Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 23: Hearts Of Gold

Chapter 23: Hearts Of Gold

"You what?!" Sunstar and Boulderpaw stared at her open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

She flicked her tail impatiently to cover the nervousness their shock had caused her. "I set up a meeting between us and all the cats that Shadowripple and Flashpaw know to be loyal to their Clans," Scorch repeated.

"What- but- how?" Boulderpaw demanded.

"I ran into them two nights ago, we talked- I told them of our plan-they said they'd consider it- yesterday they told me they'd help me- and then we set up this meeting for two days from now," Scorch explained.

Boulderpaw and Sunstar shared a glance and then looked at her. Boulderpaw scowled but Sunstar grinned, "Aren't you just a little go-getter?" the leader laughed, ruffling her head with a paw. Scorch purred at his praise, but then grew silent with her eyes cast down... her father would always ruffle her head when he praised her.

"But how will we know they're not lying and won't set a trap for us? To get on the good side of Nightwing?" Boulderpaw continued, frowning in thought.

"They weren't lying," Scorch smiled softly and reassuringly. Boulderpaw knew that she could sense the true core emotions of a cat.

"What if they changed their minds?" the gray tom pressed.

"Well, we'll just have to trust them. If we don't trust the cats we're trying to help, I assure you we won't get far," Scorch answered him.

Boulderpaw grunted, "True enough," he sighed and gave her the victory of the argument.

"Plus, it was a good mix to have both a ShadowClan and RiverClan cat find the ones they are certain won't betray us," Sunstar mused. "They know their Clan-mates better and the other cats won't be as willing to get their own Clan-mate in trouble as they might be for a cat from a rival Clan. Even if they don't go along with us, we could probably count on them to keep their mouths shut," the leader was staring up at the blue sky and golden sun thoughtfully.

"Right, this is probably the best chance we'll get for making our plan known to them and including them in on the plan," Scorch was encouraging Boulderpaw since he still looked reluctant.

"Yeah," he sighed, looking away.

Scorch sighed as well, but she stood up. "Its almost dusk, I'll be in trouble if I stay out past dark again," she mewed. "Lets meet where the ShadowClan, ThunderClan, and rogue border meet at dawn, two days from now. The meeting with the NightClan cats will be there sometime that day. They didn't say when, except that they'd wait until Nightwing went on his daily border patrol on the RiverClan-WindClan border," Scorch gave the final details and then left toward her den.

She had gone a few meters when hurried paw-steps sounded behind her. She turned and looked up to see Boulderpaw behind her. "Scorch? Are you sure about this? Its going to get dangerous in the Clans if your plan goes correctly. You've done enough for cats you owe nothing to, perhaps you should step out after this meeting," Boulderpaw mewed, his blue eyes only showed concern but she sensed that he didn't really want her to leave; that he was only doing this in an act of generosity.

She was unsure whether to be touched that he would even try to put her first, or annoyed by his insincerity. Considering what he's lived through... I don't really mind. So she gave him a light smile and shook her head, "No, I'll see this through. What would I do without this anyways? Stay at the den and laze around all day? Not tempting in the slightest," she laughed and continued off with a final goodbye for Boulderpaw.

What she said was true, she was far too restless to laze around all day. But fighting in deadly battles for the fate of a whole society of cats was not her ideal alternative. She sighed and dropped her head as she walked over the fallen brown-red pine-needles, sometimes she wished that she could just play with Boulderpaw all day. That her stolen moments with him were not all wrapped up in this impending war.