Lost Hope: Book 6: Future of Hope

Chapter 11

Forestpaw was dreaming of the Dark Forest again. She had closed her eyes, flank resting against a tree stump far away from her comfortable nest in the medicine den and had almost immediately fell into a deep sleep with flashes of dark trees and bloodied grass.

    Water splashed below her as she waded out of the eel lake. Although it seemed desolate and abandoned now, no eels in sight, Forestpaw still felt a desperate urge to get out of the dark water as fast as possible. She was almost at the shore when her paw slipped over some smooth surface and her face crashed below the surface. She gasped and took in a lungful of water. She felt her throat tighten and her chest constrict with the need for air. But as she struggled her eyes caught something bright and shiny. The thing she had tripped over.

    The Star Pearl?

    You can do this, Forestpaw.

    Forestpaw jerked awake. That had been her father's voice speaking to her. Had he sent her a vision about the Star Pearl? More importantly, where to find it? Was he okay? Had he somehow escaped Viperfang's notice and was wandering around free? Does he know about all this treachery? Forestpaw wished she could shut her eyes and have him appear in her dreams again, but she knew now, with the sun rising slowly across the sky she wouldn't be able to.

    Forestpaw sighed and looked around at their small makeshift camp. The cats who had joined her were already awake and busying themselves with gathering some food and fixing things around the little clearing. I should be helping out. If we want to survive out here on our own, everyone has to pitch in.

    "Good morning, Forestpaw," Lilacsnow said, walking toward her.

    "Good morning," Forestpaw said. "I didn't sleep in too long did I?"

    "Not at all, you're fine," Lilacsnow said, giving her a reassuring smile. "I wanted you to go on a small herb searching patrol with Sparrowfeather. Just see what you can find. I figure it would be useful to have some stock if we need it."

    Forestpaw dipped her head. "Of course."

    Lilacsnow called Sparrowfeather over and two cats set out in the direction that would take them even farther from EchoClan territory. Most of the tall grass was browned from the cold, wilted and brittle and made crunching noises under paw. The sky was clear and the sun shone brilliantly, casting much needed heat on the cold cats.

    "Have you ever been out here before?" Sparrowfeather asked.

    Forestpaw shook her head. "No. Who knows what we'll find out here? But anything we could have found will probably be killed by the cold."

    Sparrowfeather paused, and then said, "I have an idea." He looked around for a moment, like her was trying to find where to go next. "You know who Aster is, right?"

    "Of course," Forestpaw replied. He was almost a legend in EchoClan, Starfur and Dandelionheart had told her many stories of him and how he had brought them the sunflower seeds to cure the deadly flamecough that had swept through camp before she was born.

    "We're going to pay him a visit and see if he might have something for us," Sparrowfeather explained. "His housefolk keep a little flower forest near their den."

    Forestpaw nodded enthusiastically. "That's perfect, let's go!"

    And they set off, Sparrowfeather in the lead, to Aster's place.

***

Sparrowfeather had been right. For some strange reason all the plants in the little garden where flourishing. What in StarClan? Forestpaw looked at them with awe through the wooden posts as Sparrowfeather jumped atop them and called for Aster.