"You're...you're a fox!" Sunpaw breathed in disbelief. He gazed curiously at the blue-gray creature before him. And he was right.
Everything about this animal spoke of vulpine heritage. Her muzzle was slender and long, her ears wide and pointed at the tips. A brush of milky gray fur stuck out from her hindquarters. The blue fox nodded. "Yes. I am called Starchild, daughter of the late Moonchild."
"Moonchild is dead?" Promisepaw mewed quietly. "That can't be!"
"How I wish it was not, young one. Come, enter my den. I will tell you everything." Sunpaw looked from cat to cat. Shrugging, he made an easy leap onto the top of the stone wall. Starchild peered from between the silver branches. "Can the rest of them make it up here on their own?" she asked.
Sunpaw looked down, feeling a little guilty. Of course. How could he have forgotten that no cat had legs as long as his were? The golden tom turned back and crouched down. "Someone jump. I'll catch you." He looked from cat to cat. "Shadowpaw?"
His dark friend made an easy, grassy ripple of motion and shot up towards the stone wall. Sunpaw caught her scruff and pulled her easily up to stand beside him. "How'd I do?" she whispered to him. Sunpaw purred.
"I said I'd make you into a MeadowClan cat," he replied in a low voice. "Those jumping lessons really did their stuff. Wavinggrass couldn't have done it any better, and he was taller than I'll ever hope to be." Wavinggrass was the MeadowClan deputy when Sunpaw had left.
A few more leaps and tugs later, the rest of the cats had reached the ledge, even the short-limbed Promisepaw. Starchild swished her tail for the cats to follow her. Sunpaw padded along the barrier of silver branches behind the fox, wondering how they would be able to get in to be with her. The answer came in the form of a dead end.
"The Men who feed me go around that wall," Starchild informed them. "You will see a small hatch, almost like a door. Place a paw on the handle of the hatch and push down. While you are pushing down, have a friend push the hatch in. I will greet you at the tunnel."
Sunpaw shrugged as the fox departed. He looked from one apprentice to the other. "Well...er, let's get a move on, shall we?"
Promisepaw closed her eyes happily and purred. Shadowpaw nodded and leapt down. Wavepaw eyed the jump carefully, a flicker of fear running through his eyes, as if he couldn't believe he was about to do this. Trickpaw shoved past both Wavepaw and Sunpaw and dropped down without a word. Sunpaw could still see the angry fires in his gaze, and resolved to avoid the tomcat. Trickpaw seemed bent on making enemies out of everyone.
Sunpaw padded up to the cold, silver wall and sniffed it. There was the faint scent of Twolegs—was that what Starchild had meant by 'Men'? He spotted the handle and stood up on his hindpaws, forcing it down with his full weight. Promisepaw meowed, "All right, everyone! Push!"
The force of the combined apprentices took Sunpaw off guard. He had forgotten he and his companions were almost full-grown warriors, capable of great feats of strength. The hatch was shoved open, and Sunpaw toppled down head-first into the tunnel. He sat up, blinking in the low light. Shadowpaw licked behind his ears. The golden tom got to his paws, shaking his head rapidly to clear it.
"Come on!" Promisepaw insisted. "We're so close! Let's get there as soon as we—Oop!" She broke off in a startled mew as Starchild appeared at the end of the tunnel.
"I decided to join you outside," she told them. "After all, I've yet to roam free like my mother." The loss was raw in her yellow eyes. Promisepaw nodded and turned back to the entrance. Trickpaw held the door open with his lean body. His gaze softened when it met hers, but Sunpaw could see the unease of their fight lingering in both pairs of eyes: they wanted to be together, but hadn't reconciled enough to do so.
Starchild sighed quietly, murmuring to herself as she padded out into the cold midnight. She seated herself in a small drift of snow and gazed intently at the wandering cats. "And so...we begin," she said. "Tell me, weary travelers, what brings you to my den on such a night as this?"
"We have received a prophecy from our warrior ancestors," Promisepaw explained. "Hope, Shadows, Fire, and Water will come together and save the Promised Clan. We've come from far away to see you and ask you how we can save our Clan."
Starchild turned her stare to the silver moon, which was now fully visible in the clear sky. Sunpaw shuddered with awe. Who was this fox, who seemed to be so wise, and yet so young? She looked back at them. "I fear that I may not be of much help. I can only ask of you this much: What have you faced, what dangers have you seen, to make you worthy of my advice?"
Sunpaw thought this was thoroughly arrogant, coming from a fox who was hardly bigger than Shadowpaw. Just who did she think she was, some great seer sent by StarClan? He sat down sullenly, curling his thick tail around his paws to keep them warm. Starchild looked from cat to cat. "Do you answer me? Do you have what I seek?"
"What...what do you seek?" Promisepaw asked nervously.
"I seek a sign of your courage and loyalty to one another," Starchild replied calmly. Trickpaw jolted, his eyes growing wide as if he had realized something important. He looked from Sunpaw to Wavepaw to Promisepaw, then down to Promisepaw's basket. Sunpaw watched the golden-ginger tom as he slipped over to the basket and pulled something gleaming and white forth.
"Our courage and loyalty?" Shadowpaw asked incredulously. "Look at our paws, scarred from running. Look at our muscles, stronger than before. Look at our eyes! Can you not see what we have seen?"
Trickpaw dropped his object on the ground in front of Starchild, tail held high with confidence. "We bring you this," he meowed. "The fang of a badger, ripped from its mouth by this cat's paw." He swept his tail towards Promisepaw. "She was defending me when the creature attacked."
Starchild studied the fang carefully, nodding to herself occasionally. Promisepaw turned to Trickpaw, her eyes gleaming with respect and love. Trickpaw turned his head away, ashamed—it seemed to Sunpaw—to see her gaze. Finally, the blue fox nodded. "Yes," she murmured. "Yes. This is what I seek. Come with me, brave warriors, great Children of the Star-Cats. You are welcome to stay in the den of Starchild."
Sunpaw heaved a soft sigh of relief and padded up beside Trickpaw. All the others were licking his ears and telling him how brilliant he was. Sunpaw leaned down and whispered, "Promisepaw's got her eye on you again. Go back to her."
"She doesn't deserve me," was the reply he got.
"Yes she does. Stop being such a stuck rabbit and acknowledge her!"
Trickpaw's eyes were focused on the ground, though, and he didn't say anything more. Sunpaw shrugged it off to walk with Shadowpaw. The dark apprentice purred to see him, and the pair padded side by side back to Starchild's den.
Once inside, Starchild deposited the badger fang alongside another fang in a small depression in the icy wall. Sunpaw peered curiously at the collection of teeth until Starchild cleared her throat. She waved her fuzzy tail toward a narrow passageway. "Down that tunnel, you will find small nests to sleep in," she barked. "I wish you restful sleep, and we shall speak again at midnight tomorrow."
Sunpaw was about to ask if there was any chance of food, but Shadowpaw nudged him in the direction of the tunnel before a word could escape his mouth. "Just go with what she says," she muttered. "We don't want to blow it after coming so far." Sunpaw merely nodded and curled up in an icy hollow with his friends. Sleep came over the gold-striped tom within minutes.
.-''-.-''-.-''-.
Starchild stayed at the entrance of the den—a den which was now hers and hers alone. She wasn't tired in the least, only curious. She could hear soft words being exchanged over near Houndplace, but it was too hard to tell what the words themselves were. A shiver passed down her spine, causing the fuzzy gray fur to rise briefly. Whatever it was...it was nothing good.
.-''-.-''-.-''-.
"Pack ready?" Ocarina asked, tail doing an irritated dance in the snow. Greencough had killed off nearly all of the Alliance, leaving only Ocarina, Tempus, Maju, and Thief. Leader's black head nodded.
"Pack ready," he grunted. "But Pack larger now. Son of Leader bringing friends: Shadow, Bone Claw, Low Step. Good?"
"Good," Ocarina confirmed. More hounds meant more cats would be slain. Her situation only got better and better. The greencough had been but a minor setback, but at the same time, a benefit. Now the AoDs consisted of the strongest of the strong. Disease had weeded out the weaklings. "Leave tonight."
"Tonight." Leader slid easily out into the snowy landscape, followed by his chosen Pack: Nameless Barker, Follower, No Tail, and Blood Fang. Blood Fang hesitated before following his father to rally his wolves around him. When it was all said and done, eight wolves stood in the snow. Ocarina let out a low purr of approval.
"Pack follow Alliance back to territory. Show Pack where to hunt, eat Smallfurs. Show Pack where to hide. Follow Alliance." And she set out, the pack of wolves streaming out behind her in a fluid line of malevolence.
.-''-.-''-.-''-.
Blood Fang had everything planned out now. Yes. Leader would fall at night. Tonight. Bone Claw knew of berries, berries that would kill even the biggest wolf if he ate them. She would slip some into Leader's food, or perhaps claim them as some miracle cure for whatever would ail him. Leader was old enough. Sooner or later, his joints would hurt. And then Bone Claw would strike.
She would take the fall, she swore. She was willing to die for her new Leader, Blood Fang. Without Leader, the Pups of Starsire would become uneasy, aimless. Blood Fang would be able to take the reins from there; being Leader's son, they would naturally pass right to him. The white wolf grinned as he skipped along the snowdrifts.
.-''-.-''-.-''-.
In the silence and darkness of the arctic exhibit, two of the keepers were hard at work setting up their newest attraction. Arabella's pelt, cleaned and preserved, lay stretched out on a display box. The top had a small circle cut out of it so that inquiring children would be able to feel the gentle fluff of an Arctic Fox's fur. It hung on a wall for all to touch.
Their work done, the keepers slipped out of the exhibit to finish closing down the zoo. A stray ray of moonlight glinted on a plaque. "This pelt," it said, "belonged to our zoo's Arctic Fox, Arabella. The Arctic Fox is known for its white, winter pelt—a pelt that is used primarily in fox-fur coats for its thick fur and even coloring. Arabella has a single kit, who is still in this zoo. You may be lucky to see our little fox Eskimo padding around her enclosure."
It went on after that, listing all the organizations set in place to stop fox-fur trades, and thanking a certain zoo for donating their fox. Around it were pictures of the arctic fox in its natural habitat, the arctic fox with its kits, a cartoon of a fox refusing to make coats because it couldn't sew. Further along the display was a small setup of an Inuit driver at a dogsled in full coat and parka. Behind him was a stuffed wolf, glass eyes gleaming in the silvery light. Across from the wolf was a white-furred fox.
The fur was fake, but what most would never realize was that under the faux fur and stuffing was the skeleton of a very important fox.
Moonchild, forever standing guard over the exhibit with Leader's mother.
.-''-.-''-.-''-.
Sunpaw awoke to Starchild prodding him urgently in the side. "Wake up, Golden One! You must awake now! The hounds' cage is empty, and we must hurry!"