Crossing Skies
Prologue
Written by: UKEagleclaw & Flameshine01 (DA)
Edited by: UKEagleclaw
The night sky loomed overhead, scattered with twinkling stars. Silvery and bright, the full moon illuminated the Clans below, over watching the many cats that were getting ready to gather on the island.
Mintbreeze shivered as a gust of wind rudely blew through her tortoiseshell-and-white fur, almost carrying her off her paws. Could it get any colder? she thought irritably, pricking her ears attentively as she waited for her turn to cross the tree bridge. The ancient tree bridge had led the Clans to the island for more seasons than any Clan cat could remember. According to the elders, it had been struck by lightning, which had made it fall. Mudclaw, an old WindClan deputy, was struck by the falling tree and died. It was a sign from StarClan that the Clans should use the island for Gatherings.
The harsh winds had made it extremely difficult to cross, and the Clan leaders had ordered their cats to go extra slowly. Pebblestar, the RiverClan leader, hadn't allowed any cats who weren't strong enough to cross the bridge go. Therefore, the elders and apprentices hadn't been allowed to go. The Clan's remaining two elders, Brindledust and Graymuzzle, had shook their heads in frustration but understood Pebblestar's reasoning. However, the Clan's only two apprentices weren't so obedient. Ripplepaw, normally a calm cat had grumbled and his sister, Firepaw, answered back angrily. Pebblestar told the Clan that, he couldn't risk losing anymore cats.
Mintbreeze had never see anything like this before. First, a terrible new illness, worse than greencough, had resulted in the deaths of many Clan cats. Furthermore, brutal winds had emerged that were stronger than any she had ever witnessed. Currently it seemed like nature really did hate the Clans.
"Hurry up. It's freezing," Mintbreeze was shook out of her thoughts by a gruff voice from behind.
"Sorry," she politely responded. The cat behind probably couldn't hear her anyway, above the sound of the crashing winds and colliding waves.
Looking ahead, Mintbreeze realised it was her time to cross the gathering bridge. She unsheathed her claws. Then she leapt up onto the slippery tree bark, digging in her claws as firmly as she could. Concentrating she kept her gaze locked forwards, eyes fixed on the dark gray cat ahead of her. She didn't dare look down at the crashing waves below her paws. Spit from the lake spat onto her muzzle, threatening to distract her. Every paw-step, she made sure her paws were stable, caution was her main aim. Then move forwards. She was nearly across. Estimating another three cat-lengths.
Unexpectedly the wind suddenly picked up. It yowled in her ears, wanting her to let go. Her paws were already rooted into the tree's bark, she just had to keep them in it with all her might. The wind was stronger than anything she had ever faced, she thought it would rip her ears off. Lowering her head, she feared that she would be blown away, dropping into the treacherous waves that lay underneath the tree bridge. Even for a RiverClan cat that would be dangerous. Pebblestar had recently ordered no swimming and hunting in the lake. She remembered treating cats, who had nearly drowned in the thunderous water, many cats had been close to joining StarClan. It wasn't just the new illness causing them problems, but the lake. Since its recently violent state, fishing had been hard. Like all of the Clans, they had grown fearful of its power. Instead, RiverClan was starting to rely on land prey. Something her Clanmates were inexperienced at. She felt her stomach rumble as she contemplated a nice juicy fish.
"StarClan save us," Mintbreeze prayed under her breath as a fresh wind blew against her fur, aiming to dislodge her. "Just hang on," Mintbreeze encouraged herself. She could start to feel her claws loosen. Am I losing my grip? Anxiety swamped her fur.
"Help me!" a desperate, ear-piercing yowl sounded straight ahead of her. It startled her, and she nearly lost her grip on the water swept bark.
Mintbreeze's head had been bowed, but now she looked up. There were no cats in front of her. Where was the dark gray cat?
"Please, anyone!" It now made sense. Realisation pierced her heart, the dark gray cat had fallen into the roaring lake. The dark gray cat must have slipped off the bark, whilst under the pressure of the powerful winds.
"Save me!" the cry was only just hearable above the wind, but this time it was even more desperate than before.
For the first time, Mintbreeze looked down. Horror tore her heart. The dark gray cat was flailing in the water. The cat's head was only just visible above the water. Water drenched its head. There were light splashes, showing the cat's weakening effort to survive. With a gasp of horror, Mintbreeze, saw a much larger wave than before head towards the dark gray cat. Great StarClan!
"Quickly! Get out of there!" Mintbreeze gasped, but no one could her. Her plea was deafened by the winds.
The dark gray cat's jaw was hung open in silent terror. The cat made one last, desperate thrash to escape. Before, the wave crashed over its dark gray pelt, suffocating the cat's begging cry.
Heartbeats passed.
"Please StarClan, spare that cat," Mintbreeze muttered quietly to herself, closing her eyes, fearful to look down.
Finally, she plucked open her eyes. There was nothing, just the lake and its waves, impacting against one another. The waves felt no guilt. They kept striking against one another, hoping for a new victim.
Mintbreeze felt fear well up inside her stomach. If only it had been a RiverClan, then it might have stood more of a chance.
Suddenly three cat-lengths terrified her. Mintbreeze closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She pulled herself forward, paw-by-paw. She was RiverClan's only medicine cat, she must make it to the Gathering.
Her resiliency paid off, Mintbreeze felt her claws grasp thin air as she fell onto the sandy bank. She landed on her side, but quickly stumbled to her paws. Shaking her tortoiseshell-and-white fur, she sighed with relief. Mintbreeze refused to look back, not wanting to see if any other cat had fallen in. She had made it, but who hadn't. The drowning of the unknown dark gray cat haunted her. Mintbreeze felt questions fly around her mind. Which Clan did the cat belong to? How old was the cat? Who was the cat's family? Could anyone have saved the cat? Had anyone else been consumed by the waves? Would the cat be able to reach StarClan without the proper burial ceremony?
Shuddering at her thoughts, she shook her head in an attempt to vanish them. The murderous winds made her feel uncomfortable. Trembling, she pushed forwards into the trees. As she entered the protective undergrowth, the wind stopped ruffling her fur. This comforted her as she followed the trail to the island's main clearing.
Soon, she reached the clearing. It was separated into huddles of cats who had already reached the safety of the clearing. The wind was unable to penetrate the island's interior. However, it was still breezy, and the cold refused to vanish. Sniffing, she smelt the scents of, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan. No WindClan, yet, but she had seen some of their warriors waiting to cross the tree bridge.
It seemed the harsh condition had affected the gathered cats. Each Clan was huddled with their own Clanmates. Only the deputies and leaders spoke to one another, underneath the bare leaf-bare tree, where leaders made announcements from. Although, Mintbreeze saw Thornstar stand a few paw-steps away from the rest of the leaders. Her ears were pricked, and her rapid tail movement portrayed anger. Meanwhile, she eyed a couple of young ShadowClan cats attempt to pad away from their Clan, but two warriors blocked them with their tails. If they were there, she spot all of her fellow medicine cats, so she headed over to her own Clan. They were gathered on the far side of the clearing around a tree stump.
"Mintbreeze do you mind checking my leg?" asked her Clanmate, Cedarleap. His brown pelt bristled against the light breeze or was it the tension between the Clans?
"What happened?" Mintbreeze enquired.
"I must have knocked it when I jumped down from the tree bridge." Cedarleap's face was grimaced in pain.
Mintbreeze leaned forward and began feeling the tom's leg with a front paw, searching for anything that might be wrong.
Despite the pain he was suffering, Cedarleap, was known as a light-hearted cat. "Great StarClan!" Cedarleap leaned forward slightly, mewing far too loudly, "I expect we'll freeze to death before this begins, or we'll be wiped out by the-" The long-limbed brown tom broke off before he could finish his sentence as he realized his tasteless joke. A couple of warriors around him gave off half-hearted snarls, ears flattening to their heads, but most were silent, gazing into the distance or at their paws as they stood, filled with their unimaginable grief.
Ignoring the now awkward atmosphere. "It should be fine," Mintbreeze instructed. "Just be careful when you head back."
Cedarleap nodded his head gratefully in response as he sat back down beside his Clanmates.
Mintbreeze let out a quiet sigh. Now, she wasn't concentrating on anything, she could reflect more. It was only early leafbare, but problems had already reached dire consequences for the Clans. Cats were already picking up injuries. Death had struck every Clan. A disease had swept through the four Clans, worse than greencough and with no known cure. Some cats believed this would be the problem that would finally end the Clans, after the countless struggles that had made them strong. Mintbreeze didn't want to believe the speculation, but the feeling of hopelessness was beginning to claw at her heart.
Mintbreeze was snapped out of her thoughts by the rumble of paws on frozen earth. The cats of WindClan emerged onto the island's clearing, pawing up mud. Mintbreeze flicked a white-tipped ear in greeting as a brown she-cat skidded to a halt in front of her. It was the medicine cat of WindClan, Moorsky.
"It's about time you..." Mintbreeze trailed off as she saw the hollow grief in her friend's eyes. She dropped her voice to a hushed whisper. "You lost another cat?"
Moorsky nodded slightly, letting out a small murmur. "A kit," she explained softly, head lowered. "I tried my best."
Mintbreeze rested her tail across the WindClan cat's shoulders in comfort, sighing softly. She didn't know what to say. How could she say anything to make Moorsky feel better, when every Clan was suffering the same?
Her gaze darted upwards, Driftstar, the leader of WindClan, was leaping up to join the other three leaders on the tree. She hadn't noticed the leaders gathered on top before, her thoughts distracting her. Driftstar's pale ginger fur snagged on the branches as he scrambled to pull himself up the frosty, slippery wood. Ungraciously he reached one of the lower branches. Mintbreeze saw Thornstar step back, the ThunderClan leader looked disgusted.
"Sorry we're late," Driftstar puffed to the other leaders, giving a respectful dip of his head.
"It's fine. Now that everyone's here, we can start," ShadowClan's leader, Olivestar, acknowledged.
The cats of the Clans, washed silver in the moonlight, settled down. Mintbreeze could feel the tension in the air like a storm, waiting to break out. Everyone was on edge, weakened by the illness but too proud to ask for help or show any sign of being less than fine. As cats shuffled into their places, Wildpelt, Whiteberry appeared and Whiteberry's apprentice, Bramblegaze, settled down on either side of Mintbreeze and Moorsky. The five medicine cats sat together under a tree trunk towards the back of the clearing, shivering in the cold leafbare air.
Thornstar rose to her paws, balancing precariously on the edge of the spindly tree branch as the breeze uselessly tried to unbalance her. Thornstar's black-striped tabby fur was ruffled against the frost, the pale moon silhouetting her figure in its silver light. "I'll begin," she declared. She swept her fiery-orange gaze over the gathered Clans. "It's been a tough start to leafbare for ThunderClan. A few cats are falling ill with the disease in quick succession, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to train our apprentices and hunt," she stopped, eyes narrowing, looking at each leader in turn. "ThunderClan remains confident of protecting our prey and borders against all enemies."
Mintbreeze noticed cats from ShadowClan and WindClan lash their tails angrily. Even her Clanmates looked irritated by Thornstar's attitude. She felt Bramblegaze flinch uncomfortable beside her, stung by his leader's words. The start of leafbare has hit all Clans harshly, why does Thornstar have to shake up every cat's fur?
However, looking over at the ThunderClan cats, Mintbreeze could see Thornstar was partly telling the truth, the forest-dwelling cats' ribs were outlined through their pelts, and their stomachs were worryingly thin. Mintbreeze hoped the ThunderClan leader wouldn't try to invade another Clan's territory for food or do anything else to further endanger any of the Clans. Thornstar was well-known for taking surprisingly bold risks. "We also lost an apprentice to the illness," the brown tabby added. Murmurs of sadness rippled throughout the Gathering, distracting cats from Thornstar's aggression. Losing a young cat, who had so much potential to give to their Clan, was always a terrible shame. Thornstar slowly stepped backwards, allowing Olivestar to speak with a flick of her tail.
Olivestar stood forward, her olive green eyes clouded with grief. "I've got some terrible news," Olivestar stated in a mournful tone. "Just before the Gathering began-" she paused, taking a deep breath, "one of our cats drowned after she fell into the lake."
Realisation hit Mintbreeze's heart, she must have been from ShadowClan. Cats all around her wailed in terror.
"How will we get back across?"
"Is it safe?"
"We should have just stayed in camp!"
"Silence, please," Olivestar ordered, her posture had recovered, and a new shade of determination had befallen her eyes. "The leaders discussed this before the Gathering. Each cat will go across with a senior warrior behind or in front of them."
This relaxed the gathered cats, who all murmured agreement, being assured of a safe return journey.
"I think everyone can agree it's been a harsh moon for us all," Olivestar's mew was calmer. However, her pelt looked unwashed, and Mintbreeze noticed tiredness beneath the leader's eyes. "ShadowClan, too has been struggling. Our elders have all fallen ill, as well as five warriors and two kits. Nonetheless we are confident of surviving the upcoming leafbare."
Things have gotten much worse for ShadowClan, Mintbreeze noted. They hadn't seemed to have lost any more cats, but she knew the disease could kill a cat at any time.
Mintbreeze noticed Olivestar flick her ears in Thornstar's direction as she growled, "And will not tolerate any trespassing."
Thornstar's eyes blossomed with anger, but surprisingly she didn't react. Suddenly Mintbreeze felt Bramblegaze's breath beside her slow and his fur stopped bristling. The possible conflict must have worried him, and Mintbreeze also felt uneasy about it. Battles will be bad. If cats are already ill, battles will make things a lot worse. More injuries to treat means more herbs will be needed, and less prey will be hunted. Surely, Thornstar isn't stupid enough to make the situation any worse?
"I'll speak next," Driftstar announced. He etched forwards on the branch to give his report. "WindClan hasn't had an easy moon," he confessed. "Many warriors and apprentices are ill, two critically. It's slowly beginning to spread across the Clan." The pale ginger tom lowered his gaze. "We've lost three cats this moon. They hunt with StarClan now." And with that, he stepped backwards into the leafy foliage and nodded to Pebblestar, the only leader left to speak.
Mintbreeze relaxed a bit, at least the WindClan leader hadn't aggravated the situation any further. She was certain that Pebblestar would act in a similar manner.
Pebblestar stepped forwards, her majestic blue eyes like two stars in the shadows, her silvery pelt a pool of moonlight. "The start of this leafbare is the worst I've witnessed for RiverClan. Four more of our cats have fallen ill this moon, and we tragically lost two elders to the illness. The cats who are ill have shown no signs of getting better. That is all." she concluded grimly. "The Gathering is-"
The ShadowClan deputy, Viperfang, slid out from below the leaders' branches. His black pelt almost hid him in the darkness, and his over-baring teeth glinted menacingly in the moonlight as he interrupted, "Have the medicine cats had any signs? Anything that can help the Clans save their cats from death?" he asked innocently, his question echoing across the clearing, for all cats to hear.
Mintbreeze instantly felt countless eyes on her and her fellow medicine cats. No cat mewed anything, too shamed that they had failed to protect their Clanmates to do so, but the question hanging in the air was clear enough. Thornstar looked furious that someone had spoken, who wasn't a leader, but she stared intriguingly. Bramblegaze trembled nervously beside her, and she could feel Moorsky tense her muscles in protest of Viperfang's suggestion. Tension crackled in the air like a storm.
Finally, someone meowed. Mintbreeze recognized Clouddawn, the WindClan deputy. "Why are so many cats dying? Why aren't the medicine cats able to heal us?"
"They haven't been able to save a single cat that fell ill," Hazelblossom of ThunderClan commented, casting a pointed glare in their direction.
Duskfeather of ShadowClan spoke next. The gentle tone of the she-cat's voice made Mintbreeze feel even guiltier for being so helpless against this disease. This horrible, heartless, unforgiving disease. "Is there nothing you medicine cats can do? Nothing at all?"
Shockingly, the deputy of RiverClan, Jaggedeyes, piped up. "StarClan gave you the abilities and knowledge to fight sickness. It's in your power to stop it. You're all just not trying hard enough!" Mintbreeze felt too stunned to reply. How could Jaggedeyes, her own Clanmate, her own deputy, say such a thing?
Uneasiness made her whiskers twitch in discomfort. Mintbreeze couldn't believe it. Had her Clanmates started to doubt her?
Enraged cats began to roar and screech in agreement as shadows darkened the clearing. Her senses rung as insults from every Clan hummed in her ears, threatening to overwhelm her. All the medicine cats looked around, alarm on their faces. The island was flooded with fury.
"Silence!" Driftstar bellowed rigidly, he was staring upwards to the night sky. "Look at the moon."
Every cat looked upwards. The wind howled angrily above them. Making Mintbreeze tremble with fright, but it wasn't just the wind. The moon was almost covered by clouds. Most of the gathered cats, started to yowl frantically, worried that they had disapproved StarClan.
"That's enough," Olivestar's mew rang out, echoing across the clearing. She had taken Driftstar's space on the highest branch. One by one, cats fell silent as they gazed to look at the lean gray she-cat. "At times like this, we can't let our grief rip us apart. Our medicine cats are doing the best they can to heal us, and that's all they can possibly do. We must be supportive of these honourable cats that are working so hard." With that, she swished her tail. "StarClan has spoken. The Gathering is over. Until the next Gathering, may StarClan light your paths."
Bramblegaze turned to Mintbreeze, looking troubled. "I hope for every cat's sake Thornstar doesn't start any trouble."
"Me too," Wildpelt admitted, his unkempt brown fur rustled by the wind. "Olivestar doesn't want to start any fights."
Moorsky nodded her head in agreement.
"Yes-" Bramblegaze began. "Anyway, I better catch up with Whiteberry. Goodbye." He quickly dashed away, flicking up dead leaves in his wake, as he scrambled towards his mentor and the herd of ThunderClan cats.
The leaders had scuttled off the branches, eager to escape the cold and wind. They were hurrying over to their Clanmates.
The tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat looked up as she saw Embertuft, ThunderClan's deputy, standing before her. She waited for the abuse to be hurled at her, but it never came. His gaze filled with sympathy. He must have seen the disheartened look in her leaf-green eyes. "I'm sure everyone will calm down soon. They probably don't mean it personally. Sometimes, cats need someone else to blame." He then ran off to join the other deputies, Viperfang, Clouddawn, and Jaggedeyes in rounding up their cats. As she nodded goodbye to the remaining fellow medicine cats, Mintbreeze stayed well away from the latter.
Despite Embertuft's kind words, Mintbreeze felt as if she was stuck in some sort of nightmare, one that would never, ever end, stickier than cobwebs in her fur and impossible to escape. While her Clanmates filtered ahead, waiting to cross the tree bridge, she hung behind until she was alone. She swung her head up at the swathe of StarClan warriors, which radiated the night sky. They'd always been there for her, guiding her since she was a young kit and for the Clans, but now they had never felt so far away. Mintbreeze uttered a silent prayer to every sky she could think of, every star she could see.
We need your help. Please, if you're up there, please help us. The future of the Clans is at stake.
The glittering stars offered no reply.