Book 4: Sol's Revenge & Whisper's Path

Sol

I couldn't tell, but I believed Fallen-Leaves and I were becoming friends. I remained in the tunnels with him, despite his insistence I needed to leave. We caught silver fish in the underground stream, but I never saw him eat any. We slept on the smooth moss covered stone, which no longer seemed cold but rather soothing. And he told me stories of ancient clans who lived in the very forests above where we lay. Their warrior ceremony was a trial. The young cat was sent into these tunnels and had to find their way out. How many souls perished in this dark place, I didn't know.

I missed seeing the stars, I missed being able to see the future. I was blind down here. But I was comforted by Fallen-Leaves, perhaps my only true friend. But I should've known. I should've know this peace could never last. Not while my sisters vengeful spirit still roamed.

"Wake up!" Fallen-Leaves voice whispered urgently in my ear. I opened my eyes groggily.

"What?" I yawned. He nudged me to my paws in a panic.

"Get up!" he said frantically. I snapped to attention.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"I don't know, but I can feel it. It's not right," he said, his green eyes were wide with fear. "You need to leave."

He brought me to the exit quickly, he wouldn't even dare to step close to the sunlight pooling into the tunnel from the opening.

"Go," he said and turned, receding deeper into the cavern. My eyes winced at the bright light but I climbed out of the tunnel regardless, I could feel it too. I didn't know what it was but the air had a coolness to it. Something was indeed wrong.

I saw it then, the very last stars fading in the dawn light. But before the vanished I saw it. The prophecy of light, dark, and death.

It was then that I started to run. Whatever this prophecy was, it had been following me for a long time. I didn't know what it meant or entailed, but if the history of my life was any sign there was nothing good in store for me. I moved quickly through the underbrush, ignoring every thorn I landed on and every bramble that snagged my calico pelt. I careened full speed into a gray object, sending both of us flying. I caught a whiff of scent before my breath was knocked out of me.

"Whisper?" I choked out.

"Hello Sol," he greeted me coolly. His eyes were guarded, not revealing a hint of emotion. But it was not lost on me that he called me Sol instead of brother. Whatever connection we had, had been shattered that night in Cedarclan. I struggled to my paws, facing him squarely.

"Why are you here?" I demanded. I didn't ask how he found me. The stars, those traitors, showed him the way I was certain.

Whisper gave a short of shrug and took a step towards me. Reflexively I took a step back.

"Why are you here?" I repeated, suddenly scared. Why would Whisper chase me all the way to the lake, what need would he have, unless...

My thought was ended abruptly as his claws met my muzzle. Blood splattered the dirt underbrush, but I had no time to focus on the sting because he was attacking again, his fangs and claws striking me in a dozen places at once. I realized I was hopelessly outmatched. The most I could do would be to prolong the fight until I was too exhausted to continue and he could finish it.

As I debated giving up, she appeared. A black shadow stalking through the thickets, her golden eyes glowing with delight. She was going to watch Whisper murder me. But Whisper sensed her, the fur on his shoulders raised slightly and he glanced behind. His eyes took on a glassy sheen as he observed our sister. And then his features were filled with a rage I had never known.

"Echo!" he roared and hurtled towards her, leaving me bleeding and forgotten in the grass.

"You killed Icefire!" his voice was laced with pain and anger as he said the name of a cat I had never met.

"Technically I wasn't the one to slit her throat," Echo smirked, this only angered Whisper more. But Echo was a ghost, he couldn't touch her.

"You possessed Zilla, took away any future she might have known. You tried to destroy my home, my clan, because you couldn't destroy me. Every life that perished in that battle is your fault and yours alone."

"Touche," Echo said. Then her claws unsheathed and she struck Whisper, right on his flank, he claws came away red.

"What?" my brother and I said at the same time. How did Echo touch him?

"The three siblings of light, dark, and death have been reunited at last," she said, giddy, before bounding away towards the tunnels. Whisper looked down at the defined scratches in his chest, before looking back at me, and then looking at the direction Echo had trapezed down.

"Get up," he said to me before taking off after our sister. I struggled to my paws and hesitated only for a moment before following him. Whisper had come here with the intent of killing me, yes, but it was more than that. He came here to end things, to stop the circle of destruction that had followed us since kithood. And maybe it was more important to stop Echo than me.

When I reached the tunnel the scent trail ended. They were already below ground. I gulped and then darkness engulfed me, my paws met smooth stone. My eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and it wasn't long before I found Echo and Whisper locked in a death grip.

"Leave him! I'm the one you want. I'm the one you've always wanted," I called out. She looked up at me and released Whisper.

"Wrong little brother," she shook her head in disappointment. "I hated you since you took your first breath, you freak. Everything would've been perfect if you had neevr been born and it had just been me Harry and Whisper. But everyone had to choose you! Dad chose you to be his favorite. Mom chose you to tell stories to. And then Whisper chose you to. And since that decision he's been dead to me."

"So you want to kill us both?" I tried to keep her talking, Whisper was starting to get up from where he lay. But Echo knew this and charged me without another syllable. She was strong, and if she was a match for Whisper then I didn't stand a chance. Weeks of doing nothing underground but eating silver fish and sleeping had done nothing for my fighting skills. I couldn't wrap my head around how Echo was here, real, and attacking me. But I didn't have time to think about it because she had pushed me the edge of the underground river.

"How does it feel Sol?" she cackled as my head slipped beneath the current. Her paws pushed on my chest, forcing the air out of my lungs. "How does it feel to drown?"

For the first time I regretted killing my sister. In those sickening moments where I was beneath the roaring current, I felt terror. I thought I was going to drown. I felt Echo's paws on my chest and she held me down, I saw even beneath the water, the silver tears that slid down her face. I was terrified of almost drowning, Echo had drowned.

She was evil, not a shred of goodness in her core. But had it always been that way? Or had she changed after she drowned and came back as a spirit? I would know soon, my lungs screamed for air but they were only greeted with water. I was starting to loose consciousness. Would the last thing I see before I died be my sisters smiling face, distorted by fast moving currents?

My eyes started to close, and instead of victory I saw a gray flash ram into Echo. I heaved upwards out of the river, spitting water and gasping for breath. Blood stained the river red, and I saw Echo lying on the wet stone, her golden eyes wide and afraid. She let out one last gurgling cry before going limp. Her pelt started to fade into oblivion before she was even dead.