Cinders to Flames

Chapter 28

Cinderfrost was walking near the DarkClan border by herself. She was struggling with figuring out how she was going to tell FrostClan about the rogue's plans to attack the camp. They would likely not react well, considering her defense of Blackwhisker not long ago. She wasn't exactly the biggest fan in FrostClan at the moment. Still, she had no choice. She couldn't let FrostClan lose to the rogues. She stiffened when she spotted two familiar cats by the border. Curiosity overtook her, and Cinderfrost hid behind a bush to watch. Ashstar and Goldenstripe were standing on their respective sides of the border. She could hear the DarkClan leader talking in an angry tone.

"Silverheart says she doesn't know anything of the prophecy. Says you're the only one who knows it."

Goldenstripe turned away from him. Cinderfrost could not see her expression, but her voice was aspirated. "Nothing you say can make you tell you anything. Ravenstar will be upset when he finds out you've been threatening the FrostClan medicine cat."
Ashstar's mew dropped to a low, sinister snarl. "If you don't tell me the prophecy, I'll tell them what I know about Aspenheart."

The medicine cat stiffened, and Cinderfrost held back an intake of surprise. What was Goldenstripe hiding?

"Who told you about that?" Her voice wavered, coated in a layer of pure terror. Cinderfrost had never seen the calm medicine cat so scared. "I was supposed to be the only one who knew."
"I know cats." Ashstar meowed vaguely, leaning in towards the she-cat, his muzzle a whisker length from hers. Cinderfrost tensed, ready to defend her clanmate at any moment. "Now give me the prophecy. Word for word."

Goldenstripe hesitated. Then she began the speak;

"First there will be Fire

reducing the forest to ash and soot

In the heart of the flames

A Sacrifice is made

And from the destruction

Cinder will rise

One paw knows the touch of the forest floor

and the other of metal and brick

Only the War of rogue and warrior will choose her fate."

Cinderfrost immediately knew what the prophecy was about. Lucky me, she thought. Everything remotely important in my life was summarized into a vague riddle before I was born, and no one thought to tell me about it. She was officially done with life. Lucky we're all going to be slaughtered by some rogues in the near future, she added bleakly.

"Is Cinderfrost the one in the prophecy?" Ashstar asked.

"I'm certain." Goldenstripe meowed quietly. "Sootslash thought she was going to bring destruction to the forest, so she tried to make her into a medicine cat. I knew that was not her destiny. In fact, she probably added to her becoming what she is."

What in the name of StarClan?!

Ashstar said nothing, just turned and disappeared into the shadowy pine trees of DarkClan territory.

"You can come out now." Goldenstripe said loudly.

Cinderfrost sheepishly stepped out of her hiding place.

"So I'm part of a prophecy now," she grumbled. "Did it never occur to you that I might want to know? Kinda important since it's, you know... About me...?" She trailed off.

"Your fate is inevitable." Goldenstripe said simply. "Telling you about it would have hurt you more than helped you."

"Great." Cinderfrost mumbled under her breath. "If it's not too much to ask, I might need your help."

"Is this about the War?"

"Yep. StarClan, you really know everything, don't you? Does it come with being a medicine cat or is it just a 'you' thing?"

The golden tabby gave her a bemused look.

"Alright," she let out a long sigh. "I need you to help me tell Ravenstar that there are a bunch of bloodthirsty rogues that are planning to kill us all this full moon without him exiling me for treachery."

***

Cinderfrost went to talk to Blackwhisker before she met Goldenstripe in Ravenstar's den. She only had a moment to explain what was going on, so she did it quickly.

"Hey, Blackwhisker," she began. "When I went to leave the rogues, Pixie told us all that she is planning an attack on FrostClan and she manipulated from the start and was only using me for information, also turns out I'm part of a prophecy that nobody told me about, and I'm going to go and tell Ravenstar that we're all going to die, and I might get exiled."

He stared at her blankly. "Repeat that?"
"Can't sorry, I've got to go." She raced across the clearing to the front of Ravenstar's den. With a deep breath she ducked inside. Cinderfrost sat beside Goldenstripe and met Ravenstar's piercing hazel stare.

"Cinderfrost, Goldenstripe informed me that you had something to tell me."
"Yes. Well." She shuffled her paws anxiously. "It's a long story, so I'm going to sum it up quickly."
"Go on."
"When I was an apprentice, I snuck into the twolegplace. I nearly died, actually, but a rogue saved me. She told me that she could teach me how to fight if I kept coming to the twolegplace at night to train. Now she wants to wage war on FrostClan."
Ravenstar blinked slowly. "So what you're telling me is that one of my warriors has been a traitor for many moons right under my nose?"
"Two, actually. I'm assuming she made the same deal with Appleheart, who I see there regularly."

"Appleheart..." He echoed. "You do understand what could happen to you by telling me this? You've been breaking the warrior code for countless moons. I have the right to exile you now if I wish."
"Go ahead. Appleheart and I are the only cats who know when the rogues will attack, how they fight, their secrets. And Appleheart was rather eager to go along with the war. It might be difficult to get her to speak. Besides, we don't want her running off and telling the rogues that their plan failed, do we?"
"You make a good point," her leader admitted. "But how come you are warning us about it? You stayed with them all these moons, didn't you?"
"Those rogues are all killers, cowards, and bloodthirsty monsters. I should have seen that earlier. Their leader, Pixie... She manipulated me. She only helped me to get information about FrostClan, not because she actually cared. Pixie used me, and I want revenge."
"And FrostClan? Surely you care about your clanmates?" He questioned.

"A few of them, yes. But I've never really felt that I belonged here. Or with the rogues. Those are the effects of living with a paw in two worlds."
Ravenstar nodded. "Alright. I shall make an announcement to the clan, and I won't exile you. Yet."

Cinderfrost followed Ravenstar out of his den. As he called a clan meeting, she could feel their eyes on her, like claws digging into her pelt. Some of them already hated her for being a cripple, and for befriending the half-loner.

Now she was a traitor.

Hello human beings! Sorry this is taking so long, I'm working on the sequel to CTF right now...