Warriors: The Dark Realm (Complete)

Chapter 7

 Bristlefrost, Snowtuft and Antpelt were silently following Rock. The ancient tom looked around from time to time and was muttering something under his breath.

 Are we even going anywhere, or are we just walking in a circle? She wasn't sure. But she didn't want to ask.

 "All right, Rock, look." Snowtuft suddenly stopped. "I'm sorry to interrupt, and I'm very grateful that you're helping us, but where exactly are we going? You're just walking around and whispering."

 Rock stopped and looked at him. "Isn't that what exploring is?"

 "Yes." Snowtuft looked irritated. "But we want to get out of here! Exploring won't do anything!"

 "And that's where you're wrong." Rock meowed. "Of course exploring will do something. If you explore, you get used to your surroundings. You find more things. I assume you three haven't explored enough, and were looking for something in particular, even though you didn't know for what exactly. A way out, maybe. But that's where you went wrong. You're supposed to explore until you're sure you discovered everything about this place, and then try to come up with a plan."

 Antpelt's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh.."

 "Yes." Rock nodded. "But I guess you're all very impatient. Let's pretend we know everything about this place. Every curve, every cat, absolutely everything." He sat down and looked at them. "What do we do now?"

 Bristlefrost fell silent. She looked at Snowtuft and Antpelt, but they were silent too.

 "Exactly." Rock got up, then looked around. "This place is full of spirits that got killed." He meowed, more for himself. "Maybe, if somehow, we could get a living cat in here.."

 Bristlefrost's eyes widened. She just came up with something. "Rock, you have the right idea! And I think I also have an idea for that."

 Rock turned around and looked at her. Snowtuft and Antpelt were watching her, curious.

 "Why don't we try to get a medicine cat here?" Bristlefrost suggested. "A living one, of course."

 "A medicine cat?" Snowtuft blinked. "How exactly would that help us?"

 "Well, medicine cats can dream with StarClan, can't they?" Bristlefrost looked at him. "And I've heard that Jayfeather got into the Dark Forest multiple times. Even Shadowsight did. If medicine cats can access both StarClan and the Dark Forest, why couldn't they access the Dark Realm?"

 Antpelt almost choked with surprise. "Bristlefrost, you're right! You're so smart!"

 Bristlefrost looked at Rock. "If you got here, do you think a living cat can, too?"

 Rock went silent for a while, then shook his head. "I'm not a living cat. It's a complicated way of how I got here, and it's too long to explain. But I'm unsure if a living cat can get here. They can dream with StarClan, yes, but only by touching the Moonstone or the Moonpool."

 "Right." Bristlefrost sat down and looked at her paws.

 "I think you're getting somewhere, Bristlefrost." Snowtuft meowed. "But the question is, how can we get a medicine cat in here? And which one?"

 "I don't know." Bristlefrost whispered, trying to think. Medicine cats can get to StarClan by touching their noses to the Moonpool.. Didn't Jayfeather simply walk in the Dark Forest while he was dreaming with StarClan, and that's how he got there? And Shadowsight..

 Bristlefrost nearly jumped. "Oh! Didn't Shadowsight and I get in the Dark Forest thanks to the Sisters? They helped us, didn't they?"

 "I think you mentioned that once." Snowtuft nodded. "What about it?"