Chapter Seventeen

Sunfire yawned and stretched, flexing her leg muscles. A moon had passed since Orangestripe had died, and, as predicted by many, RiverClan had not attended the last Gathering. Lightningstar had warned the other Clans that Shadowfur had turned traitor; he was not the only leader to do so. Two WindClan cats and a ShadowClan queen had also fled to Nero.

Even if I'm the last warrior to remain in my own territory, thought Sunfire, I will stand my ground against all the others to my death.

A sudden murmur of voices outside the den awakened her more; standing, she pushed through the branches and saw a small crowd gathered around Nightwhisker, who looked pleased. Morning came trotting over to Sunfire, her amber eyes warm.

"Nightwhisker is to be having little ones soon," purred Morning.

Sunfire was unsurprised. "I heard her telling Badgerclaw last night," she said. She still couldn't see a single appealing aspect to Badgerclaw.

Morning narrowed her eyes. "I am curious. Why are there no warriors-in-training right now?"

"Apprentices, you mean?" All this time with the Clan and Morning still hadn't adopted some of their terms. When Morning nodded, Sunfire explained. "None of the kits are old enough. Yellowflower's aren't six moons yet." Sunfire headed towards the fresh-kill pile.

"Lightningstar's apprenticing them early," chimed in Raintail,joiningthem."Heard from Darkcloud."

Sunfire cocked her head. "How early?"

"In a quarter-moon."

"That's not that early," countered Sunfire. "They'll only be a half-moon early."

"I think they should have been apprenticed earlier," said Morning, her eyes darkening. "Bad things are happening. Deaths, betrayals...," she trailed off. The three were silent as they ate, and Morning began grooming Raintail; the two were good friends. "Still," she added, "I am fortunate to be living among ThunderClan. I like my adopted home. I like the cats here."

Sunfire looked at Morning for a moment. She'd spoken with complete sincerity, but a pawful of cats either distrusted or disliked her. Morning wasn't stupid; she clearly knew how some of the Clan felt about her. Yet she felt more connected to the cats of ThunderClan than Sunfire did, and Sunfire shared half their blood.

Must be the loner in me, Sunfire thought. It wasn't that she hated ThunderClan; no, she would gladly die for the survival of the Clan. It was the cats she felt distant from. She was close to Icestorm and Raintail, of course, as well as Lightningstar and Sorrelflower. She got along with other cats pretty well, but she was more...separate from them.

A sharp hiss caught Sunfire's attention. Looking up, startled, she saw two cats heading down the slope. One was Mudspeckle, leading the second cat, whose fur was so ragged and mud-caked, it was difficult to determine what its original color was. When the cat turned its head, Sunfire knew her.

"Pinefur!" she exclaimed, making Raintail and Morning jump. Confused and pleased to see her friend, Sunfire trotted over, ignoring the other cats. "Why–?"

"She was in our territory, begging to see Lightningstar," said Mudspeckle. "I couldn't see any harm in it."

"Wait," said Darkcloud, peering closely at Pinefur. "Aren't you a RiverClan warrior?"

When Pinefur nodded, Quickriver snarled. "Then she's allied with the Tribe! We should drive her out or kill her!"

Sunfire faced the pale brown she-cat, angered. "Do you think–" she was cut off.

"Why are you here?" Lightningstar asked, emerging from his den. He was curious, polite, not harsh-voiced or demanding.

Pinefur turned to face him. Sunfire could see the range of emotions in her eyes: respect for Lightningstar; desperation; fear; determination. "I have come to ask you to allow me to stay here," she said, sounding embarrassed yet holding her head high.

Cries of disbelief rose from the cats who were gathered. Hawkclaw rose on his hind legs and yowled, "We already have two cats in this Clan who do not belong here–the half-blood and the Tribe-born!" He stared right at Sunfire as he said it. Some cats agreed with him, yowling all the more loudly. Others looked at Pinefur with pity, and, Sunfire noticed with a rush of satisfaction and warmth, Icestorm snapped at Hawkclaw.

"Pinefur," he began, looking at her carefully, "your leader made the decision to go to the mountains. As a warrior of RiverClan, you are bound to respect and obey her decisions."

"I'm not a warrior of RiverClan," said Pinefur, looking at him. "RiverClan is gone.By living in the mountains and attacking the Clans, we have discarded the warrior code. There is no more RiverClan. I am a loner with a Clan name. I will not fight against the Clans, I will not obey orders that tell me to."

Silence followed Pinefur's short speech. Sunfire was impressed at the power of Pinefur's words, and, from their faces, many other cats were as well.

"Do we let her stay?" called Badgerclaw.

Sunfire looked at Lightningstar, curious for his answer; he had given Morning a place in ThunderClan, but would he accept another outsider? Lightningstar sat with his eyes narrowed to slits.

"I need time to think on this," he said slowly. Raising his head, he beckoned to Mudspeckle. "This Clan meeting is over." He stood and slipped into his den, Mudspeckle behind him.

Sunfire stared after them. She saw Icestorm start over to her, and she glanced at Pinefur, who was talking to Treeshadow. Making a decision, she gave Icestorm a wait-up-for-me look, then slunk over to Lightningstar's den. Flattening herself to the ground behind a dense bush, she pricked her ears; their words drifted over to her, faint and difficult to hear, but there.

"We've already given Morning a place to stay," Mudspeckle was saying. "And this Pinefur could be a spy. What if Shadowfur sent her here?" He spat the black warrior's name like it was poison.

"Morning has earned her place," said Lightningstar. "She hunts and patrols regularly, fights for us, and I've seen her guard the nursery more than a few times. And Pinefur..." A breeze picked up, carrying the rest of his sentence away. Nettled, Sunfire let out a short growl. Turning, she crept away from the willow tree, heading towards Icestorm and Raintail.

"What were you doing?" asked Icestorm, frowning.

"Eavesdropping," she said, shrugging.

Raintail looked alarmed. "Did they catch you?"

"I think you'd know if they did," answered Sunfire. "All I got was Mudspeckle asking if we should let Pinefur stay here."

"We can't send her away!" exclaimed Raintail. "She'd probably be killed if we cast her out!"

Sunfire looked over at Pinefur, who now crouched at the edge of the camp, slowly washing her mud-caked fur. Closing her eyes, Sunfire knew that Shadowfur would kill Pinefur if Lightningstar sent her back. Rising, she beckoned to Icestorm with her tail.

"Come on," she said, "Pinefur's never met you. And you'll be able to calm her down," she added to Raintail. "You give the best consolation, no sarcasm." Raintail brightened and waved her tail happily.

As they padded over to the former RiverClan warrior, Sunfire felt a strange sense of foreboding, like something crept through the shadows of the forest, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

;-;-;-;

Sighing contentedly, Sunfire nestled closer to Icestorm, lazily resting her chin on her forepaws. Scents of salt and sand and water rushed up to them on a breeze from across the ocean. Stars glimmered overhead, and a whisker-thin slice of moon gleamed.

With ajolt, Sunfire realized something was wrong. Fear ran through her as she felt bitter cold seep through her fur, felt slick ice beneath her paws when there should have been sun-heated rock. She looked down from a much greater height than at the sun-drown-cliff. Jagged, black rocks stood in sharp contrast to the snow and ice.

Startled and confused at their sudden change of surroundings, Sunfire started to rise, only to find that movement sent her sliding to the cliff's edge. Digging her claws into the ice, she turned to Icestorm, as if he would know the answer to their apparent teleportation.

Who she saw both angered and startled her to the point that she took a step back--

–and her body slipped over the cliff.

Terror that Sunfire had never known ran through her, terror that she, always proud and careful of her dignity, would be reluctant to admit she felt. Scrabbling at the ice for a pawhold, she was both frozen and on fire: extreme fear paralyzed her and survival instinct invigorated her. Still struggling to haul her own weight back onto the cliff, Sunfire stared at the new arrivals.

Twin shadows sat side by side,one fox, one cat, both staring at her, eyes glinting cruelly. Icestorm had vanished.

Just as Sunfire's strength failed her and she fell, plummeting towards the icy rocks below, she wrenched her eyes open.

Dawn was still a long way off. Shivering and gasping slightly, Sunfire pushed herself to a sitting position, taking deep breaths to calm herself. Next to her, Icestorm shifted in his sleep, sending silver glimmers through the den as the moonlight caught in his fur. Suddenly unable to be beside him, Sunfire stepped over him and pushed out of the den.

Moving to the center of camp, Sunfire sat and bowed her head. This wasn't the first time she'd had dreams like this, dreams that warned her of upcoming events, but it scared her. In her other dreams, Firestar had been there, offering a small amount of comfort just with his presence. Why had he been gone this time?

Frustrated, Sunfire scored her claws against the ground, leaving three long impressions in the dirt. Each time she tried to comprehend her dreams, the more complex they became, holding hidden meanings. It was close to futile; trying and failing to decipher dreams.

;-;-;-;

Tormented by the futility of life,

I can see the stars from a million miles

–Single Gun Theory, From a Million Miles