[ ⇝ Ꮯ ꮜ ꭱ ꭼ - - ] ;; Edits made! 3/10
Nov 30, 2019 14:36:28 GMT -5
Mosspool, Katanaheart, and 7 more like this
Post by » ѕнαdσω ⚔️ on Nov 30, 2019 14:36:28 GMT -5
“Those that can heal can harm; those that can cure can kill.”
― Celia Rees, Witch Child
________________________
[ ⇝ Ꮯ ꮜ ꭱ ꭼ - - ]
What happens after the heroes have won? After they have overcome their enemies?
What consequences will come to pass once the ash has had time to settle?
And what shadows will still linger once the sun spills over the earth once more?
Eaglefrost had never given thought to the future. Only a few moons ago, he had been a prisoner of a rebellious and radical group of rogues, led by a ruthless she-cat, who wanted to rule over all four clans and shackle the mysterious and powerful cursed to their side. His thoughts had never strayed far from survival in those days in a darkened cave, to making it to the next sunrise, and to seeing his closest friend, Shadowface, one last time.
But his prison is now his home. And his friend is now a love he fears.
As the deputy to a clan who welcomes cursed into their ranks, and as the guardian to the strongest cursed to walk the earth in hundreds of generations, Eaglefrost must ask the impossible question: has the curse around Shadowface's heart truly been lifted? Or is the she-cat looking for a cure that could possibly collapse the clans for good?
________________________
[⇝ A l l e g i a n c e s - - ]
MountainClan
Leader: Darkstar – Dark smoky gray she-cat with hunter’s moon eyes/crimson eyes. (Cursed)
Deputy: Eaglefrost – Large pawed brown tabby spotted tom with lynx tufts and icy blue eyes. (Guardian)
Medicine Cat: Cinderpath – Dark gray tom with white underbelly and paws with yellow eyes.
Medicine Cat Apprentice: N/A
Warriors: Hiddenheart – Darker blueish gray she-cat with lighter blue eyes and white markings.
Galechaser – Large, stormy grey tom with lighter grey streaks and misty blue eyes.
Ebonyrain – Long-legged black she-cat with a blue tint to her coat and deep blue eyes.
Shadowface – Chimera tortoiseshell with fiery bi-colored eyes of yellow and evergreen. (Cursed)
Jasmineflower – Stocky silver tabby she-cat with pale jade eyes.
Swiftbreeze – White she-cat with small pale brown patches and yellow eyes.
Nightfang – Black she-cat with electric blue eyes. (Cursed)
Ashheart – Ashen gray she-cat with black tabby stripes and fiery orange eyes. (Cursed)
Maskcloud – Fluffy white she-cat with a black mask over her face and misty blue eyes.
Coldstorm – White she-cat with faded blue-grey tabby stripes and cold blue eyes. (Guardian)
Tempestfall - Multi-colored tom of orange, gray, and white with fiery amber eyes.
TOP SECRET – Shiny gray and brown tom with TOP SECRET eyes. (Cursed)
Apprentices: Silverpaw – Long-legged black tom with moonstone eyes. (Cursed)
Eveningpaw – Black and gray-blue mottled she-cat with dark blue eyes.
Queens:
Kits:
Elders: Witheredsong – Long-haired white tom with faint gray stripes on his forehead and light pink eyes. (Cursed)
PineClan Leader: Treestar
Deputy: Sootfur (Cursed)
TundraClan
Leader: Owlstar
Deputy: Redclaw
GlacierClan
Leader: Icestar
Deputy: Frostsky (Cursed)
Cats outside the Clans
Wanderer – Large sandy colored tom with thick fur and faint tabby stripes around his tail, legs, and face. His eyes are a colorful mix of mint-green, watery blue, and fiery amber.
Ursa – Messy-furred soft brown she-cat with molten tawny colored eyes. (Cursed)
Major – Male grizzly bear. Ursa’s companion.
_______________________
[ ⇝ Prologue Part One: Before the Curse - - ]
The Old MountainClan Camp
3 Years Ago
“Onward to battle, Shadowed Wings!”
Excited laughter echoes in the main tunnel of the heavily fortified camp, the brambles, pine needles and woven branches rustling as two kits burst out of the narrow entrance.
One peels immediately out ahead of the other, scampering towards the nearest pine tree. The other trails behind, showing a bit of concern as his companion skids to a halt at the base of the young tree, her half black, half pink nose gently bumping against the peeling bark.
“Let’s not go out farther than this, ok?” The kit says to his squealing companion who now stares up at the pine with a challenge on her face, her haunches wiggling.
She flaps her white tail tip at him dismissively, not showing concern as she bunches up her muscles and eyes a low branch just above her head.
“Hurry, Eaglekit! We got to get the high ground before the rogues attack!” She decrees, finally leaping upwards, her right paw just barely brushing the branch she is aiming for. She lands back on the ground with a mighty grunt, grimacing as she rubs the base of her tail.
Eaglekit bites down on his chuckle, quickly padding up to her side to make sure she is ok.
“I think the rogues already attacked, Shadowkit,” he teases her, flicking her ear with his brown tabby tail.
She pouts, then stands up, shaking the dirt and pine needles off of her pelt. “Well then, we have an even more urgent reason to climb this tree! We can still land a surprise attack!”
Eaglekit’s eyes twinkle with eagerness. “The Shadowed Wings formation?” he whispers, as if he is revealing a deep, sacred secret.
Shadowkit turns her gaze to Eaglekit, her fiery amber eyes churning with determination and expectation. “Of course,” she whispers back. “Only the best technique performed by the best warriors can defeat the rogue hoard!”
Eaglekit grins, taking a step back as Shadowkit makes more room for herself to jump. This time, with a running start, she manages to take hold of the branch and heave herself upwards. Then, much to Eaglekit’s amazement, she continues to use her momentum to leap up two more branches, her amber eyes becoming small pinecones above his head.
“Whoa, you’re amazing, Shadowkit!” He calls, his tail swishing back and forth.
Shadowkit turns and leans up against the trunk of the tree, stretching her spine and curling her toes as she looks down at her companion. “Of course I am!” She replies, lifting her chin up. “Now get up here, Eaglekit! We have to decide where the Shadowed Wings formation is going to be aimed at.”
“Ok!” Eaglekit confirms, taking a similar stance that Shadowkit had done. He then ran full speed ahead at the pine, his large paws kicking up pine needles. As he leaps, his claws come out, hooking themselves into the bark as he makes contact.
He too manages to grab hold of the first branch, scrambling upwards and then leaping again to make it to the second, and then the third.
Shadowkit watches him incredulously as he flops down beside her. Then, breathing in through his nose, he stands and lifts his chin.
“Easy!” He cries, grinning at Shadowkit’s frown.
“You just copied my movements,” she hisses, sticking out her tongue.
Eaglekit puts on a hurtful expression, though his whiskers twitch with amusement. “Say whatever you want, but I…”
He pauses, suddenly noticing how high up they are. Were the rocks and shrubbery really that tiny? Did the air usually feel this thin? It began to feel like the ground was leaning a little bit too much to one side.
“Eaglekit? Hey, Eaglekit, snap out of it!”
He quickly crouches down on the branch, his claws wrapping around it and his tail curling in between his legs. “We’re really up high, aren’t we?” he asks, his voice shaking.
Shadowkit looks down at the ground, and then stares at her companion, her eyes a little wide with surprise. “Are you…afraid of heights?”
Eaglekit’s tabby fur fluffs up. “No! I-I mean…I don’t know. I’ve never climbed a tree before,” he admits, his eyes still locking onto the tiny landmarks below.
He expects her to laugh, but instead she slides closer to him, looking down at the ground from his perspective. She then looks at him again, taking in his bristling fur, his wide, panicked eyes and his trembling tail.
She won’t have it.
“Hmmm, well this certainly won’t do for the Shadowed Wings formation,” she observes, rubbing her muzzle with her right paw and then resting it on Eaglekit’s shoulder. “It seems one of us will have to become a ground specialist!”
Eaglekit still doesn’t take his eyes off of the ground, afraid that if he looks away that the ground will rush up to meet him like giant talons on a winged predator.
“Eaglekit, look into my eyes.”
At the tone of her voice, calm and yet full of authority, he looks up, his icy blue eyes widening as they clash with fiery amber.
Ice melts under the flames.
“I’m going to get you down, ok?” She says, her brow rising, making sure he is paying attention.
His eyes are glued to hers. He nods.
“Just don’t take your eyes away from mine. Keep looking at them, and I will get you back to the ground in no time, ok?”
He nods again, following her directions as she shifts her position on the branch, keeping her face close to his so that it is only her facial features that he can see.
Calmly, slowly, and with as much patience as a doting mother, Shadowkit leads Eaglekit back down the pine, keeping her eyes locked onto his as she feels her way back down the pine, having to slide along the trunk a few times to do so.
Once they reach the ground, Eaglekit’s fear is gone. He sits, taking in deep breaths as he looks back up the way they came, and then looks over to Shadowkit who stands to his left.
The right side of her face faces him, her black kitten fur rustling in a loose breeze that whistles by. Shadowkit turns fully to him then, the other side of her face, orange tabby and white, coming into his view. “Feeling better?” She asks, her fiery amber eyes shockingly soft.
He swallows, nodding vigorously. “Ye-yeah. Just don’t tell anyone about it, ok?”
She grins. “I won’t.
. . .
The next day, Shadowkit and Eaglekit venture out of the camp again. This time, Eaglekit isn’t as weary, and he sticks close to Shadowkit’s side.
They both pause when they hear the sound of pebbles and pine needles being displaced and quickly find a large boulder to hide behind. Carefully, they both climb to the lip of it, peering just over the edge of it as they watch a pair of MountainClan warriors coming through.
The warriors are laughing, their heads bent close together as they walk slowly down a well-trodden path toward the PineClan border.
Both kits’ heads raise inch by inch as the warriors walk further and further away. Once they are out of ear shot, Shadowkit exclaims, “Let’s follow them!”
Eaglekit frowns. “No way! They are going way farther than we should go. We’re not even supposed to be out of the camp in the first place,” he hisses.
Shadowkit sighs, rolling her amber eyes. “Don’t be such a coward, Eaglekit! Come on, it’s an adventure!”
Eaglekit gazes back at the camp, sighing. “Fine! Just…no trees, ok?”
Shadowkit clamps down on her lips, nearly bursting with laughter, but she simply nods vigorously, her eyes watering with the effort.
Carefully, both kits follow the same trail the two warriors had taken, hiding behind boulders, fallen pines or ferns when they think they are getting too close. It isn’t long before the two warriors finally verge off the path, heading south toward the Great Mountain.
Eaglekit’s weariness increases as the familiar path fades from the ground. He quickly looks at Shadowkit who practically prances along with not a care in the world. Her fiery amber eyes flash to his, and he quickly looks away.
“Eaglekit, look into my eyes.”
“Just don’t take your eyes away from mine. Keep looking at them, and I will get you back to the ground in no time, ok?”
Eaglekit looks over at Shadowkit again, catching her gaze. She grins at him, and he forces himself to not break his eyes away as he grins back.
At last, the warriors stop at a small waterfall. It rushes over the edge of a rocky outcropping and spills into a wide shallow pool. The cluster of trees provide perfect shade, but the few rare rays of sunlight that pierce through catch on the rising mist, sending out little rainbows arcing over the water.
The pair sits close together at the edge of the pool, their heads now leaned up against one another, their tails twined.
“Ew,” Shadowkit snorts, crouching next to Eaglekit as they spy on the couple. “I was hoping they were going on a border patrol.”
Eaglekit tilts his head in curiosity as the pair look at each other, their eyes locking. One of them grins, and the other laughs in response.
“Do you think they are mates?” Eaglekit asks, turning to look at Shadowkit.
But she is already turning away, her tail tip twitching. “Who cares? It’s gross.”
Eaglekit frowns, turning to look back at the pair of warriors who now lean down to drink from the pool. “What’s so bad about mates?” He inquires, finally standing up and following Shadowkit back to the path.
“Why would you want to tie yourself down like that?” Shadowkit says, her voice filling with annoyance. “Once you have a mate it’s for life, and then it’s pretty much expected that you will raise kits. I’d rather be out on patrols and defending my clan on the front lines than being stuffed into the nursery.”
Eaglekit shakes his head. “That’s not what my mother told me mates are.”
Shadowkit stops and spins on her toes, facing him, her expression now skeptical. “Really? What did she say?”
Eaglekit suddenly finds the urge to look anywhere but at Shadowkit’s eyes. “She said that her and my father were close friends, and that’s why they became mates. Kits came later when they both wanted them.”
Shadowkit’s eyes widen a little bit, her head tilting a little. “Like friend mates?”
Eaglekit’s eyes shoot to hers, nodding. “Yeah. Something like that.”
“Did they love each other?”
“Well, of course they did. But she said it was like a partnership. A promise.”
“A promise of what?”
“To stand by each other no matter what.”
Shadowkit nods slowly, her fiery amber eyes glowing with sudden inspiration. “Should we make a promise?”
Eaglekit’s limbs freeze, his heart hammering like a loony woodpecker who had already gone through half of the tree trunk and was about to topple it over.
“You-you mean like a partnership?” he asks, stammering.
Shadowkit nods, grinning. “Yeah! We are already friends, and it sounds nice to have someone to always have by my side no matter what. What about you?”
Eaglekit swallows, willing his heartbeat to slow. “It does sound nice.”
Shadowkit narrows her eyes, her expression one of deep thought. She then comes out of it within a few breaths, her eyes lighting up as she runs past Eaglekit, yelling at him not to move.
Eaglekit fidgets in place until she comes back, and much to his horror, she has a giant moss ball weighed down by thick, brown mud.
“What are you doing?” He hisses, his blue eyes wide as she lets the mud ball flop onto the ground, making a gurgling noise.
“We are the Shadowed Wings, a sacred order of warriors who vows to vanquish all forces who oppose it!” Shadowkit begins, making her voice louder and more official. She pauses only for a moment, opening her right eye to wink at Eaglekit before continuing. “But we are also friends who fight side by side. So we too must make a vow between ourselves to ensure we endure!”
Eaglekit’s eyes widen, his lip twitching with humor.
Shadowkit then scoops up some mud with her right paw, motioning with her tail for him to turn around.
Eaglekit sighs, but can’t help his curiosity and excitement as Shadowkit approaches his exposed back.
Slowly, and with much care, Shadowkit smears the mud on his back. It is not until after the first few strokes that Eaglekit realizes that she is painting wings on his back.
“I, Shadowkit, promise to always be by your side no matter what comes our way, and that I’ll always be the wings on your back,” she says confidently, stepping back with a small hum of approval.
Eaglekit spins around, grinning like a giant fool.
Shadowkit laughs, gesturing to him to take some mud of his own. She then turns and exposes her back to him, her haunches wiggling in place.
Eaglekit chuckles, using his left paw to begin painting muddy wings on Shadowkit’s tortoiseshell fur. He can feel each excited breath she takes as his paw pad slips over her fur.
“And I, Eaglekit, promise to always be by your side no matter what comes our way, and that I’ll always be the shadow beneath your wings.”
________________________
[ ⇝ Prologue Part Two: Before the Cure - - ]
Two allied warriors stood on opposite sides of a battlefield, both facing a pair of allied enemies standing in their shadows.
One of these enemies was fear-fear could not be escaped on any battlefield, no matter the experience or air of calm a warrior took with them before the blood letting began-but this fear was not a crippling terror of their own mortality, but a terror toward the choice before them:
Kill the enemy called fear, or its ally; an inescapable love?
Love, as they had both discovered, was an excruciating enemy to kill.
And neither warrior wanted to survive such a sacrifice.
. . .
The New MountainClan Camp
6 moons before present day
Eaglefrost stumbled into the old rogue’s camp, starving, cold, and shaking like a newborn kitten.
It was the exact same condition he had been in when he first entered this giant cavern beneath the Great Mountain six moons ago. Back then, he had been surrounded by enemies. Enemies who wanted to use him; to break him. To wring out every secret and confidence he had ever shared.
But now, with the stench of fear, blood and smoke finally gone, he was among his budding clan, rising from the ashes of the rogue’s reign of terror.
And yet, he still felt his heart race as the grey and black stone enveloped him, as the cool floor stung his paw pads with each reluctant and clumsy step. He could not cast aside the images that flooded his mind, nor rid himself of the ghostly sensation of a pale she-cat’s slithering touch.
This is home now, he reminded himself. My enemies are gone. She is gone.
His paws, however, froze in place as the shadow of the cavern fell completely over him, and he halted all together, breathing heavily as he felt his temperature rise.
“Hey...none of that. Only one of us gets to...collapse at the entrance.”
The exhausted, hoarse voice that spoke behind him came closer to echo in his ear and bounce off the cavernous walls. He rolled his head to the side, a pair of very dim, but very amused green and yellow irises filling his field of view.
Shadowface.
The nervous heat radiating off of him subsided, and his mind eased its wandering at the sight of those eyes. Eyes that had changed so much throughout his life, but had somehow retained the same inner fire, regardless of the flame’s hue.
Eaglefrost huffed amusingly in response, slowly and ungracefully lowering himself to the cave floor and closing his eyes from his friend’s gaze. “Too late. Go fetch a few of the apprentices. I need to be dragged to my nest.”
“Ha,” Shadowface laughed, sitting-more like flopping-onto the stone, catching her breath as well. “I’m surprised the terrible trio wasn’t waiting for us here.”
Warm memories permeated his head at the mention of Shadowface’s kits. While not his own kin, they had treated him like family ever since they were just kits, just as their mother always had. The term, ‘Uncle Eaglefrost’ was commonly used as a term of endearment and even a greeting.
The echoing of pattering paws from deep within the main cave made Eaglefrost wince playfully through his shivering. “I’m afraid you’ve summoned your brood. Maybe I can convince them to drag me to my nest.”
She snorted, somehow managing to gather the strength to shove his shoulder with her paw which seemed to flop uselessly beside her. “Good luck,” she amended, shutting her unlit eyes and laying back onto her side, breathing in deep.
But it was just Maskpaw who came running, her snowy white fur rippling in the breeze she made as she sprinted up to them.
“Finally! It’s been three days!” She cried, her misty blue eyes filled with excitement and relief as she skidded to a halt in front of their depleted forms. “We thought we were going to have to fish you two out of the lake! How was the ritual? Are you truly bonded now? And is it true that you can read each other’s thoughts now too? Because Ashheart was telling me this weird story about a cursed and their Guardian who-”
“Get me something to fill the void in my stomach and I’ll tell you everything,” Eaglefrost interrupted, feeling like he was being run over with the amount of questions being thrown at him.
Shadowface chuckled, her flank wiggling in her amusement.
Eaglefrost growled, too tired to swat at his friend.
“Yes! Ok, I’ll grab something for you both,” Maskpaw said eagerly, turning tail and running away until she paused halfway to the main tunnel, her tail stiffening as she looked over her shoulder. “Oh, actually...Eaglefrost, you are being called to the leader’s den.”
This got both warriors to sit up straight, their eyes wide and tense.
“Darkmoon’s back?” Shadowface asked, her bi colored eyes shifting behind her daughter, as if she could peer through the walls.
Maskpaw nodded, now looking nervous. “Darkstar showed up only a little while before you did, mother,” she said, correcting the she-cat on the warrior’s new title. “But she was...off. Cinderpath wanted to take a look at her, but she didn’t want treatment. I think she was waiting for...well, I guess just for Eaglefrost.”
Eaglefrost could feel shimmering heat directed at him as Shadowface’s gaze locked onto him. He didn’t meet her stare, knowing no answer he could give that would make her satisfied.
“Me?” Eaglefrost echoed, grunting as he got to his paws.
“You should rest first,” Shadowface cut in, her tail tip brushing his leg.
This time, he did turn his head to look at her, but she had already turned away, her gaze now resting upon her daughter. “Did she say if it was urgent?”
Maskpaw’s eyes seemed to bulge out of her head. “It’s...it’s Darkmoo-I mean Darkstar. Do you really want to keep her waiting?”
Eaglefrost let out a short laugh. “She has a point,” he said to Shadowface, catching her gaze as she looked back at him. “You were the one who did all the work anyways. I can stand long enough to talk to our new leader.”
Shadowface’s expression crinkled, concern and stubbornness warring in her bi colored eyes. “Fine,” she lamented. “But I’m telling Cinderpath to send someone to wait outside for you.”
Eaglefrost smiled knowingly, tilting his head at Maskpaw. “Make sure she gets to her nest with some food. And make sure she stays there.”
“Hey!” Shadowface protested, now releasing the full force of her famous glare upon him.
Maskpaw chuckled, dipping her head to him. “You got it, Uncle Eaglefrost.” She padded up to her mother then, and offered her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”
Eaglefrost padded past them, holding in a laugh as he heard Shadowface’s continued protests echo behind him.
We just spent three days alone under a lake where you expended every drop of your strength to keep the water around us clear, and you’re still thinking of letting me rest before yourself. You’re still the same, even after all this time, he thought, shaking his head.
Eaglefrost took the smaller, right corridor that lead to the new leader’s quarters. It had been a while since he had been down this way, as he usually tended to avoid it given the previous occupant had loved to lounge on the boulder surrounded by spires of rock within its main open cavern.
But as he walked into the grand open space, with light creaking through the cracks, and mossy vines spilling down the walls, there was no ghost of his past to greet him upon the throne of rock. It was, simply, a small smoky grey she-cat sitting alone with her back turned to him.
Eaglefrost halted at the foot of the raised stone, and took a seat, not intending to stand for the entire duration of this meeting.
“Welcome back,” he said, curling his tail around his paws. “I was told you wanted to see me.”
At the sound of his voice, his old mentor turned, and then he could clearly see why Maskpaw and Cinderpath had been worried.
He hissed, nearly getting to his paws. “Darkmoon-!”
“Darkstar,” she corrected, her voice hoarse and weak. Her eyes glowed hotly and filled the air around her with shimmering heat, the red color of her irises more pronounced thanks to the fresh claw marks running over her face.
“What happened?” he demanded, anger filling his gut.
The red, puffy scars stretched and pulled against her healthy flesh as she made an expression of disgust. “They tried to take my eyes. But I wouldn’t let them, and neither would the mountain.”
Eaglefrost was frozen in place, his mind running in circles as he tried to apply logic to her answer.
“The mountain...wouldn’t let them take your eyes?” He repeated slowly, now running his eyes over every inch of Darkstar’s body, wondering if maybe she had sustained a head injury as well, or was bleeding out somewhere he couldn’t see.
But all he could see was an unfamiliar disconnect inside her eyes, as if she was still at the top of the Great Mountain communing with her ancestors instead of here, talking with him.
Darkstar shook her head, tiny flecks of blood flying from her wounds. “I have my seven lives, that is all that matters.” She peered at him, the light from above casting half of her face in shadow. “Are you bound to Shadowface now?”
Eaglefrost opened his mouth, then quickly closed it. He didn’t want to move on from discussing what went on during Darkstar’s leader initiation, but he could tell that she was not entirely present, and probably wanted to involve herself in something other than her ordeal on the mountain top.
So, he answered her.
“Yes. I am her Guardian now, officially.”
Darkstar nodded, picking up some moss with her claw that he hadn’t noticed sitting beside her, and pressing it over one side of her face.
“Did you both decide to do the full ceremony, or the partial?”
“The full.”
“Well?”
Eaglefrost paused, unsure what she wanted to hear.
Darkstar lowered the moss from her eye, her blood coating the green ball. “What do you sense? Is there a difference from before?”
Ah. That.
Eaglefrost closed his eyes, focusing on that new and strange sensation flickering inside his chest, like an ember of light, or a struggling flame. Like a second heartbeat that wasn’t in tune with his own.
He smiled as he spoke. “She’s resting. Her heart rate is steady, for once. She’s probably asleep.”
Darkstar purred roughly, her bloody eyes starting to come more into focus. “That must bring you much comfort, after all you two have been through...can she sense you in the same way?”
Eaglefrost nodded, his eyes gazing down at his paws as his friend’s heartbeat echoed in his bones. “Yes. It was...strange for her at first. It is an adjustment both of us are still making.”
“What a strange process,” she commented, bringing up a fresh bit of moss to the other side of her face. “But, as much as I want you to tell me more about the ceremony...I have an important question to ask.”
Eaglefrost raised his head. “What is it?”
Darkstar considered him, her pupils dilating slightly as she lowered the moss from her wound. There was a subtle shift in her gaze and expression that he couldn’t quite place. “Do you love your clan, Eaglefrost?”
Eaglefrost was taken back, personally surprised by the question. “Of course I do.”
“Would you give up your life to protect it?” She continued, her expression a mask of calm hiding a storm of observations behind it.
He frowned. “I have already given my life, and I would do so-”
“Shadowface isn’t the clan,” Darkstar interjected, her intimidating eyes narrowing.
“She is a part of the clan,” he argued, his leg muscles stiffening. “By giving my life for a member of the clan, I am protecting its future.”
“And what future,” Darkstar pressed. “Does Shadowface have within the clan?”
“The same future as any other MountainClan cat,” he said calmly. “She will serve as a warrior until the breath in her body leaves her. That is who she is.”
“And you think she will serve the whole clan, not just those with whom she shares a kin-like bond with?”
At this, Eaglefrost could not respond. He knew Shadowface to be self-sacrificing, but he didn’t know her to give herself up for just anyone. And all actions she had ever done for the clan had been in her own interest.
He kept his gaze pointed directly at his leader, refusing to lower them in shame at his own willful ignorance.
Finally, after a few tense moments of eye contact, Darkstar finally spoke. “Blackheart told me what you did while you were imprisoned with her during the rogue takeover.”
Eaglefrost watched warily as Darkstar stood on shaky legs, looking more commanding than she ever had before despite the blood leaking around her eyes and the apparent weakness in her limbs.
“You tried interrupting public executions,” she said, her voice echoing in the open space. “You eavesdropped on their meetings when your guards were asleep. I was even told you attempted to purposefully sow discord and insecurity within Snow’s inner circle…You did many things behind enemy lines for the good of the clans until Snow discovered your connection to Shadowface.”
Eaglefrost kept his face passive, and did not say a word. He waited for what the she-cat would ask him next.
“Did she break you, Eaglefrost? Or is that warrior heart of yours still whole?”
There were several breaths of silence, and then, he answered with a fierce growl. “What do you think?”
Darkstar’s eyes narrowed in what could be seen as approval. “Then I have one final question for you. Would you be willing to protect MountainClan from all threats, to lay down your life if need be, and take responsibility for its future as my deputy?”
Eaglefrost’s blue eyes widened, his legs once again becoming weak. All darkness that had been brought in from the previous questions evaporated like mist in the sunlight. He could have laughed, maybe even shouted.
“You deserve this post,” Darkstar assured him, her expression now one of familiar concern; a friend returned from the other side. “I know if I had not asked those questions, you would have asked why I didn’t give Shadowface the position, and I-”
“She would have been honored I’m sure,” he replied, a smile finally peering through his stunned face. “But your concern is not misplaced. I would have asked had you not made your point.”
Darkstar smiled as well, relief washing over her features. “Good. Then, do you accept?”
Eaglefrost was not done yet, however. He too, had questions. “If I do accept, I want you to tell me what happened during your leader ceremony.”
Darkstar hesitated, her tail tip twitching, but after she wrestled internally with herself, her shoulders visibly slumbed, and she nodded. “That is fair. I need...I need to tell someone anyways.”
Eaglefrost felt humbled at Darkstar’s admission. She wasn’t a cat that regularly opened herself up to others, not unless they were cats she could completely trust.
“And, as a question to you,” he continued, hoping that he could get an honest answer out of this too. “I need to know why you asked me about the bonding ceremony, and what type me and Shadowface decided to choose.”
Darkstar’s famous mask dropped in place, and Eaglefrost knew then that she was hiding something. “As I said, I simply wanted to know about it. As a cursed myself I was curious.”
“That’s what you thought of first right before you were going to ask me to be your deputy?” He asked, skepticism riding clear in his tone. “And after StarClan tried to have your eyes gouged out?”
Darkstar’s crimson eyes flared up. “You’re treading deep water, Eaglefrost.”
“Then tell me what ulterior motive you have for asking me to be your deputy, and don’t skip the details.”
Darkstar pushed aside the clumps of bloody moss beside her and leaped down from her perch on the boulder. She came close, close enough that Eaglefrost could feel the heat from her power on his whiskers.
“I don’t want anyone outside of our clan to know that I am cursed.”
Eaglefrost frowned. “Why? The clans know the existence of cursed-”
“And they mistrust us,” Darkstar said, her expression grave. “As is natural. And with mistrust comes fear of what they don’t understand.”
Eaglefrost’s frown deepened as he tried to see the situation from Darkstar’s point of view. He was still missing the reason why she asked him out of the other notable cats in their clan. Especially Hiddenheart, the old deputy.
But then Darkstar’s words clicked.
“You’re afraid of an inter clan war…”
The tension in the air snapped tight, and Darkstar’s eyes shut, a few fresh drops of blood dripping down her fur like tears. “It’s one thing to attack a clan that are seen as enemies...but if the leaders knew of my true nature, they would seek to remove me, and to dissolve MountainClan all together out of fear.”
“Owlstar seemed accepting of cursed,” Eaglefrost pointed out, remembering how Shadowface described the leader’s forward thinking personality.
“But he is just one,” Darkstar replied, her eyes opening once more. “If the other two clan leaders aren’t as accepting, they will have the majority.”
Eaglefrost nodded, finally starting to piece together his leader’s fears. “If it is what you think is best, then I will keep your secret.”
Darkstar dipped her head. “Thank you.” She met his gaze then, and said, “There is one final issue.”
Eaglefrost felt his heart hammering away in his chest. He stood and walked behind Darkstar to the discarded moss she had left, and brought it back to her. “Tell me.”
Darkstar moved the moss closer to her, her shoulders stiff. “It’s Shadowface.”
“Must she always be an issue?” Eaglefrost murmured.
She shook her head slightly to one side, facing the exit where the she-cat in question slept among her clan mates. “She is...something else.” She began. “I always knew she was powerful, but what she has unlocked, and what she has stolen back...Eaglefrost, if ever she was to lose control, if ever she was to decide that clan life was not enough...I fear the damage she could do.”
The pieces began falling together into Eaglefrost's head, and he didn't like what he was seeing. Hiding the truth...fear of an inter clan war...the one cat she cannot guarantee will fall in line...a cat so potentially dangerous that they could bring the war themselves…
“What is it that you are asking me, Darkstar?”
The leader couldn’t meet her deputies gaze as she asked for the first and last time, “If Shadowface becomes a danger to our clan, will you...can you kill her?”
And there, in that cave where he was once held prisoner, Eaglefrost could feel a pale she-cat’s fangs hang over his throat once more as they had in his sleep. Except for in his nightmares, where the fangs sank into familiar tortoiseshell fur.
________________________
Deputy: Eaglefrost – Large pawed brown tabby spotted tom with lynx tufts and icy blue eyes. (Guardian)
Medicine Cat: Cinderpath – Dark gray tom with white underbelly and paws with yellow eyes.
Medicine Cat Apprentice: N/A
Warriors: Hiddenheart – Darker blueish gray she-cat with lighter blue eyes and white markings.
Galechaser – Large, stormy grey tom with lighter grey streaks and misty blue eyes.
Ebonyrain – Long-legged black she-cat with a blue tint to her coat and deep blue eyes.
Shadowface – Chimera tortoiseshell with fiery bi-colored eyes of yellow and evergreen. (Cursed)
Jasmineflower – Stocky silver tabby she-cat with pale jade eyes.
Swiftbreeze – White she-cat with small pale brown patches and yellow eyes.
Nightfang – Black she-cat with electric blue eyes. (Cursed)
Ashheart – Ashen gray she-cat with black tabby stripes and fiery orange eyes. (Cursed)
Maskcloud – Fluffy white she-cat with a black mask over her face and misty blue eyes.
Coldstorm – White she-cat with faded blue-grey tabby stripes and cold blue eyes. (Guardian)
Tempestfall - Multi-colored tom of orange, gray, and white with fiery amber eyes.
TOP SECRET – Shiny gray and brown tom with TOP SECRET eyes. (Cursed)
Apprentices: Silverpaw – Long-legged black tom with moonstone eyes. (Cursed)
Eveningpaw – Black and gray-blue mottled she-cat with dark blue eyes.
Queens:
Kits:
Elders: Witheredsong – Long-haired white tom with faint gray stripes on his forehead and light pink eyes. (Cursed)
PineClan
3 Years Ago
“Onward to battle, Shadowed Wings!”
Excited laughter echoes in the main tunnel of the heavily fortified camp, the brambles, pine needles and woven branches rustling as two kits burst out of the narrow entrance.
One peels immediately out ahead of the other, scampering towards the nearest pine tree. The other trails behind, showing a bit of concern as his companion skids to a halt at the base of the young tree, her half black, half pink nose gently bumping against the peeling bark.
“Let’s not go out farther than this, ok?” The kit says to his squealing companion who now stares up at the pine with a challenge on her face, her haunches wiggling.
She flaps her white tail tip at him dismissively, not showing concern as she bunches up her muscles and eyes a low branch just above her head.
“Hurry, Eaglekit! We got to get the high ground before the rogues attack!” She decrees, finally leaping upwards, her right paw just barely brushing the branch she is aiming for. She lands back on the ground with a mighty grunt, grimacing as she rubs the base of her tail.
Eaglekit bites down on his chuckle, quickly padding up to her side to make sure she is ok.
“I think the rogues already attacked, Shadowkit,” he teases her, flicking her ear with his brown tabby tail.
She pouts, then stands up, shaking the dirt and pine needles off of her pelt. “Well then, we have an even more urgent reason to climb this tree! We can still land a surprise attack!”
Eaglekit’s eyes twinkle with eagerness. “The Shadowed Wings formation?” he whispers, as if he is revealing a deep, sacred secret.
Shadowkit turns her gaze to Eaglekit, her fiery amber eyes churning with determination and expectation. “Of course,” she whispers back. “Only the best technique performed by the best warriors can defeat the rogue hoard!”
Eaglekit grins, taking a step back as Shadowkit makes more room for herself to jump. This time, with a running start, she manages to take hold of the branch and heave herself upwards. Then, much to Eaglekit’s amazement, she continues to use her momentum to leap up two more branches, her amber eyes becoming small pinecones above his head.
“Whoa, you’re amazing, Shadowkit!” He calls, his tail swishing back and forth.
Shadowkit turns and leans up against the trunk of the tree, stretching her spine and curling her toes as she looks down at her companion. “Of course I am!” She replies, lifting her chin up. “Now get up here, Eaglekit! We have to decide where the Shadowed Wings formation is going to be aimed at.”
“Ok!” Eaglekit confirms, taking a similar stance that Shadowkit had done. He then ran full speed ahead at the pine, his large paws kicking up pine needles. As he leaps, his claws come out, hooking themselves into the bark as he makes contact.
He too manages to grab hold of the first branch, scrambling upwards and then leaping again to make it to the second, and then the third.
Shadowkit watches him incredulously as he flops down beside her. Then, breathing in through his nose, he stands and lifts his chin.
“Easy!” He cries, grinning at Shadowkit’s frown.
“You just copied my movements,” she hisses, sticking out her tongue.
Eaglekit puts on a hurtful expression, though his whiskers twitch with amusement. “Say whatever you want, but I…”
He pauses, suddenly noticing how high up they are. Were the rocks and shrubbery really that tiny? Did the air usually feel this thin? It began to feel like the ground was leaning a little bit too much to one side.
“Eaglekit? Hey, Eaglekit, snap out of it!”
He quickly crouches down on the branch, his claws wrapping around it and his tail curling in between his legs. “We’re really up high, aren’t we?” he asks, his voice shaking.
Shadowkit looks down at the ground, and then stares at her companion, her eyes a little wide with surprise. “Are you…afraid of heights?”
Eaglekit’s tabby fur fluffs up. “No! I-I mean…I don’t know. I’ve never climbed a tree before,” he admits, his eyes still locking onto the tiny landmarks below.
He expects her to laugh, but instead she slides closer to him, looking down at the ground from his perspective. She then looks at him again, taking in his bristling fur, his wide, panicked eyes and his trembling tail.
She won’t have it.
“Hmmm, well this certainly won’t do for the Shadowed Wings formation,” she observes, rubbing her muzzle with her right paw and then resting it on Eaglekit’s shoulder. “It seems one of us will have to become a ground specialist!”
Eaglekit still doesn’t take his eyes off of the ground, afraid that if he looks away that the ground will rush up to meet him like giant talons on a winged predator.
“Eaglekit, look into my eyes.”
At the tone of her voice, calm and yet full of authority, he looks up, his icy blue eyes widening as they clash with fiery amber.
Ice melts under the flames.
“I’m going to get you down, ok?” She says, her brow rising, making sure he is paying attention.
His eyes are glued to hers. He nods.
“Just don’t take your eyes away from mine. Keep looking at them, and I will get you back to the ground in no time, ok?”
He nods again, following her directions as she shifts her position on the branch, keeping her face close to his so that it is only her facial features that he can see.
Calmly, slowly, and with as much patience as a doting mother, Shadowkit leads Eaglekit back down the pine, keeping her eyes locked onto his as she feels her way back down the pine, having to slide along the trunk a few times to do so.
Once they reach the ground, Eaglekit’s fear is gone. He sits, taking in deep breaths as he looks back up the way they came, and then looks over to Shadowkit who stands to his left.
The right side of her face faces him, her black kitten fur rustling in a loose breeze that whistles by. Shadowkit turns fully to him then, the other side of her face, orange tabby and white, coming into his view. “Feeling better?” She asks, her fiery amber eyes shockingly soft.
He swallows, nodding vigorously. “Ye-yeah. Just don’t tell anyone about it, ok?”
She grins. “I won’t.
. . .
The next day, Shadowkit and Eaglekit venture out of the camp again. This time, Eaglekit isn’t as weary, and he sticks close to Shadowkit’s side.
They both pause when they hear the sound of pebbles and pine needles being displaced and quickly find a large boulder to hide behind. Carefully, they both climb to the lip of it, peering just over the edge of it as they watch a pair of MountainClan warriors coming through.
The warriors are laughing, their heads bent close together as they walk slowly down a well-trodden path toward the PineClan border.
Both kits’ heads raise inch by inch as the warriors walk further and further away. Once they are out of ear shot, Shadowkit exclaims, “Let’s follow them!”
Eaglekit frowns. “No way! They are going way farther than we should go. We’re not even supposed to be out of the camp in the first place,” he hisses.
Shadowkit sighs, rolling her amber eyes. “Don’t be such a coward, Eaglekit! Come on, it’s an adventure!”
Eaglekit gazes back at the camp, sighing. “Fine! Just…no trees, ok?”
Shadowkit clamps down on her lips, nearly bursting with laughter, but she simply nods vigorously, her eyes watering with the effort.
Carefully, both kits follow the same trail the two warriors had taken, hiding behind boulders, fallen pines or ferns when they think they are getting too close. It isn’t long before the two warriors finally verge off the path, heading south toward the Great Mountain.
Eaglekit’s weariness increases as the familiar path fades from the ground. He quickly looks at Shadowkit who practically prances along with not a care in the world. Her fiery amber eyes flash to his, and he quickly looks away.
“Eaglekit, look into my eyes.”
“Just don’t take your eyes away from mine. Keep looking at them, and I will get you back to the ground in no time, ok?”
Eaglekit looks over at Shadowkit again, catching her gaze. She grins at him, and he forces himself to not break his eyes away as he grins back.
At last, the warriors stop at a small waterfall. It rushes over the edge of a rocky outcropping and spills into a wide shallow pool. The cluster of trees provide perfect shade, but the few rare rays of sunlight that pierce through catch on the rising mist, sending out little rainbows arcing over the water.
The pair sits close together at the edge of the pool, their heads now leaned up against one another, their tails twined.
“Ew,” Shadowkit snorts, crouching next to Eaglekit as they spy on the couple. “I was hoping they were going on a border patrol.”
Eaglekit tilts his head in curiosity as the pair look at each other, their eyes locking. One of them grins, and the other laughs in response.
“Do you think they are mates?” Eaglekit asks, turning to look at Shadowkit.
But she is already turning away, her tail tip twitching. “Who cares? It’s gross.”
Eaglekit frowns, turning to look back at the pair of warriors who now lean down to drink from the pool. “What’s so bad about mates?” He inquires, finally standing up and following Shadowkit back to the path.
“Why would you want to tie yourself down like that?” Shadowkit says, her voice filling with annoyance. “Once you have a mate it’s for life, and then it’s pretty much expected that you will raise kits. I’d rather be out on patrols and defending my clan on the front lines than being stuffed into the nursery.”
Eaglekit shakes his head. “That’s not what my mother told me mates are.”
Shadowkit stops and spins on her toes, facing him, her expression now skeptical. “Really? What did she say?”
Eaglekit suddenly finds the urge to look anywhere but at Shadowkit’s eyes. “She said that her and my father were close friends, and that’s why they became mates. Kits came later when they both wanted them.”
Shadowkit’s eyes widen a little bit, her head tilting a little. “Like friend mates?”
Eaglekit’s eyes shoot to hers, nodding. “Yeah. Something like that.”
“Did they love each other?”
“Well, of course they did. But she said it was like a partnership. A promise.”
“A promise of what?”
“To stand by each other no matter what.”
Shadowkit nods slowly, her fiery amber eyes glowing with sudden inspiration. “Should we make a promise?”
Eaglekit’s limbs freeze, his heart hammering like a loony woodpecker who had already gone through half of the tree trunk and was about to topple it over.
“You-you mean like a partnership?” he asks, stammering.
Shadowkit nods, grinning. “Yeah! We are already friends, and it sounds nice to have someone to always have by my side no matter what. What about you?”
Eaglekit swallows, willing his heartbeat to slow. “It does sound nice.”
Shadowkit narrows her eyes, her expression one of deep thought. She then comes out of it within a few breaths, her eyes lighting up as she runs past Eaglekit, yelling at him not to move.
Eaglekit fidgets in place until she comes back, and much to his horror, she has a giant moss ball weighed down by thick, brown mud.
“What are you doing?” He hisses, his blue eyes wide as she lets the mud ball flop onto the ground, making a gurgling noise.
“We are the Shadowed Wings, a sacred order of warriors who vows to vanquish all forces who oppose it!” Shadowkit begins, making her voice louder and more official. She pauses only for a moment, opening her right eye to wink at Eaglekit before continuing. “But we are also friends who fight side by side. So we too must make a vow between ourselves to ensure we endure!”
Eaglekit’s eyes widen, his lip twitching with humor.
Shadowkit then scoops up some mud with her right paw, motioning with her tail for him to turn around.
Eaglekit sighs, but can’t help his curiosity and excitement as Shadowkit approaches his exposed back.
Slowly, and with much care, Shadowkit smears the mud on his back. It is not until after the first few strokes that Eaglekit realizes that she is painting wings on his back.
“I, Shadowkit, promise to always be by your side no matter what comes our way, and that I’ll always be the wings on your back,” she says confidently, stepping back with a small hum of approval.
Eaglekit spins around, grinning like a giant fool.
Shadowkit laughs, gesturing to him to take some mud of his own. She then turns and exposes her back to him, her haunches wiggling in place.
Eaglekit chuckles, using his left paw to begin painting muddy wings on Shadowkit’s tortoiseshell fur. He can feel each excited breath she takes as his paw pad slips over her fur.
“And I, Eaglekit, promise to always be by your side no matter what comes our way, and that I’ll always be the shadow beneath your wings.”
Two allied warriors stood on opposite sides of a battlefield, both facing a pair of allied enemies standing in their shadows.
One of these enemies was fear-fear could not be escaped on any battlefield, no matter the experience or air of calm a warrior took with them before the blood letting began-but this fear was not a crippling terror of their own mortality, but a terror toward the choice before them:
Kill the enemy called fear, or its ally; an inescapable love?
Love, as they had both discovered, was an excruciating enemy to kill.
And neither warrior wanted to survive such a sacrifice.
Eaglefrost stumbled into the old rogue’s camp, starving, cold, and shaking like a newborn kitten.
It was the exact same condition he had been in when he first entered this giant cavern beneath the Great Mountain six moons ago. Back then, he had been surrounded by enemies. Enemies who wanted to use him; to break him. To wring out every secret and confidence he had ever shared.
But now, with the stench of fear, blood and smoke finally gone, he was among his budding clan, rising from the ashes of the rogue’s reign of terror.
And yet, he still felt his heart race as the grey and black stone enveloped him, as the cool floor stung his paw pads with each reluctant and clumsy step. He could not cast aside the images that flooded his mind, nor rid himself of the ghostly sensation of a pale she-cat’s slithering touch.
This is home now, he reminded himself. My enemies are gone. She is gone.
His paws, however, froze in place as the shadow of the cavern fell completely over him, and he halted all together, breathing heavily as he felt his temperature rise.
“Hey...none of that. Only one of us gets to...collapse at the entrance.”
The exhausted, hoarse voice that spoke behind him came closer to echo in his ear and bounce off the cavernous walls. He rolled his head to the side, a pair of very dim, but very amused green and yellow irises filling his field of view.
Shadowface.
The nervous heat radiating off of him subsided, and his mind eased its wandering at the sight of those eyes. Eyes that had changed so much throughout his life, but had somehow retained the same inner fire, regardless of the flame’s hue.
Eaglefrost huffed amusingly in response, slowly and ungracefully lowering himself to the cave floor and closing his eyes from his friend’s gaze. “Too late. Go fetch a few of the apprentices. I need to be dragged to my nest.”
“Ha,” Shadowface laughed, sitting-more like flopping-onto the stone, catching her breath as well. “I’m surprised the terrible trio wasn’t waiting for us here.”
Warm memories permeated his head at the mention of Shadowface’s kits. While not his own kin, they had treated him like family ever since they were just kits, just as their mother always had. The term, ‘Uncle Eaglefrost’ was commonly used as a term of endearment and even a greeting.
The echoing of pattering paws from deep within the main cave made Eaglefrost wince playfully through his shivering. “I’m afraid you’ve summoned your brood. Maybe I can convince them to drag me to my nest.”
She snorted, somehow managing to gather the strength to shove his shoulder with her paw which seemed to flop uselessly beside her. “Good luck,” she amended, shutting her unlit eyes and laying back onto her side, breathing in deep.
But it was just Maskpaw who came running, her snowy white fur rippling in the breeze she made as she sprinted up to them.
“Finally! It’s been three days!” She cried, her misty blue eyes filled with excitement and relief as she skidded to a halt in front of their depleted forms. “We thought we were going to have to fish you two out of the lake! How was the ritual? Are you truly bonded now? And is it true that you can read each other’s thoughts now too? Because Ashheart was telling me this weird story about a cursed and their Guardian who-”
“Get me something to fill the void in my stomach and I’ll tell you everything,” Eaglefrost interrupted, feeling like he was being run over with the amount of questions being thrown at him.
Shadowface chuckled, her flank wiggling in her amusement.
Eaglefrost growled, too tired to swat at his friend.
“Yes! Ok, I’ll grab something for you both,” Maskpaw said eagerly, turning tail and running away until she paused halfway to the main tunnel, her tail stiffening as she looked over her shoulder. “Oh, actually...Eaglefrost, you are being called to the leader’s den.”
This got both warriors to sit up straight, their eyes wide and tense.
“Darkmoon’s back?” Shadowface asked, her bi colored eyes shifting behind her daughter, as if she could peer through the walls.
Maskpaw nodded, now looking nervous. “Darkstar showed up only a little while before you did, mother,” she said, correcting the she-cat on the warrior’s new title. “But she was...off. Cinderpath wanted to take a look at her, but she didn’t want treatment. I think she was waiting for...well, I guess just for Eaglefrost.”
Eaglefrost could feel shimmering heat directed at him as Shadowface’s gaze locked onto him. He didn’t meet her stare, knowing no answer he could give that would make her satisfied.
“Me?” Eaglefrost echoed, grunting as he got to his paws.
“You should rest first,” Shadowface cut in, her tail tip brushing his leg.
This time, he did turn his head to look at her, but she had already turned away, her gaze now resting upon her daughter. “Did she say if it was urgent?”
Maskpaw’s eyes seemed to bulge out of her head. “It’s...it’s Darkmoo-I mean Darkstar. Do you really want to keep her waiting?”
Eaglefrost let out a short laugh. “She has a point,” he said to Shadowface, catching her gaze as she looked back at him. “You were the one who did all the work anyways. I can stand long enough to talk to our new leader.”
Shadowface’s expression crinkled, concern and stubbornness warring in her bi colored eyes. “Fine,” she lamented. “But I’m telling Cinderpath to send someone to wait outside for you.”
Eaglefrost smiled knowingly, tilting his head at Maskpaw. “Make sure she gets to her nest with some food. And make sure she stays there.”
“Hey!” Shadowface protested, now releasing the full force of her famous glare upon him.
Maskpaw chuckled, dipping her head to him. “You got it, Uncle Eaglefrost.” She padded up to her mother then, and offered her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”
Eaglefrost padded past them, holding in a laugh as he heard Shadowface’s continued protests echo behind him.
We just spent three days alone under a lake where you expended every drop of your strength to keep the water around us clear, and you’re still thinking of letting me rest before yourself. You’re still the same, even after all this time, he thought, shaking his head.
Eaglefrost took the smaller, right corridor that lead to the new leader’s quarters. It had been a while since he had been down this way, as he usually tended to avoid it given the previous occupant had loved to lounge on the boulder surrounded by spires of rock within its main open cavern.
But as he walked into the grand open space, with light creaking through the cracks, and mossy vines spilling down the walls, there was no ghost of his past to greet him upon the throne of rock. It was, simply, a small smoky grey she-cat sitting alone with her back turned to him.
Eaglefrost halted at the foot of the raised stone, and took a seat, not intending to stand for the entire duration of this meeting.
“Welcome back,” he said, curling his tail around his paws. “I was told you wanted to see me.”
At the sound of his voice, his old mentor turned, and then he could clearly see why Maskpaw and Cinderpath had been worried.
He hissed, nearly getting to his paws. “Darkmoon-!”
“Darkstar,” she corrected, her voice hoarse and weak. Her eyes glowed hotly and filled the air around her with shimmering heat, the red color of her irises more pronounced thanks to the fresh claw marks running over her face.
“What happened?” he demanded, anger filling his gut.
The red, puffy scars stretched and pulled against her healthy flesh as she made an expression of disgust. “They tried to take my eyes. But I wouldn’t let them, and neither would the mountain.”
Eaglefrost was frozen in place, his mind running in circles as he tried to apply logic to her answer.
“The mountain...wouldn’t let them take your eyes?” He repeated slowly, now running his eyes over every inch of Darkstar’s body, wondering if maybe she had sustained a head injury as well, or was bleeding out somewhere he couldn’t see.
But all he could see was an unfamiliar disconnect inside her eyes, as if she was still at the top of the Great Mountain communing with her ancestors instead of here, talking with him.
Darkstar shook her head, tiny flecks of blood flying from her wounds. “I have my seven lives, that is all that matters.” She peered at him, the light from above casting half of her face in shadow. “Are you bound to Shadowface now?”
Eaglefrost opened his mouth, then quickly closed it. He didn’t want to move on from discussing what went on during Darkstar’s leader initiation, but he could tell that she was not entirely present, and probably wanted to involve herself in something other than her ordeal on the mountain top.
So, he answered her.
“Yes. I am her Guardian now, officially.”
Darkstar nodded, picking up some moss with her claw that he hadn’t noticed sitting beside her, and pressing it over one side of her face.
“Did you both decide to do the full ceremony, or the partial?”
“The full.”
“Well?”
Eaglefrost paused, unsure what she wanted to hear.
Darkstar lowered the moss from her eye, her blood coating the green ball. “What do you sense? Is there a difference from before?”
Ah. That.
Eaglefrost closed his eyes, focusing on that new and strange sensation flickering inside his chest, like an ember of light, or a struggling flame. Like a second heartbeat that wasn’t in tune with his own.
He smiled as he spoke. “She’s resting. Her heart rate is steady, for once. She’s probably asleep.”
Darkstar purred roughly, her bloody eyes starting to come more into focus. “That must bring you much comfort, after all you two have been through...can she sense you in the same way?”
Eaglefrost nodded, his eyes gazing down at his paws as his friend’s heartbeat echoed in his bones. “Yes. It was...strange for her at first. It is an adjustment both of us are still making.”
“What a strange process,” she commented, bringing up a fresh bit of moss to the other side of her face. “But, as much as I want you to tell me more about the ceremony...I have an important question to ask.”
Eaglefrost raised his head. “What is it?”
Darkstar considered him, her pupils dilating slightly as she lowered the moss from her wound. There was a subtle shift in her gaze and expression that he couldn’t quite place. “Do you love your clan, Eaglefrost?”
Eaglefrost was taken back, personally surprised by the question. “Of course I do.”
“Would you give up your life to protect it?” She continued, her expression a mask of calm hiding a storm of observations behind it.
He frowned. “I have already given my life, and I would do so-”
“Shadowface isn’t the clan,” Darkstar interjected, her intimidating eyes narrowing.
“She is a part of the clan,” he argued, his leg muscles stiffening. “By giving my life for a member of the clan, I am protecting its future.”
“And what future,” Darkstar pressed. “Does Shadowface have within the clan?”
“The same future as any other MountainClan cat,” he said calmly. “She will serve as a warrior until the breath in her body leaves her. That is who she is.”
“And you think she will serve the whole clan, not just those with whom she shares a kin-like bond with?”
At this, Eaglefrost could not respond. He knew Shadowface to be self-sacrificing, but he didn’t know her to give herself up for just anyone. And all actions she had ever done for the clan had been in her own interest.
He kept his gaze pointed directly at his leader, refusing to lower them in shame at his own willful ignorance.
Finally, after a few tense moments of eye contact, Darkstar finally spoke. “Blackheart told me what you did while you were imprisoned with her during the rogue takeover.”
Eaglefrost watched warily as Darkstar stood on shaky legs, looking more commanding than she ever had before despite the blood leaking around her eyes and the apparent weakness in her limbs.
“You tried interrupting public executions,” she said, her voice echoing in the open space. “You eavesdropped on their meetings when your guards were asleep. I was even told you attempted to purposefully sow discord and insecurity within Snow’s inner circle…You did many things behind enemy lines for the good of the clans until Snow discovered your connection to Shadowface.”
Eaglefrost kept his face passive, and did not say a word. He waited for what the she-cat would ask him next.
“Did she break you, Eaglefrost? Or is that warrior heart of yours still whole?”
There were several breaths of silence, and then, he answered with a fierce growl. “What do you think?”
Darkstar’s eyes narrowed in what could be seen as approval. “Then I have one final question for you. Would you be willing to protect MountainClan from all threats, to lay down your life if need be, and take responsibility for its future as my deputy?”
Eaglefrost’s blue eyes widened, his legs once again becoming weak. All darkness that had been brought in from the previous questions evaporated like mist in the sunlight. He could have laughed, maybe even shouted.
“You deserve this post,” Darkstar assured him, her expression now one of familiar concern; a friend returned from the other side. “I know if I had not asked those questions, you would have asked why I didn’t give Shadowface the position, and I-”
“She would have been honored I’m sure,” he replied, a smile finally peering through his stunned face. “But your concern is not misplaced. I would have asked had you not made your point.”
Darkstar smiled as well, relief washing over her features. “Good. Then, do you accept?”
Eaglefrost was not done yet, however. He too, had questions. “If I do accept, I want you to tell me what happened during your leader ceremony.”
Darkstar hesitated, her tail tip twitching, but after she wrestled internally with herself, her shoulders visibly slumbed, and she nodded. “That is fair. I need...I need to tell someone anyways.”
Eaglefrost felt humbled at Darkstar’s admission. She wasn’t a cat that regularly opened herself up to others, not unless they were cats she could completely trust.
“And, as a question to you,” he continued, hoping that he could get an honest answer out of this too. “I need to know why you asked me about the bonding ceremony, and what type me and Shadowface decided to choose.”
Darkstar’s famous mask dropped in place, and Eaglefrost knew then that she was hiding something. “As I said, I simply wanted to know about it. As a cursed myself I was curious.”
“That’s what you thought of first right before you were going to ask me to be your deputy?” He asked, skepticism riding clear in his tone. “And after StarClan tried to have your eyes gouged out?”
Darkstar’s crimson eyes flared up. “You’re treading deep water, Eaglefrost.”
“Then tell me what ulterior motive you have for asking me to be your deputy, and don’t skip the details.”
Darkstar pushed aside the clumps of bloody moss beside her and leaped down from her perch on the boulder. She came close, close enough that Eaglefrost could feel the heat from her power on his whiskers.
“I don’t want anyone outside of our clan to know that I am cursed.”
Eaglefrost frowned. “Why? The clans know the existence of cursed-”
“And they mistrust us,” Darkstar said, her expression grave. “As is natural. And with mistrust comes fear of what they don’t understand.”
Eaglefrost’s frown deepened as he tried to see the situation from Darkstar’s point of view. He was still missing the reason why she asked him out of the other notable cats in their clan. Especially Hiddenheart, the old deputy.
But then Darkstar’s words clicked.
“You’re afraid of an inter clan war…”
The tension in the air snapped tight, and Darkstar’s eyes shut, a few fresh drops of blood dripping down her fur like tears. “It’s one thing to attack a clan that are seen as enemies...but if the leaders knew of my true nature, they would seek to remove me, and to dissolve MountainClan all together out of fear.”
“Owlstar seemed accepting of cursed,” Eaglefrost pointed out, remembering how Shadowface described the leader’s forward thinking personality.
“But he is just one,” Darkstar replied, her eyes opening once more. “If the other two clan leaders aren’t as accepting, they will have the majority.”
Eaglefrost nodded, finally starting to piece together his leader’s fears. “If it is what you think is best, then I will keep your secret.”
Darkstar dipped her head. “Thank you.” She met his gaze then, and said, “There is one final issue.”
Eaglefrost felt his heart hammering away in his chest. He stood and walked behind Darkstar to the discarded moss she had left, and brought it back to her. “Tell me.”
Darkstar moved the moss closer to her, her shoulders stiff. “It’s Shadowface.”
“Must she always be an issue?” Eaglefrost murmured.
She shook her head slightly to one side, facing the exit where the she-cat in question slept among her clan mates. “She is...something else.” She began. “I always knew she was powerful, but what she has unlocked, and what she has stolen back...Eaglefrost, if ever she was to lose control, if ever she was to decide that clan life was not enough...I fear the damage she could do.”
The pieces began falling together into Eaglefrost's head, and he didn't like what he was seeing. Hiding the truth...fear of an inter clan war...the one cat she cannot guarantee will fall in line...a cat so potentially dangerous that they could bring the war themselves…
“What is it that you are asking me, Darkstar?”
The leader couldn’t meet her deputies gaze as she asked for the first and last time, “If Shadowface becomes a danger to our clan, will you...can you kill her?”
And there, in that cave where he was once held prisoner, Eaglefrost could feel a pale she-cat’s fangs hang over his throat once more as they had in his sleep. Except for in his nightmares, where the fangs sank into familiar tortoiseshell fur.
One of these enemies was fear-fear could not be escaped on any battlefield, no matter the experience or air of calm a warrior took with them before the blood letting began-but this fear was not a crippling terror of their own mortality, but a terror toward the choice before them:
Kill the enemy called fear, or its ally; an inescapable love?
Love, as they had both discovered, was an excruciating enemy to kill.
And neither warrior wanted to survive such a sacrifice.
. . .
The New MountainClan Camp
6 moons before present day
6 moons before present day
Eaglefrost stumbled into the old rogue’s camp, starving, cold, and shaking like a newborn kitten.
It was the exact same condition he had been in when he first entered this giant cavern beneath the Great Mountain six moons ago. Back then, he had been surrounded by enemies. Enemies who wanted to use him; to break him. To wring out every secret and confidence he had ever shared.
But now, with the stench of fear, blood and smoke finally gone, he was among his budding clan, rising from the ashes of the rogue’s reign of terror.
And yet, he still felt his heart race as the grey and black stone enveloped him, as the cool floor stung his paw pads with each reluctant and clumsy step. He could not cast aside the images that flooded his mind, nor rid himself of the ghostly sensation of a pale she-cat’s slithering touch.
This is home now, he reminded himself. My enemies are gone. She is gone.
His paws, however, froze in place as the shadow of the cavern fell completely over him, and he halted all together, breathing heavily as he felt his temperature rise.
“Hey...none of that. Only one of us gets to...collapse at the entrance.”
The exhausted, hoarse voice that spoke behind him came closer to echo in his ear and bounce off the cavernous walls. He rolled his head to the side, a pair of very dim, but very amused green and yellow irises filling his field of view.
Shadowface.
The nervous heat radiating off of him subsided, and his mind eased its wandering at the sight of those eyes. Eyes that had changed so much throughout his life, but had somehow retained the same inner fire, regardless of the flame’s hue.
Eaglefrost huffed amusingly in response, slowly and ungracefully lowering himself to the cave floor and closing his eyes from his friend’s gaze. “Too late. Go fetch a few of the apprentices. I need to be dragged to my nest.”
“Ha,” Shadowface laughed, sitting-more like flopping-onto the stone, catching her breath as well. “I’m surprised the terrible trio wasn’t waiting for us here.”
Warm memories permeated his head at the mention of Shadowface’s kits. While not his own kin, they had treated him like family ever since they were just kits, just as their mother always had. The term, ‘Uncle Eaglefrost’ was commonly used as a term of endearment and even a greeting.
The echoing of pattering paws from deep within the main cave made Eaglefrost wince playfully through his shivering. “I’m afraid you’ve summoned your brood. Maybe I can convince them to drag me to my nest.”
She snorted, somehow managing to gather the strength to shove his shoulder with her paw which seemed to flop uselessly beside her. “Good luck,” she amended, shutting her unlit eyes and laying back onto her side, breathing in deep.
But it was just Maskpaw who came running, her snowy white fur rippling in the breeze she made as she sprinted up to them.
“Finally! It’s been three days!” She cried, her misty blue eyes filled with excitement and relief as she skidded to a halt in front of their depleted forms. “We thought we were going to have to fish you two out of the lake! How was the ritual? Are you truly bonded now? And is it true that you can read each other’s thoughts now too? Because Ashheart was telling me this weird story about a cursed and their Guardian who-”
“Get me something to fill the void in my stomach and I’ll tell you everything,” Eaglefrost interrupted, feeling like he was being run over with the amount of questions being thrown at him.
Shadowface chuckled, her flank wiggling in her amusement.
Eaglefrost growled, too tired to swat at his friend.
“Yes! Ok, I’ll grab something for you both,” Maskpaw said eagerly, turning tail and running away until she paused halfway to the main tunnel, her tail stiffening as she looked over her shoulder. “Oh, actually...Eaglefrost, you are being called to the leader’s den.”
This got both warriors to sit up straight, their eyes wide and tense.
“Darkmoon’s back?” Shadowface asked, her bi colored eyes shifting behind her daughter, as if she could peer through the walls.
Maskpaw nodded, now looking nervous. “Darkstar showed up only a little while before you did, mother,” she said, correcting the she-cat on the warrior’s new title. “But she was...off. Cinderpath wanted to take a look at her, but she didn’t want treatment. I think she was waiting for...well, I guess just for Eaglefrost.”
Eaglefrost could feel shimmering heat directed at him as Shadowface’s gaze locked onto him. He didn’t meet her stare, knowing no answer he could give that would make her satisfied.
“Me?” Eaglefrost echoed, grunting as he got to his paws.
“You should rest first,” Shadowface cut in, her tail tip brushing his leg.
This time, he did turn his head to look at her, but she had already turned away, her gaze now resting upon her daughter. “Did she say if it was urgent?”
Maskpaw’s eyes seemed to bulge out of her head. “It’s...it’s Darkmoo-I mean Darkstar. Do you really want to keep her waiting?”
Eaglefrost let out a short laugh. “She has a point,” he said to Shadowface, catching her gaze as she looked back at him. “You were the one who did all the work anyways. I can stand long enough to talk to our new leader.”
Shadowface’s expression crinkled, concern and stubbornness warring in her bi colored eyes. “Fine,” she lamented. “But I’m telling Cinderpath to send someone to wait outside for you.”
Eaglefrost smiled knowingly, tilting his head at Maskpaw. “Make sure she gets to her nest with some food. And make sure she stays there.”
“Hey!” Shadowface protested, now releasing the full force of her famous glare upon him.
Maskpaw chuckled, dipping her head to him. “You got it, Uncle Eaglefrost.” She padded up to her mother then, and offered her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”
Eaglefrost padded past them, holding in a laugh as he heard Shadowface’s continued protests echo behind him.
We just spent three days alone under a lake where you expended every drop of your strength to keep the water around us clear, and you’re still thinking of letting me rest before yourself. You’re still the same, even after all this time, he thought, shaking his head.
Eaglefrost took the smaller, right corridor that lead to the new leader’s quarters. It had been a while since he had been down this way, as he usually tended to avoid it given the previous occupant had loved to lounge on the boulder surrounded by spires of rock within its main open cavern.
But as he walked into the grand open space, with light creaking through the cracks, and mossy vines spilling down the walls, there was no ghost of his past to greet him upon the throne of rock. It was, simply, a small smoky grey she-cat sitting alone with her back turned to him.
Eaglefrost halted at the foot of the raised stone, and took a seat, not intending to stand for the entire duration of this meeting.
“Welcome back,” he said, curling his tail around his paws. “I was told you wanted to see me.”
At the sound of his voice, his old mentor turned, and then he could clearly see why Maskpaw and Cinderpath had been worried.
He hissed, nearly getting to his paws. “Darkmoon-!”
“Darkstar,” she corrected, her voice hoarse and weak. Her eyes glowed hotly and filled the air around her with shimmering heat, the red color of her irises more pronounced thanks to the fresh claw marks running over her face.
“What happened?” he demanded, anger filling his gut.
The red, puffy scars stretched and pulled against her healthy flesh as she made an expression of disgust. “They tried to take my eyes. But I wouldn’t let them, and neither would the mountain.”
Eaglefrost was frozen in place, his mind running in circles as he tried to apply logic to her answer.
“The mountain...wouldn’t let them take your eyes?” He repeated slowly, now running his eyes over every inch of Darkstar’s body, wondering if maybe she had sustained a head injury as well, or was bleeding out somewhere he couldn’t see.
But all he could see was an unfamiliar disconnect inside her eyes, as if she was still at the top of the Great Mountain communing with her ancestors instead of here, talking with him.
Darkstar shook her head, tiny flecks of blood flying from her wounds. “I have my seven lives, that is all that matters.” She peered at him, the light from above casting half of her face in shadow. “Are you bound to Shadowface now?”
Eaglefrost opened his mouth, then quickly closed it. He didn’t want to move on from discussing what went on during Darkstar’s leader initiation, but he could tell that she was not entirely present, and probably wanted to involve herself in something other than her ordeal on the mountain top.
So, he answered her.
“Yes. I am her Guardian now, officially.”
Darkstar nodded, picking up some moss with her claw that he hadn’t noticed sitting beside her, and pressing it over one side of her face.
“Did you both decide to do the full ceremony, or the partial?”
“The full.”
“Well?”
Eaglefrost paused, unsure what she wanted to hear.
Darkstar lowered the moss from her eye, her blood coating the green ball. “What do you sense? Is there a difference from before?”
Ah. That.
Eaglefrost closed his eyes, focusing on that new and strange sensation flickering inside his chest, like an ember of light, or a struggling flame. Like a second heartbeat that wasn’t in tune with his own.
He smiled as he spoke. “She’s resting. Her heart rate is steady, for once. She’s probably asleep.”
Darkstar purred roughly, her bloody eyes starting to come more into focus. “That must bring you much comfort, after all you two have been through...can she sense you in the same way?”
Eaglefrost nodded, his eyes gazing down at his paws as his friend’s heartbeat echoed in his bones. “Yes. It was...strange for her at first. It is an adjustment both of us are still making.”
“What a strange process,” she commented, bringing up a fresh bit of moss to the other side of her face. “But, as much as I want you to tell me more about the ceremony...I have an important question to ask.”
Eaglefrost raised his head. “What is it?”
Darkstar considered him, her pupils dilating slightly as she lowered the moss from her wound. There was a subtle shift in her gaze and expression that he couldn’t quite place. “Do you love your clan, Eaglefrost?”
Eaglefrost was taken back, personally surprised by the question. “Of course I do.”
“Would you give up your life to protect it?” She continued, her expression a mask of calm hiding a storm of observations behind it.
He frowned. “I have already given my life, and I would do so-”
“Shadowface isn’t the clan,” Darkstar interjected, her intimidating eyes narrowing.
“She is a part of the clan,” he argued, his leg muscles stiffening. “By giving my life for a member of the clan, I am protecting its future.”
“And what future,” Darkstar pressed. “Does Shadowface have within the clan?”
“The same future as any other MountainClan cat,” he said calmly. “She will serve as a warrior until the breath in her body leaves her. That is who she is.”
“And you think she will serve the whole clan, not just those with whom she shares a kin-like bond with?”
At this, Eaglefrost could not respond. He knew Shadowface to be self-sacrificing, but he didn’t know her to give herself up for just anyone. And all actions she had ever done for the clan had been in her own interest.
He kept his gaze pointed directly at his leader, refusing to lower them in shame at his own willful ignorance.
Finally, after a few tense moments of eye contact, Darkstar finally spoke. “Blackheart told me what you did while you were imprisoned with her during the rogue takeover.”
Eaglefrost watched warily as Darkstar stood on shaky legs, looking more commanding than she ever had before despite the blood leaking around her eyes and the apparent weakness in her limbs.
“You tried interrupting public executions,” she said, her voice echoing in the open space. “You eavesdropped on their meetings when your guards were asleep. I was even told you attempted to purposefully sow discord and insecurity within Snow’s inner circle…You did many things behind enemy lines for the good of the clans until Snow discovered your connection to Shadowface.”
Eaglefrost kept his face passive, and did not say a word. He waited for what the she-cat would ask him next.
“Did she break you, Eaglefrost? Or is that warrior heart of yours still whole?”
There were several breaths of silence, and then, he answered with a fierce growl. “What do you think?”
Darkstar’s eyes narrowed in what could be seen as approval. “Then I have one final question for you. Would you be willing to protect MountainClan from all threats, to lay down your life if need be, and take responsibility for its future as my deputy?”
Eaglefrost’s blue eyes widened, his legs once again becoming weak. All darkness that had been brought in from the previous questions evaporated like mist in the sunlight. He could have laughed, maybe even shouted.
“You deserve this post,” Darkstar assured him, her expression now one of familiar concern; a friend returned from the other side. “I know if I had not asked those questions, you would have asked why I didn’t give Shadowface the position, and I-”
“She would have been honored I’m sure,” he replied, a smile finally peering through his stunned face. “But your concern is not misplaced. I would have asked had you not made your point.”
Darkstar smiled as well, relief washing over her features. “Good. Then, do you accept?”
Eaglefrost was not done yet, however. He too, had questions. “If I do accept, I want you to tell me what happened during your leader ceremony.”
Darkstar hesitated, her tail tip twitching, but after she wrestled internally with herself, her shoulders visibly slumbed, and she nodded. “That is fair. I need...I need to tell someone anyways.”
Eaglefrost felt humbled at Darkstar’s admission. She wasn’t a cat that regularly opened herself up to others, not unless they were cats she could completely trust.
“And, as a question to you,” he continued, hoping that he could get an honest answer out of this too. “I need to know why you asked me about the bonding ceremony, and what type me and Shadowface decided to choose.”
Darkstar’s famous mask dropped in place, and Eaglefrost knew then that she was hiding something. “As I said, I simply wanted to know about it. As a cursed myself I was curious.”
“That’s what you thought of first right before you were going to ask me to be your deputy?” He asked, skepticism riding clear in his tone. “And after StarClan tried to have your eyes gouged out?”
Darkstar’s crimson eyes flared up. “You’re treading deep water, Eaglefrost.”
“Then tell me what ulterior motive you have for asking me to be your deputy, and don’t skip the details.”
Darkstar pushed aside the clumps of bloody moss beside her and leaped down from her perch on the boulder. She came close, close enough that Eaglefrost could feel the heat from her power on his whiskers.
“I don’t want anyone outside of our clan to know that I am cursed.”
Eaglefrost frowned. “Why? The clans know the existence of cursed-”
“And they mistrust us,” Darkstar said, her expression grave. “As is natural. And with mistrust comes fear of what they don’t understand.”
Eaglefrost’s frown deepened as he tried to see the situation from Darkstar’s point of view. He was still missing the reason why she asked him out of the other notable cats in their clan. Especially Hiddenheart, the old deputy.
But then Darkstar’s words clicked.
“You’re afraid of an inter clan war…”
The tension in the air snapped tight, and Darkstar’s eyes shut, a few fresh drops of blood dripping down her fur like tears. “It’s one thing to attack a clan that are seen as enemies...but if the leaders knew of my true nature, they would seek to remove me, and to dissolve MountainClan all together out of fear.”
“Owlstar seemed accepting of cursed,” Eaglefrost pointed out, remembering how Shadowface described the leader’s forward thinking personality.
“But he is just one,” Darkstar replied, her eyes opening once more. “If the other two clan leaders aren’t as accepting, they will have the majority.”
Eaglefrost nodded, finally starting to piece together his leader’s fears. “If it is what you think is best, then I will keep your secret.”
Darkstar dipped her head. “Thank you.” She met his gaze then, and said, “There is one final issue.”
Eaglefrost felt his heart hammering away in his chest. He stood and walked behind Darkstar to the discarded moss she had left, and brought it back to her. “Tell me.”
Darkstar moved the moss closer to her, her shoulders stiff. “It’s Shadowface.”
“Must she always be an issue?” Eaglefrost murmured.
She shook her head slightly to one side, facing the exit where the she-cat in question slept among her clan mates. “She is...something else.” She began. “I always knew she was powerful, but what she has unlocked, and what she has stolen back...Eaglefrost, if ever she was to lose control, if ever she was to decide that clan life was not enough...I fear the damage she could do.”
The pieces began falling together into Eaglefrost's head, and he didn't like what he was seeing. Hiding the truth...fear of an inter clan war...the one cat she cannot guarantee will fall in line...a cat so potentially dangerous that they could bring the war themselves…
“What is it that you are asking me, Darkstar?”
The leader couldn’t meet her deputies gaze as she asked for the first and last time, “If Shadowface becomes a danger to our clan, will you...can you kill her?”
And there, in that cave where he was once held prisoner, Eaglefrost could feel a pale she-cat’s fangs hang over his throat once more as they had in his sleep. Except for in his nightmares, where the fangs sank into familiar tortoiseshell fur.
DM me if u want