Chapter Eleven


The next day, Asterpaw had the morning off. She spent her valuable free time getting a little extra sleep and eating. Redpaw left early on a hunting patrol with Flamepaw and their mentors. Sooner than she thought, Thunderstar, Duckwing, and Covetail were ready to leave and she had no choice but to go with them. She padded lazily toward them, taking all the time she could before she had to rush out of camp into the frigid forest.

"Is going on patrol that terrible?" Covetail purred. Asterpaw shrugged and stared at her paws, a little embarrassed he saw through her so easily. "I hope I'm not old and boring, already." he added, and she let her whiskers twitch cheerfully.

Without another word, the patrol pushed through the snow-dusted heather tunnel and into the forest. Thunderstar fell naturally into the lead, Covetail just behind him, and Duckwing and Asterpaw side by side at the rear. As her head really began to wake up, Asterpaw wondered what Duckwing and Duskpaw had been doing out all night, before. The question burned on her tongue and she had to fight herself not to blurt it out. She found literally biting her tongue was the only thing that helped, and she hoped no one noticed.

"How is your training coming along?" Duckwing asked in a quiet voice, so that the toms ahead of them would not hear. Asterpaw swallowed hard, wishing she could swallow her tongue.

"Good." she croaked out. Now she hoped she just sounded normal.

"Nothing that interesting to you?" He meowed curiously. She swallowed, again.

"I'm a really good hunter, I'm told, and I like to do it." she offered meekly. Then she added, "I have some trouble battle training, though. I get really scared, even when I know it's fake."

The young warrior nodded compassionately. He opened his mouth to speak when suddenly he stumbled, and the cats ahead of them halted and turned to look at him. Asterpaw had almost forgotten he was blind, at all.

"Ouch." he coughed, dragging himself to his feet.

"I'm so sorry, Duckwing! I should have said something - there was a stick in the path and I didn't even think-"

"It's not your fault, Asterpaw." he said in a straining voice. He shook himself roughly, dislodging a collection of snowflakes from his pelt.

"Are you alright? You can return to camp if you need to." Thunderstar meowed. The white tom shook his head.

"I'm fine. My paw might have a bit of a bruise later, but I'll manage." he assured, giving himself another shake. The patrol went on at a slightly slower pace. As they went farther along the forest border, a strange droning sound entered the air. It drew nearer as they went.

"I'm not the only one hearing that, am I?" Covetail meowed cautiously. Thunderstar halted.

"I hear it, too. It's coming from across the border." he replied.

"What is it?" Asterpaw asked, fear evident in her voice. Her ears swiveled at the sound.

"I'm not sure. I think it would be smart to investigate." her mentor said. The other cats agreed.

Quietly, watchfully, the patrol crossed the border, following the sound as they went. As they drew closer, it became a terrible, loud rumbling, like the growling of a giant beast. The fur along Asterpaw's spine rose, and her tail fluffed up to twice its normal size. Duckwing walked near her, his pelt brushing hers to comfort her. Her fur flattened some.

As they came out of a long, shallow divot in the ground, a scene unfolded before them. Two-legs stood around, covered in bright pelts. Some did nothing while others waved their arms and yowled at each other, but the voices were drowned out by the terrible growling. Fallen trees lay here and there around them, still fresh under their hard bark. The cats could finally see what made the noise. A giant yellow thing moved slowly, sluggishly with one misshapen arm in the middle of its body. It had no legs or head, only the arm, body, and strange, oblong things underneath it that rolled over and over to move it. The reflection off of its pelt was almost blinding with the sun on its back. The scent it let off was so strong they could smell it pungently from where they stood and Asterpaw gagged, struggling not to vomit.

"What is that thing?" she meowed, panicked. Thunderstar crouched down and the rest followed quickly.

"My father showed me one once.. Near the two-leg plants. It was different-looking but it was like this.. He called it a monster, and said two-legs rode in the bellies of the smaller kind." he explained calmly, although he looked just as bewildered.

"What is it doing?" Asterpaw continued, but her words were not heard by the others, a terrible cracking of bark and wood filling the air. They watched in terror as the big monster pressed against a thin birch tree, looking just in time to see it rush towards the ground.

The noise fell away for a moment and Thunderstar was able to be heard, "I think we've seen enough. I think returning to camp would be best." The patrol agreed quickly and they left as swiftly as they could, hopefully unnoticed. Once they were far away enough that the growling monster, Thunderstar continued. "I would appreciate if all of you kept this to yourselves, for now. I don't want needless worry in the Clan. I will talk with my deputy and senior warriors and decide what to do. If you hear the noise on another patrol or hear about it from other cats, tell them it's a stray two-leg messing around in the forest."

"Will do."

"Of course, Thunderstar."

Asterpaw stayed silent. She didn't know what, if it was the terrible scent still in her nose or the painful rumble in her ears, but she felt sick. It wasn't just the type of sick that could be cured by herbs. It was something that made her feel like something terrible was going on. She thought back to the day Thunderstar left for the Star Cave. She'd heard a rumor that he'd had a bad feeling about leaving. That somehow he knew what would happen to his mate just after his departure. Asterpaw hoped the rumor was a lie. She hoped the feeling in her stomach was just fumes. She never wanted to be normal more in her life. Nothing else was said as they made their way back.

Arriving back in camp, they all seemed to come back down to earth.

"Remember, keep this to yourselves." Thunderstar repeated. The young toms nodded their heads, and Asterpaw again outwardly ignored him. She walked numbly towards the apprentices' den. That sick feeling still lingered in her gut. She brushed the fronds away with her muzzle to see a red form sprawled on the ground. She couldn't see the flank rise or fall and she dove forward, on top of it.

"Redpaw!" she cried, her green pupils tiny shards of fear.

"Ouch!" she coughed, blowing more air than words.

"Thank StarClan! You scared me." Asterpaw sighed, stepping back and off of her sister.

"Did you think I was just lying here dead as a lost dog?" Redpaw replied with twitching whiskers. Asterpaw grew quiet. "You did." Redpaw meowed discontentedly. She got to her paws and licked Asterpaw in the middle of the forehead. "What made you think such a thing?"

Asterpaw opened her mouth, taking a breath, then closed it, again. She was about to say something about the tree monster and the two-legs. She knew she couldn't say anything. Unfortunately for her, Redpaw knew her all too well. As soon as she bit her tongue, Redpaw knew her sister had a story to tell.

"What happened?!" A spark of interest brightened her eyes. She loved gossip as much as her kin. Reluctantly, Asterpaw quickly explained what happened on the patrol to her. "Oh wow!" she said when Asterpaw finished. "You have to show me!"

"No way!" Her sister protested. "I promised Thunderstar I'd never tell; and it's dangerous! You know we can't trust two-legs. Leaving the territory makes it even worse! I can't put you in danger like that!" Asterpaw struggled to keep her voice low, relieved no other cats were in the den with them.

"It won't be dangerous at night." Redpaw pointed out. Her eye glinted mischievously.

"It would be more dangerous!" Asterpaw protested. Her voice began to raise.

"Not at all. No cats would be around to see, and the two-legs would go to sleep. Probably the monster, too." Redpaw meowed cleverly. Asterpaw was still uncertain. "C'mon, it'll be really cool. Getting close to a monster when it's defenseless.. We can brag for moons. Maybe our whole lives! It'd be really cool to have an apprentice and be able to tell them you stalked a monster when you were their age?"

"No!" Asterpaw's voice cracked, and she lowered it, again. "No. They'd want to do the same, then, and put themselves in danger."

"Then consider it bonding time, a secret between us sisters." Redpaw purred soothingly. She touched Asterpaw's flank with her tail tip. Asterpaw didn't brush it away.

"I'm sorry, Redpaw. No." she stated, her mind made up.

"Fine." Redpaw muttered. Asterpaw ignored her and walked out of the den. She walked across the clearing, suddenly feeling weak. Her legs trembled slightly as she bent down to pick a thrush from the fresh-kill pile. She padded back to the den and lay down in front of it, chewing thoughtfully on the bird. She saw Thunderstar outside of his den with Ravinefall, Runningwillow, Elderpelt, Rivertail, Strathfang, and Callaspring. She wished she could hear them, but she was much too far away.


"... it was knocking trees down. I can't figure out why." Thunderstar finished. The cats surrounding him exchanged glances.

"Do you know much about two-legs, Callaspring?" Strathfang asked the she-cat. She looked past them all thoughtfully for a moment before she answered.

"I know more than most cats, as far as I know. Mostly useless things. I've never heard of them attacking a forest. When I was- around two-leg dens, they paid a lot of attention to the plants that grew around them. There were very few trees, though. I never saw them destroy any." she replied carefully.

"Two-legs will do as they want." Elderpelt grunted.

"You may have been too young to remember." Runningwillow began, looking to Thunderstar, "but there was a time when a group of two-legs came into our territory. They stayed for days and drove prey away. Cliffstar was afraid they would take over the entire forest. Thankfully, they left after half a moon. I'm not sure if these are the same ones, but I don't think we should worry about them, either."

"Still, all patrols should check that border thoroughly, and no one should leave camp alone." Ravinefall meowed.

"I agree." her father said. "I don't think it's urgent enough to warrant a clan meeting. Ravinefall, tell any cat that goes on patrol to watch for two-legs. If they hang around much longer, I'll bring it up to everyone. I'll also tell the queens to keep the kits in camp with them."

The small group disbanded and Thunderstar headed straight to the nursery. Stepping inside, he knew immediately there were more than just the tennant cats inside. Amongst the crowd of kits, a small tom curled up behind Greenpath. Thunderstar sniffed, half amused and half annoyed.

"Covetail." he said in greeting. The pointed tom got quickly to his feet, stepping away from the leader's daughter.

"Th-thunderstar!" he dipped his head in return, poorly hiding his surprise. He stared at his paws dedicatedly.

"Greenpath, Brindleflame, may I have a moment with you two?" the leader asked, his tone measured. The queens mewed their agreement and sat in front of him, side by side. "If you could, please keep the kits in camp for now. There have been two-legs in the forest. They haven't crossed into our territory, but I want to keep our future warriors safe." he told them.

"Of course we can, Thunderstar." Brindleflame purred reassuringly.

"You can count on us." Greenpath replied. Her voice sounded strange to her father. He knew her too well not to see right through her facade. Covetail must have already told her. The young warrior was loyal, but bad with secrets. He'd have to keep it in mind for the future.

"Thank you." he dipped his head. He turned to leave when three tabby kits tackled him.

"Father!" the she-kit cried. She kneaded his chest happily.

"Pinned you!" a tom crowed. The brown tabby said nothing, his small, needle teeth fastened in Thunderstar's foreleg.

"I'm no match for these fine fighters!" the patchy tom cried dramatically. The littermates purred and tumbled off of him.

"You should come see us more, Father!" the she-kit whimpered. She rubbed her head against his leg.

"Leading a Clan takes a lot of my time, Freezekit." he said, obviously repeating himself for the nth time.

"Sounds familiar." Greenpath piped in. Her tone was sharp, even with her soft voice. Thunderstar looked away.

"Alright." he mewed with a sigh. "Tell you what. Tomorrow Asterpaw can train with Redpaw and her mentor and I'll spend all day with the three of you-and Greenpath, if she wants."

"Yay!" the three cheered with glee. They tried to tackle him, again, but he slipped away like a fish and left, again. This time, there were no complaints.

Thunderstar stopped just outside the nursery for a moment. He felt his stomach grumble and he padded across the clearing. He picked a squirrel out of the pile and decided to eat with some of his warriors. Eating alone would only feed the void he could still feel nagging inside of his chest. Always, no matter what he was doing, he would feel the occasional stab of remembrance. He shook it off as he had a dozen times before and saw his brother going back to the medicine den. He decided it would be better to eat with him, instead, and followed.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked Rivertail and Strathfang. For once, Callaspring was not by his side.

"Not at all." the she-cat purred. She had a half-eaten mouse at her paws while Strathfang had a plumb vole. Thunderstar sat beside them and started into his squirrel.

"We do have plenty of catmint, don't we?" Rivertail asked around a mouthful.

"Yes. You've asked me thrice, already." Strathfang groaned. He rolled the vole away from him with a paw. He must have lost his appetite. Rivertail looked irritated, ready to respond when a cat arrived.

"Er.. Rivertail?" Duckwing stepped tentatively into the small clearing. The she-cat got to her feet.

"What is it?" concern filled her voice instantly.

"Um.. Can I speak to you alone?" he asked. His voice was strangled, as if it hurt to speak. The she-cat nodded and quickly the two left. A silence passed over the remaining toms.

"Well, that was strange." Strathfang muttered, breaking the silence.

"You could say that again." Thunderstar huffed uncomfortably.

"Well, that was strange." he repeated. His brother gave him a look. The two ate quickly and without saying much more. The sun was going down, and Thunderstar was quite alright with spending some time alone, now. He stood and buried the bones of his prey before returning to his den. To his surprise, two cats waited for him inside the den. Duckwing and Rivertail looked at him as he entered. Duckwing turned back to the medicine cat.

"I'm sorry, it's not my place to tell him." Duckwing mewed, and pushed past his leader. Thunderstar watched him go before he turned back to Rivertail.

"What secrets are we sharing?" he joked. However, seeing her face, he realized it was not a subject to joke about. He listened patiently as she repeated what the white cat had just told her.

"I don't.. this can't be true." Thunderstar muttered darkly. "Are you sure?"

Rivertail sighed. "How could I? I haven't seen her in the time I talked to you and Duckwing." she responded, annoyed.

"Then I will not consider punishment until this is confirmed. Please, if you don't mind, speak to her about it. I don't like throwing around accusations. Tell me as soon as you can what is really happening."

"I'm as eager as you are, Thunderstar." Rivertail meowed in farewell as she left the den, brushing past the tom. He collapsed into his nest, letting all the air in his body escape. He breathed again, feeling weighed down.

"StarClan, give me strength."