Chapter 2: Spotted Owl
The night groaned with the creaks of branches in the frosty wind and shivered with the laments of owls. Lush foliage left over from the fading Time of Green Earth, dipped and waved in the wind, casting lacy moonlit shadows on the forest floor. A dense boundary of undergrowth encircled a steep-sided hollow. Boulders of all shapes and sizes lined the slopes, and throngs of cats lined the boulders. Despite the hush of the night, the atmosphere inside the hollow was electric with tension and anticipation.
The stone was so cold beneath Spotted Owl's paws that she swore that by the end of the meeting, they would turn to ice. Tall Pine and Blossom Dust sat on either side of her, sandwiching her between them. All three of them perched on a tall, narrow boulder near the top of the hill so they could see. Around them, the other former members of the spy patrol were sprinkled down the slope of where the Clan of the Flowing Waters and the Clan of the Dark Caves council members usually sat. Yellow Sky sat on a long, skinny boulder at the base of the slope with Sun Splash, Owl Eye, and Melting River, the former patrol leaders. Rabbit Nose and Quick Clouds sat nearby.
The collective scents of all the former patrol members sitting close together flooded Spotted Owl's nose. Even after three days, they already carried their Clans' scents again. It was strange to be among them again, these cats who had traveled, slept, hunted, fought, and suffered alongside each other, but had gone back to their Clans as if nothing had happened. Who, one day, she might have to face in battle. A pang of nostalgia shivered through Spotted Owl as she thought about the world—and the cats—they had left behind.
The council cats from all four Clans sat across from the patrol, facing them, on the slopes the Clan of the Morning Sun and the Clan of the High Peaks usually occupied. The four chieftains sat at the base of the hill, mirroring the patrol leaders. Gray Moon, the chieftain of the Clan of the Flowing Waters's expression, was a scowl as if he was not happy about being banished from his Clan's side.
Grass Moon, the chieftain of the Clan of the High Peaks, stood in her spot beside Mossy Moon. "Welcome, everyone, to the Grand Starlight Council." Her grass-green eyes swept the hillsides. She paused, lingering on the patrol leaders as she dipped her head to them. "And welcome back to our Clanmates. We are glad that you are home safely." She paused to swallow, and continued, her tail tip twitching. "All of the other chieftains and I have heard shortened versions of your report, but we would like to all hear the entire story together. The Bands will not wait long to retaliate. We must come together to defeat them."
"Yes, I agree," Mossy Moon said, touching her tail to Grass Moon's shoulder as her fellow chieftain took a seat.
Hawk Moon, a dark brown tabby tom who was the chieftain of the Clan of the Dark Caves, nodded his agreement. He looked to the patrol leaders. "Please, begin."
Spotted Owl felt a surge of pride as her instructor rose to her paws. With a glance at the other patrol leaders, Yellow Sky leaped down off the boulder and padded into the center of the hollow floor. The smokey-gray she-cat appeared tiny from where Spotted Owl sat, but her stance was strong, and her voice rang out clearly as she began. "The patrol set off nearly two moons ago now. We traveled down the mountain, through a forest and farmland, where we met a family of farm cats with whom we stayed a night."
"Farmland? Farm cats?" An older dark brown she-cat whose scent identified her as a Clan of the Dark Caves cat called out, her brow furrowed.
"A farm is a place where Twolegs have strange huge animals and grow plants. Farm cats are cats who live there," Sun Splash explained.
"Strange," a pale gray tabby she-cat from the Clan of the Flowing Waters muttered.
"They helped us get directions to the Twolegplace, where you told us we had to go to find the Bands' territory," Yellow Sky went on, inclining her head in acknowledgment to the chieftains. "Unfortunately, it was challenging to find our way through the Twolegplace, and we accidentally ended up on the territory of some of the cats who live there. We were fortunate to find a guide who helped us through the Twolegplace and showed us the way to the Bands' territory."
"Who was your guide?" Grass Moon asked, her head tilted.
Yellow Sky hesitated, her gaze moving like a queen to her kit to where Spotted Owl, Blossom Dust, and Tall Pine sat. Tall Pine and Blossom Dust pressed against Spotted Owl as she met her instructor's gaze. Yellow Sky's ember-yellow eyes were round, questioning. Spotted Owl nodded slowly, though she ducked her head, waiting for what was going to come.
The smokey gray she-cat faced the chieftains once more. "Our guide was an old familiar face who many of you know. It was Creek. He—"
An array of hisses and gasps interrupted Yellow Sky as the Clan cats reacted to her words. Mutters sprouted through the crowd like weeds as the majority of the Clan cats exchanged looks of surprise or contempt, but some of the younger cats from the patrol like Storm Breeze of the Clan of the Flowing Waters and Shadow Step of the Clan of the Dark Caves were just confused.
"That snakeheart," a Clan of the Dark Caves cat spat.
"Good-for-nothing rogue."
"Traitor."
Spotted Owl buried her head in her paws, her ear tips burning with what she wasn't sure was embarrassment or rage. Now I remember why I was so desperate to prove myself to my Clan. A snarl built like a brewing storm in the back of her throat. Our Clan may have accepted us, but some cats will never change. They think that they are so high and mighty with their pure Clan blood. They're hypocrites. No one is better than another. We would never have survived without the help of the rogues, loners, street cats, and farm cats, cats some Clan cats look down on.
"All they think about when they hear Creek's name is how he isn't a Clanborn cat," Tall Pine said through clenched teeth, his tail slowly swishing back and forth. "All they see is how he left. Nothing else. They are so blind."
"I miss our father," Blossom Dust murmured.
Sorrow bloomed in Spotted Owl's chest. She nosed her sister's cheek. "I miss Creek as well. Cedar, too."
"Hey," Owl Eye snarled, springing to his paws. His one right eye flashed as his gaze raked the crowd. "Creek may not be Clanborn, and he may have made a lot of mistakes, but we would not have found the Bands' territory, gotten the information we need, or rescued our Clanmates without him. We're wasting time with this petty matter. Let Yellow Sky continue."
Spotted Owl gaped at the dark brown tabby tom as he sat down where he stood, wrapping his tail around his paws and glaring at the cats opposite him. He was the one who distrusted Creek the most out of the entire patrol. Now he's defending him?
Owl Eye's scorching words had jolted the crowd into stony-silence, and they remained that way as Yellow Sky continued. "Once we found the Bands' territory, we chose a camp beyond their borders. Creek agreed to stay as our guide, and he was instrumental in helping us gather information. We were able to learn a lot, but unfortunately, not everything." She paused to clear her throat. "We found out about a summit with all of the Bands. We went to spy on them, but they knew that we would be there. They attacked us and took several members of the patrol prisoner. Some of us were injured, and we all had to flee and move our camp. We had to focus on figuring out what to do and finding our Clanmates, so we were unable to gather any more information."
"How did the Band cats know you were at the meeting?" Gray Moon asked, his eyes narrowed.
Yellow Sky's tone was hushed, her eyes cast on the grass of the hollow at her paws. "Creek betrayed us."
Outrage exploded across the hollow. The council was in chaos. Spotted Owl pressed her belly against the boulder beneath her as cats muttered to each other in dark tones or shouted out statements of anger and disbelief. She looked between the chieftains, Yellow Sky, and Owl Eye, begging one of them to put a stop to it. But another cat spoke up.
"Yes, Creek betrayed us, but he only did so because the Band cats forced him to." Melting River's mew was soft but it rang out clear and strong. He had leaped down from the boulder and stood beside Yellow Sky in the center of the hollow. The moonlight glimmered on his silver and white fur, revealing the raw pink scars that crisscrossed his pelt. Spotted Owl swallowed, all too aware of her own.
"The Bands had taken his mate and son prisoner and threatened to kill them if he did not comply with their demands," Melting River clarified. "They are even more ruthless and vicious than you can imagine, especially their supreme commander, Thunderclap. I was one of the cats taken prisoner. Thunderclap did—" His voice trembled. "He did horrible things to us. He interrogated us for information about the Clans, and when we did not tell him, he hurt us. But Creek is not like the Bands. When he realized that they were not going to release his mate or son and what they were doing to us, he left and went to help our Clanmates rescue us. He rallied loners, rogues, street cats, and farm cats to help us fight. He gave us intel to help us defeat the Bands. Without him, we would still be prisoners of the Bands, and our mission would have failed."
Grass Moon stood, her fur bristling slightly. Her rounded eyes met Melting River's. "But if he hadn't betrayed you, Sheer Ledge would still be alive."
"Yes," Melting River said, his voice soft. "But without him, Spotted Owl, Rabbit Nose, Storm Breeze, and I would be dead."
Sun Splash joined the other patrol leaders in the center of the hollow as she addressed the crowd. "Now you have all have heard the complete story of our journey. You all know now how much of a threat the Bands pose. We need to focus and come up with a plan to stop them."
Silence met her words, but slowly, murmurs rippled through the council as cats expressed their agreement.
Mossy Moon rose to her paws, her expression sober. "Now that we've heard your story, can you tell us what you learned?"
Yellow Sky nodded. "Our camp was closest to the Bands in the forest, so that is mainly where we were able to infiltrate. Though they used to be smaller separate groups, we gathered that the forest Bands were taken over and are now ruled by one cat who calls himself their supreme commander, Thunderclap. Like Melting River said, he is vicious and ruthless and intelligent. We believe that he is the driving force behind the Bands' conquest to destroy us. He has a group of his closest supporters, whom he calls captains, who are incredibly loyal and enforce his orders without question—"
Spotted Owl shivered as her mind flashed back to the fierce glare of the tom with the long scar who had captured her and the reddish-brown tom who had always been the one to take them to be interrogated. And then she was back in that cold, dark cave with the long claws suspended over her—
"Spotted Owl, are you okay?" A shoulder nudged her side. The dappled she-cat blinked, Blossom Dust's face coming into focus.
"Yes," She said quickly, focusing her attention on the meeting instead. "Every risk we took, every dangerous thing we did is finally paying off. We are going to make a plan, and we're going to defeat the Bands," she said, more to herself than her siblings. We're going to defeat the Bands. We will win. And then the nightmare will go away. Slowly, she felt herself begin to believe it.
"Yes. Everything is going to be okay." Tall Pine pressed himself against Spotted Owl's side with a purr.
"—Thunderclap has control over the Bands in the forest, but we are not sure if he rules the Bands who live by the marsh and streams or on the moor," Yellow Sky was saying. "He seems to be allied with Bee, the leader of the Moor Bands, but we do not know if their alliance is permanent. Storm, the leader of the River Bands, refused to ally, but we don't know if it's still that way." She let out a weary sigh and set her jaw in a grim line. "Unfortunately, that's all we were able to learn. This information can help us, but we should be cautious because there are a lot of uncertainties—mainly that we don't know what they are planning."
"It is unfortunate that you were not able to learn more," Hawk Moon rumbled, "but I am glad that you focused on rescuing our Clanmates instead of the mission. Cats' lives are more important than information." He cocked his head. "Since you all experienced it firsthand, can you tell us, what do you think is the best course of action?"
"We need to have allies," Melting River replied immediately. "The Bands' numbers are greater than ours', especially if they all join forces. We need to make sure we keep our alliance with the loners, rogues, street cats, and farm cats. The Bands will most likely retaliate against them for fighting alongside us." He raised his chin. "They are tired of the tyranny of the Bands. They want to fight back. They'll fight alongside us again."
"We need to train all fighters, hunters, and trainees in the Bands' fighting techniques. To beat those snakehearts, we need to fight like them," Owl Eye growled, his eyes narrowed into slits.
Sun Splash tilted her head. "We should also consider recruiting Band cats as allies. Storm and the River Bands might be willing to help us if it means they can stay independent. Thunderclap also rules through fear and threats, so there must be some cats who want a fair and just leader."
"There is no way that we are recruiting Band cats to help us fight," Gray Moon snapped. He leaped to his paws, his sleek coat spiking up like a thistle. "We cannot trust any of them. No matter what, they all are still Band cats."
"That doesn't mean that they're all bad," Sun Splash protested. She twitched an ear. "It's worth a shot."
"Not when they've hurt and betrayed our Clan enough already—your Clan, too, Sun Splash." Gray Moon glared at the yellow she-cat until she ducked her head.
"That's true; the Bands have hurt and betrayed all of the Clans," Mossy Moon said to Gray Moon, her tone soft and even. "But we need to keep an open mind to all possibilities."
"Right," Grass Moon agreed. She scanned the hollow, speaking to all of the cats present. "All ideas are welcome at this point, but I think that we should answer the most important question first; what is our next move? Do we take this opportunity to strike first, or do we wait for them to come to us?"
"We strike first—" Owl Eye said, slamming his paw on the leaf-strewn floor of the hollow.
"We wait and—" Gray Moon started.
"We attack—" Sharp Wind said at the same time, everyone jumping like kits on a feather to answer the question.
"Hold on." Hawk Moon's stern tone cut through the clamor like a claw through thick grass. "Only one cat should speak at a time if we want to hear everyone's opinion. Owl Eye?"
"We should strike now," the dark brown tabby tom said. His eyes blazed like sparks from a fire as he paced around the center of the hollow. "The Bands are overly confident, so our victory will have shaken them—for now, but not for long. We need to take this opportunity to strike while they're vulnerable."
"But it will take at least a quarter moon to prepare our Clans and travel there," a ginger tabby she-cat from the Clan of the High Peaks pointed out, her whiskers twitching. "It's already been half a moon. Won't they have recovered by the time we are ready to attack?"
"Exactly," Gray Moon said, his tone clipped like the snap of a twig. "We should wait for them to come to us. We will be stronger in our territory, and we can ensure that we are victorious."
"It would be easier to stop an attack since there's only one entrance to the Valley," Wind Fur, Gray Moon's regent, noted from where he sat further up the slope.
"But we don't know if or when they'll come," Falling Star said, lashing her tail. "It could be tomorrow or next moon. The Clan of the Morning Sun cannot be the only ones guarding the Dawn Pass. We'll be exhausted by the time they come, and we'll be defeated easily, leaving the rest of you vulnerable."
"We're strongest right now at the end of the Time of Green Earth," Cloudy Water said. "If we wait too much longer, it will be the Time of the Frozen Earth, and we'll have to focus on survival. We'll be in no shape to fight the Bands."
"And we don't know what they're planning," Yellow Sky added. She had returned to her seat on the boulder, but Spotted Owl knew the telltale twitching of the tip of her tail all too well. "I do not doubt that it will be even more severe after what we did. It would be better to strike first and defeat them than wait to find out."
Mossy Moon nodded slowly. "We sent the patrol to gather information to use it to aid our fight against the Bands. I think that's what we should do. Why put off the inevitable and drag this war out?"
"We have the information we need, allies who are ready to fight, and we are strong and united while the Bands are weak." His expression was confident as he rose to his paws. "I concur; our next move should be to attack. Is everyone in agreement?"
"No." Gray Moon sprang to his paws and leaped down from his boulder. His eyes swept the crowd, frosty as the bitter nights of the Time of Frozen Earth. "You all are mouse-brained if you think the best next move is to attack. The Bands will have had plenty of time to recover, and they will be even more relentless now because they are hungry for revenge. We'll be fighting in their territory—they'll have the advantage. And, as the patrol said, there are still a lot of things we don't know. We won't stand a chance. I will not lead my Clan into battle to be massacred." He unsheathed his front claws, sinking them into the soft soil.
"We'll all die anyway if—" Owl Eye began.
"But," Gray Moon said, cutting Owl Eye off, "if we wait, we will have the time to rest and prepare ourselves. We'll have the advantage of fighting in our territory. And we will know when they come, and we can trap them at the Dawn Pass." His eyes shone triumphantly.
"What you're suggesting relies on the Clan of the Morning Sun guarding the Dawn Pass." Falling Star's voice was a low growl as she stalked down the slope, prowling like a lion stalking its prey until she stood nose to nose with Gray Moon.
The gray tom shrugged, but his eyes never left Falling Star. "That is your Clan's duty."
"That duty will be a death sentence if and when the Bands come." The cream and white she-cat's hackles rose along with her neck fur. "I will not let that happen to my Clan. We have a good chance of winning if we attack the Bands now."
"We'll have a better chance if we wait for them to come instead of launching a futile assault where the Bands will most likely slaughter us." Gray Moon stepped forward, shoving his face into Falling Star.
She bared her teeth at him. "We'll all die anyway if this war drags on much longer."
"Enough." Mossy Moon's sharp order split the tense air in the hollow. The chieftain stood on her boulder, her gaze death-cold as she glared at Gray Moon and Falling Star, who stood nose-to-nose, hostility sparking off their bristling pelts. "We are here tonight to collaborate on a plan to defeat our enemy, not fight amongst ourselves. Falling Star, stand down."
Spotted Owl held her breath as the Clan of the Morning Sun's regent glared at Gray Moon for several heartbeats longer. Then she let out a sigh and turned away, obeying her chieftain's order.
Gray Moon whirled to face the other chieftains, his gaze fixing on Mossy Moon. "You speak of working together, and yet you decided for all of us to attack even when I objected. The Clan of the Flowing Waters will not participate in this plan or this attack. We're leaving."
Spotted Owl gasped as Gray Moon strode across the hollow toward his cats, gathering them with a flick of his tail.
"Can he do that?" Blossom Dust whispered, her expression aghast.
"I have no idea," Tall Pine said, shaking his head slowly.
"Gray Moon, wait." Grass Moon stood, facing the retreating form of the Clan of the Flowing Waters chieftain. He stopped and turned around slowly. "Though many cats here do think attacking is our best next move, it is not our final decision. We cannot and will not carry out any plan without all four of the Clans." She turned to the rest of the council. "Now, it's late, we're all tired, and some of us are still recovering from injuries and travel. I propose that we go home, rest, talk with our Clans, and try to get back to normal for now. We can reconvene at the next council meeting. Is that agreeable to everyone?" She glanced at Gray Moon.
The gray tom was silent for a heartbeat. "Fine," he said and turned his back again. His Clan followed, they quickly vanished into the shadowy undergrowth.
The other chieftains murmured their accordance as well, and the council meeting began to break up. Spotted Owl followed her siblings as they leaped down from their boulder and picked their way down the slope toward where their Clan was congregating. Her earlier assurance had disintegrated, and instead, she felt troubled and despairing. How are we ever going to be able to defeat the Bands if we keep fighting amongst ourselves? How can we just return to normal?
Here is chapter two! I was originally going to have it as a part of chapter one, but it's a good thing I didn't because it ended up very long. I was like "why is this taking me so long?" and then I looked and realized it was almost 4,000 words! Though this chapter is mostly dialogue, there are many important parts that you might have missed. The main part is that the Clans have to decide what to do, but they are fighting almost themselves instead of being unified. Uh oh, Gray Moon is trouble.
Fun Fact: As a trainee and young fighter, Hawk Moon was hotheaded and reckless. He was shocked when the chieftain of the Clan of the Dark Caves made him regent because he didn't think he would make a good chieftain. When she died suddenly, he had to step up. He promised himself that he would always think things through, listen to his Clanmates' advice, be patient and have restraint so he could be a good chieftain for his Clan.
Thank you for reading!
- A Warrior At Heart