Thank you for reviewing everyone! Let's continue the amazing story shall we? :) Nightstorm, would you?
Nightstorm: Ugh. Born of True Destiny doesn't own Warriors. You, know, I still can't get over your name! It's so dorky!
Sunmask led her patrol -
Nightstorm: Hey don't cut me off! I'm not finished! You-
Sunmask led her patrol swiftly through the pine trees. She tried to focus on the sounds of her paws rather then the chill in the wind. The iciness in the air crawled up and down her spine, telling her something was wrong. But what wasn't wrong? Her Clan finally knew what she had holding in for seasons, but the time was coming for the battle, and they were just getting started now. She may have been brave enough to finally speak, but the fear was not gone.
To her surprise, Soottail had decided to walk beside her. She made it sure that their pelts never brush, but he was otherwise, a little closer than she ver would have thought he would be. He never said anything to her, and she didn't say a word to him, but it didn't feel uncomfortable.
"How do you think they will react when we ask them to help us?" Scarletfur asked Sunmask.
"Oh," she said. She hadn't really given it much thought, "Well, they'll be shocked that the cats they're at war against need them...but isn't that what they wanted? For us to show some weakness?"
"Sounds kinda stupid to me," Scarletfur replied. "It's like all they want to know is that we're not perfect, so they go ahead and try to kill us! Makes perfect sense!" She shook her head disbelievingly. "What do you think Soottail?"
He hesitated, causing a wide gap of complete silence. "Anything could happen, really. They could accept, they could simply refuse and walk away, or they can attack us and rip our fur out for asking them a basic question."
"I think it's a long-shot for them to agree," Scarletfur muttered.
"What we need is to talk to Ravenstar," meowed Sunmask, "But I doubt RiverClan would let us come to their camp. Even though there are only three of us."
"Should we mention that they're targeting us all? Because you did say that the Black Horror is out to kill all of the Clans, right?"
"Of course. Why would they just wipe us out and leave the other Clans alone?" Soottail replied. When Sunmask and Scarletfur looked at him questioningly, he quickly said, "It just makes sense."
Sunmask found her paws quickening to get ahead of Soottail. That strange, mistrusting feeling was back, and she wasn't going to ignore it.
When they were nearing the RiverClan border, Sunmask stopped abruptly. The RiverClan dawn patrol was only fox-lengths away. Scarletfur tensed beside her. Soottail stared wide-eyed. In the patrol, Sunmask could make out five cats: Amberpelt, Berryflower, Marshleap, a dark brown tabby apprentice, and -
Volefur.
Sunmask gasped, earning herself a look from Scarletfur. She smiled at her uneasily, and then looked over at Soottail.
His lips were pulled back into a ferocious snarl. Sunmask flinched upon seeing the hatred glowing in his eyes and looked at her paws. Unsheathing her claws into the soft grass, she scolded herself for choosing to lead the patrol to RiverClan. How frog-brained could she possibly be?
"What are we waiting around here for?" Scarletfur asked. "They're about to leave. Let's go!" Before Sunmask could protest, the ginger warrior shot forward towards the border. The RiverClan cats looked up with unmistakable anger gleaming in their gazes.
"What is ShadowClan scum doing here?" Marshleap hissed.
"Crawl back to the Dark Forest where you came from," added Berryflower with an arch to her back.
"Listen," Scarletfur growled, "We know that you cats don't want to ever see us again, but we need your help."
"Is that so?" Amberpelt questioned mockingly. "So the high and mighty ShadowClan suddenly can't take care of themselves anymore? And they're begging to the cats they're in war against? What is this, some poor attempt at peace?"
As the RiverClan patrol argued with Scarletfur, Sunmask couldn't help but notice Volefur looking at her, and she felt eyes bore into the back of her head as Soottail did too. He was daring her to say something to him, right in front of his face.
So she would.
"What do you think you're looking at?" she spat at Volefur. The gray tabby's eyes lit up with shock. And so did Soottail's.
"Please," Scarletfur murmured, not noticing what just happened between Sunmask and her former mate, "I don't think you realize how bad this really is. If you're helping us, then you're also saving yourselves."
"What?" Marshleap asked.
Sunmask stepped forward. "Our former enemy from many moons ago wants revenge, but this time he wants the blood of all Clancats, and this isn't a joke. He told me himself."
"Oh come on," Berryflower muttered. "Why would he tell you his plans?"
"He...he doesn't think we're strong enough," Sunmask sighed.
"He's right, because we aren't helping you. Now get lost, you stupid ShadowClan fox-hearts," Amberpelt growled. The tabby apprentice jumped forward and snarled threateningly.
Volefur stood there, silent, looking at his paw. Sunmask hissed at him again, just to make her point. "Fine then," she spat to them all, "But just so you know, we know you're planning another attack in attempt to kill us."
They all stiffened, shocked as Sunmask, Scarletfur and Soottail turned and padded away.
"What did we expect?" Soottail hissed. "We should have known that the other Clans wouldn't help us. Now all we accomplished was wasting time that we could be using to train." His eyes flicked over to Scarletfur. "I really would have liked to practice my battle moves and teach them to my kits."
Sunmask knew he was just saying that because of Scarletfur standing beside them, but the way he said it sent a cold chill up her spine. "It's good that we tried," she argued. "And who knows? Maybe ThunderClan agreed to help."
"If they did," Soottail began, "They still won't end up fighting with us in the end. They were loyal to Ivystar and her evil little battle plans before they were loyal to us. In the end, they'll stick by her side rather than ours."
"Jeez, would it kill you to be optimistic for once?" Sunmask growled.
"I'm just stating the truth," he snarled.
"Well, you're awfully specific," she replied questioningly.
"What exactly are trying to excuse me of here?" asked Soottail.
Sunmask didn't respond right away, because she didn't know exactly. "You know what? Why don't we just get back to camp and train. Without the other Clan's help, we're going to need it."
She sped up her walking, really just wanting to get away from Soottail.
When they got closer to camp, she spotted Smokestar through the trees leading his patrol back from, the ThunderClan border. Scarletfur gasped when she saw them all clearly. Smokestar had a cut ear and scratches up and down his flank. Cloudwind had a wound in her shoulder and teeth marks in her tail. Mouseflight was limping badly and was leaning on Furledwhisker's shoulder, who was scratched up just as bad as Smokestar.
"I see that ThunderClan didn't really take the request to well," Soottail said, a cringe on his face.
"I tried to convince them," Smokestar said, "And all they did was end up attacking us. It was as if they owned the blasted border!" He sighed. "I guess we're out of options."
"Wait," Sunmask cut in, and Smokestar looked over at her, "What about WindClan? We still haven't asked them yet."
"Are you kidding?" Furledwhsiker demanded. "WindClan are running the entire operation. If anything they'd be the hardest to convince!"
"Remember from this morning when I told you about the friend I had?" she asked them, and after receiving a few nods, she went on. "He's been trying to convince WindClan since we first met up to stop the battle that they're planning now. He hasn't contacted me yet, so-"
"That reminds me," interrupted Smokestar, "I still need to talk to you about this friend."
Sunmask only partially understood why. He was from a different Clan than her, but in the midst of all that was happening, why was so important? She nodded after hesitating, and no one said anything more.
Once they all were inside camp, Smokestar sent the other members of his patrol to Stormwhisker's den, but didn't go himself. He walked right by the apprentices training with their mentors and slipped right into his den, waving his tail at Sunmask to follow him.
We'll talk now? She asked in her mind. Sunmask padded after him, greeted her kits and Pouncefoot, and pulled through the entrance to Smokestar's den.
He sat, ready for her, his tail neatly wrapped over his forepaws and his eyes round and soft with welcome. He nodded to a spot about three tail lengths before him and Sunmask sat. Smokestar studied her for a moment, and under the heat of his gaze, she found herself speaking.
"I know it's against the warrior code to make friends with someone outside the Clan but-"
"Actually," he said calmly, cutting her off, "It isn't a crime to be friends with a Clan rival. It's a crime to be mates with them. I doubt someone like you would ever do that."
She shifted her weight. "Right. Why would I want to mate with a cat from a Clan that never accepted me?" She held her breath after speaking.
"And that brings me to my question," Smokestar said. He leaned forward and stared directly into her eyes. She blinked several times. His gaze was hard to hold. "Why make friends with a cat from a Clan that never accepted you? What did you two just meet on the battle field and decide that you should play 'mouse' with each other sometime?"
Sunmask smiled uneasily. "Uh..."
"Also," he continued, "Why would not only any StarClan warrior, but Radiantmask and Tigerspirit come to a kittypet in a dream unless they had some sort of connection that bound them together?"
"Well, Blackstorm is Radiantmask's brother..." Sunmask murmured, and then trailed off.
"Sunmask," Smokestar said, so softly that his voice sounded fake, "Who are you?"
She looked at the ground, and watched her claws unsheathe. "Okay, fine. I am the sister of the WindClan deputy. I am actually Clanborn, not a kittypet!"
"I find it hard to believe that you would just run from WindClan at six moons old," Smokestar rumbled.
"I kinda did. Ivystar chased me."
"Why would Ivystar chase you if you were from her Clan?" Smokestar questioned. The look in his eyes betrayed that he knew the answer, but he clearly wanted to hear Sunmask say it for herself.
"Because...I'm not. And neither is Shadeglare..." she closed her eyes. "We were the kits that Radiantmask supposedly lost before Blackstorm attacked you for the first time. She and Pouncefoot, my father gave me up to the Twolegs and gave Shadeglare up to WindClan. I was chased by WindClan and ThunderClan to get here, and Pouncefoot recognized me right away. Then I had the dream that told me I was from ShadowClan originally and also Radiantmask's daughter and that I needed to stay to save you so I did and when I first met Shadeglare he wanted to kill me so-"
"Sunmask," Smokestar said. "Breathe."
She obeyed, taking in a huge gasp of air.
"Continue. Slowly."
"During the first battle," Sunmask began, trying to talk normally, "Shadeglare attacked me and we began our rivalry. At the last the battle we had, I told him that we were siblings, born into ShadowClan, and then after a while, Tigerspirit came to me and told me he was the answer and that he could help me, so I met up with him a couple of times, and he told me about the next battle Ivystar is planning. That was the night of Tinypaw's death. That is why you scented WindClan. Not because he killed her but because he was there." She sighed. "But I guess that that's not the point. The point is that I was born in ShadowClan to Radiantmask, and that I need to help restore StarClan to their formal glory."
Smokestar smiled. "I received me suspicions the moment you and Pouncefoot came to me and begged me to make you an apprentice. I always wondered why he would care so much. Now I know it's because the daughter he gave up was standing right next to him like she had never left."
"Will you tell the Clan?" Sunmask asked.
"Perhaps in time," Smokestar meowed. "But at the moment, that's not what's most important. I'm going to go get my wounds treated. You begin your training. We have a lot of work to do."
"Are you angered that I never told you earlier?" Sunmask asked nervously. "If I had, we probably could have been more prepared for Blackstorm."
Smokestar sighed. "I believe no matter what happens, no matter how hard or painful it may seen, I believe it's all for the best."
So she finally revealed her secret. Good for her!
Nightstorm: Yay. Great. Now can we get back to me now?
Me: Make sure you review!
Nightstorm: Stop changing the subject, you-
~Destiny (and Nightstorm)