So…I found a fair amount of mistakes in that last chapter. Sorry about that. I didn't exactly read it over before posting it. I'll try to take a little more time with this one, since it is pretty important. Also, I just have sort of a random question for anyone who knows: how long in general do apprentices train for? Is it more like four moons or ten? I know kits are apprenticed at six moons, but…
And you better thank me for this long chapter, even though it took me like three weeks. :D
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The wind picked up as soon as they left the shelter of the trees. It howled across the moor with vicious speed, dragging dark clouds across the once clear sky and sending ripples through the pale grass.
Icefang, Stonepelt and Cinderstar fought against the frigid gusts, marching in single file to limit the force of the wind. They took turns walking in front, bearing the brunt of the gale. To Icefang's horror, the sky looked as though more rain was on the way. Coupled with the fierce winds, she wasn't even sure if they would make it to Highstones. The white she-cat glanced over her shoulder at the shadow of Fourtrees, slowly disappearing under the edge of the hill behind them.
"I hope we don't meet any WindClan patrols," Stonepelt yowled over the whistle and snap of the storm. He was taking his turn in the front, sandwiching Cinderstar between the two warriors. The gray tom had barely spoken a word since they had left camp, and Icefang was wondering desperately what was going through his mind.
An angry caterwaul spilled over the moor, warped into a fearsome wail by the winds that whipped across the grass.
"WindClan!" Stonepelt hissed. He froze in his tracks, Cinderstar pausing beside him with an anxious expression on his face. The leader had set a brisk pace since they had passed out of the forest, wanting to reach Highstones as soon as possible without any conflicts. It seemed StarClan had not been party to his wishes.
As promised, a patrol of four WindClan cats appeared at the crest of the hill, their sleek fur ruffled by the wind. Icefang bounded to the front, placing her own body in front of her Clanmates. If it came to a fight, she would be the first to sink her claws into enemy pelts.
The WindClan warriors raced down the hillside, keeping low to the ground to keep out of the wind. A low growl rumbled from Stonepelt's chest behind her.
"Who goes there?" yowled a dark ginger tabby, scurrying forward to inspect the travelers. His sharp eyes analyzed their positions quickly, while his Clanmates fanned out in a semicircle around the ThunderClan cats.
"I am Icefang of ThunderClan. This is Stonepelt, and Cinderstar. We are passing through on our way to Highstones. StarClan has decreed that we be allowed safe passage through your territory – if you stop us you will be defying their command," Icefang growled, raising her head and gazing defiantly at the russet tom.
The WindClan warrior glared back, his eyes narrowed. "Who said we are trying to stop you? StarClan also commanded for the Clans to protect their borders. We were only doing our own duty."
Stonepelt stepped forward now, shouldering Icefang out of the way. She swallowed an indignant snarl and settled for glowering at the back of his head. I could have handled it on my own, she thought to herself with disgust.
The WindClan warriors seemed to notice how Cinderstar was letting his warriors take over the situation, and it did not escape the interest of the dark tabby tom.
"Let us pass, Russetstripe," Stonepelt mewed wearily. "We have no quarrel with WindClan."
"Perhaps you should let your leader speak for his Clan," Russetstripe sneered, peering over Stonepelt's shoulder at Cinderstar. The gray tom looked up, his tail lashing.
"So far, Russetstripe," Cinderstar spoke up in a voice like cold water, "my warriors seem to be handling the situation fairly well without my assistance. I know that Guststar is bold, but I would have thought she too had taught her own warriors how to speak for themselves."
Icefang turned to gape at her leader. She knew that Cinderstar was famed for his sharp intelligence, but she never would have guessed that he could put it to such use.
"How dare you!" Russetstripe hissed, his eyes blazing. A dark gray warrior behind him growled and unsheathed her claws.
Icefang felt the thrill of anticipation in her paws. She stepped forward, her whiskers quivering. "If it's a fight you want, we won't be the ones running away with our tails between our legs!"
Stonepelt cast a startled glance her way, which quickly transformed into an angry scowl, but Icefang was too excited to pay attention. She was eyeing the gray she-cat at Russetstripe's shoulder, sizing her up with a practiced eye. The smaller cat next to her, presumably an apprentice, would be no trouble at all, but the dark one…
"Please, continue on your way," came a new voice. This voice was level and calm, instantly making Icefang's hackles rise. She'd learned to hate those kinds of voices. She looked up, her icy gaze meeting dark green eyes that held absolutely no malice whatsoever.
"Swiftfoot, these warriors insulted Guststar!" spat Russetstripe, his tail whipping back and forth angrily. He looked just about as ready for a fight as Icefang herself.
A black and white tom stepped forward, a smaller golden tabby trailing at his heels, eyes wide. Icefang knew for a fact that Russetstripe was deputy of WindClan, so she was surprised to see this average warrior ordering his own deputy around. But Russestripe backed away respectfully despite the green-eyed tom's inferiority.
"Cinderstar, I apologize. We are tired and on edge – the dogs continue to pester our Clan. Please accept my most humble apologies. We never would have delayed your journey to Highstones this long if not for our present predicament. I assure you that WindClan is by no means going back on our promise – this territory remains open to all cats who wish to commune with our warrior ancestors." He dipped his head slowly to Cinderstar, who nodded briefly in response, then turned and waved his tail, gathering the WindClan warriors about him.
"Be careful!" he called over his shoulders as the patrol loped away. "The dogs are always about."
After a few moments, the patrol had disappeared, and the only sound that remained was the howling of the incessant wind.
Icefang stared after them in shock. "What in the name of StarClan was that?" she exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" growled Stonepelt. It seemed he was still annoyed at how close they had come to a fight, and especially with Icefang's part in it. Cinderstar had already started walking again, appearing unfazed by the encounter. They followed a good distance behind so they could talk without disturbing the leader.
"I thought Russetstripe was deputy of WindClan! Why was…Swiftfoot taking charge like that?" If there was anything Icefang would pledge her life to, it was the warrior code. She put every ounce of her faith in the laws set down so long ago by their warrior ancestors. Seeing such a blatant disrespect for the code, by a senior warrior nonetheless, shocked her beyond comprehension. A deputy was a deputy, and that was that. In her opinion, if Russetstripe had wanted to fight, then the rest of the warriors would fight, end of story. No one defied the deputy except for the leader. Not even the medicine cat should hold precedence over a warrior of such high rank in Icefang's mind.
"It has long been agreed upon that Russetstripe was an odd choice for Guststar's first deputy," Stonepelt explained gruffly, his eyes on the horizon. The dark clouds were building, but so far not a drop of rain had reached the ground.
"I'll say," Icefang agreed wholeheartedly, shaking her head. "He was like a bad-tempered fox back there."
Stonepelt glanced sideways at her. His expression was skeptical, as though he still blamed most of the hostility on her provocations. The white she-cat snorted under her breath.
"Yes, well, as far as I know, there's also general agreement in WindClan that Swiftfoot would have been a better choice for deputy. However, by some random chance, he had not yet had an apprentice, and Guststar was forced to take on the second choice – Russetstripe.
"It was once a source of contention between the two warriors, but after time they have learned to work together almost as one unit. It's an interesting relationship, but as a matter of fact, it's as though Guststar has the perfect deputy, it just happens to be in the form of two cats instead of one." He finished with a brief smile, perhaps thinking of Brightpool.
Icefang watched his face, her eyes wide. Completely against the warrior code, she thought, but it works nonetheless. Then she too thought of Brightpool. It'd be nice if we had another warrior to balance her out, Icefang thought derisively. But then it occurred to Icefang that it probably wouldn't be herself, considering how much she disliked Brightpool, so she tossed the notion away with a twitch of her whiskers and turned her mind to other things.
A sudden burst of cold exploded on her nose. Icefang let out a muffled squeak of surprise, leaping into the air.
"Icefang?" Both Stonepelt and Cinderstar paused to turn around and stare at her in surprise.
The white warrior's pelt grew hot with embarrassment. "Rain," she mewed by way of explanation, swiping a paw over her nose to erase the flash of cold.
Stonepelt frowned, but then he too flinched and glanced up the sky. Moments later, a monstrous clap of thunder seemed to shake the very earth itself, and water poured forth from the sky in a silver torrent. Within seconds, Icefang was drenched and cold to the bone, water dripping form her whiskers in a steady stream.
"Well that was sudden!" Stonepelt shouted over the sound of the downpour, fighting pawstep by pawstep towards the shadow on the horizon that marked Highstones.
Icefang didn't respond, saving her energy for every bit of warmth.
When they reached the Thunderpath, Cinderstar let out a whimper of despair. The black stone was slick with a sheet of water that rippled and frothed like the surface of the river. They crouched in a muddy ditch by the side of the road, surveying the path with caution.
A shiny white monster hurdled past, sending a giant spray of brown water into the air. Luckily, it missed the cats by a few close inches. After that, the road was clear. Icefang decided to take the initiative and cross first, since it didn't look either of the toms were going to go any time soon. Glancing one way and then the other, Icefang dug in her heels and sprinted across the Thunderpath, her paws splashing in the layer of water. The storm masked any scents or sounds that would alert her of an approaching monster, but she kept her eyes focused on the hedge on the other side.
For a moment she thought she heard the familiar roar of a monster, and her heart began to thud, wondering if it would hit her and what it would feel like, but then her paws crunched on gravel, and the roar faded away – it was only another thunderclap.
She was joined moments later by Stonepelt and Cinderstar, who was shivering violently. Stonepelt looked worried, and immediately began walking without a word, taking the lead. Cinderstar followed silently, his head hanging, his whiskers drooping. Icefang watched as his thin body was wracked by convulsions, and felt a spasm of fear. What if they caught a cold out here? Then they would be infinitely more susceptible to the whitecough that was going around camp. She shuddered, thinking about Sparrowpaw's ominous words and the lack of catmint.
By the time they reached Highstones the storm had begun to subside, the rain slacking off until it was a steady drizzle instead of an all out flood. The icy wind died down and the warriors slowed their pace, relaxing with the weather.
The jagged geography of Highstones loomed before them – fingers of rock poking into the sky at every odd angle like the broken claws of a rearing badger. Icefang shuddered, the permeating silence making her uneasy. Nothing moved in the dark crevices, and only stale breezes managed to squeeze into the sheltered paths. No cat said a word, each absorbed in their own thoughts.
Once they reached Mothermouth, a gaping hole at the base of a slab of rock, the patrol paused. Though all three of them had eaten some traveling herbs before setting out that morning, Icefang's stomach was churning with hunger. However, she didn't dare voice her discomfort to Cinderstar, who'd barely spoken a single word since the encounter with WindClan. His mind was obviously focused intently on other things.
The warriors paused outside the cave, watching their leader curiously. Stonepelt had made the journey to the Moonstone before, but Cinderstar sometimes asked different things of him depending on what he wanted to hear from his ancestors. Over the horizon, the sun could barely be seen glinting through the clouds, resting lightly on the stones. It was nearly sundown.
"Wait here," Cinderstar ordered curtly, nodding to Stonepelt and then Icefang. With that, he turned and descended into the darkness of the cave. Icefang stared after him.
"That's it?" she growled angrily, dropping to her haunches with dismayed sigh. "We walk all this way just to wait while he speaks with StarClan? That hardly seems fair."
Stonepelt settled down in a dry patch of grass sprouting between two boulders. "It doesn't matter if it's fair," he meowed wearily, resting his nose on his paws and watching as the white she-cat frowned and lashed her tail. "It's Cinderstar's decision. It's not a warrior's place to exchange words with StarClan at a whim. Now get some sleep – he'll be a while."
Icefang didn't lie down. Frankly, she was no longer tired. The prospect of being so near the fabled glowing stone made her jittery and nervous – too nervous to sleep. Besides, she was hungry, and her growling stomach would keep her awake if nothing else.
Soon enough, Stonepelt's snores began to echo through the night air, ricocheting off the rock walls around them. Icefang watched his flanks rise and fall rhythmically, her eyes sharp in the gathering dark. No sounds came from the cave, where Cinderstar had disappeared.
Suddenly, Icefang jumped to her feet, her mind made up. She was hungry – what harm could it do to grab a snack out here in the freezing wilderness? After all, StarClan couldn't deny a cat's right to feeling strong and comfortable whenever possible. After checking once more to make sure that Stonepelt was sound asleep, Icefang set off into a narrow crevice of rock that struck out to the left of the Mothermouth. Her pawsteps made no sound on the cold rock as she wound her way through the dusky shadows, her whiskers guiding her more than her eyes.
The first prey-sound Icefang heard was just a small lizard scuttling in the pebbles, and it wasn't worth the effort of chasing. But after a few more moments of poking in small nooks between the stones, she nosed the trail of a mouse which had passed by not seconds before. Icefang stared into the gloom of the path before her, trying to catch a glimpse of the small creature. She was lucky – it had stopped for the same reason, trying to locate its follower with a twitch of its whiskered muzzle. Icefang dropped low to her haunches, her tail waving over her head. As silent as the small rodent itself, the warrior crept forward until she was almost on top of the mouse, and then sprang. It noticed her just a few seconds too late, and Icefang was able to catch the creature by its tail.
Since no one watching, Icefang tossed the mouse into the air a few times, teasing it by stepping back and watching it attempt to escape before bounding forward and snatching it up again. She knew she would have gotten a scolding from one of the senior warriors if they'd seen her playing with her good in such a way, but there was no out here in the darkness to reprimand her. Once her boredom had been sated, the she-cat huddled in a secluded corner of stones to devour the prey.
While the moon was beginning to appear, Icefang buried the mouse carcass under some gravel and picked her way back to the cave opening. Stonepelt was still asleep, sprawled in his makeshift nest of prickly grass. The food had livened Icefang up even more – her eyes were no longer heavy and her paws had a spring to them. Her eyes searched eagerly for something else to do. They lighted warily on the dark hole of the Mothermouth and paused, speculating. Then, with a glint-toothed grin, Icefang took a step forward. She hesitated. But no, it wouldn't matter. No one would know. Not even StarClan. Gleefully, Icefang padded to the mouth of the cave, and with a deep breath, crossed the threshold and entered the shadows.
For many tail-lengths there was nothing but a suffocating blackness. With the help of her whiskers Icefang could navigate fairly well, but that didn't mean the feeling wasn't a little uncomfortable. She thought of the thousands of tons of stone above her head and shuddered – what a way to go. But then she could make out a light glimmering at the end of the tunnel, and she picked up her pace.
The Moonstone was unlike anything Icefang had ever seen. The wide, smooth slab of stone glowed like the river in the moonlight, throwing brilliant, shimmering reflections on the ceiling and splinters of light like crystal shards jutting into the dusty air. The narrow shaft of moonlight filtering from the hole in the ceiling was a magnificent shade of pearly blue-white, exactly the color that Icefang's eyes shone when they caught the moonlight just right. She smiled in delight, prancing in circles around the stone.
But the moment couldn't last. After one or two victory laps around the Moonstone, a rustle made Icefang freeze. First, she glanced fearfully at the entrance to the cave – but no imposing gray figure was glaring at her with disapproval. Next she turned to Cinderstar. His nose twitched again, and then his paws. With a sigh of relief, Icefang back away from the Moonstone. He was waking up, but he hadn't noticed her yet. As long as Stonepelt was still asleep, she would never be found out. With another brief smile, the white she-cat turned and sprinted back up the black tunnel. Behind her, the scrape of fur on stone told her that Cinderstar's dreams had ended.
Outside the cave, the moon had risen higher in the sky, and the storm was beginning to move away. Icefang sent a silent prayer of thanks to StarClan that they wouldn't have to travel home in the same awful weather that they had come through.
Luckily, Stonepelt was still sound asleep, right where she had left him. As an extra precaution, Icefang slid into the grass patch beside him and rolled over a few times, smothering any last fresh-kill smells that might betray her midnight escapade. Then, with lighthearted ease, she settled down on top of a boulder opposite Stonepelt, tucking her nose under the tip of her tail and closing her eyes. She calmed her breathing until it matched Stonepelt's regular snuffles.
"Icefang, Stonepelt, I have finished my communications with StarClan," came a rasping voice, along with a wave of scent that belonged to ThunderClan and more specifically, Cinderstar.
Icefang raised her head and pretended to smother a giant yawn, rising to her feet and stretching long and slow. She gave her pelt a quick wash, checking just once more for mouse scents, and, finding nothing that could give her away, jumped down from the boulder and padded to Cinderstar's side.
"Good evening…or is it morning?" she laughed good-naturedly and nodded respectfully to Cinderstar. While Stonepelt awoke and stretched himself, she looked over Cinderstar's appearance. His pelt was disheveled, his eyes bloodstained and red-rimmed, his tail drooping and his whiskers frazzled. Over all, the tom looked more like he'd experienced a terrible nightmare than a reassuring dream with his gentle warrior ancestors. Icefang's eyes narrowed. She yearned to ask exactly what had gone on between Cinderstar and the cats of StarClan, but she knew it was forbidden, and for the moment she needed to avoid anything that might draw suspicion to herself.
"Are we ready to leave?" Stonepelt mewed, glancing between Cinderstar and Icefang, his eyes bright with energy.
"Yes, I think so. Icefang?" Cinderstar inquired, his voice gravelly.
Icefang nodded, twitching her tail, and allowed Stonepelt to take the lead as they traveled away from the Mothermouth.
At one point, as they slinked through a narrow spaced between two walls of rock, Cinderstar stumbled and cried out, careening into Icefang's side. She swallowed an indignant hiss and helped him to his feet, then bent to examine his paw. There was no blood, but the she-cat could see where he'd tripped and twisted the foot, because the skin of his pads was scratched on one side.
"It's probably sprained," she mewed, trying to act far more knowledgeable than she really was about medicine. As far as she knew, he could have shattered his foreleg or just scraped the skin, but the prognosis sounded professional, and she doubted either of the toms would doubt her confidence.
"I hope you can walk on it," Stonepelt meowed.
"I hope it's not worse than it looks," growled Cinderstar. Suddenly, his sky-colored eyes flashed to Icefang's face and stopped there, staring straight into her own azure gaze. Then he looked away, straightened up, and continued walking as though nothing unusual had happened, though now he was slowed by a slight limp.
For a moment, Icefang was struck with a fiery stab of fear: what if StarClan had warned Cinderstar of her treachery? What if even now he was making plans to expose her in front of the Clan? Exile her, even? Icefang flashed a panicked glance at him. Immediately she realized that her fears were groundless. Cinderstar looked exhausted, and even if StarClan had hinted at a traitor in ThunderClan during their communications, he would never accuse Icefang. Not perfect, loyal Icefang. With a sharp-toothed grin, Icefang leaned sideways and hitched her shoulder against Cinderstar's, taking the weight off his injured paw. The gray tom gave a muted purr of thanks and turned to blink serenely at her, any hostility that she might have seen in his eyes gone. No, she thought cheerfully, no one will ever know. Not even StarClan knows what I've done, and she cast a satisfied glance up at the night sky, dotted with tiny pinpricks of light like flecks of snow on a dark stone.