A/N: Onto Chapter 22! Wow only six more chapters until the end, plus a really short epilogue. I've been frantically sorting out all my stories, and I have decided to only have 50 stories in Age of Lost Souls. So that and Zodiac should be finished up, and once those are done I'm going to focus on Omen of the Stars and Terra: Blood Moon.
I also have another story in the works which I have a few chapters done, its called "Fear World". Its kind of like Age of Lost Souls, but its about all of the cats worst fears coming to life. I'll tell you more about it down below! Please review, if I reach 390 (which is a lot) I will double update tomorrow!
~Leo~
CHAPTER XXII
A searing pain surged through Ferretleap's shoulder, the fiery burn had scorched his cream fur straight off of his skin, now nothing was left but bare pink flesh.
Tawnywing had done all she could to heal it, but there would always be a scar. Always a mark to remind Ferretleap he had lost in the battle against Charredsoul.
We need to get revenge on ThunderClan, he sneered silently, staring way past the trees, almost seeing the camp through the darkness.
But there was no way Thistlestar would attack now, not since Dovestar gave WindClan part of their territory. Now WindClan lived between the Moon Pool and ThunderClan camp, at least they still had part of the moor.
"Ferretleap" a meow came from the deputy Sunstrike, her tortoiseshell fur glinting in the moonlight. "I want you to go on a patrol along ShadowClan territory, but stay by the lake. Part of the agreement Dovestar and Thistlestar made said we would help patrol their borders."
Ferretleap snorted, "Why should we do their work? ThunderClan destroyed our home remember?" his eyes flared with anger, "Shouldn't they give us more territory?".
Sunstrike let out a low hiss, the mark on her forehead becoming twisted as she narrowed her eyes.
"Ferretleap for once just do as you're told" a growl came from his father Waspfur, who padded over next to Sunstrike.
"Fine!" he snapped with fury, turning and walking angrily over to the patrol consisting of Cloudedmoon, his apprentice Fawnpaw, Tigerdawn and Diamondpaw.
"Are we going or not?" he hissed to the leader of the patrol, Cloudedmoon.
The gray and white dappled tom narrowed his eyes at Ferretleap's sour attitude, "We just need to wait for Horizonfur and Twopaw, they should be coming soon."
Ferretleap waited impatiently until finally the warrior and his apprentice came to join the patrol, Ferretleap hissed lowly as he saw Twopaw's face. The young tom had gotten to close to an eagle one day, and had two gashes slit across his face.
Finally heading off in the direction of the lake, the patrol made sure to stay well within the parameters Dovestar and Thistlestar had set. The cold snow underneath his pads froze Ferretleap to the very core, he hated Leaf-Bare!
The ring of sand around the lake was frozen hard as well, dusted with the bright white powder of snow. As night fell onto the four clans of the lake, Ferretleap soon became desperate to separate himself from the rest of the patrol, he had a plan.
"Cloudedmoon" the gray dappled tom turned as Ferretleap called his name.
"Yes, what is it Ferretleap" he asked quickly, unsure of if the young warrior was going to be angry or not.
Ferretleap had never gotten to know the older warrior particularly well in the moons he was alive, but Sprucefrost certainly had. The two didn't show it among the rest of the clan, but Ferretleap knew there was something between them.
"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind continuing the patrol without me, I'm not feeling so well. I think I might just go for a quick hunt."
"Of course, feel better!" Cloudedmoon meowed quicker than a chickadees chirp.
Ferretleap chuckled quietly as he turned the opposite direction of the patrol, his sour attitude came in handy sometimes, the older warrior didn't think twice about his decision if it meant Ferretleap was gone.
Now I just have to find ShadowClan camp, he eyes glinted through the moonlight as the patrol headed back towards WindClan's new camp. Padding through the pine tree infested part of the forest, Ferretleap curled his lip as a scent spiraled through the cold midnight air.
ShadowClan, the WindClan tom spat in disgust at the crow-food eating scent, it was simply atrocious!
"What are you doing here?" a sharp growl came from a fox-length away.
Ferretleap almost leapt out of his pelt at the cats voice, had a ShadowClan patrol caught him? But as the cat stepped into the moonlight, Ferretleap breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hollowsong!" he padded forward happily and with a tinge of relief, now he didn't have to go trudging through ShadowClan camp to find her!
"You didn't answer my question" she repeated, her eyes focused on Ferretleap intently, "What are you doing here." And then like a magnetic pull, Ferretleap felt his mind drifting to the answer she was seeking and then he opened his mouth to tell her.
"I came here to ask you to help me" he told her, "ThunderClan destroyed my clans home, they deserve to pay for it."
Hollowsong snorted, "Then tell your leader that, what am I going to do? Prance right into WindClan camp and make him attack ThunderClan."
A hint of evil glinted in Ferretleap's eyes as he smiled, "That's precisely what I want you to do. There's no way Thistlestar would agree to help RiverClan and ShadowClan defeat ThunderClan" he paused as Hollowsong lifted her head in interest, "Not unless someone made him".
The ShadowClan cat gasped, "You'd do that to your own leader? You'd have me control him just so you can get revenge."
Ferretleap hissed spitefully, "Of course I would. And once we do it Thistlestar will see its for the good of WindClan. All three clans are going to wage war against ThunderClan, and we're going to do it with your help."
Earth shot up through the moor, dirt flew as jagged rocks became uprooted from their post. Sprucefrost narrowed her green eyes on a large boulder, and with one flick of the tail it shot up into the air.
"Finally" she meowed happily, Sprucefrost was finally perfecting her power.
And she was far enough away from the clans so none of them would notice what she was doing, she had even built a large cavern to sleep in sometimes.
Thistlestar was fully aware what she was doing out here, and often times let her sleep out here if she was training late, after all she was a Zodiac.
Ferretleap should be practicing to, she added silently. Her stubborn clan mate already believed that his power was completely mastered, even though not even a day ago he tried to jump into a tree, but missed and landed in a clump of snow.
"Yeah that seems completely mastered to me" she grumbled, flicking her tail as another mound of dirt erupted from the earth.
There was only a quarter moon left until the first moon of Leaf-Bare. At first when Snow began to fall more than a moon ago, Sprucefrost had thought this last moon was the first moon, but it seems the snow just came rather early in Leaf-Fall.
Soon becoming distracted in the tunnels she was making in the ground, Sprucefrost barely noticed a large falcon circling in the sky. Stars glittered behind its shadowed figure, large feathery wings stretching widely.
Probably just searching for rabbits, she told herself while going back to practice.
Falcons and Hawks often tried to take kits from the nursery, but now since Sprucefrost built an underground cavern for the queens, they were more than protected enough to evade being prey.
"Go away!" she spat at the annoying bird, its call sounding as it neared Sprucefrost.
For a moment she began to think maybe the large predator of the sky was coming for her, but instead the light brown animal simply landed on a mound of earth Sprucefrost had created.
And that was when the brown-furred Zodiac gasped in shock as she caught a good look at the bird. Its eyes were a bright luminescent white, completely and utterly blank as a cloud-filled sky.
"Hello Young one" the bird flicked its head as Sprucefrost padded closer.
Apparently the falcon knew that she could hear different animals languages, but how?
"Hi" she spoke reluctantly, eyeing the the bird carefully and cautiously, her instincts telling her to run. But the white-eyed bird seemed to pull Sprucefrost ever closer, there was something about this animal, something...mysterious.
"I have come to warn you of a rising tempest" the falcon, a female, spoke slowly yet quickly at the same time. "When the Moon of Ice rises" it spoke with a foreign tongue, "The eight sent from the stars will wage war."
Sprucefrost perked her ears at the mention of the eight stars, the eight Zodiac's!
"Four will be left standing, and those who are will be sent on a path to prevent chaos from descending onto the clans. These four hold the futures of all cats in their paws."
What? Sprucefrost didn't care if the bird heard her or not, it could tell by the look sprawled on her face! Sent on a path to prevent chaos from descending onto the clans, what did that mean!?
"Please tell me more" she begged, urgency rushing through the Zodiacs veins. But the falcon didn't reply, it simply blinked its two white eyes, and turned to fly off into the cold night.
"Only four will be left..." she muttered softly as the image of the mysterious falcon faded into the indigo sky, "I have to be one of them!".
And that Sprucefrost did, if not for herself, but then for her unborn kits writhing inside of her enclosed belly. Sprucefrost was expecting Cloudedmoon's kits, and for that reason alone she couldn't and wouldn't be one of the Zodiacs to join StarClan prematurely.
She would fight until her last breath was taken for these kits. They were her life now, and Sprucefrost was going to do whatever it took to protect them.
A/N: Okay well here's a little sneak peak of Fear World just to get you guys hyped up :P enjoy!
"What is this place?" Briarpaw asked out loud, fear starting to rise inside of her.
But then all at once, her breathing stopped as a single sound came from the rocks. A faint hissing slowly wreathed towards Briarpaw, the deadly sound spiraling towards her like a cloud of terror.
"No..." she whispered in shock, as flashbacks of the day she and her siblings were playing on the rocks near the outskirts of camp.
Standing up on both her back legs, trying to show her siblings how strong and big she was. And that was when a long shadow had spread out from behind Briarpaw, at first she thought it was just the shadow of a tree.
But then once Honeyfern leapt over her, Briarpaw knew something was wrong. She died for me, the words the golden warrior had screamed out when she was dieing still haunted the young apprentice to this day.
"My blood, it's on fire..." Briarpaw repeated quietly, slowing lifting her gaze to a long black figure slinking out from a crevice.