Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter


Chapter 26

That night Fallingsnow was so exhausted. She didn't even think about visiting Brownfeather when Firestar came to them and said they were released from vigil. She stumbled into the warriors' den and fell asleep. While she slept, Hazeltail was buried, the fresh-kill pile was restocked and emptied, the apprentices returned and slept in their new den, and Darkfire and Dewstep came back. Dewstep curled up next to his children that night as the rest of the Clan slept.

Fallingsnow woke at dawn. She wasn't tired anymore. The excitement of being a warrior invigorated her very bones. She stood up and stretched. Her aches and wounds reminded her of their presence. Maybe she wouldn't be running endlessly, scaring off foxes and enemy cats. She yawned and noticed Dewstep stretched out between Frostshine and Nightshade, Ivyflight at his head.

Fallingsnow blinked and turned away. He hadn't slept near her. Why was he growing distant from her? She felt were she to ask to speak with him, he would refuse. She sighed and left the den.

The dawn patrol had all ready left and Clan life seemed to return back to normal after the battle. Fallingsnow hoped WindClan didn't attack again for a long time. She also hoped ThunderClan would find the real thief. Only then, Onestar had claimed, would WindClan not attack again.

As Fallingsnow decided to leave the camp and go hunting on her own, she thought she heard voices. She paused and wandered over to the nursery. She quickly saw the Three there. The three identical sisters. They were laying just outside, talking quietly to each other.

"Sunkit will be leader," one of the ginger she-kits meowed.

"I will be medicine cat," meowed another of the Three.

"Right, Fawnkit," meowed the last. "Morningkit will be deputy."

The three nodded. Fallingsnow stared. Normally kits talking like this would just be considered to be playing, but Fallingsnow knew differently. They spoke so calmly and confident. She felt her fur almost leap off of her. She didn't like what she was hearing. It was as if the three kits planned on taking over the Clan.

Suddenly the Three turned to face her. Fallingsnow's eyes widened and she backed away. They stood up, walking after her.

Fallingsnow felt her heart pound. Were they going to kill her now that she'd heard them? She swallowed. She glanced around, but fleeing wasn't an option. They were there. Their yellow eyes caught her and wouldn't let go.

"Speak to Dewstep," the meowed as one. Their voices strangely sounding like echoes. Fallingsnow could finally tell that their voices were just a bit different from one another. They changed as they aged. "Don't keep Brownfeather a secret for long. He will be killed if you do not speak to your father."

Fallingsnow gasped and ran for the tunnel. She wasn't going to listen to any more of this. How could they know about Brownfeather? How would they even know the warrior name of the cat she was seeing? Fallingsnow wasn't going to stick around to find out.

She hid in the forest the rest of the day. She hunted, slipping back into camp to deposit her catch on the pile. She didn't catch much, but there was enough for a few cats and herself. The cats who say her mentioned that Darkfire was looking for her. She shrugged not knowing why, but she had no intention of hanging around camp just to be confronted by the Three again. She had to see Brownfeather tonight. He had to know that cats knew about them.

Even kits could be dangerous with such knowledge. Just think about what they'd been talking about this morning! Would they be willing to kill off Firestar and Jayfeather to achieve their goal of taking over the Clan?

She shivered. She hoped they wouldn't. She liked her Clan the way it was. She'd leave if the Three took over, no matter how young they were.

-Line-

At moonhigh Fallingsnow waited for Brownfeather. Firestar still had the patrols for the night. He wasn't taking any chances that WindClan was too weak to fight again. Fallingsnow had to hide for a while, but Brambleclaw and the others never saw her.

Finally her love came. Brownfeather snuck into the small clearing. Fallingsnow sighed in relief and ran to him.

Brownfeather gave a cry of joy when he saw her.

"Where were you?" He demanded after licking her face a couple of times. "You weren't here two nights ago, and you weren't there last night either!"

"You came yesternight?" she asked.

He nodded. "I was worried when you didn't come. What happened?"

"WindClan attacked us," Fallingsnow meowed. "Hazeltail died."

"I'm so sorry," Brownfeather meowed.

She could tell he was sympathetic. Perhaps he considered Fallingsnow's Clanmates his. Fallingsnow almost thought the same of some of the ShadowClan cats. Like Olivespot, who Brownfeather spoke about kindly, or even Acornpaw, his brother. She loved to hear about them. She wondered if he liked to hear about her family.

"I hope you won and chased those sorry excuses for cats back to their territory."

"We did," Fallingsnow smiled. "I became a warrior too!"

Brownfeather instantly smiled. Then he meowed teasingly, "Tigerheart says ThunderClan makes apprentices into warriors too early."

Fallingsnow grimace at him. Just because he had twelve moons on his apprenticeship, didn't make him better than her eight. At least they were warriors together now.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Fallingsnow," she meowed.

"Beautiful," he cooed, just as her namesake fell down from clouds.

-Line-

Some where in the forest, in the dark night, two cats were meeting. The shadows dappled on their pelts, making their fur coloring uncertain. Even the white snow failed to lighten the area in which they hid.

"Is it ready?" asked one, her voice a low hiss.

"The trap is set," the other cat answered.

"Good," the she-cat purred. "They'll never know what happened. Another Clan will certainly be blamed. And I will finally get what I've wanted for so long."

"But there's still -"

"I know," the she-cat interrupted her companion. "The leader can be dealt with as well. The Clan can't suspect what's going on."

"You'll have their support though?"

"I can make sure of it."


And so the villain of the story emerges. What will become of our cats? And will Fallingsnow ever talk to her father, and what would Dewstep tell her?