Rising Moon

Jedi Goat

Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors.

------------------------------------------

Chapter 20

Leafpool shuffled through her herb collection, the moonlight filtering in through the fern curtain and caressing her silver-tinted fur. Her gaze was troubled; tonight sleep had evaded her like a hiding mouse, just out of her reach.

Leafpool sighed and cast her gaze over her two apprentices, curled up in their mossy nests: Cinderpaw, her gray flanks rising and falling steadily, and Moonpaw, wrapped tightly into a ball.

Leafpool padded further into her den, entering the dark crevice at the back where she kept her own nest. She lay down, sweeping her tail over her face and closing her eyes. Although her limbs proved themselves to be exhausted, sleep lingered just at the edges of her vision.

Groaning, she rolled over and tried to find a more comfortable position. She burrowed down into her nest and curled up. Moss draped over her eyes and she blew it off.

She stood back up, shaking grass from her pelt. Nothing was working.

Sighing tiredly, she trotted back out into the main den. She had already sorted her herbs four times. Even that wouldn't make her sleep.

Leafpool brushed through the curtain of ferns, enjoying their cool touch on her back. She blinked out at the dark camp.

All was silent and still, sleep's soft blanket enveloping the forest. Only the smallest of breezes swirled through the air, cooling Leafpool's pelt. She turned into the wind, inhaling deeply.

A sweet scent of herbs washed over her, calming her restless nerves. Spottedleaf! Steps quickening, Leafpool followed the scent. She passed by the empty apprentices' den and the quiet nursery bush where her sister slept. The warriors' large den carried a strong scent of the cats within, snuggled up together.

Leafpool paused, memories of her and her beloved whisking her away. Oh, Crowfeather, why did you have to leave? Leafpool closed her eyes, imagining the blissful brush of his pelt against her own. The love they had once shared was no more, broken by the code and by their respective clan loyalties.

Shaking her head to clear it, Leafpool padded onward. She glanced at the elders' den, where Brambleclaw was splayed outside, dozing. From this angle his injured face looked almost normal; the young, powerfully built warrior looked out of place and lonely at his new den.

Turning away, Leafpool saw the Highledge, a figure of loyalty and leadership in the silent clearing. Its strong aura gave Leafpool a surge of pride for being a ThunderClan cat. She would fight until her last breath for her clan, she knew.

Her paws took her past the camp, her home, to the thorn tunnel. The tunnel was dark and menacing in the night, and the forest beyond was just as mysterious. But Spottedleaf's enticing scent led her onward.

Emerging out into a black sea of shadowy plants and trees, Leafpool called out in a whisper, "Spottedleaf, where are you?"

The ancient medicine cat didn't answer, only sending a wave of wind to drive her into the bushes.

Leafpool struggled against the cold air, reminiscent of the soon-to-come leaf-bare. Leaves coated the ground, crackling beneath her paws. Leaf-fall had come, and soon the sinister icy winds and cold snows of leaf-bare would prowl into the forest. The last leaf-bare had been a difficult struggle for ThunderClan. Leafpool prayed the next one would not be as hard.

The wind whispered her name and Leafpool whirled about, searching the undergrowth. No cat approached her.

"Spottedleaf?"

A twig snapped as a cat padded out of the bushes. Leafpool tensed, but the gray she-cat sparkled with the stars above. She was a warrior of StarClan.

"Leafpool," the cat murmured, voice the breeze in her fur. Her scent was somewhat familiar, tingling Leafpool's nose.

Leafpool stepped forward, sniffing cautiously. Then she gasped in recognition. "Dawnkit!"

The cat didn't reply, only smiling and giving a small nod.

"Does StarClan have a message for me?" Leafpool dared ask. She crouched low to the ground, eyes wide with reverence.

The cat raised her eyes to the sky, the stars reflecting in her bold green eyes. "Betrayal will spill blood of old wounds. A terrible danger comes to prowl the forest. Night will send aid, and will replenish the spirit of the forest."

"But you already told me that!" Leafpool called after the fading cat. Dawnkit's eyes glittered, and then she was gone.

Leafpool sighed, suddenly very tired. She slumped to the ground, closing her eyes. When she opened them, she was standing back in the medicine cat's den. Moonpaw and Cinderpaw's sleeping forms were gone; this was obviously a dream.

Leafpool looked around, seeing her herbs just as she had left them. She nudged a marigold leaf closer to the rest of its kind, deep in thought.

"Leafpool!" A soft voice made her jump. Leafpool whisked around in time to see a tortoiseshell she-cat slip in. She stepped into a pool of moonlight, pelt turning a starry silver.

"Spottedleaf," Leafpool breathed. "Do you have news for me, too?"

Spottedleaf shook her head. "Dawnbreak spoke to you already, yet you are confused."

"The prophecy is over, isn't it?" Leafpool puzzled. "The danger of the wolves came, and now they're gone."

"The prophecy has two more lines," Spottedleaf revealed to her. "Three cats have been chosen. They alone can save the clans. The prophecy is not complete until those cats appear."

"So they're not born yet?" Leafpool wondered.

"I cannot say."

"What about the rest of the prophecy? Was the danger the wolves?" asked Leafpool.

"It all ties together." Spottedleaf touched her nose to Leafpool's ear. "In time, all will make sense."

Leafpool thought hard, musing over the prophecy's lines. "Betrayal and blood…there's been no betrayal yet, that I know of. A prowling danger…the wolves, maybe? What would they have to do with betrayal?" Leafpool looked up sharply. "Did someone bring the wolves here?"

Spottedleaf only smiled sadly.

"And night…Nightfang hasn't done anything, and I don't know what else that could mean." Leafpool shook her head in confusion. "Night the time can't do anything, more less replenish the spirit of the forest! What is the spirit of the forest anyway?"

"You will find out soon," whispered Spottedleaf. "Soon the time comes for all to be revealed."

Ever mysterious, she faded into the light of the moon.

To be continued...

------------------------------------------