Last Chapter! ;-; I'm so happy!
Five moons later, I was awakened by a strange call on the moor. It was probably a moor hen, since it was mating season, and the eggs of the fat birds were plentiful. Stretching quietly, I picked my way around my Clanmates, who slept in mounds, some cats literally curled up almost on top of each other. It was nothing like a relationship of two mates, but just to conserve body heat. Puffs of crystallized breath hung like a fog over the Clan as Greenleaf came to a sudden end, bringing temperatures that the Clans hadn't seen since the mountains. Speaking of which, the news of Stormfur and Brook leaving the Clans to seek a home in the mountains had spread, and Crowfeather had gone to see the two cats. Though my mentor didn't ever show if he cared, he at least held his tongue around the tom-cat.
I nodded to the cat on guard, Antpelt, who was barely visible in the dark shadows of the half moon. "Heatherpaw? Where are you going?" He questioned, though the young warrior was obviously tired as well.
"Just out for a walk, Antpelt. Might chase a rabbit to get things off my mind. My dreams have been getting strange lately." I confessed, as my dreams and thoughts swirled into one inside my head. The tunnels had scarred me, and not only on my pelt, but in my head. Each night, I closed my eyes, but just found myself back in the cave. But the river swerved downward into a drop, too far for anything to survive and without a way to get out. Somehow, the cave filled with water. I was forced to swim, paddling until my fur grew so heavy and my legs tired that I sank back into the depths, swirled around in the underground darkness. Eventually I couldn't breathe; the rocks scraped my fur until I felt raw. Breezepaw had woke me up more than once, saying that I had been yowling in my sleep. Kestrelpaw had tried to talk to me about the dreams, but Breezepaw and I, like the kits, had sworn not to tell the Clan about the tunnels, if there was any chance that another rainstorm could unblock them. I didn't wish ThunderClan dead- that would be asking too much- but just for peace and a life free of Lionpaw. I could tell that my dreams had bothered the rest of the Clan as well, just by the looks they had given me. With Crowfeather away, I had a bit more time in the morning, as the dreams only seemed to happen at night. Whitetail had taken over my training though, but sometimes I preferred to train with my friend, Sunpaw, than dodge the glances that Breezepaw shot me. It was obvious that he didn't suffer from the same reverie of the events that took place that day.
Antpelt looked at me with pity, and I felt my fur bristle. I didn't need the pity of the warriors, I was almost one myself! Onestar had been impressed with how Breezepaw and I had brought back the kits, through ThunderClan territory on top of it, even if the ThunderClan apprentices had helped us. He shared our misgivings of how the other apprentices had known where they had been. "I won't be gone long. I don't need an escort to find my way around the hills." My voice was scathing, and even though I was younger than Antpelt, he nodded and let me go without a sound.
My tail snaked behind me as I prowled up the slope, past the spiny gorse bushes and into the stalks of my sweet-smelling namesake. Threading between the heather and wild grasses where it grew the tallest, I looked up at the fluffy heads of the plants with the stars just above them. Everything was cast in silver, though shadows were long at this time of night, just after moon-high. I crushed a small nest for myself in the midst of the plants and lay down, letting the thick, hazy scent penetrate the air that was cold with the promise of a coming frost. Closing my eyes, I tucked my tail around my nose and tried to fall asleep again, away from where I would disturb my Clanmates.
Crickets chirped in my ears, and a mouse crunched noisily on the seeds of a withered sage bush somewhere close by. Rolling onto my back did nothing to get rid of the noises that assaulted me, and eventually, after trying various sleeping positions, I gave up.
Rising to my paws seemed to take more energy than before, and I felt heavy and tired. The heather around me was darker now than before, the scent faded just to the wintery smell of dying plants and ice. Making my way forward, I ducked through the rest of the stems until the grasses grew shorter and the thickets grew farther apart. The hills were wide and murky as clouds passed over the moon, sending waves of silver in spotted patterns along the wide landscape. I sat quietly, ruffling my coat every few heartbeats to keep me warm when I heard the pawsteps.
"Antpelt, I told you that I didn't need your help-" I whipped around to catch the guilty tom with a hard glare when I had to look up. This wasn't the slight-framed Antpelt, but the dark tabby I had met in the tunnels all those moons ago. "Hawk's Shadow," I said dryly, before unsheathing my claws and leaping at the tom.
He seemed as real as me; fur, blood and bones as I rammed into him. My small stature did nothing for the frontal attack, and his broad shoulders took the blow easily while I bounced off but gained my footing easily again. The tom looked at me, somewhere between aggravated and humored. "Heatherpaw. I would've thought you'd be glad to see me." His voice was as cool as the wind that whipped across the hills.
Backing up a step to keep the area around us within my sight as well, I stared down the shadowy tabby. "I would have, if I hadn't gone home form the tunnels, and learned that Tigerstar haunts the dreams of cats. I heard Ashfoot talk to Barkface just a few days ago. Then, then the elders told me that he had a son, on with blue eyes that attempted on Firestar's life not long ago." I hadn't gone to the Gathering directly following Hawkfrost's murder, so I hadn't known about the attempt, and when the cats got back, I was asleep. It wasn't discussed openly in camp, but now I knew. "So which name do you rather go by," I hissed scornfully, dropped my chest to the ground in the imitation of a leap.
Hawk's Shadow- Hawkfrost- didn't even move, but instead a smile flickered across his muzzle. "You really think I'm the bad guy? I helped you get the kits back; I helped you prevent a war. This is how you want to repay me?" Tigerstar's son took a step forward, and the scent of rotten meat and smoke stunk on the wind.
"I don't really care what you did." I snarled, untouched by his attempts at convincing me. "Sedgekit told me what happened. You think that the kits forgot about you?"
For a moment his smile wavered, and behind it was a furious monster, murder glaring in his blue eyes. Then it was covered up again, and he prowled forward. I stood my ground in the crouch, turning to rack him. There was no way that he would take advantage of me again, he had tricked me once and I refused to be duped again.
"Weren't you the one who was talking about protecting your Clan, Heatherpaw? You can still do that, you know, you could be the best, even better than Breezepaw."
"What are you talking about?" I mewed, fur prickling as I sensed danger.
"Heatherpaw, you're a strong warrior, but Crowfeather doesn't know how to train you. He's already left you, and now you're falling behind in your duties, and there's so much potential in you." Hawkfrost drew his tail down my shoulder, and I straightened up resentfully. But it was true; if Hawkfrost could help me, I could make up for the time that Crowfeather was away.
"See? You consider it because it's true. Heatherpaw, you could be the best fighter, the best hunter, in the entire Clan. No kits would ever be lost again, your Clan would not fear invasion.
"We don't right now," I spoke angrily, proudly. WindClan was many, and prospering. I don't know why the other Clans always thought that we were the weakest of the four.
"I could train you. We could start now, if you'd like." I looked at him suspiciously. My mind screamed that he was an attempted murderer, that he was Tigerstar's son; but then again, so was Brambleclaw. And the queens always exaggerated their stories, maybe Hawkfrost wasn't that bad…? "You can't be tired anymore, can you?"
Hawkfrost's words were true, I didn't feel the same weights on my legs and fur, and energy roiled in me. "Yes…" I hesitantly mewed.
"So attack me," Hawkfrost said, taking a pace back. "Show me what Crowfeather has been showing you."
We trained on the hillside for most of the night, where the darkness was complete and the moon seemed to have disappeared. I didn't notice the murkiness of the border stream below, which reflected no stars, and the shadows that stretched from the swathes of heather being almost complete darkness. I was busily dodging jabs and paws, leaping and twisting away from Hawkfrost. I didn't understand the hostility I had shown toward the cat earlier, he was a patient teacher, showing me how to move my weight to be faster, to spin out of the way and use my small body to my advantage. I was feeling like the sun should be coming up soon, and stopped, panting quietly and looked for the sunrise. Even though I had had no sleep, there hadn't been a time that I had felt so alive.
"Good," Hawkfrost practically purred contentedly, and shook his ruffled pelt. He followed my confused gaze toward the sky, where there was not even a hint of sunrise, nor any of the other celestial bodies. "Don't worry; it hasn't been that long you've been here." He mewed decidedly.
"Here?" I glanced down the hill to the stream, and the forest beyond. There were no noises of prey, no wind, and barely any light. "Where am I?" This couldn't be StarClan, it was dark and dreary, making my pelt crawl. But Hawkfrost was dead, where else could he go?
"The Dark Forest," A new voice murmured, and I turned to see Tiger Strikes- Tigerstar- padding up the hill as well.
'Excuse me?" I asked, stunned. The voices that I had been repressing, of confusion and hostility reanimated again. Hawkfrost was not like Brambleclaw, he was working with his father.
"The place where the cats that don't go the StarClan go. Don't worry, Heatherpaw, you won't be harmed here. All we want to do is help you to become a better warrior."
My ears flattened. Hawkfrost, I may have had a doubt about him, but Tigerstar… he was a murderer. All the cats that had been killed in the Great Battle, the Battle of Sunningrocks… most of them were blood on his paws. I should've known better. I needed to get out.
Hawkfrost must have seen my distress as he shot angry glares at his father. He opened his mouth when he was cut off by Tigerstar.
"Are you going to teach her the same moves as Lionpaw?"
That was it. I bolted away, speeding through the bushes and running so fast that the stems flashed past in a blur. There was distant yowling in my head, it could have been Hawkfrost, but I continued running, until the darkness became complete and I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet.
"Heatherpaw!" A voice said, and a pain in my side flared. I jumped to my paws, a snarl on my muzzle to find Breezepaw staring back at me. A quick glance from side to side and I saw that I was still in the nest I had made.
"Heatherpaw, are you okay? You looked so still, and there was blood…" Breezepaw's voice was slowly coming back down from the startled yowl that had woken me. My breathing calmed as well, and I looked around. "It must have been the heather. I slept for once." I managed a shaky laugh.
Inside I was angry, longing to score my claws across Hawkfrost's- even Lionpaw's- pelt. There was no way that I would work with murderers, especially if they were dead. What if they could control cats, send them dreams and ambitions, like StarClan did to the medicine cats? The cut that Hawkfrost had scored on my flank was as real as it had been in the dream. And if Lionpaw was with them, then it was for the best that we were apart now. It would stop me from ending him myself.
So yea, thanks for reading 8D this is the second story I've complete (doesn't happen often) and I'm definitely not revisting this. I want to thank RinWolfeh, MidnightPandaHat, juliarchive, SilverWolf716, Author-Insomniac, and PurpleFlyingToasters for reviewing on this story, and anyone who followed this, though it must have slipped your mind more than once because of my extended... vacations ^^'. Thank you all, you've made writing This Fic a pleasure :)