DarkClan... destroyed?
"What do you mean?" Greysight asked, her voice surprisingly calm. Inside, however, she felt like her mind was caught up in a storm and she felt more anxious than ever.
The nightmares and these cats; what Pain said about DarkClan's destruction, it reminded her of the grim prophecy Mosspelt had told her long ago. This couldn't be coincidence, and what he had said, about a 'little bird', the way his eyes had drifted onto her in particular, it reminded her of the dream she had had a few sunrises ago.
He had called himself 'Cro'.
It almost felt like this Pain character knew.
"DarkClan is out of time." Came Pain's emotionless response. "Surely you know the history of your own clan... DarkClan was never meant to exist, it was a mistake, and now it's time to right that wrong. Look at yourselves, you're hardly a clan at all. I see no clan here, only a group of misguided cats and lucky nobodies, who, unluckily, got caught up in it."
"Who do you think you are?" Darkpelt growled. "Spouting this nonsense... Trespassing on our territory, walking into our camp! Get out!" His tail lashed behind him and he ferociously bared his teeth, flattening his ears back against his skull.
"Do you expect us to leave?"
The unexpected voice belonged to Lostheart, who had been standing at the front beside Greysight the entire time. She did not sound confused or angry, or sarcastic in what she said. She spoke calmly, with genuine curiosity.
The group had backed away some after witnessing Darkpelt's threatening stance and body language, but they stayed, just in front of the tree tunnel.
Pain looked to Lostheart, staring at her for a long moment.
"You can't run from fate." He replied, speaking to the clan as a whole. "The day was fated to come when DarkClan would fall. It was only a matter of time, and a long time it has been... Are you telling me that you have not seen it yourselves? The way your territory moans and creaks, the way the trees rot away and blacken, the prey slowly disappearing...
"'Until the blood of the cursed has been repaid, DarkClan will be forever left to waste away into nothingness. Until the harbinger of darkness is put to rest, the clan will forever suffer in a never-ending cycle of misfortune.' Sound familiar?"
Moonfur, Darkpelt, Roseclaw, the apprentices- everyone looked completely baffled while Pineneedle stood in the middle of the DarkClan cats, looking back and forth between the two groups, seeming very confused; and it was hard to tell if Thistleprick and Raggedear were listening at all.
"What are you talking about?" Darkpelt growled, growing frustrated with having to repeat the same phrase again and again, but he only seemed to gain more questions than answers.
"The prophecy..." Greysight muttered.
The clan looked to her suddenly, not having expected anyone, especially Greysight, to know what he was talking about. Even Lostheart, who could hardly ever be read, had a look of subtle confusion on her face and in her eye.
No doubt wondering what secret Greysight had kept from them.
"A prophecy?" Darkpelt echoed.
"Your clanmate can fill you in on the details," Pain replied in monotone, flicking his tail toward Greysight.
She stared at the figure of this abnormal tom, flickering in the darkness of her vision. How could he know? How did they know? Who were these cats?
"But it's just as the prophecy says, if DarkClan wants to end its misfortune, they should be rid of the one bringing it upon them. Until then, you're all on a path to imminent destruction."
Pain stared at them all, looking completely indifferent, the blue of his eyes resembling the cold running water of the stream.
"That is the message."
He turned his back to DarkClan and stepped back into the tree tunnel, allowing the shadows to consume him. The other two followed as well, not once looking back over their shoulders.
Silence returned to the camp.
For a short moment no cat knew what to do, or wanted to be the first to speak up, but Darkpelt was the first to snap out of his apparent stupor.
"We can't let them get away!" he roared and charged into the tree tunnel, followed closely by Moonfur, Amberpaw, and Warpaw.
The other warriors simply remained where they stood.
It didn't take long for them to come rushing back in, breathing heavily.
"It's no use, they're gone. They must've taken off the moment they set foot in the tree tunnel; we were too slow." Moonfur informed.
If they had caught them, then maybe they could've also gotten some answers.
Greysight felt uncomfortable asking a question like this, but she had to know.
"What did they look like?" she asked suddenly.
"One was short and spotted, the other was tall and brown, and the one who spoke the most, Pain, was a black cat. That tall one, he had scars all over. I've never seen anything like it before..." Moonfur answered while Darkpelt began to pace back and forth behind them.
"And that's it?" Greysight meowed. "There wasn't...anything strange about them at all?"
"No... They looked like normal cats." Moonfur meowed, concern growing for her friend.
"Normal cats don't just show up out of nowhere and claim to know every little thing about our clan!" Darkpelt growled harshly. "Have they been spying on us? Has another clan been hiding them and telling them all out secrets?"
"Everyone needs to calm down." Lostheart said quietly, rationally. "We need to talk about this, but first..."
She turned to look back at Mintleaf.
"Pineneedle's leg is hurt, we need you to take a look at him. Amberpaw, go wake up your brother and have him help you keep an eye on him. Warpaw, you can help Mintleaf lead him to the medicine cat den."
She didn't want to leave Mintleaf alone with Pineneedle, but she couldn't send Amberpaw and Warpaw to guard Pineneedle alone. Amberpaw had had a bad experience with Pineneedle, and Lostheart didn't want to cause her ay discomfort. She would no doubt feel safer with her two brothers standing by her side, and Lostheart knew that with the three apprentices there, and his injured leg, Pineneedle wouldn't be able to get past them if he did try to escape or attack.
Amberpaw accepted her order easily and went to fetch Branchpaw while Warpaw and Mintleaf moved closer to Pineneedle. He had sat down a while ago, no doubt because of the pain in his leg.
Mintleaf tentatively moved closer to him with the intention of helping him stand up. She had barely brushed him when he reeled back and let out a nasty hiss. "I can stand and walk just fine by myself!"
Mintleaf flinched, but stepped back and let out a small, albeit shaky breath. "Okay," she meowed.
Slowly and clumsily, Pineneedle rose, staggering to all three paws.
"Well?"
Mintleaf stood in front of the much larger tom with her nose held high. "I am a medicine cat." she began, her voice somewhat shaky, but it was clear the she-cat was standing up for herself. "And I will have your respect, especially while you are in my den-"
"Then I won't go into your little den; I don't need your help, brat, and I didn't ask for it." Pineneedle spat rudely.
"Well," she continued, "Be that as it may, it's my job to help sick or injured cats, no matter what clan they belong to, or who they are. You may not want my help, but I'm you have to deal with it. Now, follow me. Come on, Warpaw."
"Of course, DarkClan honor knows no bounds; you have to follow each and every little order and rule you're given. It's funny, considering the sheer number of rules in the warrior code this sad clan has broken." Pineneedle sneered, chuckling shortly to himself as began pulling himself forward, slowly moving towards the warriors den while Warpaw walked alongside him, although there was a good tail-length or two between them.
Pineneedle looked back over his shoulder at the DarkClan warriors with gritted teeth, his eyes meeting Lostheart's as she watched Mintleaf lead him away. He looked away from her uneven gaze, and his eyes fell upon Raggedear's back for a short time, but he looked away again and turned his back to them.
"You're in pain." Mintleaf meowed, trying something new. "And, you may not believe me when I say this, but pain- it hurts."
Pineneedle snorted.
"I know it does," she meowed "We all do. As long as I'm around, I'm going to make sure that cats feel as little pain as possible; I don't want to see any of my clanmates- anybody, in pain. It hurts me just to watch."
Lostheart made sure to watch the small group until they had reached the medicine cat den and met up with Amberpaw and Branchpaw, she knew that they'd be able to handle it. Mintleaf was a grown she-cat; she was young, but she was also wise, a talented medicine cat, and the apprentices, it was almost time that they be made into warriors themselves.
With Pineneedle taken care of for the time being, and the clearing less crowded, they could properly discuss what had just occurred.
Darkpelt seemed prepared; he had gathered everyone else up already.
Lostheart padded over to join them, and Darkpelt let out a loud breath of relief.
"Finally.
"Now we can discuss what just happened. We don't know who these cats are, or where they came from, or how they know about DarkClan- we don't even know why they came."
"Yes, we do." Lostheart meowed, "They told us why, they came to deliver a message."
"That our clan is going to be destroyed? Why would they tell us something like that; was it meant to be a warning, is it a threat?" Darkpelt shook his head, baffled.
"And you're wrong again, some of us do know those cats, at least one of them." Lostheart glanced at Thistleprick and Raggedear who had been silent since the event.
Greysight listened intently, and Darkpelt, Roseclaw, and Moonfur followed her gaze.
Thistleprick was looking down at his paws, but otherwise he appeared okay. Raggedear was completely silent.
"You... knew that cat?" Moonfur asked softly, referring to the calico from earlier, Karma, or as Thistleprick had called him, Wren.
Thistleprick let out a small, short, almost inaudible breath, collecting himself. He then looked up, facing his clanmates with dull, violet eyes. His face was sad, a bit confused.
"Yes, he's our little brother..."
"Your brother?" Roseclaw meowed gently, "I didn't know you had another brother, you never mentioned it."
"I-We... We thought he was dead." Thistleprick still seemed shocked by the apparent fact that he wasn't.
"I don't know who those other cats are." he finished, shaking his head slightly. "The last time I saw Wren, we weren't much older than eleven moons."
An awkward silence briefly fell over the cats; no one wanted to pry, and when it came to what was relevant at that moment, Thistleprick and Raggedear couldn't tell them anything.
Lostheart decided to change the subject.
"He mentioned a 'prophecy'. It seems like you know about it." She said to Greysight.
Greysight could practically feel the stares she knew existed, but could not see.
She had tried so long to hide it, to make sure no one else ever found out, but she was a DarkClan cat after all.
Unlucky.
"Yes, StarClan came to me in a dream and gave me that prophecy..."
"Why didn't you say anything? Something that important shouldn't be kept a secret, especially if it was a message about our clan from StarClan themselves!" Moonfur meowed.
"How long have you been keeping this a secret? And why didn't you tell us?" Darkpelt demanded.
"I-"
"And why did StarClan go to you? It's a medicine cat's duty to receive and interpret the will of StarClan."
Darkpelt looked outraged, his voice becoming louder and more frantic as he continued to speak.
"Roseclaw, did you know about this?!"
Roseclaw's blue eyes looked frantically between Darkpelt and Greysight.
"No...I didn't." she managed, looking somewhat ashamed. "StarClan didn't contact me."
"Leave her alone, Darkpelt!" Greysight said, finding her voice again. "I'm the only one who knew about it. StarClan told me and me alone. I can't tell you why they did it, but they did."
"And you said nothing!"
Greysight gritted her teeth and sidestepped so that she stood directly across from Darkpelt, standing tall.
"It didn't once occur to you that a message from StarClan to DarkClan was meant for all of us. We're all members of this clan, and we deserve to know if StarClan sends the clan a message. I just don't understand why. Why wouldn't you share this?"
Greysight's pelt burned with shame, and she wasn't spared from the feeling of regret that welled up in her chest.
Why didn't she say anything?
Why?
It was the perfect question to be asking, but even she herself couldn't find the right answer.
She had been scared, she was afraid of losing her position as a warrior if she mentioned anything relating to her dreams. She thought that maybe if she ignored them, they'd go away, and that she could solve DarkClan's problems all by herself.
She had been selfish.
There was no excuse.
Darkpelt...was right.
Mosspelt had given her the prophecy for a reason, presumably to protect them. It was an ominous message, having to do with DarkClan itself, and the warning of their eternal suffering. But she didn't even think to tell her clanmates. They probably could have helped figure it out, together.
"Look, I'm sorry. I...I wasn't thinking..." Greysight stuttered, suddenly feeling quite uncomfortable on her paws.
"Clearly." Darkpelt growled.
"Let it go, Darkpelt. We know now."
Lostheart met his heated gaze, but the tom looked away, breathing out angrily one last time; then, Lostheart looked to Greysight.
"It's fine. I'm sure you had your reasons for keeping it a secret. I know you would have told us eventually."
Lostheart had meant to make her feel better, she supposed, but somehow, she only felt worse.
"What do you think it means?" Moonfur asked Greysight, seeming both curious and concerned.
"I think it's pretty clear." Greysight meowed. "Just like that cat said. The forest is dying, our clan is struggling, that much we can agree on. But there's a way to stop it. The prophecy says: Brought upon by the lust for power, a deeply embedded grudge will lay waste to the clan. Until the blood of the cursed has been repaid, DarkClan will be forever left to waste away into nothingness. Until the harbinger of darkness is put to rest, DarkClan will forever suffer in a never-ending cycle of misfortune."
She had gone over the words so many times in her head, that she remembered it word for word now.
"Mosspelt said that the blood of the cursed had to be repaid, until that, what we can assume is a cat, is gone, our bad luck will continue and DarkClan will erode until there's nothing left at all. I thought that it was talking about Willowstar, which, I guess, is partly why I didn't say anything. I thought it was done."
"You got the prophecy that long ago?"
"But I guess I was wrong." Greysight finished. "That's all I know, not much more than you."
"Wait," Roseclaw meowed, "Did you say Mosspelt?"
At the sound of her mentor's name, Roseclaw's blue eyes had grown wide.
"Yes." Greysight answered.
Roseclaw accepted the answer and shut her mouth, hoping that the warriors hadn't caught her blunder. Luckily, it didn't seem like they did, only Lostheart and Greysight she was sure, even if they hadn't had any reaction visibly.
Being the clan's medicine cat, it should not have been a surprise to her for Greysight to mention Mosspelt. DarkClan's previous medicine cat would have visited her several times in her own dreams.
"I think that whoever the prophecy is talking about must be a cat who has it out for DarkClan, but that could be a number of cats from the other clans, it's impossible to know for sure."
"We'll have to watch during the next Gathering, poke around." Moonfur suggested.
Darkpelt thoughtfully nodded in agreement. "We have to find this cat, no matter the cost."
Greysight let out a small breath, her thoughts going back over the conversation they had had with Pain.
"That cat, Karma, bothers me."
At this, both Raggedear and Thistleprick looked up.
"...But we can't worry about him right now, there's another, more pressing matter that we need to deal with."
Moonfur looked to Greysight knowingly, "You don't mean..."
"Yes. There's a murderer sitting in our medicine cat den that needs to be dealt with."
Her anger was already coming back.
AUTHOR NOTE
Whooooaa- Hey, I haven't done one of these in a long time. Another update, like I said before, now that I'm on break, I fully intend to finish this story. I expect that it will be longer than the first book but maybe shorter than the second. We'll see. Anyway, stuff is happening. What do you guys think?
I can't say for sure how "regular" my updates will be, but they shouldn't be that spread out, so keep your eyes peeled. (Such a weird expression). I'm excited to finally wrap this series up; if any of you are still around and have been following from the start, you probably know the feeling xD And I'm also amazed if you're still interested. There's still a lot of mysteries and unanswered questions from the past two books, perhaps you'll final get the answers you seek in this final story. ;)
Lost