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

Chapter 7

Nightheart's tail twitched anxiously as she waited in the shadowy forest. Her yellow eyes scanned the dark, dying trees for any sign of Thornstar. Its not like him to keep me waiting. Nightheart thought, flicking her ears. As she looked over the trees, she couldn't help but think of the old forest. She wondered why it looked like now that the snow was gone. She wondered if it looked like this place with old rotting trees and the smell of dying plants all around.

At long last, Nightheart heard pawsteps in the distance, rustling the dead flora. Nightheart stood up, ready to greet Thornstar. However, the cat that emerged from the shadows wasn't Thornstar. It was a large tabby who looked similar to the former AshClan leader, but had a darker, slightly more golden tabby pelt. He had darker, more intimidating amber eyes and a long, large scar that trailed down the center of his face.

The presence of this cat made Nightheart feel threatened, her pelt stood on end and she unsheathed her claws. "Who are you?" She demanded with a sharp hiss, refusing to show any fear.

"Stand down, Nightheart." The tom spoke, his voice low and threatening. "I bring you no harm." The tom sat down, holding his broad head high. "My name is Falconclaw, I am Thornstar's uncle."

"Falconclaw?" Nightheart narrowed her eyes, she had never heard of a cat named Falconclaw, only Falconheart. "What do you want? Why should I care that you're Thornstar's uncle."

"Because," Falconclaw began. "I'm the one who told Thornstar to start training you. I have an apprentice of my own, and I decided it was time for you two to meet."

Nightheart's ears flattened, if this cat was in the same forest as Thornstar, then he probably wasn't that great of a cat. Who could he be training? It didn't take long for her to figure it out, Thornstar was training Nightheart because he had told her she was almost like kin to him. "It's Falconheart, isn't it?" She growled. "I'm not interested, I already know him and I have no intentions of spending any time with him."

Falconclaw let out a deep chuckle. "I can see why, Falconheart can be quite arrogant at times but in here, he's very different. He knows that he's not the biggest cat around here. I think you'd quite enjoy seeing him humbled."

"Oh really?" Nightheart's interest was piqued. "I don't know if I should trust you but..." Her voice trailed off as she stood up. "I guess it couldn't hurt." Nightheart hoped that she wouldn't regret her words.

"So why did you tell Thornstar to train me?" Nightheart questioned Falconclaw as they walked through the forest. "You're Falconheart's kin, not mine. I have no blood relation to any of you."

"That may be." Falconclaw mewed without moving his gaze away from the path ahead of them. "But Thornstar loved your mother, and his kits with the exception of his son didn't want anything to do with him. So you were his next choice."

Nightheart flicked her ears. "I highly doubt he loved my mother." She growled, thinking of Echoheart. "If he loved her so much, why didn't he just have kits with her? Instead of Echoheart having to lie to my father."

"Because he wanted to focus on his son, Thrushclaw was very hard headed. He wanted nothing more than to impress his father and Thornstar wasn't sure what would happen if he had more kits."

Nightheart snorted. I was only born because Thornstar's own son was a brat. She tried to hide her annoyance. "Still, why did you tell him."

"Thornstar saw me training Falconheart and wanted in, Thornstar's name is very sour in SunClan and probably will be for a long time."

"And his name isn't sour in AshClan? He nearly destroyed my Clan." Nightheart growled, lashing her tail.