Tonight was the darkest night I could remember. Inky black seeped in the den from all angles. I shivered trying to get comfortable, but there was no warmth from above left. Blinking open my eyes and squinting I see a faint outline of a cat calmly standing in the opening of the den.
"Mistpaw is that you?" I meow groggily.
"Of course not. Go to sleep, young one." A voice meowed gruffly. He sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe I could recognize it if I wasn't so worn out from the long day.
"Aww... Please let her come, Gleambone." Mistpaw whispered her amber eyes same as mine boring into me as she swatted her pure white paws against his shoulder. "She's my sister. I trust her. She's not gossipy like our other sister Featherpaw."
"Fine. Come quick. Tonight's meeting is very important." Gleambone relented and I quickly followed him out of the apprentice den. Leaving Featherpaw and Snowpaw alone in the den. Leafpaw was sleeping in the medicine cat den tonight, occasionally she would sleep with us.
"Where are we headed?" I meowed quietly to my sister. "Oh we are just going to the Crystal Caves. Young Gleambone discovered this place." She replied. I nodded. The crystal caves were a legend all the new apprentices were told about. I had no idea it was a real place. Legend says that when Firestar died this cave appeared. The moon lit this cave up completely every full moon. It was said this is where the left behind went to communicate with Firestar, but had become lost over time. Apparently this cave had only recently been discovered again. Well, not all that recent. Gleambone was kind of ancient now.
I shivered as I walked out the back entrance to camp and tripped over my paws. I quickly get up, glad that I hadn't sprained anything. The gate was suspiciously unguarded, which was a first. Normally there was at least one warrior posted here each night. Sometimes two. Oops. Nevermind. Jaggedstream was asleep a few tail lengths from the entrance. His dark brown fur rising and falling. Something wasn't right. Elders weren't normally guards since they fell asleep much more often. I shake my head in disbelief and keep my eyes focused forward. I was desperately trying to keep up with Gleambone without tripping over my paws again. I wasn't sure I would be so lucky the next time. There it was on the edge of our territory. Really the border between our territory and ThornClan.
The moon illuminated the cave we were in. It was the night before the full moon. So we couldn't meet again for some time according to Gleambone who had been going here for many moons. I guess he saw mine and my sister's eagerness to learn even if we couldn't always understand the things happening around us. I was grateful for all his help.
"Just in time, BeachClan. We were about to begin." A silvery she cat with one amber eye and one green eye meowed. Her eyes narrowed when she saw me. "I don't appreciate uninvited guests. Can you tell us who you brought?" She demanded sharply.
"Silverleaf, this is Icepaw. Mistpaw's other sister. She was the one who actually witnessed the event yesterday." Gleambone told her words cutting like a knife in the silent air. I recognized her as the MarshClan's deputy. Silverleaf bows her head respectfully. Hmm. Strange. I guess Gleambone was the one in charge here. That made sense why everyone was waiting, probably lost without him. Silverleaf beckoned me to come towards her. "Okay, we have a very important guest here. This is Icepaw, she's Mistpaw's sister."
I nervously step onto the rock in the center of the cave that Silverleaf just stepped off and beckoned me closer. "Yesterday I witnessed Rivermoon, Lavakit, Birdkit, and Sunkit all dissapear in a flash of light." I shivered. It was so eerie witnessing that. I couldn't fathom anyone else having to see that. I quickly step off the rock, giving room for a new speaker.
"I saw Mossclaw and Acornpelt dissapear like that." An orange tabby tom replied gruffly. "Yewblood and Berryshade." A black she cat with white spots called out. "Aspeneagle, Sparrowpaw, and Waterkit." A smaller tortoiseshell she cat meowed.
"The point is almost all of us saw someone disappear except for BeachClan. A third of MarshClan, ThornClan, and OakClan are gone. All kits are gone. We are still here and things will continue to get much much darker until the light returns." Gleambone spoke. "Glitterstar doesn't teach anyone about StarClan and it's never mentioned when we gather at the full moon. We need to return to that. StarClan will return some day to welcome us into an era of endless hunting here. For now we need to spread the word about StarClan, how we get there and our favorite memories we have of the cats who disappeared."
"Can we trust her? I know a lot of us who used to be at these meetings went to StarClan yesterday is it really a good idea to start accepting new members." A black cat with dark green eyes in the back murmured getting a few nods from those closest to him.
"Don't be daft, Crowtongue. That is Mistpaw's sister we are talking about. Plus, the more we have sharing good news the better. We need all the help we can get in this dark time." A flaming orange she cat with a white ear, black tail and blue eyes shot back.
"I've heard horror stories about her sister, Sunsetpool. Can you blame me for being a tad bit concerned." Crowtongue shot back challengingly.
"Oh please, Crowtongue. Give her a chance. Just a few moons ago you thought it was evil StarClan's fault you didn't have a mate yet." Thistlethorn a gray and amber tom with silver eyes meowed from next to Honeyeyes. She was a small cream she cat with amber eyes and golden flecks in them.
"Well I'm not so desperate I have to go to another Clan for it." Crowtongue spat angrily. I glanced at my sister and she was shifting her paws nervously. I couldn't blame her this exchange was getting a little heated.
"Enough Crowtongue. Icepaw hasn't done anything that would require the final solution." Gleambone savagely told Crowtongue who seemed taken aback by his defense of me.
"What happens to someone who breaks code here?" I ask timidly. This seemed a bit cult like, so I wasn't really sure what happened to traitors. Did they get banished from the clans and forced to become rogue or something far worse?
"A one way flight into the dirt." Crowtongue replied darkly. "I could help you join them." He was smirking. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not which scared me.
"Who knows if they made it into StarClan." Silverleaf said sadly. "We've had to do that more than enough times already. Meltfoot was one of them." She continued. I shuddered. Meltfoot was found eyes gorged out. Extremely brutal way to go.
"The gathering is tomorrow, so we will meet next moon. Night after the gathering. If you can make it or are willing to risk being punished to be here. If you are hungry we have food at the front of the cave. Thanks to Ravenglow and Saltflower."
I make my way over to the entrance of the cave. I was starving or rather just really needed food if I was going to be able to make it back to camp in one piece. "Icepaw you came. I was hoping Mistpaw would get you to come one day." Bumblebreeze replied happily. "Let's share this vole together. There's so much to talk about."
"Haha. Yes she did, Gleambone came around surprisingly." I told him in between bites of vole. So happy to finally have some alone time with him. It was the first in a long while. We used to talk for hours in the apprentice den before he became a warrior several moons ago. It annoyed my sisters but I didn't care, I knew they were happy for me. Plus they had their own crushes both in the clan and out, unfortunately it wasn't reciprocal for them.
"Yeah, he's kind of a pushover sometimes." He told me gazing into the distance and I pushed the vole back towards him, hoping he would eat some as well. He did. I was glad because I knew it was his favorite food.
Bumblebreeze and I talked and talked until we were exhausted and I could barely keep my eyes open. That's when he nudged me. "Icepaw are you even listening?"
"W..what?" I gasp. I was starting to doze off and his fur was so soft. I could lay here all night. Gazing up at the stars with him. Wondering which star belonged to what lost warrior.
"Come on, Icy. We have to head back to camp now. I can carry you for a bit." Bumblebreeze meowed silkily. I knew in my heart he loved me. It was a wonderful freeing feeling and I never wanted the night to end. I climbed on his back careful not to dig my claws in too deep. "This is the end. I'm on night patrol tonight so I will see you in the morning, StarClan willing." Bumblebreeze told me. "Goodbye Bumblebee," I told him. I love calling him that.
I crept into the den utterly exhausted from my conversation with Bumblebreeze. Mistpaw was already fast asleep when I entered since dawn was fast approaching. I would only have an hour or so before the den lit up.
I woke up a few hours later to sunlight streaking in. The camp was a mess. Blood streaked across the camp. It was deathly silent. Everyone was waiting for word from Glitterstar.
"Don't look, Icepaw" Mistpaw meowed trying to keep me from the horrible sight. Her head bobbing back and forth trying to block my vision. I didn't listen, I just had to know what was going on. Ducking around her I made my way to the front of the circle of cats. There was no denying it. Right in front of me Bumblebreeze was dead. Blood was pooling from a nasty gash on his neck. He had deep claw marks on his flank and tufts of fur in his claws showing that he had fought for his life. Unfortunately he was no match for whatever monster had done this.
"Who would do such a thing?" Bumblebreeze's mother Brokenfern who a brown cat with black ears and green eyes cried out.
"Jaystreak found him barely clinging to life near the camp entrance." Nightwing meowed pointing to the crestfallen gray tom with pale blue eyes. He stared down at his paws clearly uncomfortable with all the attention.
"Don't panic we might have a murderer in our midst." Glitterstar meowed flatly in a noble effort to calm the terrified clan. It failed spectacularly. It only caused more chaos.
"How can you say that about your former apprentice. His life mattered." Appleshade growled. He was a dark amber tom with cream paws, piercing blue eyes and was the father of Bumblebreeze.
"He's dead now." Glitterstar meowed darkly. "I suggest if you don't want to end up like him then stop expecting help from above. StarClan killed them all, he got himself killed trying to call those traitors for help." Glitterstar stepped down from the High Rock and a few of us stepped closer towards Bumblebreeze. I couldn't believe he was now gone, we had talked for ages before heading back separately since he was on guard duty. Instead his wounded corpse was dragged in by Jaystreak.
"I can't believe he's gone." I cry into Bumblebreeze's limp form. He was always there protecting me so to just have him lay there was heartbreaking enough. Nevermind having his parents here. I couldn't help but feel guilty, he was just carrying me on his back. Maybe it was my fault he didn't have enough energy to fight back and survive.
"It's okay, Icepaw. You should know he talked about you all the time." Appleshade and Brokenfern told to me. "You were the best part of his life."
"It hurts, being left here. Our last conversation was about how we were going to name our kits Scorpionkit, Sandkit, and Wavekit." I croaked out between ugly sobs.