Sandclan's Destiny Book 3: Blackout

Chapter 22: The Pit and the Plot

 "Hey! If StarClan is no more, how can I visit you? Or see you?" Dustkit asked Pondkit.
Dustkit had woken up in the Darkforest again, not surprised in the slightest, but rather afraid and nervous as she usually felt herself when she woke to nightmares. 

"StarClan isn't no more, remember? It's just the connection that is gone. And you can see me and visit me because technically, I'm a member of the Darkforest." 
Dustkit sighed as Pondkit's large eyes wandered over to the black distance. That's right- her companion was a member of this dastardly land, although she seemed to have no ounce of negativity in her. But Pondkit was glaring off into the distance, her dark tail-tip flicking, and Dustpaw knew what she had to do.

She padded forward, reluctantly. She looked back at her friend who viewed her with pity before vanishing back into surrounding darkness. Dustkit weaved through skeleton branches that tugged at her pelt. Despite this being just a dream, she still felt fear forcing her blood to pound hard in her ears.
She heard speaking and she stopped, ears flicking. Her breathing was ragged but she tried her best to keep it silent. She hid behind grotesque and rotting ferns, but she was still thankful for the coverage.
The speaking, she recognized, were Wolfstar's shouts.

 "Train harder! We don't have all the time in the world! However, if I killed you now and initiated you into the Darkforest, you would!" He slammed his claws down, slapping the wet earth and leaving grooves in the mud. She didn't know what was hanging from his lips, but it was silver, and she figured it was saliva. 

A cat she knew as Greenstar was perched on a dead tree branch that splintered beneath his weight. He scanned the clearing with his lime green eyes, "Wolfstar, they're training fine. There's possibly more of them than there are of the enemy. Calm down and let them train as they are." He wasn't spitting all over the place like Wolfstar was. His voice was loud, and all cats could hear him, but it was calm and nearly soothing compared to Wolfstar's.

"Quantity? Is that what you go for?" Wolfstar looked up at him, long and bristled tail lashing against the blackened leaves that lay strewn on the ground. "I go for quality. Strange how we differ, isn't it?"

"We have enough quality, Wolfstar." Scarstar sighed dramatically and bowed her head to the angry leader, "But I guess our dear leader has better things in mind for us?"

Wolfstar snorted and looked to Deathblaze, who looked to the other cats and back to Wolfstar.
"They could go for a little break." He shrugged, backing up from Wolfstar's seething fury.

"If you've ever lead a day of your life Deathblaze-"

"It's not because I sympathize with warriors." 'Deathblaze' pulled back his massive maw.

Dustkit need not worry about her own scent of fear- there was enough of it swirling in the musty clearing to mask her own.
She watched as Scarstar, Deathblaze, and another cat who was dark grey with bright eyes that Dustpaw thought might've been Cavestone, vanishing into the dark undergrowth where, Dustkit thought, there were more of them. The kit then grew scared, wondering if they'd come in her direction but they never did. Wolfstar and Greenstar along with some other out-of-place warriors stayed behind.

"I think their training is done." Greenstar mewed tensely 

"Done? We're not done yet- we need to break down the others. Weaken them, screw with their heads, let them bleed out and let their hearts turn grey before we're finally done." Wolfstar gnashed his teeth.

Dustkit averted her attention from the arguing toms to the warriors sitting around and whispering. She could not hear their hushed words, so she risked going closer. She wormed her way through the dark leaves, their wetness dragging along her pelt, making her fur darker and sticky. She ducked into a thorny bramble, watching closer.