[TB] STARLIGHT -- Chapter 5 (Patreon)

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“What in StarClan’s name were you two thinking?!” Mistyfoot chided. “We could’ve lost the both of you in the forest!”

Crowflight heard the shuffle of pawsteps behind him, accompanied by heavy breathing. Mistyfoot, Tawnypelt, and Stoneheart must have rushed to catch up after he and Nightfrost had taken off on their little race.

Nightfrost lifted his muzzle from the river water. “It was just a game, Mistyfoot – we weren’t going to go past the water...”

Crowflight didn’t hear Mistyfoot’s response. He stared at the river, trying not to let his thoughts become too clouded. Sunhigh had passed, and night would come all too soon. On the other side of the water there was another patch of forest, but beyond that had to be the moorland – it was the only part of the lake territories that they hadn’t explored yet.

I have to find WindClan’s home, before it’s too late. He thought. His legs trembled. I have to.

First, though, there was the river to cross. While Mistyfoot silently fumed, Tawnypelt paced the bank. The land on this side of the lake was higher and more uneven, and Crowflight could see spots down the bend that reminded him of the gorge back in the old forest – sheer cliff faces that led down into churning waters, though this river was far calmer than he’d known before.

“This seems like the safest spot to cross,” Tawnypelt commented.

“You think so?” Stoneheart asked, tipping his head.

Tawnypelt nodded. “The problem is, this water is deeper than the streams we crossed before. I think this river must feed the lake from somewhere upstream.” She dipped her paw into the water, frowning. “I don’t think we can safely swim across – the current here is quiet, but it’s strong enough to pull a cat into the lake if they can’t fight it.”

“So how do we cross, then?” Mistyfoot asked. She turned away from Nightfrost and stepped up to Tawnypelt’s side, by the bank of the river. Her gaze traveled upstream and then down, and she conceded, “I don’t see any stepping-stones...”

Crowflight sighed and put his own eyes to work. He guessed that there wouldn’t be much downstream to help them as he leaned over the water, looking upstream instead for anything that might aid the cats in crossing this unexpected divide. There were no stepping-stones, like Mistyfoot had pointed out, nor did it look like any Twolegs had bothered to make a bridge, like there had been in the old forest; but there was something else...

He took off upstream. While the others were busy discussing what they might do next, Crowflight’s gaze had spotted something unusual, and as he approached it, he felt a bit of satisfaction in his heart – here, in a place where the land crested upwards again, there was fallen tree propped up against some large boulders, hardly visible to those downstream thanks to the spray of water and the paleness of the wood.

He tested it with a paw. The waters beneath it moved fast, but the tree held steady. Its bark had been stripped off by age long ago, and the wood underneath was smooth, but took well to his claws when he sank them into it. From the scents, it seemed like this was the way many smaller animals used to get across the water – if it was good enough for them, it was likely just fine for cats.

“I found something!” he called downstream.

The others were with him in a few heartbeats. “Think it will support us?” Mistyfoot wondered, sniffing the wood. Stoneheart tested it with a paw, his jaw working in thought.

“One way to find out!” Nightfrost purred. His haunches were wiggling and, before any cat could protest, he had leaped onto the tree.

Crowflight’s heart leapt in his throat. “Mouse-brain!” he hissed. “You can’t swim! What are you doing?!”

Nightfrost looked back at him, his pale eyes sparkling. “It didn’t even budge!” he purred. “I landed with all my weight, too. I think it’ll even support Stoneheart!”

Stoneheart’s neck fur bristled. “Now, see here!”

Ignoring her brother, Mistyfoot looked to Tawnypelt. “What do you think?” she asked.

Tawnypelt looked surprised to have her opinion asked for, her brow lifting. “It looks sturdy enough,” she admitted, “and the trunk seems to be even all the way across.”

The tortoiseshell she-cat padded up to the bank, her gaze resting on the stones that seemed to be supporting the tree. Her tail flicked curiously. She mused, “It’s really stuck in there, and these boulders seem like they’ve been here for an eternity. I wonder if Twolegs did this...?”

“If it was Twolegs, then it’s the one decent thing they’ve done since we got here,” Crowflight grumbled. It was more to himself, but he saw Stoneheart nod in agreement out of the corner of his eye.

Lifting her head, Tawnypelt decided, “It ought to be a safe crossing, even for a kit – not that I can recommend that.”

Nightfrost lifted his tail and began to cross. He was clearly even more confident about this, thanks to Tawnypelt’s assurances; but at least he had enough sense to take it slowly. When he was on the other side, he yowled across the river: “It was easy! Come on!”

Crowflight was about to leap onto the tree, but Stoneheart beat him to it, grumbling about his weight. Despite the bulk of the ShadowClan warrior, the tree didn’t even budge as Stoneheart made his way across, and Tawnypelt followed. Mistyfoot went next, and Crowflight hurried after her, his claws sticking into the soft wood.

The crossing was easy, like Nightfrost had promised. Crowflight thought that Tawnypelt wasn’t too far off – if a kit were brave enough, this tree would certainly bear them. But if they fell... the water below was rougher than it had been closer to the lake, flowing swiftly down the slope. He couldn’t see a bottom. Crowflight shuddered to think about a kitten – or even a young apprentice - being swept out into the lake with no one around.

We’ll have to make sure kits know not to cross on their own, Crowflight thought as he leaped down from the tree. Not that they should be out of camp on their own, anyway!

The grass beneath his paws felt different on this side of the river, and the breeze through the trees carried the scents of heather and gorse. Crowflight’s heart began to pound, longing for home filling him up to his toes. Had the others felt like this when they’d encountered their own territories? He resisted the urge to take a deep breath of it.

There’s still all these trees, he thought. But there can’t be too many, if I’m smelling the moor from here...

Mistyfoot and Nightfrost led the way through the forest, like they had before. Crowflight, though, couldn’t help but hover at the head of the group, his gaze focused on what lay ahead. If he strained his vision, he could just see the golden hills between the trunks...

“We’ll get there,” Nightfrost promised with a whisper. “It’ll be okay.”

Crowflight knew he was right, but before they were out of the trees, Stoneheart suggested that they stop to hunt:

“A few of you took off before even eating your meals, remember?” he pointed out wryly.

So, stop they did; though Crowflight had been too distracted to hunt properly, and barely tasted the mouse he’d been given. He felt like he had to keep his entire body from trembling as he looked up between the leafless branches and wondered if the light was fading faster than ever before.

They buried their bones and set off again, though it wasn’t as quick as Crowflight would’ve liked. The mouse was burning a hole in his belly, and he wished he hadn’t eaten it at all. He wondered if he might retch it up, thanks to his jittering nerves.

Finally, though, they broke out of the forest, and what lay before them was all Crowflight had been wanting to see since they’d set out.

The grass was long and golden, and turned greener and greener as it wrapped around towards the Arrival. Heather and gorse seemed to grow everywhere here, winding between the hills like streams in the riverlands. Crowflight stepped out from beneath the trees and took a deep breath, drinking in the smell of peat for the first time in ages. The cold, clear air filled his lungs, and he felt like he could fly.

Unlike the old forest, where the moor hand been broken up by Thunderpaths and Twoleg barns, these hills seemed to stretch out into forever, as far as his eyes could see; with only a few patches of trees here and there to disrupt the flow. It was everything he’d ever hoped for, and his spirit soared like a hawk.

“Your turn,” Mistyfoot murmured, giving him a nudge. “Lead on.”

Crowflight felt a lump form in his throat, and he looked back at his friends. Nightfrost looked excited, while Mistyfoot and Stoneheart wore an expression of pride, as if they were mentors looking down at their apprentice. Crowflight felt warm – that idea didn’t even bother him right now.

Tawnypelt, however, was glib: “We have to hurry back,” she pointed out. “This is a lot of ground still to cover, and we’re expected back before nightfall as it is.”

Whatever good feelings Crowflight had had just then were crushed by her words. Frustration bubbled under his pelt, rising up from the depths where he had tried so hard to bury it. He bristled at the RiverClan deputy and snapped: “You’ve just been waiting for this patrol to end from the start!”

Tawnypelt’s hackles rose. “We’re running out of time!” she hissed back. “So what if I happened to find my camp first? The others are still expecting us!”

Crowflight took a step towards, her, unsheathing his claws. “So, you're with fine leaving WindClan in the lurch without a camp because you’re scared of the dark?”

Tawnypelt’s lip curled. Before she could respond, however, Stoneheart stepped between them, blocking the two cats with his own body. “Enough,” he growled.

“Yes, that’s quite enough,” Mistyfoot decided. Her dark blue eyes were sharp upon the RiverClan deputy. “Tawnypelt, if you want to head back to the Arrival without us, go ahead – but we’re not leaving until we’ve found a camp for WindClan.”

“It’s only fair,” Nightfrost agreed, nodding his head. “He’s waited this long already!”

Crowflight felt a huge rush of love for his friends, one that swamped his frustration and cooled his pelt. Stoneheart stepped back to stand beside Mistyfoot and Nightfrost. Tawnypelt’s hackles had not lowered – clearly, she hadn’t expected such an outcry – but she no longer looked angry. The RiverClan deputy sighed, resigned to the ultimatum given.

“Very well. But we still ought to hurry – there's no reason to be late unless we have to be,” she pointed out.

The others seemed to be in agreement. Crowflight, however, still wanted to claw her whiskers off, and he was thinking about that when he realized that the others were looking at him expectantly. His ears pricked, his annoyance fading. They’re waiting for me to lead – hare-brain!

Crowflight looked out at the hills. The problem was that they seemed to go on forever in any direction, and it all seemed to be within sight of the lake – he had no idea where to begin looking.

“What does WindClan want in a camp?” Nightfrost wondered, coming up to his side.

Crowflight closed his eyes. In the old forest, WindClan’s camp had been set in-between the hills, on a flat piece of land that had sloping edges that served as a natural barrier against wind and sight from the outside. He could feel the gorse walls pricking at his pelt, even from so far away.

Opening his eyes, he sighed. The hills here weren’t the same as in the old forest – there, the slopes had been long and easy. Here, each hill was huge, steeply dominating the skyline. A lump of doubt formed in his throat – was he really the best cat to find his Clan a home in this land?

“I’m sure I’ll see something,” was all Crowflight felt he could say.

He set off in a direction, keeping the lake within sight. Climbing any of the larger hills would take too long, he guessed, and the others might not be able to keep up. But who knew what their height was hiding? Did they have time to look behind every hill? What ones were worth it?

His heart began to beat fast in his ears. This place that had filled him with hope before was now filling him with dread. The sky was beginning to turn a dark yellow, and nothing at all seemed to stand out to him, no matter how far they walked. The territory he ought to be scouting was going by him in a blur instead, and he struggled to hold on to what details he did see.

“Best watch the shore here,” Tawnypelt mentioned, waving her tail towards the lake. “See how the hill there goes up? I’ll bet you a perch tail it doesn’t slope down as nicely...”

“Oof,” Nightfrost winced at the thought.

Crowflight glanced that way and assumed Tawnypelt was right – but as they moved further on the land sloped down to a shore of what looked to be pebbles that at least touched the water’s edge. There was a bit of brown, too, and Crowflight guessed there was a Twoleg half-bridge out on the water – though it didn’t look to be in good shape - and just across from that was the barn they’d seen upon arriving at the lake, with its wire-mesh fence and the dark bodies of horses dotted in its fields...

Twolegs here, too, he sighed. No Clan is safe from them.

It only added to his worries. What if he chose a place too close to Twolegs, and they had kittypets that were just as hard and mean as the two they’d seen in the pine woods? Mudclaw would certainly never forgive him for that!

The patrol chugged along the bend of the lake as the sky began to turn a dark orange. Crowflight could see the Arrival now, just across a broken patch of marshland, and make out the shapes of the cats gathering around the bushes and what he guessed in the fading light was the old stump. Crowflight looked back behind him, at the hills growing dark in the evening.

He had found nothing.

“What is even going on in your head? Is it all rabbit fluff up there or is there something, anything at all?!”

The voice rose, unbidden, clawing at his mind. Crowflight’s fur fluffed, and his legs shook again. It’s not my fault! He wanted to screech. I’m trying my best – why isn’t it ever good enough?!

The others seemed to sense his change in mood. The patrol stopped behind him, and Mistyfoot asked, her dark eyes glowing with sympathy, “Do you want to keep looking? We can tell the others we didn’t have enough time...”

“I...” Crowflight’s gaze strained over the hills. What was he missing?

“I’ll stay with him,” Nightfrost declared from behind Crowflight. “The rest of you can go on.”

Mistyfoot made a concerned noise, “Are you sure...?”

What was that? Crowflight spotted movement in the grass – was that a rabbit?

Instinct flooded over him, and he raised his tail for silence. The others shut their jaws, confused, and Crowflight dropped into a crouch.

The rabbit was sniffing at some old gorse. It had no idea he was there. Crowflight crept forward, aware of how ridiculous this must be – he was supposed to be looking for a camp before dark, not hunting a rabbit! But how could he resist? When was the last time he’d hunted rabbit? And regardless, even if he didn’t find a camp tonight, this was still going to be WindClan territory! He ought to mark that somehow...

He crept closer and closer and was just about to leap when the wind suddenly changed. It blew in from behind, carrying his scent through the tall grass and right towards the rabbit. It immediately lifted its head and, nose twitching, turned and fled.

Crowflight felt frustration bubble up in his body. With a growl he took off after the rabbit – in the back of his mind he knew that this was a failed catch, but he was just so annoyed. He had to try. It was all he could do!

His paws pounded at the earth. The shape of the rabbit flitted up hill and downhill, and Crowflight followed, his legs flexing and his lungs carrying him in his flight. The earth beneath him was soft and smooth, perfect for running, the grasses brushing his pelt and pushing him onwards, the clear air filling his lungs...

The rabbit disappeared behind a rock. By the time Crowflight reached it, it was gone. He cursed – it must’ve had an escape tunnel beneath the stone.

Mudclaw would have my whiskers for that! Crowflight reflected. Only a new apprentice would dare chase a lost rabbit so far! He pulled himself onto the rock and caught his breath, feeling the coolness of the stone against his warm pads. He didn’t want to look back, he felt too embarrassed – were the others trying to catch up to him?

He lifted his head. The sky was burning now, the horizon like fire, casting everything before it in blacks and oranges and purples. Crowflight swallowed and sighed. It was time to leave, and he had still found nothing.

Crowflight was about to turn away, but more movement caught his eye. That rustle of branches, spindly spikes in the evening sky, scraping at the stars... there was a tree here! Crowflight tipped his head. It must’ve been hidden by the other hills. He hopped off of the rock, curious. He would take a quick look, and then be off.

This was a cluster of three or four hills, not far from the rabbit’s den; the tallest being topped with a single old rowan tree one one side, and a massive boulder that jutted out over the land on the other. Several other large boulders dotted the landscape, flat on the top and perfect perches for a sunning cat or a lookout warrior. Crowflight hopped onto the nearest, getting right to the top so that he could get a better view.

From his vantage point, he could see that, nestled between the steep hills, there was a smooth patch of earth – the grass looked coarse, flattened by time, and the area was choked with gorse and heather but, in Crowfight’s mind, he could see it...

This place could be WindClan’s camp!

He imagined it – there, between two of the hills, could be the entrance to the camp. Here, on that strange rock sticking out of the earth, a leader could address the Clan. In the old dens bored into the hillside could be a nursery, or an elder’s den, when WindClan had elders again, or a place to shelter in the rain. At night, WindClan could sleep in the clearing with an unbroken view of the stars. The hills looked like they could stave off the wind, too, and that rowan tree, when it bloomed again, would be like a beacon to all WindClan cats hunting on the moors...

Crowflight’s heart leaped. This was it.

He’d found it!

Crowflight turned and raced away from the spot, his heart thudding in his chest. It felt like he was flying as he rushed back to his patrol. Any guilt about leaving them so suddenly was gone – that rabbit had been a sign from StarClan, surely! He knew they would understand, they had to.

He caught them by the broken-down half-bridge. Crowflight skidded to a stop, his paws burning, his lungs aching, but his heart light. Tawnypelt looked annoyed, but the others surrounded him, mewing worriedly.

“You frog-brain!” Stoneheart chided, worry in his eyes. He wound around Crowflight, sniffing his pelt. “Why did you run off like that?”

Mistyfoot licked him between the ears, fretting, “You could’ve gotten lost!”

Nightfrost was the only one who seemed excited he was back. “What did you find?” he asked, his pale eyes beacons in the darkness.

Crowflight was breathless. All their attention was stifling, so he pulled away, shaking out his fur to rid himself of their clinginess. They each backed off, thankfully, sensing his discomfort – but their gazes were each round and curious.

“I found it!” he told them.

“Found what?” Mistyfoot wondered.

Tawnypelt rolled her eyes. “Not that rabbit, for sure!”

Crowflight lashed his tail. “Not that dumb rabbit!” he snapped. Raising his muzzle, he declared, “I found our camp!”

Eyes widened all around. Mistyfoot purred, “Oh! Good job, Crowflight!”

“Excellent!” Stoneheart smiled, his eyes softening with pride.

Nightfrost said nothing, but he pressed up against Crowflight’s side, his purr vibrating his entire body. Crowflight basked in it, for a moment, letting the feeling come back to his paws.

“I’m glad you found it,” Tawnypelt sighed, “really, I am - but we’re late. They’re going to send out a patrol after us!”

Crowflight swallowed. “Then let’s go,” he said. He pushed past them, tail up. “I’ll lead the way – c'mon!”

He didn’t care about the amusement or annoyance in their eyes – just knowing that he had finally managed to find the perfect spot for WindClan... that was enough. It felt like his shoulders were free of a great burden. He imagined telling his mother, his Clanmates... Mudclaw. Shadepaw. He wanted to tell Shadepaw the most – he knew she would be excited.

Crowfight lifted his chin, and imagined it all the way back.