"Come on, you lazy banana slug!"
Starseeker was racing along a lakeshore, the stars reflected in it's pool, his claws thumping sand from behind him. He felt like he could run forever, careless. The cool wind greeted him softly, and the tall, whispering grasses parted to make way for him.
Lily was just ahead of him, laughing. Her scales were the color of when the first slivers of the sun rose from the horizon.
"Is that all you've got?" she teased again.
He blinked happily, but alarm shot through him when he opened his eyes again to find that she had disappeared, though her jubilant voice still rang in his head.
"Lily!" Starseeker called. He looked up; the stars were spinning, swirling so fast that he couldn't tell if it was night or day. Leaves blew in the wind, the once soft breeze now hissing in his ears. "Lily!" he cried again, though he couldn't even hear his own voice above the buffeting gale. "Lily, where are you?"
"Looking for your RainWing friend?"
The wind stopped. The stars were frozen in the night sky, as if nothing ever happened. He was in a rainforest hollow, plated with ferns and undergrowth. The hollow.
The hollow where everything happened. Where Moon born.
Where she was discovered.
Starseeker shuddered. He had never intended to see this place again. It haunted his nightmares, hoarded his thoughts, but the most frightening here was who was here with him.
He spun around so he was face-to-face with Morrowseer.
The hulking black NightWing was staring at him, something unreadable in his gaze. Starseeker had thought all of this was behind him, until he saw him. Wide obsidian wings, talons that could crush a rock, long, indestructible black legs that reached to the sky. A hungry dark gaze, scorching through Starseeker's scales.
Starseeker froze, his gaze creeping up to see what he was holding.
It's just a dream, it's not real...
In Morrowseer's talons was a diamond-shaped sapphire.
...right?
Starseeker's eyes widened. It can't be — can it?
"It seems," Morrowseer said, "that this was hidden in the Royal Treasury when it collapsed. He let out a hiss of annoyance. "All these years, when we had the answer just beneath our talons, we were blind to see it." He fixed his gaze back on his son.
"That's — that's a dreamvisitor," Starseeker stammered, unable to take his eyes off the lost artifact. His claws dug into the soil.
"Indeed," he said drily. "It has been quite some time."
"Whatever you think, you can't persuade me into turning myself in!" Starseeker hissed.
Morrowseer threw back his head with laughed. "Persuade you?" he scoffed. "I've come to make a deal, that's all. I know I could never pull you away from that little RainWing using words." He snorted disapprovingly.
Anger churned in the pit of his stomach, but he refused to let it out. "Why did you come to me and not Moon?" he demanded instead. "She's the one with the powers..."
"I chose you," Morrowseer said, taking a step forward, "because I know Moonwatcher would do whatever you do. You have her wrapped around your talon."
"So you want me to tell her to waltz into the NightWing camp and turn ourselves in?" he growled. "Oh, she'll totally, willingly come with me. After all, the family will be reunited again, won't it?"
To Starseeker's annoyance, Morrowseer looked amused. He hissed and raked his claws on the soil, imagining them slicing off Morrowseer's face. "This is over," he spat. "I don't want your stupid deal. Go home!"
"You haven't even heard it," Morrowseer said evenly.
Starseeker paused, letting him go on.
"Also," he said, "it's not a deal. It's a threat." The NightWing's voice came out in a snarl. "I know where you are. You can't stay in that mountain forever. You and Moonwatcher will turn yourselves in by the large oak tree outside Jade Mountain in one day, or Secretkeeper will die."
Something in Starseeker's heart gave a shudder and froze. Images of his mother's corpse flashed through his head, blood spilling out between her scales, lifeless eyes staring at nothing. "No!" he cried. "You wouldn't! She's your mate!"
"Would you like to find out?" Morrowseer raised a claw.
Starseeker stared in horror. Suddenly, his vision blacked out, and he gasped awake.
His chest burned with relief when he realized Lily curled up next to him, her breathing in a slow rise and fall of her chest. A horrible thought hit him.
How do I know Morrowseer didn't already kill her?
YOU ARE READING
Starcrossed
FanfictionStarseeker is a NightWing, but he doesn't feel like one at all. He and his mother had been hiding a terrible yet lovely secret. But now the NightWings found her. His sister has the lost powers of the NightWings, and now his tribe knows about her. No...
