Disclaimer: I DO NOT own the Warriors series.
Chapter 5
It was almost midnight when the she-cat finally found her way to the ThunderClan camp. Her normally silky silver coat, threaded with faintly darker stripes, was ruffled and coated with dirt; her large blue eyes wide and alert, constantly flicking over her shoulder. Her tail, low by the ground, left a shallow furrow in the leaf mould, and though her ears were pinned to her skull, they stayed alert for the slightest hint of noise.
As she neared the barrier to the camp entrance, she noticed with much surprise that there was no guard posted on lookout. Her eyes narrowed. This wasn't right. Would it – could it – ruin her plan?
No. Shoving those worrisome thoughts to the back of her mind, she straightened up, trying to appear less nervous than she really was. Pushing through the barrier as quietly as she could, she immediately pricked her ears, hoping – praying – no one was awake at this late hour.
Unfortunately for her, one particular golden tabby tom with fiery amber eyes had decided it was a nice night for a moonlit walk. Lionblaze froze in the middle of the clearing, his mouth dropping open to yowl an alarm.
"Wait, wait!" She let out an impatient hiss, gesturing wildly with her tail. She took a hesitant step forward, into the ring of moonlight in the clearing, and immediately the tabby snapped his mouth shut, recognizing her.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed, looking quickly around for anyone else who may have strayed out into the clearing. His eyes flashed. "You know anyone else would've immediately called Bramblestar out here, right?"
"I know, I know," she muttered irritably, turning her head to nip a burr off her silver pelt. "Then it's a good thing it was you out here, isn't it?" His eyes narrowed to slits at her aggravated tone. Though normally he would've questioned anyone else's motives, he knew he could trust her.
"Why are you here?" he repeated, though his tone softened considerably. Though her tail-tip flicked down a bit, and an incoherent grumble escaped her mouth, she responded with,
"I need to speak with Bramblestar."
Hollyleaf's eyes shut tight, as the annoying rattling sound filled her ears yet again. Her claws unsheathed, digging into a soft fronds of undergrowth beneath her paws.
"Dovewing!" she snapped, her eyes flying open to aim a glare at the younger she-cat. Dovewing's tail puffed up at the sudden voice, though once she met Hollyleaf's gaze, her ears lowered and she cast her eyes down, clawing at the leaves.
"Sor-ree," she muttered bad-temperedly. Both ThunderClan she-cats had been out and about all night, relentlessly trying to track down the she-cat they had encountered – or at least, they think they encountered – the previous sun high both at the border and in the tunnels.
Their lack of sleep had caused them both to be irritable and snappy, their tempers unusually short. Hollyleaf had been the first to snap, as the noise of Dovewing's long tail stirring the dry bramble spines above caused unbelievable annoyance in her.
Hollyleaf's response was simply a roll of the eyes as she returned her stare to their previous place, the WindClan border. It had seemed like the most likely place for the mystery cat to be, after all most of the underground tunnels wound under the moors.
But, even after moonhigh had long past, there had been no sign of her. Hollyleaf could feel her hope slipping rapidly out of her grasp. What if the she-cat had just been a temporary intruder?
A frown smuggled its way onto her face. Why did this mean so much to her? Why was she so bent on finding this she-cat? A voice in her head – right at the back of her mind – was telling her it had something to do with the meeting between Bramblestar, Sandstorm, Dovewing, Jayfeather and Lionblaze. The only problem was, when she had brought up to topic of the secret meeting in their leader's den with the gray cat, she had mumbled out an excuse about it, then had abruptly changed the subject, onto a much different focus.
Hollyleaf's rapid, confusing thoughts were interrupted and scattered wildly as a loud noise caught her attention. She sat up rod-straight, and as did Dovewing as the two peered out from their hiding place, under several different bushes grouped together.
A feline shape slid through the undergrowth, obvious urgency coming off their pelt in waves. Dovewing's jaw dropped a bit, as though there were words on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't get them out.
"I-I didn't sense her," the small gray she-cat breathed, a troubled frown creasing her young face. "I was too deep in thought…" She shook her head vigorously, her ears flapping about her head. Hollyleaf, unable to recapture her train of thought, blew out a frustrated sigh and turned her attention back to the cat.
Her tail spiked, the fur on her shoulders standing on end as details – made visible by the watery moonlight – became distinct to her. A sleek silver pelt, large, bright eyes. Not much more registered before one thought exploded in her mind.
"It's her!" she hissed, scrambling to get her paws under her. Dovewing gave a small start, having to tuck her tail under her to prevent it rattling the bramble bush again. "It's the she-cat we saw!" By now, the cat was further in the heart of the territory, and Hollyleaf was unable to make out any more details.
"Are you sure?" Dovewing breathed, leaning forward a bit to peek out between the fern fronds tickling her nose.
"Silver tabby, bright eyes?" The words tumbled out in a rush as Hollyleaf started to carefully extract herself from the bushes.
"Well, I think so," Dovewing said slowly, pausing halfway out. "Or was she a gray tabby?" Hollyleaf stopped and stared weirdly at her.
"Who cares?" she muttered impatiently, shifting from paw to paw. "Hurry up! We'll lose her." After a brief spat with a bramble thorn, Dovewing had fully pulled herself from the bushes and was waiting for Hollyleaf to take the lead and follow the she-cat.
The two felines followed the evident wake the mystery cat left behind. She obviously wasn't from ThunderClan's territory, or else she would've been used to the close-growing trees and undergrowth.
"She's headed toward the camp," the younger murmured, her nose twitching in concentration as she reached her senses out toward the cat. "Wait, no, she's at camp." Alarm spiked in the gray cat's gaze. "There's someone else there…hold on…" Then she jumped up a bit, landing upright on her paws. She took off at a run, forcing Hollyleaf to sprint to catch up.
"What?" the midnight-colored she-cat panted, pumping her legs to keep up. "What did you see?"
"Lionblaze," Dovewing responded hurriedly as she dodged around a fern bush. "She's talking to Lionblaze. And he's not chasing her out."
