Warriors: Echo of Darkness

Chapter 24

I had sent all but six cats to make sure they left and guard. I stared at the cats I had taken in from the city, "I want to know everything, relations, why hes here, everything."

Everyone looked at each other, Enek stepped forward, "Snake is my cousin, but I was never a true member of Leviah's group. Our mothers were sisters, my mother took me to a farm when I was a kit. His mothers name is Patch, she was one of Leviah's strongest cats." he paused, looking at Tails, "I heard Tails had to kill her to escape with Crystal."

"After they escaped, we followed them." Tack meowed.

Prez dipped her head, "I'm of the trouble we brought to you."

Enek shook his head, "You're wrong Prez, I know my cousin. He would have come here and terrorized us with our without Tails. Snake stopped by my farm a few moons ago. He was driven insane by his mothers death. The cats that he 'rescued' from the city all had their tails bobbed because his mother's tail was bobbed."

"Why is he obsessed with blues eyes?" I asked. 

"Patch had blue eyes," Tails muttered, "She is a black, white, and silver splotched she-cat. I didn't want to kill her, honestly, but we needed to escape."

"I know you're not a bad cat Tails." I meowed giving him a nod, "but we need to get Feather back. We can't turn our backs on any cat."

"I spoke to her last night, she seemed like a genuine cat. She was a bit shy at first, I'm not surprised since those ShadowClan cats seem so cruel."

"I will do everything I can, this is between me and Snake. I need to settle it before any other cat gets hurt." Tails meowed hanging his head.

Crystal's eyes widened, "No! You know what he's like! He will have his guards ambush you and kill you! You saved me Tails, I will always be grateful to you, and Nightmare of course. I can't let you do this!"

I thought for a moment, Enek too seemed lost in thought. "That isn't a bad idea actually Crystal."

She looked at me horrified, "Nightmare you can't! If you make him sacrifice himself, I'm going with him!" 

"No no, of course not. We just need to use him as bait. How many cats do you think they have? If they had an army, they wouldn't resort to sneaking around the territories. Sneaking is something done by cats who are afraid to lose numbers. This means that they must not have many, we could surround and over power them." I meowed.

Enek's dark blue eyes brightened, "You're right, that might just work. But theres just one more problem... who was the 'little birdie' that told him about us?"

I completely forgot, I was caught up in the moment. It didn't take me too long to guess, "It must have been Sleetstorm. I will deal with that sly fox later! I am done cowering, I will lose no more Clanmates."

I jumped up on the roots of my den and yowled for a meeting. Everyone sat below me, except for Ranger who was guarding Blue's den diligently. I gazed down at my cats with authority, "Hear me out, we will meet Snake at moon high. I will send you out all around the gorge, we will corner them. We will rescue Feather and get rid of these prey stealers once and for all!"

The Clan yowled in agreement. Leafbare was already here, it only took one cat to get sick for sickness to spread. We needed Feather now more than ever. Even so, he had felt a special connection that he couldn't explain with the she-cat. It was an overwhelming protective instinct from the first time he heard her cries. She was skiddish, but she was also kind and caring. She was nothing like the spontaneous Tigerlily he loved, but he couldn't deny feeling a bond with her.

Nightmare left with half of his cats. He left the other half to guard camp, "If Sleetstorm is up to this, he will have told ThunderClan or ShadowClan that our camp is unguarded. Nice try fox-heart, I won't let you harm any more of my cats."