Heart Of A Fighter (Book 4): Magic In The Valley

Epilogue

The forest was dark and silent, not a single star glittering down from the jet black sky. A lone she-cat padded noiselessly though the shadows, her pelt as dark as the surroundings.

She paused, tail-tip twitching as she surveyed the surroundings with her faded eyes.

"Dovetail."

They were calling her name.

Dovetail, the best of the BlazeClan Shines. Dovetail, the most beautiful of them all. Dovetail, the one who gave birth to the miracle, the prophecy cat.

Dovetail, who had been decapitated and eaten alive.

How could this have happened? How could she have died so soon before her pure daughter had fulfilled the prophecy? Without her?

How could her perfect life have ended up so wrong?

Dovetail was many things. A beautiful, strong Shine. A drop of gold in the darkest forest.

A goddess.

But in reality, she was just a conceited dame who was blind to her errors. Blind to the harm she caused. Blind to the trauma and fear staining her pristine, white and cream fur.

She was utterly a sight to behold now. And not a good one.

One half of her face was barely intact with her skull, peeling off and dripping with blood and she had barely managed to plaster it back with cobwebs and tree sap.

Her neck bore the broken scars and bones jutting out from where she had been decapitated, the wound forever gushing a torrent of dark blood that seeped through her fur and stained it, crusting each hair to a clump.

Her eyes, one of which was barely contained in its socket, were crusted and nothing short of demonic, the whites now faded to black as her pupils oozed with a curious yellow light.

The pelt she had been so proud of was now patched and dull, with thorns and leaves wedged into her fur and sticking up all over the place, matting and tangling the hairs into irritating clumps.

She was far from beautiful.

"Dovetail."

Her head whipped around, her golden eyes locking onto the tom who called her.

Cougarstar.

The brown tom emerged from the darkness, a long scar stretching from his throat all the way to his belly and across his back. "I hope you didn't go through much trouble getting here."

Dovetail sighed, her whiskers twitching, "I did, as a matter of fact. It wasn't the noblest way to leave." The tom sighed as well, "What's done is done," he muttered, "But it's a pity we had to leave so soon."

"Right, right." Dovetail muttered, sitting down on the damp ground with some distaste. The tom sat down opposite her, and began to speak. "We cannot just sit here any longer." he meowed.

Dovetail shrugged, "As much as I agree." she remarked, "So what now? Are we the only two cats left, doomed to walk in a world that is sealed off from the kingdoms where..." she scowled as she spat out the word, "She rules?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." the tom meowed, "Despite the fact that that disgrace has already taken down my legacy, along with my strongest kin, we may have a small chance of snatching glory back."

He paused, and tilted his head. "I have been observing you since I died. When you tried to kill Goslingpaw, or Wren, whatever they call her now; did you feel anything? Guilt, maybe?"

"No. Not even close to guilt." She clicked her tongue. "But that she-cat—she's corrupted my purity, taken away everything from me."

A curious yellowish-green light seeped from the ghoulish she-cat's eyes as she spoke so vehemently her words ended with a hiss.

"Well, you must learn, Dovetail dear, to use your enemies." Dovetail seemed stunned at Cougarstar's tone. It was calm and soothing, and he even laid his tail on her back.

A thought suddenly occurred to her—Is he trying to woo me? Woo me as one would woo a mate?

Would she have shared glory with her long-dead mate, Blazeclaw, with whom she had brought that unruly daughter into the world?

Once, her heart had sung songs of love for dear Blazeclaw. But let's be practical. Glory cannot be shared with those weak of heart, she thought.

And who would want to be queen to the king of legends when indeed she could be the queen of a king with the world?

Cougarstar now began to speak and what he said stirred something deep in Dovetail. "You are the one who ignited that fire within me once again. You shine like no other she-cat ever has; like a drop of gold in an abyss of darkness."

Dovetail flustered and blinked. "Look at your pelt, my dear. Look how it has darkened. See the ragged patches. You look no more like a Shine than I do as BlazeClan's former leader. We have lost our definition as high ranks."

Where is he going with this talk? The ex-Shine wondered. "Therefore," Cougarstar continued, "I think we may assume that we are on the brink of a new possibility. Together we could realize this possibility."

"Together? Is this a proposal?" She whispered softly as Cougarstar leaned closer, his warm breath bathing her face. "Let's just call it an experiment," he crooned.

How romantic! Dovetail thought.

They were calling her name now.

"Count your days numbered, Wren Whisper. I will not stop until you are dead," she thought. "How will we start off?" She murmured as Cougarstar gazed at her, yellow light streaming lazily from his once bright eyes.

A malevolent grin curled across his lips. "In the place where we are not sealed off." Dovetail blinked up at him in admiration. "You don't say?"

"But of course, dear. The Southern Kingdoms."