Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Fifteen

Lilycloud

Lilycloud strode into the circle of trees where Raintail, Doveheart, and Frost were waiting. "Alright. I've seen something. Something to do with the prophecy."

Doveheart cocked her head. "What more is there to see? There's no new developments. The prophecy hasn't changed."

"No," Lilycloud agreed, "But there has been a development with one of the cats of the prophecy."

With that, her three companions fell silent. It seemed that they all were trying to process the information. Finally, Raintail spoke up.

"Who?"

Lilycloud took a deep breath, stared him right in the eye. "I think you already know."

"Goldleaf?" Frost guessed. Lilycloud nodded.

"Where is he, though?" Raintail asked, a hint of worry creeping into his tone. "I haven't seen him in sunrises. It's like he's disappeared."

Frost frowned. "Yeah, come to think of it, I haven't seen him either."

"Or me," Doveheart chimed in. "Not since we had the talk about a nest maybe three sunrises ago."

"I haven't seen him since he joined StarClan," Lilycloud admitted, thinking hard. "He can't have just disappeared. Maybe he's taking longer than we thought to adjust to StarClan. I mean, it did come as a bit of a shock."

"Maybe," Raintail meowed, but he didn't look convinced. "All the same, we should probably check his nest. He needs to hear this."

So they stood, and Lilycloud led the way out of the circle of trees. They all knew where Goldleaf's den was, but not well, so Lilycloud didn't all her mind to wander as she walked through StarClan. She didn't notice that the sky seemed darker, the trees taller.

Finally, they reached Goldleaf's nest. It was a simple bed of miss nestled between the roots of a massive willow tree. However, Goldleaf wasn't there.

"Goldleaf?" Lilycloud called, hoping that maybe he was just off hunting, or nearby.

No response.

"This can't be good," Raintail meowed. He sounded nervous; Lilycloud turned to him and remembered that Goldleaf was his son.

"No," she agreed.

"And nobody's seen him?" Doveheart inquired anxiously.

Lilycloud, Raintail, and Frost all shook their heads.

"Alright," Doveheart meowed. "We need to ask around. I-"

She was interrupted by a raspy new coming from behind the tree. "So, you've lost 'im, eh?"

"Who are you?" Lilycloud demanded, whipping around.

A skinny, elderly tom lumbered into the clearing. He didn't look healthy. His fur was patchy and he was unnaturally skinny. His eyes glistened like he was sick. As a former medicine cat, Lilycloud immediately felt the urge to help him. He had thin, black and white fur and beady, small black eyes.

"Oh, you know me!" The cat wheezed. Lilycloud looked closer, and her jaw dropped.

"Bumblenose?"

Bumblenose had been her mentor's mentor. She had some distant memories of him, but he had died when she was only two moons old.

"Oh, yes," Bumblenose cackled. "And I know where your pr'i'y little tom is, too!"

"Goldleaf?" Doveheart demanded. "Where is he?"

"In the Place of No Stars," Bumblenose whispered.

Lilycloud sucked in a sharp intake of air. "The Place of No Stars?" She repeated, willing it wasn't true. But Bumblenose didn't lie. He was famous for it. "You don't mean- not the Dark Forest?"

"Oh, yes!" Bumblenose rasped. "Kidnapped, 'e was. By Lionscar!"

"Lionscar?" Frost hissed. "But how could he get into StarClan?"

"Ohh," Bumblenose wheezed. "Ohh, yes indeed, my dear Frostkit. 'Ow did 'e get into StarClan? Well, you'll just have to go and get 'im back, won't you?"

"I-" Frost meowed furiously, "that is not my name."

"My mistake!" Bumblenose said, but he was grinning. "You'd best be off on yer quest, shou'n't ya?"

"Yes," replied Raintail. "Come, let's get ready." Hastily, he led the way back to the circle of trees, leaving a cackling Bumblenose behind them.

-=-

"Right," Raintail said. "Who knows the way to the Dark Forest?"

Lilycloud had no idea, as she'd never been there.

"I do," Doveheart spoke up, and Lilycloud remembered she had ventured there to find and heal Sunpool once. "I will lead you."

Lilycloud nodded, and let Doveheart take the lead. She led them through the forest, going through small alcoves and strange sections that Lilycloud would have never thought of. How does she know how to get here? She wondered.

As they walked, the sky gradually grew darker. Lilycloud looked at it worriedly. It was unlike StarClan to be like this; StarClan was full of light and joy and daylight. The rising moon must have been a sign that they were getting closer to the Dark Forest.

Lilycloud was still unsure of how Lionscar had managed to get into StarClan. He shouldn't have been able to pass through the boundaries without a StarClan cat allowing them entry. Was there a traitor within StarClan? Lilycloud didn't want to think like that.

Suddenly, they came to an eerie break in the trees. Right up to where they were now, the trees of rogue land had been growing denser and denser, but suddenly they all came to a stop in a perfectly straight line. The land beyond it was pure white, like warm, flat snow. The sky ended as well, cut off like a cat had chopped off the end of the earth.

On the other side, there was a tangle of dark, dense trees that almost glowed with an eerie, unearthly light. There was also white space between the trees and... it. It was a strange, luminescent, skeletal white line that ran along the direct center of the white space.

"This is it," Doveheart mewed. Her voice was strong and clear, but not exactly confident. "Come on."

And they made their way to the skeletal border.

Yay another update in TWO DAYS!!

And off they go to rescue Goldleaf. That is my interpretation of what the border between the DF and StarClan would look like. I actually learned that it was an eerie, glowing white thingie from Pure_Awesomness83's fact book, so yey.

Thoughts on Bumblenose?

Enjoy! This was written entirely on my phone and I can actually tell that it's blah blah blah words now because of the new addition, so yay!

And did you notice the FROSTKIT?? >:)

BYEE!

~✨🐱✨ Rainfeather ✨🐱✨