Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Thirty-One

Sunpool

Sunpool woke feeling on top of the world.

She knew what she had to do. Goldleaf had explained the plan to her, and she had an idea of where to find rhubarb. She was also going to have to work twice as hard, because Goldleaf had mentioned that it was especially good to have things like mice and other small prey sacrificed, since they had a stronger life force. Foxes were also good. The bigger, the better. He had also mentioned that cats were the best, but he had quickly mentioned that he would never do that. No cats would be sacrificed for him.

She padded over to Cinderstorm and prodded her awake. Cinderstorm's light blue eyes were groggy as she told Sunpool to go outside, and she would wake Lightningfeather. Sunpool walked out, and saw Cheetahstar and Jayflight waiting by the Twisted Root. She adopted her professional air, and stopped beside the two toms. "Good morning," she greeted them smoothly.

"Morning, Sunpool," Cheetahstar said, sounding distracted. He kept throwing glances towards the medicine den.

Sunpool thought of Oakfrost, and her stomach contracted. She kept the guilt off of her face. "Cinderstorm and Lightningfeather are waking up. They'll be out in a couple of heartbeats. What's the plan for today?"

Cheetahstar nodded at Jayflight, who launched into a speech immediately. "We leave at sunhigh, and Budfur is going to give us a few herbs to get us started. We'll travel until we find a home out of the territories, and we'll set cats out to try and find some rogues to recruit, and to mark borders. We'll go hunting, and any remaining cats will help to work on the camp and set up dens. It should be around nightfall by then, so we'll make nests and sleep."

"That sounds fine." Sunpool nodded.

Lightningfeather and Cinderstorm came out of the den and sat down next to Sunpool. Cinderstorm glanced over at the fresh-kill pile, and Cheetahstar seemed to snap out of his stupor. "Oh, help yourself to prey! You probably haven't eaten in a long time. Sorry."

"No worries," Sunpool said, and got up to go to the fresh-kill pile, following Cinderstorm and Lightningfeather.

After they had finished eating, the Clan seemed to be up and ready. The three warriors and apprentice joining them had all come over individually. They had all introduced themselves: Snowfoot, a black tom with a white paw, Frogfoot, a dark gray tom, and Brackenflower, a cream-and-brown she-cat. The apprentice was a tiny, light gray she-cat by the name of Mistpaw. By the time they had all eaten, all four of them had brought over their prey and had eaten with Cheetahstar, Jayflight, Sunpool, Cinderstorm, and Lightningfeather.

Brackenflower was tactical and smart, and had mentioned that her strength lies in strategy. "I'm a young warrior," she said, "but Cheetahstar likes for me to help with strategy." She grinned toothily, and Cheetahstar purred a little awkwardly. "Not that I'm incapable of making decisions by myself, or planning by myself," he told them quickly. "I am. It's just that she's magnificent at it."

Then Frogfoot had stepped forward. "I'm Frogfoot," he said cheerfully. "I'm not very talented, but I was a medicine cat for a while. If worst comes to worst, I can be a stand-in medicine cat, because I still remember a bit."

"That's always good to know," Sunpool replied. "I was worrying a bit about that- now, I can relax, since we have a cat to fall back on." She worked a bit more charm into her words than she meant to, and Frogfoot purred before stepping back.

"I'm Snowfoot," the last cat said. "I'm not anything special, but I suppose I'm loyal. I mean, I don't suppose. I am. That's just my- you know- um, hi." He said the last bit almost silently and ducked his head, not meeting any cat's eyes. Sunpool purred despite herself. "Hopefully you're loyal," she said.

"I am," he replied, head still ducked. His voice was muffled by his fur. Cinderstorm laughed and purred, and Lightningfeather shot a glare at Snowfoot. Cinderstorm noticed and rolled her eyes at Sunpool. Sunpool purred again.

Mistpaw came last. She was tiny, but her words came out fast and loud. "Hi, I'm Mistpaw. I'm a good fighter, if we're sharing out abilities. I'm small, but I'm fast. Fear me! Rawr!" She punctuated the last word by unsheathing her claws.

She couldn't be a very old apprentice; her claws were still kitten-sharp, small and bright silver. Her teeth, bared, were small and pearly white. Still, Sunpool thought she recognized some of her in the apprentice. She wasn't very scary, but she tried to be feared. Sunpool found resell hoping that Mistpaw stayed with them, and stayed alive. She would grow up to be amazing.

Finally, it was the time when they needed to set off. The FlowerClan cats said their goodbyes - Snowfoot pushed his muzzle against a she-cat's, Mistpaw wound her tail with a she-cat's, Brackenflower murmured a few quiet words to a tom, Jayflight licked three tiny kits on the top of the head. Cheetahstar flitted around the camp, whispering messages to each and every cat, even the kits. Sunpool, Lightningfeather, and Cinderstorm stood patiently, waiting for their companions' return.

Eventually, through a thick cloud of sadness, the eight cats made their way out of the camp. They walked out of the territory, Cheetahstar and Sunpool leading, not speaking, just walking. And though Sunpool could practically taste the regret, and though she knew Mistpaw must be getting tired by now, and they were all hungry and thirsty, she was on the way. She was one step closer to defeating Applestar. She could taste the victory on her lips: metallic and bitter, but really kind of sweet.

Very sorry if the end of the chapter didn't load.
~Rainfeather