A.N: I promised I'd update next week! Just... not GD obviously. I'm so close to finishing now ^^ I think I have one or two more chapters, then focus on GD and its long chapters XD
The Clan immediately leapt into action, forgetting our visitors and crowding around the lamenting queen as she broke down in the clearing. As I pushed my way out of the den, fighting into the crowd of cats, Crowfeather pulled me aside. "Be gentle with her," he murmured, as fear and desperation flickered in his eyes. "Don't ask her too many questions; leave that to the other queens." I nodded silently, and stopped trying to push through the mob of my Clanmates.
'My kits…My kits…' A memory burst into my mind as I stood there, trying to crane my neck to see Gorsetail. The three of them, Thistlekit, Sedgekit and Swallowkit, had followed me to the tunnels when I had gone to meet Lionpaw one of the times. 'They never saw me go inside it…They couldn't have gone back there' I attempted to console myself while the sound seemed to fade from my ears, and all I can see is the blazing stars.
'I padded along the hill, feeling the ground slope away beneath my paws. Below me was a field of boulders, nestled between the roll of one bluff and the next, which hid a secret that could tear my Clan to pieces. All around me, the swaying heather was sparse, and instead, this part of the territory was covered in prickly long grasses, gorse and thorn bushes. I stand for a second, gazing off into the black velvet sky, letting my senses open up to the night overall. Wind pushes through my whiskers, I can almost hear the sound of Hawk's Shadow calling me from the tunnel opening below, hidden in the shadow of one of the boulders.
Upon detecting nothing but the whispers of my friend, I clambered down the ravine, attempting not to kick up too much dust and pebbles to alert any animals of my approach. I reached the bottom with a grunt, leaping down the last few tail-lengths. My breath was a bit labored, but nothing I couldn't live with.
"Hawk's Shadow?" I gazed into the absolute darkness, whiskers flared outward to alert me to the slightest touch of my friend's spirit. Instead, I heard nothing. "Hawk's Shadow, where are you? You were calling me…"
A giggle broke the silence. I started away from the hole in the ground, gazing upward. That wasn't Hawk's Shadow's voice!
At the top of the ravine, I could just make out a black silhouette of a cat.
"H-hello?"
There was no response. With my heart dropping into my stomach, I leapt up the steep slope, and with each step, the outline of the cat was growing smaller… and wider? I reached the crest, and was assailed with the sight of three kits, staring at me with wide eyes.
"Swallowkit! Thistlekit! Sedgekit!" I tried hard to keep my voice neutral as I stared with horror at the three tiny cats that now threatened my meetings.
"Why were you talking to a hole?" Sedgekit giggled, and a smirk broke out across Thistlekit's face. "You looked funny." Swallowkit was silent, eyes wide.
My heart nearly stopped. They had seen the tunnel. They had seen the tunnel! I-I-I… "Here's a better question," my voice was light and playful, "Why are you out of camp? And it's dark out here. Did Gorsetail give you permission to run around the territory at night?" This distracted the kits, and they looked at each other, Sedgekit scuffled her paws against the sandy ground.
I suddenly remembered we were on the brink of a drop, hard for even me to climb. If one of them slipped and fell… "Come away from there, let's get you back to camp before your mother notices." They trudged after me, tails drooping.
"You're going to tell Gorsetail, aren't you?" I opened my mouth, and then closed it. If I told Gorsetail, I'd need to tell her where I found the kits as well. That could end up tricky. "No, I won't if she didn't notice." I smiled at the little kits, and Swallowkit's tail stuck straight up, Thistlekit's eyes glowed brightly with happiness. "Thanks!" Sedgekit squealed.'
I had brought them back to camp, but did they remember? Would they come after me again, even when I checked my trail, from then on, much more carefully? Dread settled like a cold stone in my stomach and I stared around at my Clanmates. They didn't know. They couldn't know, not ever. They would only want to use it to hurt ThunderClan. And I didn't think I could bring myself to harm an entire Clan, just for revenge on Lionpaw. That was wrong.
But I had to check.
"You can tell Firestar that it's too late. You've wasted your time trying to protect RiverClan. We'll attack at once!"
'A battle! But my Clanmates… they could get hurt!' I struggled between horror and excitement as the Clan roared their support. What if the kits really were in the tunnels? Then, the battle would be worth nothing, and my Clan would get hurt. The ThunderClanners blinked their eyes wide as they looked at the raging Clan in front of them.
"A real battle!" Breezepaw ran up next to me, his eyes alight with excitement. He turned his attention to me, amber eyes glowing. 'So much like Lionpaw's…' "Quick, attack me!" I sat there, staring at him, ears slowly folding backward.
Breezepaw snorted. "No Heatherpaw, you're supposed to jump at me. I need to be ready to slice some RiverClan whiskers off" he grinned, more teeth than warmth in the action.
"Breezepaw, what if the kits weren't taken by RiverClan?" I blurted out, and immediately wish I hadn't. The dark tomcat stared at me, his eyes narrowing slowly as he got what I meant.
"Well that would mean that we wouldn't need to battle RiverClan. Why do you say that?"
"Because… because they followed me a few nights ago. Out into the territory." I blustered, my pelt flashing with heat as I hoped my fear-scent didn't alert him to my lie.
"Where were you going?" The question was innocent, but as I hesitated to tell him, Breezepaw's eyes flashed. He suspected something was up. "You weren't meeting anyone, were you?" his tone deepened to a disgusted growl.
"Of course not," I shot back, teeth bared. "I wouldn't break the warrior code. I was out night hunting. I can show you where, the warriors don't go there much."
Breezepaw nodded, his outward demeanor blank now. I didn't know if he realized I was lying to him, or if he saw through me. "Let's go then, we're wasting time." His tone was flat as well.
Together, we pushed our way out of the crowd of our Clanmates, slipping out of the camp and into the grasses.
The dark sky was thick and fluffy with clouds, the beige stalks of foliage barring the view above our heads as the two of us pushed through the overgrown area. Warriors almost never came to this edge of the territory, down by the lake where the land got slightly craggy. For the older cats, it was a reminiscence of the Great Journey and all they had lost there. For the younger cats, it was just dark and foreboding, though some of the daring 'paws would dare each other to hunt among the scraggly bushes, even though there wasn't much prey.
"Where exactly is this place again?" Breezepaw's mew made a fresh wave of fear swamp me, and I took a breath, ready to reveal the secret of the tunnels. There was no way around it, there was no scent to follow, and I desperately needed a Clanmate with me. But could I really give up Lionpaws' and my secret? Right now, it was the place of my misguided dreams still, where a bright gold tomcat waited for me, to play in our imagination, DarkClan.
If Breezepaw saw my hesitation, he didn't comment. "They're these tunnels I found a while ago," I started, and then jumped as thunder rumbled in the sky above. Was StarClan angry with me? "I thought that it might just be a rabbit hole, and it was pretty big so I was going to go down it-"
"Hare brain!" Breezepaw buffeted me in the shoulder, "You know our mentors don't want us going down there. Bad things always seem to happen when cats go underground."
I nodded in agreement, but a prickling of my fur had started along my spine. I could only press harder into the peaty ground below me, and hoped the wind smoothed my revealing fur.
We approached the crest of the next hill, and the ground beneath my paws gave way to gravel and pebbles. I skidded to a halt and stared down the ravine, scrubs dotting a boulder-covered hollow. The ground was covered in broken shale from one of the steeper edges, which ended in a stony cliff, and seemed to shed rock to the ground below.
"We're here!" I shouted, wind whistling through my ears as I turned to the dark cat, his eyes gleamed gold in a black face, his fur ruffled out as the wind switched directions and fluffed his coat out. "You sure?" Breezepaw looked down into the ravine, resigned to leap down the rocky slope.
"Positive." I meowed, and then progressed to start picking my way down the slope. 'I just hope we won't find them at the bottom here. If they fell…' I banished the thought from my mind. I didn't have time to doubt, I needed to find those three kits!
The scattered stones rolled to a stop around me as I straightened from my tensed position. Each muscle had strained and tensed while I picked my way down the hill, ready for the ground to give way or for my foot to catch, sending me rolling or falling to the bottom. A clatter of rock gave away Breezepaw's presence, and after looking over my shoulder at the tomcat, I wove my way into the undergrowth.
Branches scratched and pulled at my coat, I could hear Breezepaw's quiet cursing behind me as I ducked beneath a long thorn stem.
"How much farther?" He complained after a few bends. Without bothering to reply, I straightened up and stared at the black, gaping hole at my paws. "Oh." He muttered as he drew up beside me, "That's it? I expected it to be… smaller? Grassier?" my Clanmate poked his nose in the direction of the tunnel, taking in a tentative sniff of the cold, dank air. "And you're sure the kits could've gone down here?" He questioned, voice faltering just a little as he padded forward now, trying to peer down into the murky darkness.
"Yea," my mew was small, and when the black apprentice stepped to the side, I took the lead, splaying my whiskers out all the way, and approaching the tunnel entrance. The darkness spooked me too, but I was almost used to it by now. In my head, I traced the route we would need to follow to get to the main cavern. With one more calming breath, I squared my shoulders and took a step into the shadows.
"Heatherpaw!" A voice shocked me so badly that I was frozen, ears flickering wildly back and forth. "It's me!"
A sigh of relief bubbled from me as I spotted the blurry apparition of my friend, Hawk's Shadow. His icy blue eyes cut through the dark, and his brown tabby pelt blended in with the shadows.
I bounded forward, entering the tunnel as he flicked his tail for me to follow.
"Hawk's Shadow." I purred quietly, listening at the same time for the footsteps of Breezepaw, "It's been a while. I'm sorry I left you down here all alo-"
"No time for that now, Heatherpaw." The ghostly figure turned its head to stare at me. "I saw the kits come down here. I know where they are."
A.N: that's a crappy ending to a chapter, I know. But what do you think Hawk's Shadow -coughHawkfrostcough- wants to do with Heatherpaw and Breezepaw? I may be able to update this again next week...again.