Lost Hope: Book 3: Flame and Snow

Epilogue

Dandelionheart gazed out at the melting snow that laid around camp. It was a particularly sunny day and he had decided to take that opportunity to bask just outside the medicine den. Burrowpelt lay beside him, grooming out the tangled fur on his back.

It had been a couple days since the battle and EchoClan was in high spirits. The birth of Starfur's kits had brought a sense of change and he found more and more cats coming to the medicine den just to see how the kits were doing and offering Starfur encouragement. Darkmoon stood near the leader's den with his head high as he sorted out patrols. Mousesqueak and Scarletpetal sat near the nursery, playing with their adopted kits. Stonestar was with Honeyflower, still fussing over her mostly healed wounds, and Lilacpaw and Foxpaw were practicing battle moves in the center of the clearing while Aster watched them and asked questions about the techniques.

This leafbare will bring shadowing cases, coming with it, help from unexpected places. The prophecy rang in his ears as he watched the camp. It did come with shadowy cases; flamecough. And Aster certainly was help from an unexpected place. But what was the part about 'an evil spirit born to your kin, is where the danger really begins'?

Dandelionheart shook his head. That didn't matter now. He was going to enjoy the peace while he could, although he wasn't sure how long that would be.

***

Viperfang paced the dark forest, gazing at the Star Pearl's glowing surface. She couldn't get the dang thing to work. She'd pawed it, thrown it, sat in front of it for hours. Nothing

Maybe it was a different pearl, she thought. Maybe this one doesn't have magical abilities.

But she knew it was this one, she'd known it ever since she was an apprentice and Stonestar's mother gave it to him. He'd been hiding it away ever since. But now it was hers, and she couldn't get it to work. How disappointing.

She was about to just chuck the thing into a murky river when suddenly, the pearl glowed brighter than before and Viperfang looked at it curiously. Was it working now?

She tapped it with her paw, and a burst of energy surged through her along with a blinding burst of light.

Her eyes burst open and she glanced at her paws. They were solid, like real paws. The magic had worked. She was here, actually in the the real world with a real body.

And she was in a different place as well—a barn littered with hay and sleeping cats. Perfect.

She nudged one of the cats and he woke with a start, glaring at her. "What?!"

"Where's your leader?" she asked.

"What?" His eyes blinked away sleepiness.

"Your leader, you idiot," she snarled. "Where is he?"

The cat looked suddenly scared. "Uh, up there." he said, and flicked his tail toward the loft where a large brown cat was sleeping by himself.

Viperfang leaped onto the staggered ledges that led up and sauntered over to him. She didn't hesitate as she pressed her paw into his shoulder, waking him.

"What do you want?" he snapped, whirling around to meet her eyes.

"An alliance," she said. "You're the rogues that tried to take down the Clan cats, and failed. I can help you win."

"Who are you?" He looked wary.

"Viperfang," she replied. "I'm looking for a little revenge myself. So, how about it?"

The leader looked at her strangely, before smiling. "Ok, I'm Dogtooth. And I think you've got yourself a new ally."

Viperfang smirked. Oh, there will be many more to come.