Epilogue

The sunset glowed with vibrant color, smearing the heavens with blood-red and ember-orange almost as if the sky itself was on fire. The sky might not be on fire- Thunderclap smirked. He paused, not paying any mind to the dark figures around him who had halted in tandem with him as he scowled at the pair of twin black spikes plastered against the sunset. -but the Clans certainly will be very soon.

"Hey, Thunderclap," came a voice like sunlight dancing on water. Paw-steps bounded toward him. "Why did we stop-"

"Ember," the gruff voice that belonged to Rage hissed from a short way behind Thunderclap's left shoulder.

The massive tom turned his head slowly, eyes narrowing as they alighted on the small ginger tom. Ember gulped his cheerful smile vanishing. Thunderclap stood mountain-still for a few heartbeats, scrutinizing Ember's face. The forest around them was ghost-quiet as the other cats, sprinkled throughout the shadowy trees, didn't move even a muscle. He spoke out of turn. Again. Even after the trials of this mission, he's too bubbly and cheerful for his own good. No one will take him seriously as my son if he marvels at pretty stones on the riverbank or runs off to chase squirrels like a flea-brained dog. This needs to be corrected, and soon before it's too late for him. Weakness will not survive. For a split heartbeat, his ears began to pull back as a long-buried memory flashed across his mind, a crack in his composure. But he quickly swept it away, reforming his mask.

I should do something about this. Thunderclap narrowed his eyes at Ember as he felt the familiar tug in his chest when he knew there was an urgent need for him to do his duty. But his limbs were heavy as tree trunks, and he longed to return to basking in the glory of their victory. So he shrugged internally and started to plod onward. Another time. Soon, he promised. "Let's keep moving."

The ginger tom's ears twitched as a heartbeat passed before the other cats around him continued, almost as if the group had let out a collective breath. He frowned. Am I sensing some resistance to what needs to be done? But nothing else seemed to corroborate that fact, so he tucked that thought away for later and returned his attention to the path ahead of them.

Rows of trees lined the upturned slope ahead of them, black in the approaching night, blotting out the pale sky and blocking Thunderclap's view of what lay ahead. But he knew as the rolling hills they were crossing began to flatten out, they would pass through the flat farmland with farm cats who always hid when they were around-Thunderclap enjoyed pretending he couldn't scent them. Then, they would face the chaos of the human town with territorial street cats whom he had to put in their place one of these days. Maybe this time. He smirked. Then, finally, they would reach the thick woodland surrounding their lake and the well-fortified camps that Thunderclap controlled, filled with loyal Band cats who would shout and cheer when he announced their integral victory over the Clans.

Less than a quarter moon now, he told himself, the ghost of a smile on his lips, and we'll be there. I'll be able to proudly proclaim how we destroyed the Clans-scums' connection to their ancestors, weakening them without the guidance and protection of those starry fools until they dissolve into quarrels and splinters so we can conquer them. Though by relying so heavily on half-faded cats who were idiotic enough to let themselves be killed, it's their own fault, he added privately. After this, it is only a matter of time. We wait and be patient, and let the Clans do the work for us.

Thunderclap snorted and shook his head. Things really couldn't have gone better. We-I am amazing. Though there is- His smile faded as his gaze landed on Ember, who trotted a short ways ahead of him, his tail bouncing happily. In the half-light meshing everything together until he couldn't tell where trees ended, and the ground began and where shadows ended, and his cats started, his son had never looked more like someone else. -one thing. We lost Sharp-and his weakling sister. That sniveling, rotten failure-

"Thunderclap?" Ember asked, his brow furrowing in concern as he looked back over his shoulder.

The ginger tabby tom started, realizing that his face was twisted into a snarl, lips curled and teeth bared. Stupid mistake. With a deep breath, he smoothed his features over. "It's fine, Ember." He kept moving, so Ember did the same.

We-I-lost them both. After a few dozen heartbeats, Thunderclap's thoughts shifted like cold season leaves in a brisk wind, though he was careful to keep his expression impassive this time. The Clan-scum were actually clever for once. They suspected Sharp all along and used him to get to us. I foresaw that that might happen, but I never expected they would trust him enough to recruit him to their side. Had he been any other cat, he would've shaken out his pelt his a huff. That thought had been like a bothersome thorn for the entire trek. And I never expected that foolish coward would be brave enough to betray us by rescuing his useless sister and defecting to the Clans' side. He wanted to snort. Finally, Sharp has shown a little spine. He didn't fail at something for once. If only he'd done this earlier, he might've actually been useful.

No matter, Thunderclap decided. So what if the Clans got one measly little win? We still took the victory, and we let them think they took us by surprise. Sharp still accomplished what I needed him to. It also doesn't matter if we lost Sage—she doesn't seem to be enough motivation for him anyway. Sharp may be gone, but he's not out of my reach. In fact, he might've just handed me an even better tool. He did smile this time. That spirited little Clan-scum trainee.

Wow, here we are. Finally at the end of the story. I know it's been a while since I last updated, and this is a very short last chapter to have waited for a while for, so I'm sorry about that. I hope you enjoyed this last update though, with a little bit more character development from Thunderclap and Ember. I cannot believe that it is the last one. I've been working on this book for about a year and a half, including all the planning I did before publishing the first update. In my google docs, it's 525 pages, about 170,000 words, the longest writing project I've ever done.

This book has been a wild ride. Thinking about it now, I've been working on it since about the start of the pandemic, which is crazy. It's been a bumpy ride both inside this book and outside, but there's been a lot of positive moments. Spotted Owl and Tall Pine have undergone more trials but emerged so much more strong and mature, and now new Clan members! Thinking back to where they both started, especially Spotted Owl, the amount of growth and character development they've had is incredible. It's weird to say but I am so proud of them and I love them so much, and I hope you do as well.

I've grown a lot as well. I am actually now entering my first year of college, which means I am incredibly busy, so that's why this update took a while. That is also why, as of right now, I am not planning to continue this series. It was a hard decision because this story and these characters are something I have poured my time and my heart and soul into and mean the world to me, but there are a lot of other things now that take priority. One of which is that I am actually looking into finally dedicating more time to my own original work. This is not to say that I won't ever return to the series (I actually have three more books more or less planned out with tons of great plotlines and I hate leaving things incomplete) but not for the foreseeable future.

One last thing. If you are reading this, that probably means you're a dedicated reader to have read through this entire long book and even longer author's note. Even if you're completely new, I want to thank all of my readers for coming on this journey with me. Your reviews helped me stay motivated to keep writing!

Final Fun Fact: I've found that writers and English teachers often talk about how our characters are reflections of ourselves. Parts of Spotted Owl and Tall Pine are very much reflections of who I am, and we've taken a lot of our journeys in tandem.

I cannot believe that this is goodbye (for now-maybe.) Much love,

- A Warrior At Heart