AN: Am I surprised that I managed to get a new chapter out before less that a week had passed between them? Yes. But my mums new house showers me with inspiration as did some pictures on Deviantart. So thank you to whoever draw pictures of black roses on Deviantart. You managed to help me write a new chapter!
Enjoy.
Chapter 17: Dark Horse
Rain splashed against Wildstorm's calico pelt, turning his normally thick pelt into a thin layer of nothing. The sharp wind only served to punish him more as it whipped around him in sweeping patterns, diving into his thin fur that was plastered against his body and chilling him to the very bone. It took all of his concentration not to shiver like a weakling in fear that Brokenstar would rebuke his ticket to Dark Forest fame. He rolled his shoulders in an effort to weaken the want to shiver, and it worked, for a little while at least.
His green eyes surveyed the dark pine forest he was walking in, picking up the few, rare signs of life. A mouse sifted through leaves under a hawthorn bush. A squirrel scurried along a pine branch before taking a daring leap to another, its thick bushy tail streaming out behind it before it vanished into a hole. A loud screeching sound, accompanied by the sound of beating wings, alerted Wildstorm to the arrival of a bird of some kind and seconds later a sparrow landed on an outcropping branch and began to preen its feathers. The tom cat twitched his ears; he could have sworn he heard the vibrations of larger wings fanning the air above him. It wasn't until he heard the wind ruffle over what he assumed was feathers that he guessed what was about to happen. He dived under the closest bush, ignoring the sharp pain some thorns inflicted on his ragged pelt. His eyes flicked over to the sparrow just in time to see the wall of green leaves above it explode as a hawk tore through it, talons extended and reaching for the sparrow. It didn't even have time to react before the hawk sunk its razor sharp talons into its neck and tore the sparrow from its perch.
Wildstorm heard the sparrow give a feeble screech before it stopped breathing and hung limp from the hawk's talons. His breath was still caught in his throat from watching the hawk show off its incredible strength, speed and beauty in catching its next meal. He couldn't help but envy its power a little. A greedy purr worked its way out of his chest as he imagined himself with the speed of a hawk, the power to launch himself at his enemies and rip them to shreds before they could even blink. He didn't realise that his claws had been tearing loudly into the ground till it was too late and the sound caught the hawk's ears. It turned and stared at the hawthorn bush with its icy blue eyes. And it was in the moment that Wildstorm realised something. He had never seen a hawk with blue eyes before. In fact he recalled his father telling him once that hawks only ever have one eye colour, yellow.
He pulled himself from the bush, pieces of his calico fur left in the claws of the thorns, and padded closer to the hawk, curious to see if it would fly off or not. His surprise and curiosity heightened when it did not. It simply remained on the branch staring at him with its icy blue eyes and the dead sparrow clutched in its talons. The hawk payed no attention to the blood that was now welling up over its talons and dripping to the forest floor, instead it gave Wildstorm every inch of its attention and filled him with a sense of awe and longing. He wanted to be like the hawk so bad and he was imagining himself with the wings of a hawk so hard that he almost missed the hawk's shape flicker slightly and a similar face smile at him. But he was dead certain that he had seen what he thought he saw. So certain that he was willing to humiliate himself to prove it. "Hawkfrost?" he whispered, not breaking the eye contact with the hawk.
It blinked once and then opened its wings and took off into the sky, taking the sparrows body with it. The branch it had been sitting on had steam rising off it and when Wildstorm took a closer look at it he was beyond surprised. A thick layer of frost, so thick that it almost looked like snow, sat on the branch and chilled the air around it. The way the air had suddenly dropped in temperature made Wildstorm finally release the shiver he had been holding and he relaxed slightly once it had passed. He couldn't help but feel pleased with himself that he had worked out who the hawk really was. Hawkfrost had somehow managed to turn himself into a hawk so that he could watch over those competing without being spotted by the High Stars. Pride filled Wildstorm with warmth. He was smarter than most cats gave him credit for.
With the forest now eerily silent and the prey having vanished after Hawkfrost's attack, Wildstorm saw no other reason for him to stay in the place he was anymore. So without another look at the still steaming branch, he plunged into the wall of green pine trees, raised his nose to the air and set about searching for food.
It didn't take him long to find the mouse that had been rustling around in the leaves before Hawkfrost's arrival. The mouse hadn't even moved far and had returned to what it had been doing at the base of a different tree. Wildstorm had to give praise to the mouse. It had hidden itself pretty well under a pile of green and brown leaves. But it was impossible for the mouse to hide its scent under the pile of leaves and it had only taken Wildstorm a matter of seconds to pin point its position and sink into a crouch. His paws glided near silently over the leaves as he carefully tried to avoid stepping on the dead ones that would certainly crunch loudly and scare his prey away. But he avoided all of them and spotted the light brown back of the mouse hidden under some broken branches that had created a den of sorts. His pounce brought his crashing down on the unsuspecting mouse and he snapped its neck before it could even squeal. The tom dropped the mouse back on the ground so that he could catch his breath before he ate it.
But something reached his nose before he could even lean down to take a bite out of his well earned meal. It tingled the inside of his nose and played on his mind. He couldn't put a paw on what it was but he was certain that it was the most beautiful smell his nose had ever breathed in. The scent seemed to call to him and before he knew what he was doing he was on his feet and padding through the nest exit. But before he could make it out in the forest where the heavy rain had become nothing more than a drizzle pattered against the ground, his stomach growled loudly and reminded him of the mouse he had caught moments earlier. With a disappointed grumble he returned to the mouse and tore large chunks out of it so that he could scoff it down quicker. Once he was done the tom sent a silent prayer to the Dark Forest for the easy catch and bounded out into the freezing drizzle. Before he had even took three paw steps his fur was once again plastered the his sides making Wildstorm appear like an underfed, disease riddled rogue. The intoxicating scent was back once more and he followed it without question, his mind yearning to know what could possible release such a wondrous scent.
The scent grew steadily stronger until Wildstorm stumbled upon a medium sized clearing. Short grass grew in the centre and nursed a few rare flowers from the ground. But the sight of bright flowers could not turn Wildstorm's eyes from the flowers that bloomed on many bushes that ringed the overgrown, grassy clearing. They were as black as night but as beautiful as day. And it was their scent that Wildstorm had been following for most of the morning. His eyes quickly flicked to the sky before he grunted and returned his gaze to the odd black flowers. There was no point looking for the sun, moon or stars. All he could see was a thick mist that shrouded the sky from view. He was perplexed by the roses, stunned by their beauty and seemingly dainty petals. The urge to touch one with his nose and drink in the scent was overpowering and he gave into it, his head stretching over to the nearest flower. But before his nose could touch it he felt the temperature in the clearing drop and felt the presence of another cat behind him. "I wouldn't do that," a familiar voice rasped.
Wildstorm's jaw nearly dropped when he turned his head to see Death standing behind him, his sightless dark blue gaze fixed firmly on him. "Why not?" he retorted. "They are only flowers."
"My black roses will paralyse those that have not been given permission to touch them. It's a little touch I add to the Games each season, something to keep me amused as I watch from my dominion in the Dark Forest," Death replied and joined Wildstorm by one of the bushes. The black roses seemed to perk up as their creator neared them, their scent becoming increasingly strong when he gently dragged his tail over a few of the soft petals. "You see, Wildstorm. These roses are all I have. My family have abandoned me because of a mistake I made a few nights ago."
The calico tom stared at Death as if he was crazy. "Why should I care? You are simply a tyrannical old cat with an addiction to deadly roses. Why would I care what has happened in your life?"
"Because," Death replied, "I know that you wish to enter the Dark Forest and be hailed a hero. And I have a job that will grant you more fame than Brokenstar promised you."
Wildstorm leaned towards the dead cat with interest alight in his eyes. "And what is this job?" he asked.
A smile curled at Death's muzzle. "I need you to kill a cat. But!" He lifted his tail to stop Wildstorm from saying anything. "This cat is much stronger than most. She is my creation after all. But she has made a threat against the lives of the High Stars and I assume she intends to damage the Clans while she is at it. If I recall, Scar of RogueClan has already succumbed to her claws. So, Wildstorm, do you accept my challenge?"
"A challenge to kill an evil she-cat that will grant me more fame than I could imagine when I enter the Dark Forest?" Death nodded. "Then I accept your challenge. Tell me where I can find this she-cat and I will put an end to her traitorous life."
Death patted Wildstorm on the shoulder with his tail. "Follow the river than runs through Misty Vale and into the Fire Realms below. She has made a great stone den her place to travel from world to world. In that stone den is where you shall find her. But be careful Wildstorm. Beware the moon that drips with blood. Beware the crimson moon." Wildstorm turned to ask Death about those words but he found no trace of the blink tom. All he was left with was the directions to the she-cats lair and the words he had heard the day he was made a contestant ringing in his ears.
-000-
Leaves fluttered to the ground as a strong wind rattled through the weary trees that stood tall and proud in the Dark Forest. They stretched themselves so high that no cat could see where they finally stopped. The tops just vanished into an eerie mist that glowed a funny colour; it was almost yellow at times. But most cats just said that it had turned that colour with the sudden influx of evil cats and the amount of evil that now lived in the forest had decayed any life left and turned the mist yellow with sickness. But others just said it glowed a funny colour because they were dead and the High Stars wanted a little colour in their world.
"Where is he?" Iceshard spat, eyes narrowed to nothing but mere slits. Her claws gouged marks in the bottom of her throne making the cats that stood before her shiver with fear. She spotted their shiver and curled her lip at them. "Why are these weaklings standing before me!?"
Eternity cleared his throat and gave a rumbling reply from where he sat on the throne next to Iceshard's. "He is most likely loitering around silly roses of his. You know what he's like. He must spend the same exact time with them every day or he fears they will wither up and die."
"Death is an idiot," Settingsun spat harshly, not knowing that she was speaking so rudely of her father. "Mother, when did you say the time would come where we could…finish this job of ours?" The pretty she-cat glared down at the assortment of cats standing on the rotting grass beneath their raised thrones. The toms stared up at her with lust and greed in their eyes, each hoping that they had a chance with the Princess of Darkness. The she-cats however glared up at Settingsun with murder in their eyes, each hoping they someday they would be the one to tear the throat out of Settingsun's neck and get to gloat to everyone that she had killed the prettiest of them all. But none of these looks unnerved Settingsun. She was used to getting them daily. It just came with being the prettiest she-cat in all of the Dark Forest.
"I am here." Death's rasping voice grated Iceshard's ears and she wasn't sure whether she was glad he was here or not. But she swept their rather large differences aside to bring the session of council to order.
"About time," Settingsun snarled and whipped her tail at Death's face, catching him with a stinging blow that left him reeling and Settingsun snickering.
But Iceshard had reached her patience limit. "Settingsun!" the leader roared. "Sit down this instant or I will come over there and rip your tail off!" The threat was not taken lightly. Settingsun sat on her throne near immediately, not wanting her tail torn from her body like she had seen happen to other cats so many times before. "Now," Iceshard sighed, "can we please bring this meeting to order?"
The others nodded. "Good. Now, first question. Who are these cats and why are they here?"
Eternity stepped forward to answer the Highest Star's question. "These cats have been condemned by Death to be put to rest forever so that we may leech of their powers and grow stronger to battle the she-demon he created in case she decides to carry out her plan before the ceremony on High Star Isle."
Iceshard glared at Death before she nodded and looked at the condemned cats before her. "You have each been chosen because you harness an inner power of some sort. What that power is you may never know. But it will be used to give us strength so that we may ward off any attack made by the she-demon," she soothed. It was the same lie she had used over and over to make those chosen to die for them are happy with their sacrifice. "You will not die in vain, my followers, remember that."
The Highest Star took a step back and sat down on the middle throne, the highest and most intricately designed of the four thrones. It was clear that Iceshard was the ruler of the Dark Forest and it was only fair that she had received the name Queen of Darkness after her mother perished during a raid on StarClan. Iceshard wrinkled her nose at the thought of her mother. She had never really liked the silver tabby but had been upset when Eternity returned with the body of her mother on his shoulders. Apparently the leader of StarClan at the time, a cat by the name of Flarestar, had pounced on her mother whilst she was distracted by other warriors. A weakling's move and one only ever used by StarClan. "You must stand still no matter how much it hurts," Settingsun purred and called forth her vines that were dotted with razor sharp thorns. She rejoiced in the sounds of the condemned hissing as the thorns dug further into their skin. "They are ready, Death. Do what you must and make it quick. I need more power."
"No one needs more power," Death muttered to himself as he readied himself for the mass murder he was about to commit. It didn't bother him. He had been born and raised to take the position as Death Walker, the cat that walked those to their deaths and to the land beyond. "May your afterlife be fulfilling," he told the gathered cats before he snapped the twig that lay at his paws.
Within an instant every condemned cat jerked and shrieked with pain until their necks snapped and they all fell to the ground with glassy eyes. Iceshard stared at Death with surprised eyes. "You usually prefer the deaths to be bloodier. Why did you only snap their necks?"
Death shrugged. "Snapping necks makes harvesting the power easier. Now close your eyes and imagine yourself sucking the energy, power and life source from these cats. Imagine yourself using this to become stronger. Imagine your powers growing stronger and more powerful." He twitched his ear as the sounds of gasps rocketed through his head. It was the sound of the other High Stars gaining power as they suck everything out of the bodies of the dead. Something tweaked at the back of his mind. Something that didn't feel right. As his powers gained strength he felt someone else gain strength also. He felt his head go dizzy with fear as he realised what he had done.
By giving himself and the other High Stars more power he had also given her more power.
AN: Someone said in a review that it confused them why Sinkingsun and Settingsun's names sounded so familiar. I actually didn't plan this and hadn't meant for that to happen. I hadn't planned for the High Stars to be in the story until they appeared in chapter..seven was it? The name Settingsun just popped into my mind so I used it. However! Whoever said that gave me an idea! Thank you! I will post your name in the next chapter and thank you more then.
This chapter was over 3000 words long! Not quiet as long as Let the Games Begin! But getting there.