A New Horizon Book 4: A Fallen Star {COMPLETE}

Chapter 3

Blackstorm hesitated, glancing over his shoulder one last time as Honeyfrost vanished into the trees of SunClan territory. His heart ached as he watched her go, he would now have to return to his life in AshClan, without her by his side. It was time to return to menial tasks of gathering herbs, counting herbs and taking prey to the kits. Blackstorm was grateful that the Clans were at peace, but he felt a forever creeping sense of uselessness.

With a heavy sigh, Blackstorm padded back into AshClan territory, breathing in the calming scent of pine trees. It was quite the walk from here to his camp which was on the entire side of the territory. He walked slowly, despite his fear of being caught by Skyfeather. Part of him wanted to be caught, maybe then he could find a way to be with Honeyfrost, but then he would be putting her at risk as well. He never should've started seeing Honeyfrost, but now he couldn't stop, and he didn't want to.

Blackstorm finally reached camp at the peak of dawn, he avoided Harewhisker who was standing guard by going around a side entrance of the camp, pushing his way through a hole in the thorn barrier around the camp and stepping into his den. Skyfeather was still sound asleep. Blackstorm fell into his nest, feeling exhausted. He was sacrificing sleep for Honeyfrost, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

Blackstorm's eyes fluttered open, he winced as the rays of the sun shone directly onto his face. He lifted his head, letting out a long yawn. He looked around the medicine cat den, Skyfeather wasn't in his nest and there wasn't any trace of him in the den. Blackstorm stood up and stretched out his limbs. He peered out of the entrance of the medicine cat den, it was sunhigh already, Blackstom didn't realize he had fallen asleep. Why didn't Skyfeather wake him up?

Blackstorm stepped out of the den, looking around camp. Rabbitpaw, Dustpaw, Leafpaw and Primrosepaw were all sitting with their mentors. He knew that today was their warrior assessment, though he didn't really care. Maybe he should care more about what was going on his Clan, but new warriors were made all the time. Primrosepaw was a former rogue, daughter of the horrible cat Hornet who threatened to kill Honeyfrost. Blackstorm of all cats knew he shouldn't judge her based on her parents, but he couldn't help but feel a sharp pang of distrust towards the she-cat, but his Clan had welcomed her and he ignored his own feelings.

"There you are, Blackstorm." Blackstorm's ears twitched as he heard the voice of his mentor. He looked over his shoulder, spotting Skyfeather coming from the elder's den. "Glad you're awake."

"You could've woken me up soon, you know." Blackstorm reminded him.

"I tried to." Skyfeather replied, he didn't sound annoyed but Blackstorm's pelt still burned. "But, you seemed really tired so I let you sleep." Skyfeather's blue eyes looked around camp for just a moment before focusing back on Blackstorm. "We're going to LichenClan camp."

Blackstorm tilted his head, what possible reason did the two of them have to go to LichenClan? "Why?" Blackstorm questioned.

"I want to explore the unclaimed territory for herbs, mainly for wintergreen. I found some nightshade near the river. I got rid of it, but you never know where more could be. We don't have any wintergreen near our territory but the other might. I don't want some mousebrained apprentice eating some nightshade and not have any way to save him."

"Okay, but I still don't see why we need to speak with LichenClan about it."

Skyfeather twitched his nose, was Blackstorm annoying him? "Because I want passage through their territory. Even if we were to go directly through the gathering hollow the only crossing for the river is into LichenClan territory. I spoke with Riverstar and she said we could."

"Alright." Blackstorm nodded. "Are we leaving now?"

Skyfeather nodded. "I want to make it back before nightfall if possible." With that, the two medicine cats padded out of AshClan camp. When they had first found the camp it was just a stone outcropping with the means to make dens, but in their time living here, the Clan had formed a large bramble barrier around the edge of it. It took a while, but it finally felt like a home.