Warriors | A Prophecy Reborn: Book 3. (A Dead Star)

~A Dead Star: Chapter 27~

"Half-Sight had kits," Whitestripe said with a gasp.
"I wonder what happened to them?" Ashpelt said.
"Do you think they're still alive?"
"If they are, they won't talk to us. They're most likely in ShadowClan, and if they're Half-Sight's kits, they're probably working with him and Webstar."
"I don't think so," Whitestripe said. "Larkleaf doesn't seem like the kind of cat who would've left her kits for dead. If we ever come across them, let's hope they're more like her."
The blue ball of light flashed and turned red before exploding and fitting into places around the cave. Another memory was replaying, and this one seemed like a bad one.
"She died with the kits," said a she-cat with very light green eyes, looking at Half-Sight. "I'm sorry, but there was nothing anyone could do to prevent it."
"Larkleaf and the kits died?" Half-Sight said in a choked voice.
The she-cat was hesitant, then nodded.
After a long moment of silence, Half-Sight said, "Thank you for telling me, Violetheart. I... understand it would've been more of a loss for you and Deadstar, who have lost so much already."
Violetheart nodded. Whitestripe suspected this was a relative of Larkleaf's, and she felt a stab of guilt that wasn't hers. The red light casting these shadow memories was somehow connected to all of this, she knew it. All of what Half-Sight had went through, all of what ThunderClan and the refugees are going through now.
"And are your kits well?" Half-Sight said, looking up at Violetheart with an unnervingly calm expression.
"Yes," Violetheart said quietly. "Graypaw and Orchidpaw are now being mentored by Dewbranch and Buzzardwhisker."
Half-Sight was silent for a short while, then said, "Keep an eye on them. And send my sympathies to Deadstar."
"I will," Violetheart promised. "Goodbye, Half-Sight. May StarClan guide you."
Half-Sight scoffed once Violetheart left. "StarClan guide me. Ridiculous."
The red light absorbed the rest of itself and led them further into the cave, quickly creating another scene, showing another memory.
"Do you know why you're here?" hissed a crankier version of Half-Sight, less tired than the one they knew now. The red silhouette appeared a moment later.
"N-No, Half-Sight," whimpered another voice. The silhouette to pair that voice was a warrior tom, one who seemed to be around Spidertail's age.
"You're here to help me with something," Half-Sight snapped. "I understand that your family was recently killed by wild cats, yes?"
"Y-Yes," said the warrior. "I have a younger brother... He won't remember what happened due to the accident. You will let us live, right?"
"I'm not interested in harming mere loners," Half-Sight snarled. "Scaring, perhaps, but only when necessary.
"Do you seek revenge, young tom?" Half-Sight asked the cat.
The loner seemed to calm down and sat up straight. "What do you need me to do in order to get revenge?"
"First, your name."
"Mantis," said the tom. "My brother is Frog."
"Then, Mantis, how would you feel about helping me to gather more cats?"
Mantis gave an excited smile and the scene dissolved again. The red light led them further into the cave and up a winding path that opened into a clearing. The light turned green and set another memory into place.
This memory or scene seemed to take place somewhere else. This clearly was not the Lake.
There was grass that they couldn't feel, though it bent under their paws as though it was real. Giant trees covered a vibrant green clearing and a large platform stood in the middle. Whitestripe observed the trees, looking at them closely. One of the trees she quickly recognized as pine, another as fir, a third, ash, and a fourth, elm. There was also a fifth, but she couldn't identify what tree it was. The trees surrounded the back of the clearing which seemed large enough for nearly every cat in the Lake, more cats than those who were currently living in the Lake.
The five trees were covering the back of the clearing in a semi-circle, leaving three paths open and clear to walk in and out.
Finally, five shadow cats appeared, walking into the clearing from the three separate paths, two on the left, two on the right and one in the middle.
Whitestripe recognized three of their voices instantly.
"This is the place your cats found?" said Minnowsong, one of the RiverClan warriors who had survived the massacre.
"Yes," Reedtail answered, admiring the trees. "We can stay here. We can finally leave the lake."
"Has ThunderClan explored all around this forest?" asked Blizzardfoot harshly.
"We have," Reedtail replied. "There is a moonstone and moonpool on the far side of the lake back by our future camp. Next to our camp, on the right, is a darker part of the woods, ideal for ShadowClan. On their right, there will be RiverClan.
"To ThunderClan's left is a twolegplace where the remaining cats who do not wish to join the Clans can stay and be safe, such as Horizon and Prairie, both of which are helping to gather the rest of our Clanmates at this moment.
"On the left of the Twolegplace is a moorland, perfect for WindClan."
"And near that is where our camp resides," added a tom with a strangely thick accent.
The other cat, the one who was most likely representing ShadowClan, was silent. He looked around at the trees with a curious face.
"What are your thoughts on this?" Minnowsong asked the tom with a slight snarl. The ShadowClan cat shrugged, still supposedly looking up at the trees.
"I am blind," said the tom. "But the scents here are so much more fresh... Much live prey and room to relax."
"It also means more to protect," said the larger tom with the thick accent. Whitestripe thought it was a bit hard to understand him properly and wondered where this forest was. "And, if you are truly so greedy, more to conquer."
"Greedy? No," said the blind tom. Whitestripe couldn't recall seeing this elder at any Clan Gatherings, but listened as he continued. "Wary? Very much so. I promise you all this," he said, standing up and turning in the general direction of the other cats. "As long as I am ShadowClan's new leader, we will keep away from all your territory, all your prey and, unless provoked, we will not harm your cats."
"Can we trust him?" Whitestripe heard Blizzardfoot mutter to Reedtail. "He may not be of ShadowClan directly, but he was a rogue. Once a rogue, always a rogue."
"I disagree with that statement," Reedtail replied as the blind tom spoke with the large tom and Minnowsong. "As untrustworthy as he may seem, Lightspots has seen more battles than even you. He may be old, but he helped us. He helped ThunderClan, and he helped Dawnstar and Fernstar, even if neither lived to see this. He led us here, and I trust him enough because of that."
Blizzardfoot looked uncertain, but he nodded in acknowledgement.
The old cat, Lightspots, turned his head and stared in the direction of Whitestripe and Ashpelt and the scene fell away, the light rejoining to become that green ball that had led them so far into the tunnel.
The green light moved further into the tunnel where a draft was coming through.
Whitestripe was about to move forward when her brother stopped her. "What?" she said.
"This light," Ashpelt said, glancing uncertainly at it. "Do you think it's StarClan trying to contact us? Trying to tell us something or show us where to go?"
"It may be," Whitestripe said.
"So maybe we shouldn't trust it."
"What?" Whitestripe gasped. "Why not?"
"Think of how long it's been, and I mean how long it's really been, since we've last had proper contact with StarClan," Ashpelt pointed out. "
"The cats in the Dark Forest returning, you think?" Whitestripe said.
"Perhaps."
"But Fernstar received her nine lives already," Whitestripe muttered.
"Right," Ashpelt said. "But think about it. What if this light isn't trying to help us? What if it wants us to die to Half-Sight's claws? Don't forget, all of these memories have been centered around Half-Sight."
"That last one had to do with Reedtail, Blizzardfoot, Minnowsong and two random cats," Whitestripe stated. "I don't think this light's trying to lead us to our deaths. I think It's trying to save us."
"You wanted to stay in the Lake," Ashpelt grumbled. "You're changing your mind over some supposedly good spirit?"
The light made a whistling sound and quickly left the tunnel.
"We should take that as a sign and leave until we figure out more about it," Ashpelt suggested. "Whatever this place had to do with Half-Sight, I don't trust it just yet."
Whitestripe reluctantly followed her brother. She hesitated as they were just outside the tunnel.
Ashpelt turned to face her, glancing uncertainly at the dead tree. "We'll come back and check it out later if possible. In the meantime, it looks like it'll rain for a long while, the true end of leaf-bare. The rain starts tomorrow."
Whitestripe nodded. "Let's get back to Tigerfur and Fernstar. We'll go back to ThunderClan and prepare for the coming storm."
"We'll need to stay here a lot longer before we get ready to leave," Ashpelt agreed as he and his younger sister ran quickly back to the refugees' cave.
Whitestripe ran half-heartedly away from the possible escape to this awful Lake. She knew she'd voted to stay... but after all that's been happening, with Fernstar slowly, but surely, losing her lives and the disappearances, she wasn't sure she could stay anymore.
We'll leave as soon as we can, as soon as possible. We can't stay any longer... We need to leave before we're killed.