Brighter in the Dark

Chapter Two: Sliding Rocks

Dear Spirits,

Please, let us be safe.

Let this mission end soon.

I can't handle any more.

So please, truly make this mission my last.

* * * *

"Wake up, Moon. Time to go." Stoneteller stood over his to-be, his paw on her shoulder. Moon blinked the sleep out of her eyes and rolled over to face the waterfall.

"It's still dark," she groaned.

"Light will come in only a few minutes." Stoneteller padded towards the waterfall and waited for the black she-cat to follow. Instead of heading directly out through, Moon stopped and stood over Shadow.

"Hey," she whispered in his ear. "Me and Stoneteller are going. Good bye." Shadow, not even opening his eyes, muttered,

"Did you really have to wake me up?" Moon opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. Instead, she rested her tail tip on his shoulder for a moment before following Stoneteller out.

The pair walked a few minutes in silence. Stoneteller seemed slower than he usually did that morning, but Moon was far too sleepy to notice.

"We'll arrive in a few minutes," said Stoneteller, finally breaking the silence. Moon turned her head towards him.

"Ok. I'll tell you when I see some prey."

The warmest part of the year was ending, and the stone was starting to become like ice in the mornings. Moon's paws felt a tick of numbness. Her steps were slow and clumsy, and she barely looked where she walked.

Suddenly, Stoneteller took an unexpected turn into a narrow passage between rocks. Moon paused at the entrance to the rut.

"Stoneteller, what are you doing? This tunnel is unstable." The old cat hardly seemed to notice the doubt and worry in his to-be's voice.

"We'll be fine. We have the Spirits on our side today." Moon sighed. What had been wrong with him lately? He seemed not to even value his life… Maybe relying so closely on the Tribe of Endless Hunting had driven him to believe he was immortal. The Spirits protected their chosen cats, but even they couldn't help one to survive a canyon was falling rocks.

"Well, the Spirits are telling me to go the other way," answered Moon. "Come on. The Sharp Rock Path has never failed us before." Stoneteller, his expression just as pristine and blank as usual, trotted over and started down Moon's chosen path.

This trail took much longer than the one Stoneteller wished to take, but Moon felt a sense of self-accomplishment for watching out for her aging teacher's safety. Finally, the pair arrived.

The Sliding Rocks are a harshly beautiful place that seemed almost like an alien planet. Cracked rocks littered the sharply slanting hillside. In between the rocks grew all kinds of important plants.

Stoneteller jumped onto one of the larger of the rocks at the edge of the field and motioned for Moon to follow. "This is a very special place, as you know. Rocks fall all the time, and each time I come here, there is a new pattern of cracks. Since it takes so little for the rocks to crack, the Tribe of Endless Hunting uses this place often to speak from beyond."

Mood nodded once in a while. She had, of course, heard this all before. This wasn't the first time she had been to Sliding Rocks. "Anyway," Stoneteller concluded. "I want you to tell me what you see."

Moon focused carefully on the cracks, following them and connecting them together into pictures. So far though, no real image popped out at her.

"The Spirits are silent," Moon concluded. Stoneteller shook his head wisely.

"The Spirits are never silent. Everything has nothing to say. Everything on the mountain reflects the cats whom rule it. Now, look again. What do you see?"

Moon focused again, this time harder. "I see… A tooth. A bear's tooth, or maybe a fox's."

"Yes, yes. Go on."

"And I see… a bird. It looks a little like it's flown through a rain storm backwards. And a circle… Kind of a deformed circle. It's darker than the rest of the pictures too…"

"What else? I see one more. Try to spot it."

"I can't see it," said Moon.

"Then it isn't ready to be revealed to you. Well, I'm going to get some mint from over there. I'll be right back." Before Moon could say anything, Stoneteller had jumped down and was making his way across the unstable rocks.

"Stoneteller! Come back! That's dangerous!" Stoneteller chuckled, and Moon swore that the rocks moved.

"I told you, young one, the Spirits are on our side today." Moon jumped down and paced along the line that separated safe ground from the unsteady.

"Please come back here! It isn't safe!" Stoneteller took a branch of heather in his teeth and pulled. He braced back, grunting and straining. The rock above him moved.

Moon could no longer stand it. She bolted out, jumping as carefully as she could from one rock to another. "Don't move; I'm coming to get you!" Stoneteller, whom had a reputation for being selectively death, didn't listen.

Moon paused at a large gap in the rock, her toes hanging over the edge. The gap was rather large. She didn't have long to think though. She took a few steps back and launched herself over the side.

Her claws raked the smooth stone, but couldn't be a grip. She slipped and fell, landing hard on one of her back feet. "OOOUUUCCCCHHH!" she screamed, along with a few other obscene phrases.

Her leg pounded with pain. Moon didn't want to look back for fear of seeing the extent of the injury. But, after a moment, she realized that her leg was the least of her problems.

Above her, a low rumbling, like the growl of a great beast, could be heard. The air was filled with the echoing sounds of cracking and sliding.

Moon struggled out of the gully between the two rocks with her three working legs just in time to see the first rock fall. It barreled towards Stoneteller, who was looking at right at it, making no attempt to move out of the way. He didn't look afraid, or even surprised. He turned his head towards Moon and have her a swift nod.

"What are you doing?! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Moon raced towards him, but she was too slow and dust was thick in the air.

Suddenly, a heavy stone bowled her over. Dazed, she listened for a scream. Anything to tell her Stoneteller was at least alive.

Another shot of pain.

Moon felt the ground come out from beneath her, and, for a moment, she was hanging in midair. Her body went limp and her vision dark. The pain was gone, and there was nothing but the sound of settling rocks.


You know what? I love third-person. So much easier to write in. Anyway, please review!