Infinita Frigus

Chapter 4

Leafstorm cast his eyes out over the frozen lake, which gleamed silver in the few beams of winter moonlight that made their way through the clouds. His paws crunched against the snow as he padded along the shore, making his way back towards ShadowClan from the Moonpool.

This was his first journey to the sacred place since the leaf-bare started. He had been skeptical of whether his warrior ancestors would visit him; the shimmering pool has been frozen over with a thick sheet of ice, like most other bodies of water in the territories. Even so, he had put his nose to the ice and was comforted when the divine sleep overcame him.

The medicine cat's comfort had been short-lived, however. He had gone to the Moonpool looking for answers, and had come away with nothing but a grim promise that he would "see red soon."

The words had not been appealing to the brown and white tabby. They sounded, in his opinion, quite like an omen of death, and he was reluctant to report the words to Nightstar, his leader.

Splish, splash...

Leafstorm's ears shot up, his blue eyes widening.

Splish, splash...

That... That sounded like... But no- It couldn't be...

Plop, plop, splash...

No, that was definitely water! Water that hadn't been seen in almost half a moon, that is.

Splish, splish, splash...

Leafstorm set his jaw. His ears swiveled frantically, and in a few moments, he determined that the sound came from the west.

The medicine cat pushed off from the hardened snow, quickly accelerating into a sprint. His lanky, wiry form took him quickly across the territories, and he soon found himself and the opening to a small cavern.

The tabby hesitated. The sound of the water was clear now, and while he had always found himself with an inexplicable urge to venture underground, his mother had always tried to rid him of this desire.

"ShadowClan cats aren't made for the tunnels," his mother had told him when he had expressed this desire to her as a kit. "Leave that to the WindClanners."

"Why do the WindClan cats get to go underground and I don't?" he had asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Because you are a ShadowClan cat," his mother had growled, a look he couldn't place coming into her eyes. "Do you understand me, Leafkit?"

"Y-Yes," he had squeaked, stumbling backward and running out of the nursery.

Leafstorm shook his head. That's in the past, he told himself firmly. This is now. Squaring his shoulders, he descended into the darkness.

Immediately, and surprisingly, he instantly felt at home in the cavern. His paws unconsciously found the best route, and before he knew it he emerged into a small hallowed out space in the earth.

His eyes had adjusted to the lighting almost instantly, and he sucked in a breath as he saw what lay on the back of the cavern. 

Red drops of water dropped down from the ceiling, falling into a pool below. He felt strangely drawn to it, and as he neared the pool he saw, with a shock, an image in the water.

There was a colossal, elaborate structure, and a cat sprinting towards it. As the two collides, the formation dissolved, and the dissolved bits began to swirl around, showing an image of a forest in Greenleaf.

Suddenly, the pool began to grow, leaping at Leafstorm's white paws. He pulled them away quickly, and with a feeling of dread saw that they were stained red.

Swallowing nervously, he turned tail and ran as fast as he could out of the cavern. Shooting out from the entrance, he threw himself behind a slowly-dying tree and hid there, shivering in the cold.

When he finally looked back at it, the cavern was gone, a fresh blanket of snow in it's place.

---

"Fallenshade, wake up!"

The aforementioned cat groaned and buried deeper into his nest. "Sleepy," he grumbled.

A paw prodded his shoulder. "Come on, Fallenshade! Stormstar's about to make an announcement about the Gathering last night! Supposedly something big happened!"

The gray tabby groaned and reluctantly climbed out of his soft mossy nest. "Lead on, Featherpaw," he mewed, amused.

"Yay!" the little apprentice chirped, before brushing shoulders with the older cat. "Follow me!"

Fallenshade chuckled and allowed the fluffy gray cat to lead him to the gathering place. He could hear the other cats mingling all around him.

"Nice to see you made it, Fallenshade," a cat mewed playfully. "I thought you were going to sleep in that den all day!"

The gray tabby gasped in mock astonishment. "Why, Rapidshine! I am mortified that you would think something like that of me!"

"Be mortified all you want," the golden she-cat teased. "But the truth remains- You could sleep through a badger attack if you wanted to!"

Fallenshade opened his mouth to make a snarky retort but was cut off by Stormstar's yowl. "Cats of WindClan!" the old leader called. "Please, quiet down."

The clan instantly fell silent. Stormstar cleared his throat and began his announcement. "Those of you who were at the Gathering have surely concluded what issue I will be addressing. And no, Yellowpaw, I am not confirming that tunnels are "way more awesome than moor-runners" just so you can one-up your sister."

A short burst of laughter rang through the air at the old leader's comment. Fallenshade's lips twisted into a mirthless smile at the comment. He would have liked to be a moor-runner, but alas, there's only so much a blind cat can do.

"Instead," Stormstar announced, "I will be addressing the issue that many of you heard last night at the Gathering- The proposal to send out an expedition to try and stop the leaf-bare."

Fallenshade did a double-take, his blind green eyes widening. Had he heard the old leader correctly?

"I know many of you have formed your own opinions on this," Stormstar continued. "And there will be much time to reconsider my decision. But for the time being, I have chosen to go along with Nightstar's plan and volunteer a cat for the expedition."

Yowls filled Fallenstorm's ears instantly, making the elder wince. Some were of protest, some were of agreement, and some were of cats arguing with each other over the decision. Fallenshade himself thought the idea was absurd- The Clans were already suffering as they were, why send cats away from the clan?

"Silence!" Swiftfoot, the deputy, bellowed. "Respect Stormstar's decision," he growled. "We still have half a moon to finalize."

With the black-and-white tom's words, the cats began to disperse, spreading out among the clan to share their thoughts on the matter. Fallenshade sighed and shook his head. Stormstar was absurd to go along with this plan, he reflected. It would only end in suffering for the clans as needless lives were lost in some insane journey to stop a freak of nature.