A.N: Hello! I know, I haven't updated in a while, and I was bad again. I went on the forums instead of writing. I know! I'm sorry! Here! take this chapter instead of me!
I don't think there'll be another chapter like that last one again in this book- I'm running out of characters too quickly anyways. Geez, we may finish this before December!
And I put that timeline so out there because I believe this is my last update of the summer- I have homework, vacation, driving, Band Camp and then school (In said order) and amazingly, by the time that's all done, it's September again. Sorry =/ I'll try though, really will.
The hatred that the ThunderClan cats now felt toward [Breezepelt] was immeasurable, a shared emotion as they moved off to attempt to find more cats like themselves.
Dovewing rubbed herself dry in the wild heather only after taking care to do the same for Ivypool, whose eyes were unfocused and almost as hazy as a corpse's. The she-cat seemed completely absent to her surroundings and the state of her wet, lacerated body. The gray cat glanced over to her sister, searching for the origin of the crimson streaks that hid most of her natural color. After crossing the stream, most of the blood had been swept away, but her fur was clumped and knotted with the dried liquid in some places still.
"Ivypool, what happened to you?" She berated gently, almost as Whitewing would do when they were kits. "I have to clean your fur up now."
The addressed she-cat stared blankly at her sister as she was pulled closer and Dovewing began licking the fur behind her ear. Ivypool leaned back into her sister, mouth open as she stared up at the trees, silently swaying back and forth hypnotically. Birds tweeted and leaves rustled loudly in her ears, and she could see the gray cat talking, but not a sound that came out of her mouth. With frustration, she picked up a paw dully and examined a pad, wondering why her claws weren't there. Her mind felt slow and clogged as a stream filled with leaves, and somehow the messages she sent to her body weren't getting through some of the time...
No one knew what had happened to her when she was captured, and even her memory was broken and fragmented to the point of obscurity. There was no way for her to express what she went through, either admitting it to herself or to others aloud. But the outcome of it had left her extremely broken- somewhat in her own mind as she wondered about the time of day and the odd noises from her stomach, but also out of it so far that she thought she saw dancing colored clouds and darkness gleaming as bright as the stars. It left her incapacitated and terror-stricken of moving, only trusting the bright light that seemed to reflect off her sister- from some unknown source- to keep her safe from the things in her mind. And truly, when the good cats had broken into the camp, she could see the shadows fleeing and dying against their light. She wanted to be part of it, and so she followed the bright stream of their voices and eventually was led out of the shadows to this golden field.
The gray sister continued cleaning Ivypool's fur, every so often taking her attention from the thorough grooming to look into her dark azure eyes for any emotion or change at all. As time and time again she saw the same dazed look, the she-cat eventually only took these breaks to look out for other dangers.
They were on the edge of WindClan territory, with rolling hills heading off into the west, sending golden light on the feathery outlines of heather and bluestem and helping the two light-colored sisters blend straight into a monochromatic landscape. The border stream that was normally so clear ripped like a scar down the landscape- the waters had been polluted by something far upstream, though Dovewing was too preoccupied to figure out from where. She was not using her powers at all in fact, and was currently no more exclusive than any other cat in the Clans. That would explain why she was taken by surprise as a muscled body came crashing through the grasses headed straight toward her.
Dovewing's panicked look was lost on her sister, who continued to stare across the river at the trees, completely oblivious to their impending situation. Conceded that she would need to protect them both, she dropped into a crouch and tracked the moment through the grass with her eyes. The noises got louder and louder before stopping almost directly in front of her. A male voice mumbled something about snakes and then veered off to the side of their little clearing, racing away farther into the desolate WindClan territory. The gray she-cat was stunned with fear from the almost-encounter, and she could feel her fur fluffing up slowly until the little feline looked at least twice her size.
Judging by the skill the other cat had exhibited, cutting a clear and quick path right through the territory, she trusted the words he had murmured- supposedly to himself- and looked around for the serpents he had been intent on avoiding. After a quick glance through the golden stalks, she deemed it unsafe and grabbed Ivypool, pulling her to her feet. She demanded that the inhibited one took her tail in her jaws, and quickly moved through the unfamiliar grass again.
They came to the border stream without incident, and Dovewing drew her tail from her sister's grasp, slipped down the steep bank to find the best place for Ivypool to cross. In her state, it was hard enough for the sisters to travel but if the she-cats were caught in the stream, then it would be impossible for the gray cat to pull the other out; she was neither strong enough nor skilled enough at swimming to keep her alive.
Patting the mud beneath her with her paws, the gray cat stared quizzically at the dark water, which had taken on a crimson hue. She had not noticed before in her rush to cross the waters and hide safely in the foreign territory. Some part of her brain had told her that leaving the territory would end the nightmare that she was currently living in, but there seemed to be no escape at all. The acrid stench of blood and death had carried onto the normally sweet-smelling plains of WindClan as well, tainting the waters and air.
"Ivypool," She whispered, sticking one paw into the water as a piece of debris rolled with the current. It snagged on her claws, though she immediately spat in disgust and let it go; the object was slippery and soft, and unless she had been imaging things, it was still warm. "Ivypool, there's definitely something wrong here." In place of speaking to herself about such matters, she had an unresponsive sister. But both methods would've worked the same: saying the words aloud was what pushed the gray she-cat to remember her powers, searching up the course of the river to the sparkling pool… stained red.
In her mind's eye, she could see the normally- clear MoonPool, but the water was dark and impenetrable, the stars that were slowly appearing overhead were dyed with the color of the living below. At the edge of the pool she could make out the ragged shape of Ferncloud, gray speckled fur virtually untouched, save for the deep bite mark in the nape of her neck. It seemed that the she-cat had enjoyed one of the easiest deaths that Dovewing had seen that day, yet the pool of blood around her body wasn't nearly big enough to be hosted by the single wound. Though she could see nothing else wrong with the old queen, she suspected that there was something, and stopped looking before she could find it. Brightheart also lay, very similar in the sense of wounds, to the side of the hollow that was void of anything but the two bodies. The second she-cat's face was twisted in disgust and pain, but her single eye was glazed over with death, and there was obviously no hope of trying to save them.
The gray cat recoil, letting her senses snap back on her so fast that she experienced a sort of whiplash, before she sent up prayers to StarClan for her friends' journeys to the brightening lights. She knew that their spirits had already fled upward, to fight the cats who were battling them in the celestial plain as well. Now they were left with what to do with the MoonPool.
With a deep breath, she looked again at the gruesome scene, focusing on the blood in the water. In any normal pond or pool, the water would cycle until it was clear again, the debris that had fallen in would sink and decompose to release nutrients into the water. But Dovewing had a deep seated feeling that the MoonPool was not normal; because it held the power of the stars, it was supposed to be eternal- just as their ancestors above them. Without knowing how or why she had the feeling, the gray cat knew that the pool would be tainted for the rest of the time it existed- of course not with the blood that soaked it now though. The sanctity of the grounds for the warriors that lived nearby had been shattered, and so the spell of the MoonPool- never touched by plants, fungus or other life- would come to an end. Algae would cover the rocks and the water would cease to taste like starlight and bring visions. This was a great loss to every cat around the Lake.
Coming back to herself, Dovewing pawed at the gravel below her, trying to decide what to do next. She knew that the queens had taken the kits to the Moonpool as well, but she didn't see any there, and Sorreltail hadn't been there either. Neither had the elderly she-cat, Sandstorm, who had went to act as a guard for the queens; this meant that there was still some hope for the kits' safety, but also that there had been Dark Forest cats attacking. She glanced back up the slope to Ivypool, knowing that she would only slow her down. 'Is the Clan still at the Two-leg nest?'
The idea spurned her to look for another way across the fast-flowing and deceptively deep water. It would be easy for any strong warrior to cross, pushing through the current to the other side, but for Ivypool it would be more than a challenge, as she needed Dovewing to guide her in her every movement. A dark thought crossed her mind, but she pushed it away quickly.
Soon she found a spit of loose gravel, unsteady but it would do the trick to tempt her sister across.
"Ivypool!" She called up, and the she-cat crept to the edge, yet her eyes were still trained on the sky. Her paws slipped and suddenly the silver and white cat fell, all paws and tail until she landed heavily on the shingle of the stream. Laying there in a daze, the she-cat was stunned and didn't move until Dovewing approached and nudged her to sit and stand. The same dark thought crossed her mind and she almost snarled out loud as she pushed it away.
She looked down, and Ivypool had actually focused on her, though her eyes only revealed fear and anxiety as she stared- apparently uncomprehendingly- at her sister. With a start, the gray cat wondered if emotion had flashed across her face, put then the other sister spoke in a garbled sort of tongue.
"There is blood. Where are kits?" The energy it took the she-cat to create the sentence was staggering, and she shut her mouth and then opened it again, drooling long strands onto the ground. Dovewing had almost bristled at the tone, but now she was more worried that her sister looked like a very old elder- possibly so close to StarClan that their fur would turn white in preparation.
"What do you mean, Ivypool?" She knew that the she-cat hadn't been present when Hollystar had told the queens to move all the kits to the MoonPool, and now the affirmation that the Dark Forest cats seemed to know their moves already… It was more than startling, and filled Dovewing with terror close to hysteria.
Immediately she started pushing her sister along the gravel spit, where rocks had been washed up through various rainstorms and halted on an obstacle that no longer stood there. The lighter cat stumbled and walked brokenly, hesitating at the edge of the water. But Dovewing kept pushing and now whispered reassuring nothings in the cat's ear, calming her as they crossed through a shallow portion of the stream. Though the water lapped only at her belly, both cats were tense until they clamored up the much gentler slope that made the ThunderClan border.
"Where we go?" The kit-like grammar mixed with the hollow, hoarse voice made Dovewing wince as she made Ivypool take her tail again.
"Just back to the nest," She said, quiet but fake cheer running through her voice. On the inside, her blood was cold as she searched the territory for the missing kits. "Our friends are there; they'll help us and give us shelter."
Did Ivypool remember her Clan? She seemed not to remember Dovewing at some points, and it worried the gray cat very much. She often would look down on the silver cat- probably because she was forced to take responsibility so quickly that she mentally grew faster than her counterpart. But her sister had risked a lot before the battle, revealing the cats that were working with the Dark Forest, chancing her life in the process. She had never given the thought to imagine them as equals then, but now it seemed that the chance had past. As soon as she had seen Ivypool in the camp, broken and out of her mind, Dovewing felt small and extremely scared for her sister. She still did now, in fact- it was almost impossible to move silently as the she-cat tripped through the forest, stepping on every twig and yelping at every thorn that snagged her fur. The gray cat could feel her jaw clench as she constantly surveyed the area for dangers, blue eyes wide.
As the moon rose higher in the sky, she pushed through the foliage with even more haste, the area looking more and more alien as they continued together. All at once, Ivypool froze, tugging on her sister's tail without warning and then dropping it completely, sending her into a stumble. The gray cat turned around, eyes widened quizzically as she gazed into the dark azure eyes for the reason she had reacted so urgently.
"Hello?" The silvery cat meowed out loudly, and Dovewing wheeled around, searching the undergrowth for the cat. She knew that her sister would never reveal where they were if there weren't something there- even if her brain was out of sorts.
After a few heartbeats of silence, she pulled Ivypool under the sheltering branches of an Arrowwood bush, the soft blue-black fruits jostling and staining their pelts. The dark leaves hid their light colored pelts from view of any cats that had been called to their position; voices travelled so much farther in the dark. Dovewing sat, trying to control her breathing, while holding her tail across her sister's mouth to keep her quiet as well. It felt much longer than it really was, sitting there under the soft leaves of the bush with nothing but her heartbeat to keep her company, but eventually Dovewing turned to her sister, who was once more out of her mind.
"What wa-"
"Sh!" Suddenly the eyes were sharp and knowledgeable again, and surprisingly so. As commanded, the gray cat quieted, once again straining her ears for the slightest of noises.
It didn't come as a noise, but a feeling instead. There was almost an invisible frost creeping its way through the woods, pointed and deadly as an arrow; as it reached the two she-cats, Dovewing felt it steal across her heart and blood, cooling and slowing them for a few long seconds before a pair of paws appeared outside their hiding spot. They were tortoiseshell in coloring, and seemingly very old- as StarClan warriors faded to transparency as they aged, Dark Forest cats darkened to shadows. According to this unspoken rule, the cat that passed the sisters was almost as dark as night, the white patches of fur barely visible unless one was very close.
The cat walked, unhurried through the forest with a saunter that was as chilling as it was terrifying. The gray she-cat felt the overwhelming need to scramble away, even after the threat had passed along, following the trail that the two had followed before. But instead, Ivypool held her still, one unsheathed paw holding her firmly between the shoulders, digging in just enough to be mistaken as a threat even. And once again, the she-cat was correct as two more figures came stumbling down the path, though these two making significantly more noise.
"Move along, Half-Clan scum," A male voice spat angrily, shoving what seemed to be a hostage along before him. "You think that StarClan will save you now?"
Dovewing's eyes were wide in horror- she recognized the voice of her Clanmate. But as the two cats passed by, her breathing faltering had nothing to do with a phantom menace but instead something entirely physical and much too close to heart.
The hostage stumbled as he approached the Arrowwood bush, gray tabby stripes visible for a fraction of a second before vanishing once more, a single cloudy blue eye fixed intently on the two cats in hiding. Shoving the cat along seemed to be a solid gray and white furred cat, only confirming what Dovewing had wished wasn't true. It was because of this knowledge that she couldn't stop shaking, even after the Dark cats had long since passed by.