Feline Adventures w/ Fallen Leaves
(Briarfeather and Hollyleaves)
Hollyleaf's return and Fallen Leaves' Freedom
Ivypool's fur prickled uneasily as she heard movement from Son and the WindClan cats. "They're coming to look for us! We have to go." Wandering blindly through the tunnels was terrifying, Will we ever find our way out?
A moment later she heard the thrumming sound of two sets of paw steps coming towards them, the paw steps light, and sure of where they were going.
Cat scent washed over Ivypool and the scent was rather familiar, but she was too scared to think clearly. She slid out her claws, blood rushing in her ears from her panic at the thought of being trapped between two enemies.
Then one of the newcomers, the familiar smelling one spoke, her mew a little rough with a hard edge, "Come with us! Quick!"
"No way!" Ivypool hissed and crouched down into an attack crouch, her whiskers twitching as she tried to aim her leap. "You could be with them."
"We're not," the second newcomer mewed, its mew was much deeper and obviously male. "The other clan cats are coming over here Holly."
Holly? Ivypool thought, who's Holly? A rogue?
"Prove it!" Dovewing hissed, crouching down next to her sister, their whiskers brushed from how close together the tunnel forced them to be.
"We shouldn't have to," the female stranger named Holly replied irritably. "For Starclan's sake, lets's go, unless you want to be shredded by the WindClan cats!"
Ivypool's green eyes widened in shock and she glanced at her sister, exchanging a short glance by the gleam of Dovewing's eyes. "StarClan? Then you belong with the Clans?"
"I don't," the male answered, his mew rather tense as well, "however Holly does-"
"Do you two want to get out of here or not?" Holly interrupted him, "Sorry Fallen Leaves, but we need to get them out of here before WindClan finds them."
"Yes, we do," Ivypool hissed back. "But how do we know you're not trying to lead us farther in?"
"We aren't," the male named Fallen Leaves promised and Ivypool caught the calm gleam of his eyes, his outline was also a little easier to see, she could faintly see ginger and white fur, while she couldn't see Holly at all.
"I'm a ThunderClan cat like you," Holly hissed, only the hard glint of her green eyes visible in the dark tunnels, her body darker than the darkness of the tunnel itself.
"Holly is a loner name!" Dovewing hissed, her tail fluffing out slightly.
"That's just what Fallen Leaves calls me, my name is Hollyleaf, I'm a ThunderClan cat just like you." Holly mewed, her mew tight and annoyed.
Ivypool felt her jaw drop, "Hollyleaf? But you… you're dead!"
"Obviously not," Hollyleaf replied with a hard edge in her mew, "now do you want to stand here discussing ancient history long forgotten and be shredded by WindClan warriors, or would you like to leave?"
The paw steps of the WindClan cats were getting louder as they neared them, probably picking up on their scent. Ivypool could picture them running along the tunnel toward them, noses twitching and jaws open to take in their ThunderClan scent partially masked by the other two strange cats.
"Okay," Dovewing mewed, her fur flattening slightly as she realized that Hollyleaf and Fallen Leaves weren't going to harm them. "Show us the way."
"Fallen Leaves, you take Dovewing, I'll take Ivypool, if we split up it will confuse the WindClan invaders, mask her with your scent and I'll mask Ivypool." Hollyleaf spun around and whiskered down a narrow side tunnel.
Fallen Leaves shot down another, Dovewing on his tail.
Ivypool followed Hollyleaf as the first WindClan cats skidded past and crashed into the tunnel walls.
"Ow!"
"Where did they go?"
"There were just here, I know they were!"
"Fox dung! We've lost them!"
Hollyleaf paid no attention to the other cats, heading deeper into the tunnels. Ivypool followed her so close that her whiskers brushed the other she-cat's tail, she was terrified of losing her, if she did she was going to be lost in the tunnels forever. She hoped Dovewing would be alright with Fallen Leaves, the cat who wasn't at all familiar to either of them. After a while of twisting tunnels, Hollyleaf paused and Ivypool nearly barged into her.
"You can trust us, you know." Hollyleaf meowed, "I led you out once before, remember?"
"Oh!" Ivypool mewed as she realized why Hollyleaf's scent had been vaguely familiar. "That was you?"
Holly didn't say anything else as she darted on through the tunnels with the knowledge of exactly where everything was. Soon Ivypool started to see Hollyleaf's black ears and head outlined by pale light filtering into the narrow tunnel. Ivypool's heart jumped as she heard more paw steps and she realized it was just Fallen Leaves and Dovewing, her sister was safe! A moment later, the four cats emerged from the wide tunnel into a shallow dip of tumbled rocks and fern on the hillside. Ivypool opened her jaws and drew in the fresh night air, her pelt smoothing at she caught the scents of ThunderClan. She turned to their rescuers, a slender, long-legged, black she-cat with piercing green eyes; and a long-legged, ginger and white tom with piercing green eyes like Hollyleaf, his outline shimmered slightly in the sunlight, almost like how a StarClan cat was supposed to look. "Thank you!" Ivypool meowed, her leaf green eyes glowing with relief.
"We would never have made it without you," Dovewing added, giving her pelt a shake, blue eyes bright with a matching relief.
Hollyleaf gave a curt nod. "Listen," she meowed. "We've heard Sol plotting with the WindClan cats for the last half-moon, and-"
"What?" Ivypool gasped, "that's even before he came to ThunderClan!"
"They're going to attack through the tunnels." Fallen Leaves mewed and shuffled his large paws, ears twitching uneasily, he wasn't sure how he was even outside of the tunnels at the current moment, and the strange scents flooding his senses wasn't helping.
"We have to warn the Clan!" Dovewing mewed, her blue eyes wide with worry and dismay. "Come on Ivypool!"
"Wait," Hollyleaf stopped them from leaving with a twitch of her tail.
"It's not going to happen yet," Fallen Leaves mewed, "Sol wants to win more support from your Clanmates first."
"The WindClan cats know that he's winning Thunderclan's friendship so he can betray you," Hollyleaf hissed, a growl rumbling through her throat. "You never should have let him come back!"
If Ivypool wasn't so shocked, she would've been weirded out by them finishing each other sentences, it was something that her and Dovewing's mentors used to do and even back then it was weird. "It wasn't us," Ivypool pointed out.
"He did save the apprentices from a fox," Dovewing mewed.
"Sol didn't save them," Fallen Leaves mewed and his tail swished annoyedly across the grassy earth, "that was Hollyleaf."
Ivypool and Dovewing blinked at the black she-cat, they haven't been expecting that.
Fallen Leaves' ears swiveled towards the edge of the dip and he stiffened, green eyes flashing with worry, "Holly, there are cats coming!"
"Mousedung!" Hollyleaf muttered, "They've come looking for Ivypool and Dovewing." She tensed up as well and started edging back toward the tunnels.
Panic flared in Fallen Leaves' eyes and he turned towards her, "let's go back, you wanted to stay with me right?"
Hollyleaf nodded, "don't tell any cat you saw us," she nearly begged the two thunderclan warriors, green eyes worried.
"Why not?" Dovewing asked in confusion, "why can't you come home? You belong here!"
"My home is with Fallen Leaves in the tunnels," Hollyleaf whispered, her tail and hindquarters vanishing into the dark tunnel opening, Fallen Leaves at her side. "I don't belong here."
"No!"
"Hollyleaf!"
"Don't run!"
Hollyleaf froze and Ivypool looked up at the edge of the dip where Lionblaze, Cinderheart, and Jayfeather all stood on a wide rock, looking down at the four of them. Lionblaze's pelt was gold in the moonlight, his amber eyes glowed as he saw his sister after the many moons of them all being apart.
Cinderheart's pelt glowed almost white, her blue eyes glittered at the sight of her best friend.
Jayfeather's coat shone like starlight, his moody blind blue eyes held an unusual spark of joy.
Cinderheart spoke, her blue eyes gentle and warm, "Hollyleaf, we aren't letting you run away again."
Lionblaze's mew was firm, "not again, you do belong here, here in ThunderClan."
Jayfeather's blind gaze was locked on Fallen Leaves, "Thank you for taking care of my sister Fallen Leaves."
(I will write a sequel to this sneak peek since Snowcrystal has been wanting to see this scene for a really long time! XD)
Are You Okay Jayfeather? I'm Always Here When You Need Me, I Promise
(Sneak peek to Sign of the Moon Rewrite)
Jayfeather gave a curt nod. Between the struggle in the hole, the discovery about Hollyleaf, and being soaked to the bone with the freezing cold rain, he was exhausted and just wanted to curl up in his nest and sleep for a moon.
Briarlight turned toward Jayfeather as he entered the den, the scents of herbs clung to her pelt, she had been sorting through herbs while restlessly waiting for the grumpy medicine cat to return. "Are you okay?" she mewed, "where have you been?" she asked, her mew a tad sharp. She had been sitting in the den worrying about the grumpy pain in the tail since the rain started, although he wasn't that much of a pain in the tail, more like a constant thorn in her flank that she just couldn't stop either thinking about or worrying about.
"Out," Jayfeather grunted before his sharp nose picked up on the guilt coming from the she-cat as the small loss of her temper. Wait, only one she-cat? "Where's Icecloud?"
Briarlight's reply was muffled as she picked up herbs. "She went back to the warriors' den." Jayfeather could hear fur dragging on the stone ground as she pulled herself into the cleft. "She said she could rest just as well there. Oh! The marigold's all sorted by freshness," she mewed, her mew clear and cheerful.
Jayfeather shrugged. He was too tired to say what he thought about warriors who thought they knew better than their medicine cat and didn't feel like telling Briarlight off anyway, it wasn't like she knew better anyway. He would check on Icecloud in the morning.
"You're all wet and muddy!" Briarlight exclaimed as if just realizing that he was covered in mud and was soaked by the rain.
Yeah, and claws are sharp! Anything else obvious you want to point out? Jayfeather held his tongue and instead replied, "I'm fine."
"No, you're not," Briarlight insisted stubbornly and dragged herself over to him. "You're wetter than a drowned mouse and asleep on your paws if I pushed you you'd probably fall out and pass out. Let me clean you up."
Jayfeather's whiskers twitched in amusement, her comment reminded him of one of the dreams where he helped the tribe of rushing water where Briarlight accompanied him, he ended up falling into a river and scared the brown she-cat out of her fur when he sneezed and shivered. But he didn't reply, both his pride and his position as a medicine cat wouldn't let him.
"I promise I won't nag you about where you've been." Briarlight mewed with a hint of mischief in her voice, "you're exhausted, you need to sleep Jayfeather, and you're not getting it soaked to the bone."
Jayfeather gave a sigh and wearily padded over to the she-cat's nest and flopped down into it. "You win," he grunted grumpily and Briarlight purred with amusement. He listened to her drag herself over and felt the fur brush his own as she settled behind him. A moment later he felt her tongue rasp gently over his fur, stroking rhythmically over his shoulder and cleaning the moisture and mud off of his fur. His fur warmed, feeling a little embarrassed that she was the one looking after him, and she seemed to sense it.
"It's the least I can do," Briarlight murmured between licks, "you've helped me a lot."
Jayfeather didn't respond as he dozed off, wondering if his mother had ever licked him like this.
But which mother? Leafpool or Squirrelflight?
He could see a face gazing down at him; at first, he thought it was Leafpool, but it blurred and became Squirrelflight, then changed to Hollyleaf, her green eyes glowing as they stared at him. Jayfeather jerked awake, half sitting up. His fur felt dry and warm, his whole body was more relaxed, the other cat's presence was unexpectedly welcome.
"Hey, are you okay?" Briarlight's anxious voice reminded him where he was.
"I'm fine." Jayfeather sighed.
"Are you sure?" Briarlight mewed. Jayfeather heard her rasping her tongue over her flanks, cleaning any of the mud that got on her from his fur off.
"Yes." Jayfeather replied tersely.
"You don't have to lie to me Jayfeather," Briarlight murmured.
"I know." Jayfeather replied simply and rose to his paws. "Thanks for licking my fur dry," he mewed, thanking her for her help before he padded off to his own nest and curled up among the bracken.
Jayfeather opened his eyes to find himself back at the bottom of the hole. The rain had stopped. High above, clouds scudded fast across the sky, though Jayfeather couldn't feel any wind. Padding deeper into the tunnel, he saw that the way ahead was dimly lit as if the stars were shining through the earth and rock above his head. He walked farther in, his ears pricked to catch the slightest sound, but the air around him was empty and silent.
Where are all the ancient cats?
Jayfeather gazed around for a moment before he padded on and on into the moonlight until he reached the large cave where the river flowed, there he spotted Briarlight, the dark brown mottled she-cat was studying the water, her cream tipped tail swishing gently across the tunnel floor.
"The water level's dropped," she mewed, her ears swiveling towards him as he padded into the cave.
"How did you beat me?" Jayfeather asked in confusion, usually, she wandered around and found him… eventually.
"No idea." Briarlight shrugged and dabbed a paw into the swiftly flowing water. Indeed, the river was thin and black, rushing swiftly between the rocks, not swollen and angry as it had been last time he was here.
Jayfeather glanced up at Rock's ledge, but it was bare and disappointment flooded through his paws.
A soft paw step sounded behind Jayfeather. He spun around to see a faint shape slipping out of a different tunnel. "Fallen Leaves?" He meowed apprehensively.
"No," rasped a familiar voice.
"Rock!" Briarlight mewed and approached her Clanmate. Rock flicked his furless tail and Briarlight stopped, sitting little ways away with her tail curled around her paws, amber eyes widening as she noticed the halves of a broken stick in his jaws. "Jayfeather… you didn't…" she breathed, staring at the two barkless halves of the ancient stick.
Rock padded up to Jayfeather, his long twisted claws clicking on the stone floor. His blind eyes bulged and the moonlight glistened on his furless body. His face was solemn as he halted in front of Jayfeather and dropped the stick halves onto the ground.
"Why did you break my stick?" Rock asked. His tone revealed no anger or sadness, nothing to tell Jayfeather how he was feeling.
"I-I wanted to talk to you, and you weren't there," Jayfeather stumbled, his fur burning with embarrassment. "What was the point of keeping a piece of wood with scratched on it?"
Briarlight opened her mouth to go against what he just said, but closed it with a sigh when Rock flicked his tail again.
"I am always here," Rock responded, and now Jayfeather could hear the sadness in his voice. "I will come to you when I have something to say.
Briarlight couldn't keep quiet anymore, "we can't summon him Jayfeather, its none of our business to make him come when he doesn't have anything to say."
Jayfeather bowed his head, feeling like a kit being scolded for sneaking out of camp.
"That stick was your history," Rock continued with a slight nod toward Briarlight. "You cannot throw that away. The past is all around you, and cats who once were warriors will be warriors again."
Jayfeather tensed and his claws scraped on the rock floor of the cave. "Do you mean Hollyleaf?" he asked urgently. "Have you seen her? Is she still alive?"
Rock blinked, and Jayfeather shivered at the thought that the ancient cat's blind gray eyes could still see him very well. "Your past lies in the mountains," Rock told him. "The place where I was born, the place where cats have returned before. You must go there once more to complete the circle."
"Back to the Tribe of Rushing Water?" Briarlight asked curiously, her ears pricked slightly as she asked her questions. "Are they in trouble?"
Rock didn't reply. The clink of a stone behind him distracted Jayfeather for a heartbeat, and when he turned back, the ancient cat had disappeared.
"Rock!" he called, but the echoes of his voice died away into silence, and there was no answer. "Briarlight!" he complained, "why did you do that?"
"I don't know, why did you break his stick?" Briarlight shot back hotly, her amber eyes flashing. And Jayfeather didn't reply, still embarrassed about the whole stick thing.
As Jayfeather stood by the stream, able to feel the waves of smugness coming from the usually gentle hearted she-cat, he heard quiet paw steps approaching and looked around to see a young ginger-and-white tom emerging from a tunnel.
Fallen Leaves padded up to Jayfeather and dipped his head to him and Briarlight. His green eyes held sadness in the grassy depths. "Greetings, Jay's Wing, Prickly Briar," he mewed."
"Oh come on!" Briarlight complained half-heartedly, "I'm never going to live that down! It is not my fault I fell into a thorn bush!"
Jayfeather tensed when Fallen Leaves called them by the names he and Briarlight had borne in the ancient time. Although he did have to restrain a snort at Briarlight's, out of all of the names she could've been named, they chose Prickly Briar in honor of how she apparently strayed away from her mother and fell into a thorn bush before they could name her. "Greetings."
"The other cats have left, haven't they?"
His tone was quiet and didn't hold any trace of a grudge against Jayfeather, but Jayfeather still felt even guiltier because of the part he had played in the ancient cats' departure from the lake. I wonder if Fallen Leaves knows what I did?
"I'm sorry Fallen Leaves," Briarlight mewed quietly, "they've all gone to the mountains."
"I feel their absence inside of me, like a silence," Fallen Leaves meowed. "But your cats are still here. Come, let me take you to them." Without waiting for Jayfeather to reply, he headed across the cave into the mouth of a different tunnel. Jayfeather hesitated for a heartbeat, then bounded in pursuit, Briarlight on his tail.
Fallen Leaves led him along the tunnels, and before Jayfeather thought it could be possible, they were standing in the hole again, in front of the branch. Of course—he has wandered these tunnels for so long. He knows the quickest way.
"Come with us," Jayfeather urged, unable to bear the thought of leaving the young tom alone there again.
Fallen Leaves shook his head. "We both know that can't happen."
"But aren't you lonely Fallen Leaves?" Briarlight asked gently, her concern for the tom displayed in her eyes.
"No," Fallen Leaves almost purred, "I am accompanied by Dark Holly." He raised his head and looked up at the sky. The clouds had cleared away, and the warriors of StarClan shone in a blaze of icy light.
"The stars are still shining," Fallen Leaves whispered with wonder in his eyes. "I never thought I would see them again. It's good to know that they are still there, just as they have always been. The past is all around us."
Jayfeather jumped, startled. That's what Rock said!
"Your destiny lies up there, doesn't it?" Fallen Leaves meowed, gesturing with his tail toward the sky. "You don't belong here." He reached out with his tail, and Jayfeather raised his own tail so that they touched for a moment.
"I wish you luck, my friends," Fallen Leaves continued after he licked Briarlight between the ears, "If ever you need me, I will be here."
"Thank you," Jayfeather murmured. He picked his way across the loose earth and scrambled up the branch. When he looked down into the hole again, Fallen Leaves had gone. "Hey, Fallen Leaves!" Desperate to see him once more, Jayfeather leaned out over the hole.
"Leave him alone Jayfeather," Briarlight murmured, tugging on his tail with her teeth, "he's not alone remember?"
"I guess not," Jayfeather admitted and sighed before his flicked his tail from her teeth and curled up on the grass before closing his eyes.
Briarlight did the same nearby and neither of them noticed the transparent form of a white she-cat looking sadly at them.
Something sharp jabbed into Jayfeather's side and his eyes flew open to reveal darkness and her found himself leaning over the edge of his nest, his cheek pressed against the cold floor on his den.
"Jayfeather!" Briarlight's hiss was muffled, and Jayfeather realized that she was prodding him with a long twig held in her mouth. "Get up!"
"Stop that," Jayfeather mumbled and sat up before he shook the moss from his pelt. "What?"
"Go talk to Lionblaze!" Briarlight mewed, her mew much clearer, "about what Rock said!"
"Right…" Jayfeather mumbled and hauled himself to his paws. Annoying she-cat.
"I'm not annoying!"
"I didn't say you were," he mewed curtly with his whiskers twitching slightly before he stumbled past the bramble screen and out into the camp, almost barging into Mousewhisker as he headed for the fresh-kill pile. "Sorry," he muttered, as the young tom whisked around him.
Character Emails (all are gmail accounts)
Caylee and any other side character – youngcrazyteenageauthor
Cynthia – athleticsapphiresinger
Leon – athleticgoldenboy
Bree – cheerfulcuriosity
Jay – perfectgrumpytone
Holly – emeraldintelligencequeen
Fini – gingerandwhiteteenager
WHSS Art
Deviantart: tigercryrocks | Instagram: tigercry
WHSS Audiobooks
*Coming Soon*