Chapter 26
FearClan/Willow
"Are you completely certain that you are ready for tonight?" Hawk asked as she led the way through the brush.
The silver tabby tom followed her, his tail sweeping against the brittle twigs of branches. "I am. Night hunting is what we are going to call it."
"And we will be going over that route today." she explained, excitement making her tail quiver. "If we hunt along it, they won't know we were heading further away. We have to cross into BushClan territory across the bridge to make it seem we are doing prey stealing in the night to establish that I am teaching you how to do it for the good of FearClan."
"How much does it tear you apart to do this?" Willow asked softly, ears straining to pick up the smallest of sounds of prey.
The dark brown tabby became silent as she padded, before looking to him over her slender shoulders. "Dear Willow, it pains me a lot, but this is the way of a medicine cat. We do not see borders, we see cats who need our help. Or at least, it's how I see it. Warriors, cats like yourself, see borders and enemies. You see, there is subtle differences between us and Clan-cats."
"We both live in groups, you have established that before." Willow reminded her.
"Yes, and the deputy is the second-in-command and advisor combined." Hawk explained, "Medicine cats heal and speak to the ancestors every half-moon to advise the leader if trouble is brewing on the horizon like a thunderstorm."
"They have no cat to mediate between the hierarchy." Willow pointed out.
"That is true, but their warriors range from twelve moons at the youngest and many, many moons older. However, they are considered part of the Clan as soon as they are six moons old, which is a vast difference. Their kit-hood ends at six moons of age, something you are becoming near mind you."
"Not as young as I had to be to become a leader." he commented, before shaking out his fur. "Still, going by all of this, the only real difference is that our kit-hood lasts much longer and we have no cats to look after the injured or sick. What do they do about the ancient cats?"
"In FearClan stories our elder-aged cats would be part of a branch between the high ranks and the lower ranks under the name of 'The Council.' While in a Clan they are referred to as 'Elders' and are allowed to rest and be looked after by their Clan-mates for their hard work over the many moons they survived." Her voice was gentle and calm, leaving him hanging on her every word.
As far as he had known, she had spent hardly enough time to be an excellent medicine cat. Making him wonder and question internally how she had become so knowledgeable. He glanced to her, seeing her eyeing the plants and shaking her head. Something about her had been mysterious since he was smaller than her, but he never quite paid it much mind until now. She was somewhat aloof, her eyes seeming to sparkle like they held stars within them and her delicate movements, even while hunting, seemed to be as though she was honing each one of her senses.
"They don't hold as much weight as the council, but they are allowed to think and speak their piece should they feel ready to." Hawk finished meowing, raising her tail to halt him. "There is something ahead. Possibly a bird. Do you remember how to hunt those?"
He nodded numbly, his mind whirling with more questions that he had to keep his jaws shut about. If Pounce was nearby he could easily turn Heather against Hawk and her teachings. "I'll get it." he meowed at last.
With careful steps, his grayish-brown paws carried him through the snow. His belly fur barely brushing the snowy ground as his tail hung just low enough to not snag on the low hanging branches of bushes. His amber eyes wide and unblinking as he approached from around a bed of reeds. Their brittle stems hissing in the breeze slightly as he spotted a crow. It was busily pecking at something hidden in a snow drift. It's black eyes blinking and looking around with an intelligent gaze.
Willow felt the air get caught in his throat, burning it from the chill of leafbare. Black tabby fur was clinging to it's beak. Horror filled him as another crow stepped into place, it's head bobbing forward as it searched their surroundings with a critical eye. With a low coughing-like caw it seemed to be speaking to the other crow before pecking into the snowdrift.
There was no mistaking it. Willow knew it without needing a second chance to see it. The crows were eating Juniper's body. He began to stumble back, fear over coming him as he backed into a bush, it's branches clattering noisily, clumps of snow falling onto his silver pelt. The cold sinking to his skin as his fur began to stand on end all over. He wanted to call for Hawk, but he could no longer find his voice.
The harsh cries of the crows called as their wings flapped noisily into the air, abandoning their frozen meal. He was hardly aware of time as bitter hurt and shame filled him. It was his fault for being the first-born. He should have somehow let one of his siblings be born before him. His claws dug into the hard icy ground as he tried to pull himself together. Yet, he couldn't. Nothing could save him from the horror he felt.
However long he crouched there in fear and grief and pain, it seemed to last forever until Hawk's warm body curled near him. Her tail soothingly caressing over his back to smooth down his fur. Without warning, he buried his face into her side, his eyes closed tight to pretend it was all just a bad dream. He wished with all his might that when he opened his eyes he would be in the willow-den and Juniper was still with them. Yet, the calm mew beside him proved to him how real it all was.
"It's alright, the crows were only doing what they had to do." Hawk mewed softly, doing her best to comfort him as though she was his true mother.
"W-what would th-the C-C-Clan-cats-s-s do for their d-dead?" he mewed shakily.
"They have the elders bury their dead." She mewed softly, "Hold a vigil to celebrate the life the dead once had or could have had. Anything to tell them goodbye."
"How do you know?" he looked to her, seeing those calm pale green depths watching him with complete trust and affection.
Hawk blinked slowly. "The stars tell me so in my dreams."
"The stars?"
"The starry-spirits known as StarClan watch over everything here. This was their territory in life, I have been given the power to walk in dreams with them whenever they need to talk to me. They teach me how to heal and how a Clan works. However, there is no way for me to put it into practice."
"Why do they come to me?" Willow murmured.
Hawk looked into the distance as she mewed softly, "I don't know. On the next half-moon I will try to leave to visit Mothermouth to speak with them. I haven't spoken with them at the Moonstone ever since I stayed here. If tonight goes well, then after the no-moon we should be able to go back together and I can ask StarClan on your behalf a question of your desire."
"Please." Willow begged, huddling to her closer. "Where do bad cats go? Was Cedar so bad that I can never see her among the stars again? Did Dusk, Thistle, and Juniper end up in StarClan? If not, where did they go? I want to ask all of these things, but I don't think they would ever answer me."
Hawk's eyes twinkled in amusement. "I will ask them as much as I can among my dreams and the dreams I share at half-moon. I wish to see the Clan-Cats, so you and I will have to walk there. We will feign hunting in BushClan territory at night to try and bring back extra prey. Anything to keep the charade of loyalty to these cats."
The young tom nodded, looking to the snowy forest floor. Hawk twitched her whiskers, tickling his fur slightly before he nodded to her unspoken question. "I want to get far away from here. I don't want to hunt near Juniper's body."
"Would you prefer if I buried him?"
"No, Pounce might come across it."
"And if he has listened in on us?"
"Cloud-fluff or not, I respect your beliefs and what you have to say. Besides, I find it interesting to learn about what happens across this border. I don't know what we can use from it just yet, but it's up to him if he wants to try and make you out as a horrible cat. I just want my curiosity to be satisfied so I can sleep better." Yet, I asked them all now to ignore what I think must be happening for those crow's meal.
Hawk shrugged it off with a shake of her fur. "Come then, let's try to get closer to the border. If we are lucky, no cat will be there to challenge us."
Willow nodded numbly, wishing he could unsee the tuft of fur on the crow's beak. He stretched as he stood up, arching he back before leaving the comfort of the bush. He shook out his fur to try and settle his nerves. The discovery had shaken him to his core, making butterflies seem to flutter around in his belly now. However, he tried his best to ignore it, knowing that tonight he would get no sleep until the mission was complete.
. . .
The claw-shaped moon was hanging high in the sky, hidden by interlaced branches as Willow slipped out of the den. Shadow was on the gnarled root behind him, hardly a shadow among the pale trunk of the tree. The young tom paid him no heed as he walked to Hawk in the center of the clearing. Her pale green eyes seeming to gleam with starlight like always. He shuddered slightly, feeling as though he was looking at a starry spirit-cat all over again.
"You ready for night hunting?" Hawk asked, her tail tip twitching nervously. "It will be dangerous for even you."
Willow lifted his chin. "I can handle it. I'm a cat, not a mouse afraid of everything that rustles."
"Good, to be a leader you have to be decisive and stand by your choice." Hawk praised him warmly, looking to Shadow evenly. "I will protect him with my life, brother. We will be back before dawn at the latest."
"I would hope so." he sneered, tail lashing unhappily. "Taking my son, the first-born even, to do night hunting with foxes around."
Hawk seemed unbothered. "No worries, I trust that he can climb a tree into safety before I succumb to the foxes. We will return alive, or at least Willow will."
Shadow parted his lips in a wordless snarl, before tearing his icy gaze away from them. Willow looked to Hawk, who dipped her head to him before leading the way out of the camp. It was dangerous, but they would look out for one another. After all, the claw-moon won't last for much longer. In a sunset or two it would be a no-moon before they knew it. They had gone on a few night hunting expeditions as a test of Shadow and Heather's trust. Only going further and further from camp until now.
It was a test of their bravery and a test that Willow will be able to handle it. Yet, he felt it was all a lie. They were going farther away from the camp then ever before. They would have to come back with prey this time to make it seem like a success. Which would make it more difficult, especially if there was a patrol even this late into the night. Swiftly, they followed their old scent trails, avoiding the pool of it by a bush to ignore Juniper's snowdrift and head towards the river.
With swift steps, they were covering ground quickly, only stopping to wander around the patches of territory to make it appear that they were hunting even beyond the old scent they left behind. Everything to keep their lie as the truth. Hawk stuck close to him, only standing still occasionally when he wandered into the brush where he could fit. After a few heartbeats of searching, he would turn back the way he came and meet up with her before they continue together.
Every so slowly, they made their way to the Twoleg Bridge and crossed it after carefully waiting and pacing. Certain they wouldn't be caught by anything, they crossed as swiftly as they could. Their paws thrumming across the wooden planks that creaked beneath them. It was eerie and silent with all of the snow. Only the occasional hoot of an owl echoed through the air as they reached the other side. Their paws skidding on the icy earth.
"This way." Hawk whispered, taking the lead as she padded deeper into BushClan territory.
Anxiety clawed at Willow's chest as he followed, his amber eyes darting into the din of the spindly trees and clumps of bushes. He had never been within it before, but it looked as intimidating as he always thought it would be. Swallowing dryly, he crept further and further into the unknown territory. Hawk's dark fur almost vanishing among the thick undergrowth. Her paws so swift it was as though she had been born to race through it.
He followed, going faster and faster as they raced through the undergrowth. They flashed through the trees like fish in a stream, swarming their way to the far end of the territory. The course grass began to become rougher with peaty ground. A slight spring in each step as they halted on the crest of a hill. Hawk was panting, but her eyes were bright as she kneaded the grass at her paws. Willow looked over the landscape that unfolded before them, it was moorland stretching to a black snake where large glistening beetles seemed to race across at blinding speeds.
"What's that?" he asked, hardly able to tear his gaze from it.
"That's the thunderpath." Hawk informed him. "We have to cross it to reach Mothermouth."
"This is the way then?" he looked to her in surprise.
Hawk's gaze was fixed on the smudge of peaks that were Highstones. "Yes, I will teach you how to cross a thunderpath here. It will be terrifying, but if we are to answer the stars in half-moon's time, we will have to run across it now."
"And those shiny things?"
"Monsters." she murmured. "Those are monsters."
Willow looked them over, they must be huge to look like beetles to him. "I'm ready to cross."
"Let's follow the path down the hill that Twoleg's use." Hawk spoke. "It will make it harder for BushClan to know we crossed to get there. If they knew, they could tell FearClan and then I may not be able to finish training you on behalf of Heather's orders."
"Right, lead the way Hawk."
The she-cat hesitated, before speaking once more. "At Mothermouth, the base of Highstones, I was given my medicine cat name."
"Medicine cat name?" Willow echoed, confused on where this was going.
"Poppyclaw, BushClan's medicine cat gave me a proper name." she meowed, her voice sounding distant as she looked into a distance that only she could see. "He named me Hawksight."
"Why?"
"I would say it is how Clan-cat's are, but that is not entirely true. Their names all have a meaning, personality wise. I am Hawk because of my pelt resembling a hawk's feather. But I gained 'sight' because I was born with a gift to see spirit-cats. The very same who led me to BushClan."
Willow blinked, unsure how to take it as he stepped forward to her. He could remember seeing Frostfur and how shocked she was. He could recall hearing Frostfur's mew in his ears. Suddenly, it all became clear. The camp of FearClan was where Clan-cats used to live in the past and StarClan still watched over it, leading to him having those strange dreams. He could see them when awake because of it being sacred ground of some sort. At last, he felt a little more complete. He wasn't alone.
"I had seen Frostfur once." he meowed, his legs trembling beneath him. "She would come to me in my dreams, but only once she was in the waking world."
"Then you must have a grand destiny before you." she murmured, glancing to him. "Borne of a cat whose heart was twisted with hate and sired by a tom whose mother had her life touched by Clan-cats. Clearly, FearClan cannot sway the stars for they have it passed along them. You will be a leader that StarClan will touch just as they had to many leaders before you."
"Hawksight," he meowed, taking her by surprise. "I will call you that only on nights like these, far from the territory of treachery. You earned that name, correct?" she nodded. "Then I shall use it as I see fit."
"Thank you." Hawksight blinked before leading the way down the hill. "Now come, the stars have waited for you to know this path. I will show you it is nothing to be afraid of. Next time you dream of this walk, follow it through and see what happens. Everything happens for a reason and it's up to you to be brave and face it head on."
Willow nodded, following Hawksight down the hill, it was steep, but the path kept them grounded safely as they traveled. They began to pick up the speed once they were used to the slope and with his advisor ahead of him he was more willing to run the rest of the way, not even worried about the grumbling in his belly or the exhaustion that would plague them the following sunrise. He felt freed, liberated even. No longer was he keeping the secret of his dreams to himself nor the shocked look of Frostfur.
At last, there was another cat who understood what he was going through. One that could understand how much he wanted to understand. Excitement made the trip seem shorter as they raced to the thunderpath. Once they reached it, caution had returned to them. They watched the monsters that raced by, grayish-black slush gathered along the thunderpath. It had looked black from the distance, but up close he could tell it was covered in snow.
Hawksight was waiting for a break between the monsters. As soon as it appeared, they raced across together without a word. Willow's heart was pounding as he gasped for fresh air. The acrid fumes nearly choking him as they escaped to the other side. They slowed to a stop, looking back to the thunderpath as a massive monster, bigger than he had ever seen before now, rumbled by, making the ground shake beneath his pads as he clung to the dead grass beneath the snow. It was tall and long, rumbling noisily by. Shivering, they turned their back on it and headed further away.
Highstones hardly seeming to come closer as they approached. Their eyes wide as the claw-moon hung above their heads, seeming to lower ever so slowly towards the peaks. Hawksight soon stopped with a scuff of her paws. Willow was panting, his muscles aching from the long journey. The entrance of the cave yawning open to him, seeming to be calling him to come inside it. He glanced to the dark brown tabby, her pale green eyes sparkling with longing and loss.
"Soon, we will return a half-moon from the no-moon." Willow promised her.
"Only if I survive that long." she murmured, pain searing through her. "I know I said I would give up my life to be an advisor until you are twelve moons old. After that, I might never see it from the living ever again."
"I won't let it happen." Willow told her firmly, "I will be leader by then and I can prevent it."
"You have to put FearClan first." Hawksight reminded him bitterly.
He lashed his tail. "I won't. You are part of FearClan, to take care of it, I have to care for every member within it. That includes you, even if Heather says otherwise."
Hawksight glanced to him, her pale green eyes shimmering with emotion. "Thank you. Truly, I am grateful."
"There is no need to be." Willow reminded her gently as he calmed himself. "You taught me better then even Heather, Shadow, and Cedar combined."
She nodded, turning away from Highstones. "The cave is Mothermouth, it leads to the Moonstone. We will come back to it at the next half-moon. Until then, let's go home."
Author Note:
At last, Willow's chapter is complete once more. I know the time frame is becoming strange, but I like to assume it all happens around the same time. I hope it comes across as such, if not I am so sorry. Help me try to fix it for the future chapters or stories.
Thank you for reading, having a nice day/night! - NightSky
