CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Grainstar. That was his name. He was sure of it now, as sure of it as he was the ground beneath his paws. The tom had tried on others, slipping them over his skin, testing them out – he had tried to be Sleetfur, to be Antlerclaw, Chippedfang, Goldenear... but the name Grainstar fit him far better than all the rest. It was comfortable and slightly worn; it wrinkled where he wrinkled, expanded where he did, and carressed him like an old friend. The other names... they must have belonged to cats he knew, or had known, but he couldn't recall their faces no matter how hard he tried.

So he was Grainstar.

The golden tom made his way through RiverClan territory, pausing occasionally to revel in the vividness of his sense. The air was so cold, the scents so full, the colours so rich. He wondered if he would ever get used to this. His mind was waking up, thoughts beginning to quicken, but there was a part at the back of it that was still shut off. The only thing he knew was that this was RiverClan territory; it was home, and he hadn't been home for so long.

There was a storm. That was the last thing he could remember. Thunder booming above him, spikes of lightning driving through the grey skies, heavy rain pounding the ground beneath his paws, and the terrible winds that howled in his ears. The wind had been the worst, knocking down the trees, flattening everything in its path.

It was raining now, but the rain was light, a soft drizzle that stained his face and back. Once he might have minded or been uncomfortable, when he was naught but a downy golden kit huddling in the nursery, but that had been a long time ago. The tom was a RiverClan cat; his glossy pelt was made for the water.

All around him, the flat earth was covered in a hard layer of snow. Rushes poked up through the white crust, their slender heads covered by frost. A stunted maple tree rose up above him, its bare branches foreboding against the grey leafbare sky. There were no discernible landmarks, only the shine of the lake in the distance, but Grainstar knew his way around by instinct. He knew every inch of ground in the territory; could feel the difference in every pawstep. The tom was guided by his paws, and his paws knew exactly where they were going – home.

They would be glad to see him, he was sure. If only he could remember more about the others and where they had gone... Sleetfur's name pounded in his mind, followed by Antlerclaw's. Would they be back already? Maybe they would know more than he did. Maybe they would remember. A pair of vivid blue eyes flashed in his mind, terrified and frantic. Then they were gone and Grainstar's thoughts were empty once more.

His stomach rumbled with hunger, but he didn't stop to hunt. He didn't have the time. He could eat later, once everything was sorted out. There was a desperate need to return pounding in his head. Part of his body felt rent, torn by loss. Why? Grainstar wondered, wishing he could explain why he felt this way.

There was a rustling in the bushes behind him and the snapping of a twig. Grainstar stopped, immediately alert. It must have been a RiverClan cat, the salty scent floating towards him was proof of that, but he didn't understand why they didn't just identify themselves. They had nothing to be frightened of – he was their leader, for StarClan's sake!

"Dismal day, isn't it?" he remarked loudly, staying as calm as possible. What was going on?

"A great day for trespassing, it seems," mewed another voice, cold and flat.

Grainstar turned to see a tom padding out of the bushes behind him. The newcomer was well-built and muscular, with a sleek pale tabby pelt. He was handsome, to be sure, but there was a frigidness to his eyes that bothered the golden tom. "Hello," he mewed.

The pale tabby narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

Confusion was blossoming within Grainstar's mind, but he kept it confined, making sure his face was as neutral as possible. Hiding emotions was something you learned when you spent moons as leader. "Grainstar of RiverClan."

The tabby looked like he had been struck. "What?" he managed to spit out, disbelief filling his pale amber eyes. "You think I would really believe that?"

Grainstar paused. "Why not?" he asked carefully.

"Why not?" repeated the tom mockingly. "You really want to know why not?" His voice was scathing.

Still keeping his cool, Grainstar nodded.

The RiverClan warrior flattened his ears. "Because Toadstar is our leader, and I'm his deputy. Reedthroat. I don't know what you think you're up to, but this isn't the time for games. You'll find we aren't very patient right about now."

Now it was Grainstar's turn to react as though he had been hit. The breath felt like it had been knocked from his lungs. Desperately, he searched for words. "No," was all he could say. "I don't understand. Who... who's leader of ThunderClan? ShadowClan? WindClan?"

"Slatestar. Eaglestar. Willowstar," said Reedthroat, listing them curtly. "Now, answer the question – who are you really?"

This didn't make any sense. Those weren't the proper leaders. Mountainstar led WindClan, ruling it with an harsh paw. Grainstar could remember him standing against the blazing sunset, long brown fur whipping in the wind. Then there was Talonstar of ShadowClan, the skinny grey tabby whose mind and intelligence had been worth three times any other cat's. And – his heart lurched at her name, spinning out of control for a brief moment – Spiderstar of ThunderClan. The calico she-cat had held her own against the toms, even besting them multiple times, he remembered with slight amusement.

"What about Rowanfur?" Grainstar said at last, remembering the young deputy he had left behind to take care of his Clan. She had only been eighteen moons, but her eyes had sparkled so brightly, so confidently... the tom had had nothing but confidence in her.

This set Reedthroat aback. "Rowan...star?" he asked quietly.

Grainstar nodded, glad he had gained some ground. "My deputy. Brown fur, long-legged, stern but fair."

"Your... deputy," repeated Reedthroat, with some difficulty. He narrowed his eyes. "Rowanstar was my leader."

Was. That word hit home. Grainstar felt his stomach clench with pain. This was starting to make sense. They must have assumed he was gone, lost for good, and named Rowanfur as leader. But something had happened. She hadn't lasted long. Maybe it was his fault, for choosing her so young. "You said was. What happened to her? I can't believe it..."

"It was old age that stole her last life," said Reedthroat quietly. "Nothing more."

"Old age..." Grainstar trailed off. She had been eighteen moons when he had left, setting off on his mission with Sleetfur and the others. Now she had died of old age. His earlier question struck him again, this time in full force. How long was I asleep?

Something seemed to have occurred to Reedthroat. The RiverClan deputy looked as though he was doing his best to force the thought done, but it came bubbling up nevertheless. "You said your name was Grainstar. The Grainstar? The one who went to the Twolegplace and never came back?"

Hope stirred in Grainstar's heart. "You've heard of me."

"In stories told by the elders," Reedthroat admitted grudgingly. "But you were the leader before Rowanstar. How are you still alive?"

The flax-coloured tom's mouth went dry. He looked down, suddenly feeling small. "I don't know," he mewed at last, wondering if the tabby would believe him. "I remember a storm and then waking up here. That's it."

And I remember Spiderstar. He didn't say that part, but the more he thought about her, the more she appeared inside his head. The tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat had never failed to bring a smile to his face at Gatherings, casting him a short glance from across the island, her eyes glinting mischievously. ThunderClan had prospered under her. In fact, all the Clans had lived in prosperity at that time. Then Mistkit had gone missing...

"You should come back to camp with me," said Reedthroat authoritatively. The cold mask was back over his eyes now, the unsureness completely vanished. His next word was pointed. "Please."

"Fine," mewed Grainstar. He obliged, following the pale tabby as they turned and walk toward camp. He was still trying to wrap his head around what was going on. He had come back to RiverClan, yet it seemed that he was many, many moons in the future.

As they padded through the brush, though, there were only two things present on his wandering mind: two pairs of eyes, one a scared blue, the other a sparkling amber.

x x x

It happened almost too fast for Kitetail to process. One moment, the cats of ThunderClan were milling around in the camp clearing, sharing tongues and eating prey, and the next, there was a newcomer at the top of the slope. This new cat was well-built, rather handsome, with creamy fur and broad shoulders. He stood with confidence, not fazed at all by the number of warriors sitting below. The rank smell of smoke rolled off his pelt.

Nettleclaw reacted first, leaping to his paws. "Who are you?" he demanded, obviously on edge. It wasn't everyday that new cats just appeared in ThunderClan camp. Somehow, this rogue had managed to avoid the patrols.

"Flynn," said the cream-coloured tom cheerfully, moving toward them. His tone was airy enough, but he carried himself confidently, body postured almost threateningly. "And you?"

The deputy hesitated, unsure how to react. Anger sparked in his eyes, but he held himself firm. Unfortunately, Beechclaw, sitting to his left, didn't have the same restraint. The light brown tabby threw himself at the newcomer, bowling Flynn over. They rolled down into the clearing, hissing and yowling. Beechclaw had his teeth firmly dug into Flynn's shoulder, but the cream tom was stronger. He flipped them both over and tore himself away, placing one paw down hard on Beechclaw's throat. The ThunderClan warrior tried to spit up, but only made an awful choking noise.

Then Grasscloud was there with a hard swipe to Flynn's muzzle. The cream-furred tom recoiled and Grasscloud continued, striking his face as he moved back. Beechclaw got back up on his paws and joined her. Together, the two of them backed Flynn against one of the quarry's looming walls. When his back was pressed against the stone, they paused.

"Now what?" challenged Beechclaw. The tom's voice was taunting; he had clearly pushed his earlier humiliation aside.

Flynn smirked. Kitetail, who was watched the scene with wide eyes, found himself frustrated by the tom's easy arrogance. He would have loved to wipe the smirk off Flynn's face. The tabby found himself imagining Falconswoop in the rogue's place, with his terrible grin, and shuddered.

The rogue just shrugged. "You don't want to hurt me; trust me on that."

"He's right, you know," called a new voice. Kitetail looked up to see a grey-blue she-cat at the top of the slope, gazing down at them humourlessly. As they watched in stunned silence, she bounded down to join Flynn. "Hurting him would only make things a hundred times worse for all of you. I'm Anya, by the way."

Beechclaw spat on the ground by Flynn's feet. Disgust flashed across the cream tom's face, but he made no move to react. "Give me one good reason not to mess up your pretty face," the ThunderClan tom snarled.

"I'll give you more than one." This voice was quieter than all the others, yet it carried a confidence and solemnity that drew the attention of clearing. Alder stepped forward from the shadows, his face grave. Behind him stood Beck, ears flat and neck fur bristling. Of Chantelle, there was no sign.

Kitetail looked at the loners in confusion. The rest of ThunderClan seemed to share his lack of understanding, for they had fallen completely silent, watching as Alder padded toward the rogues. Something lurched deep in Kitetail's stomach, some feeling of betrayal, of disgust.

"Ah, Alder!" crowed Flynn. "I was wondering when you would show your face."

"You know him?" Slatestar had emerged from his den, drawn by all the noise. The grey tabby swung his massive head back and forth, taking it both Alder and Flynn with a sharp gaze. His voice was cool, and there was a threatening tone to it, a frigid warning that set Kitetail on edge. This was Slatestar as he was meant to be, ThunderClan's leader, with all the authority of StarClan itself. Even Flynn seemed to hesitate upon seeing the large tom.

"Oh, has Alder neglected to tell you about us?" asked Flynn, leaping on the weakness like a vulture to a corpse. Something glinted in his dark eyes. "I wonder why that is."

"Flynn," said Alder softly.

Slatestar took a step forward. "What's going on?" he asked, voice low and threatening.

"Here's the thing," mewed Flynn, casually licking his chest to straighten the ruffled fur, "Alder here is wanted. Badly. He needs to answer to our leader, Baron. So why don't you let him come with us now, nice and easy, and you'll never have to see my pretty face again."

"And what is Alder wanted for?" said Slatestar calmly. His gaze, trained on Flynn, flickered over to Alder for a brief moment. Kitetail wondered what was going through his leader's mind. Even he had trouble understanding this. There were cats who were after Alder, dangerous cats. Why?

"It's complicated," said Anya. Though her voice was cheerful, the she-cat was tense, the fur on her neck bristling.

"It's not complicated at all," said Alder, padding up to Slatestar's side. "These cats belong to a group of city cats run by Baron. He took charge after he killed my father. Now he wants me out of the picture as well. If you give me up, he'll kill me."

Flynn laughed, loud and mocking. "Alder! You didn't tell them this before? You put this whole Clan in danger and you honestly think that they'll keep you? Why don't you just show me your throat now and dispense with all this trouble."

"Actually," said Slatestar, deep timbre echoing off the quarry walls, "we will be keeping Alder and his companions. So run back to your leader and tell him he'll have to go back to the Twolegplace without his prize."

Flynn spat on the ground angrily. "Have it your way – for now. I'm giving you three days, Slatestar. If Alder doesn't show up at our camp on the hills in three days, we'll show up right here and take him from you by force."

Slatestar flattened his ears. "We'll be waiting."

The two toms stared at each other, sparks of hostility jumping between them. Eventually Flynn turned and left, followed by Anya. They strode out of camp and into the woods without looking back.

The ThunderClan leader turned to Nettleclaw. "Take Grasscloud and make sure that they leave." Then Slatestar padded away, as if to return to his den.

Alder stopped him before he could pass through the moss curtain. "Why did you say you would protect me?" he asked softly. Kitetail could hear the hint of disbelief in his voice.

Slatestar froze. He answered with his eyes firmly fixed on the ground, refusing to give Alder the courtesy of his glance. "ThunderClan is a Clan of honour. We do not negotiate with cats like that. We must stay strong." With that, he pushed through the moss, leaving the clearing in stony silence.

Alder looked dumbfounded, a mix of emotions playing over his usually neutral face. There was relief, knowing he would be protected, and yet Kitetail could tell that there was indignation at the way Slatestar had treated him. The brown tabby understood his leader's anger – Alder had put him in an impossible situation.

It was only once the others began to return to sharing tongues that Kitetail realize his leader had never introduced himself. How had the cream rogue known his name?

x x x

Kitetail waited until dusk to find Alder. The brown tom had gone out for a hunt, and the medicine cat had slipped out after him, intent on a private conversation. There was anger burning through him, anger at the situation that the loners had put his Clan – and leader – in. He wanted to get to the bottom of this and just make Alder understand what he had done. The unjust nature of it all was boiling his blood.

He caught up to Alder as the tabby loner was burying his mouse. The tom looked up as Kitetail approached, eyes wide in surprise. "How can I help you?" he mewed, mask sliding back over his face, voice growing cooler with each syllable.

"I want to talk," said Kitetail icily. "About what happened."

Alder scoffed. "You're the first one who's had the courage to come up to me."

I'm not courageous. Kitetail narrowed his eyes, ignoring the tom's words. "Tell me if I'm wrong: you were running away from Baron, who wanted to kill you, and so you sought shelter here."

"Yes," said Alder calmly.

"But you knew he was following you."

Alder paused. Then: "Yes."

"And that he would stop at nothing to kill you."

Another pause. "Yes."

"You knew this was going to happen and you didn't tell us?" Kitetail was yelling now, voice filled with frantic desperation, but he couldn't care less. They had all trusted the loners, all let them in, and now it turns out these cats were returning the favour by bringing danger down upon them.

"We'll go," said Alder calmly. He flicked his tail, gesturing off into the trees. "We'll run. Leave. Whatever you want. I didn't expect them to follow us this far."

"This isn't about what you expected!" snapped Kitetail. A small part of him was surprised the whole forest couldn't hear him. "This is about what's happening! We took you and in and now you're our responsibility. We can't just give you up or let you go! We have to fight for you – it's about honour, and you took advantage of that."

"I'm sorry," Alder told him evenly.

The blatancy of the lie, and the blase nature with which Alder told it, infuriated Kitetail. Blood rushed, steaming, through his veins. He felt like he was about to burst at the anger and injustice of it all. "No you're not! Don't even pretend that you're sorry! You knew this might happen and you didn't care! Do you understand the danger that you've put our Clan in? Was it worth it?"

"Kitetail," began Alder, and this time, there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice. Kitetail could tell that the brown loner wasn't used to being yelled at. The thought gave him a heady sense of power, though the rush of victory was mixed with a torrent of guilt.

"No," Kitetail cut him off. "I want you to tell me right now – do you consider your life more important than every one of ours?"

"It's not about that," said Alder, trying to deflect the question. He was pleading, Kitetail realized, obviously uncomfortable with being attacked like this. For the diplomat that he claimed to be, Alder was not experienced with dealing with diversity. It made sense – if he had been an important cat, if that was the reason Baron wanted him, then perhaps no one had ever told him no before.

"Every single cat in ThunderClan is going to risk their lives to protect you, even though it's the last thing they want. That's what loyalty is – they trust in Slatestar and they listen to him. I would be surprised if you had even an ounce of that same loyalty in your bones! You're worth nothing, Alder. You're worth nothing and yet we still can't give you up. I hope you're happy!"

"Kitetail!" Alder's voice cracked and the note carried, pleading, through the trees. But Kitetail didn't care. He turned, and with an angry sweep of his tail, began to stalk through the forest. He needed to get back to ThunderClan and prepare his herbs for the battle.

XX XX XX XX

A/N: Hey guys...well...it's been awhile. A long while. I've actually had this written for months, which is the absolutely embarrassing part. It is NaNoWriMo right now, so I won't be updating again until December. I have exams starting on the 3rd, but I think I'll get some writing time in somehow. I get home on the 14th (day after my birthday!) and should have tons of writing time. I will need to reread the story before I can continue it, and my writing might be absolutely terrible, but I will do my best!

I did promise to finish, after all.

I will admit, I'm hopelessly in love with Grainstar at the moment. Poor guy doesn't know what's going on, only that things aren't as they should be. Also, I hate to fall prey to all the forbidden love stereotypes, so I promise to handle his romantic attachments with maturity and care!

As for Kitetail, well, he's a little freaked out at the moment. Lost his cool at Alder, which is definitely unusual for him. He's usually so quiet and reserved, but if there's one thing he hates, it's injustice. It's what drove him absolutely crazy when Falconswoop would pick on him. He hates being taken advantage of, and he won't let Alder do the same thing and get away with it.

I want to say how much I love you guys. What you're doing in inspiring me is beyond words. I couldn't have done any of this without every single one of you.

I will keep review replies short so I can upload this even faster!

Juniper1919: I'm a little sad to admit I've never really sat down to read me some Prin Pardus :( One day, I'll make time for that. I'm really glad you enjoyed the previous chapter, and I hope you're reading this now :)

Ranger of the Forest: Thanks for the review :) Yeah, Elmheart and Chantelle... they're not exactly set up to succeed.

KittyKat8888: Elmy has feelings all over the place haha, poor guy. Thanks for the review - I'm glad you're intrigued by Grainstar!

Fawndapple1359: Thank you so much!

zestia240: Thanks! Yeah, I tried to expand on the Dark Forest - there's so many possibilities with it. Trust me when I say that Shredtail definitely has more layers to him, haha. And gosh, I'm not why everyone loves Kitetail so much. Don't get me wrong, I love him too - it's good to know I'm doing something right.

Justsmile77: Yeah, Alder needed the wake-up call, haha. Thanks for the great review :)

Coqui's Song: I'm glad you like Russet - I love him too. I shouldn't, he's such a bad guy right now haha, but I can't help it. Thanks for starting to review again - sorry I didn't post more chapters for ya!

Dragongabi: Thanks for the wonderful review :) I hated breaking poor Elmy's heart, but it was the only thing to do.

Frostfeather: Thanks for that last review - without it, I probably wouldn't have had the inspiration to update again. You're a really dedicated fan and words cannot express how grateful I am.

DracoBlitzen: Hehe, thanks! Always nice to know what people ship - that's probably my favourite part of the reviews.

Anonymous: Please don't kill me! She'll find someone at some point haha.

Another chapter should be up in a few weeks, folks. If you're reading this now, thanks for sticking with me!

Thanks for reading and please review!

- PV :)