Rookpaw opened her eyes. She was standing in the centre of camp and stuck with a bizarre sense of déjà vu. The sky above was the one from when she returned to camp from Clawclan that day; a bit overcast with a changing wind. The same scents and sounds and cats moving about camp. The only difference was she could not feel the gentle, cool breeze on her fur, the ground beneath her pads. She blinked, confused. The familiar floaty feeling ran through her body, and the paws beneath her held that transparent look. Another past-dream. Her first since she had dreamed of the dog attack on Smallstep's patrol.
A past dream of that day? Why? A strange, creepy sort of feeling raced through her spine as her mother ran through her ghostly form. Running to speak to… her. It was the first time she'd seen her past-time self in one of these dreams. She watched herself and Flowerdust embrace with a strange sort of curiosity. Ugh, look at that cowlick of fur sticking up on her past-self's head. How had she not gotten that grooming that morning? Had she had that the entire time she was in Clawclan? Rookpaw watched her mother smooth it down with her lick. She missed that at the time. Still, Rookpaw was puzzled. Why this? Why this time? What did she need to see?
She turned away from the scene she had lived. It couldn't be anything to do with those moments. She had her own memory for that. Rookpaw truly believed these dreams had some sort of point to them. There had to be something here she needed to hear or observe. Something she'd missed when she'd lived it hours ago… She just had to find it. It had to be close by.
Her first thought, likely as it had been on her mind before she fell asleep, was to seek out Larkcry. Rookpaw was quick to shake the thought from her head. No, no, she would need to meet with him in person to get any answer out of him, what was the point spying on him in her dream where she couldn't be seen or heard? He very well may not have even been in camp at this time; the prisoners often were put to warrior tasks.
And then she realized. Icestar's meeting. It had to be! After all, she'd been placed to hear in his den before. She thought back to the meeting she'd overheard between Icestar and Longtail; the medicine cat's words he'd shared from Starclan. Rookpaw had thought about it now and then, and still couldn't figure out what it meant. Any more than Longtail's assumption it was talking about Icestar.
The apprentice lingered at the leader's den entranceway. It wasn't just unreasonable nerves. Part of her felt wrong; going to overhear private conversations… but it seemed like that was the purpose of all this. Was it Starclan? Was there something here they wanted her to see? Again, she felt she should really try and speak to Longtail about this, but the idea frightened her… She shook her head. Best not fret about that now; she needed to be focused.
Rookpaw padded into the den, head low. She could hear Icestar's voice as she drew near to the cavern in the back of the tunnel-like entrance. He sounded angry and frustrated, his deep voice reverberating off the stone walls.
"I will not allow that little rat to walk all over me!" The leader was spitting. Rookpaw peered around the rim of the cavern. He was not seated in his nest all composed like he had been with Longtail; instead, the big white tom paced furiously up and down in front of Sorrelfur and Hornetclaw.
Rookpaw blinked slowly. He had to be talking about Graves. Despite the fact she was invisible and untouchable, she couldn't bring herself to get too close to her angry mentor, and so sat down nearer to the back of the den to observe whatever it was she was here for.
"You said so yourself, we need his support; we need the extra force of his cats at least for now. We can't beat three clans united." Sorrelfur commented calmly, ear flicking as Icestar stalked by her, glancing her way as she spoke. She was always a very logical cat. Perhaps Icestar chose her as his deputy not just because she was his mate, but to balance him? Rookpaw got the impression he was lead sometimes less by his head and more by his emotions, chiefly his anger. Sorrelfur never gave her that impression. She was coolly using her head, always. "Promise the flea-bitten wretch what he wants. If needs be we can deal with him after the war is won."
"If he even lives that long." Hornetclaw snorted, examining one paw's claws with a bored expression, like he wasn't that interested in being here. He picked off a bit of shedding claw and spat it across the floor. "Have you seen the creature? Looks like he'll drop dead of whatever disease ails him before long. I don't think that Gustclan medicine cat they took can heal that, even before they shredded her ears to bits and broke her will."
Icestar glared at his brother, causing him to straighten up a little. The leader snarled, snapping his teeth together. Rookpaw could easily imagine him pretending the air was Graves' neck. "This is not how things are supposed to go! Starclan promised me that if I did as they instructed…" He shook his great head, and for the first time, Rookpaw thought she saw confusion in those blazing orange eyes. "I must consult with them."
"Then go to Starfalls." His mate replied plainly. "Why wait for them to offer you a dream? Go to the source."
The confusion on Icestar's face vanished quickly back to anger as he turned his leer onto his deputy instead. "I cannot; you know this Sorrelfur! My Starclan guides have warned me to stay away from that place; that Moonfall and those other leaders have tainted it! I will get no guidance of worth in a corrupted sacred land." This gave the hidden apprentice pause, her eyes going wide. Starfalls was corrupted? How? In what way? The thought made Rookpaw's heart and head hurt. That was where leaders went to get nine lives, where they and medicine cats went to communicate with Starclan! If something was wrong there, then that was… horrible! Why had Icestar not told the clan about this? It was something every clan cat should know!
"I say stop waiting around and act, brother. Fuck Graves. We've got enough cats to deal with some things on our own." Hornetclaw replied impatiently, his thick short tail brushing across the stone. "When have you ever waited around to be told what to do? A cat who sits around wailing for Starclan isn't who I grew up with; who beat me at every turn!"
Icestar looked thoughtful then, and it gave Rookpaw a terrible sense of foreboding.
The leader's pacing slowed, but he kept moving. The energy about him shifted into something more controlled and predatory; powerful muscles rippling under fur with each heavy step across the rock. "Yes, yes… you are right Hornetclaw…" Icestar mused. "Graves is getting uppity, fine. But Gorseclan is a formidable force on its own still. The other clans will be licking their wounded pride after their failed raid on the Clawclan camp… They won't move again quickly; they need to regroup, and with three clans to coordinate it will take time to organize." He was thinking out loud, looking at his brother and his mate now and then for approval. "Going after Clawclan makes me think they understand that we've laid a trap for them here… they planned to avoid coming to us without removing the threat of our allies first." He lifted his head decisively, a gleam Rookpaw did not like in his eye. "The training of the warriors and apprentices goes well?" He asked Sorrelfur with a narrowed gaze.
"I've been overseeing it all myself, sir." Sorrelfur purred low; she dipped her head, not taking her eyes off her leader and mate. The respect and admiration she held for him was clear in that look. Rookpaw had never observed them to be a particularly loving couple, but they obviously had their attraction and loyalty to each other all the same. A drifting thought wondered why they'd never had kits. "We've made good progress."
"Excellent. Then I think it is time we put the training to a practical test… It will be good to see more than just how the training is progressing too…" His tail flicked back and forth, considering. "As we've discussed, I need to know who in the clan is the most dependable, and who's loyalty may waver." Rookpaw wondered if this was why he only had his mate and brother in this meeting. Were these the only cats he currently truly trusted right now? Once, Spiderstreak had always been at his side, but these days, ever since Sting died in the failed attack on Fieldclan, the former rogue was seeming to be left aside more and more. "Marshclan is the smallest and closest to us… And their camp is the least easy to defend. Their deputy is… indisposed too. They'll be without her in the fight."
"Time we paid them a den-call then, brother?" Hornetclaw said slowly, excitement on his face as he stood up. Rookpaw wrapped her tail around herself nervously. Was this what she needed to see? Was this a warning about the fight to come? She… she didn't want to fight. She was horrible at it besides…
"Yes, I haven't had the chance to pay my respects to their new leader yet. I think I should rectify that." Icestar let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a purr as he exchanged a head-bump with Sorrelfur then laid his tail onto the cream tom's back in gestures of comradery.
He looked ahead, as if he could visualize his grand conquest; seeing something far away that no other cat could see. The vision of a new future Starclan was leading him to, where he united all the clans and stopped the prophesied doom.
To Rookpaw, it was like he was looking right at her, right through her, and the blazing look in the leader's eyes sent a shivering sensation down her spine. She could not feel cold in her dreams, but she could imagine it.