Island Territory: Lost Stars (Warrior Cats)

Chapter 14

Photo up there is Mistytail

For one, Icekit was proud of her skills. Second, Icekit wouldn't believe what she was thinking. Third, she couldn't believe what she was thinking.
Snowkit's voice rang around in her head. "You can't blame others because you don't like the outcome!" Icekit winced, not sure of what to do.
Icekit most certainly wouldn't accept that Sweetkit would go out. Especially right after their talk about it.
But the signs were too clear for her, and Icekit felt lost. What would've Snowkit have done? Icekit thought desperately.
Almost right on cue, Snowkit's voice sounded behind her. "Stop moping." she chided. Icekit nearly jumped up with surprise at this.
"I'm not moping." Icekit said simply, flipping over the leaf she had been staring at for twenty minutes. "You're moping."
Snowkit grunted, and flicked her tail sassily, tossing her head in a teasing manner. "I'm not even capable of moping." she said, in the voice she usually used to mimic Riverkit. (Longkit's mimicking was a whole different story.)
Icekit grumped around for a while, before looking up at Snowkit again. "Oh, come on." Snowkit sighed dramatically. "What's the big deal?"
"I can't tell you. Otherwise you'd freak out." Icekit said snippily. It was true though, Icekit knew she wasn't that good at breaking the news to others. But she was pretty sure that she'd get better at it, she was only three moons old, after all.
It may be just her, but did Snowkit look a bit offended at that? "I'd like to see you even try to make me freak out."
Getting rather disgruntled at this point, Icekit got up and marched over to the warriors den, hoping they had some sort of a story to make her forget all of this.
As she padded over, Icekit saw Sweetkit bounce by, carrying some reeds, and also carrying a scent Icekit didn't want to guess what it was.
Icekit self-consciously hastened her pace, ears flattening, trying to block out all the outside noise.
As soon as Icekit's paws touched down onto the warrior's den entrance, she heard Mistytail's welcoming purr rumble through the den.
A smile cracked through Icekit's face, and her pelt relaxed a little, her tail swishing high up in the air.
"Icekit! Long time, no see!" Mistytail shuffled her slender limbs over, to make space for Icekit. She nestled up neatly next to her, eyes shining eagerly.
"Is that Icekit over there?" Hollyfire mrowed from across the den. Her dappled coat shined, and her eyes glowed warmly in the sunlight.
Icekit shied away a bit, not used to so much attention. "I was just hoping you could tell me a story..." Icekit began, timidly.
Her pelt ruffling up, Mistytail smiled cheerfully at her, as if she was more than welcome to listen to stories of their hunts and battles.
"Well, you're in luck. We had a very recent battle with Fireclan recently, and boy, you should've seen the look on their faces when..." Mistytail trailed off, her eyes glazed, as if she was someplace far away.
Purring, Icekit edged a bit closer to Mistytail, and a small jolt of grief went through her when she thought of Crystalpelt, still very sick, and how she used to wrap her tail around Icekit when she told her stories...
"We were all gathered up, by the twoleg shack, when we saw this whole patrol of Fireclan, right on our territory!" Mistytail exclaimed, as if it had just happened yesterday.
"Of course, I knew I had to report this. But before you knew it, Treestar, and this whole battle patol were there, and the fight broke out."
"I didn't know what happened, before I realized I was a bit off schedule for my border patrol. Another patrol, lead by Treestar, had overlapped with mine, which was lucky, because it seemed like we needed an extra help with that fight."
Icekit's eyes widened, at the sound of the word 'fight'. It was when that word sounded, that all the drama would come together. Those were the types of stories Icekit loved.
"The clearing exploded into a mess of fur and claws! At first, we were just chasing them off. But before I knew it, a whole fight appeared! Fireclan must've been really surprised when they saw us crashing through!"
"My first instinct was to fight. Fight, fight, fight. I rushed in, scratching and biting at every Fireclan cat I could!"
"And Cloudclan!" Hollyfire chimed in, her voice itching with annoyance. "Mistytail gave me a good bite on the shoulder..." she grumbled.
Mistytail sighed, and her neck fur bristled sensitively. "I said I was sorry a long time ago." she protested.
Icekit nudged Mistytail a bit, reminding her of the story. She just couldn't wait to see what happened next!
"Ah-Oh, yes, the story. Ahem, so there I was, fighting like, uh, Lionclan, was it? Yes, Lionclan. Soon I was locked in combat with another Fireclan warrior. I think her name was Brightpelt, I met her at a gathering..."
Icekit wasn't sure what to think. Mistytail made it sound like no problem to slit the throat of an enemy warrior you had actually met as equals. But Icekit wasn't sure if she had the guts to...
Shaking herself a bit, Icekit zoomed back into reality, her ears perking up to keep listening, and stuffing that thought back into the back of her head.
"...And I nearly didn't see her coming! I thought she was a Moonclan warrior for a second, with that blackish tortoiseshell pelt." Mistytail rambled on.
"But as soon as I saw her first move, I knew she was Fireclan. I'd remember that front paw blow from Fireclan islands away! If only I could see that far..."
"Anywho, I easily blocked it, and struck back, easily as plucking a leaf from a bush. But, I hate to say this, she was faster then she looked."
"She wriggled below me, and kicked me up, I was exposed! I hit the ground, hard. I was stunned, and expected sharp, strong, claws to bring me down."
"But they didn't come. After I finally managed to open my eyes, I saw Swiftwind there, tackling that mangy Fireclan warrior away. Serves her right, that little..."
"Oh, yes, Swiftwind. Oh, when I saw him, I was a goner..." Mistytail trailed off, her eyes reflecting something deeper than the light...
"Wait..." Icekit hesitated. Mistytail was the mate of Swiftwind, everyone knew that. They had been together for a rather long time. But... "Wait, didn't you say that this battle had happened recently? If it did, then how..."
Mistytail's mouth twisted into a mischievous smile. "I told you a battle had happened recently. That was all I said. Yes, I was named Mistypaw at the time, ann eager, immature young apprentice at that time, and so gullible for love..."
Icekit's mind whizzed around in a confused circle, her thoughts going faster then her processing system, spinning mayhem.
"But... But that means, you just told me-" "The day I fell in love with Swiftwind? Yes, yes I did just tell you that." Mistytail said plainly, her eyes glazed over with emotion.
"And when my little Cherrykit and Silverkit were born, I was so happy... "Mistytail trailed off again, her tail fluffing up in anxious loops.
Icekit was a bit perplexed. Spottedheart and Crystalpelt never told her about how they met. It was rather nice though, hearing about it.
Hollyfire had long fell asleep, resting in the sunlight. It was in a couple of moment, that Icekit realized just how long she had been here.
Mousedung! I was supposed to try out Sweetkit's training course! Argh... Icekit leaped up, and hurried out towards the exit, but suddenly stopped, and turned back to thank Mistytail about the story and the company.
Icekit dashed out to the camp, and sure enough, the soft light of dusk was pouring through the sky, tainting it a light red.
Panicking a bit, Icekit ran over to the nursery, and nearly running into Lightningpaw in the process.
Carefully, Icekit tried to skip across the stepping stones outside the nursery, but she had stumbled a few times, and nearly tipped over once or twice.
But by the time Icekit had finally reached the nursery, Sweetkit wasn't there. "...Huh?" Icekit murmured to herself quietly.
Slowly watching her pawsteps, she creeped to the wall where the training course was, and it looked completely untouched. In fact, it looked exactly the same as when Icekit saw Sweetkit working on it.
Pieces of moss were dangling loosely on some of the rocks, and the stone that used to stand up was sitting flatly on the wall.
Checking back outside a couple of times, Icekit was rather puzzled at this. What did Sweetkit even do with those reeds Icekit had seen her carry around earlier?
It was a bit more obvious than icekit would have liked though. Her mind was literally waving a red flag in front of her face.
After desperately searching around to see if Sweetkit was perhaps hiding around, and definitely not snooping out just to visit a kittypet, Icekit eventually gave up, and padded out with heavy paws.
But even though that had all happened, Icekit had to admit to herself, it was a pretty decent day. Starclan knows what the day had planned for her, but other then her sister sneaking away, and her mother still being sick, it wasn't that bad.
Icekit sighed a satisfied sigh, and plopped down next to the prey pile to eat something. She hadn't eaten a decent meal for what seemed like forever.
Although she missed sharing the prey with her sisters, she liked having some bit of privacy when she ate.
From the corner of her eye, Icekit could see Snowkit happily chatting away with Seedpaw, who looked like a brother next to her.
Sandpaw was nearby too, although he was very badly 'hidden'. He was peering over from behind a bush, and jealousy was written all over his face as Snowkit and Seedpaw talked like they were old friends.
Mistytail was asleep out in a clearing, Swiftwind by her side, and Icekit smiled happily. The dusky light emphasized the scene, and Icekit couldn't help but envy everyone else.
It seemed like they all had someone to talk to, to open up. Snowkit with her apprentice friends, and Sweetkit with a perhaps, kittypet friend.
The word still felt sour in Icekit's mouth. She had kittypet blood herself, but it felt very strange that Sweetkit was a full kittypet.
Well, not really... Icekit thought, rather pleased when the memory of Sweetkit play-fighting with her flashed back into her head.
Silverpaw's company crossed her mind, but they were just acquaintances, just chatting whenever they felt lonely, they weren't as close as Snowkit was, or maybe-Sweetkit.
Suddenly a yowl split the air, and Icekit nearly landed flat into the prey pile. "Treestar! Ambergaze!" It was Foxfoot, panting hard, as two other warriors followed behind him.
"Th-there's a huge storm coming, we could see it, coming in close behind the Mountains of the Setting Sun. A flood may happen at that time." Foxfoot reported, looking very ragged and tired.
This simply spiked at Ambergaze's interest,, while Treestar leaped up immediately. "Are you sure? Is this storm for certain?" Foxfoot reluctantly nodded, and his eyes flickered a bit in fear.
Icekit shivered, but wasn't too sure what to expect. Hollyfire had talked to her about storms before. They sounded huge, and dangerous, while the floods that happened afterwards were even more so.
But she had even said not to worry, since the kits were number one priority in the circumstances of a flood, so Icekit wasn't too ruffled.
"There are light drizzles over to the side of the twoleg shack. We're expecting rain very soon..."Foxfoot trailed off, before Spottedheart ran over, beside Foxfoot and nudged him a bit, as if reminding him of something.
"Oh, and... Treestar. We saw a Fireclan patrol near the south of the Gathering place." Foxfoot said slowly.
"Oh, yes? And what does this have to do with us?" Ambergaze commented icily, her tail lashing. Foxfoot trembled a bit at this, as if having a sort of distant memory, before piping up.
"We-we saw one of them, Voleclaw, the deputy I think. They were chasing after a rabbit and... Well, the River Rapids had rose up, so he, he... He lost their footing, fell into the river, and... They didn't get out. It was terrible." Foxfoot looked shaken, as if he had lost his own clanmate.
Treestar's ears raised up, and so did Icekit's. "The deputy? Of Fireclan? You saw all of this, are you sure he's not alive still?"
Foxfoot nodded, her eyes still glazed in terror. "Yes, we watched and waited, he never got out, sometimes his paw would shoot up, but never in time... And his clanmates..."
The rain slowly fell, like a steady beat, and splish splash splish onto their heads, playing a small song of sadness, as if the rain itself mourned the terrible death of a fallen warrior.