Infinite Dusk

Chapter 3

The other side of the woods was entirely new to Diamondpaw. She had never crossed the river before, never been to a gathering, and especially never stolen prey. Now she was alone in a new territory with no idea of where to look for fresh-kill.

Well, she wasn't alone. Her sister was with her. Stormpaw had been chosen to join the assault on DawnClan while Diamondpaw stayed in the apprentices' den and sat wide awake, staring at the starry sky and hoping that her sister was safe. Now Stormpaw led her sister past a clearing full of stumps through an unfamiliar world.

"Where are we going?" Diamondpaw mewed quietly, keeping her voice low so as to not scare off any prey.

"This is the way to DawnClan camp. I figure if we can get there, I'll find my bearings and be able to navigate," Stormpaw responded, a bit overconfident. Diamondpaw wouldn't say it, but she was worried that her grey-furred sister was going to get them lost.

"A-are you sure?" Diamondpaw fretted, her tail flicking back and forth nervously.

"Of course I'm sure," her sister reassured her. "See, there's that... stump-place. I think I saw it through the trees on our way here?"

Diamondpaw sighed. "We're totally lost, aren't we?"

They walked past a dozen more towering beeches before Stormpaw relented. "Yeah, we're totally lost."

She took a deep breath. Why did I even agree to this? Going into new territory without a warrior with us? What if we run into a fox or a badger?

"Let's just try to hunt, okay?" Stormpaw meowed, interrupting her worries. "After that we'll worry about getting home. All we have to do is follow the setting sun!"

The white she-cat relaxed. Her sister was right. DuskClan was named after the dusk because the sun set on their side of the woods, so it would be simple to find her way back. The only issue was that it was sun-high, and it would be ages before the sun began to set.

"Okay, but we'd better be back in our dens by tonight," Diamondpaw teased her sister. "Or else you owe me some of your fresh-kill share. This was your idea, after all."

"What? No way!" Stormpaw gasped jokingly. "We'll definitely be back by tonight. And besides, we don't have to ration prey anymore now that we have DawnClan territory to hunt in."

Diamondpaw smiled widely at the thought of eating an entire mouse rather than just half of one. Her stomach grumbled in response and she quickly bade her sister good luck before bounding away into the woods, her mouth open to taste the air.

Soon enough she had tracked a tiny dormouse to where it sat under a thick shrub, and while its lifeless body was small, the scent of fresh-kill was tantalizingly delicious. But she couldn't eat just yet- the warrior code dictated that apprentices and warriors couldn't have their shares until the rest of the Clan was fed. Diamondpaw knew the StarClan-given rules well, being one of the first things she was trained on, and as she padded through the woods after burying her catch, she recited them in her head.

Diamondpaw's mind swam with rules and boundaries, thoughts of honor and leadership filling her consciousness as she pounced on a sparrow and bit its neck. She thought with unease that some rules of the code were being broken by her Clanmates, but then reminded herself that it didn't matter; loyalty to the Clan was paramount, and if the destruction of DawnClan could keep her friends and family safe, surely StarClan would understand?

By the time she had finished remembering each tenet of the code, she had caught five pieces of prey, more fresh-kill than she had seen in one place in her life. She grinned at the thought of a feast, where each kit and elder had enough to eat, and the warriors didn't have to tremble so as they walked.