Warriors: Echo of Darkness

Chapter 20

Several weeks had passed, Sandstar had kept his word and hadn't disturbed them since. Nightmare emerged from his den and watched Riki and Skars play. It had taken him seeing their joyful reunion to know how inseparable they were, "Both lost mothers, they have something in common."

Ranger and his plump mate Blue were watching them from the whelping den. "Ranger finally gets a family, that could have been me and Tigerlily..." I thought sadly.

Virgil, Nova, and Enek returned from scouting the borders. Since they had a large territory, he needed a rank specially dedicated to marking it. Everyone seemed more comfortable with Nova and Enek. He had worried about them not fitting in, but like most cats, they fit in perfectly.

I blinked in surprise when Crystal, Tails, and Prez sprinted into the base, out of breath. I stood up and paced over to them, "What's wrong? Have you seen ThunderClan on our territory?"

"No," Crystal panted, "I have something important to tell you."

I looked from Tails to Prez, "Do you two know whats going on? Why are you so out of breath? Is it so important that you had to leave your hunting patrol immediately?"

"I have no idea whats going on," Prez admitted, "She scented something then bolted for base."

"It's my father's rogues," Crystal cursed, "I smelled a few of them. The trail was thin and the scent was old, I think they traveled through our territory."

"By the way they were going, they were headed for the border of ShadowClan and ThunderClan." Tails reported swishing his two grey tails. 

"If they aren't bothering us, it doesn't concern LunarClan. That being said, scouts I would like you to keep an eye out." I meowed at Nova and the rest. 

Crystal nodded, but still seemed unconvinced. I could only imagine what life was like in that broken down city. "Is she worried for us? or for them? She ran to Leviah's side immediately, maybe her loyalty doesn't truly lie with us."

Doubt lingered in his mind. She had give him no reason to distrust her, but he had to be cautious. He remembered the words Ranger had told him when he first joined, "I need to be careful, a deceiving rogue could easily steal my Clan right under my nose."

"Whats worse is that we have six cats that used to live in the city, they could overpower me with the help of some rogues... No... you need to stop doubting your cats' loyalty Nightmare. I need to get to the bottom of this, maybe they haven't told me everything." 

I padded over to Crystal and Tails, they were sharing a mouse. I tried to keep my thoughts to myself, I didn't want to offend them and drive them away. "Hi, when you two are finish do you want to go scout the territory? I think it could be good since you haven't been with us that long."

"That sounds great." Crystal purred swishing her white tail. 

"I will have to share my doubts with Ranger later so he can keep an eye out. He is more older and experienced then me." 

After they finished, I led them out of the base. I was heading West first, towards the gorge. "I hate to bring up your father, but what was he like before your mother left?"

"Before he left... he treated everyone pretty good. He made sure no one was hungry and made sure everyone's training was up to date. When the famine started, my mother ran away with a kittypet to be his mate so she wouldn't suffer. She left me behind with my father."

"Some mother," I growled lashing my tail. 

"It wasn't all that bad, I guess it had its benefits. We had one less mouth to feed, but still, I missed her. Even after she left us to struggle." she meowed.