The Aftermath of Dawn to Dusk

Chapter 4

A cat was walking in the narrow pathways while thinking It's been a week already since I went in here.. The she-cat stopped, trying to look around in the dark, but couldn't orientate. The she-cat decided to walk further along the tunnel, her once light-grey fur was now covered in mud and grime, her blue and green eyes glassy and hopeless. Counting her ribs would have been easy, since no prey ever came down. After what seemed like ages the she-cat arrived at a wider area. She opened to mouth to taste the air, Water! she thought, dashing out of the area, following the scent.

As she got closer the scent of water got stronger and stronger. It was even starting to overpower the dirt scent that was constantly around her. The small, quiet sound of dripping water soon gathered around her, there was something about it that seemed familiar. When she took another paw step, she felt chilly water gather around her paw. She sighed in relief, she finally reached the water. The she-cat bent her neck down to take a drink from the water, that was when the realization hit her. Her eyes widened as she remembered what was so familiar about this water, she had passed it on her way into the tunnels nearly a week ago.

 She looked around the tunnels around her, now that she mentions it, there was a smooth dim light coming from one end of the tunnel. The she-cat bolted towards the end of the tunnel, StarClan knows I can't wait to get out of these tunnels! she thought to herself. As she quickly moved around the corner, she could see the exit right before her eyes. And without hesitation, she blazed right through the exit of the tunnels out onto the open moor.

Her eyes went small when the warm sunshine shined on her face, after a few seconds she could see normal once again. The she-cat looked around and meowed to herself "Finally.. back home". Her belly started to rumble and she looked around to see any prey nearby. When she didn't see any, she went further. She knew she would find some prey at the Raven Stone's, so she headed to the territory spot. She arrived a bit after sun high and went between the bushes to the pound. She now was very concentrated trying to search for any prey. She eventually saw a small raven,who she later caught. The Windclan cat was now finishing their prey. they then rolled under a tree on their back and closed her eyes.

The she-cat's eyes fluttered open and she awoke from her slumber, she swore she had heard another cat. She stood up slowly, if she did hear a cat, she didn't want that cat to hear her. She skimmed her terrain with her eyes, it was twilight but still enough light to see. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the outline of two cats, she couldn't see their exact details, but she could surely see them. She stalked towards them, she needed to get a closer look. As she stalked closer and closer, their conversation got even more clear and clear.

"Yes of course," Brookheart meowed. The 2 loners started to follow Brookheart further into the territory. They came out of the bushes nearby Raven's Stones and started to pad up on one of the big hills Windclan had. When they were walking towards Gorsestar's grave they passed the tunnel system where Brookheart just had come out. Never again in my whole life, Brookheart thought when passing by it. They now arrived by a huge tree on top of the hill. 

"Eagle's Perch?" Speckle asked, her mate looked to Brookheart with the same question in his eyes. "Yes, he is buried here.." . Speckle and Crow padded to a patch of beautiful flowers and went to sit down by it, from then silence took over. 

Then Speckle stood up and turned around to face Brookheart and meowed, "Thank you for bringing us here, this place does mean alot to us, as WindClan but also for our son, Gorsestar."

 Crow now stood beside her mate and asked in a sad tone, "W-was he a good leader?"

 Brookheart answered on also a sad tone, "He was-he was more than that for me..". 

 Speckle and crown now looked to eachother and then Speckle asked "Who was he really to you?". 

 The she-cat meowed, "Well.. he was my leader but also my mate."

 Crow stepped forward when she heard Brookheart and meowed on a slightly happier voice, "Then you're kin to us". 

 Speckle now also came closer, "A very close kin, did you have any kits?"

 Brookheart meowed while now standing beside the 2 loners, "Yes we had... Jaypaw ". 

 Then silence took over once again and Crow understood it and meowed "May StarClan light their paths.."

They sat there for a while, Brookheart found it comforting, there were finally other cats for her to share the pain of her loss over. She can't explain it, but even though she just met these cats she felt connected to them. She saw movement from her left, Crow stood up. 

 "We should start to get going then, it's almost dawn and we need to get back to our den," Crow said. 

 Speckle nodded and slowly stood up, her face still looked sad. "Yeah, I guess we should, I just don't really want to leave," she managed a sad chuckle.

 Crow turned around, "I know, I can't really say any different, but we really should be going," he sighed, "I don't believe we really have any other place to stay." Brookheart realized then that she as well did not have a place to stay. She spent all that time down in the tunnels where she was kind of protected, but it wasn't like she was going back.

 Crow and Speckle started to walk away from the Gorsestar's grave so Brookheart stood up with them, she thought that they might start to ask questions with her following them and all. That never happened though, Crow just looked back at her and then turned back around as if nothing was out of the ordinary.