[TB] TWILIGHT -- Chapter 7 (Patreon)

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Shadepool emerged from the medicine cat's den to find that her father had chosen his patrol: Cloudtail, of course, along with Cinderpelt, Sootfur, and Graystripe, whose presence did not surprise Shadepool, either - she could imagine that the gray warrior had heard of Tinystar's intent and insisted on coming along to keep an eye on him.

Mistyfoot was there as well, and she was observing the patrol with some concern. “Are you sure you don't want me to come?” she wondered, her dark blue eyes flashing. “If you run into Crowflight, it might help to have someone who can speak with him...”

“I have Shadepool for that,” Tinystar soothed. “You all journeyed together, did you not?”

Mistyfoot glanced Shadepool's way, and for a moment, Shadepool wondered if Mistyfoot might keep on insisting she come - instead, though, the blue-gray warrior dipped her head respectfully.

“Of course,” Mistyfoot mewed. “Of any of us, Shadepool did manage to get through to Crowflight the most.”

Shadepool flicked an ear, unsure how to take her Clanmate's tone. Had Nightfrost told her of her relationship with Crowflight? She considered asking him later, but the barrier of thorns in her mind itched, reminding her that she didn't want to talk to her brother about either of their relationships at the moment, if at all. Not until he apologized.

“We'll be fine,” Cinderpelt added, clearly missing any sort of untoward meaning to the whole thing. The gray warrior flicked her tail. “If those attackers are still out there, they'll be in for a surprise if they try to ambush all of us.”

“For sure,” Sootfur echoed, though Shadepool noted the young tom's eyes were darting nervously. She saw his claws flex in the slush. “They'll regret pinning all this on us! WindClan, too!”

“Save your anger for those that deserve it,” Tinystar advised, his tone even. “I want to assume that WindClan accused us based only on the information at the scene, and until we know otherwise, they're justified in their anger.” His tail twisted. “That doesn't mean I'm not going to do everything in my power to absolve ThunderClan of the blame.”

He turned his head to Mistyfoot. “You have the camp.”

Mistyfoot's eyes flew wide with surprise. “Y-Yes, Tinystar!”

Shadepool spotted Cinderpelt glancing at Cloudtail, and thought she saw some doubt there. Frustration flashed through Shadepool's pelt - Mistyfoot was a young warrior, sure, but it wasn't as if she were brash or mouse-brained!

She brought us back from the mountains, and led us to the lake! Shadepool thought indignantly. She can handle camp for an afternoon!

She supposed that she could understand Cinderpelt having some misgivings, though - Shrewpaw, Mistyfoot's first and only apprentice, had been her son. His death at the paws of a badger had affected Cinderpelt greatly, but Shadepool was certain she'd forgiven Mistyfoot for it since it hadn't truly been her fault.

Or maybe this is about Bluestar, Shadepool reasoned. Mistyfoot's mother was a cat whose dark ambitions had caused some of the most horrific events in the Clan's recent memory. Many in the Clans still looked at Mistyfoot and saw only Bluestar, regardless of Mistyfoot's own accomplishments. Were they worried Mistyfoot might try to take over ThunderClan? Rubbish!

“Have Mousefur or Dustpelt help you out if you need it,” Tinystar added. “The patrols have already been settled for the day. We'll be back before moonhigh.”

Mistyfoot seemed to have swallowed her responsibility and, if she was anything, she was quite used to cats doubting her. She lowered her muzzle to Tinystar with the utmost respect and promised, “All will be well upon your return.”

That seemed to be all Tinystar needed. He flicked his tail and began trudging through the slush toward the camp entrance. Cloudtail, Graystripe, Sootfur, and Cinderpelt fell in step behind him and, after glancing at Mistyfoot, Shadepool followed.

Looking over her shoulder before she slipped through the thorn tunnel, she saw a small, dark shape slink out of the warrior's den and approach Mistyfoot - Nightfrost. There were some words exchanged, but Shadepool didn't miss the look of excitement on her littermate's face as he touched his nose to Mistyfoot's.

The thorns in her mind tightened, and Shadepool turned away.

———————————————————

The trek through the forest was quick and quiet, and the warriors made little allowances for Shadepool - though she had done far more traveling than they had, the press of leafbare made a medicine cat's usual romps through their own territories few and far between. Regrettably, that meant that Shadepool didn't know every nook or cranny of the forest as her Clanmates did.

I think I know WindClan territory better than my own, Shadepool joked to herself.

However, when it came time to take the trail to the Moonpool, it was Shadepool who found herself in the lead - the warriors knew the forest, but it was she who knew the rocky upland trails that they needed to follow.

It was Sootfur that broke the silence, as the patrol took a small break near the gorge. Cinderpelt and Cloudtail had brought down a pair of birds, and those that hadn't had breakfast feasted beside a pile of frosted boulders.

The young gray warrior stared down the walls of the gorge, and wondered, “It happened on WindClan's side, right? How're we going to cross the river?”

The concern was obvious - so far, the tree-bridge was the only sure way across the Divide, that the Clans knew of. They had already passed the secret stepping-stones that Crowflight had shown Shadepool, and she wasn't about to reveal them now. Both routes took them into WindClan territory regardless - something they were forbidden to do.

“If we go around past the Moonpool,” Shadepool recalled, “the gorge flattens out and the land becomes even again. We can cross somewhere up there, for sure.”

“That's going to take a while,” Graystripe pointed out. He glanced at Tinystar. “Maybe your moonhigh estimate was a bit generous!”

Tinystar glanced at the sun. It wasn't quite sunhigh yet, but the world grew darker far quicker in leafbare. He got to his paws, nodding to the remains of the birds. “Bury those and let's move on.”

Their interlude over, Shadepool did her best to lead the patrol on. Though she had sounded sure to Sootfur, she hadn't gone any further past the Moonpool herself - she hoped she was right about their being a crossing.

There has to be one, somewhere, or else WindClan has to go way out of their way to get there.

She soon spotted the hawthorn bushes that marked the entrance to the Moonpool's path. She turned the patrol, wanting to give the place a wide berth, and she sensed a strange energy coming from the other cats around her. Warriors didn't often visit places like the Moonstone or the Moonpool, so their mysteries would always remain as such.

“What's it like?” Graystripe wondered. “Anything like the Moonstone?”

“Yes and no,” Shadepool answered. They passed a lone birch tree, and Shadepool knew they were close to circumventing the Moonpool entirely. “It's water, not stone, but StarClan lives there all the same.”

Graystripe made a sound. “I think I prefer the Moonstone, personally,” he admitted. “At least there you weren't worried about falling in!”

“Graystripe!” Cinderpelt hissed. “Don't be rude!”

Cloudtail, though, snickered, and Shadepool thought she heard Sootfur purr in amusement as well. She glanced sidelong at her father and only saw that his ice-blue eyes were burning intensely, staring forward.

She picked up the pace.

Soon, it was clear that Shadepool was right - on the other side of the Moonpool, the land sloped down so that the gorge was gone, and the waters of the Divide here were far less choppy and dangerous, looking more like a lazy creek than the crashing waves that awaited downstream.

Beyond them, there was nothing but moorland, and far, far in the distance, Shadepool spied the gray smudge of mountains. She couldn't rightly tell if that was part of the Tribe of Rushing Water's mountain range or not.

The sun was arcing across the sky - Shadepool didn't have time to wonder. As one they made their way down to the shore of the Divide and, after a few moments, they identified a spot where crossing would be easy.

Graystripe splashed in first. The water came up to his belly, here, and he planted his paws. “The current is strong,” he explained, “but I'll catch you if you slip. Be careful!”

Shadepool was grateful for Graystripe's RiverClan experience as her Clanmates filed into the waters. Tinystar went first, the water splashing his chin - but Tinystar was also no stranger to swimming treacherous waters, so he made it across easily. Sootfur came next, followed by Cinderpelt, and then Shadepool and Cloudtail crossed together.

The cold water seared Shadepool's bones, and she was glad that it was a slightly warmer leafbare day today, otherwise they might all catch a chill. The current did tug insistently at her paws, but Shadepool kept her grip - if she let go, and Graystripe didn't catch her, she knew she wouldn't live to be spat out into the lake, not if she had to go against the choppy, rocky waters of the gorge.

Still, it wasn't the worst experience she'd ever had with water - while traveling back through the mountains, she and the chosen cats had been swept away by a torrential flood and down a waterfall. They'd all nearly died, but the Tribe of Rushing Water had saved them. She shook out her legs in turn, shivering at the memory more than the present cold.

“I don't know how you stood it in RiverClan, Graystripe,” Cinderpelt sighed. With her thicker fur, the water clung more insistently. “Water is the worst!”

“Yeah,” Cloudtail agreed. “It sucks.” Her white belly fur stuck out in spikes, and was already collecting a load of dirt and debris.

Graystripe splashed out of the river and shook himself out. Shadepool marveled at how easily the water spun off of his fur. “Swallow a few fish,” he chimed in, “and water's nothing at all!”

“Ew,” Sootfur grunted. “Pass.”

“Same,” Cinderpelt agreed, sticking out her tongue. She twitched her whiskers good-naturedly. “You can pick scales out of your teeth all afternoon if you want!”

“Enough,” Tinystar interjected. “We need to keep moving.”

Shadepool swallowed, looking at her father. The water had slicked his pelt to his frame, the shine of it showing just how small and lean he'd become the past moons. Shadepool felt claws clench in her gut, and she glanced at Graystripe, who had clearly noticed, too - her father looked like a strong breeze might just knock him over, now.

If the others saw, they didn't say anything. Tinystar wasn't going to give them room to, either - he sniffed the air and stated briskly, “We need to head back downstream; Mudstar said the attack happened on their route to the Moonpool.”

She let the warriors take the lead as they traversed the moorland. Though this territory lay unclaimed by WindClan, it was still more their land than ThunderClan's, and no ThunderClan cat could truly be comfortable so out in the open.

Sunhigh passed on as they followed the river downstream. Their pelts quickly dried out in the blustering moorland winds, but Shadepool still kept her eye on her Clanmates for signs of illness. Cloudtail, Graystripe, and Cinderpelt would probably fare better than Sootfur, with their thicker pelts, but it was Tinystar she was most worried about - if her father wasn't eating or sleeping well, then he would be more prone to sickness.

Her heart thudded in her ears. Illness wasn't her only worry - if they encountered a patrol or the ambushers, or even a predator like a fox or badger, Shadepool wasn't sure her meager, unpracticed fighting skills - or her presence - would be enough to help keep her Clanmates safe.

The gorge was soon opposite them - they were getting closer to Clan territory. Shadepool looked across the Divide and saw the stone walls that surrounded the Moonpool just ahead, and the little waterfalls that spilled down from it through the bushes. A few thin trees, the very edge of WindClan's patch of forest, grew along their side of the edge. They had to be getting close to the ambush site.

The others seemed to know this, too - but before Tinystar could start giving orders to look around, a noise carried over the wind. The entire patrol paused, huddling close together, the warriors pushing Shadepool and Tinystar toward the middle. Shadepool didn't like being jostled, but what could she do?

Her heart leaped in her throat as the noise came again, only this time it was closer. All heads turned towards the nearest hill - a large thing that rose between them and WindClan's border markers, blotting out the sight of anything beyond.

Atop the massive hill was a trio of thin, dark shapes. Another noise carried on the wind - a warning yowl, Shadepool realized - and all three careened down the hillside, beelining right towards the patrol. The wind changed with them, carrying their grassy scent down the slope and washing it over the ThunderClan cats.

“WindClan!” hissed Sootfur.

Every body pressed against Shadepool tensed, but Shadepool could only stare over Cinderpelt's head, her heart thudding hard in her chest and somehow clogging her throat at the same time.

The leader of the WindClan patrol, whose scent was strongest of all, was Crowflight.