Warriors: beyond the stars

6. A crusade is coming

Ghostpaw

Dark grey clouds masked the bright sky. The world looked so dark, even the shadows were washed away. The bright and colourful woods Ghostpaw had seen before was now a shadeless, soundless void. The world looked depressed; colourless and cold. The natural forest sounds that were typically drowned into the background were noticeably silenced.
The chirping birds. The scurrying squirrels. The whistling breeze. The usual, welcoming noises had fallen silent. It was almost cleansing for Ghostpaw. With all the little sounds gone, she could practically hear the footsteps of warriors from neighbouring clans on patrol.
Something was wrong. There was something unnatural about this weather. Of course, it wasn't unusual to have grey skies sometimes during newleaf. But, this was different. It was almost as if the joy and colour had been sucked out of the world.
Ghostpaw's journey to the moonstone was almost completely uneventful. She'd been thrilled to become a medicine cat, but the gloomy weather made her feel strangely depressed. Darkcloud barely talked during the journey, but she could tell he felt the same about the weather.
That night, Blackpool only woke her for a short while. He hadn't said anything, she still didn't have a good feeling about that. Perhaps the elders had the answer. She'd also been informed that Ravenshine had gone missing in the night and Waspheart had gone looking for her. Nobody had found either of them when she left, a short while after sunrise.

The subtle fog around her and Darkcloud began to grow thicker with every passing moment.
"What was it like when you became a medicine cat?" She asked, hoping that casual conversation would ease the increasingly eerie mood. She also wondered if this was a way she could get more information on Blackpool.
Darkcloud paused, recalling his memories.
"Well, it wasn't exactly ideal. It was almost the end of leaf-bare when Blackpool and I travelled to the moonstone. It took us days. This was a few days before the four-way war, and WindClan was by far the biggest threat. As you know, we have to pass them to get to the moonstone so it took us a few days to find a way to the moonstone without passing them. Blackpool had greencough at the time, which is why he urgently needed to appoint me as the medicine cat. We eventually made it to the moonstone and he...he died performing the ceremony...I came back to ThunderClan by myself. When I returned, I found out that your father had died and that you and your brother had been born. From what I was told, you were born the same sundown as his death."
Ghostpaw felt great remorse for Darkcloud, he'd gone through so much. He lost his brother, his mentor, and soon, he would lose his life. All at such a young age.
"Is there nothing we can do to prevent your death?" she asked.
"I'm afraid, I can't answer that. I've only had a handful of visions and I've followed them all through. I'm not sure if this can be prevented or if it's set in stone. But, we should hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Ghostpaw truly admired her mentor for his bravery.

She smelled WindClan nearing. They would need to pass them to get to the moonstone, which would hopefully be no problem for them. The well known scent of the WindClan deputy came closer as the two continued walking. Despite her hearing being significantly better due to the absence of background noise, her vision was much worse because of the extremely thick fog. She could barely see the trees around her.
Brackenface, WindClan's deputy, appeared in front of them. He visibly tensed, preparing to attack if necessary.
"Darkcloud, are you passing to get to the moonstone?" he asked uncomfortably.
"Yes, we are."
"Allow me to accompany you through our territory."
The gesture was kind, but it was obvious he was doing it to make sure they didn't do anything suspicious. While they walked, Ghostpaw had an itching question for the large tabby tom.
"Have you had any disappearances in your clan, Brackenface?"
"Umm, no..." he replied curiously.
"Why do you ask?" he asked, intrigued but also slightly nervous and frightened.
"The other clans have missing cats. We were just curious if you did too..." Darkcloud explained, growing visibly suspicious.
"That's alarming. I-I swear we had nothing to do with it."
Ghostpaw wanted to question him further, but since she wanted to get to the moonstone as soon as possible, she decided to let him go.
"We're sure WindClan didn't do anything. We've agreed with ShadowClan and RiverClan to keep to ourselves until the gathering, which is in a few days. We'll talk again then, and hopefully find some answers." she nodded.
The edge of WindClan territory finally came by, they bid their goodbyes and thanked Brackenface.
Once the medicine cats were alone, Ghostpaw asked "You don't think WindClan actually did something, do you?"
Darkcloud took a deep breath.
"I don't know. We can only mind our business and pray that all our questions will be answered at the gathering. Then we can finally end this and find our missing warriors."
Through the thick fog, Ghostpaw began to see the mothermouth.
Darkcloud looked over to his apprentice, before leading the way into the cave. The fog found its way into the mothermouth, almost hiding the moonstone. If it was not for the ethereal glow of the giant crystals, she would not have known where to look through the hazy grey mist.
Darkcloud sat in front of the moonstone, awaiting Ghostpaw to join him.
This was it. The moment she'd been waiting for.
Ghostpaw sat next to her black pelted mentor.