Thanks to reviewers: Leafshadow, Stacy Rockfall, Mikaceous, and Wolfgirl8.
Bravewhisper, Bravebriar, and Bravebranch have been added to the poll. It is now closed for name suggestions. Please vote if you haven't already! Also, get an account if you haven't done that yet, it makes voting much easier. :p
For all those who waited this long: Now the story gets good.
Chapter 5: Moonstone
"Hello?"
Halfshine stood at the edge of the moorland. Mist drifted along the ground, coiling at his paws between the short grasses. A faint glow oozed from patches of moss-covered rocks. He could not see far in the blackness. Not a speck of of starlight sparkled in the moonless sky. He had come to the Moonstone to speak with StarClan, but when he touched noses with the glowing rock, he had woken to this empty land. Was it a sign? Was it a vision?
Twistedbriar was gone; He had no one to ask, and now standing at the edge of the field of darkness, Halfshine had a terrible feeling he never would again.
-Line-
"What is StarClan?"
Bravepaw panted and looked up from her paws to meet Halfshine's blue eyes.
The traveling herbs had gotten her this far, but she was still starting to feel woozy. She caught her breath and he rested near by. They'd just crossed the Thunderpath. She'd never seen such a thing as the Thunderpath before. The surface was black, hard, and reeked of something unpleasant. The Thunderpath was hardly welcoming, but the danger came from the monsters that ran along the rough river. Halfshine taught her to wait for a pause between roaring monsters before crossing. They took shelter in a copse of trees on the other side. The WindClan markers were left behind. They were in unclaimed territory now. No Clans patrolled here, leaving the lands to predators and rogues to roam.
Bravepaw had not expected this question from Halfshine, but why not? As a medicine cat it was her duty to learn about the starry ancestors, and yet it had not occurred to her any discussions would be so open. The tales of StarClan were for stormy nights to get droopy-eyed kits to sleep. Was Halfshine worried she had not learned properly?
"Well, Cedarberry says that StarClan united the Clans," Bravepaw meowed, when she swallowed down a pant. "That once, long ago, when there were not Clans, but cats who lived without laws, there was a great battle and many deaths, and StarClan came down and ordered the cats to stop fighting and killing. They created the warrior code and the Clans."
Halfshine flicked an ear, "Go on, what else do you know?"
Bravepaw thought and the most obvious answer came to her, "They are dead warriors and Clan members. They guide us and watch over us. We all to go their territory when we die. As medicine cats we speak to them at the Moonstone?"
"Yes, yes, all good answers."
He smiled back at her and Bravepaw sighed in relief, glad she'd passed this test. She was not ignorant at all then!
"StarClan is all that, and yet not," Halfshine meowed. For a moment he looked up at trees that shaded them instead of explaining his words.
Bravepaw had never seen trees up close before, other than the yew at Halfshine's garden. These were different than the low branching tree she remembered. These grew tall as though they tried to uphold the sky. They also had leaves, not the strange "fur" of the yew. These trees grew in a clump and the shade they cast made the darkness that already crept from the horizons darker. The sun was halfway set, neatly cut in two the last she saw it. She couldn't spot it now because of the undergrowth. Thick bushes, and something that grew in clumps like grass and yet branched like the trees, blocked her view. That worried her. She had to rely on her nose to detect danger instead of her sight.
Halfshine acted as though there was no danger, but Bravepaw had never been this far from camp before. Especially so close to dark. One or two specks glittered in the dark blue sky above the trees. She could spot them in the narrow gaps between the tree branches. Were the ancestors watching, waiting for their arrival?
"StarClan," Halfshine meowed suddenly, "is like us."
"What do you mean?" Bravepaw looked down. Of course they were like the Clans, they used to be Clan cats. Bravepaw understood that much.
"Well, I don't want to frighten you, or disillusion you to everything your mother or the elders once told you," Halfshine meowed. He looked at her and tilted his head. "But you should know—you will know eventually—StarClan is not as all powerful as you would believe."
"They are StarClan. They can do anything!" she protested.
"If they could, then you and I would not be medicine cats." He gave her a soft, almost apologetic smile. "They do not cure wounds. They do not change the weather. They only watch and guide. Similar to us. We Clan cats can only watch the stars and can no more pluck one from the sky than the spirits can affect the living world."
Bravepaw felt her mouth fall open. She hadn't the strength to close it. He was saying StarClan was powerless? Did his admitting this amount to blasphemy?
"Y-you're a medicine cat!" she finally got out. "Aren't they real?"
The black and white tom's ears shot up. "Oh, no, do not get me wrong, Bravepaw. They are real. I know they are, and I respect our ancestors, but they have very little power over the living. That is what we medicine cats are for. We are their paws in the Clans. It is our duty to do what they cannot, to take their knowledge and help the Clan. Just as you can tell a storm is coming for the clouds, or know that mice will stay in their holes on a cold morning, they know the signs of the future. They tell us and we tell the Clans. We are the only ones who can."
"Don't leaders talk to StarClan?" Brave asked, her heart pattering more slowly now. At least he wasn't confessing to not believing in StarClan, for a moment she hadn't realized that was possible. Everyone knew about StarClan!
"Oh, yes, they do. After all, how could they get all their nine lives if StarClan did not?" He seemed amused by the thought.
Bravepaw blinked. "Well, Clan cats can't do that. We can't give each other lives."
Halfshine started to laugh. "No, I suppose not. Here you are thinking of things I overlooked." He licked his muzzle and his mirth disappeared. "Bravepaw, I am not saying they don't have powers, but they aren't as all powerful as cats give them credit. Just remember that."
"Why don't normal warriors see StarClan?" Bravepaw asked, curious. She could only ever recall stories of medicine cats or leaders speaking to the warrior ancestors.
"I believe, have a feeling, that StarClan does not speak to those who would willingly harm another cat." Halfshine looked away, and his mind seeming to turn inward.
Bravepaw remained silent, wondering what else he would say.
"You and I have an oath to help and not to harm," he finally went on. "We are spiritually attuned to StarClan's quiet voices because we live differently than warriors—leaders being the exception. And because medicine cats stand with StarClan, they are the voices for their Clans."
Bravepaw was struck once again by the importance of being a medicine cat. Her Clan needed her. She was their connection to StarClan.
"So why do warriors go to the Moonstone if they do not speak to StarClan?" Bravepaw asked. It was required for all apprentices to go before they were made warriors. That she knew. She could recall Cedarberry's story of her own apprentice days.
"To give honor to StarClan," Halfshine meowed, "to know where they can be found and to give respect. If they did not, then StarClan would be forgotten by our warriors and we would be little more than cats who smeared herbs on injuries. They are our strength. We would be little more than rogues or loners, but we are a Clan because of the code given to us and our belief in a better life in the world to come.
"Ready to go?" Halfshine meowed, abruptly. He got to his feet. "We need to be at the Tall Rocks and Mothermouth at sundown."
"Mothermouth?" Bravepaw tilted her head.
"The entrance to the tunnel that leads to the Moonstone Cavern," Halfshine meowed. He started to walk away when suddenly he paused. The black and white tom was silent for a moment, but when he spoke, he didn't turn around. "Don't expect anything from StarClan when we get there. The spirits have their own. . . nevermind."
He bounded from the underbrush, leaving Bravepaw staring after him. What had her mentor been trying to say?
-Line-
The Moonstone was nothing like Bravepaw expected. The white stone glowed with brilliant luminescence. Not like the sun to light up every crevice, but not quite like the moon with its soft caress. This was a beacon. The moon shone down from a hole in the cavern roof, reflecting off of the stone. The light reached for her, inviting her to come closer.
"Are you ready?" Halfshine meowed. His blue eyes shone like twin stars on his bi-colored face.
Bravepaw's grin wavered. He looked. . . sad. Why? He had been acting strangely since they started their journey. Silent until he needed to warn her about dangers, then asking her about StarClan only to grow tense the closer they came to the base of the mountains.
Bravepaw had appreciated the silence as she bounded up the rocks to the Mothermouth, using the opportunity to save her breath. It had become oppressive when they traveled into the dark of the narrow tunnel. Her mind had shot back to the underground when she and Halfshine had been trapped. She had started panting. Halfshine had slowed, allowing his tail tip to brush her cheek and guide her onward.
She swallowed down her fear. Keep a brave face, she told herself. Eventually the tunnel opened. When Halfshine moved aside, she had seen what she'd only heard of in stories: the Moonstone. It was tall and angular. The base was wide. And it shown more brilliantly than she expected. This was the place of StarClan, yet she did not see any starry warriors hidden among the shadows. She felt disappointed. Was StarClan not waiting for her?
"Are you ready?" Halfshine repeated.
Bravepaw turned in his direction and nodded. Yes. She was ready.
He motioned her closer to the stone. They sat by the base, the light gleaming on their sides. With the white half of his face toward the stone, Halfshine seemed to mirror the moon where it peeked at them from above.
"Bravepaw," Halfshine spoke. She looked at him. She felt her fur tingle as she watched his muzzle move.
"Come forward. It is your wish to become a medicine cat?"
"It is."
"Warriors of StarClan," Halfshine meowed, his voice dropping to a whisper so that she had to lean in, "I present to you this apprentice. She desires the path of healing and we call upon you to accept her as the next medicine cat of WindClan. She will listen to your voices. Help her understand your ways. Show her your wisdom that she may heal our Clan in times of need."
He bowed his head. Uncertain, Bravepaw copied his movements. StarClan, do you hear him? Do you accept me as an apprentice?
"Touch your nose to the stone," Halfshine meowed quietly, his eyes shining.
Bravepaw licked her muzzle as she rearranged herself. She turned to him, questioning. He sighed and lay down at her side, forepaws pressed against the glowing stone. She copied his movements and watched as he closed his eyes, pressing his nose against the base. Her heart beat quickened as she turned to the stone. She leaned forward, squinting against the glow.
Her nose tip brushed the cold. From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something red approach. Was it a fox? Had one taken shelter near the Moonstone? They hadn't scented any predators. Before she could pull away to look, the woozy feeling she'd had since sunset rushed over her again. Her neck felt weak and she slumped to the cavern floor, nose pressed against the stone.
Her mind was filled with images. Among them she glimpsed a white tom with green eyes grinning mischievously, four trees towered in the sky below a full moon, three red berries hung on a branch, a mound of newly dug earth speared through with a dying twig, a dark forest of leaf-fall red trees and two racing she-cats. One was the color of golden honey and the other's color uncertain as if the particular cat were different every second: a pale tabby, a ginger she-cat, and a brown and white she-cat with a pale scar running up the side of her nose. The images were like rabbits dashing across the moor, too quickly for Bravepaw to grasp, and all running away from her.
Suddenly the rush eased and she clung to the image that stayed the longest in her mind. She was at the Moonstone again, this time surrounded by other cats, four of them now. They didn't turn to her as if they could not see her. Their tails bristled as they shouted at each other. One of them was a red tom, cowering from the other three. But just as suddenly as it appeared, the image swung out of sight into blackness before she could hear what they shouted.
Now there was only blackness. Long, unwavering dark. Silence that seemed loud in her ears until she could only hear her heart beating.
And then, from dark she heard another cat. It was wheezing, hacking for breath. It reminded her of Downyclaw. The moment she heard the cat, she suddenly saw it, a dim outline where it lay on the stone cavern floor. Was it black? Silver? Tom or she-cat? She could not tell. It lay on its side, legs writhing. Then the eyes turned in her direction. The cat reached out, wordlessly pleading with her for help. Red leaked from the cat's muzzle, dripping down its chin to its chest and onto the stone. It was the only splash of color in the dark.
Bravepaw bounded forward, she tried to ask what was wrong, but she could not hear her voice. She could not feel her paws to reach out to the injured warrior. The eyes rolled and the cat slumped downward, but still the red ran from its mouth, pooling around its inert body.
Then from the darkness, she heard more cats gasping and struggling for breath. She looked around and the blackness had been replaced by a starlit night on the moor. There were cats in the long grass around her. She could barely see their shapes, but she could see the red that poured from their mouths. She stared, watching the stream grow thicker.
Blood?
It coiled around her paws. She backed up, not wanting it to touch her, but already she could see the stains on the white of her toes.
The half-moon in the sky was also red. It shone down on her, a sickly color while the cats at her feet died, choking on the blood in their throats. And then the moon started to drip. The red came from the sky, draining from the moon until it was white like bone. The cats below the swelling tide wailed for help. The moon stared down at her with a cold gaze, two blue eyes appearing, one in the white half and one in the black.
"Bravepaw! Bravepaw!"
Halfshine's face replaced the ghastly moon in nearly an identical match. The brilliant glow of the Moonstone lit up the darkness. Bravepaw gasped for breath, staring at her mentor as he shook her into the waking world, "Bravepaw!"
"Halfshine," she whimpered. She buried her face into his chest fur.
He wrapped his forelegs around her, holding her close. She could feel his heart pounding against her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to block out what she'd seen, but the memory was still there: a cat with blood dripping from its mouth, pleading for help as she stood there doing nothing.
"What. . . what happened?" Halfshine whispered. "You were crying out. You sounded in pain. What happened?"
"I-I-I s-s-saw. . ." She pulled back, staring at his face, then the moon above. She watched as the sliver slid from sight. At their side, the Moonstone went black. The cavern plunged into darkness. "Blood. Blood everywhere. Halfshine! They wouldn't stop bleeding."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered, pulling her close again. "You don't have to tell me yet. Don't talk. You are alright. It's over. It's over."
