"We need to head north immediately." Iceheart announces, flicking her ears across the lake. "We can go the way my Clan walks to get here, through RiverClan territory."
"And I can hunt so we can keep up our strength." Lionclaw adds.
"When we enter ShadowClan territory, I'll take you through the territory so we can head north faster." Iceheart states proudly.
"Won't a patrol catch us?" Ferntail asks warily. Iceheart shakes her head.
"This is assuming that the Hill that Cries is outside Clan territory." Ferntail growls.
"Jayfeather has searched endlessly, but there are no herbs." Breezestripe tells her. "You know that."
"We better go: those clouds don't look good." Petalspots interrupts, watching the sky. Lionclaw vanishes to hunt as soon as they cross the log, and Iceheart leads.
"Who made you leader?" Ferntail spits.
"I've been this way often." She replies evenly. As the Thunderpath comes into view, Lionclaw returns with two fish, a shrew, and a scrawny blackbird. Ferntail and Breezepelt share the bird, Petalspots eats the shrew and some fish, and Lionclaw finishes the food. Iceheart's belly grumbles, but she darts across the Thunderpath into her own territory. Swiftly killing a squirrel for herself, she leads the four of them straight through the territory. As they go by the camp, wailing reaches them. Iceheart dashes into the camp, skidding to a halt as she sees Owlclaw lying in the clearing, and her Clan sitting by him. Owlclaw had died of the illness. She races forward and stands beside his body.
"I wish you could have died in battle, as you wanted." She whispers, touching her nose to his flank. As she looks up, Iceheart searches the crowd of cats, and her heart stops as she doesn't see her father. She races into her den in time to see his breathing stop. After a short amount of time, he opens his eyes.
"Iceheart?" he asks. She steps forward but he flinches away. "No! I am still ill. I lost a life, and in StarClan I saw Owlclaw. Is he really gone?"
"Yes."
"I thought as much. He said to me, 'Tell the members of the Clan who are healthy to not sit vigil for me. They can fall ill from touching my fur.'" Blackstar wheezes and closes his eyes. Iceheart slides out of the den, aware of Littlecloud watching her sadly. He knows Blackstar is on his sixth life now. Iceheart delivers the message about the vigil to the Clan and races away, knowing that she has lost her companions precious time.
When she reaches them, they know something has happened from the hollow look in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Petalspots whispers.
"Owlclaw. He was my mentor, and the sickness killed him." Iceheart's eyes harden, and she speeds up, soon reaching the border with ThunderClan. Walking along the line, she reaches scent marks that mark the boundary of Clan territory, where few cats had gone. She steps across the line and keeps walking, leading the others through a forest and onto a rocky moorland. Halfway across this desolate plain, it starts to rain. Winds pick up, and Lionclaw takes the lead. Iceheart walks to his left and Ferntail to his right, leaving Petalspots behind the RiverClan cat and Breezestripe behind the small WindClan warrior, to keep her from being blown away. Thunder booms and lighting splits the dawn sky.
"We've travelled all night, let's stop and rest!" Breezestripe yowls over the wind as the journeying cats reach the trees. Ferntail finds a hollow in the roots of an oak tree, and the five cats curl up together and fall asleep.
Iceheart wakes up, squashed between a root and Breezestripe. ThunderClan. She shoves him away with her hind legs so she can stand up. He grunts as he collides with another root, one of his paws striking Ferntail, who responds by flicking her tail over Petalspots' nose. The WindClan she-cat sneezes and rolls over, entangling her legs with Lionclaw's. in that fashion, the travelers wake up. After some wild accusations, bickering, and well-aimed swats, they exit their temporary resting place and resume walking through a foggy, eerie forest. Soon they arrive at a thickly wooded hill with two streams running down it. All of the journeying cats think unanimously: The Hill that Cries.
A/N: Short, I know. Next chapter will be longer, I promise! Thanks to my loyal reviewers .