A New Horizon Book 5: Darkest Dawn {COMPLETE}

Prologue

Moonlight illuminated the darkened forest, the stars sparkled over head. They were barely visible through the towering pine trees, but at least StarClan was watching. Two figures crept through the trees, their pawsteps silent and voices in a hush. One figure was a large tom, with thick gray fur. His deep amber eyes pierced the night as he travelled through the territory he wished he could call his home.

Beside him was a sleeker, leaner she-cat. Her golden brown tabby pelt was barely visible in the light, but her green eyes were like stars of their own. "Are we getting close?" The she-cat spoke under her breath, making sure that no other cat heard them.

"Yes, Tetra." The tom responded. "It's just over this hill." He explained. The two of them climbed the small hill, and as they base of the stone mountains came into view, so did the AshClan camp. "This is their camp."

"Looks nice." Tetra mewed quietly, her eyes scanning the camp. AshClan had mostly gone to rest, with the exception of Harewhisker sitting guard at the camp's entrance. "Who's that, Graypelt?" She questioned.

Graypelt felt his heart ache, the tom he saw wasn't the cat he remembered. He was a fully grown warrior, strong and dutiful. "That's Harewhisker. That's my son."

"You only have one son left, don't you?" Tetra's tone grew sad.

"Yes. Crowkit died when he was born, and Oakpaw succumbed to greencough barely a moon after earning his apprentice name. Grasstail died in the battle that Thornstar started." A growl rose in his throat as he thought of that battle, the battle that took his son away from him, the battle that ruined his life.

"I'm glad I can see him again." Graypelt sighed. "I just wish I could spend time with him, hunt with him and all my Clanmates again." Graypelt forced himself to look away, he was glad to see that AshClan was thriving; that even despite all the hardships forced upon them: his Clan was still strong.

He had been infuriated with Echoheart when he learned that she had started a fight between SunClan and AshClan, causing the death of Ashblaze. Graypelt admired AshClan's former deputy, he was strong and powerful. He would've made an excellent leader one day.

Graypelt did approve of the new deputy, however, his own apprentice: Stormheart. Stormheart was strong, noble and kind. Graypelt wished he could tell Stormheart how proud of him he was, he wished that he could get to know his grandchildren. He had learned their names, and they had recently become warriors as well. Dustfall, Rabbitspring and Leafdawn were all exceptional warriors.

Graypelt couldn't tell them that, however, all he could do was watch from a distance while Echoheart plotted to destroy the Clan he loved so much. "I know you miss them," Tetra spoke in his ear. "But we should get back to our camp, the last thing we need is to get caught."

"You're right." Graypelt sighed and the two began to slow walk back to Echoheart's makeshift camp outside the mountains. Once they were far enough away from AshClan's camp, Tetra allowed herself to talk louder.

"So what are you going to do?" She questioned. "I've seen the way you look at your Clan, can you really attack them?"

"I don't know." Graypelt said painfully. "I've already fought against them once and because of it I was driven away from my home. I had no choice but to run and live in the twolegplace with Echoheart. I don't know if I can follow her much longer, but I know I don't have a place in AshClan anymore."

"I don't think Echoheart knows what she's doing if I'm being honest." Tetra admitted. "I've seen what a Clan full of cats can do, that SunClan cat killed Lilac without even hesitating. One Clan was one thing, and we may have a lot of rogues but I don't think we could stand up against two, let alone four."

"Echoheart doesn't care." Graypelt growled. "She doesn't care about winning, no matter how much she preaches it to the rest of us. Echoheart will sacrifice each and every one of us to fulfill her twisted act of revenge. She wants Dawnstar dead, that's all she cares about. She doesn't care if any of us die, she doesn't even care if she dies. She wants to hurt Dawnstar, whether that's killing her kits, her mate or her, it doesn't matter."

"So we're fighting a fight that we're not meant to win?" Tetra flattened her ears. "So what do we do? The other rogues seem to be all for it, they think they can completely take on fully trained warriors."

"They're rogues, they believe they're warriors and they're not. They see Echoheart as such an incredible fighter and she may be, but she can't stand up to four Clans."

"So what do we do? I don't want to die for that crazy she-cat and you shouldn't want to either." Graypelt stopped walking, taking a deep breath.

"I've thought about it," He turned, looking Tetra in the eye. Despite all the terrible things that had been happening to and around him, at least he had Tetra. She was strong and smart, as long as he had her, he knew he would be fine. "No matter what happens, you and I will come out of this. I'll figure out a way. If we could warn the Clans, then perhaps we could just run. We could run and find a new place to live, the two of us."

Tetra's expression relaxed and she touched her nose to Graypelt's cheeks, his entire body warmed up. "That sounds like a plan to me."