The cats are bordered by their shadows as the sun sinks, the darkness taking on a life of it's own. It almost looks, in a way, as if the shadows are the real cats and the fur and flesh I see before me is nothing but an apparition.
The phantoms stalk towards me, until I feel Firepool's breath on my throat and am comforted by the fact that he is real, and I can cry on him if I need to and keep him safe by me. At his side, Amberpaw is trotting merrily towards me, herbs in mouth. He places them at my feet, obviously pleased with himself.
"Take them." He instructs, "It's travelling herbs. You never know."
"Why do we need travelling herbs for a battle?" I ask after reluctantly swallowing the bitter-tasting herbs.
"They give you strength, endurance, and quell your need for food. On top of that, don't say anything about not actually travelling. StoneClan is almost three times as large in territory as DragonClan, and they have twice as many cats. If the other clans hadn't decided to help us, we would all be dead. The worst part is that their camp is all the way across the territory, even closer to the Moonstone than to here. You'll probably be fighting through half of it."
Everpaw is arguing with another warrior, "You have to let me fight! I'm not a kit, I'm not Everstone, I'm a warrior like you!"
Lilyfrost shakes her head. "You can't. This place... it's so dark and cold. No kit of mine should go there."
"Phantompaw and Mousepaw are going. You just think I'm still like them!"
Lilyfrost sighs, exasperated, but I walk over to her, standing in between them. "He's right, you know." I say calmly.
Lilyfrost hisses, "He can't fight!"
"Deputy's orders. He'll be in my patrol."
You can't do that. Mothstar? Mothstar!"
Mothstar passes by, but her wry smile and sharp-toothed grin just tells that she has no plans whatsoever to stop me. I purr inwardly, and Lilyfrost bounds after Mothstar.
"Thank you." Everpaw says. He looks so much like Everstone, if Everstone had stayed one of us. I lick his head, purring, and he makes a disgusted and disgruntled noise.
We leave the camp together, with my patrol of Cobrastrike, Moonblaze, Everpaw, and Sunshadow to meet the FrostClan and ForestClan cats who will join us. Sure enough, as we reach the dark territory boundary at sundown, Flaredust, Fallenshade, and Ashfern of ForestClan along with Pinefrost, Skywing, and a black cat I don't recognize from FrostClan. As the black cat walks into the moonlit clearing stained blood red by the last rays of the dying sun, I gasp as Moonstar steps forwards.
"I will be joining you today. Should we get going?"
Looking around casually at the dumbstruck cats of ForestClan and DragonClan, she says bluntly, "I didn't join so you could stand around and gawk at me. I'd like to be going, if you'd please. We have an entire legion of half-dead cats to defeat."
The whole group follows her without a second thought.
My surprise turns to some resentment as it's clear she's quite in charge of the group. As we wander into the darkness, we see almost no cats, and I wonder if I'll actually get to do anything. Moreover, where is everyone? The supposed army has disappeared into mist, or so I thought.
"We'll be travelling for a whole day. Anyone want to find a place for us to rest? There will be two guards at all times."
"I'll take first watch." I insist.
"As a deputy, you're one of Mothstar's best warriors. I am glad to have you on my squad."
Her squad. Excuse me?
We look for a good place to rest, but the whole place smells of carrion. It's almost evil, as if the forest has taken on a cruel and sinister life of it's own. I hate it, my fur is up on end, and my whole body screams for me to run far away as fast as possible. Ignoring all of it, I take in a deep breath and patrol deeper in.
"We found a place!" Flaredust and Sunshadow meow together.
"Shhh!" Moonstar hisses. "They're here too."
Oh come on, surely she doesn't instinctively know when-
I look up. In the trees, bright white fangs grow bigger and bigger as the shadow warrior's teeth bare in terribly unreal smiles.
Then, they swoop down, terrible creaking noises as they hit the ground around us. I see blue fire on my vision, the type that usually indicates a death, and my heart stops. As I stand there, paralyzed with fear for what is to come, one rears up and lunges at my throat, just for Moonstar to pin it down and begin clawing into it.
"Fight, Icestorm! Come on!" She yowls as the cat desperately swipes at her before lying still.
I bat another one away, still trying to look over at Moonstar. "Did you kill it?" I ask.
"No. It's unconscious. A true warrior doesn't kill." She mutters.
I fight on, blood staining my vision, and Wolfpaw is back, laughing with glee. I feel myself lose control of my own paws.
"No!" I screech, yanking back control from her just in time to dodge an attack from a half-dead warrior with ribs almost visible through the skin.
"YOU ARE JUST MY SECOND CHANCE! YOU KILLED HIM YOU KILLED HIM AND HE DIED NEVER KNOWING THAT YOU CARED OR I CARED! HE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO STARCLAN! LET ME..."
She pushes herself into my conciousness, and we fight, my vision blurring on the outside as it goes black, and then a bloodstained red.
"Are you alright?" Flaredust is standing over me, and I can barely hear him over my own screams. I feel strong teeth dig into me, someone is moving me to a den.
It's our safe place for the night, I guess, with the little shreds of energy I can manage through my dazed state.
I open my eyes fully to see my paws at my own throat.
"Icy, you have a lot of explaining to do."
