"I'm not –"
"Littlecloud NOW!" I snarl startling him as well as myself. He picks up an herb package and we go to leave but…. Too late. The two legs stand in the middle of our camp, pointing at a few stragglers. Mother stands at the edge looking at us fearfully. The kittypets stand tall, smug looks on their faces. Lillywinter looks right at me, greens eyes sparkling.
"The back way." I hiss. "Now." We whip around and manage to wriggle out of the den and then the hollow, rushing through the pines, and meeting up with Mother on the opposite side. Her face sags with relief as she sees us and we set off, running after the rest of our Clan.
As we go a see a flash of orange out of the corner of my eye, but I have to keep running.
*Frostpaw*
"What are you doing?" I snarl as Darkpaw slams me to the ground. Somewhere behind me I hear Bonepaw laughing. I could kill him.
"Making sure you don't ruin the plan brother dearest." Darkpaw hisses into my ear, his claws biting into me. I try not to cry out.
"What plan?" I growl as I fight, twisting my shoulders and managing to make Darkpaw stumble. Before I can get up a heavy blow lands on my head and I see black for a moment. When my vision returns, Bonepaw is over me too, both of them holding me down.
"Oh this is real fair." I snarl angrily.
"Life isn't fair. It's time you learned that." Darkpaw flicks his claws out and slashes at my face, causing me to scream. I curse him angrily, tears coming to my eyes.
"I'm your brother!" I spit.
"And my curse." Darkpaw replies, his face emotionless.
"What –" I don't even finish when Bonepaw strikes me again, and I see stars.
"That's enough boys." A horribly dangerous voice sounds. "How can we expect him to join us if this is how you treat him?"
They back off of me and I scramble up to see a massive tabby tom with long fur. "Brokenstar." Darkpaw mews softly, bowing his head and looking almost reverent.
"I thought we would be meeting Lillywinter." Bonepaw mews, after bowing his head as well.
"This is her mission, she has to do her own follow-up." Brokenstar replies before turning to me. "I've heard much about you."
"I can't say the same." I mew my voice full of contempt.
He laughs at me and mews, "Well how about it? Join us, or suffer even more pain."
I look at him, full of anger and fire; I can see Emeraldpaw in my mind. I might as well die trying to destroy them.
"Why in the name of StarClan would I want to join you?" I ask sneeringly.
"Because if you don't we'll kill you!" Darkpaw snarls, but Brokenstar stops him with a flick of his tail.
I don't want to die.
My own words echo in my head, but right now I can feel no fear. I feel rebellious, angry, strong. I won't join them. I won't.
"Don't be a fool Frostpaw." Brokenstar whispers softly, as though he knows what I am thinking, "Better to join us and live than die begging for mercy."
"I'll never join you!" I snarl, full of rage.
"Let me kill him." Darkpaw hisses and I feel a stab of pain worse than anything else.
"No." Brokenstar replies calmly.
"He has defied us! Disrespected our great order!" Darkpaw howls.
"Indeed." Brokenstar agrees, "He will stay here, the twolegs will find him, and he will die. He has spirit. I value sprit… just not on the other side."
He lunges at me, striking me with a huge paw and I fall hitting the ground hard, hearing pawsteps fade away. When I drag myself up I see twolegs through the trees, so panicking, I turn and run away from them, my head aching and my cuts stinging. I realize what they've done as I run, exposed us to the twolegs, put all of us in danger. Anger courses through me and I snarl, "FOXHEART!" into the forest.
I change course and see four shapes in the distance. I taste the air and smell Tawnystar, Tigerheart, Dawnpelt, and Littlecloud. Still running on adrenaline I follow them, looking morosely at the trees that had been my home.
Can we ever return now?
So what did you think? Were you expecting that? I've had to keep it a secret forever and I'm so happy it's out now! I can't wait to see your reactions…. Hoping this chapter was good too, I wasn't really sure how to present it.
Let me know what you think!
-" I've been thinking about something Dumbledore said to me."
"What's that?"
"That even though we've got a fight ahead of us, we've got one thing that Voldemort doesn't have."
"Yeah?"
"Something worth fighting for." ~Harry, Hermione, and Ron harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (movie)
I think that kind of goes with the theme… Well review please! Also I need plot ideas!=)
~Midnight