The train continued rattling along as it was making good time. Molewhisker knew dinner was just around the corner as he and Dovewing were walking through the train. Mosspelt had already begun stripping Skyclan down as Dovewing decided to up ahead as Molewhisker looked out the window. The sun was setting and the sky was getting dark. Molewhisker knew he had a few more hours left of the day as he wanted to catch and interrogate one of them as he knew that getting the information about one of them would always mean something as it could be the clues on how to capture the thief at the end. He knew he had to be quiet about it.
Molewhisker soon entered the dining car as he was looking for someplace to sit. Dovewing soon sat next to him as they knew they wanted to keep themselves full for the time being but they also needed to get ready for when they got out to the next stop. Mosspelt and Ivypool joined them for the night as they were looking out across the countryside. The lake was coming into view.
"What is this lake anyway?" Molewhisker asked them, they had already ordered food and were drinking water and champagne. Mosspelt turned to him as she was ready to speak for the tom.
"Lake Baikal, you've never seen the holy ocean before?" Mosspelt asked him as they were waiting for their food, they knew they had a few minutes to kill before the food arrived so might as well start up a conversation.
"I haven't traveled that much but I would like to figure out more about the country." Molewhisker told her. Mosspelt soon took out her paws as she wanted to tell him about the lake.
"Lake Baikal as Thornclaw would tell me is the oldest and deepest lake in the country. According to myths I heard about, those that come here leave their souls here." Mosspelt began. Molewhisker was wondering what she was talking about, do those that come here end up dying? Was there more to the myth? Mosspelt continued to speak. "It has more water than all the great lakes combined; it is also home to the Baikal seal, one of three freshwater seals in the world. If this were the summer we would travel along faster as we would spend the hour out there trying to spot the seals. There are also several remote villages along the lake that can only be reached by boat. It's part of the beauty of the trip." Molewhisker was still curious about this.
"I bet when we get to the next stop, we'll be at the markets. They would have many interesting things to buy." Dovewing excitedly responded. She knew she was going to shop around despite the warnings. She wanted to have some memory of the location.
"Yeah they would have those things all lined up and we'll be there. Thornclaw and Brackenfur were more than generous enough to add 20 more minutes to the experience." Mosspelt responded as Floss soon came around as she began serving them.
"Well four orders of Chicken Kiev, it comes with the potatoes you all love resting on a bed of arugula, spinach and pieces of pomegranates." Floss responded as she was serving the chicken dishes. The chicken was in one large ball as Molewhisker was wondering was it all chicken? He decided to take a knife as he cuts the ball open through the center to find garlic butter mixed with parsley in the center. Cutting a piece off the white chicken ball, he decided to eat it.
"This is good." Molewhisker admitted, it had a garlicy taste but he didn't mind. The others began to dig into the plates as they wanted to have their hunger curbed for when they get off. Mosspelt turned as they saw the ice encrusted lake appear on the horizon as they were approaching it.
"What's even greater than the food is take a look for your left and right." Mosspelt responded as they were passing the huge ice encrusted lake. The lake was in fact Lake Baikal as they were rounding the bend. Molewhisker looked out as he saw the beauty of the frozen lake. No wonder she was right about those that come leave their souls here. Dovewing was looking out the window.
"Such a magnificent sight. I never knew that this was a relic from the past." Dovewing spoke out as she was captured in the mighty lake. Even if her body was still on the train, her soul must have plunged into the lake. The train soon passed through a tunnel as they continued on. They decided to finish up the rest of their food as Dovewing took out her phone. Once the train exited the tunnel, she began snapping photos of the lake. Even on a cloudy night, it was still bright enough to see animals roaming around on the lake. Packs of wild wolves, deer and many other animals on the lake, Siberia had it all. Dovewing soon continued to eat up as she wanted to be ready when they exited the area around the lake and arrive at the next station.
"I never knew greens could be so good." Ivypool was eating through the mouthfuls of leaves her chicken rested on. Floss passed them as they were still making reservations for tables and getting cats their orders.
"Not as good as the sights outside." Mosspelt told her as Molewhisker looked out to the horizon, there was a village nearby but the train wasn't going to stop for them, they had a schedule to keep up with, the train soon entered another tunnel.
"Yeah I know; I just want to get to our next stop already. When is Brackenfur going to make the announcement?" Dovewing groaned as she was getting tired of being on the train, she was itching for this journey to be over or something much more exciting to happen. Poppyfrost walked over to them as she was finished with her food.
"Molehwisker, I'm heading for my berth to put my winter attire on, I suggest you do the same thing." Poppyfrost soon walked off as she went to her berth as they would be getting off soon. Molewhisker soon got up from his chair as he had finished his food. Poppyfrost was going to make a stop with the guards who snatched her belongings up earlier and she wanted them for a bit. Molewhisker turned back to them as they were finishing their food.
"I'm going to get ready; I suggest you do the same. We don't know when we will stop but just get ready." Molewhiske told them as he soon left. All of their stuff was being stored away in the rear baggage car. He soon raced after Poppyfrost.
Poppyfrost heard the pounding of paw steps as she saw Molewhisker who was racing after her. He wanted to get to the rear of the car as he wanted something warm to put over him. Ashfur was in his bed recovering as Lionblaze opened the door.
"Ahh Molewhisker, Poppyfrost, what are you here for?" Lionblaze asked them. They both wanted one thing.
"Can we get our winter attire please?" Poppyfrost asked them as she wanted to be ready for when they stop at Irkutsk. Lionblaze nodded as he led them into the car. Backenfur was buzzing away as they were still traveling around the lake.
"I will be with you in just a moment." He responded as he went to go look for their stuff. Brackenfur was still at his post as he was getting and sending messages. He soon turned to them.
"We will be at the city in less than a half hour; I see you wanted to get here before everyone else." Brackenfur told them as he knew that they decided to come prepared. Molewhisker turned to Jayfeather.
"How's Ashfur holding?" Molewhisker asked him wondering how the tom was doing. Jayfeather turned to him.
"He's doing fine, he's in stable condition, he opened his eyes before and then he closed them again, he's under the effects of amnesia." Jayfeather reported as Ashfur was doing fine now. Molewhisker was relieved.
"Good because we don't want anyone else dead on this train." Molewhisker spoke out. Lionblaze soon returned with the supplies.
"I decided to sort them out and we just finished gutting the entire train, after this stop we should drag the safe to here and lock that car up completely." Lionblaze soon passed them their attire. "I put the warm clothing all in one corner neatly folded and I see Tigerstar has labeled everything when he came here. Considerate isn't he?" Molewhisker nodded as he and Poppyfrost exited the car and just in time, the rest of the passengers were starting to make their way into the lounge car to prepare to get off. Poppyfrost was helping Molewhisker dress as she was putting the coat and gloves over him.
"Remember, I'll meet you when we get off the train as we will get off and explore the city. I hope we get into a buying frenzy." Poppyfrost purred as she puts his hat on. Molewhisker nodded as Poppyfrost finished putting on her winter coat.
Lionblaze was giving out all the personal coats and gloves for the cats that will be disembarking the train for the hour. Brackenfur soon pulled up his map as he noticed Irkutsk was getting very near. He soon needed to make an announcement.
"All cats on the train, we are approaching Irkutsk I repeat we are approaching Irkutsk, you will have 1 hour to get off the train and explore the station. I heard that they have good things tonight. Same procedure as last time, get back on the train through the lounge car as we will have all your valuables stored until we reach the end of the line. I repeat. All passengers will give their belongings to us when they get back on the train. Have fun at the station." Brackenfur soon concluded as he went back to buzzing and keeping up with the local traffic of the line. Dovewing soon entered as she walked right passed them as she was standing on an increasingly long line to get her belongings so she wouldn't freeze out in the cold. Molewhisker was getting really excited.
"So what's the first thing you will do when we get to the station? I want to take a look around." Molewhisker asked her as he felt the excitement was in the air. Poppyfrost turned to him.
"Me? I want to find the closest jewelry stand and buy me some fine pieces of beauty; I think Cherryfall would want to propose to someone special." Poppyfrost soon relaxed in her seat as she was waiting for the others before she would get off. Dovewing soon entered as she was excited.
"This is what I've been waiting for this entire trip! This station the locals say is one that you would want to spend an hour or two in. They got the station decorated for this night in particular since it's time of year when the train comes rolling around. Whenever they got them trains out, they go crazy." Dovewing could barely contain herself as everyone was feeling that their excitement was going crazy too. They still got a few more minutes to go but it would feel like eternity for Dovewing.
Meanwhile, Rosepetal and Bumblestripe were sitting in the baggage car as they were bored and were looking for something to steal. Hollyleaf knew that they needed to lure Heathertail in here.
"Hey Rosepetal, what's the situation with Heathertail? How come she hasn't come to the car yet?" Hollyleaf asked, she was getting rather impatient on why she wasn't coming to the car. Bumblestripe looked at her before Rosepetal turned back to Hollyleaf.
"Brackenfur or whoever his name is just announced that we will be stopping at the next station. We still have her stuff stored in the safe but we need to keep a look out for when she does come back. We'll have to lure her over." Rosepetal explained that something unexpected happened. They knew that they needed to switch up their tactics to make sure everything goes according to planned. Hollyleaf nodded as she had the keys to the safe. She soon opened it up as she takes out Heathertail's phone which was light and easily recognizable for the She-cat.
"Remember, leave it out in the open, when she comes, take it and run as fast as you can back her, then we'll lock it up and leave the key in the open and when she investigates the safe, Rosepetal will spring out with the axe and cut her in two. She won't stand a chance." Hollyleaf knew she was getting tired and would want Rosepetal to do the dirty work this time however this would have some disasterous results when it did happen.
Meanwhile, Molewhisker, Poppyfrost and Dovewing were joined with Tigerstar and Ivypool as they were excited to be getting off the train again. Dovewing was huddled with Ivypool as they took a picture together. Molewhisker was looking out the window as they heard a loud grinding sound. It was the train.
The brakes of the train were applied as they were beginning to pull into the station seeing that the cats knew that their time here would come. Molewhisker looked out to see the sign of Irkutsk as it was a sign that they have finally arrived, the train soon stopped as Lionblaze soon went out into the snow as he puts a stool down to assist the cats getting off the train.
"Remember don't push don't shove we have an hour so get off the train and get back on it through this car only." Lionblaze instructed the cats as they began to get off the train. Molewhisker soon got off as he assisted Poppyfrost alongside Dovewing, Tigerstar and Ivypool. The five of them were amazed as the station was filled with shops as many babushkas and dedushkas had the station adorn with many stands as there were shops of various kinds all hanging around. All the other passengers got off one by one as they wanted to see the beauty that was Irkutsk. They soon began to scatter into groups as they wanted to see what was ahead.
Tonight is going to be interesting.
[A/N]: This will be the fourth and probably the last time the cats on the train will get off at a station. The cats in the front baggage car truly have something sinister planned for when they get back on.
Honestly this chapter just dragged on for too long as it's just them on the train and getting to the next stop but I promise I will make the next chapter enjoyable for you all.
Also on a side note, I'm going to Boston for a few days with my family and a friend so I will possibly not be putting out updates but I will try to even if I'm away. I'll see you when we are in Irkutsk.