Chapter 6

"Excuse me?" Leafpool exclaimed, her ears folded back. Lilypaw's, however, pricked up in curiosity. Who was this SkyClan? She had never heard of them. Perhaps it was another rank of StarClan?

Lilypaw got the fantastic idea in her head that SkyClan was where the dead StarClan warriors went, after they died a second time. Her pelt began to quiver in excitement.

"No, Lilypaw." Jayfeather huffed, reading her thoughts. He glanced at Sandstorm knowingly and sighed. There was too much to explain, and not enough time to explain it. It would take over to a moon to reach the lost Clan, and then another moon to get back.

"Sandstorm, while we walk, would you mind explaining who SkyClan is?" Jayfeather groaned as she stood up again. In truth, he barely knew half of it. Only what Firestar told him at the Moonpool.

"Oh. Alright. Well…" A very surprised sounding Sandstorm called from behind them.

"Back in the forest territory, Firestar received a message from a strange cat in his dreams. I don't know a lot about it, but the general idea was that there were originally five Clans. The current four, and then SkyClan. SkyClan had been run out of their territory by the Twolegs, just as we were. But this was long before our time, even before Bluestar. Anyways, SkyClan, once driven out, were forced to find a new home. Just when they thought they had, rats flooded them out, and killed most of them. Ancient SkyClan broke up, some becoming rouges and loners, other turning to the twolegs that dotted the field near their home.

Firestar got a message from Cloudstar, leader of the Ancient SkyClan. There were still some cats with SkyClan blood in them, who were meant to fulfill their destiny, and carry on SkyClan.

I traveled with my mate to find these cats- this was before you were born, Leafpool- and we brought the cats back together. We left after a large rat attack, in which SkyClan won. There was a lovely leader, Leafstar, a loyal deputy, Sharpclaw, and a very wise medicine cat, Echosong. Together, they all brought SkyClan back to life."

Leafpool stuttered as she spoke once her mother was done. "Am I named after this Leafstar?"

Sandstorm shrugged. In a way, she was. But Sandstorm knew in her heart that she had partially named her after Spottedleaf, Firestar's real love.

A burning anger grew inside of the elder. Her mate had never really loved her. He loved Spottedleaf, and everyone knew it. She was second best, no matter how much Spottedleaf had tried to tell her she wasn't. While it was a horrible thing to think, Sandstorm was happy that Spottedleaf died another time. She couldn't have Firestar. He wasn't hers.

Jayfeather was eavesdropping on the she-cats thoughts. He felt a small pang of sympathy for her. It was true that Firestar had always loved the gentle, beautiful Spottedleaf more than the ballsy, sharp-tongued Sandstorm. He didn't, and couldn't, blame her for thinking those thoughts, even though he didn't agree with them.

"Of course you are!" Lilypaw interjected everyone's thinking process. "Who else would you be named after?"

This seemed to lighten up Sandstorms mood, as she smiled and poked her nose to the back of the small apprentice.

"Of course little one."

All became silent once again. Sandstorm was wondering about how Jayfeather knew of SkyClan, but figured Firestar must have said something to him.

Lilypaw's tail swished behind her. Her first adventure as an apprentice! Everything had been moving so fast, a little too fast, for her to process it all. A matter of days after her apprenticeship, she was already out of ThunderClan territory, heading for the mountains. Perhaps now was time to discuss with Jayfeather her dream from the Moonpool. Cinderpelt had said, "Where sky meets the land". For all she knew, it could have something to do with the mountains and SkyClan.

But she also remembered the words he spoke to her before they journeyef to the pool.

"Lilypaw, you shouldn't speak of your dreams from StarClan to any other cat, do you understand?" He had hissed to her one night, boasting to Briarlight how she couldn't wait to tell Seedkit what secrets the cats of the stars had told her.

So she kept very silent until the sun was at it's highest point in the sky. Greenleaf was coming to a close, and the sure-tell signs of leaf-fall were well on their way. The leaves were already beginning to turn, their bright green shade darkening into a beautiful array of golds and reds.

The two other she-cats had gone to explore the area while the medicine cats had a word with one another.

"Lilypaw, I know what you want to speak about. Go ahead." Jayfeather had been haunting in the apprentices thoughts all day. Not that he needed to. He had been with her, stalking in shadows of the Apprentice's dreams at the Moonpool. He had heart the omen that Cinderpelt had sent her, and upon hearing it, Firestar swept him back into Starclan's hunting ground.

"Jayfeather." Firestar had greeted him with the dip of his head. Jayfeather did the same, all the while asking what all of this was about. Firestar explained who SkyClan was. He never explicitly explained that that's what Cinderpelt meant, but Jayfeather assumed there was a connection between this SkyClan, and the murderer.

"Well… I didn't know if it was okay to speak about." Lilypaw shuffled her paws on the grass below. They could hear the voices of Sandstorm and Leafpool chattering away a few trees over. Jayfeather nodded for her to continue.

"It's just, I think Cinderpelt meant the Mountains. Not SkyClan… But…" Lilypaw looked up at her mentor. He had an encouraging look on his face. This was going to be her job soon, interpreting omens. So she went on.

"I just think it may have something to do with the Tribe. Because the Mountains is where the sky meets the land. I mean, SkyClan is probably a good guess too but I just have a feeling… I'm probably wrong."

Jayfeather nodded, thinking about her idea. She could be right, but then why would Firestar tell him about the lost clan right after overhearing Cinderpelt tell Lilypaw she must travel to where the Sky meets Land?

"What where you two looking at in your dream?" He asked suddenly. He remembered seeing the two peering over a ledge. It was not a mountain. Lilypaw was wrong. She would have to start paying more attention to what StarClan showed her, and not just what they told her.

Lilypaw thought hard, and could feel her pelt growing warm with embarrassment. "A gorge. Kind of like ours, only carved out of rock."

The tomcat nodded. So that's where they must travel… But how would they get there? None of these cats knew where SkyClan's territory was, besides Sandstorm. And it had been so long ago that she traveled there, Jayfeather doubted she would be able to lead them there.

Maybe we should go home… The first prickling of doubt washed over him. What if they were all wrong, about everything? What if they were headed in the wrong direction? For all they knew, it could be away from the mountains, where they need to go. Sandstorm had said that it would be easier for them to head for Ravenpaw's Barn, and trek back from there. Ravenpaw's barn was on the other side of the mountain.

"Jayfeather!" Sandstorm called as she and her daughter ran back towards them. Her sandy tail was waving in the air happily, and Jayfeather could hear a purr in her throat.

"It's not too far to the mountains. We'll be there my sunhigh tomorrow." The elder began tracing things in the dirt with a hooked claw. A few waves, some circles, and straight lines. It seemed to be some sort of map.

"Look." Sandstorm meowed. She jabbed her claw at a wonky cross she has scratched out. "This is approximately where we are right now. These are the mountains." She gestured to the wavy lines, and then to one of the circles. "That's the barn, and that bigger circle is our old camp."

Jayfeather sat, listening. They had forgotten he couldn't see, but it was good for Lilypaw to learn the territory, just in case she ever needed to know. He had been to the mountains many times, and was well aware where he was going. But he would need Sandstorm to lead him the rest of the way, as much as he hated to admit it.

"We're wasting daylight." Jayfeather hissed as he lifted himself to his paws. Lilypaw looked at the other two she-cats before she trotted after him.

"Jayfeather?" She mewed in a small voice. The tom had never traveled so far with just his mother and grandmother. There was bound to be something going on in his head about it.

Jayfeather was accustomed to having Lionblaze and Dovewing with him, and Hollyleaf, when she was alive. He and his mother never truly communicated after she stepped down from her position as medicine cat. While this could be the time to talk to her, Jayfeather's stomach turned at the thought. Why should he want to talk with her? She lied to him. She made him half-clan.

It didn't help that the traveling clan cats were just on the edge of their territory, at the border between ThunderClan and WindClan. Where Crowfeather, Leafpool's former mate and father of the Three, resided.

"Hey! Half-Clan!"

The taunt was aimed at Jayfeather, obviously, from across the scent markers. A patrol of WindClan cats must have been watching the four of them from their side.

Nightcloud was at the front of the patrol. She was the one who called out to the medicine cat with a sneer. Leave it to Onestar to let the devilish black cat go on patrol with her traitor of a son and his apprentice. Jayfeather almost didn't notice the cat who came up in back. His lips drew into a sneer once he saw her. It was none other than Heathertail, the she-cat who should never be trusted, by anyone. Jayfeather knew this all too well, as Lionblaze had recounted their exploits of "DarkClan" in the tunnels to his brother.

Jayfeather didn't skip a beat when he replied, "Yes, rebound?"

The story behind Nightcloud and Crowfeather was a complicated one. Crowfeather and Leafpool had come back from running away together, when Leafpool had gotten pregnant with the three. Crowfeather rejoined WindClan, and to prove his loyalty, took Nightcloud as a mate. Their son, Breezepelt, was born out of hatred and lies. Nightcloud and Crowfeather were no longer mates, but she still liked to think she would always be better than the beautiful Leafpool.

The black she-cat yowled and prepared to lunge, as did Breezepelt, but Heathertail pinned both of their tails to the ground the instant they crouched.

"These half-breeds aren't worth it." She growled in their direction. Breezepelt licked her cheek. It was obvious the two were mates now. It seemed to Jayfeather that WindClan cats only took mates to prove loyalty, and not for love.

"Traitors!" Sandstorm yowled after the Patrol as they turned around and padded back to their camp.

Once they were out of sight, the ThunderClan cats trekked backwards to follow the trail that Sandstorm drew out for them.

The hunger began to set in once the sun started to set. Jayfeather ordered Lilypaw to gather moss for some makeshift nests while Leafpool hunted. Sandstorms muscles had begun to ache. Jayfeather made her lay down while and dragged a bed of moss over to her.

"Thank you Jayfeather." She purred tiredly. The elder in her was beginning to show. Her eyes were dark, the fur under them sagging a bit. Her pelt looked thin, and the once proud she-cat looked small and defenceless as she curled up to rest.

Lilypaw didn't look like a cat by the time she got back from collecting moss. She looked like she had been attacked by a tree. She was carrying full pads of moss on her back and in her mouth. Jayfeather rolled his eyes when he took them from her and set them down.

Leafpool came back with a large rabbit, enough for the four of them if they rationed it out correctly. They would need something in their belly so they could begin to travel again in the morning.

As they feasted on Leafpool's kill, Lilypaw swore she saw something out of the corner of her eyes. But when she went to glance over at the shadowy figure, it disappeared. So she quickly pushed it out of her mind, blaming it on her drowsiness as she slowly slipped into dream land.

((EDIT: I have finished Chapter 7, and will upload it along with 8, 9 and 10 once I am finished with the last three. BUT. This work is hard to do when it's only one person! If anyone, anyone at all would like to collab with me on this, and help me through the process with ideas and tidbits to add into the story, please please please please please message me!))