Lillyheart's Secret

Chapter Twenty-seven

Shadowy cats moved through the falling snow, wisps of smoke drifting through the cold. Red glinted from the forms, eyes narrowed with malice.

And in the center of it all sat Murkfall, trapped under the hold of the largest apparition, his green eyes full of fear, his jaws parted, screaming for her to run.

But she could only watch with desperation as smoke curled away from Murkfall, his panicked gaze fading beneath the growing haze.

And then he was gone.

Lillyheart woke up, gasping for breath, already searching out the warmth of her mate.

A sigh of relief.

Murkfall was still there, curled tight around her, in an attempt to shield her from the cold. Lillyheart purred, rasping her tongue gently against his cheek, trying to tuck herself back into the shelter that he provided.

His stiff form loosened, and Murkfall's warm breath tickled against her ear. "Everything ok?" He murmured, voice still dull from sleep.

Lillyheart curled her tail over the two of them. "Just bad dreams. Go back to sleep, Murkfall."

He nodded, one paw reaching out to pull her closer. "Ok..." he mewed, voice trailing off. "I love you."

Lillyheart nodded, resting her head on his shoulders. "I love you too, Murkfall."

But sleep never came back.

All she could think of was the panic in Murkfall's eyes.
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It had snowed again in the night.

Lillyheart was staring bleakly out into camp, apprehension clear on her face. The chilling cold added to the fact that she had gotten little sleep left her feeling like little more than the hazy cats she had seen in her dream.

There was a small chirp from across camp, and Leopardpaw tumbled out, fur fluffed up and tail sticking straight out. "Yikes!" The apprentice squeaked out, trying to jump through the snow, but ultimately, failing. "Snakepaw, it's cold out here!"

The tan apprentice stuck his head out of the den, green eyes wide. "Do we really have to go out?"

Leopardpaw stretched out one paw, batting gently at her brother. "Of course we do! Murkfall is going to teach me how to catch mice and stuff in the snow!"

She sidled up to her brother, voice dropped, tinted with awe. "He said he saw a fox do it once, and it's worked every time since for him."

Snakepaw's eyes widened. "Really? That's so cool!" He waved his tail in the air, then stilled, his head drooping. "My mentor doesn't teach me anything fun. All Softpelt talks about is how I need to learn to fish, and it really is a pity that it's leafbare."

Leopardpaw touched her tail to to Snakepaw's shoulder, eyes soft and comforting. "Gosh that sucks. Maybe we can convince Creekstar to let you tag along today!"

Lillyheart chuckled, turning away from the two siblings, shifting as Siltpatch pushed his way out of the warrior den, gaze dark as the clouds encroaching on the sky.

She mewed a soft greeting, but if he had heard, he didn't acknowledge her. His grey form pushed up, the crunch of snow filling the camp as others started to stumble out of the dens, into the chilling grasp of the clearing.

There was a noisy yawn at her side, and she turned to see Murkfall dragging himself out of the den, eyes still half closed with sleep.

"Good morning." She stifled a laugh as his head swiveled, trying to figure out where the words came from. "I'm to your left," she purred, reaching out and touching her nose to Murkfall's cheek.

His eyes brightened, and he stepped closer, his deep purr matching her own. "Good morni-" the words were cut off by another yawn, and he blinked, looking slightly startled. "Sorry."

Lillyheart smiled. "It's fine, Murkfall. Now, you might want to eat something and wake up a bit more. Leopardpaw is ready to go, and you and I both know that she's quite a pawful."

Murkfall scoffed lightly, his gaze wandering to where the calico apprentice was trailing after Creekstar as the leader walked across camp. "No kidding. I still can't believe Creekstar actually let her become an apprentice."

Lillyheart shrugged, then rubbed against Murkfall before stepping away, flicking her tail. "Ok. Well, I have to go on and see if Creekstar has anything for me to do. I'll see you in a bit, ok?"

Murkfall nodded, his tail curling around hers for a moment, before letting her go.

Snow brushed and bunched against Lillyheart's underbelly as she walked, getting stuck in her fur, weighing her down as she struggled across camp.

More than once she had to stop, attempting to knock some snow off of her tail. "Mousedung," she spat, the clumps of it resisting any attempts she made against it.

The sun was finally braving the cold of leafbare, letting its subdued rays trickle down what little warmth could be lended. Cats were now leaving the camp in clusters, pressed up against each other, in search of warmth against the snow.

Lillyheart found herself in a cluster with Cloudnose and Nettlesmoke, the three of them sent to patrol the Shadowclan border.

The sun was thawing the world, but by frozen bit, but certainly not fast enough for Cloudnose. The tom griped the entire way there, his complaints filling the air. Nettlesmoke, on the other side of the white tom, rolled his eyes, which caused a small laugh to build up in Lillyheart.

Cloudnose didn't appreciate that. "Come on guys, really! Quit laughing, I was talking about something serious." The warrior almost seemed to pout, before flicking his irritation away with a flourish of his tail.

Nettlesmoke shook his head, sharing a smile with Cloudnose. "Sorry, Cloudnose. What were you talking about? I'm afraid I was a bit... distracted."

The white tom huffed. "I was commenting on how I keep seeing a Shadowclan she-cat at the edge of the border. No patrol with her, and she didn't look like she was hunting. She looked like she was waiting."

Lillyheart's ears pricked up. "Waiting? For who? A Riverclan warrior?"

Cloudnose shrugged. "How would I know? Apparently, I'm not important enough to take seriously."

Nettlesmoke drifted his tail across Cloudnose's back, almost soothingly. "Oh, Cloudnose, don't be so sore. Lillyheart and I weren't laughing about you."

Cloudnose wrinkled his nose. "If that's what you say." His voice still showed that he didn't quite believe them, but he didn't push the issue.

"We're almost to the border," Lillyheart commenter, hoping to ease the tension that had been creeping through the trio. "Maybe we'll see that she-cat Cloudnose was talking about?"

"Maybe," Nettlesmoke replied, pulling into the lead. "But we'll have to be quiet then, if we don't want her to hear us."

Cloudnose and Lillyheart hushed, a solemnity settling over like a blanket of snow.

But when they crested the next rise of the white powder, they did not see a Shadowclan she-cat at the border.

Instead, they saw a grey tom running away from it.

Eyyyyyy I'm back!

After not writing in AGES, I finally finished this chapter

Sorry if it's slow, the next one will be better, I promise!

Also, I might not be too active come November, because I'll be trying to do Nanowrimo!

I wonder who the Shadowclan she-cat is????