Beyond the Mountains | A Warrior Cats Fanfiction

꧁ ✧ Chapter 18 ✧ ꧂

Don't forget to vote please, it really helps <33

Sunny looked unsurely around, waiting for Willow to come back. She was waiting by the entrance for her father to return, and he looked around at the cats, who were looking at him with distrust. He had peered meekly at them, but then he had remembered how strongly Willow had addressed the tribe leader, Stoneteller. He was always learning from her. This made him realise that they had no right look at him like that, because he hadn't done anything wrong. He straightened up, and glared back fiercely, and they looked in surprise at him, before turning away, casting wary glances back. He huffed augustly, and wrapped his tail over his paws.

He whipped his head around, biting fiercely at the base of his tail. He furiously searched for the creature that was irritating him, and pricked his ears at the satisfying crack of a flea, and lay down, eyes narrowed as he dozed off. Within a few minutes, his eyes opened to the excited meows of Willow and a dark grey tomcat with white hairs edging his muzzle, and the sympathetic mews of cats around, watching with some smiling faces, and some with undisguised disapproval. He huffed, and turned back to nibble at the base of his tail once more. These pesky fleas, must be from the tribe. Do they not wash? He mumbled in his brain, and before he could bite at them once again, he looked irritably up as snowy paws approached him. Realising who it was, he looked at her briefly with an apologetic gaze, before dipping his head politely. He stared back uneasily as she gave him the same polite gesture.

''Fancy a walk?'' Her gaze was questioning, tail amiably flicking behind her.

"Uh..." He glanced towards Willow, but she was sat talking with her father. He felt Stoneteller's gaze burning through him, and he turned back to her, and was once again pierced by the icy eyes. Her gaze briefly flitted to Willow, before turning back to him, with a slight smirk in her royal eyes.

"Willow has her own things to worry about right now. And so do you." He looked at her uneasily. What does she mean? He nodded.

"Okay, Stoneteller." He hoped he had pronounced her name correctly.

"Good. Come on, then." She walked away, towards the entrance. He scrambled to his paws, dizzily swaying from getting up so fast, and tried to catch up. As they walked out, she twisted her head for a moment to make sure he was following while he desperately tried to catch Willow's eye. But she was so focused on her father, he ended up walking out in vain.

Stoneteller called his name, and he turned to realise she was far ahead of him. He trotted to catch up with her, appearing at her side, his tongue passing over his chops anxiously. Stoneteller cast him a glance, before turning right, down a sloping path towards a frozen river, and a small, bare tree with a little pile of rocks underneath. Stoneteller padded towards it, beckoning him to follow. She stood in front of it, her ears twitching at the grumble of water beneath the ice.

"Here lies Willow That Shines at Dawn's mother, and sister." She said, her voice containing less emotion than you would think it would.

"Oh... I...." Sunny had suspected this was Willow's original home, but never imagined her living here before he met her. She had never mentioned her home, or her family.

"How did they die?" He asked, looking at the small mound.

"They were sick." She replied, and paused while they both examined the pile. Straightening up, she said,

''Come on.''

She shook her head softly, and turned away, walking back towards the cave. He pricked his ears, hoping he would be able to go back and see Willow. But instead of going into the cave, Stoneteller turned left, heading towards the waterfall. He groaned inwardly, but turned to follow her. As they walked under the frozen water, Stoneteller paused, and he sighed impatiently. As he waited for Stoneteller to move on, he looked around at the huge sheets of translucent ice, cascading yet frozen in time around him. He could see and hear the water in the eyes rushing. It was like a straw, ice surrounded the outside of the waterfall, while water continued to flow inside it. As he looked deeper into the ice, peering into his own eyes, they suddenly burst into a bright amber, swirling and twisting in his gaze. They were the same eyes as he saw earlier that morning. Then the eyes dipped, an odd, thanking gesture. He narrowed his eyes at the eyes, but instead of narrowing too, they seemed to smile at him, and turn side to side, as if the invisible head was shaking. Just a heartbeat later, it was gone. He was stuck to the spot, his heart pounding.