Author's Note: Very very very sorry there's been no updates for a million years. I know, I suck at life, blah blah blah! Hope you enjoy this rather long chapter.
Chapter One
Deceivers in the Dark
The night had settled long ago, yet some figures still dared to walk the forest right outside the Amberclan camp. The warrior den had not stirred- they were most likely the night patrol returning. A large, powerful cat slipped from the warrior den into the clearing outside.
The tom almost slithered quietly past the apprentice den, however, one paw cracked a twig as he walked by. He froze for a moment before assuming that no one had awoke and padded on.
However he was wrong.
Lightpaw had always been a light sleeper. Often frequently waking up by himself, disruptions never failed to stir him. So when a rather loud crack was heard outside, Lightpaw's head poked up from all his sleeping den mates. Peering out through a small crack, he saw a familiar tom make his way across the clearing.
"What is he doing?" Lightpaw wondered, and crawled over his friends carefully, so to not disturb them, and crept outside.
"It's about time, Hawkwing. How long were you planning to make him wait? We only have til the dawn." A taunting voice spoke from a sleek, skinny gray cat with a scar down one of his yellow eyes. He was one of the trio of cats that gathered at the entrance to Amberclan territory. All of them were focused on Lightfoot's father, never taking their eyes off of him.
"He's only an apprentice now." Hawkwing told them, "He will be bigger."
"He better start growin'" commented a silver-blue tom on Hawkwing's left, "You know the boss don't like bein' kept waitin'." He grinned, showing a set of sharp teeth sharp enough to tear a single cat apart.
"And if he doesn't grow big enough, we can only imagine how the leader will respond." The scarred cat mused, loud enough for Hawkwing to hear. Lightpaw saw his father's neckfur bristle as his lips drew back in a snarl.
"He will grow, Sly, to be just as powerful as the cat standing before you now." Hawkwing growled. Sly snickered.
A digustingly beautiful, white she-cat, who stood in the middle, stepped forward to stop a fight from looming forward. Sly stepped back, offering the dark-eyed cat all the room she needed.
"Can we see your Clan baby, Hawkwing?" She purred amusingly. Hawkwing's ear twitched for a moment, being entranced by her. Then he replied-
"He's asleep now, it's only twilight."
Lightpaw froze when he saw her look in his direction and smile. Then she turned to Hawkwing and innocently asked, "Then who is that?"
All heads spun to look at Lightpaw. Lightpaw was uncomfortable with all the spotlight and looked away.
"I think we woke him up from his kitty nap, Jewel." Sly snickered. Hawkwing's ears laid flat and his growled. The she cat, Jewel, giggled at this and pressed the side of her muzzle against Sly's and looked back at the silver-blue cat.
"We should get going, Frost and Sly, before the leader gets angry." She suggested and began to strut off.
"Sure thing, sugar." Frost agreed, "And Hawkwing? Bring your kitty to us when he's biggah' than a mouse, hear me?" He and Sly laughed nastily at Hawkwing then followed Jewel. As Lightpaw watched him leave, he saw Sly flank Jewel and whisper some rude commentary (probably about him) to her.
Hawkwing grunted.
"If he does get bigger. He looks pretty small to me." Sly put in, following close behind Jewel.
"You'll see, fleabag." Hawkwing assured him roughly.
Sly ignored him and walked adjacent to Jewel, whispering some kind of cruel commentary to the snow white cat. He looked behind him and motioned for Frost to follow with a twitch of his thin, bony tail. Frost joined Jewel on her other side, twitching his tail. The three cats disappeared into the woods, leaving a deathly silence between father and son.
"Father-" Lightpaw was cut off by his father suddenly spinning around, and approached him slowly and menacing.
"Listen Lightpaw." Hawkwing growled, each step forward like a thunder clap to Lightpaw, "Tell anyone about this, and there will be Hawkwing to pay for it."
Lightpaw gasped and tumbled heels over head back into the apprentice den and lost consciousness.
When he woke it was already late morning.
Silverdream was hard at work arranging her newfound herbs to her satisfaction. She was very obsessive on having everything being neat and organized- after all, no mistakes could be afforded when dealing with lives of Clanmates! After everything was in its place, she sighed with contentment and settled herself into her nest, awaiting her apprentice Icepaw to arrive for another day of medical training. She heard a cat move through the entrance of the medicine den. She rose, prepared to greet her apprentice, but instead of Icepaw, a light yellow cat, her fur so yellow it was almost white, was standing in front of her. It was Sunpaw, the social outcast of the apprentices. Assuming that this was another nightmare or conundrum worked up by Sunpaw's imagination, she settled down back into her nest.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you so, Silverdream." Sunpaw quickly apologized. Nodding her head in that her apology was unneeded, she motioned for the young apprentice to go on. Sunpaw paused, then said, "I just don't think... I mean, I know... that I don't belong here in Amberclan. I had my doubts before, but I am positive now. I am not an Ambercat. I do not even belong within my family unit, because there are no blood ties between my siblings and I."
Silverdream blinked. This was quite the outlandish statement made by Sunpaw, even surpassing the craziest of prophecies by the young she-cat.
In actuality, Sunpaw was not that far from the truth. Sunpaw had been adopted by Hawkwing and his mate, Creamfur, after she had been discovered at the entrance of Dreampool, the silvery-purple waters which housed wisdom of ancestors from the days of yore. Her parents had never been indentified, Silverdream assumed her mother was a loner who did not wish to take care of a kit.
"Sunpaw." Silverdream said softly, "I think this holds the answer to your increasing dilemna." Sunpaw watching her every move, Silverdream walked over to her carefully arranged piles of herbs and to her pile of spoils. Picking up a soiled herb, she placed it at Sunpaw's foot. Sunpaw, picking it up gingerly in her mouth, questioned the medicine cat with her eyes.
"Sunpaw, take this herb to Dreampool. The ancestors accept sacrifices of our best herbs and answer our queries with their profound knowledge. I am afraid my knowledge ends here." Silverdream lied through her teeth. She felt guilty about lying to Sunpaw about her heritage and even more so about giving her a soiled sacrifice, however she could not bring herself to let Sunpaw discover she belonged to no one in Amberclan, and forever break Sunpaw's kit-like innoncence.
"Thank you Silverdream." Sunpaw said around the herb, and took it outside of the den. Silverdream went to the very rear of her den and shrouded herself in isolation for that day.
The rest of the apprentices were outside, running around, laughing with each other and occasionally flirting, at least for Scarletpaw. While Lightpaw had usually eagerly taken part in the fun, he was in no mood to play. Not after when he had discovered the truth about his father and then sworn to secrecy.
"Foxpaw!" Tanpaw exclaimed, and dashed across the clearing to talk to her. Lightpaw's heart wrenched watching that. It seemed that whenever he wished Foxpaw would look his way, or talk to him, Tanpaw always found it necessary to steal her away in his endless supply of conversation and good humour.
"Tanpaw! Want to see Snowpaw and Scarletpaw race? It's sure to be exciting!" Foxpaw encouraged, bouncing up and down in the spirit of the moment.
"Yeah! Race you to the field!" Tanpaw replied, ecstatic, and dashed off.
Lightpaw watched the two cheerful, potential love birds run off together and looked away. He notced Sunpaw coming out of the medicine cat den with a herb in her mouth. He trotted over to his sister and queried, "Is that herb for Mother?" Their mother, Creamfur, was expecting kits next moon.
"No." Sunpaw answered, "I have to take this to the Dreampool. Silverdream said it would help me." Noticing Lightpaw's pained glance at Tanpaw and Foxpaw sitting side by side as Stormpelt announced the start of the race, she quickly invited him to come along with her.
"Sure thing. Thanks Sunpaw." Lightpaw replied, and followed her out of the camp.
Before he left, he glanced over his shoulder and noticed Stormpelt congratulating Snowpaw for winning the competition, and noted that they seemed a little more loving to one another then an average mentor and apprentice would. He shrugged and looked back, just in time to swerve away from a tree.
"Careful!" Sunpaw warned, and picked up her pace a little in hope that her dreams might finally be put to rest. As she and Lightfoot approached the entrance, a certain whimsical sunshine brushed her face, a familiar feeling one gets as they approach Dreampool, the sacred temple to their ancestors.
"The Dreampool is really..." Lightpaw mused, "...I don't know. It moves you. You don't get this kind of feeling anywhere else."
They traveled down a steep path, and arrived at a endless pool, filled to the brim with water that was moonlit, although the Dreampool was located beneath the ground.
"I know." Sunpaw agreed, "It kind of feels like... my homecoming you know?"
"Your homecoming?" Lightpaw replied. Usually he would have laughed at his sister's weirdness, but he felt bonded with her now, "Like your returning to your ancestors?"
"It might sound kind of weird, but yes. It's like I'm coming home to my family." Sunpaw explained, setting the herb down in the water and taking a few paces back in reverence. They waited for the ancestors to accept their sacrifice. Nothing happened, and a few moments of awkward silence followed.
"Whats going on?" Lightpaw wondered aloud,
"Nothing happened..." Lightpaw noted. Then he suddenly gasped, "Sunpaw!'
"What is it?" Sunpaw's voice sounded alarmed.
"Look!" Lightpaw trembled, and gestured his head toward a dead cat, it's eyes still wide awake with terror, it's jaws still opened with a quiet yowl. What was left of it's tail was a tiny bloody stub. Lightpaw almost felt himself start to hyperventilate.
Sunpaw felt faint as she saw the cat. Her head felt foggy and everything around her seemed to be spinning. Looking up, she saw a cave on the upper center of the wall, being supported by a rock ledge, and several stones leading up to it rather like a disconnected staircase. Could the cat's murderers be hiding in there?
Lightpaw swallowed, and to add to his horror he heard paw steps coming down into the Dreampool. He heard the voice of the she cat the night before and suddenly began to panick. He did not want anything to do with those cats. He looked toward Sunpaw and whispered quickly, "Hide!"
"Snowpaw!" A voice rang out through the camp. Approaching her was her mentor, Stormpelt. Like always, he was in high spirits.
"Follow me. We're training somewhere special today." He meowed as cheerful as always, but he had a mysterious tint in his voice.
Snowpaw mindlessly followed her mentor into the woods, wondering what Stormpelt could have prepared for her today.
They twisted through trees and rocks. Snowpaw knew they were going outside Clan territory when Stormpelt started jumping on rocks, working his way to the other side. After they crossed, they quietly walked down a dirt path, before Stormpelt took a sharp turn and walked through a veil of vines. When she emerged from the curtain there was a brook that slowly but gracefully trickling down into a pond dotted with flowering lily pads below. The whole venue was shielded with vine curtains as if to hide the beautiful garden. White, spirit filled daisies were dancing in the soft breeze.
"Sh, don't move." Stormpelt told her, and then quietly gestured toward a family of swans huddled in the pond, sleeping soundly.
"Oh, they are beautiful!" Snowpaw gasped, quiet as not to disturb the effortless beauty of the swans.
"Isn't it pretty out here?" Stormpelt replied blissfully.
Then, to Snowpaw's surprise, Stormpelt unconsciously licked the top of her head affectionately.
"Ah... Stor- Stormpelt?" Snowpaw felt her face blend into all shades of crimson.
"I-I..." Stormpelt fumbled for an excuse for his obvious gesture, "I think it's time we go back. Your mother's probably worried sick."
He turned away, embarassed, and departed quickly from the garden where the unspeakable crime was committed. One that should have never happened, one that both of them wished a certain cat never saw.