The Loner's Trial (A Shrouded Path book 2) {COMPLETE}

Chapter 13

 Minnow was silent for several long moments, and Sorrelstream just stared at her. Bewilderment still shone in her green eyes as she looked Minnow up and down. "You look so different now," she murmured, as if she still couldn't believe who she was looking at.

Minnow bit back a growl. She didn't need to be told how much she had changed, not knowing how different she felt since her life had been uprooted. "What do you want me to tell you?" she asked plainly, still hoping foolishly that Sorrelstream might give up and leave.

Sorrelstream sat cautiously, looking at the barn interior around her. She seemed frightened at the giant barn monster that was sleeping there, something Minnow had grown so accustomed to that she forgot about it. "Why are you here? At this place?" she breathed. She turned her gaze back to Minnow's. "Why didn't you come back to RiverClan? Didn't you go to the Moonstone to talk with StarClan?"

Minnow's throat closed up as Sorrelstream's questions brought back the memories she had been suppressing. There was no way to avoid telling the truth now, and Sorrelstream would see right through any lie she might be able to make up. She knew Minnow too well. Taking a deep breath, Minnow replied, "I did."

When Minnow didn't elaborate, Sorrelstream flicked her tail. Minnow went on. "I spoke with StarClan. And it's something I'll be happy to never do again!" She spat the last words, unable to keep the contempt she felt for her warrior ancestors from rising.

"Why?" Sorrelstream asked, pawing the floor of the barn. "Didn't they tell you what was going on? There haven't been any accidents since you left."

Minnow scoffed. "Because I left!"

"What do you mean?" Sorrelstream's eyes looked helpless.

Minnow's ears flattened. "Nightwhisper was right!" she spat. "I'm cursed, and StarClan's solution was to cast me out of the forest!"

Sorrelstream's eyes widened more than they already were. "They made you leave?" She sounded as if such a thing was impossible to imagine.

Minnow shook her head. "They told me I should," she said. "If I stayed, cats would have kept dying, one by one, until RiverClan was no more." She remembered the words the StarClan warrior Hawkshade had said to her, and recited them; "Death follows you like a shadow, but because it could not take you, it has taken those closest to you. RiverClan has no future while you are with them."

An ominous silence fell over the two cats as Minnow's words sank in. Sorrelstream's mouth was slightly agape, her face clouded with horror. "I don't believe it," she whispered. "I never believed it, not once, but it was true?"

Minnow nodded firmly, her pelt itching with worry and anticipation. "It was true, and I'm not sure you're even safe here, now, with me. You'd better go."

Sorrelstream hesitated. "Don't you want to hear all the news from RiverClan?" She sounded hurt.

Minnow hesitated. She did, but she didn't. Of course part of her was dying to hear how her old Clanmates and her family were doing, and how well the Clan was running. But at the same time she would rather shut it all out so that she could continue to not think about it. Was it selfish of her to wish that her former life would just disappear, forgotten like an old dream? She knew it wasn't that simple though, and all the same she had the nagging curiosity of what was going on in her old home. One look at Sorrelstream's face made her cave, and she laid down by her nest, paws placed neatly in front of her. Sorrelstream did the same, then began speaking. Minnow listened to nearly every detail of Clan life since she'd left. Sorrelstream told her about Cherryheart's kits becoming apprentices, and that she was now Reedpaw's mentor. She talked about the windstorm and the fallen tree that had claimed the life of Maplenose, about Nettlestep's kitting and more recently, Pebblenose's. Minnow listened to her speak about Tanglestar's death, and Berrystar's succession of him, of her siblings' apprenticeship, and of the harsh greencough that took Blacktail and, to Minnow's shock and sadness, Ashstar.