Warriors AU: The Darkest Hour

Chapter 29

Sandstar opened his eyes. He was lying on the grass of Fourtrees with moonlight washing around him and the rustle of leaves above his head. For a few heartbeats he relaxed, reveling in the warm air of greenleaf.

Then he remembered Fourtrees as he had last seen it, the branches black and stark in the depths of leaf-bare and the clearing thronged with screeching, warring cats.

Abruptly he sat up. He was not alone. The warriors of Starclan lined the clearing, illuminating it with the shimmer of their pelts and the gleam in their eyes. In the front rank Sandstar could see the cats who had given him his nine lives: Oakstar, Raggedpelt, and Spottedleaf, Frostfur... and a newcomer, Brindleface, restored to his youthful strength, with Starlight glimmering in his thick fur.

"Welcome, Sandstar," meowed the pale gray tabby warrior.

Sandstar scrambled to his paws. "Why... why have you brought me here?" he demanded. "I should be back there, fighting to save my Clan."

It was Oakstar who replied. "Look, Sandstar."

Sandstar saw there was a space beside her. At first he thought it was empty, but suddenly he realized that it was filled by the faintest outline of a sandy-colored cat. His green eyes glowed so pale they barely reflected the starlight that filled the hollow, but Sandstar recognized him at once.

"You have lost your first life," Oakstar mewed gently.

A shiver ran through Sandstar. So this was what it felt like to die. He stared in mingled curiosity and fear at the pale copy of himself in the middle of the clearing, and as his gaze locked with the ghost cat's he suddenly saw himself, hunched and bleeding, his fur ragged and the light of desperation burning in his eyes.

Sandstar wrenched his head aside to break the contact. There was no time for this. Surely the whole point of having nine lives was so that he could keep going?

"Send me back," he begged. "If we're losing the battle, Bloodclan will rule the forest!"

Oakstar stepped forward. "Patience, Sandstar. Your body needs a moment to recover. You will go back soon enough."

"But it might not be in time! Oakstar, why are you letting this happen? Will Starclan not help us, even now?"

The former Thunderclan leader did not reply directly. Instead she sat down, her amber eyes glowing with wisdom. "No cat could have done more than you for Thunderclan," she meowed. "Even though you are no forestborn, you have the heart of a true Clan cat... more than ever Goldenstar or Darkstripe did, for though they taunted you with being a kittypet, they both ended up betraying the Clan of their birth for the sake of their own ambition."

Sandstar's paws worked impatiently in the grass. What was the use of empty praise? He could not tear his mind away from what was happening in that other clearing, where loyal cats were fighting and dying. "Oakstar—"

The she-cat raised her tail to silence him. "Perhaps your quarrel with Goldenstar gave you the strength you need," she went on. "All along, you did what you thought was right, even when your Clanmates disagreed with you. You suffered loneliness and uncertainty, and that has made you what you are now... a gifted intelligent leader with the courage to lead your Clan in its darkest hour."

"But I'm not leading them!" Sandstar hissed. "And I can't save them—I'm not strong enough. We're going to lose the battle. Oakstar, this can't be the will of Starclan! We've always believed our warrior ancestors wanted there to be four Clans in the forest. Have we been so wrong?"

There was a ripple of movement from the front rank of the starry warriors. Oakstar rose to her paws as she was joined by the other eight cats who had given Sandstar a life at the ceremony beside the Moonstone. All nine of them encircled the young cat who stood defiantly in the center of the clearing.