TB MOONRISE -- Chapter 1 (Patreon)

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Feathertail was running. Reeds lashed against her pelt as she scrambled, looking for the exit. She could hear the cries of her Clanmates over the rumbling roar of Twoleg monsters. They’d come so suddenly, while she’d been out hunting – why, oh why couldn’t she find the end of this horrible reed bed? Her Clan needed help!

She was running out of breath, her limbs aching. The scent of blood and the acrid stench of Twolegs filled her senses until her head spun. Soon enough she couldn’t see straight – she tripped over her own paws and tumbled over and over, crashing through the reeds.

“Feathertail, you left us!” screeched a voice.

I had to! Feathertail wanted to cry; but she was still tumbling, still lashed by the reeds.

“We’re dying!”

“We need you!”

I’m sorry! I’m sorry!

Feathertail struck something hard, and saw stars behind her eyes. She struggled to her paws, head ringing, and opened her eyes… only to find herself shrouded in the fleeting darkness of sunrise.

It was just a dream, she thought, her heart pounding in her ears.

She blinked, adjusting her eyes to the growing light. She was in a nest of hastily-gathered ferns and moss, surrounded by her traveling companions: Shadepaw and Nightpaw of ThunderClan, Crowpaw of WindClan, and Stoneheart of ShadowClan lay in their nests around her, breathing softly in their sleep. Feathertail breathed a sigh.

Their StarClan-led journey from Clan territories had taken them over hills and Thunderpaths, through Twolegplaces and across unfamiliar territory to here, the lake.  Feathertail could see it through a gap in the willows and reeds that surrounded them – a large, smooth expanse of water surrounded by wild lands. Feathertail couldn’t forget how it shone with stars the night before, capturing the night sky in its surface.

This place is supposed to be our new home. Feathertail wasn’t sure what she thought about that. This part of the lake lands felt RiverClan – the stream that split to make the little island they were temporarily camped on made this place similar to the RiverClan camp back in the forest – but how could she ever convince her Clan that it was where they were meant to be?

Feathertail shifted on her paws. I have to, she thought. She had been one of the cats chosen by StarClan, sent dreams to go on this journey and save her Clanmates. The Twolegs were coming, and there would be no stopping them. Midnight, the strange, stargazing badger that had met them here, had promised so.

The nest beside Feathertail was empty, and she frowned. She had made that nest for Stormfur, her littermate; but he hadn’t slept in it. His wasn’t the only empty nest – Mistyfoot, ThunderClan’s chosen cat, wasn’t in her’s, either. Feathertail suppressed a sharp pang of annoyance. This journey had made every cat who had taken it closer than the warrior code allowed – but surely Stormfur and Mistyfoot knew better than to become mates at a time like this?

I can’t blame him for being happy, Feathertail thought, but I don’t want to see his heart broken…

Feathertail got to her paws. The others would be waking soon – they had to set off for home as soon as possible. As quietly as she could, Feathertail padded through the reeds that surrounded the little island – shivering as she recalled her dream – and stepped out into the open.

The land around the lake was vast – thick swaths of trees to one side and open, rolling hills to another. A small Twoleg barn stood at the outskirts, its lights just beginning to wink on as the sun rose. A gentle wind rocked the trees, stirring the lake’s surface.

As Feathertail looked out over the lake, she couldn’t help but feel… good. This place could be home. It had to be.

“Little feather,” rumbled a voice, “come to see the sun rise?”

Feathertail’s ears twitched. It was so strange to hear a badger speak cat – but the old she-badger, stars lodged in her fur, could do that and more. StarClan had trusted her to be their messenger, strange as it still seemed – badgers and cats were natural enemies. Then again, the whole world seemed to be turning upside down. Feathertail padded over to Midnight, sitting beside her as the sun rose in a red disk of light.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Feathertail asked, worried. Badgers were nocturnal creatures by nature – only desperately hungry ones lumbered around during the daylight. But perhaps Midnight wasn’t a normal badger in that way, either.

Midnight shook her striped head. “Worry not,” she rasped. “Fine I’ll be, day or night.”

Feathertail shivered. There was just something strange about her – she didn’t even smell like a badger ought to, her scent cool and frosty instead of musky and strong like it should be. She seemed to be well-traveled, too, and her knowledge of spiritual matters was far beyond Feathertail’s. I wonder what Shadepaw thinks of her… is Midnight something only a medicine cat can understand?

“Did StarClan tell you that the forest was going to be destroyed?” Feathertail wondered.

“StarClan asked me to deliver message,” Midnight replied. “I had known long before that.”

Cold trickled down Feathertail’s spine. “How?”

Midnight shifted her position, scratching her long claws into the earth. “I feel shift in my fur,” she explained. “Hear rumble of monsters on the wind. The balance, changing. I understood it.”

Feathertail swallowed, confused. How could wind in her fur and hearing monsters mean that Twolegs were destroying the forest? Definitely a medicine cat thing, she thought glumly, giving up. Only they could understand stuff like that. All Feathertail had to do was believe Midnight, believe StarClan, and that would be enough, she hoped.

“Come,” Midnight grunted. “Your companions, they wake.”

Feathertail nodded, getting to her paws. She padded beside Midnight as they headed back to their makeshift camp, pushing through the thick barrier of reeds and into the willow grove, bounding over the little stream that isolated it even more from the land around it.

The grove in the sunlight looked even more like a Clan camp than it had in the dark – Feathertail could see bushes that would make for good dens, a place for meetings in that old willow log that Midnight had talked to them from, a clearing big enough for a whole Clan and a small, secluded place where a medicine cat might like to live. With the whole island ringed in the thick reed beds, it was safe. Feathertail’s heart trembled as she imagined RiverClan cats crossing to and fro, sharing tongues or heading out on patrol. Leopardstar would love this place.

Inside, in the nests they had made in the clearing, Crowpaw was nudging Nightpaw.

“C’mon already,” the thin WindClan tom was groaning. “I’m starving.”

Nightpaw, much smaller and stockier, flicked his tail in protest. “Y’know I can’t go hunting until Shadepaw says so…” His ice-blue eyes, piercing and identical to his father, Tinystar’s, narrowed on his littermate.

Shadepaw was giving her chest fur a few quick licks. She was taller than her brother, taking more after their mother, Sandstorm, in her sleek physique. The young medicine cat apprentice turned to her brother and examined his leg, nodding in satisfaction when she was done.

“You’re healed through!” she declared.

Nightpaw’s whiskers twitched. “Finally!” He got to his paws and stretched every short leg in turn. Feathertail glanced at his leg, her tail flicking in satisfaction. Nightpaw had been injured by a fox encounter a quarter moon ago – their journey had made the healing process longer than it would’ve been in the forest.

“C’mon, then!” Crowpaw declared. “I saw some hills – that means rabbit.”

“Rabbit yourself!” Nightpaw huffed, shaking moss from his pelt. “I don’t want to go halfway around the lake just for a rabbit!”

Crowpaw rolled his eyes. “Mouse-brain!”

“Rabbit-breath!” Nightpaw shot back, his whiskers twitching with amusement.

“Both of you, hush,” Shadepaw sighed, rolling her eyes. “You’ll wake Stoneheart.”

Feathertail purred. Crowpaw had been the last cat to open up on their journey, and in some ways, he was still just as grumpy and mean as before; but his friendship with Nightpaw was a rivalry that benefitted both toms. Shadepaw especially had softened the worst of Crowpaw’s edges.

“Too late for that,” Stoneheart grumbled from his nest. One pale blue eye was opened to glower at the apprentices. “I’m up.”

Shadepaw padded over to the gray ShadowClan warrior, sniffing at his shoulder wound delicately. An encounter with rats in the nearby Twolegplace had left Stoneheart with a bad bite that just refused to heal properly. Even warriors knew that rat bites could be the most stubborn of wounds.

“I need more burdock,” Shadepaw lamented.

“Hm!” Midnight huffed. The she-badger lumbered off, towards the secluded spot that Feathertail thought would make a good medicine den. The badger disappeared into the ferns and reeds for a moment, only to come out with thick roots stabbed onto her claws.

“Burdock!” Shadepaw rejoiced, her amber eyes shining. “Thank you, Midnight!”

Midnight lumbered forward awkwardly, holding out her paw for Shadepaw. “Gathered in the night, I did. Restless.” the badger explained. Shadepaw tugged off the roots, and Midnight sniffed at her claws, wrinkling her nose at the sharp smell. “Plenty grow here.”

Shadepaw eagerly began chewing up a new poultice for Stoneheart’s wound, mashing up the plant and its juices between her teeth and smearing it on with her paws. Stoneheart shuddered as the juices sank in, his whiskers trembling.

“Feels good,” he decided.

“It’s nearly healed,” Shadepaw told him, wiping burdock from her whiskers with a paw. “Thank StarClan…”

“Stoneheart, do you know where Mistyfoot is?” Feathertail asked. A glance around the camp showed that neither Mistyfoot nor Stormfur had returned yet. Worry pricked Feathertail’s pelt – had something found them? Them being hurt is just what we need…

Stoneheart shook his head. “Don’t know,” he admitted. “She’s probably with Stormfur, though. I wouldn’t be too worried.”

Feathertail felt another prickle of annoyance. Didn’t Stoneheart care that his own sister was possibly breaking the warrior code? Is he not worried because he moved to ShadowClan so long ago? Feathertail understood how Stoneheart hadn’t felt welcomed in ThunderClan, but she couldn’t imagine leaving her littermate behind.

“They’ll be back soon,” Stoneheart assured. He got up and stretched, curling his tail over his back. “They’re probably hunting.”

“I hope so,” Crowpaw grunted. “I’m starving.”

“So you keep saying,” Shadepaw sighed. “Now go and do something about it!”

Crowpaw flicked his tail over Shadepaw’s muzzle and loped off, his long legs making great strides across the clearing. Nightpaw scrambled to his paws, his smaller, lower body bounding after Crowpaw with his tail in the air.

“Wait for me!” Nightpaw called.

“Hurry up, ThunderClan!” Crowpaw crowed over his shoulder, disappearing into the reeds. Nightpaw charged after him.

Shadepaw shook her head and sighed. “Toms…”

“I know,” Stoneheart agreed.

Feathertail purred. The group had grown so close since their journey had begun; they were like their own little Clan. She just hoped that those bonds survived when they made it back to their Clans. With the Twolegs attacking, so much is going to change…

The reeds rustled. Feathertail blinked, curious – it was far too soon for Crowpaw and Nightpaw to be returning. It was Mistyfoot and Stormfur who padded in through the reeds, their jaws laden with prey. Feathertail’s heart skipped at the musky smell of the fish in Stormfur’s jaws, and the water vole Mistyfoot carried was fatter than any she recalled seeing in the forest.

“Where were you?” Feathertail asked. She padded up to Stormfur and took one of the fish from his jaws. The flavor seeped into her mouth and she felt like she was back in RiverClan, even though she was so far away.

Over the smell of the fish, however, Feathertail scented something else. They were together, she thought worriedly. Mistyfoot’s scent is on his pelt… and his is on hers… A pang of frustration struck her. Weren’t they even going to try and hide this?

Stormfur dropped the rest of his catch beside Shadepaw, who thanked him before tucking in. The big gray tom flicked his tail at Feathertail. “We went to see the lake last night; and the fishing was good in the morning,” he explained. “Sorry.”

Feathertail glanced at Mistyfoot, only to find that the blue-gray she-cat was avoiding her gaze. Mistyfoot quickly dropped her vole beside Stoneheart, who thanked her with a touch of his nose. With the ThunderClan she-cat’s back firmly turned, Feathertail turned to her brother, bumping him away from the others with her shoulder.

“What are you thinking?” she demanded, hissing into his ear. “I know you’ve liked her since you were an apprentice, but isn’t this going too far?”

Stormfur bristled, just a little. “It’s not a big deal!” he insisted through his teeth. “We’re just taking things slow right now.”

Feathertail willed him to understand. “Our parents nearly caused a war over their relationship, Stormfur – over us. Did you forget about that? Did you forget about the way that RiverClan looks at us?” Graystripe and Silverstream had crossed boundaries and the warrior code to be together. They were lucky that they had only lost a kit in the process… but both of them lived in ThunderClan now. Stormfur was all Feathertail had in RiverClan, and she didn’t want to lose him to exile.

“Things are different now,” Stormfur told her. “All this, the Twolegs and the Clans… things are changing. You know as well as I do that the warrior code could use some updating, and it’s not like we’re the only ones who think so! Tinystar changed the warrior code seasons ago, more is sure to come.”

Feathertail frowned. “I know,” she mewed, “but I’m worried. Just because change is coming doesn’t mean that it’ll come easy. Tinystar’s change to the warrior code almost caused fights, too! What’ll you do when you get back to the Clans? Bring Mistyfoot to RiverClan? She wouldn’t be happy there!”

“I could always go to ThunderClan,” Stormfur pointed out.

Feathertail froze, a cold feeling seeping into her from her heart. Her eyes flashed first to Mistyfoot, then back to Stormfur. He… he would leave me all alone?

“Hey, don’t give me that look, Feathertail!” Stormfur’s eyes widened, as if he suddenly realized what he had just said. “Nothing is set in stone.”

He butted his head against Feathertail’s shoulder, like he had done since they were kits. It did help to take the edge off of his words, and Feathertail let herself relax. “There’s a lot more to worry about here than me and Mistyfoot,” he reminded her. “Like I said; we’re taking things slowly. It’s not like we’ve decided to become mates.”

“Please… just be careful,” Feathertail urged. She felt helpless. She knew that look in Stormfur’s eye – in the end she wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing what his heart wanted. Perhaps that willfulness was just something that was in their blood. But to leave me all alone in RiverClan…?

I don’t know if I can take that.

Her brother’s eyes flashed sympathetically. “You know, you’ll have to learn to get on without me sometime, Feather,” he murmured, brushing his muzzle against her ear.

Feathertail felt an uncomfortable prickle. “You’re my brother,” she said back. “You’re all I have in RiverClan. I don’t want to lose you… and I don’t want to see you to suffer in heartbreak.”

Stormfur hesitated. “Feathertail… I told you we would see this through together, didn’t I? That’s what we’re going to do.” His whiskers twitched. “When we bring the Clans to the lake I’m sure things will be different.”

I hope so.

A voice came over the reeds: “Look what we caught!” Nightpaw called. “It’s as big as me!”

Stormfur’s ears pricked, and he lifted his head. “Wow!” he purred. “Good catch, you two!”

Feathertail felt a bitter feeling rise in her throat as Stormfur pushed past her. Nightpaw and Crowpaw were dragging in a rabbit. It was big, just as Nightpaw had promised, though it was somewhat exaggerated. Feathertail didn’t care about that at all.

Her gaze followed Stormfur as a yawning feeling opened up inside of her. She felt suddenly like a kit that had been left out in the cold, watching her family pad away. Graystripe and Silverstream had left RiverClan for ThunderClan, and if Stormfur found his heart leading there, too…

I’ll be all alone. The thought made Feathertail’s stomach sink and killed any appetite she might have had. All alone, in RiverClan.

Staring at her friends, Feathertail couldn’t think of a worse fate.