Darkfrost's fury

Chapter 10

A black tunnel yawned into darkness.

The tunnel sloped steadily downward, and Darkfrost silently unsheathed her claws to not let her fear-scent stretch to Redberry.
She felt her fur and whiskers brush against the extremely close walls.

She then saw Redberry's ears outlined against a faint light ahead. A heartbeat later she rounded a bend in the tunnel and the light grew stronger.
They had made it into the cave.

High above her head, a hole in the roof showed a chunk of the night sky. A shaft of moonlight shown through it, falling directly onto a rock in the center of the cavern.

About three-tail lengths high, tapering towards its top, it reflected the moonlight in its dazzling crystal as if a star had fallen to the earth.

"Well?" Darkfrost mewed, turning her head to Redberry. "What do I do know?"
Redberry's ears twitched as he mewed, "Crouch down and touch your nose to the Moonstone, you'll then speak woth StarClan."

Darkfrost let out a huff as she lay down in front of the stone, setting her head on her paws.

But as she was just about to touch the smooth surface, she felt a fierce force striking me, knocking her to the other side of the cave.
She quickly rose her head, her eyes glaring to see one of Redberry's claws unsheathed, and stained with blood.
How...dare he!

"Traitor!" she spat, unsheathing her claws.
Redberry only glared back defiantly, his words brave. "No, Darkfrost. The only traitor in here is you. I saw what you did to Redstar. I'm not letting a cat like you become leader."

She smirked, her tail lashing from side to side. "So, what are you going to do? Kill me? I doubt StarClan will allow you to join their ranks over that."
Redberry hissed, his eyes full of hostility. "If it means stopping a cat like you, so be it."

Darkfrost narrowed her eyes as she took one step forward. "If you don't; I won't exile you from IceClan."
Redberry's fur bristled with rage. "I'd rather die than live under your leadership!"
Darkfrost snarled, "As you wish." before launching towards the medicine cat.

Redberry snarled, lifting his front paws to wrap themself over Darkfrost's neck, forcing Darkfrost into his chest fur.
She spat out his fur, struggling as she kicked his belly with her forepaw.

She pulled herself away from him, spitting out the last of his dark ginger fur. Her eyes blazed into him, slashing over his shoulder.
She purred in triumph as he winced in pain as blood leaked from his wound.

She lunged toward him, ready to go for the killing bite before being taken by surprise as Redberry bit into her hind leg and pinned her down at the front of the Moonstone.

She struggled as he had her pinned, trying to move up but a forceful paw of his was straight over her chest, locking her down.
She spat in defiance as he raised one of his paws, his sharp claws glinting in the moonlight.

She hissed, "I'll make sure you wish you were never born! I'll kill you, I'll kill everyone you loved! Do you hear me—"

Her mew was cut short as she let out a wail of pure agony as he sliced down.

Everything then went dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Darkfrost blinked open her eyes, she wasn't at the Moonstone anymore.

She was in a half-lit clearing surrounded by gray tree trunks. She slowly got up, confused. Where is the Moonstone? Where is Redberry?
When she looked up, she widened her eyes as she saw no stars in the thick black sky above her, not even a glimpse of Silverpelt beyond the rustling leaves.
The only light she could find was coming from fleshly fungus growing on the roots of the trees, and from the slimy trunks themselves.

Panicking, she stood up, and ran through the trees, trying to find any scent.
Nothing.

"Hello?" she yowled. "Anyone?"

She stopped when she had reached a mucky puddle, she looked down on it but widened her eyes in horror as she saw her reflection.

She looked the same but her sclera was pitch-black and she had a long scar that snaked from her ear to her belly.
She touched the scar gently with her paw, uneasy to not find fur there but the scar.

She turned her head away, horrified at the realization.
I've been sent to The Place Of No Stars...

She swung her head at the black sky, tears running down. "What did I do to deserve this?! All I ever wanted was to be loved!"
She started trembling. "It's not fair..."

Her ears pricked as she heard laughter.
She swung her head left and right, curious about what could be the noise.

She walked around, only to hear the laughter becoming louder and louder. She looked up at a gray tree, figuring she could see who was laughing.
She lunged forward, digging her claws into the bark as she climbed up carefully stalked along it's branches.

When she looked down, she saw a clear mist in the distance, on the other side was a snow forest similar to IceClan's territory.
This must be the border to StarClan... she thought with hollowness in her belly.

But, when she squinted, she saw two familiar pelts.
Snowpelt and Ravenspots.

They was trotting towards the snow forest with caught prey in their jaws.
"That was an amazing catch, Snowpelt," Ravenspots purred.
Snowpelt puffed her chest. "Of course, I think Cloudwish and Redstar would enjoy this much prey!"

Darkfrost felt anger rise in her fur as she leaped down from the branch, turning her head away from the StarClan border.
I'm here to rot away in this place while they get to eat all they can and enjoy themselves?

She clawed the dirt in fury. It's unfair! All I've wanted was to be loved, but this is what I get?
She walked deeper into the dark woods, welcoming it as her home.

They want a monster?
Fine, I'm a monster.