So here we are.
Finally, Chapter 36.
I apologize for the slow update, but my co-author/editor Drizzle117 can't be rushed.
So please enjoy...
Sunflight watched as Squirreltail padded into Darkstar's den, along with Oakscar, who was grumbling something under his breath. It wasn't Oakscar who worried the golden tom, though, it was Squirreltail. His lavender eyes were flashing furiously in Sunflight's direction, and his wordless expression made the golden warrior flinch.
"Hey Brightfur!" he yowled as the silver she-cat, who had been talking to Drizzlestorm, spun around quickly in surprise at hearing her name. "Make sure you keep Sunflop in line—he might ****** those kits away to the loony MoonClan cat—"
Before the dusty brown tom could finish, he was roughly shoved into Darkstar's den by Oakscar, who grinned at Sunflight, flicked his tail once, and followed. The golden tom felt his heart warm with gratitude. If he had friends in FlameClan, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he thought.
"I'll tell you, I think that Squirreltail will never forgive you for taking me away," sighed Drizzlestorm with regret, her tail and ears drooping as she looked with a melancholy expression on her face at Sunflight.
"Don't worry yourself, Drizzy," Brightfur mewed. "We both know that Squirreltail is a very kind cat at heart. He will forgive Sunflight…eventually." But Sunflight noticed that she looked nervous, her claws sliding in and out, as if she hadn't believed her own words.
"It's fine, Drizzlestorm, really," the golden tom mewed hastily. "I used to be teased all of the time by…" Sunflight felt his voice trail off. He couldn't even remember who he was talking about—until a single named flashed into his head.
Blossomkit.
She had called him fat, lazy, weird, odd, dumb, all of the time. He had done the same to her. They had both forgiven each other. They had both known it was a game.
All of that was gone now.
"By who?" squeaked Brightfur as her green eyes rapidly lit up with odd traces of hope and excitement. Sunflight didn't know why she looked so hopeful.
"By…Waterfrost—uh, yeah! You know, when we were kits!" the golden tom lied quickly, hoping he didn't sound suspicious.
"Oh." Brightfur looked down at the ground, scuffling her one black paw with her other front paw, pure silver. Her voice had an odd trace of regret and sadness in it, something that Sunflight couldn't seem to figure out.
A brown tail landed on Brightfur's shoulder, and she looked up in surprise. "Uh, guys?" Eagletalon asked, sitting down next to the silver she-cat, an air of annoyance in his voice. "What about the kits?"
"Oh, right! Sorry, Eagletalon, we'll get right on it!" squabbled Sunflight as he approached the black medicine cat who had the two stirring she-kits at her paws. Her deep green eyes trailed from the kits to Sunflight, and she sighed.
"Be careful," was her only warning as she placed the grey-and-white kit in front of Sunflight and the black one in front of Brightfur.
"We will, Shadowwhisker, we promise," the silver she-cat breathed as she took her kit—Aspenkit, right? Sunflight wondered—and the golden tom took his, which had to be Willowkit. Shadowwhisker nodded and darted to the back of the crowd.
"Make sure you come back safely!" Sunflight saw Flowerbreeze yell. He could swear that she winked at him when she said that.
"We will, Flowerbreeze! And we assure all of FlameClan that Aspenkit and Willowkit will, in three moons time, come back safe!" yowled Brightfur. The Clan roared in approval.
*
"So…do you know how to get to the MistClan camp?"
Brightfur shook her head; the question had been nagging at her since they had left. "No, I must say that I don't." She felt Aspenkit wriggle in her jaws as she formed the words around her.
"But you're allies!" Sunflight protested loudly through his half-open jaws. Willowkit let out a squeak, and Brightfur winced. She knew that if any cat was too loud in this part of the forest, all of the precious adders would hear them and be frightened away.
He's learning, she reasoned to herself. No reason to get my tail tied in knots.
"Have you ever been to the EarthClan camp?" Brightfur shot back at him, slightly annoyed by his irksome questions.
Sunflight looked down at the ground and didn't say anything as he slowly trudged along.
The she-cat smirked. "I didn't think so." She stopped for a heartbeat to place Aspenkit on the ground and re-adjust her in her jaws, and then continued to move onward.
It didn't take them very long to reach the MistClan border, and the tom squinted, his blue eyes not seeing anything through the thick fog. Brightfur tried in vain to see anything at all, but her green eyes couldn't seem to penetrate the wall of mist.
"How do they see through this stuff?" Sunflight grumbled, placing one paw over the border, evidentially stepping on a sharp stone and bouncing back with a yelp.
"Their eyes have adjusted, I guess. I don't know, they're weird," Brightfur shrugged off his question like it was a pebble on her paw.
Sunflight sighed. "Well," he mewed. "I guess it's time to head in."
*
The fog drenched Sunflight to the bone, and both Willowkit and Aspenkit were squealing as their fur sagged from the wet air, making them feel like rocks in the travelling cat's jaws.
"Since when is Aspenkit—or any kit, for that matter—so heavy?" mumbled Brightfur through a mouthful of ebony black fur that so resembled her former mentor's.
"It's the fog," Sunflight answered. "MoonClan gets foggy sometimes and your fur takes in the moisture from the air. It makes you feel heavier, because you're being weighed down by the water."
Brightfur, whose fur was now a dark grey, nodded, sighing. "I've never been this wet before," she told Sunflight. "This is probably a FlameClan record for how wet a cat is."
"Weird," mewed Sunflight. He couldn't imagine not getting wet—it was part of MoonClan to scramble through streams. FlameClan might be a little bit harder than he thought to adjust to.
Suddenly a pair of bright green eyes shone in the mist, and a medium sized dusty brown she-cat sprang out of the fog. She hissed, her claws unsheathing as she snarled the words.
"Why are you in MistClan territory?"
Sunflight froze.
MistClan! he shrieked in his mind. Enemy, enemy! I've got to run for it!
Brightfur momentarily glanced at Sunflight and a worried look struck her eyes. The golden tom wondered if he was visibly shaking—Great StarClan, he hoped he wasn't.
"Well?" the cat hissed as she approached
Sunflight so that they were muzzle to muzzle. The golden warrior became mute with fear, his tongue feeling as if it had been tied into a million knots.
I'm such a coward! he thought to himself nervously as she she-cat's breath breathed down his throat. For a second he thought she would scratch him if he was silent for a heartbeat longer.
"What are you, deaf?" the MistClan she-cat hissed.
Sunflight closed his eyes and prepared for the blow, when suddenly Brightfur paced forward, looking the she-cat straight in the eye. "We're here to ask for help!"
The cat looked confused as she seemed to notice Brightfur for the very first time. "Wait a minute—weren't you at the Gathering when Smoketail was pronounced dead?"
Brightfur nodded as Sunflight took a few hasty pawsteps back. He was worried that he was going to end up like Snowfeather, thrown in the river, but no one would or could save him now! This was terrible—maybe he couldn't be part of FlameClan, if he would act like this every time he came upon his new allies…
"So do you know us?" asked the silver she-cat testily, narrowing her eyes and smirking.
"Yeah…uh…" the brown she-cat hesitated. "You're Brightflight and Sunfur! Yeah, from…um…EarthClan, right?" She looked hopefully at both of them, waiting for conformation, but all Brightfur did was roll her eyes. Sunflight figured that this cat didn't pay much attention at Gatherings.
*
"Brightfur and Sunflight. We're of FlameClan and…um…FlameClan." Thinking of Sunflight as a FlameClan cat was too hard for Brightfur's mind to process right now. "And you're, um…ah-ha! Leafclaw, right?" The silver she-cat was surprised she had remembered the name, but then realized that she had heard some MoonClan cats describing her as daft and foolish, and that's how she had remembered.
"That's correct." The brown she-cat's ear twitched with annoyance. "What do you want with us?"
Out of the corner of her eye Brightfur saw Sunflight's fur fluff up in…was that hostility or fear? She wasn't quite sure why he was acting this way—perhaps he was too used to being enemies with MistClan to all of a sudden become their friends.
"Well, these are the kits of Featherspirit's sister, Ebonyflight, who has just joined StarClan, so—" the tom started, his voice shaking just the tiniest bit, but he was cut off by Leafclaw, who looked at him in surprise.
"These are Featherspirit's nieces? Why didn't you just say so in the first place, instead of let me toss you around like that? Quickly, we'll have to take them to the camp—Wolfecho can take them in. She's just had her litter."
Sunflight looked so surprised that Brightfur wondered if he would fall over if she poked him with a stick. "Come on, mouse-brain, don't let her get away!" she hissed to him as Leafclaw's brown shape darted into the mist.
*
Thank StarClan she didn't rip my pelt off! Sunflight thought to himself as he darted after Brightfur, Willowkit clamped firmly in his jaws. But what was I worried about? I'm allies with this Clan now!
But whatever the stakes, the golden tom still couldn't forgive any cat in this Clan for nearly killing Snowfeather. Not only that, but the idea of teaming up with MistClan just seemed rather odd. The mist grew thicker and thicker still as he thought, until the whole world was completely bathed in the thick, mysterious mist. Sunflight couldn't see his own paws—or anything else, for that matter. He was like a kit in a blizzard of white.
Suddenly Leafclaw turned to look at them, her green eyes being the only thing Sunflight could see of her. He could sense Brightfur and Aspenkit's presence right next to him as the MistClan cat spoke.
"We're here," she mewed. "Welcome to MistClan camp."
Well, most likely there won't be any more updates until next year, I want to wish you guys a Merry Christmas, Hanukkah Sameach, Happy Kwanzaa, or what ever else you all celebrate.
Thank you all for reading this story!
Drizzle117 and I probably won't see you until 2013...
Until then! Have a Happy New Year!