TB MOONRISE -- Chapter 16 (Patreon)

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“Welcome to the Cavern of Reflection!”

Stoneteller’s voice boomed through the cave. Feathertail was shocked at how big it was – not as big as the Tribe’s main cavern, but still impressively large. Despite the situation, she couldn’t help but wonder just how many caverns were inside of these mountains.

Water was gathered in shallow pools on the ground, surrounded by rocks both hanging from high above and spires from down below. Only a few of these rocks met in the middle, like two cats touching noses. Light shone down from somewhere near the top of the cavern, making rocky claw-shadows of the pointed stones.

Feathertail hissed as a cave-guard thrust her sharply towards her friends, who were clustered before the largest of the gathered pools. Moonlight turned the sharp angles of Stoneteller’s body to pure silver where he sat on the other side of the water. Snow stood beside him, her eyes, normally so kind, looking cold in the sharp light.

“What is this place?” whispered Mistyfoot.

Crowpaw was bristling from where he was squished between Shadepaw and Stoneheart. “I don’t know,” he growled, “but I don’t like it!”

Feathertail had to agree. Her heart felt twisted and torn as she looked over the Tribe cats surrounding her. She had hunted with them, talked and joked and laughed… Her eyes fell on Brook, who would not meet her gaze. Why are you doing this? What is going on?

Please… talk to me!

“This place is their Moonstone,” Shadepaw breathed, looking at the others. “Snow told me this is where their ancestors speak to them.” Feathertail noted that her eyes were filled with worry and guilt. “They… they don’t normally let anyone but healers in… I…”

“It’s okay,” Stormfur assured. His gaze was calm and reassuring as he touched his tail-tip to Shadepaw’s shoulder. “You didn’t know this would happen.”

Feathertail swallowed. Her littermate was doing his best to look strong for everyone, lifting his head so that he looked confident. Feathertail, though, could see the worry in his eyes.

“Bring him forward,” Stoneteller ordered.

Stormfur grunted in protest as Crag and Boulder, the biggest cave-guards, shoved him to the front of the crowd. Stormfur struggled, trying to push back, but the two toms were far too strong – Stormfur stumbled forward, his paws splashing into the edges of the pool.

A hush fell over the crowd as Stormfur got back to his paws. The silence felt almost deafening without the loud roar of the waterfall. Feathertail’s heart was beating in her ears as she pressed close to her friends, hoping, praying to StarClan that they would make it out of this.

Can StarClan even hear us here?

“As the pools turn to moonlight, we listen,” Stoneteller meowed, his muzzle lifted into the moonlight. “Your voices reach us through rock and leaf and water, through cry of kit and wing-beat of hawk. We listen!”

“We listen,” echoed the crowd. The ominous joining of voices made Feathertail’s spine bristle.

Stoneteller lowered his muzzle, touching the water with his nose. “Speak to us, ancestors. The storm has come. Tell us what we must do now!”

There was only silence. Feathertail trembled, trying to crane her neck to see into the pool. Stoneteller and Snow had their eyes locked to its surface, but Feathertail realized she could see nothing there. Mouth dry, Feathertail looked to the others – they seemed just as curious, but just as bewildered. Only Shadepaw’s eyes seemed to flicker with any sort of understanding – but she flinched back, closing her eyes tightly.

A cold stone dropped into Feathertail’s stomach. What did she see? Feathertail wondered.

Finally, Stoneteller lifted his head. His eyes opened, and they shimmered with starlight. Snow copied his motion, and both Tribe leaders looked at Stormfur as if he were glowing himself.

Feathertail swallowed. Oh no, she thought. It is really about Stormfur. She recalled Brook’s words, that Stormfur might have his own purpose for coming on his journey. Feathertail’s claws scraped against the stone, her heart fluttering. No! No, he’s a Clan cat!

“The Tribe of Endless Hunting has spoken,” Stoneteller rasped. “I saw again the storm, and our savior. The prophecy is near completion.”

“What prophecy?!” Mistyfoot demanded. She tried to step forward, but Boulder shoved her back, hissing. Mistyfoot’s claws flashed, but she did not strike, her eyes burning with indignation.

“Our salvation is here!” Snow meowed, sweeping her tail towards Stormfur. “This cat is the one who will kill Sharptooth and save us all!”

Sharptooth? Feathertail glanced at the others as the Tribe cats yowled in joy. None of them seemed to know what that meant – but their looks of horror and fear were shared. She could smell their fear-scent, and her own, and she longed to push forward and bring Stormfur back and leave this place; but she knew the power behind Boulder and Crag and the other cave-guards – there was no way.

“When?” demanded Red. The moonlight turned his pelt silver as he pushed himself forward. His eyes sharpened on Stormfur. “I say we gather a battle-party immediately. Following the storm, there’s no way we can lose!”

“Yes!” cried Cloud.

“For Spray!” said another.

Sun’s voice rose: “For Mother!”

“For all our dead!” roared Crag. “We should move at once!”

“That’s it!” snapped Mistyfoot. She got to her paws and pushed forward to stand beside Stormfur. The other Tribe cats were too busy rejoicing to stop her. Mistyfoot’s eyes narrowed, and she snapped, “What is going on! We demand to know – what is Sharptooth? What does Stormfur have to do with this?”

Snow and Stoneteller exchanged a glance. It was Snow who responded, her eyes filled with sympathy: “Stormfur has come to save the Tribe, just as the Tribe of Endless Hunting has willed it.”

“He came on this journey for the Clans,”Feathertail burst, pushing herself forward as well. She ignored Brook’s worried gaze. Her limbs trembled and it felt like her heart was in her throat. “He came for our prophecy, not yours!”

“They’re right,” Stormfur meowed, standing. “I am a Clan cat, not a Tribe one! I’d love to help you, really; but our Clans have our own problems to deal with!”

“Let us go already!” Crowpaw snapped. He tried to move forward, but Boulder pressed him back. Feathertail saw the WindClan apprentice’s claws flashed.

“Stop!” shrieked Snow. “No blood must be shed in this place!”

Stoneteller’s eyes hardened. “They are right,” he decided, his voice scratching like claws on the rocks. “They have their own prophecy to fulfill. Crag, place them back upon the Sun Trail tomorrow, and show them the way to their forest.”

“We’re not leaving without Stormfur!” screeched Nightpaw.

Feathertail opened her jaws to echo his sentiments, but found that Cloud had pushed her way forward. The black she-cat’s eyes glittered with sympathy as she pushed Feathertail away from her littermate. Mistyfoot, too, was being shoved back into the crowd, Crag being as gentle as he could.

“Please, stop!” Stormfur cried. He turned around, bristling, eyes darting between Feathertail and Mistyfoot. He whipped around, glaring at Stoneteller and Snow, the fur around his neck bristling dangerously. “You cannot keep me here!”

“You will be well treated,” Snow insisted, looking desperate to soothe him. “Please…”

Feathertail’s claws scraped against stone as she was pushed back, back through the crowd. More stone pressed all around her as she watched Stormfur grow smaller and smaller… Feathertail’s heart screamed. No! No, this can’t be happening!

We’ve never been separated before, not like this!

The Clan cats were bullied through the narrow passageway and out of the Cavern of Reflection, into the main cave. They were pushed back into the softpaw den, every ounce of protest both verbal and physical ignored or rebuffed. As they were shoved back down into their feathery nests, Crowpaw surged up, his claws catching on Crag’s muzzle and spraying blood.

Crag snarled, slapping the scrawny tom back down with a swift strike. Crowpaw landed, winded, amidst the others.

“You can’t do this!” snarled Mistyfoot, coming forward to stand between the Tribe and the others. She was bristling from ears to tail, puffed out to twice her size.

Crag, his muzzle bleeding, replied, “It is what the Tribe of Endless Hunting wills.”

Feathertail swallowed, searching the crowd. She saw Brook, hovering just at the edge, her gaze doing everything it could not to rest on the Clan cats. A surge of anger flooded her, and Feathertail thrust her muzzle out of the den.

“That’s what it was all about?” she screeched, feeling claws tearing at her heart. “You just wanted to steal my brother? I thought we were friends!”

Brook trembled, her eyes glistening with pain. “We are!” she insisted. “Please, you don’t understand!”

Feathertail was pushed back by Cloud, betrayal stinging her eyes. “You could have told us!” she threw back. “You could have told me!” After all that I confided in you! Her heart felt torn open all over again.

Brook flinched, stepping back. She curled her tail around her body. “I’m sorry,” she meowed. “I’m so sorry…”

Red bristled as he thrust himself between Brook and Feathertail. “What were you thinking, getting close to these strangers?” He hissed at Brook as if she were a kit. “You brought this pain onto yourself!”

“Enough,” Crag growled, thrusting himself before Red. “You leave tomorrow, before first light. It is a long journey home; I suggest you rest.”

Feathertail watched Brook be led away, her heart searing with pain. Why was it that every cat she got close to was destined to betray her? Or, in Stormfur’s case, be taken from her?

The crowd outside of the den cleared quickly with a few sharp yowls from Red and Crag. Two cave-guards were stationed outside of the softpaw den – Cloud and Boulder said nothing when prompted. Feathertail was at a loss, watching these cats she had grown to know over the past few days turn on her so suddenly.

“What do we do?” wondered Nightpaw. He was pressed against Shadepaw, who was crouched in the far corner of the den, her eyes locked on a place far away.

Crowpaw was bristling. “I’m going to claw every one of their ears off!” he spat.

“Hush!” Stoneheart snapped, glancing sidelong at their guards. “Not so loud.”

“What does it matter?” groaned Crowpaw. “They don’t care about what we want – what we have to do. They just want Stormfur! What kind of ancestors do they have where they need an outsider to solve all their problems?”

“Enough,” Mistyfoot snapped. Her eyes were glittering with worry, and Feathertail’s heart ached for her. This is hard enough for me; it must be just as awful for her. “We’ll get Stormfur back somehow. We have to.”

“How?” Nightpaw wondered.

Feathertail wrapped herself around the small tom. “We’ll figure it out,” she promised, trying to keep herself from shaking as she licked him between the ears. “StarClan will guide us. We’re not leaving without him.”

“E-Excuse me…” All eyes lifted up. Sun was at the entrance of the den, a fat rabbit at her paws. She looked nervous, not meeting any one cat’s eye as she nudged the rabbit closer. “T-This is for you.”

“We don’t want that!” Crowpaw hissed, thrusting his muzzle forward with his teeth bared. “Not from you!”

Sun flinched back, and Stoneheart sighed. “Crowpaw, stop,” he groaned. Swinging his muzzle over to Sun, he meowed, “Thank you.” But there was no affection in his gaze for the young cat, only his cold, cool ShadowClan nature. That seemed to hurt Sun just as much as Crowpaw’s vitriol.

Feathertail couldn’t help but narrow her eyes at Sun. You all pretended to be our friends… she felt a bitter taste rise in her throat. How could you?!

Stoneheart took the rabbit and began to divide up the pieces. Mistyfoot looked up at Sun, her eyes just as cold, the hardness within reminding Feathertail of Bluestar, her mother.

“What is Sharptooth?” she asked.

Sun balked, as if shocked by Mistyfoot’s expression. The small she-cat twitched her tail nervously. “I… It killed Spray… and others… and my mother…” She raised her chin. “But Stormfur is here, and that means it won’t ever kill another cat again!”

“Enough,” Boulder grunted. “Leave them.”

Sun opened her jaws, but shut them a moment later. She turned her back, looking over her shoulder to murmur, “I’m sorry,” before she dashed off, paws skidding on the smooth stone floor.

Feathertail had to keep her claws from digging into the nest. Stoneheart dropped a hunk of rabbit between her paws, but she felt too sick to her stomach to eat. The others were given a similar piece, and they all looked just as unappetized.

“We need to keep our strength up,” Mistyfoot decided, bending down to take a bite. The hardness in her eyes had not left. “There’s no telling what tomorrow might bring.”

Feathertail swallowed, and bent down to take a bite of her morsel. It tasted dry and flavorless, but at the moment, it was all she had. The others ate quickly, in silence, until their meal was done. Then, they huddled together, putting the apprentices in the center while the warriors encircled them, like they had on nights where danger could be lurking anywhere.

But Stormfur would be here, too,Feathertail thought. And we would feel a whole lot safer. Her eyes were drawn towards the back of the cave. Stormfur hadn’t emerged – they were clearly keeping him there. She tried her best not to think on Stormfur’s words by the lake, that Feathertail would have to learn to live without him.

Not like this!

She rested her head on her paws. We’ll get him back, she thought firmly. We have to. RiverClan needed him – she needed him. They all needed him.

He’s not theirs to take!