Shooting Stars #2: Bloodline || Warrior Cats || Ongoing

chapter 19

Froststorm spun around, jaws slack at the sight of her sister. "Hey Skyfrost!" she mewed, trying to be casual. "What's up?"

Skyfrost gave Froststorm a pointed look. "Drop the act."

Froststorm sighed. "Okay. How much of that did you hear?"

"The part where Fernleap's captured by WaterClan."

"So pretty much all of it."

Skyfrost ignored her sister's words, pelt twitching. "I knew there was something off about you," she mewed, voice dropping into a low whisper, "ever since that night where you came back late, then claimed Rockfur's alive and that there's a group of rogues working against us? I think I deserve some explanation."

Froststorm took in a deep breath. "Okay. I'll have to give you a more detailed explanation later, don't have much time right now, but basically, we have reason to believe that Rockfur's still alive and the one behind all the murders, not WaterClan, to purposely stir up trouble.

"Long story short, Fernleap's now trapped in WaterClan's camp somewhere, and we need to go save her. As far as I know, WaterClan wasn't informed that Fernleap's no longer part of MoonClan, so they may hurt her to try and get revenge on us."

Skyfrost's face didn't show much emotion, her ears twitching being the only sign that she acknowledged Froststorm's words.

"Please don't tell anyone," the white she-cat mewed, "I promise I'll fill you in on everything later. But right now we need to go get Fernleap." 

She turned around, about to bound out of the camp, when Skyfrost called her back. "Wait. You're going to fight an entire Clan with just the three of you?"

Froststorm tilted her head. "Well, yeah, we don't have much more of a choice."

Skyfrost lashed her tail. "I want to come."

"You do?!" Froststorm mewed, confused.

"Sure, I'm assuming this all connects to Rockfur somehow, and if he's the one behind the murders, it'll not only get justice for our dead Clanmates but also put an end to the war. I want to help you in doing that." Skyfrost's eyes glittered with grief. "I need to avenge Fawncloud."

Froststorm gave her a light smile. "Well okay. We need as much help as we can get."

"Clearly," Skyfrost scoffed in a teasing voice, "let's go, then."

Froststorm nodded, turned around, and jumped out of the camp.

~~~

"Okay, so here's the plan," Froststorm whispered, "we need to try and sneak in and out without being noticed. Chances are that's not going to happen and a fight will break out. We'll need to make sure not to leave any cat behind before escaping, okay?"

The four had skidded around the lake and was now crouched between the territories of WaterClan and LightClan, the border closest to WaterClan's camp.

Receiving a nod from every cat, Froststorm continued.

"We'll surround the camp, each of us taking a corner. We'll try and snoop around for Fernleap. If we can't find her, need help, or has to abort mission, we'll need a code word."

"That's dumb," Skyfrost snorted, "can't we just say 'help' or something?"

"Hey! I missed out on these mission games when I was a kit," Froststorm defended.

Skyfrost's tail twitched. "Okay, fine. What about 'green'? You know, for Fernleap?"

Froststorm froze for a moment, remembering the vision Sunstar had sent her moons ago. 

She was slowly realizing what they'd all represented, such as the deer in headlights being run over by a monster showing Fawncloud's death. But the part that stuck with her the most was a pair of green eyes shining from the dark, sending a shiver down her spine. And Skyfrost's code word made her think of it instantly.

"Okay, that works," Froststorm mewed, "everyone got that?"

"Green," Jayfrost repeated softly to himself, "got it."

"We should all spread out in different parts, so our scents don't clump together," Froststorm pointed out, "let's-"

"Goldenstar's going to kill us!"

Froststorm's eyes widened, hearing a LightClan patrol. "Hide!"

The four scattered into the reeds, crouched low, watching as a heather patch parted to reveal a black tom and a brown-and-white she-cat.

"Say it a little louder, why don't you, Thornpelt?" the she-cat snarked, voice sarcastic, eyes flashing. "It's not like this could get us in trouble or anything."

"Of course it could get us in trouble, Dawnclaw!" Thornpelt panicked. "Goldenstar said that- oh, you're not being serious."

Dawnclaw rolled her eyes. "Sometimes it's hard to believe you're my brother."

"But what should we do?" Thornpelt almost wailed. "Goldenstar gave us the whole speech about pulling out from the war, he says he wants no part in it, and then we go and do this!"

"It's not our fault," Dawnclaw defended, "we just found that she-cat wandering around our borders! What were we supposed to do?"

Thornpelt began to pace. "We shouldn't have kidnapped her, that's what. Chase her off, maybe."

"We panicked!"

"Goldenstar's not going to believe that," Thornpelt worried, "he specifically said not to interact with any other Clans until the whole war was over, and we capture a MoonClan warrior, quite literally putting ourselves in the middle of this war!"

"Surprised nobody's come for her yet," Dawnclaw pointed out, followed by a gasp of realization. "Maybe she was sent here to spy on us for days. Maybe that's why MoonClan isn't worried that one of their warriors is missing."

"That's stupid," Thornpelt scoffed, "we're not fighting anymore, what would MoonClan gain from spying on us?"

"Well we can't let her leave!" Dawnclaw mewed. "If we do, she's going to tattle to Swiftstar about this, and Swiftstar will go to Goldenstar."

"And we can't just straight-out give her to Goldenstar, either," Thornpelt reasoned, "it'll turn out bad for us either way."

Dawnclaw lashed her tail. "Why did we have to get into this mess? And we're wasting resources on her by feeding her!"

"Speaking of which," Thornpelt pointed out, "it's time to go do that again. Let's finish up this patrol and go catch something."

Dawnclaw nodded, before her nose twitched. "I smell MoonClan."

"Must be from her," Thornpelt mewed, "come on, let's go."

"She doesn't even reek of MoonClan anymore," Dawnclaw pointed out, "it's not that!"

"You're making things up," Thornpelt insisted, "we need to hurry."

Scoffing, Dawnclaw turned around and followed her brother away.

Froststorm's heart pounded as she turned towards her Clanmates. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Blackfang's tail-tip twitched. "They have Fernleap."

Froststorm nodded. "New plan. Forget WaterClan, let's follow them."

~~~

Word Count: 1022

[Edited]

New member on the team! I'm trying to add in some Skyfrost character development, haha. But anyway, thoughts?