Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait but I was holding out for another review, which Sunny so kindly provided;) Also thank Graywhisper and our Guest for reviewing and giving me motivation to write this. I don't want to sound whiny guys but I'm going to need motivation to write this. It's outside of my comfort zone (no Midnight!) and it's also the first "book" that I've had to write without Echo, which kind of makes me hate it. So if you want fast-ish updates, I need reviews as inspiration. If you write, you get it right? Cause I didn't get it till I started posting stuff and then I realized why writers beg for reviews;) Well anyways it'd be great if you could review for me=) Anyways:
Graywhisper- Don't worry the kits shall be back, that is chapter one and two of the plot (not including prologue) Anything else you wanna see?;) Glad you loved the chapter! And I'm glad it wasn't too dramatic! Hope you like this one!=)
Guest- Don't worry, I'll always write until I finish=) Glad you liked the other stories and I hope this one lives up to expectations! Enjoy the chapter=)
Sunny- Well to be honest I'm glad you reviewed late, because if you hadn't I might not have gotten the review I was holding out for=) I'm glad it's turning out well, because the Tribe is very different for me to write and I had to look a lot of things up;) And yeah I knew the Tribe wouldn't be to terribly psyched about them leaving again so I needed to show that. And I am glad that the names are realistic I was worried about Bramble's and it took me awhile on Moon's I knew I wanted something with a moon in there but I had to work it out;) I was so mad when Stormfur didn't name one of his kits for Feathertail. So I had to fix that;) As for my exams, out of the three I know my grade on I've got all As! Which makes me happy=) Of course there were killer curves but whatevs;) Hope you enjoy this!
Chapter Two
The morning is cold and gray, the sun just barely peeking over the top of the lowest mountains. Lark and Pine stand next to me as we wait for Brook, silent as death. They seem to be in limbo, as am I.
We are waiting for the moment when Brook appears, trailed by the little ones, the moment when everything will change.
Lark sniffs gently and blinks her eyes, trying to rid them of the glassy sheen. Pine leans into her, his own eyes dull and blank. "When will you come back?" he asks, his voice strained.
"I can't say." I reply quietly, my own voice thick with emotion.
"But w-why do you h-have to l-le-leave u-us?" Lark sniffles, her voice breaking.
"Because your place is here." I reply, running my tail down her side. "You are to-bes now; your path has been set in this stone. It would be too cruel to take you away from it. It does not do to live trapped between two worlds."
"But our place is with you!" Pine growls, shaking slightly.
"No Pine, your place is here… you will live well and be happy here in your home. To take you with us will just create confusion you don't need."
"You will come back though, w-won't you?" Lark asks tremulously.
"Of course we will come back!" I mew at once, "Why would you think that we wouldn't?"
"Because you're taking Moon, Feather, and Bramble. If our place is here then that must mean that you think their place is there!"
"Oh no, no Lark," I mew consolingly, "It's just that they haven't started a life here yet… besides… you know that the Tribe isn't exactly happy with your mother and me…. Well you two are old enough to remember us and know who we truly are, but the little ones…. They could be swayed to think ill of us and that is a thought neither your mother nor I could stand."
Pine opens his mouth as though to argue, but then takes a deep breath instead. Lark seems to be casting around to find another argument. Failing, she sighs and mews, "Good luck Father."
"Thank you Lark." I mew trying to give her a reassuring smile.
She steeps closer and buries her face in my fur, sniffling again. "I love you Daddy."
I sigh heavily at her muffled words and lick her ear, "I love you too." I glance up and hold my son's eyes, "I love you Pine. I will always love you. No matter what they tell you, know that I love you. I will come back, I promise. No matter what, I will come back."
"I know Dad." Pine mews, his voice croaky, "I know."
And then the limbo is over, because Brook is walking toward us, the kits toddling after her, with Pebble bring up the rear. At her arrival, Lark leaves me and runs to her mother, almost knocking her over.
Pine hangs back for a moment and mews, "We'll stay loyal to you dad. No matter what. Should we… keep an eye on the horizon?"
"Look to the stars as well my son…" I mew darkly.
He nods and mews gruffly, "Good-bye Dad."
"Good-bye Pine." I watch him walk away with a bitter taste in my mouth. He talks briefly to his mother, then licks each of his siblings before turning and walking stiffly over to the other to-bes. I watch him fake a laugh at something one of them said and feel my heart fail – have I lost him already?
Brook walks over joined by Lark. "Daddy, Daddy, why aren't Lark and Pine coming?" Moon wails her blue-gray eyes glittering with sadness.
"Because they have to learn how to be strong Tribe cats, so that when we get home they can teach you all." I mew down to my little daughter.
"But we'll miss them!" Bramble mews dejectedly.
"I'll miss them as well, but it must be done." I mew quietly.
Lark takes a deep breath and licks Brook's cheek, "Farewell Mother, may the Tribe of Endless Hunting guide your path." She bends over and nuzzles her siblings, "Now you be polite when you meet the Clans, okay? We don't want them thinking badly of us. Try not to grow up too much."
She stands up shakily, and gives me a small very sad smile before she turns abruptly and walks away. However, she bypasses her brother and the others, heading back to her nest. I can tell from the way she walks that she's burst into tears.
"All right everyone." I mew after a moment, "It's time to go –"
"Daddy! Daddy!" Feather mews suddenly, interrupting me, "Who's that?!"
"What?" I ask, turning in the direction that Feather's pointing her tail. I gasp in shock, for the shimmering outline of my sister is hovering behind me. She looks startled as though she's been caught.
"What's what?" Brook asks, looking directly at Feathertail. My mouth falls open. Feathertail mouths quickly: They can't see me. Well they're not supposed to see me.
I turn back to my family thinking fast, "Come now, we ought to get a move on." I mew leading everyone out. Outside of the cave, Brook scoops up Moon and slips behind the waterfall. I grab Bramble and Feather, Feathertail hovering behind me, her eyes wide and anxious.
After clearing the waterfall we walk for a few foxlength before I set my kits down and mew, "Brook we need to talk." Brook stops and place Moon on the mountain side.
"Yes I've been thinking so as well." She mews, her eyes scanning our kits.
"Well… Brook… Feathertail's with us."
Brook's mouth forms a perfect circle in shock as Feather demands, "Is that who I saw?!" at the same time Moon and Bramble ask, "Who's Feathertail?"
I sigh and mew, "Feather, that was who you saw. Feathertail is – was – my sister. She died many moons ago."
"Is she a part of the Tribe of-of-of-of…. Endless Hunting?" Moon asks after thinking hard for a moment.
"Yes and no…" I reply. My kits eyebrows scrunch together at once. "Now's not the time to tell you," I mew briskly. "But she will be – erm…" I hesitate, realizing I don't know what my sister will be doing.
"– Accompanying you on your journey."
I hear a voice I have not heard outside a dream in countless moons and my sister's outline blazes with a bright white light. When it fades my sister stands before us, looking very much alive, except for the fact that stars are woven into her pelt.
"Feathertail!" Brook gasps, wide eyed in shock.
"Hello Brook," Feathertail mews with a dazzling smile, "How have you been?"
"Feathertail what in the name of StarClan?" I hiss, eyeing my kits who now resemble balls of moss as they've all fluffed up their fur in shock.
Brook moves to them, and licks their fur down as Feathertail mews, "I didn't mean to frighten them but everything got messed up. I wasn't supposed to be seen by anyone save for you. And you weren't supposed to say anything. I was to lead you out of the mountains safely, and protect you invisibly. But now I've had to show myself."
For her plan being messed up, she doesn't look too terribly upset. In fact her eyes are shining with the familiar mischief I haven't seen in a very long time.
"Well come on we don't have all day!" Feathertail mews, standing up and taking the lead. "Are the kits going to walk, or will they be carried?"
"Um… we were going to carry two and have one walk and then switch off." Brook mews as the kits stand.
"Good idea," Feathertail nods, "Just tell me when you want me to carry one of them."
"Sure," Brook replies. "Now dears, I want to you to stay with us. The mountains are very dangerous and you could be hurt in several ways. Listen to Mummy and Daddy and Feathertail all right?"
The kits nod and Brook scoops Moon back up. I gently lift up Feather and Bramble walks alongside Feathertail. As we walk he showers her with questions, but she doesn't seem to mind, she answers them all jovially with a huge smile on her face. I'm starting to wonder if there's a question he could ask that might make her uncomfortable, because nothing seems to be able to, when we reach a ridge. Beyond it the mountains drop off into a steeps and narrow valley.
It is not small enough to jump, however, and we still need to go in that direction. "Well what now?" I ask, setting down Feather and turning to my sister.
"One moment please." She mews, and then she vanishes. A few seconds later she reappears. "If we go up this path," she mews, indicating a path that winds its way up the ridge, "We'll come across a land bridge that crosses the valley. It looks fairly stable."
Brook frowns slightly and mews, "That goes higher up than I'd wanted to venture. It will make us easy prey for the birds… especially the kits. Isn't there another way we could go?"
Feathertail shakes her head, "I don't think so, not one that's close and is as safe… I'll watch out for birds but we really need to get to the Clans quickly."
Brook sighs and nods. Feathertail grabs Bramble and starts climbing up the path. I let Brook follow her and go last, holding Feather tight.
After we scramble up the tiny path, it levels out to a much wider expanse, even with the rest of the mountain peaks. I place Moon down and take Bramble gently from Feathertail. Moon trots up to the front to join my sister, her little white tail straight up. As we continue walking, she takes a turn at badgering my sister with endless questions. I look over at Feather, still dangling from Brook's mouth. Her green-gray eyes are dark and she's pouting. I suppose she really wanted to talk with Feathertail as they share the same name.
And so we walk. As the sun reaches the middle of the sky, we round a bend and see a fairly large land bridge stretching precariously over the valley's expanse. The wind is stronger here; it had been growing stronger as we walked. It whips cruelly around our fur and the kits are huddling, trying to stay warm. Feathertail seems to be having trouble. As she's mist, the winds keeps blowing her this way and that, she struggles to stay condensed.
A particularly strong gust of wind howls through the mountains and Feathertail's starry pelt flickers and then fades. "What's happened?" Brook demands looking alarmed.
"It's the wind!" I call, "It makes it hard for her to stay… well here." Brook looks surprised, but as the wind dies, Feathertail reappears.
"Sorry!" She calls over the wind's softer howl.
"It's all right!" I call back, "I was thinking after we cross the bridge, we should try to find some prey."
"Okay!" Brook replies, "Let's cross!" As we move closer to the bridge, the wind starts back up and Feathertail flickers out again. Brook curses quietly but I hardly notice I'm straining my ears hard. A noise is coming closer, a noise that is definitely not the wind… flapping… of wings! I whip around and see a huge eagle circling.
"Brook!" I cry in horror, "An EAGLE!"
Brook gasps in shock and whips around accidently hitting Feather, who goes tumbling toward the edge.
"NO!" I leap the distance, watching my kit slowly topple over the rock edge into a gray sky. I hit the ground and thrust a paw out, snagging her.
"Daddy!" Feather cries, the green in her eyes the only spot of color in this gray landscape.
"It's okay." I gasp, managing to pull her back up and set her on wonderfully solid ground, "It's okay."
She huddles into me and I look around. Brooks is slashing at the eagle as Moon and Bramble cower behind her. I grab Feather and place her next to her siblings, before racing to help Brook. But then the eagle's claws close around Brook's paw and it tries to lift her up.
I catapult myself into the air and rake the eagle's leg. It screams in pain and lets Brook go; she and I plummet back to the earth together. We force ourselves up to see the eagle coming back and heading straight for the kits.
Brook wails and I attempt to stand, but then Feathertail reappears. Covering the kits she snarls ferociously, and attacks, hissing, spitting, and raking. The eagle cries again and tries to harm her, but its claws go right through her. She hits it again and it screeches in fury, flapping its wings hard and flying away, a trail of blood staining the sky.
For a moment we all lay motionless, panting heavily in the silence, listening to the wind howl. Finally I am able to stand and Brook follows me. She stumbles over to the kits, who are shaking in shock and lick each of them gently, pulling them close to her. I go to my sister, who for some reason looks exhausted.
"Are you all right?" I ask her.
"No – that was… very difficult." Feathertail stammers, closing her eyes.
"What do you mean?" I ask her.
"Cats who are dead can be two things," she mumbles softly. "Light mist that things pass through or dense mist that things can touch. But to be both at once is very, very hard. It drains a part of you. I've never actually done it before. So battling the eagle took a lot out of me."
"So when you hit it, it should have been able to hit you?" I ask.
"Yes." Feathertail replies opening her eyes. "We can cross the bridge, get to lower ground. Then I will need to rest. I will have to vanish to become strong again."
"Okay." I mew, "I think we all need to rest." I rally Brook and we all take a kit. We cross the bridge quickly and scramble down a path. Once we are far down enough to feel safe, Brook finds a small cave in the rock.
There we settle down and Brook and the kits sleep while Feathertail disappears. I watch the entrance of the cave wearily, my body still full of adrenaline and fear.
Well how did I do? Um hope I caught any grammatical errors, I was rather rushed in posting this. I hope you guys could see the whole eagle scene in your head, because it was really vivid in my mind when I thought it up and I wanted to portray it without drowning the sentences in adjectives. But I saw the mountains and the sky as just different shades of gray, and then Feather is like hanging in the gray and she's gray so all you can really see is the green in her eyes… yeah that came really strong so I hope you guys got that.
Um other than that I had to explain why Feathertail could attack the eagle but it couldn't attack her, hope that made sense. You get to see the kits' pov in the next chapter!=)
Quotes a song lyric today because this has been going through my head for the past three months : "Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend , somewhere along in the bitterness, and I would have stayed up with you all night, had I know how to save a life" ~How to Save A Life by The Fray
Erm questions, comments or concerns let me know in a review! And don't forget to let me know what you want to see in the next book (I'm Sirius here guys I need ideas;)) I was going to say something else….. Oh I'm gonna let you guy know the selection for titles for the next one and you can let me know what you think okay? That'll probably be in the next chapter. I know I could do a poll, but this will get reviews;) Yes I am evil;)
Bye guys, review please!
~Midnight