Warriors: Echo of Darkness

Chapter 17

I wanted to bring as few cats as possible. I brought Tails and Crystal since they had more knowledge of the area and Lang just as an extra guard. We ate then set out, I needed to get there and back as quickly as possible. Tigerlily had around three days to live, with any luck I would make it back half a day before we got there. "I won't let another one of my comrades die as long as I could help it..." I focused on the ThunderPath ahead of us. Beyond the ThunderPath was Riki's old farm, and beyond that is the way to the red cough tree. 

"Why did you want this? Are you sick Lord Nightmare?" Tails asked looking at me with concern. His tails flicked up and down as he examined my body. 

"No I just have a friend whose sick, someone who is very important to me. She doesn't live in our Clan, despite my pleading," I replied. "Tigerlily... She is more then a friend... Maybe after this she will agree to live in my Clan."

Crystal let out a purr as she nudged Tails away from me, "It's just typical Nightmare looking out for others."  

I appreciated their loyalty and that they didn't bombard me with questions. Crystal's beautiful nearly purple eyes looked at me with a smile, "You should have seen Riki and Skars, they were begging for me to smuggle them with us."

Lang laughed and nudged me, "Skars finally came out of his shell thanks to you, Blue, and Ranger." I shrugged and walked ahead of the white, scarred, tom. We walked over a hill and saw where the old broken down barn was. "SoulClan I have so many bad memories here."

They tilted their heads and looked at me confused, I forgot to tell them about SoulClan! "It's where we go when we die, I spoke with my family there in a dream."

Crystal's eyes widened, "So we will get to be with each other even when we die?"

"Thats comforting to know we have people waiting for us." Lang meowed. 

I let out a grunt of approval and kept walking faster, I wasn't in the best mood. Tigerlily could die, I couldn't be happy. I realized that I didn't know much about the pasts of these cats, I decided I would stray from my father's path a bit and use respect instead of fear. "What were your lives like before you joined the clan?"

Crystal and Tails looked at each other, "Our lives weren't very good. We lived in an alley, rats and mice were our main prey. Our coats were almost always dirty." Crystal sighed. Tails licked her ear, "I almost forgot what it was like to see your white fur!"

I looked at Lang, "What about you?"

There was a silence before Lang met my gaze, "I had an abusive father and my mother left me soon after birth. H-He killed my brother when he stood up for us. I was the only kit to escape, by the time I was old enough and returned to fight him, he was gone. I met up with cats like me, Orphans, Abused kits, we formed our own group and our goal was to protect kits like Skars."

Crystal sniffled and buried her face into the tom, "It must have been hard, I'm so sorry."

Lang dipped his head to her then looked at me, "How about you Nightmare?"

We just crossed the farm and made it into the woods. I shrugged, "My mother died a month or two ago, we lived around here with my sister Eve. She recently passed away saving Riki and Skars from a badger-hearted tom named Sleetstorm," I said with a frown.

There were murmurs of apology throughout the cats. Tails looked at me with concern, "Occasionally I here the Clan whispering about the other Clan cats, what are they like?"

"A select few are nice, the others are insane and power hungry. Their warriors don't have a choice on what they become, it's decided for them. I'm mostly about free will, giving you the opportunity to be what you want. I see no point in making a fine hunter a lousy guard," I replied.