[TB] TWILIGHT -- Chapter 25 (Patreon)

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The next morning, Mothwing took Shadepool home, as promised. They hurried through RiverClan territory, pausing only to catch a small bit of land-prey for breakfast before heading across ShadowClan's border.

They kept themselves to the rule of two-fox-lengths from the lake, even if the ground there was wet and slimy from the thaw. Shadepool hated every step, soaked to her belly in the icy, smelly swampwater, but knew that this was far, far better than encountering any ShadowClan patrols or whatever it was that lurked in their woods. If Mothwing was aware of it, she kept her jaws shut.

At the shallow stream between ShadowClan and RiverClan, Mothwing had to leave.

“Be careful, Shadepool,” she had said, brushing her muzzle along Shadepool's chin. “I don't want to hear of anything bad happening to you.”

Shadepool's pelt warmed at her words. When she touched her nose to Mothwing's in farewell, she mewed, “I won't let Falcontail win.”

Mothwing's gaze had been dark and troubled at that, and Shadepool wondered how Mothwing had even learned of her brother's true nature. There had been no time to ask, though. The sun was climbing past sunhigh, and Shadepool still had a long way to go.

When Mothwing left, Shadepool called for Nightfrost in her mind. She knew her brother was aware that she was returning, and she sensed his anxiety at her safety lifting at the feel of her presence in his head. That anxiety returned in force, however, when he felt how frantic Shadepool was inside.

By the time Shadepool reached the old Twoleg nest, Nightfrost was stumbling out of the bracken, puffing for breath, with dry leaves and stray twigs caught in his fur.

Shadepool's eyes widened at the state of her brother. He must have barreled through every bush to get here so quickly. StarClan knew how he had managed to make it there without tripping and hurting himself.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Nightfrost nodded quickly, still trying to catch his breath.

Shadepool grimaced. “I don't have much time,” she admitted, glancing at the sky. She felt every whiskerlength the sun moved across the sky like pickers biting at her pelt. “Here's what's going on...”

She explained everything she had discovered with Mothwing the night before while Nightfrost recovered from his flight through the forest. When she was done, Nightfrost stared at her, wide-eyed and silent, and Shadepool wondered if she had knocked the breath out of him again.

Finally, he managed to ask, “What's the plan?”

“I'm going to warn Crowflight,” Shadepool explained, flicking an ear. “He needs to know the danger he's in.”

“And what if you're attacked?” Nightfrost countered, his tail lashing in the scattered leaf litter. “What if he doesn't believe you?”

Shadepool stiffened. “I know Crowflight will believe me,” she insisted, stepping closer to her brother. “The cat that Falcontail was talking to said that he'd been trying to forestall WindClan invading us outright this whole time!”

Nightfrost's tail was still twitching, and Shadepool sensed he was struggling to believe her. He pressed, “You have no idea who this WindClan warrior was?”

Shadepool shook her head. She had wracked her brain all night and throughout the trip home, but nothing definitive had sprung to mind. “I just know that it wasn't Crowflight,” she said.

Nightfrost hesitated, and then asked, “Do you think that Falcontail killed Onewhisker and Barkface?”

Shadepool swallowed around a lump in her throat. That was another topic that had buzzed in her mind, making it difficult to get any rest in Mothwing’s nest. “I don't know,” she admitted. “But even if he didn't do it himself, I'm sure he had something to do with it.”

She could sense that her brother was still anxious, reeling over this sudden influx of information, particularly about Shadepool doing this all on her own - but deep down, she knew he understood why. Shadepool had a measure of safety as a medicine cat, even with closed borders.

That didn't mean Shadepool wasn't afraid, though - Nightfrost was right; if she were attacked, she would struggle to defend herself against any fully trained warrior. The lessons she'd had with Stoneheart had been light, and they seemed not just seasons ago but lifetimes, now.

“Go, then,” Nightfrost decided, finally.

Shadepool blinked at her brother, shocked. “But-”

“You don't have much time!” Nightfrost insisted. His ice-blue eyes wavered, his convictions hanging by a thread. “Go! I'll be looking out for you, okay? Anything you need, just tell me. I’ll be there.”

Shadepool's heart thudded in her ears, loud and throbbing. She touched her nose to her brother's, grateful that despite all his instincts screaming against it, despite their past disagreements, he understood he needed to let her do what was necessary.

She knew he wouldn't rest until she returned to camp in one piece, and she endeavored to do just that.

———————————————————

The sky was darkening as Shadepool huffed and puffed her way to the stepping-stones. To avoid as many ThunderClan patrols as possible, Shadepool took the long way around their territory - following the ShadowClan border up and around the Sky Oak, treading along the outskirts, slipping from bush to bush and praying to StarClan her dark pelt made her difficult to see. The land up there was rugged and unforgiving, with just as many rocky slopes as trees, and her paws were sore and throbbing.

She caught herself a wren and ate it in the shelter of a bramble bush. The fresh-kill tasted like nothing on her tongue, but it settled her rumbling belly, which made one less thing to worry about as the sun disappeared and night came.

Shadepool reached for Nightfrost. She felt that he was on watch and that he had volunteered for it. Mistyfoot tried to get some other cat to replace him, but he refused. He was waiting for Shadepool to walk into camp like nothing had happened, safe and sound, or call for his help.

StarClan grant it doesn't come to that, she thought. But just knowing that her brother was there, looking out for her, made her feel a little more confident in what she was about to do. She thanked StarClan again that her brother was nothing like Falcontail before she got to her paws.

The thaw had swollen the Divide, though not enough to burst its banks, thankfully. The water was moving much faster than she had seen before, making the stepping-stones challenging to see. When she finally found them, she shivered nervously. What if the rushing water just swept her away? She would never survive!

A flash of white caught her eye. The white cat was gleaming in the darkness on the opposite shore.

Shadepool blinked at it. Normally, she would've been unsettled or annoyed by its appearance, but something about this time made her feel safe - like she was doing the right thing. She gave it a nod and hoped that these feelings weren't misplaced.

Shadepool gasped, the water's ice-cold claws instantly claiming her the moment her paw broke the surface. She kept her paw there to get used to the chill and measure the current's rush, something she recalled Graystripe and Silverstream doing before they navigated any body of water. The flow tugged at her fur insistently, pulling at her paw - tough but not impossible.

Taking a deep breath, Shadepool set her paw on the first stone.

The water came right up to her belly, soaking her immediately. Shadepool clung to the first stone, panic gripping her to the marrow of her bones as they turned to ice.

This was a mistake! she thought instantly. Her head reeled, and she nearly wailed - there were still so many steps ahead of her, and all it would take was one slip-up to send her careening down the Divide. She would be thrashed against the cliffs before being spat out into the lake like a piece of fresh-kill.

Her stomach curled, and she felt the wren attempt to take its revenge. Could she turn around? But she had to see Crowflight before something happened to him! She looked helplessly across the water, locking eyes with the white cat who stared back, unblinking.

Deep in her ear, she heard it: You can do this.

It wasn't the voice of the white cat, and it certainly wasn't her own - it was Nightfrost. He was terrified to his core for her, but she felt him as if he were right beside her, shoring up her shaking legs with his shoulder.

She would never have made it to the other side without him walking with her.

Shadepool fell onto her back on the WindClan shore, shivering with shock. Nightfrost's presence faded, but the white cat was still there. It lifted a paw and laid it on her side.

The touch was barely more than the flicker of wind in Shadepool's fur, but it was enough to bring her to her senses. Shadepool looked up at the white cat, grateful for its mysterious presence. If Nightfrost couldn't be with her in the flesh, she was glad that the apparition was there, for the first time.

As she thought about those things, though, the white cat vanished, fading into the night like mist.

Shadepool was about to call out to it, beg it to return, but there was a hiss from the darkness: “What in StarClan's name are you doing here?”

Fear shot through Shadepool until she realized that this voice did not match the cat that Falcontail had met with. A black she-cat, barely visible in the dark, came out of the long, thin shadows of the trees - Duskwhisker, Crowflight's friend, stared down at her with narrowed amber eyes.

“Well?” Duskwhisker demanded, her lip curled. She didn't seem to care that Shadepool was half-soaked and shivering from the chilly air.

Shadepool didn't expect her to. She rolled onto her belly and stood, shaking out her pelt. Duskwhisker grimaced as icy water droplets pattered her face. There was some satisfaction in seeing the irritation on the other she-cat's face - Shadepool buried it immediately. That was not at all what she was here for.

“I need to speak with Crowflight,” Shadepool insisted. “Immediately.” Please, let nothing have happened to him already!

Duskwhisker blinked at her as if she had sprouted shrews from her back. “Immediately, you say!” she groaned.

“Yes!” Shadepool mewed. “It's urgent!” She wasn't sure she could tell Duskwhisker what was going on - Crowflight trusted her, but Shadepool was uncertain, not just out of jealousy. Duskwhisker had supported Mudstar initially, just like Falcontail. She might have changed her mind, but Shadepool needed to be safe rather than sorry.

Duskwhisker's whiskers twitched. “Fine, fine,” she groaned. Her tail lashed. “The only reason I'm out here at all at this hour is because of you, you know. 'Keep an eye out for her, please,' he begged. 'For me!' he begged!” Duskwhisker snorted. “Sap that I am, of course I listened...”

The black she-cat shook out her coat and sighed. “Wait here.”

Though she was brusque, Shadepool was touched that Duskwhisker had been doing this. So many cats have kept our secret and supported us, she reflected. Nightfrost, Mothwing, and now Duskwhisker - Shadepool had no idea where she would be without their help. She and Crowflight certainly would have been caught moons ago.

“Thank you, Duskwhisker,” Shadepool murmured, watching the she-cat disappear into the woods.

Shadepool gathered her thoughts while she waited for Duskwhisker to return. She groomed her fur as she considered how she might catch Crowflight up. She paced as she tried to form some sort of plan. She scratched behind her ear, wondering whether this information would keep ThunderClan and WindClan from each other's throats.

It has to, she told herself. It might not directly answer who killed Onewhisker and Barkface, but Mudstar can't overlook the trouble brewing in his own Clan!

She thought of Nightfrost's suggestion - that Falcontail had been the one to kill Onewhisker and Barkface. It mirrored thoughts that Shadepool had had upon listening to his conversation with his WindClan conspirator - but was Falcontail really skilled enough to do it? She hadn't noticed any new wounds on his pelt since the civil war. The tuft of fur she had found meant that at least Barkface had struck his attacker.

Perhaps he hadn't done it alone?

Shadepool was uncertain of that, too - Cloudtail had said that the ThunderClan scent hadn't been genuine, that some cat had rolled in a scent marker and then attacked; Shadepool guessed that Falcontail was smart enough to do that, but Cloudtail hadn't seen any evidence of multiple attackers, and the scene of the ambush was difficult to read after laying so long unexamined.

Her head throbbed. Why couldn't this just be easy?

Moonhigh had come and gone by the time Crowflight appeared. Shadepool had hidden herself in some bushes near the Divide, struggling not to fall asleep from the rush of the past two days. When he whispered her name, his voice jolted her to alertness instantly.

“I'm here!” she breathed, standing. Energy flooded her limbs. “Right here!”

Crowflight sighed, relieved. He immediately touched his nose to hers, and Shadepool breathed in his scent. He was unharmed, but she detected fear just beneath the surface.

“Duskwhisker said you needed to talk, urgently,” Crowflight meowed, wasting no time. His dark blue eyes searched her face. “I'm so sorry I haven't seen you in so long - it’s so hard to get away. What's going on?”

There was no time even to enjoy his presence. Crowflight needed to know the danger he was in before it struck him unaware. Shadepool opened her jaws and repeated just about everything she had told Nightfrost. By the end, Crowflight had the same stunned expression, slack-jawed and all.

“Fox-dung,” he muttered. He blinked, then spat, “Fox-dung, fox-dung, fox-dung!”

Shadepool blinked, shocked at his words. “What is it?” she asked.

Crowflight lashed his bristling tail. “I know who was talking to that rat-mouthed Falcontail!” he hissed.

Shadepool's heart leaped into her throat. “Who?”

“Emberstep,” Crowflight answered. His claws dug into the softening earth, tearing it into clumps. “I caught her sneaking into camp this morning, freshly groomed and with a flimsy excuse!”

Emberstep? Shadepool shivered. Somehow, she wasn't surprised that the overly aggressive she-cat was the one Falcontail had been talking to. Yet - “Are you sure?” she pressed. “Is Emberstep the type to do something like plot with a cat from another Clan? She's always seemed so loyal to WindClan!”

Crowflight's eyes blazed. “Oh, she is, believe me,” he growled. “Do you remember when you told Barkface about the Moonpool? Who he sent to talk to Mothwing in your stead?”

Shadepool nodded. “He sent Ryewhisper, because I was so tired,” she recalled. It had been such a kind gesture, made bittersweet now that the old medicine cat was dead.

“Yes,” Crowflight mewed, “but Emberstep went with him.”

Shadepool's ears pricked. Perhaps she had been too tired to recall that!

Crowflight's tail lashed back and forth, the fur at the base of his spine bristling. “I didn't think much of it then, but now it makes too much sense - how else did Falcontail know to gather Mudstar's supporters from the other Clans in time for him to challenge Onewhisker?”

Shadepool's heart stopped in her throat. “Emberstep told him,” she whispered.

Crowflight nodded. He curled his lip. “Falcontail was the cat to push Mudstar into challenging Onewhisker in the first place, too,” he snarled. “Emberstep was there for their first meeting as well.”

Limbs quivering, Shadepool ventured, “Do you think... Do you think that they...?”

Crowflight's blue eyes sharpened. He knew what Shadepool was trying to say, even if she couldn't bring herself to say it - that Falcontail and Emberstep had somehow conspired to kill Onewhisker and Barkface, together.

“I don't know,” Crowflight admitted, his voice a whisper. His dark blue eyes shimmered with hopelessness. “I thought it was Mudstar, you know - everyone did - but he had been guarded the entire time, and after the tree fell on him, he could barely move anywhere. Without Onewhisker's spirit to talk to...” He looked at her, his gaze pleading. “Please tell me that Barkface made it to StarClan, Shadepool - please...”

Shadepool's stomach sank, and she struggled for words.

Her silence was more than enough. Crowflight sighed, falling onto his haunches. “Shadepool... What have we done?” he wondered. Though he stared at her, his gaze seemed unfocused and far away. “We brought the Clans to this place where not even our spirits can rest with our ancestors!”

Horror crept up Shadepool's pelt. He was right - so far, nearly every cat that had died since they had come to the lake hadn't made it to StarClan. Was that part of Falcontail's plot, too? Or could it be that StarClan could not reach their spirits?

But Tallstar made it, she thought. Yellowfang had said that the old WindClan leader had tried to collect his WindClan Clanmates. So why were Onewhisker and Barkface stolen?

“Crowflight...” Shadepool murmured, her mouth dry. She rested her muzzle on his shoulder. She wasn't sure what she could say but everything else she had said before: “We'll figure this out. We can do it together. I know it. Please, don't give up hope, Crow! Remember? When we're together, there's nothing we can't-”

“Disgusting.”

The hiss came from the woods, and Shadepool did not need to lift her head to know who it had come from. Her heart nearly stopped.

“Emberstep.” Crowflight's challenging snarl vibrated Shadepool's cheek.

Shadepool moved away from Crowflight in time for the lean she-cat to come into the moonlight. The fur along her spine was lifted, and Shadepool saw the gleam of claws as she prowled closer and closer. Her eyes shone with a vibrant hatred as she glared at them both.

Trembling, Shadepool mewed lamely, “We know what you're up to!”

Emberstep's whiskers twitched. “Do you, now? And what are you two up to, exactly?”

Crowflight slid between Shadepool and Emberstep, his back arched. “It's over, Emberstep,” he growled. “You failed.”

Emberstep scoffed, “Not yet, I haven't - I thought I'd have a harder time dealing with you, but when I tell Mudstar that you're mates with ThunderClan's medicine cat, I won't have to lift a claw.” She curled her lip into a sneer. “You'll be exiled so fast, you'll leave your whiskers behind!”

She seemed to consider something in her mind. “Though that means you'll run to ThunderClan, and we can't have that!”

“Shade, run,” Crowflight hissed.

“No!” Shadepool snapped. “Not without you!” Frantically, she tried to think of what they could do. “Come with me! Tinystar will help us figure something out!”

Emberstep lunged.

Crowflight met her mid-air, ramming his shoulder into her gut. The two spun, suspended for what felt like ages before they both landed hard on the ground.

Shadepool watched, stunned, as Crowflight wrestled in the grass with his Clanmate. Claws flashed, and the scent of blood touched the chilly air. Shadepool's heart thudded in her ears - the two seemed evenly matched, but Emberstep was going for the throat. Crowflight wasn't.

It all happened so quickly - Emberstep managed to toss Crowflight away with ferocious strength. He landed hard on the ground, and though Shadepool could see the rise and fall of his side, he didn't move. Crowflight was stunned.

Emberstep turned her attention to Shadepool.

Nightfrost’s voice screamed in her mind: Run!

Shadepool was on her paws before she could even register the earth beneath her toes. There was one problem, however:

There was nowhere to go.

Emberstep chuckled. A bit of blood trickled from a scratch above her eye. “Oh, this is too easy...”

Shadepool felt Emberstep's breath on her tail. She did the only thing she knew she could do - the stepping-stones. Shadepool flung herself onto the first, earning a shocked mewl from her pursuer as she realized there was another way across the Divide.

The surprise didn't last long. By the time Shadepool had gotten herself to the second stone, Emberstep was already splashing onto the first.

Filled with sheer panic, Shadepool had no choice - she couldn't afford to take the stones one at a time, the way they ought to be taken in these conditions. She had to put distance between herself and Emberstep, and she had to do it fast.

With a prayer to StarClan, to the white cat, to whoever was listening, Shadepool ran.

Her paws skimmed the stones. Unable to look down, she could only trust her paws not to steer her wrong. The crash and thunder of water echoed in her ears until it was all she could hear. The stepping-stone path seemed to double, no, triple in length.

Across the waters, on the ThunderClan shore, Shadepool saw the white cat again.

Without Nightfrost by her side, she kept her eyes fixed on the white cat - that beacon that stood in the safety and sanctuary of ThunderClan territory. It was all she could do.

And it worked.

Shadepool leaped past the white cat, landing on all fours inside the ThunderClan border, her legs soaked and trembling. Yet when she turned, she saw that Emberstep was only a few heartbeats behind, her gaze just as furiously focused. Shadepool's heart sank: If Emberstep caught her, she would be dead. Shadepool scrambled for places she could run, the fastest route to camp, anywhere that might lead her to safety.

Suddenly, the white cat rose to its paws from beside Shadepool. Emberstep's gaze faltered - the gleam of the white cat was reflected in her eyes.

“Who in the-” Emberstep hissed.

Shadepool swallowed around a hard lump in her throat. Emberstep could see the white cat!

The white cat leaned forward, floating over the stepping-stones, and exploded into a thousand moths.

Emberstep shrieked in shock. The moths flitted around her, enveloping Emberstep like a blinding white cloud. The gray she-cat’s paws slipped out from under her, and when she tried to scramble for purchase, her claws found only air.

A heartbeat later, Emberstep’s head hit one of the stepping-stones, the dull noise ringing out through the woods over the crash of water. Shadepool, her skin prickling, watched the dark shape of Emberstep’s body disappear beneath the surface, carried swiftly downstream.

A thin trickle of red appeared on the water and then was gone just as quickly, consumed by white foam.

Horrified, Shadepool looked up at the white cat - only to find it was gone.

“Shadepool!”

Shadepool blinked. Crowflight was making his way across the water, and she nearly yowled for him to be careful - but he had seen what had happened, that much was for sure. He took the stepping-stones carefully, the fur along his spine bristling with each agonizing step.

They met on the shore, and Shadepool pressed her muzzle into his ruffled, dusty pelt, letting her fear bubble up into a wail of terror that she could not contain. Crowflight let her carry on, shaking against him, his tail wrapped around her flank and his chin on her shoulder.

“We've got to find her,” Crowflight breathed when she was finally done. “She might still be alive!”

Shadepool doubted it, but she followed her mate as he dashed along the river bank. Shadepool's legs were wobbly icicles, and she could barely feel the ground beneath her paws. Whenever she blinked, she saw Emberstep sinking beneath a wave of stardust, blank-eyed and limp.

They found her body by the tree-bridge, caught up on the pile of stones that supported the trunk on the ThunderClan side. The water was tugging at her back legs and tail, her gray pelt soaked until it was black. When Crowflight dragged her out of the water and began rubbing her furiously with his paws, Shadepool didn't need to be a medicine cat to know that it would be fruitless.

Emberstep was dead.

Shadepool drew close, pressing her head into Crowflight’s side. His paws were trembling as he pressed them against Emberstep’s side, trying to force the water from the dead she-cat’s body. Though his Clanmate had tried to kill them both, he was still devastated to see her die. He had seen so many of his Clanmates die.

“Crow...” Shadepool murmured. She looked down at Emberstep, marveling at how peaceful she seemed. A moment ago, those eyes were lit with fury and bloodlust - now they were dim and blank, staring at nothing.

She laid one of her paws over Crowflight’s. “I'm so sorry.”

Crowflight stopped trying, then. He stared up at Shadepool. She saw his throat struggle - he was about to say something when his ear twitched. His eyes flickered past Shadepool and widened, whites slicing into the deep blues and blacks of his form.

Shadepool trembled. The adrenaline was dying down now, and she was so, so tired and so, so hungry. What else could there be? Another attacker? But she felt sympathy, sorrow - it trickled into her from somewhere very, very close, like a breath on her ear. Before Shadepool turned her head, she knew that Nightfrost would be there.

But when she looked at him, she found that he wasn't alone.

“Great StarClan,” whispered Brackenfur. He limped forward a step, eyes wide. “What's happened here?”