Now we're back on track! I've been housesitting this week and it's been super pleasant! They have three cats, one of which has five very small kittens and I'm in love :D I want to put them all in the story now, lol!
FreeEcho: Thank you so much! You're inflating my ego so much, haha! :) I agree, Duke is super hateable! I didn't like him very much in the manga so I couldn't resist using him!
DragonoftheStars1429: Thank you! I was worried that I might have been hitting too many plot points at once, but I'm glad it didn't seem too rushed!
SkiesOfAmethyst: Haha, I did the same thing! It's odd to read something Warriors-related where it's not taboo to be a medicine cat in a relationship XD But I followed your logic and was like wellllll… it's not like Leafpool can say anything, LOL!
Shadowwolf1997: That's not wrong at all! I'll admit that I toyed with the idea for a while. But just to manage expectations, I don't currently have any plans to include SkyClan in my story. :( Though if I end up making a sequel, it might just happen somehow, who knows?
Hollyshade: I'm glad you like Holly! (Though I suppose I should have guessed from your username, haha!) She was always one of my favorites, always such a complex character!
Pawdcoin: Hmm, you're definitely noticing a parallel! ;D We'll have to see if you're right!
SoniJay: Well, we did get a confirmation later in the series that Thistleclaw was in fact in the Dark Forest! So maybe ;D And absolutely! StormClan was built on the forbidden romance between a medicine cat and an enemy warrior, so they're not going to follow the warrior code as strictly as the lakeside Clans. Especially since over 90% of them are either not Clanborn or never lived in an "official" Clan. So our Jay/Rain ship is safe :)
BlueCat217: No worries at all! Better late than never :D Thank you so much for reading!
ALSO, I forgot to mention! Moon and Dark are NOT my original characters! They were OC's of a reader of mine from years ago, and I frankly don't remember her name or where I met her anymore T.T I just know she had Butterfly in her username. Wherever you are now, Butterfly, I hope you're doing well and that you're happy! And I hope I'm doing Moon and Dark some justice!
Chapter 20: Dark Side of the Moon
Moon's eyes had flickered shut, but they were wide open once again when she caught a trace of Leafpool's scent. Good, she's alive, Moon thought, actually feeling a flash of relief. She had done jobs like this before, but she didn't know how she would feel if some cat had died because of it. And she had already come to like Leafpool, even in the short amount of time they had been around each other.
Just as they had planned, Moon silently got to her feet and slid away from the group into the shadows, off to meet Duke.
She was too far away to hear Dark's yowl of anguish when he found out their brother was dead.
Moon felt as though something was wrong. Her fur kept prickling and she felt waves of anxiety washing over her and making her shiver.
"Nothing's wrong," she told herself firmly. "Everything went just fine."
"Well, that's good to hear!" a cheerful voice mewed.
She whirled around, fur on end.
A familiar golden tabby pelt glowed in the moonlight behind her. Lionblaze purred when he saw Moon's discomfort. "Relax. It's me."
"That's what I was worried about," mewed Moon, flattening her fur. She didn't sheathe her claws, however.
"What are you doing out here?" Lionblaze asked, stepping so close to her that his warm StormClan scent washed over her like a tidal wave. She shivered again, but from a different anxiety.
"I don't know. You tell me," she said, narrowing her eyes.
"I came out for a walk," mewed Lionblaze, his tone light and casual.
Moon stayed silent. He seemed harmless enough, but...
Lionblaze's eyes suddenly narrowed to amber slits. "I see," he said suddenly.
Moon's pelt chilled.
Lionblaze let out a purr. "You came to catch frogs, didn't you?"
Moon stared at him blankly. Is he trying to be funny?
"Well, frogs don't catch themselves, come on!" Lionblaze called over his shoulder, racing down the alleyway.
"Hey, wait!" Moon called, racing after him. He remained a few pawsteps ahead, until suddenly Moon bumped into him from behind. "Ow! What?" asked Moon, rubbing her nose with her paw.
"What is this?" Lionblaze asked, looking back at her with round, innocent amber eyes.
He looked so much like a kit for a moment that Moon couldn't help but purr. She looked up at the mystery object.
"Lionblaze, that's a dumpster," she told him.
"Oh, I knew that." Lionblaze prepared to leap atop the dark green surface when he froze, looking back at her again. "Er, what's a dumpster?"
Idiot. Moon rolled her eyes. "It's where Twolegs dump their trash."
"Trash?"
Was this cat mousebrained? "Like their old food and stuff."
"Crowfood?"
"Some of it is. But some of it is nice. Watch this." Moon reared up on her hind legs so that her front paws could touch the lid of the dumpster. She pushed up, expecting it to move.
The lid didn't budge.
That's strange. Moon tried again, but the lid remained stationary. "I can't move it. This one is heavy."
"Here, let me help." Lionblaze reared up on his own hind legs, and he stood a head taller than her. He pushed his paws against the lid, and when they both pushed together, the lid swung open and made a loud clack when it fell against the wall of the building.
Moon purred. "Yes!" she said, leaping atop the edge of the dumpster. At first, the smell of Twoleg trash made her curl her lip, but once she got used to it, she could see all the scraps of Twoleg food that had driven away her hunger on so many nights.
Lionblaze jumped on the edge with her, and he curled his lip to expose sharp teeth behind it. "What in StarClan's name is this?" he demanded.
"Food," Moon told him. She dragged out something long and breaded and light brown. "Look! Fish!" she said.
"Fish? Fish don't look like that."
"This is a fish that Twolegs caught. They catch it on fire, and then they eat it."
"Fire?" Lionblaze echoed, and Moon saw a flash of fear that she didn't understand in his eyes.
"Well, not really, but something like that. I think they call it cooking. They take cold food and put it in fire until it's warm. It's not warm now, but it should still be good. Try some," she offered, pushing the fish toward him with a paw.
Lionblaze gave it a suspicious sniff before taking a small bite. He made a face as he swallowed it. "I'd prefer a fresh mouse," he said, swiping in tongue over his muzzle.
"When you can't get a fresh mouse, this is what you eat," meowed Moon, snapping up the rest of the fish. "Provided that some cat hasn't already staked a claim," she added. "There are some big cats around here."
"Know any of them?" Lionblaze asked, leaping down from the dumpster.
"Duke," Moon answered without thinking.
"Duke?" demanded Lionblaze, the interest in his gaze sharpening.
"Er, big ginger tom," Moon lied.
"Oh," mewed Lionblaze, looking up at the stars.
Moon jumped down beside him.
A chilly wind blew down the alleyway, plastering their fur to their sides.
"Brr, it's cold!" Lionblaze pressed his pelt up against Moon's, and she tingled where his fur touched hers. Suddenly, he tensed beside her. "Look!" he whispered.
"What?" Moon strained her eyes in the darkness.
"A frog," he whispered. Lionblaze flattened himself to the ground.
Moon could see the frog now, hopping down the alley unbeknownst to the presence of the two cats.
Lionblaze crept forward with long, slow pawsteps, eyes fixated on his prey. He stopped about three fox-lengths away, wriggled his hindquarters, and gave an enormous bound.
Moon's mouth dropped open. What a leap! He cleared several tail-lengths with that jump, and he pinned the frog down to the ground before the poor thing even knew what had happened. Instead of killing it, however, Lionblaze just pinned it to the ground with one forepaw. "Do you like frog?" he asked. "I was never partial to it myself."
"Not really." Moon wrinkled her nose.
"In that case..." Lionblaze lifted his paws and released the frog, which, terrified, gave a huge leap directly into Moon's face.
Moon spat, shaking the thing off of her, and it hopped down the alley in a frenzy, and it would never come back to that alleyway for the rest of its days.
Lionblaze laughed. "Scared of frogs, are you?" he asked.
"You would spit too if it jumped into your face!" Moon hissed at him.
Lionblaze chuckled, but he said nothing more. He looked up at the sky, and Moon looked at him. He was only a little younger than her, and his fur was still framed by soft, kittenlike fur. As young as he looked, hard muscles bulged under his golden pelt, and his amber eyes looked as though they had seen things even Moon, with all her worldliness, hadn't.
"You know..." she started.
Lionblaze glanced at her.
"Nothing. I forgot what I was going to say." Moon flattened her ears. What was I about to say? That I like him?
Lionblaze was surprised for a moment, but then he gave her a knowing look that made her fur heat up. "I think I know what you were going to say."
Moon tried to look like she didn't care either way, when, in reality, she cared very much.
"... You were going to ask me how I can be the coolest cat you know, right?"
Genuinely not expecting such an answer, Moon gave him a dull look. "What?"
"Don't act so modest!" purred Lionblaze, who was not acting modest whatsoever. "I'll tell you a secret."
"I don't care," Moon deadpanned. Is he making fun of me?
"Okay, here it is: One time I saved a bird from a fox. And the bird was so grateful, it taught me how to sing."
Moon couldn't help it. She laughed as Lionblaze let out a terrible caterwaul that sounded like claws on a dumpster.
"Stop, please!" she wheezed, but she couldn't stop laughing.
"But I just got to the best part!" argued Lionblaze.
A yellow light came on high up on one of the buildings. A Twoleg voice yowled something, and then a hard object fell from the light and clipped Lionblaze's ear. "Ow!"
"Come on!" Moon yowled, and the two of them ran for it. They collapsed a few fox-lengths away, unable to breathe from laughing.
"Don't you... ever... sing again!" Moon wheezed.
"Why no-" Suddenly, Lionblaze froze. He quickly scrambled to his paws. "It's him!" he muttered hoarsely.
Moon got to her paws as well and scented the air.
No!
It was Duke.
No, he can't come yet! Lionblaze will know that I'm working with him! Somehow, that caused a twinge deep inside her.
The huge tomcat emerged from the shadows. Lionblaze stepped in front of Moon, his lip curled back in a menacing snarl. "Moon, get back to the others! Tell Crowfeather that Duke is here. Run!"
While Moon stood poleaxed by indecision, Duke let out a velvety purr. "Silly StormClan fool, why would Moon run? She's been working with me all along."
Lionblaze whipped his gaze to meet Moon's, and the depths of shocked betrayal in his eyes slashed her from throat to tail tip. "Is that true?" he asked raggedly.
Moon forced herself to ignore him. Life was tough, and only the strongest survived, she told herself. She stepped forward, evenly meeting Duke's gaze. "All right, Duke. Smoke's already taken Leafpool to see you. We did our job. Now where is our payment?"
"What did you do to Leafpool?" spat Lionblaze. Both cats ignored him.
"Leafpool failed to agree with what I demanded of her. So I shall have to take what I want by force." Duke turned his yellow gaze onto Lionblaze. "Good work, Moon. You've already done half the work."
"What do you mean?" Moon asked guardedly.
"Lionblaze is one of the cats I require," Duke said, unsheathing his claws. "Now I just need his brother."
"What in StarClan's name are you talking about?" Lionblaze snarled. Moon opened her mouth to say something, but Lionblaze spat at her furiously, and she recoiled as though he had taken a swipe at her.
Duke carried on as if Lionblaze hadn't spoken. "If you refuse to come with me, Lionblaze, every single StormClan cat will die. Even the kits. Even your little friend here." Duke shifted his gaze to Moon.
Moon narrowed her eyes. "What are you trying to pull, Duke? My brothers and I have done our job. Give us what we bargained for."
Duke began to laugh, and Moon froze from her ears to tail tip. "Stupid fool! You honestly thought that I would spend my valuable time looking for a dead cat?"
No...
"Your mother was killed by a fox ten moons ago. You and your brothers were there, weren't you?"
No…!
"I've known she was dead since the day she died. But fools are valuable to me. They'll do anything you want if it means they get to keep hoping and believing in impossible things." Duke's eyes were like stone, and Moon felt as though her world was caving in on her and burying her with stones just as cold and hard. "I can't say no to fools."
No!
"So I can't really give you what you asked for. I'm so sorry. However..." Duke paused, and his eyes glowed a wicked yellow. "I can tell you where you can find your brother's body."
What?
"He was doing such a good job too. He brought Leafpool to me just like he was supposed to. But then he got a conscience. He thought he could fight me off to protect her. But Smoke was never a good fighter, was he?"
Moon let out a bellow of rage and flew at Duke with claws outstretched. She ripped at his face, and he let out a high-pitched scream as his right eye was replaced with blood.
His next pawswipe was fueled by pain and rage, and when his claws connected with the side of her head, everything was washed away by a wave of flame.
Everything was in slow motion, so it was easy for Lionblaze to leap forward and fasten his teeth into Duke's throat. Somehow, the thought of Duke attacking Moon like that enraged him, even though she turned out to be a traitor.
Or maybe it was just because he hated Duke.
Duke socked Lionblaze in the head and made him loosen his jaws, and the rogue broke free, blood spilling from the gash in his throat. He barked, "Now!" which caused more scarlet to spurt from his wound.
Lionblaze looked up with alarmed eyes. Dark, hatred-filled orbs filled the darkness like a hundred fireflies. He watched as rogues sprung forward like shadows coming to life. Some charged for Lionblaze and their fallen leader, and others surged past them.
Are they going for the Clan?!
Lionblaze let out a ferocious roar. He rammed into a rogue that tried to veer past him, jerking the cat's tail so hard that it was nearly ripped off. He tossed that rogue into another one, sending them both careering into a dumpster.
Duke still lay on the ground, not yet dead. As did Moon.
Lionblaze slammed a burly tomcat into the fence, then gave him a nasty bite that sent him howling into darkness. "StormClaaaaaaaaaan!" he bellowed, hoping to awaken the Clan before the rogues could descend upon them.
Soon, only three rogues remained with Lionblaze. The rest had slipped his grasp. Lionblaze was about to start on them when a pair of bloodcurdling caterwauls filled the night with an eerie song.
Lionblaze's burning eyes flickered up to see two pelts flash in the moonlight. The scent of rogue clung to their pelts.
More enemies?
The biggest cat, a tortoiseshell she-cat, fell upon one of the rogues, while the smaller tabby-and-white she-cat pounced on another. Lionblaze stared dumbfounded at them until the older she-cat lifted her head, blood dripping from her jaws and a wild light in her ice-colored eyes. "You go get those others!" she spat. "Hawk and I can finish things up here!"
Lionblaze wasn't sure what made him trust the mysterious she-cat and her companion, who looked no larger than an apprentice, but still he nodded and dashed away, kicking up dust the color of blood.
"Should Gulo attack? Kill cats?"
"No," Tigerstar said firmly. "Duke shall handle things here. You will have your time yet."
"If cat fails, what Gulo do then? Gulo wants blood. You no give it, Gulo take it by force." The sinews beneath the beast's dark pelt rippled and flexed like the surfaced of the lake.
"Relax, my friend," Tigerstar purred. "Even if Duke should destroy StormClan, you should only have to wait a few moons longer to-"
Gulo let out a short, sharp bark. "NO! No wait! Gulo kill now!"
Tigerstar met Gulo's furious glare for a moment longer before continuing, "As I was saying, if Duke manages to dispose of StormClan, you have only a short wait before you can set upon the Clans at the lake."
The interest in Gulo's eyes sharpened. "Clans? One more than?"
The animal's dialect was very rough to understand even without the low, growling timbre of its speech. "Four of them. They're all bigger than StormClan too. You might need more of your kind to deal with them all, but that shouldn't be a problem."
"Promise of blood bring many my kind. Must find, then be easy to persuade join Gulo. How many need?"
"As many as you can find," Tigerstar said. "Four of those cats you shall have to kill more than once. But the blood will be worth it."
"What if Duke cat fails?" Gulo asked.
Tigerstar's eyes darkened. "Then StormClan will be yours to eat as well."
Lionblaze ran with paws as light and fast as the wind. He took down a few rogues at the back of the pack with relative ease, but his head soon clouded with exhaustion. Never before had he fought so many cats at once. Have to... keep... moving...
An intense pain in Lionblaze's back leg made him sink to his paws. His old injury from the thunderpath was flaring up? Why now?
The scent of the blood soaking his paws overwhelmed his senses as his head buzzed with stars.
No... can't... stop...
His vision went black and everything went numb.
The night air had been filled with yowls and bloodlust, but now everything was silent.
Leafpool stood from where she had been crouching over Mossflower's kits, her amber eyes huge as she took in everything before her.
Every cat, thank StarClan, in the clearing was alive, aside from the limp form of Smoke, which lay a few tail-lengths away from Leafpool. The rogues had attacked suddenly and without warning, but Dark had noticed them early enough to rouse the Clan and protect the kits.
Leafpool wasn't too sure about Dark yet; if Smoke had been working for Duke, then it was a safe guess that Moon and Dark were as well. But Duke had killed Smoke. So who was Dark more loyal to, his leader or his dead brother?
"Leafpool."
Crowfeather limped up to his mate's side, blood flowing from a ragged cut below his ear wrenching one blue eye shut. "Have you seen Lionblaze anywhere?" he asked.
Leafpool stiffened. "No, I haven't," she whispered. Upon looking over the Clan, she noticed that Moon was absent as well. "Was Moon in the fighting?"
Crowfeather spat out a mouthful of blood. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her either. Do you think they're together?"
"I doubt it," Leafpool mewed.
"I see you're awake."
Lionblaze cracked open one eye. The dark tortoiseshell she-cat from earlier was watching him through slitted ice-colored eyes. Blood caked her paws as she swiped red from her chest.
"I was afraid that we'd lost you. Woulda been a shame if we'd come this whole way just for you to die," the she-cat commented.
Lionblaze got unsteadily to his paws. He wobbled, and then he sank to his side with a gasp of pain. The rogue blurred in front of him.
"Watch it," she hissed. "You lost a whole lot of blood during that battle. I'm amazed that you're still alive."
I lost blood? Lionblaze tilted his head to one side. He didn't remember getting clawed or bitten. In fact, he didn't really remember anything that happened after pouncing on Duke. He had attacked Moon and he couldn't let...
Wait, Moon…!
"Where-?!" Lionblaze tried to sit up again, but he gasped as liquid warmth dribbled down his chest fur.
"Idiot!" spat the she-cat. "You've gone and opened up that wound again. How's about you hold still long enough for 'em to close up before you go and rip them open again, you great buffoon!"
"Moon," croaked Lionblaze.
"Moon is fine. Duke didn't do anything to help her, but she's a tough liddle she-cat. She'll live." The rogue hesitated. "I'm Leaf, by the way. My niece is Hawk, and she's going to check on your friends. She'll be back before long."
Lionblaze rasped his tongue over the newly-opened wound. "Are they safe?" he asked discreetly.
"Are who safe?" asked Leaf.
"My... The other cats who were with me."
"You and Moon were by yourselves when Duke attacked you," Leaf informed him through narrowed eyes. "If you're talking about your Clan, then yes. They all escaped injury."
"Where's Duke?" asked Lionblaze.
"He slunk off a while back. He ain't dead, but he's pretty close." Leaf's eyes darkened. "Don't know what you and your family did to give Duke's tail a twist. Whatever it was, I can tell you one thing: He'll be back. And he won't be alone."
There were nine of them. Their sinewy and stocky bodies lay cloaked in dark brown fur, tougher than the hide of a badger. Yellow teeth jutted grotesquely from their overgrown jaws and drool dribbled down their muzzles. Hunger for battle and meat filled their dried-blood eyes with a luster as they stared up at their leader, who was the largest of them all.
Gulo roared, "Browncat say cat fail kill other cats! We kill cats!"
"We kill, kill cats!" agreed the rest of the beasts.
"When we kill cats?" asked one of them.
"When Browncat say so. Till then, we rest. We sharpen teeth. We flex claws. We wait. Then we kill."
"Then we kill!" echoed Gulo's gang.
"What we?" Gulo snarled.
"Wolverines!"
"What we eat?"
"Meat! Cat meat!"
"What we drink?"
"Blood!"
"What we do?"
"Kill!"
Does anyone know where I got the name Gulo from? Hint: It's another book series about animals, my favorite next to Warriors! I couldn't resist shaking things up, and while it seems like Gulo is kind of random, there have been a few hints dropped here and there about him. Let me know what you think about him!
Also, Hawk and Leaf are two more characters that don't belong to me! AnnabellaTennasy was their creator's username at the time that I started using them, but I'm again unsure where I met her and if that name even applies to her anymore.
The story is starting to draw closer to its end! Thank you all for being on the ride with me :D