Warriors: The Power of One: Chapter Nine
"Dark Dreams"
Toadpaw opened his eyes. He had no idea where he was.
He was lying in a rocky clearing, dark pine trees on all sides. It was night, but when Toadpaw looked to the sky, he saw no stars. The fur on the back of his neck had begun to bristle, though he didn't know quite why. There was something wrong with this place.
Toadpaw got to his paws and began to smell the air. There was a dark, musky smell that made his fur stick up even more. He swallowed though his mouth was dry.
"Hello?" he mewed quietly, hoping to cause a bird to fly in fright. No birds flew. Softly, he began to tread into the forest, hoping the direction he chose would lead out of the forest. Toadpaw padded carefully and stealthily through the undergrowth, passing through bushes and thorns, rocks and briars.
He turned swiftly, thinking he had seen a pair of eyes in the forest alongside him. A pair of amber eyes glowed, watching him.
"Who is it?" he asked, his voice quavering.
The eyes blinked but did not reply.
Toadpaw began to shake with fear. Perhaps it was a badger, waiting to devour him; a fox, ready to pick him off. Without hesitation Toadpaw sprung into the forest away from the glowing pair of eyes, and bounded through the trees, ignoring the stinging thorns that scraped through his fur.
As he bounded into another clearing, he careened into a small mass of black fur. Spitting and snarling, he prepared to attack. Then, when he realized who the cat with black fur was, he relaxed. It was Nightpaw!
"Nightpaw, what are you doing here?" Toadpaw asked in amazement and relief.
Nightpaw shook her pelt, "I could ask you the same question," she retorted. "I don't even know where we are. I just woke up here."
"Woke up here?" Toadpaw asked, "What do you mean?"
"I think we're dreaming. Together, somehow," she added. "We're not anywhere on ThunderClan territory, that's for sure."
That made sense to Toadpaw. In fact, when he thought about it, his last memory before this forest had been in his nest in the apprentice's den. "Why are we here?" he asked his sister.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Nightpaw admitted, "Though I don't think this is StarClan. StarClan doesn't look like this. There are no stars here."
"I noticed that too," Toadpaw put in, "Don't you think this place feels a little creepy?"
Nightpaw nodded, agreeing. "Let's find a way out," she suggested.
The two cats began to tread through the forest together, always keeping the other within a tail's distance. They walked for some time, before they began to hear voices.
"Did you hear that?" asked Toadpaw.
"Shh!" urged his sister.
Both cats ducked down into the ferns and listened as the voices got louder.
"Stop talking," said one voice, female, "We don't know what kind of thing might be out here thinking we'd make a good meal."
The other voice, a male said back, "Yeah, well we haven't seen anything but trees yet. My guess is we both ate a bad mouse and are paying for it now."
Toadpaw would recognize those voices any day. He looked at Nightpaw, and she registered the same understanding in her eyes.
They got up and ran toward their other siblings, "Sunpaw, Runningpaw!" they called.
When they reached Runningpaw and Sunpaw, the two looked startled but happy to see their siblings. The four touched noses and began talking all at once. Runningpaw and Sunpaw had both awoken the same way as Toadpaw and Nightpaw had, and had no better idea of where they were. Finally, after they calmed down, they resolved to walk in the direction Sunpaw and Runningpaw had been going.
After walking for a while, they came to another clearing. This one was larger than the ones Toadpaw had been in earlier. A large rock was up ahead, and he could see two cats sitting atop the rock. He stopped his brother and sisters, indicating the two cats.
The two cats got down from the rock. One was a massive dark tabby who looked scarily like Toadpaw. His amber eyes were oddly familiar to Toadpaw. The other was a dark brown tom with white underbelly and icy blue eyes. The two cats walked over to the siblings, but stopped at a respectable distance. The massive tabby was clearly in charge. He began to speak.
"Greetings," he said, "I have been anxious to meet you, my grandkits."
Toadpaw thought his heart would drop through the dirt. Grandkits! Firestar was his grandfather. That meant that this was none other than his father's father Tigerstar; the most feared tyrant that the clans had ever lived through. Toadpaw felt all of his siblings exhibit similar panicked expressions when they realized who they were looking at.
Tigerstar spoke to them calmly, "I know what you must be thinking," he said, "You have probably heard stories about me before. Tigerstar: the evil cat who took over the entire forest because of his greed and thirst for power." He looked Toadpaw and his siblings over, probably expecting them to flee. Toadpaw didn't know how to leave. He expected his siblings were thinking the same.
"I can tell you that the stories are mostly true," Tigerstar admitted, "However, I don't mean you any harm."
Toadpaw looked at his siblings. Sunpaw looked confused, but surprisingly not altogether terrified. Runningpaw, on the other hand, looked scared out of his mind. Nightpaw was trying to seem brave, but Toadpaw could see her mind trying to figure out an escape from this place.
"What do you want, then?" Toadpaw asked. Runningpaw jumped at the sound of his brother's voice.
Tigerstar nodded in acknowledgement of Toadpaw. "Thank you, Toadpaw," he said, "Hawkfrost and I have a proposition for you."
Toadpaw just then remembered the blue-eyed cat standing next to Tigerstar. Hawkfrost merely observed, not saying a word.
"Go on," Sunpaw offered.
Tigerstar looked up to the sky with no stars. "I am here in the dark forest, the place of no stars because I have done terrible things. I lived my life without love and I took what was not mine to take," he winced as though the things he remembered physically hurt him. "I want to do some good for the clans I wronged. I want to change my legacy, even if none but you will ever even know. I have left behind nothing that will last. I intend to change that."
Toadpaw was interested in where this was going, but he couldn't quite see it yet. Nightpaw, Sunpaw, and Runningpaw all looked interested as well. "So what do we have to do with that?" Toadpaw asked.
"I can't go back to the clans," Tigerstar explained, "But you will." His eyes darkened, some sense of knowing hidden there. "Dark times are coming to the clans," he explained. "All the clans will be tested and will need the strength of TigerClan to survive. I can help you. Hawkfrost and I will train you to be better warriors. You can accelerate your training here, in your dreams."
Toadpaw was taken aback. Training in dreams? He thought only medicine cats and leaders had dreams with dead cats.
"How is this even possible?" asked Nightpaw. "I thought only StarClan could communicate with the clans, and they choose to use medicine cats and clan leaders."
Tigerstar looked at her with pity, "My dear, you would not believe the things StarClan has chosen not to tell you. They think you too weak to handle some things. I am not so naïve. You are all stronger than you can imagine."
His words sounded pretty convincing, Toadpaw admitted to himself. His siblings seemed to be agreeing as well. Except for Nightpaw. Her brow was furrowed. "StarClan know what's best for us," she insisted.
"If you say so," Tigerstar relented, obviously disagreeing. Hawkfrost snorted in disgust.
"StarClan will always help those who ask for their aid," Nightpaw continued, "They watch over us and guide us.
Tigerstar began to look agitated, "That's enough of that nonsense," he began.
Nightpaw broke in, "StarClan are more powerful than you. They would have told me if we needed more training."
Tigerstar and Hawkfrost snarled. Toadpaw backed away from them a little, but Nightpaw stood her ground. "Maybe a medicine cat wouldn't be much use as a warrior, anyway," Hawkfrost said.
His menacing expression made Toadpaw suddenly defensive of his sister. Sunpaw, Runningpaw, and Toadpaw drew closer to their sister. "Leave her alone," Toadpaw said simply. Suddenly, he began to smell a sweet aroma. A slender tortoiseshell walked toward them. There were stars on her fur. She wove her way around the siblings and boldly approached Tigerstar. "What game are you playing at?" she accused. Turning to the siblings, she urged them to leave, "Nightpaw, you and your siblings must leave this place and never return."
Nightpaw seemed to trust this cat completely. She nodded, "Yes, Spottedleaf."
"So easy to trust," Tigerstar commented, "And I haven't even shown you how I can help you."
"Be silent, Tigerstar," said another voice, as four more cats with starry fur strode into the clearing. The cat speaking was a bluish gray she-cat. Behind her were a large white tom, a large golden tabby and a small tortoiseshell tom. The four cats moved protectively around Toadpaw and his siblings. The bluish gray she-cat spoke again, "You have no power that is not given to you."
"Go," urged Spottedleaf to Nightpaw. "If you run far enough the way you came you will wake in your nests."
Toadpaw followed Nightpaw as she immediately began running the way they had come. Sunpaw and Runningpaw followed close behind. Toadpaw could hear Tigerstar's voice as they ran. "You are always welcome to come back at any time. In fact, you may realize how much you need to soon."
The four ran until Toadpaw suddenly woke up in his nest. The strangeness of his dream hit him in that moment. Tigerstar had just offered to train him and his siblings in their dreams. Toadpaw looked over at his siblings next to him, as they had woken up as well. The shock and confusion they were feeling shone through their expressions. Toadpaw, Runningpaw, and Sunpaw crept out of the apprentice's den and met Nightpaw outside of the medicine cat den. "What on earth was that about?" Runningpaw asked incredulously.
"That was the dark forest," Nightpaw said, "And none of you are ever going to go back there, understood?"
Toadpaw, Sunpaw, and Runningpaw nodded in agreement. "You don't have to convince me," Sunpaw said, "but who was that tortoiseshell cat who came to interrupt our meeting?"
"That's Spottedleaf," Nightpaw explained, "She was the ThunderClan medicine cat when Firestar first came to the clans. She has met me in my dreams before."
Toadpaw cleared his throat. Amazingly, the night's dream was no longer what was on the front of his mind. "I know this isn't the best time to discuss it, but we need to nonetheless. I need to know who is joining me the night after tomorrow night to help Sunpaw and Heatherpaw."
"So you've already decided?" asked Nightpaw, clearly annoyed.
"Yes," Toadpaw insisted. "I'll go alone, but I'd welcome some company."
Awkwardly, Runningpaw spoke, "I will go. And not because I have any kind of feelings for Heatherpaw," he insisted. "I don't. Helping them against a common enemy is the right thing to do, even if everyone might not see it that way."
"I agree," Sunpaw added, "And I'll go too."
"Well, I disagree," Nightpaw meowed, "But I suppose I should go. If you get caught by WindClan I might be an excuse for them not to flay us, being a medicine cat."
Toadpaw couldn't believe that his black-furred sister had just agreed to go. "Well that's great," he said. "Let's get some rest then, for tomorrow. I've got the dawn patrol to do. It can't be long now."
They all agreed and went to their nests. As he drifted to sleep, Toadpaw half expected to wake up in the dark forest again, but he did not.
Spottedleaf, Bluestar, Lionheart, Whitestorm, and Redtail watched over the four siblings as they slept, dreading the days that the young cats would not be able to sleep soundly. Dark days indeed were coming, and the ThunderClan apprentices would need all their strength to survive the days ahead. Tonight would certainly not be the last time one of the siblings, or other cats for that matter visited the place of no stars. For more than one cat, the dark dreams had only just begun. And there was not a thing any of them could do to fight it.
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