#branchbark

[clangenrising]

Behold, the fabled height chart. So far I've only drawn the founders but I hope to draw every important character if/when I have the time.

[clangenrising]

Month 21 - Leaffall

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By the time they returned to camp, the sun was setting and Pantherhaze was starting to feel feverish. His vision had slightly improved but he felt so ill that he kept his eyes closed anyway. Oddstripe gave him some dandelion leaves and told him to get some sleep and Fogstalker said she was going to try and find something to cast a protection spell, whatever that meant. He thanked her anyway and eagerly went to bed. 

That night was all in and out, shifting restlessly between confusing, fleeting dreams and half-wakefulness. At one point, he thought he heard Fogstalker and Slateheart arguing in whispers nearby but, by the time he woke, he wasn’t sure. 

“How are you feeling?” Russetfrond asked when he managed to hobble out of the den in the late morning. 

“Um…” Pantherhaze squinted around the camp. His vision had mostly returned to normal, although certain patches of grass felt like they were fuzzy, in two places at once. His paws were still clammy and despite having overslept he had very little energy. 

He settled on, “I’m hanging in there.”

“Fogstalker says you got cursed?” Russetfrond said, raising a brow skeptically. “Sparrowsway says he didn’t get a good look. What happened?” 

“I don’t know,” Pantherhaze said genuinely. He let his vision fog as he tried to recall details about the incident. “The coyote had been scratching things on the ground and it was threatening Fogstalker and… I don’t know, I just got the feeling that it was about to do something so I threw myself in the way and then…” He frowned, his head tilting towards his shoulder, gaze falling over the blurry grass. “There was a big flash of light and I felt sick to my stomach, like I’d been thrown from a high place suddenly and, when I opened my eyes, everything was double.” 

“A flash of light?” scowled Russetfrond. “No one else mentioned a flash of light.” Pantherhaze looked up to see him sheathing and unsheathing his claws in thought. 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “that’s just what I saw.” 

“It’s alright,” sighed Russetfrond. “You just focus on feeling better, okay?” He gave Pantherhaze a few licks around the ears and Pantherhaze closed his eyes and sighed into the feeling. It had been a while since they’d shared tongues. He missed it. 

After a moment, Russetfrond pulled away and said, “I’m off to check on the boys training but I’ll check on you when I get back, yeah?” 

“Okay,” smiled Pantherhaze, shivering suddenly. Russetfrond gave him a concerned frown and touched noses with him before heading out. 

Pantherhaze got breakfast, then went back to Oddstripe who confirmed that he did, in fact, still have a fever. 

“Get some rest,” Oddstripe told him. “Let me know if you feel any worse, okay?” 

“Okay,” he said, feeling weary and disappointed. He wanted to do something for the Clan, not be laid up in bed. Still, he reasoned that the sooner he got better, the sooner he would be back to helping out. So he went back to bed. 

Fogstalker was there, lifting up the moss of his nest. “Oh! Sorry,” she said. “I was just putting a ward under your nest to help you sleep.” 

“A ward -- that’s like a spell?” he asked, feeling very warm under his fur. 

“Yeah,” she said. “Oh, is that okay? Sorry, I should have asked.”

“It’s fine,” he said, too tired to care.

Fogstalker smiled apologetically. “Okay. I’ll hurry up.” She finished arranging poppy petals in a little circle she had drawn into the dirt. In the middle was a small pile of crushed thyme and the smell was honestly very soothing. 

She dropped the moss back down and smoothed it out, then turned to him and said, “There you go. That should help you sleep peacefully. Hopefully it can flush whatever Hui-che did to you out of your system.” She winced and gave him a little, hopeful shrug. 

“Thank you,” he said, moving to settle into his nest. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out with the coyotes.”

“It’s alright,” Fogstalker sighed. “I don’t think I approached it right. I’ll figure it out.” She shrugged again. “Get some sleep.” 

“Okay,” he said, curling up into a tight little ball. He took slow deep breaths and tried to relax and soon enough he drifted off to sleep. 

---

Pantherhaze was standing in a thick, white fog, or rather a tunnel made of fog. The walls and floors and ceilings were fog, yet when he took a step forward or poked a wall with his nose it gave resistance as if it were moss instead. He opened his mouth to scent the air but the only smell was fresh water. 

For lack of something better to do, he started walking. He came to a fork from which split two identical fog tunnels. He cocked his head, glanced back and forth between them, and tried a cautious, “Hello?” His voice was swallowed by the walls, leaving him in an unnerving quiet.

“Hello?” he tried again, louder this time. 

Nothing. He sighed and tried to pick between the tunnels, looked over his shoulder and considered going back, when suddenly-- 

“Hello?” the faintest sound of a raspy voice carried down the tunnel on his left. 

“Hello?” he said, ears snapping upright. He quickly made his way down the tunnel towards the voice. “Hello, there?” 

“This way!” the voice was getting louder. “I’m here!” It sounded like a tom and that tom sounded relieved, elated maybe. 

“I’m coming,” called Pantherhaze. He took another turn and suddenly found himself nose to nose with another cat, much sooner than he had expected given the volume of his voice. Shock hit him like a pawful of water to the face. 

“Darkmoon?!” he gaped, eyes wide. 

In front of him stood the former EarthClan deputy, his speckled black fur slightly rumpled and unkempt, adorned with a coating of glittering stardust. Darkmoon stared back with a naked surprise that Pantherhaze had never seen him wear when he was alive. 

“Pantherhaze?” he croaked. “Oh, no. Are you dead too?” 

“I- I don’t think so,” said Pantherhaze, suddenly worried. “I thought I was just having a dream.” 

“A dream…” Darkmoon mumbled to himself, eyes roving erratically over the tunnel walls. Pantherhaze’s brow furrowed in concern. 

“Are you alright?” he asked. 

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Darkmoon twitched an ear dismissively. “You look solid. Not like the rest of us.” He looked Pantherhaze up and down after he said it, like he was confirming what he’d said with himself. 

“The rest of us?” Pantherhaze asked. “Are we in StarClan?” 

“No, I don’t think so,” Darkmoon shook his head. “Come, I’ll show you. But stay close. It’s a maze. You’ll get lost if you’re not… not careful.” His eyes flickered over the space some more, only increasing Pantherhaze’s level of concern. 

Before he could say anything, Darkmoon turned around and headed deeper into the tunnel, muttering to himself. The walls seemed to swallow the words and, as Pantherhaze followed, he realized their pawsteps made no noise either. He wondered -- if this was real -- how long Darkmoon had been in these strange, silent tunnels. 

“Up, here,” Darkmoon grunted beneath a tunnel that went into the ceiling and hopped up, claws shedding scraps of cloud as he hoisted himself up. Pantherhaze looked down the featureless tunnel ahead of them with a growing unease in his stomach. 

“Hurry up!” said Darkmoon impatiently. “Don’t get lost.” 

“Right! Sorry,” Pantherhaze called with an apologetic smile and hopped up behind him. 

After a few more turns, he started to hear very soft voices. 

“-eventually. We have to be close to finding a way out.”

“Maybe. Or there is no way out.” 

“No. No, there has to be a way out.” 

Darkmoon took a right at a fork and suddenly, they were in a small, round chamber with several branching paths splitting off of it. The two cats snapped to attention as they saw him, one of them freezing where he had been pacing. 

“You’re back,” he said, identifying himself as the first voice. He was a smallish, young-looking, masked brown tabby with sharp, green eyes. The cat behind him was larger and well built with a flat muzzle and white fur that made it hard to distinguish him from the wall. They both glittered with pinkish starlight. When the first tom’s eyes landed on Pantherhaze, they widened, and he added, “and with company.” Both of the toms tensed slightly. 

“This is Pantherhaze,” said Darkmoon, stepping to the side to let him in. “He’s a Clan cat like me. Pantherhaze, this is Harley. That’s Twister.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Pantherhaze said, slightly reeling by the sight of more cats in this strange place -- loners to boot. 

“He doesn’t look dead,” observed the larger cat -- Twister.

“No,” Harley agreed, eyes narrowing calculatingly. “No, he doesn’t. What brings you to the Clouds, friend?” 

Pantherhaze blinked. “The Clouds? Like literally?” 

“Yes,” Darkmoon nodded. “You’re supposed to travel through them to StarClan but without our guides, we got lost.” 

“Without your guides?!” Pantherhaze’s tail bristled in concern. “What happened to them?” 

“They were attacked,” said Harley. “By a cat twice Twister’s size.” 

“Razor,” growled Darkmoon. 

“Razor?! He- Okay,” he was trying to stay on board with everything but he was learning a lot in that moment. He’d always been told that cats outside the Clans ceased to exist after death but here he was, talking to two loners who were dead about a dead rogue who had attacked their StarClan guides -- or, was it just guides? He shook his head, overwhelmed. 

“He killed mine,” Darkmoon said. “Turned him to stardust in one swipe. I… I ran, like a coward.” He looked down at his paws in shame and Pantherhaze frowned sympathetically. 

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Harley soothed, stepping closer. “We did what we had to do.” 

“Yeah,” nodded Darkmoon. “Right.” He seemed shaken, despite his attempts to calm himself.

“So how did you get here, again?” asked Twister, pulling them back on topic. 

“Oh!” Pantherhaze blushed in embarrassment. “I… I’m not sure. I just went to sleep and woke up here?” 

“That’s- That’s it?” frowned Harley. He wore a petulant little scowl that completely took over his face. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Pantherhaze winced apologetically. 

Twister flicked Harley with his tail who glanced at him and seemed to remember himself. He shook his head and pulled a more relaxed expression onto his face, but the calculating edge returned to his eyes. He cocked his head to the side and approached Pantherhaze to get a closer look at him. 

“Are you… here? Like physically?” he asked and then, without waiting for a response, raised a paw to bat at Pantherhaze’s ears. Pantherhaze flinched backward but Harley seemed satisfied by the result. “No, look at that, I passed right through him.” 

“Interesting,” frowned Twister. 

“What does that mean?” Darkmoon growled, mostly to himself. 

“I don’t know,” Harley squinted and began to pace again. “This is quite the puzzle…” Pantherhaze blinked a few times, completely overwhelmed by everything that was happening, but let Harley think instead of asking questions. 

After a moment, the tabby stopped and asked, “How long has it been? Like what time of year is it?” 

“It’s hard to tell the time here,” Darkmoon added, looking at Pantherhaze. 

“Oh, uh, let’s see…” he thought aloud. “You died at the end of Newleaf, right? Now, it’s nearly Leafbare of the same year.” 

Darkmoon sighed in relief, a tiredness evaporating from his eyes. “Not too long then.” 

“Leafbare,” Harley frowned, “which season is that?” 

“Uh, the one with snow,” Pantherhaze offered, and Harley nodded seriously. 

“Okay, okay,” he said. “Let me think.” There was a long stretch of quiet where Harley paced and muttered to himself, his voice being soaked into the clouds around them, and the others sat and watched.

Eventually, Harley said, “Okay. I think we just don’t have enough information. What we need is for you to try and figure out how to get back here again and see if we can learn something about it when you do. Until then, we keep trying to map the tunnels and see if we can figure anything out on our own.” 

Twister rolled his eyes. “Great, so the same as always.” Harley’s tail rippled angrily and he pressed his mouth into a thin line as if he were trying to resist a scowl which seemed to amuse Twister greatly. Pantherhaze glanced awkwardly at Darkmoon but the former deputy was frowning at the floor, lost in thought. 

Harley spoke again. “Does that sound like something you can do, uh…” 

“Pantherhaze.” 

“Yes,” Harley smiled. “Panther Haze. Do you think that you can try and help us out?” 

“Sure,” Pantherhaze said, straightening up with the responsibility. “I mean, I’ll try.” 

Harley’s smile flattened slightly in frustration but he nodded. “Well, I suppose that’s all we can ask for.” 

“StarClan,” Darkmoon said. 

“What?” Harley’s ear twitched as he raised a brow. 

“You have to tell StarClan,” said Darkmoon, looking up at Pantherhaze. “The River of Stars. Someone has to let them know we’re here, maybe they can find us.” 

Harley shifted awkwardly. “Maybe… We don’t know what they would do to Twister and I.” 

Pantherhaze frowned and took a step closer. “They won’t do anything to you, I’m sure. I’m sure they would help you try and… get wherever you were supposed to be.” He screwed his mouth to the side as he tried to think about what that would actually be. This whole interaction had left him with so many questions about an afterlife he had never really questioned before. 

“We’ll see,” said Harley, clearly unconvinced. 

“StarClan will know what to do,” Darkmoon said determinedly. 

Harley sighed. “If you say so. Let’s just hope something changes soon. I don’t know how much longer I can-” 

Pantherhaze sat up in his nest with a sharp gasp. 

“Sorry!” winced Yellowpaw around a mouthful of moss, his hind paw shooting up and away from Pantherhaze’s tail. 

Behind him, Bluepaw tensed. “Yellowpaw! I told you to be careful!” It looked like they were in the middle of changing out the nests. 

“I said I was sorry!” whined his brother. “It was an accident!” 

“It’s fine,” Pantherhaze said quickly, lurching to his feet. “What time is it?” 

“Uh, nearly sundown, sir,” Bluepaw said, straightening his posture. 

“Is Goldenstar around?” 

“I think she’s getting ready to leave on patrol,” Yellowpaw said. 

“I have to speak with her!” Pantherhaze hurried towards the entrance to the den, then turned around suddenly and added, “Don’t touch my nest, okay?” Both of the boys flinched in surprise. 

“Uh- okay!” Bluepaw said. “We won’t!” 

“Thanks,” sighed Pantherhaze. If Fogstalker’s ward had done anything, he didn’t want to mess with it. He had to try and get back to the others somehow. 

He hurried out of the den, slightly nauseated but energized by his mission, and cast about for sight of Goldenstar. He eventually caught sight of her talking with Russetfrond and Branchbark on the edge of camp and he threw himself into motion to close the distance between them. 

“Goldenstar!” he shouted, completely devoid of any concern for how frantic he looked. All three cats turned to look at him with varying degrees of concern and surprise on their faces. 

“Pantherhaze, is everything okay?” she asked, stepping towards him. 

“The boys didn’t wake you did they?” scowled Russetfrond. 

“No, they’re fine,” he lied immediately. “That’s not important. I had a vision!” All three cats started. 

Goldenstar asked, “A vision? What happened?” 

“I’ll get Oddstripe,” Branchbark offered and bounded off to the Healer’s den. 

Pantherhaze watched him go but didn’t wait to answer Goldenstar’s question. “I don’t know exactly what it was, it didn’t feel like a sign from StarClan or anything. I woke up in this strange place, they called it the Clouds, I think…” He frowned, trying to remember the little details of his encounter. 

“They?” asked Russetfrond. “Who’s they?”

“Oh! That’s the crazy part!” said Pantherhaze. “Darkmoon! A-and a couple of loners, dead ones.” 

“Darkmoon?!” Goldenstar gaped. “But it wasn’t a sign from StarClan?” 

“No,” he shook his head. “He said that- that Razor had killed his StarClan guide? And he and the loners were stuck in this place between here and StarClan.” 

Oddstripe and Branchbark arrived at that moment and Oddstripe’s big eyes were wide with amazement. “A place between here and StarClan?” 

“Razor killed a StarClan guide?” growled Russetfrond uneasily. “After death?!” 

“Apparently,” Pantherhaze said to both questions. “And whatever guide was supposed to take the Loners wherever they were going.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Branchbark said. “Loners and rogues are destroyed when they die.” 

“Well, I might have dreamed it all,” said Pantherhaze, “but it felt weirdly real. Darkmoon told me to send someone to talk to StarClan and see if they can find them from the other side.”

“Darkmoon? Oh, this is fascinating,” said Oddstripe. “I’ll gladly go and talk with StarClan. Please, tell me everything, from the beginning.” He laid his tail over Pantherhaze’s back and started to guide him towards the Healer’s den. 

“Of course,” he nodded and fell into step. 

“Do you think this has something to do with the coyotes?” Goldenstar murmured to Russetfrond as they left. 

“I don’t know,” he shook his head. “I’m skeptical but this feels too strange to be coincidence.” 

“We should tell EarthClan,” she said. “Send someone to fetch Stormwhisper.” 

“On it,” he said, and the two parted, Goldenstar bounding to join him and Oddstripe. 

“I have a feeling you’re going to be answering a lot of questions for a while,” said Goldenstar with an apologetic smile. 

“That’s alright,” Pantherhaze said. “If I can help, I want to.” 

“Just let me know if you feel unwell,” said Oddstripe. “Your recovery still takes priority.” 

“Alright,” he said, but he honestly couldn’t feel a single symptom. He was tired, sure, but he’d been completely revitalized by his vision. Despite the troubling implications, this was exciting. This was the kind of thing they told stories about! He just hoped he would be able to get them all to a happy ending.

[clangenrising]

Month 21 - Leaffall

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“Are you sure I’m ready for this?”

Pantherhaze smiled at his worried apprentice and gave her a confident nod. “Of course. It’s nothing you haven’t done before.” 

Slatepaw chewed her lip fretfully. “And why can’t Fogpaw come?” 

“Because we want to test how you work on your own,” he said and by that he meant that he and Scorchplume had both agreed that they didn’t want the assessment to get interrupted by an argument. As much as they loved each other, the sisters bickered almost constantly which wasn’t exactly helpful when observing their full capabilities as warriors. 

Slatepaw still didn’t seem convinced, so he butted his head against hers and purred as loudly as he could. “You’re gonna do amazing, Slatepaw. Just pick a place and hunt until sunfall. You’ve got this.” She closed her eyes and leaned down into his touch and he took a moment to just appreciate how much she had grown. 

When they parted, her jaw was set bravely and she nodded. “Okay. I won’t let you down.”

“You couldn’t if you tried,” he smiled. 

She took a deep, slow breath, and headed up to the top of the hill. After looking around a bit, she turned and padded out of camp towards the east. Pantherhaze gave her a few seconds head start and then slank up onto the ridge after her and followed her stealthily through the grass. 

The sun was already hanging solidly over the forest behind them, cutting long shadows out in front of their paths, and Pantherhaze had to be careful to position himself so that his shadow didn’t give him away to her. It had been a while since he’d run one of these hidden assessments and he’d missed them. He was pretty sure that this style of assessment had been invented largely so the mentor could have fun slinking around. 

It wasn’t long before Slatepaw found her first target, a pair of sparrows foraging where the grass was thin. Pantherhaze took the opportunity to circle around her, moving her out of the path of his shadow. He could barely see her through the grass as she crept slowly closer to her prey. 

He held his breath. 

The wind shifted. 

Slatepaw pounced. In a flutter of wings, the sparrows took flight and she barely managed to hook her claws into the wing of one of the birds, pulling it down where she could give it a killing bite. The catch was clean. When the wind shifted, she didn’t let it get under her fur, she just adjusted course and even managed to catch one. 

Slatepaw didn’t seem satisfied, though. She sighed heavily, then glanced around to try and find him and, unable to do so, cached her prey glumly. 

That was a good catch! he wanted to tell her, You’re doing great! but he had to stay silent. 

They ventured south, southeast, and of the next four attempts Slatepaw made, she caught two of them. He could tell she was having a hard time with the results by the hunch of her shoulders. It took all of his restraint not to run up and comfort her. Three out of five was a great score! He wished it were easier for her to see that. 

Then, as the sun was starting to touch the tops of EarthClan’s trees, a pungent smell wafted over him from behind and he stopped dead to try and locate its source. The smell was familiar yet alien, an animal, certainly, a predator. He glanced at Slatepaw and she had frozen too, mouth open to drink in the scent. Her ears were flat against her head and her whiskers trembled. 

Pantherhaze made a decision. Striding through the grass, he made his way quickly to Slatepaw’s side, giving her a warning chirp as he approached. Despite his warning, she flinched and hopped back before recognizing him. When she did, her shoulders slumped in relief and she glanced out over the grass again.

“What’s that smell?” she asked. 

“I think it’s a coyote,” he said softly. “Your assessment is paused for now. Let’s gather up the prey you caught and head back to camp.”

“Okay,” she said, looking down at the dirt.

“Hey, you’re doing great. We’re just gonna go somewhere safer, okay?” 

“Okay.” She gave him a little smile and they started back through the grass together. 

A sudden rustle in the grass set Slatepaw on edge. “What was that?!” 

“Easy,” urged Pantherhaze, “It’s alright. Probably nothing. A bird, maybe.” Still, they stood frozen for a moment, ears perked, bodies low. A breeze shifted the grass in a gentle murmur around them. Pantherhaze swore he could hear a whisper underneath the sound but he couldn’t tell what it said. 

When no coyote appeared to devour them, he shook his head and nudged Slatepaw to keep walking. 

---

That night, after Slatepaw had finished her assessment with flying colors, Pantherhaze led Branchbark and Floodstrike back out to where they had found the scent of coyotes. Somewhere nearby, Russetfrond was leading his own patrol cautiously through the grass. It was dark, a bank of clouds covering the moon and stars, and the fall wind swept through the grass in hushed waves. 

“Right around here,” he said quietly as they reached the spot. “It’s staler than it was.”

“That’s a good sign, right?” asked Floodstrike. 

“Maybe,” said Branchbark. “It depends on where they went from here.”

“Then let’s find out,” Floodstrike said, stepping forward to follow the scent deeper into the grass. Pantherhaze reared up on his toes to peek over it, hoping his dark pelt would hide him from any predators that might be watching. Unfortunately, his height posed a bit of an issue and he wasn’t able to see much farther than a few fox-lengths.

They continued East for a bit before they discovered a trail of tracks. 

“Two sets,” hummed Branchbark. “That’s more than the last sighting.” 

“Can we take two coyotes?” Floodstrike asked, perking his ears and Pantherhaze was impressed by his caution.

“No, I don’t think so,” he replied. “But we don’t have to take them, we just have to find out where they went and report back.”

Floodstrike nodded seriously. “Got it.”

“They’re moving southwest,” concluded Branchbark, standing up from the tracks. “Let’s move.”

The patrol slipped into the path left behind by the coyotes and padded quietly on until they started to hear yipping up ahead. It was quiet, conversational even, Pantherhaze thought. Carefully, he poked his head up over the grass again and there, several fox-lengths ahead of them, he saw the backs of two coyotes. One seemed to be digging for something, tail up over its bent frame, while the other yipped softly at it. 

“There they are,” he whispered, dropping back down onto all fours. 

“Where?” asked Floodstrike, lifting his head.

“Shh!” hissed Branchbark. 

Ahead of them, the yipping stopped and an eerie voice sing-songed out, “Little friends? Cat friends?” 

“It talks?!” Branchbark swallowed, his pelt bristling. 

“Yeah, Fogpaw said they talk,” whispered Floodstrike. “She also says they do magic?”

“Then maybe we can reason with them,” said Pantherhaze, ignoring the second half of that statement. Carefully, he reared up on his hind legs again and said, “Hello?” 

The coyotes had both turned towards them and the one that had been digging was smiling at him with its long, toothy maw. “Hey-lo, cat friends! Good hunt-ing?”

“Um, yes,” he said, swallowing his nerves. “What are you doing here? Uh- If I might ask?”

The second coyote yipped something quietly to the other but it ignored him. “Den find-ing!” it chirped happily and Pantherhaze’s spine prickled. “Is good digg-ing place.” 

“Den finding?” Branchbark hissed under his breath. “That’s not good.” Floodstrike shifted his stance into something a touch more battle ready. 

“Oh, dear,” said Pantherhaze, still perched on his haunches, “I’m afraid this is our territory. You can’t build a den here.” 

The coyote’s eyes narrowed, its smile fading, and the other one yipped something again. It turned its head and yipped something back to him and he bared his teeth. The other coyote quickly shook its head.

“No,” it said, “no fight-ing!” Then it seemed to repeat itself in its native tongue. Pantherhaze was shocked. A peaceful coyote! Who’d have thought! The second coyote shifted his stance a bit, glaring warily at the cats, but didn’t leap to bite just yet. 

Relieved, the first coyote turned back to smile at Pantherhaze. “We not cause-ing trouble! We just nest make-ing.” 

“Yes, but this is our hunting ground,” he said firmly, “We can’t share prey with you, I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry,” Floodstrike scoffed under his breath. Pantherhaze twitched his tail but kept his smile in place. The coyote that had been speaking hissed in clear displeasure and its tail angled up towards the sky slightly. The patrol held its breath, tensing for combat, but the beast eventually took a deep breath and forced its fur to lie flat.

“Oh-kaye,” it said with a smile, “We keep find-ing.” It turned to head deeper into the territory and Pantherhaze raised his tail in alarm.

“Uh- you’ll have to go at least a few days’ travel that way if you want to find unoccupied territory.” 

“Few days?” repeated the coyote questioningly. 

“Yes,” nodded Pantherhaze, “Uh, a few suns, maybe?”

The coyote muttered something in its own language and then let out a harsh, scratchy sound as it ducked its head sharply. The other coyote yipped at it and they exchanged words for a short time -- Stars, it was so weird to think of coyotes exchanging words -- before the one that was speaking smiled again, this time with a strained tightness to the expression. 

“Oh-kaye, we go few days. We good friends, cat friends.” 

Pantherhaze couldn’t help but feel squeamish at the expression. There were far too many teeth involved. He nodded tensely and tried to offer a smile of his own. The patrol beside him shifted uneasily. There was another long beat where the two groups stared each other down before the coyotes turned and loped deeper into the territory, heading west. 

Once they had gone, Pantherhaze let out a sigh of relief and all the muscles in his body fell slack. “Phew! That was so stressful."

“I do not like those things at all,” Floodstrike shook his head. “The way they talk is just… creepy.” He shuddered and flicked his tail as if to toss the unsettling feeling off of himself. 

“We should warn EarthClan,” said Branchbark. “Just in case.”

“Good idea,” said Pantherhaze. “C’mon, let’s find Russetfrond and send a runner.” Together, they turned and made their way briskly back through the grass, pelts prickling the whole way.

[clangenrising]

Month 21 - Leaffall

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“Ohhh, I don’t think I can do this,” Aldertail moaned, pacing back and forth in the Healer’s den as her tail twitched anxiously. It was taking all her self-control and the continued momentum of her pacing to keep her from running her tongue over her legs. They were mostly furred these days, only spotting a patch here or there when her mind got too loud, which was rarer now that the Clans had brokered a truce with the city. 

Sitting patiently beside the herb stores, Oddstripe sorted out the dried and dead leaves from his stock, his eyes returning politely to her whenever he didn’t need to look at his paws. If she’d been in a better headspace, she’d have been impressed by how often he could pick out the poor leaves just by touch. Beside him sat Barleybee, sorting the dead leaves into neat bundles to be carried off later. 

She said, “Sure you can! I’ll be right there with you whenever you need help, okay?” 

“But I don’t know anything about teaching an apprentice!” cried Aldertail, pelt poofing up around her shoulders. 

“Neither do I,” said Barleybee with a shrug. “It’s supposed to be a learning experience, that’s what Goldenstar said. We learn how to teach as we do it.” 

“But what if I mess it up? What if I mess him up?! Oh, Russetfrond will be furious!” 

“You’re not going to mess him up,” Oddstripe said calmly. “Especially not if you ask for help whenever you need it.”

“But-”

“Sure, you’ll make mistakes,” he continued, “but everyone does. You’re not going to make any mistakes you can’t come back from.” 

“How do you know that?” she whined, dancing in place like a petulant child. She hated how out of control and needy she felt right now. It was embarrassing!

“Because I have faith in you,” he smiled, focused on her entirely for a long beat. Her face went hot and a different, heart-fluttering discomfort mixed with the panicked one she had been overwhelmed by. Why did he have to look at her like that and say those kinds of things with his earnest face and his big, compassionate eyes? Why did he act like there was something in her worth having faith in? 

She pursed her lips and whined anxiously as she turned away from his gaze. “I still don’t understand faith at all. I’m going to be a disaster, I just know it!”

“Aldertail, it’s gonna be okay,” Barleybee said with what Aldertail thought sounded like pity. “Remember, you can ask me for help with anything. We can train together until you feel comfortable doing it on your own.” Aldertail was pretty sure that was never going to happen but she didn’t want to insist on being a burden for the entire mentorship. 

Instead, she searched for a different objection. “How am I even going to teach him? I mean, look at him! They’re both practically as big as I am already!” 

“It’s gonna be fine,” Barleybee said again, more firmly this time. “Just take some deep breaths, okay?” 

“Okay,” she nodded, realizing she was quite breathless. “Okay. It’s fine, it’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be-” 

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Stoneperch for a Clan meeting!” The call cut through the quiet of camp, reaching them even down inside the burrow of the Healer’s den.

“Oh, no, oh, jeez,” Aldertail wheezed under her breath, panicking again. 

Barleybee got up and came to press her side into Aldertail’s. “You’ve got this. Deep breaths.” 

“Okay,” Aldertail’s voice wobbled pathetically but she tried her best to comply. 

It wasn’t long until everyone had gathered under the noonday sun for the meeting. Near the front of the crowd sat Bluekit and Yellowkit. They were massive for kittens, almost as tall as their father already and twice as fluffy. Bluekit, despite his coloring, looked quite like his father, if his father were pleasant, especially in the stripes on his face. It was Yellowkit who looked surprisingly like Mystique, with his slouched posture and pale chest fluff. It wasn’t enough to startle or scare Aldertail but it was enough to make her think about Mystique, which was never a necessarily calming experience for her. 

As she watched, Russetfrond gave a warning mrrp to Yellowkit who straightened his posture and stopped watching the clouds. They seemed well behaved at least. That was good. 

Goldenstar cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention and smiled. “Alright, everyone! It’s with great pleasure that I get to announce that Bluekit and Yellowkit have finally reached the age of six moons and it is time for them to be apprenticed.” 

“About time!” Ospreymask jeered playfully, half on her side with her pregnant belly sitting at an awkward angle that must have been comfortable somehow. “They were too big for the nursery moons ago!” Several cats laughed although Aldertail noticed that Russetfrond’s ear twitched in irritation. The kits themselves just seemed a bit sheepish. 

Goldenstar chuckled and said, “Yes, I’m sure you’ll enjoy having the space all to yourself now. If I could have the two of you step into the center please?” 

Bluekit hopped immediately forward and stepped into the center, checking the placement of his feet before he looked up dutifully at his leader. Yellowkit was distracted by something and Russetfrond had to flick his tail against the kit’s side to get him to follow his brother to the middle. 

Goldenstar said, “Bluekit, from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Bluepaw. Your mentor will be Barleybee. I know she has a lot to teach you and I trust you both to learn from each other.” 

Beside Aldertail, Barleybee stepped forward to join Bluepaw in the middle of the clearing and touched her nose to his. She barely had to lean down and he dipped his head politely when they were done, looking excited but restrained. Yellowkit was starting to shuffle anxiously. Aldertail braced herself for the look of disappointment he was surely about to give her. 

“Yellowkit,” Goldenstar continued, once the first pair stepped off to the side, “from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Yellowpaw. Your mentor will be Aldertail. She has learned a lot since she joined our ranks and I’m confident she’ll be able to pass that knowledge on to you.” 

Aldertail hesitated and Yellowpaw cast his head about looking for her. When he found her, she smiled nervously and a bit of concern furrowed his brow but he stood up straight to meet her and she was able to force herself to walk out into the middle of the clearing. Her cheeks burned when he had to bend down slightly to touch noses with her and there was a slight electric shock between their noses that left them both rubbing their muzzles with a paw. A couple cats laughed quietly under their breath and Aldertail wanted to explode. 

“And with that, our meeting is concluded!” purred Goldenstar. “Congratulations, all of you!” The crowd cheered, some cats chanting out the apprentices' new names, and Aldertail felt small and ugly. 

A few cats came in to wish the boys good luck. 

Branchbark stepped close to Aldertail and said, “Hey, congrats on an apprentice! I’m still waiting on my first one.” 

“They should have given him to you,” she blushed, making sure she lowered her voice enough that Yellowpaw didn’t hear over his conversation with Ospreymask. “I have no idea what I’m doing!” 

“You’re gonna do great,” he said, but she swore she caught a trace of jealousy in his smile. That sent her brain spiralling out of control. She hadn’t considered that getting an apprentice would alienate her from her friends! This was terrible! By the time she realized she ought to say something, she looked up and he was gone, helping Ospreymask back to her sunning spot. 

Instead, Russetfrond had approached her. She swallowed and straightened her posture, shrinking subconsciously in submission. He had a stern expression on, but that was his usual expression. Seeing her nervousness, he forced a bit of a sympathetic smile through his features, which looked a bit odd when mixed with his furrowed brow and squinted eyes. 

“Aldertail,” he said and he didn’t sound disappointed. “I wanted to thank you for agreeing to mentor Yellowpaw. I suggested you specifically for the role and I’m confident you’ll be just what he needs.”

“Y-you did?” Aldertail gawked. She couldn’t believe her ears. 

“Mhm,” he nodded. “If you ever need help, I’m happy to step in and give you some pointers. Mentoring is a balancing act and I’ll gladly help you stay on course.” 

She was quiet for a beat too long before she remembered to speak. “Uh, th-thank you! I-I’ll be sure to take you up on that.” 

“Good,” he said, seeming satisfied. “He’s a bit distractable, but you just have to keep him focused. Good luck.” 

 “Thank you,” she started, but another voice interrupted her stumbling appreciation. 

“Goldenstar!” cried a young brown cat with white on their chest and tail as they bounded down the slope into camp. All heads turned towards the stranger and Russetfrond stepped away from Aldertail without a word. Goldenstar had been talking with Yarrowshade and Scorchplume near the Stoneperch and she slipped between them to approach the cat as well. 

“Erminepaw,” she greeted them with warmth despite her caution. “What brings you to RisingClan?” 

“It’s coyotes!” the apprentice said and several cats in camp gasped. “There’s a pair of them trying to nest in our territory. Orangestar sent me to get your mediator. She can talk to them, right?” 

“Well, anyone can talk to them,” called Fogstalker, bounding over from the prey pile, “But I’m happy to help! Is it just two?” 

“Yeah,” nodded Erminepaw. “They’re setting up a den in the deep woods, south of the river. Can you come right away?” 

“Of course,” grinned Fogstalker.

“I wanna go!” Aldertail jumped as Yellowpaw spoke up beside her, not loud enough to interrupt the others but not exactly quietly. It was with horror that she realized he was telling her. “Can we go see the coyotes?” 

“W-Uh-” How was she supposed to respond to this?

“No, you don’t have any battle training,” said Barleybee, stepping close with Bluepaw in tow. “You’re not going to see coyotes for a long while if we can help it.”

“Aww…” the big yellow apprentice sighed. 

Back with the others, Goldenstar was putting together a patrol. “Alright, Fogstalker, Pantherhaze, and Sparrowsway, you go to EarthClan. Help them however you can, alright?” 

“Yes, Goldenstar,” nodded Sparrowsway. 

“Gladly,” smiled Pantherhaze. 

“Come on,” Fogstalker was already walking. “Let’s hurry so we can finish up before sunset.” Aldertail thought that was very optimistic for dealing with a group of coyotes, but that wasn’t her problem right now. 

“Can we go on some kind of patrol instead?” asked Bluepaw, bringing her back to the conversation she was actually a part of. Barleybee looked at her as if she had some say in the decision which made her realize that she did, in fact, have some say in it. 

“Um, sure,” she said, shrugging nervously, and the boys brightened. 

“Thank you,” smiled Bluepaw, nudging Yellowpaw gently. 

He started and said, “Oh, yeah, thank you.” 

Barleybee chuckled and said, “Do you guys want a tour of the territory or should we go do some hunting?” 

“Hunting!” both the boys said immediately, Yellowpaw more excitedly than his brother. 

“Hunting it is!” laughed Barleybee. “Does that sound good to you, Aldertail?” 

“Y-yeah,” she nodded. “I’m not sure I’ll be very good at teaching, though, so sorry in advance.”

“You’ll do fine,” Barleybee purred confidently. “Come on, let’s head out towards the river and see if there’s anything to catch.” 

“Ooh, can we go swimming?” gasped Yellowpaw. 

“Not unless you want to freeze solid,” Barleybee said, starting to lead them away. “Once the weather gets warmer we can do some swimming practice.” That sounded like hell to Aldertail but she kept quiet. Absently, she wondered if the desire to swim was genetic. 

The four of them headed out of camp, the boys asking Barleybee questions every so often, but Aldertail was struggling to stay present. She watched her pawsteps as they went and tried to tell herself that her worries were unfounded but it was hard to believe herself. 

It shocked her when Barleybee leaned in to press their pelts together and offer her a smile. She blushed in embarrassment and smiled back. 

“You’ve got this,” Barleybee whispered. 

“Yeah,” breathed Aldertail bashfully. She desperately hoped so.

UPDATES: - Bluepaw is apprenticed to Barleybee - Yellowpaw is apprenticed to Aldertail

[clangenrising]

Month 20 - Leaffall

Content Warning: This post contains content that may be upsetting to some viewers. See this post for details.

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“Savages!” cried one of the Chaff from the barn door. 

A wild cat shouted, “Seal off the exits! No one gets out!” All hell broke loose as the tide of wild cats crashed into Sardine’s forces.

Bristling, Sardine reared up onto his toes. “Ghost, that bastard! He set us up!” Before he could think about what to do next, Rudy was on him, managing to cuff him hard over the head. After a dazed beat, he got his bearings and scrambled back out of reach just in time to avoid the next blow.

This was… less than ideal, to put it mildly. They were pincered between two enemy forces in an enclosed space and there was no telling how many wild cats were coming up behind them. Sardine calculated the odds of his escape while he danced out of the way of Rudy’s strikes. 

“Stop dodging and fight, you coward!” Rudy snarled. He lunged and Sardine leaped into the air meaning Rudy caught the back of his hind quarters and took him to the ground. He writhed, slashing madly at Rudy’s face to try and get away while Rudy sank his teeth into one haunch over and over again. Sardine rolled over and clawed his way across the floor, managing to get one leg free and kick Rudy in the eyes a couple times, forcing him to let go of the other foot. 

He scrambled to his feet, tried to bolt, but Rudy was on him again, this time sinking claws into his pelt and dragging him backward. 

“No!” he shrilled in a rather undignified manner, his heart hammering in his throat. “No!” He twisted and slashed at Rudy’s paws, managing to draw blood. Then a heavy white paw thumped against Rudy’s skull and he ducked backwards, releasing Sardine. 

“About fucking time!” Sardine cried, rushing to put Casper between himself and Rudy. “What use is a bodyguard who won’t fucking guard you?!”

“I was preoccupied,” grunted Casper as Rudy slashed a red gash through his white fur. He retaliated by rearing up and swatting at Rudy’s face, leaving Sardine feeling exposed. 

“Fine, whatever,” he hissed, keeping low, “Just get me out of here!”

“What about killing Rudy?” Casper growled, slamming up against his opponent. The two bulkier toms grappled for a few seconds, trying to push the other over or sink their teeth into the other’s neck. 

“Forget that!” Sardine demanded, looking around to make sure no one was sneaking up behind him. “Your bodyguarding takes precedence over any other objective and right now I do not feel particularly well guarded!”

“Coward!” Rudy roared. “You’re no leader!” Casper struck him across the face and sent him stumbling. 

“Whatever you say, Your Excellence,” Casper shrugged and stepped back to cover Sardine with his body. “Come on.”

“Thank you,” Sardine sighed in exasperated relief and followed as Casper plowed a path through the nearest cat, heading for the side of the room. 

“Get back here!” Rudy shouted after them and Sardine chanced a glance backward, satisfied to see that another cat had moved to keep the brute occupied. 

Casper carved his way through the Skyraiders, knocking them back or throwing them down long enough for Sardine to slip past them or hop over their body and then surging forward to meet the next one. Sardine couldn’t help but smile, feeling confident in having chosen Casper for this purpose. Despite the battle, he managed to feel safe when he was moving in tandem with the bigger tom like this. There was a power to it, a sense that together they were untouchable. 

That feeling ended when he felt a pair of jaws clamp down around his tail and yank him backwards. 

“Casper!” he shrieked, whirling around to try and fend off the attacker, a wild cat with white fur and crooked blue eyes. Casper rounded on her as well and reared up to come down on her spine but a spotted grey tabby launched himself into Casper’s chest and toppled him to the ground. Sardine squawked and slashed out at his attacker’s face. 

“Let me go, you filthy bitch!” he cried and she did, only to launch herself at him with claws extended. 

The wild cat tackled him easily and sank her teeth into his shoulder, causing him to scream out in pain. With desperate kicks, he shredded at her belly like it was his favorite salmon toy. She rolled sideways to kick back at him and he shoved her away, managing to pull something painful in his leg somehow. Wincing, he scrambled to his feet and looked for Casper. He found him just as he rolled on top of the grey tabby who had tackled him, white fur streaked with blood. 

“Hurry, hurry!” Sardine cried, darting around to put his bodyguard between himself and the savage who had attacked him. “We need to go.” Casper didn’t say anything, simply swatted the savage beneath him over the head and turned to shove Sardine forward with his head. The gesture sent adrenaline spiking through Sardine’s belly and he took off bolting despite the pain in his ankle.  

Across the room, there was a loud, rattling clang as someone toppled a shelf full of empty milk cans and assorted tools into the crowd. Sardine swallowed fearfully and focused on the barn wall ahead of him. The air smelled thickly of blood and the stench of wild cats, overwhelming his senses until all he could focus on was the movement in his legs and the effort of continuing to breathe. 

“Duck,” ordered Casper and he ducked immediately, just in time for a fawn spotted tabby to sail over his head. Casper moved to swat at the savage with his claws but it turned and smacked his paws out of the way, baring his teeth in a furious snarl.

“You!” he screeched, “You killed Sagetooth!”

“Who?!” Sardine couldn’t help the incredulous exclamation. He’d never seen this cat in his life, let alone a Sage Tooth. The cat snarled and sprang towards him but Casper hooked him out of the air with his claws and slammed him hard onto his back. 

“Stay down!” he ordered through gritted teeth. 

“Gotcha!” Another voice behind Sardine’s shoulder announced the arrival of another cat, this one smelling distinctly Exalted. Sardine screeched as teeth sank into the back of his neck and he writhed madly to try and get away. Casper hissed and lunged to his defense, headbutting into the other cat and knocking them free. Before he could retaliate though, the savage was on him, clinging to his back and tearing at his fur with bloody claws. 

Sardine rolled away, his chest heaving rapidly. Blood -- sticky, hot, and wet -- spread across his shoulder and dripped down his foreleg into another, lesser wound. He backed up against the side of the barn, bristling all over, and stared. The exalted cat who had attacked him -- Wes, right? -- advanced with a few short strides. 

“Surrender, Sardine,” he said, “this doesn’t have to end in your death.”

“Damn right it doesn’t!” he spat. He swiped at Wes to keep him at bay, letting him know any time he got too close. “I’m getting out of here and then you and all your treasonous friends are going to pay for what you’ve done!”

“The window!” snarled Casper. “The window is the best way out!” With the savage still on his back, Casper tackled Wes to the ground, shouting, “Go!” Sardine hesitated for a second before fear took over and he sprinted towards a stack of crates leading up to the hayloft. He was a fucking coward. The guilt and shame was hot against his skin, or maybe that was the blood still, but he ignored it as best he could. He had to get out of the barn. He could deal with the rest after.

In three hops, he was on top of the crates, then he was climbing the knotted rope that hung over the ledge. Just like scaling the curtains, he told himself. You’re almost there. Just keep going. 

“There he is!” he heard Rudy shout from below. “Don’t let him get away!”

Sardine was crying. “No, no, no!” He managed to hoist himself over the lip of the hayloft, scrabbling for purchase in the loose straw, and made a break for the window. One of Rudy’s chaff was waiting for him, teeth bared, and Sardine tried to channel all the anger and hatred inside of him into a claw swipe across the cat’s face. 

“Out of my way!” he screamed. “I’m the Speaker!”

“Not anymore,” the cat snarled, shaking blood from his white fur. He danced side to side, blocking each of Sardine’s attempts to reach the window. 

“Come on!” cried a ginger she-cat as she hauled herself up the rope. Sardine’s stomach clenched as he recognized her. She’d killed Tiger. This was really bad.

There were more cats behind her -- a young ginger and white blotched tom, a lanky blue and white one, and a brown tabby she-cat. They fanned out, trying to get behind him and he instinctively backed away towards the other end of the hayloft.  

“Stay back!” he threatened, “I’m warning you!” His feet hit a coil of rope and he backed over it, fumbling for his footing, too afraid to take his gaze away from the cats that were steadily advancing on him. 

“I’m gonna tear you limb from limb,” the blue and white savage growled, voice dripping with hatred. He lunged and Sardine tried to skitter back but the rope tangled around his paws and he fell flat on his face. The tom grabbed one of his ears in his teeth and tore, spraying hot blood into Sardine’s eyes. Sardine tried to roll away but he couldn’t see where he was going and the rope seemed to coil around him like a snake, restricting his movements. 

The savage bit sharply into the side of his neck, near the place where Wes had bit him, and shook his head like a dog. Sardine had abandoned all hope of saving face and clawed blindly at his attacker’s eyes, a shaky, blubbering mess. The cat fell back a bit and Sardine managed to roll away despite the ropes tangled around him.  

“Floodstrike, get back!” cried the cat who had killed Tiger. Someone was running in his direction. In a blind panic, Sardine threw himself out of the way only to find he was plummeting off the edge of the hayloft and into thin air. He twisted, tried to land on his feet, but the ropes were tangled around his neck and legs and he couldn’t get free and then--

With a sharp crack and a pain hotter and more terrible than anything he had ever experienced, the rope went taught and Sardine bobbed in the air. Several people gasped or shouted. Had he heard Casper’s voice? He couldn’t tell. 

He couldn’t feel his legs anymore. A beat later he realized he couldn’t breathe no matter how hard he tried. It was like his head had been completely detached from his body. What little he could still feel was burning and begging for air. It felt like the blood was rapidly draining from his face.

“Someone get him down,” a woman cried. 

“No!” Rudy yowled, “Let him hang!” 

Already, the voices were starting to fade into a droning buzz. He closed his eyes and tried to swallow to no avail. This was it. This was how he died. 

---

And then he was falling again. 

He gasped as he hit the ground, squirming at the sudden, unpleasant sensation that something was passing through his insides like a fish through water. He whimpered and pulled away, hunkering down into himself and shutting his eyes. The noise in the room had waned, like it was somehow far away or behind a closed door. 

“Wow, that was ugly,” said a voice Sardine had thought he would never hear again. Eyes snapping open, he looked up in disbelief at the smiling face of Razor. Black ichor dripped from between his teeth and he had a luminescent quality to him, like his pelt was full of glowing red fireflies.

“Y-you’re dead!” he sputtered, watching as one of the wild cats passed through Razor and the gaping wound in his throat that still dripped pitch black ooze. 

“Correction:” grinned Razor, “We’re both dead.” 

Sardine looked down at his paws and found that they too were glowing with the same twinkling lights. “Holy shit,” he breathed. He glanced up at the hayloft and instantly regretted it. 

His body still hung, dangling limply from a tangled mess of ropes by the neck. Sardine shuddered and looked away, trying to compose himself. 

“Can’t believe you were crying,” Razor laughed. “Some Speaker you were.” 

Sardine’s fur bristled with embarrassment. “Yes, well…” He tried to think of a way to spin this as not completely and utterly disgraceful. He settled for flattery. “Clearly there’s no one who could have lived up to the legacy you left behind, Your Excellence.” He straightened up his posture and tried to pretend he wasn’t still shaken from the ordeal. 

“Clearly,” Razor scoffed, unimpressed. Sardine looked around to try and take stock of the battlefield. The fight seemed to be over, most of his forces having been slaughtered. Only a few of the Chaff and one or two Exalted cats had been spared and Rudy’s cats were guarding them closely. Sardine’s chest tightened as he spotted Casper’s body slumped against the barn wall, eyes unblinking and glazed over in death. 

“What a shit show,” Razor huffed. “Come on, the others are waiting.” He turned and started wading through the crowd like it wasn’t there. 

 “The others?” Sardine asked, starting to follow. He passed through a pair of living cats and nearly gagged as their bodies seemed to slog through every inch of his innards until they were behind him. 

“Yes,” Razor seemed unaffected, “the others. They’re outside. You were the last one.” Fear prickled through Sardine’s hackles at the seemingly innocuous sentence and he very carefully followed behind, bobbing and weaving around the living cats like they were puddles of water. A pair of shimmering cats stood to either side of the open barn doors and they dipped their heads to Razor as he passed. One of them, who Sardine recognized as Tinkerbell, glared at him darkly. 

“Is Bella here?” he asked quietly, trying to give nothing away in his expression.

“No,” Razor replied in the same quiet tone, a smirk upon his lips. Then he hacked violently for a second, spitting ichor onto the ground. Sardine couldn’t help but curl his lip in disgust at the wretched sight and the sound of it. When Razor was done, he shook his head and cleared his throat, causing more ichor to ooze from the wound in his neck. 

He continued, “She was… uncooperative. Had too many ideas in her head. I had to end her.” He narrowed his eyes at Sardine. “Permanently.” Sardine swallowed at the very clear threat.

“Good,” he said, his voice higher than he would have liked. “She was completely too ambitious in my opinion. Had no respect for true authority.” 

“Mhm,” Razor quirked a skeptical brow at him. “And whose authority would that be?”

“Yours, of course,” Sardine said obediently. “And the Folk.” 

Razor huffed a laugh through his nose and turned away. Sardine couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad sign. The cats at the door fell in behind them and Razor led the way around the farmhouse to the dirt lot lined with weeds where cats often sparred together. The lot was full of ghostly shapes, cats Sardine had brought with him and more who had died over the last few months for one reason or another. Sardine marveled at the sight. If only he had known they were here, just beyond his senses!

One of the cats sitting near the edge turned and perked his ears at them. Sardine felt a strange twinge of relief to see Casper there. The enforcer was a dull brute but he’d grown accustomed to his presence it seemed. 

“Well, friends!” Razor boomed, drawing the attention of the cats there assembled. “That was a disaster, wasn’t it? But fear not! I have unlocked the secret to life beyond death and I have decided to share it with all of you.” The crowd murmured amongst themselves. 

Clever, thought Sardine. Now they feel like they owe you. He had forgotten just how persuasive Razor could be, those skills overshadowed by the impulsivity that had led to his eventual downfall. Sardine sat down behind the Speaker’s right shoulder and curled his tail around his paws, hoping to appear as a trusted advisor. 

“I have big plans,” Razor continued, “and each of you has the opportunity to be involved in our great work, but loyalty will be integral to the success of what we’re going to do. I’m sure you can all understand that, right?” An obedient chorus affirmed their understanding, Sardine quietly among them. Razor glanced back at him and smiled. That definitely wasn’t a good sign. 

“Just to make sure we’re all perfectly clear,” Razor said, padding in a slow arc towards the crowd, his tail furling comfortably above him, “I have prepared a demonstration of the consequences for insubordination.” He looked at the guards who had followed up behind them and they lurched into action. Before Sardine knew what was happening, he was face down in the dirt with two sets of claws pricking into his back. 

“Wha- Get off me!” he squawked indignantly, trying to twist out of their grasp. Tinkerbell placed a paw on the back of his head and shoved it further into the ground. 

“Sardine here thought he could replace me,” Razor said to the crowd, circling back around to stand in front of him. “That’s not very loyal, if you ask me.”

“You were dead!” Sardine protested, squirming. “What was I supposed to do?” 

“Shh,” Razor hushed him. “It’s nothing personal.” He raised his glittering claws up above Sardine’s head menacingly and Sardine’s squirming intensified. Was there anything after this? Would he cease to exist? 

“Don’t!” he cried, “I’ll pay my penance! Please!” 

Razor sighed as if there was nothing he could do. “It’s a little late for-” Suddenly, he was cut off as something slammed into his side and knocked him back. Sardine couldn’t see very well but one of the guards holding him down leapt to engage the attacker leaving him free to kick Tinkerbell’s back leg out from under her. She stumbled and he rolled away to his feet, tail bristling. 

Behind him, Casper slashed at the guard and they dissolved under his claws, twinkling into nothing. Casper looked surprised and Sardine swallowed in dread. It seemed these bodies were much more fragile than their mortal forms. The dread grew as Razor stood up behind Casper with teeth bared. 

“Look out!” cried Sardine and Casper wheeled around, narrowly avoiding a swipe from Razor’s claws. 

“Bad decision,” Razor snarled, ichor dripping between his teeth. 

Casper backed up a step then made a decision. “Run!” 

Sardine didn’t need to be told twice. He turned and sprinted back towards the wild territories as fast as he could, ignoring the terrible sensation of weeds passing through his insides. Casper was behind him, panting hard, and further back he heard Razor hissing in rage. 

“After them!” 

Several cats yowled a battle cry and gave chase. 

Sardine groaned pitifully. “We are so fucked!” 

“Oi! Up here!” An unfamiliar voice pulled his attention from ahead and he couldn’t believe what he saw. Perched in midair atop a cluster of stars sat a tortoiseshell cat with big, bright eyes. She flicked her tail and a series of platforms appeared before them, leading up to her position. Sardine leapt onto the first one without question and started climbing into the sky. 

“This is insane,” he laughed. “This can’t be happening.”

“Oh, it is,” said the tortoiseshell, reaching down to pull him up onto her platform by his scruff. He scowled at the indignity of it but held his tongue. Casper hopped up beside him and their rescuer said, “Alright, you should be safe for now. Let’s get climbing.” 

“Safe?!” Sardine huffed. The others had been right behind them! How were they safe? He peered down and found, to his surprise, that the platforms they had scaled had disappeared and the cats below were prowling back and forth, unable to reach them. 

“Come on,” said the tortoiseshell. With a swish of her tail, a new set of platforms manifested above them and she hopped to the first one with a welcoming smile. Sardine shared a wary glance with Casper who simply shrugged. 

“I’ll follow your lead,” said his bodyguard. 

“Good,” Sardine nodded, raising himself to his full height. Casper huffed an amused laugh which Sardine ignored, focusing instead on climbing to the next platform. He focused his attention on the tortoiseshell, analyzing her in detail now that he had a chance to catch his breath. 

She was tall and lanky, thin beneath her wispy fur, and her oblong face was split half and half between ginger and black, one eye brown and one eye green. Sardine recognized that she would have been considered attractive by someone who could tolerate females enough to pursue them romantically, something he had never been able to do. 

“Thank you for the rescue,” he said, putting on a smile. “I’m Sardine. This is my bodyguard, Casper.” Casper jerked his nose upward in a casual greeting before letting his attention drift down to the cats below them. 

“I’m Moira,” purred the tortoiseshell. “I’m here to take you to the next life.” She started climbing up towards the sparse, low hanging clouds.

“The next life?” Sardine raised his brows as he followed her. “There’s one after this?” 

“This is a transitory place,” explained Moira. “No one is supposed to linger here. The leader of those cats down there has been causing lots of trouble since he arrived.” 

“That does sound like him,” Sardine mumbled, sparing a glance downward. The cats had started to head back to the dirt lot, growing smaller and smaller the higher he climbed. He wondered how many of them Razor would kill as punishment. 

“You know him?” asked Moira, perking her ears. 

“Yes,” Sardine said, “but you shouldn’t concern yourself with that. Tell me, is it possible to return? To go back to the land of the living?” 

“Sometimes,” Moira hummed. “That’s not my job though. My job is to take you to the next life.” 

“I see,” Sardine glanced at Casper who nodded subtly. “You’re sure you couldn’t take us back? There are people in the city who need us dearly. I hate to think of what will happen to them if we’re gone.”

“Sorry,” winced Moira. “No can do.” 

“Why not?” Sardine frowned, feigning genuine curiosity. “Do you not know how?”

“It’s just not how things are done,” she said. “I’m really sorry, truly, I am, but you’ll like the next life, trust me.” At this point they had reached the bottom of the clouds which opened up for them like a tunnel in the earth. 

Sardine paused on the starry platform and said, “That’s too bad. Casper?” 

Grinning lackadaisically, Casper stepped past his shoulder and advanced on Moira. “This doesn’t have to get ugly, sweetheart,” he said. 

Moira’s smile turned instantly to an appalled frown. “Really?” she gaped. “You’re threatening me?”

“Only slightly,” Sardine smiled smugly. “Just take us back to the land of the living and we’ll leave you be. If not, we’ll be forced to do something barbaric, I’m afraid.” Casper crowded closer to her and she backed into the mouth of the tunnel. 

“What is wrong with you city cats?” she said, shaking her head. She flicked her tail and suddenly Sardine felt the stars beneath his paws vanishing. He cried out in fear, staring at the very distant ground, but suddenly Casper’s teeth were in his scruff and he was hauled up into the cloudy tunnel with breathtaking ease. He shuddered and pressed back against Casper’s side, trying to get away from the dizzying height. 

“That little bitch!” he squawked, spinning to look for Moira only to find she had likewise vanished. “Well, great. Now we’re trapped up here.”

“She’s gotta be around here somewhere,” Casper hummed. 

“I suppose so.” Sardine sighed. “Come on.” He started into the tunnel and immediately found a fork in the path. He opened his mouth to scent for a trail and found no scent at all, just the smell of fog and fresh air. 

“Well, shit!” he griped. “Today is just one fucking thing after another, isn’t it?!” Casper said nothing. Sardine took a deep breath out through his nose and forced his fur to lie flat. Losing his temper wouldn’t do him any good. He had to keep his wits about him. He could think his way out of this predicament. He considered the two paths ahead of him and picked one at random, padding deeper into the mass of the cloud. 

They came upon another fork and then another and Sardine put himself on autopilot, taking whichever turn his gut reaction chose. After a while, his thoughts began to wander and he glanced back at Casper who was padding steadfastly behind him. 

“I suppose I ought to thank you for coming to my aid,” he said, facing forward again. 

“No problem,” said Casper as if that were all there was to it. 

Sardine huffed indignantly and looked back again. “That’s all? ‘No problem’?”

“What? You want an ‘of course, Your Excellence’?” 

Sardine scowled. “I guess I want an explanation. You crossed Razor to save me. Why?” 

“I dunno,” shrugged Casper. “Didn’t seem fair.”

“Hm.” Sardine twitched his whiskers poutily. He didn’t know why that felt unsatisfactory. Turning his attention back to the maze of tunnels ahead of him, he stewed in silence. The silence seemed to overtake him, all sound disappearing into the clouds. It started to feel maddening, like he would drown in it. 

Tail twitching, he cleared his throat to hear the sound. “Well, thank you,” he said. “For saving me.”

“Huh,” was all Casper said.

“Huh, what?” bristled Sardine, scowling back at him again. 

“I dunno,” shrugged Casper. “Sounded like you almost meant it.” 

Sardine pursed his lips in a tight frown and lashed his tail. “Yeah, well don’t get used to it.” Casper smirked and Sardine was forced to turn his back on him to avoid losing his temper. We’d better not be stuck here long, he thought, or I’m going to fucking lose it.

[clangenrising]

Month 20 - Leaffall

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The group of cats that Oddstripe found himself in was the largest had ever seen in his life, let alone at the Cornerstones. The clearing felt packed with cats and everyone was in good spirits despite, or possibly because of, the wounds they bore. He had to restrain himself from asking every cat he ran into if they were alright or needed anything from him. 

Paying attention to Aldertail made it easier. She was nervous, certainly, but also excited which was nice to see. They sat on the edge of the crowd, where the chilly night air could still be felt, and watched expectantly for the arrival of the kittypets. 

“I can’t believe they’re gonna share catnip with everybody!” Aldertail said for the third time. 

“I know,” he laughed. “It’s surreal to think about.”

“Have you ever tried it before?” asked Aldertail. 

“No, I’ve always saved it for treating the sick,” said Oddstripe, shaking his head. “Have you?”

“Once,” she nodded. “My brother and I snuck into a garden with some of his friends and rolled around until the owner chased us off. It’s the best feeling in the world, honestly.”

“Really?” he asked, his curiosity piqued. 

“Oh, yeah,” she nodded. “It’s like you’re floating and all your worries just kind of fade away for a while.” She gave a dreamy sigh and closed her eyes, imagining it. Oddstripe purred at the sight of her looking so peaceful. 

“Well, I’m excited to try it,” he said. “It will be interesting to explore a new side of the herb.” 

The bushes at the edge of the clearing shook softly and both of them perked their ears and stared at the noise. After a moment, Songdust emerged, a ginger ticked kittypet close behind her. Another cat that looked almost exactly like him but a darker, ruddy color followed, along with a pretty chocolate tortoiseshell. All three city cats had fat bundles of catmint in their jaws and Oddstripe marveled as even more cats emerged carrying bundles of their own. He counted at least ten different kittypets once they had all stepped out of the undergrowth. 

“Oh, wow!” Oddstripe gasped. “That’s a lot of catmint!” The cats on the edge of the clearing could smell it and one by one they started to look for the source of the scent. Excited murmurs spread through the crowd and every eye turned expectantly towards their guests. 

“Howdy, y’all,” smiled the ginger cat at the front, projecting his voice confidently, “the catnip has arrived!” A SkyClan cat cheered and the cheer spread throughout the crowd until most everyone was whooping and hollering. The noise alone was enough to make Oddstripe feel intoxicated and he raised his voice along with them. 

When the noise had died down, Songdust shouted, “Everybody will get some so let’s not push or shove, alright?” 

Goldenstar emerged from the sea of cats and said, “Wow! I didn’t expect you to bring so much!” 

The tortoiseshell smiled prettily and said, “My garden will be a bit bare for a while but I think it’s worth it.” 

Oddstripe stepped up beside Goldenstar and said, “Thank you so much! To donate such a valuable herb-! I’m blown away by your generosity!” 

“You’re a healer?” the tortoiseshell’s face brightened. 

“I am,” he purred, glancing back at Aldertail as she pressed shyly against his flank. 

“I dabble myself!” purred the kittypet. 

“Really?” he gasped. “I thought that kittypets left medicine to their twolegs.”

“We do, for the most part,” she purred, “but a few of us try to take care of the cats without Folk as well. I’m Fawn, by the way.” 

“Oddstripe,” he beamed. “And this is Aldertail.” Behind him, Aldertail squeaked softly. 

“A pleasure to meet you both,” grinned Fawn. “Please, have some catnip.” Around them, other cats had already started to partake. The smell was suddenly overwhelming to Oddstripe and the restraint that Sagetooth had drilled into him was slipping away very quickly. 

“Oh, alright,” he said, bending down to rub his cheeks through the buds. Once he started, it was hard to stop and only his awareness of Aldertail managed to pull him away.

“Your turn, dear,” he said, stepping to the side, his head already starting to buzz. 

“You’re sure it’s okay?” she asked meekly. 

“Yes, of course,” purred Fawn. “Help yourself.” Aldertail swallowed and nodded, diving eagerly down into the bed of catmint and rolling until her cheeks were speckled with the stuff. Oddstripe laughed when she stood up, wobbling, and he pressed forward to rub his cheeks against hers. The purr she gave rumbled through him in a way that overwhelmed him with fondness. 

“Easy there,” he said, catching her as she wobbled towards him. “Let’s step back so everybody else can get some.”

“Oh,” she blinked. “Okay. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he laughed, “it’s okay.” Pressed closely side by side, they skirted the edge of the crowd until they found a good space to settle down. Once they had, Aldertail flopped over onto him and nuzzled up under his chin with a boldness he’d never seen in her before. 

“It’s so nice to see you so relaxed,” he purred, starting to run his tongue over her head. She purred loudly and looked up at him with the fondest expression. 

“You’re so nice to me,” she sighed. “Nobody’s ever been as nice to me as you are.”

“I’m sorry,” Oddstripe frowned sympathetically. 

“It’s okay,” she said, closing her eyes. “I just… I really like you.”

“I like you too,” he purred, rubbing his head against hers. She surged up to meet the touch, nearly pushing him flat onto his side, and they both devolved into laughter. 

“There you are!” cried Ospreymask, out of the crowd with Branchbark and Pebblefall on her tail. Judging by their wide blown pupils, they had just come from the catmint. 

“Ospreymask!” Oddstripe purred, reaching for her with his front paws. Aldertail giggled and burrowed down into his side to watch the others with one eye, the other buried in his fur. Ospreymask headbutted him firmly and rubbed herself all the way down his side before looping back to slam into Branchbark in a similar manner. 

“Stars!” she cried, looping her paws around Branchbark’s neck and sinking to the ground, taking him down clumsily with her. “Catmint is the best! Why aren’t we doing this all the time?!”

“Because we need to save it for the sick,” laughed Oddstripe. 

“Ugh!” Ospreymask groaned performatively and the whole group laughed. “The sick can go suck frogs!” 

“How dare you,” laughed Branchbark, swatting her over the face and she lunged with sudden velocity at him. They wrestled and writhed on the ground in a frantic tangle of limbs then stopped for a beat before resuming their struggle with vigor. Pebblefall bounced up on their toes and swatted at them from the sidelines. Oddstripe fell apart laughing at them all and Aldertail squeezed her paws around him, purring so loudly it rumbled through his chest. 

When the wrestling broke apart, Ospreymask flopped on her side and hummed to herself, eyes closed. Branchbark slumped against her and chuckled to himself while Pebblefall fell on her other side. She reached up with a paw and pulled their face over to her and gave them a few long licks under their chin. They purred and shifted closer and she worked her way down their chest, nuzzling as she went. 

“Aw, man, right now?” Branchbark groaned, shoving Ospreymask away from him and she laughed as she was smushed up against Pebblefall’s chest. 

“We’re not gonna do anything crazy,” she protested, undercut a bit by Pebblefall nuzzling into her scruff and breathing deeply of her scent. Oddstripe realized suddenly what was going on and his face flushed brightly. 

“Are you two going to-” he cut himself off, not wanting to say the words out loud for fear that he might get them in trouble. Aldertail stopped purring and held very still against him. 

To his surprise, Ospreymask glanced over and said, “Maybe,” with a suggestive grin. “You should join us.” Oddstripe’s cheeks were burning. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. What was worse, he didn’t hate the idea. 

“I- I shouldn’t,” he laughed. “You know healers aren’t supposed to do that kind of thing.” 

“They’re not?” Aldertail whispered in surprise. 

“Besides,” her continued, “I didn’t even really enjoy… that the one time I… when I tried it.” He looked away, lips pursed, his face hot with the scandalous nature of the entire conversation. 

“Yeah, but you weren’t a tom back then,” Ospreymask argued casually, rolling to press her back up against Pebblefall’s belly. “Maybe it would be different now.” Oddstripe hadn’t considered that and he wasn’t going to let himself consider it, at least not right now. Pebblefall wrapped their paws around Ospreymask’s torso and ran their tongue over her ear which was enough to spur Oddstripe to his feet. 

“I’m gonna go,” he said, looking askance. 

Aldertail scrambled to her feet and went to follow him. “Me too.”

“Aww, come on,” Ospreymask whined, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I meant it completely platona- platona- pluh-ton-ic-ally. Stars, why is that so hard to say?” Pebblefall whispered something in her ear and she laughed, craning her neck back to lean into their shoulder in a way that was terribly intimate. 

“I’m coming too,” Branchbark said as he heaved himself to his feet. 

“Noooo!” Ospreymask suddenly looked remorseful. “We’ll stop, I promise.”

“It’s fine,” Branchbark said, “do what you want. We’re gonna head out though.” 

“How ‘bout we go to the river?” Oddstripe suggested, already leading Aldertail into the trees. 

“That sounds good,” Branchbark said. After a short pause, he said, “I’m sorry about her. She’s just… like this.” 

“It’s fine,” Aldertail said softly. “That’s just what people on catnip do.” 

“Really?” Oddstripe raised his brow. “I’ve never noticed any patients getting… worked up like that.” He shook his pelt, still feeling scandalized, although the catnip buzz was starting to wash that feeling away. “They’re mostly drowsy

“I think it’s different if you eat it than if you just smell it,” said Aldertail. 

“Huh,” said Oddstripe. “Good to know.” 

The three of them walked in silence, the noise of the celebration fading as more and more leaves came between them and the Cornerstones. After a while, Oddstripe closed his eyes and hummed a little song and Aldertail joined in as best she could, leaning on his shoulder. He smiled and started to sway back and forth with every step like he used to when playing with his kittens.

Aldertail laughed as he wobbled underneath her and said, “cut it out!”

“Cut what out?” he feigned innocence, “I’m just walking.” 

“No you’re not,” she giggled, still trying to lean on him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Aldertail,” said Branchbark who had started walking with the same wide, swaying gait. “You’re the one walking weird.”

Aldertail laughed again and jumped into the air to swat at him although she pulled each paw back before it got anywhere near his head. Branchbark snorted and took off running towards the river. 

“Don’t let him get away!” Oddstripe cried and they bolted after him. Oddstripe felt as light as a feather, like the weight of his duties had lifted off of his shoulders for the moment. When they finally caught Branchbark, the three of them collapsed in a tangle of paws on the river bank and laughed far longer than they ought to have. Oddstripe’s face hurt from smiling by the time they picked themselves up and went to camp. 

“I love you guys,” he sighed fondly, sandwiched between his friends.

Branchbark sighed in kind and Aldertail mumbled, “you too,” and the world felt beautiful and bright.

[clangenrising]

Month 20 - Leaffall

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Despite the heavy, nearly unbearable grief over Sagetooth’s passing, Ospreymask was doing very well these days. Her wounds had all healed nicely. Things were starting to feel less dire. After the battle, SkyClan had started sending warriors to help patrol the southern border, just in case, and the Clans had reinstated the twenty-four hour patrol schedule that had been abandoned after Razor’s death. As much as the work was tiring, there were always new cats in the camp and the novelty of it was enough to brighten her spirits considerably.

It was especially nice when Pebblefall came to visit. Ospreymask had begged Russetfrond to let her patrol with them whenever they came by and he had eventually relented, seeing as offering to work wasn’t something she usually did. She couldn’t help but feel smug about it. If only he knew what she and Pebblefall got up to when they had the time to themselves, maybe then he would have second guessed that decision. 

On a breezy leaffall day, she took a good long moment to appreciate just how lucky she was as she lay sprawled against their belly in the grass, watching it wave gently over their silvery speckled fur. It wasn’t every day you found a friend like Pebblefall -- or for that matter, a friend like Branchbark, who had agreed to cover for them on patrol again. Sighing, she reasoned that they ought to get back before he got ambushed by rogues or coyotes or something, even if she’d rather keep dozing peacefully to the gentle rhythm of Pebblefall’s slumbering breaths. 

“Alright,” she said, batting lightly at their face, “time to get up, lazy bones.” Pebblefall groaned and rolled onto their back to stretch their paws as far as they could go in either direction. Ospreymask had to resist the temptation to lavish the gorgeous arc of their body with playful licks like she so often did these days. That would lead to Branchbark being on his own for another good while and she was already starting to feel guilty about how long they had been gone. 

“Do I have to get up?” Pebblefall asked sleepily, peeking at her with one eye. 

“Yeah…” she sighed again. “I think Branchbark is probably getting tired of covering for us by now.” 

“Oof,” they frowned and sat up. “You’re probably right. I wish I could thank him for everything.” 

Ospreymask laughed and said, “You could always try. Stars know he could do with a bit of stress relief.” 

“Not like that, dummy,” Pebblefall swiped at her and she bounced backwards out of their reach. 

“Why not?” she kept laughing. “You seem happy to thank me that way.” 

Pebblefall stood and stretched, glaring playfully at her as they bowed. “Thank you? What have you done worth thanking for?” 

“Um, I am generous enough to allow you to enjoy the pleasures of my body,” she huffed performatively and stood up straight as if offended. “Is that not worthy of thanks?” 

“Sounds to me like we’re gonna get stuck in a loop pretty quickly if that’s how I thank you for letting me thank you,” they snorted. Carefully fixing the nettle flowers they wore back into place behind their ear, they padded over to join her. 

“Is that a bad thing?” she purred teasingly, winding her tail around theirs.

“I guess not,” they chuckled and nipped playfully at her ear. She shook her head and they set off towards the border where Branchbark was waiting for them. 

Ospreymask hummed thoughtfully to herself as they walked, eventually saying, “You’re good with me keeping the kittens if there are any, right?” 

“Oh, yeah,” Pebblefall nodded. “I’m not in any rush to be a parent.” 

“Good, cause you would have had to pry them from my cold dead paws,” Ospreymask declared. “I’m so kitten crazy it’s not even funny.” 

“I do not understand that at all,” they shook their head. “Kits are so tiring and annoying. I can’t imagine having to carry them either, it sounds like a nightmare.” 

“No way!” she said. “They’re so much fun! Just cute little bundles of joy that love you with all their heart. It's so easy to impress a kitten, it’s the best.” She smiled, imagining little Pebblefall copies following her around and asking her questions about the world. “I’m actually really looking forward to being pregnant. I want to feel their little heartbeats and kicks and everything. It sounds absolutely magical.”

“If you say so,” they shrugged and she let that be the end of it. She was too busy thinking about the kittens she might soon have. 

Eventually, they made it to the border and found Branchbark waiting where they had left him. He looked up as they approached and let out a sigh of relief. Standing, he padded over to them looking miffed but mostly glad to see them. 

“There you are,” he said. “The next patrol is supposed to relieve us soon. I was getting worried about how I would explain where you’d gone.” 

“You can always come get us,” Ospreymask offered but Branchbark blushed and shook his head. 

“Uh, no, I don’t think so,” he fumbled out the words and Ospreymask laughed. 

“Okay, I get it. We’ll take a smaller nap next time, promise.” 

“Can’t you just, you know, not nap?” he asked, quirking a brow at her. 

“It’s tiring,” Pebblefall said. “It’d be more suspicious if we didn’t nap and the two of us came back exhausted.”

“It can’t be that tiring,” Branchbark scowled. 

“You’d know if you’d tried it,” Ospreymask gave him a playful shove and he pushed her back without any humor. She was pushing her luck and she could tell.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” he rolled his eyes tiredly. “Let’s just make another sweep before we have to go back, alright?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Pebblefall said with a guilty grimace. “We’ll be more considerate in the future, man. I’m sorry.” 

Branchbark sighed. “It’s alright. Don’t mention it.” He started walking, leaving Pebblefall and Ospreymask to exchange rueful glances. 

As they finished out the patrol, Ospreymask’s guilt grew in her stomach and started to writhe. Branchbark had taken Sagetooth’s death a lot harder than she had -- probably harder than anybody -- which had totally caught her off guard. She’d tried to go back to acting like nothing had happened, to replace the sadness with new joys, but it seemed like Branchbark wasn’t having as easy of a time at it as she was. And on top of it all, she had been asking him to be all alone for not inconsiderable stretches of time so she could fool around without doing anything for him in return. 

If he had asked her for a favor, she would gladly have given it to him, but he never asked for anything. She chewed her lip for the entire walk back to camp, trying to think of a way to repay him for his kindness. She was so deep in thought, she barely noticed when Pebblefall said goodbye and headed back to their own territory. 

“Hey,” Branchbark asked, a little while after they had left, “are you alright?” 

“Yeah,” she nodded, smiling immediately. “I’m fine, I’m just worried about you man. I feel like I’ve been a bad friend.” 

Branchbark pursed his lips and looked down. “No, you’re fine, I’m just… stuck in my head right now.” 

“I know!” Ospreymask cried, butting her head against his shoulder. “You’ve been so good to me lately, I wanna return the favor.”

“It’s okay,” he said, nuzzling back into her. “I don’t know what I would ask for anyway.” 

“Well, if you can think of something, just let me know, yeah?” she asked. 

“Yeah, okay,” he nodded. 

Ospreymask sighed in defeat. He wasn’t going to ask.

[clangenrising]

Month 19 - Leaffall

Content Warning: This piece includes content that may be triggering to some viewers. See this post for details.

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Sagetooth gasped sharply and lurched upright as a cold touch to her forehead pulled her up from a thick, inky blackness. She looked around at the bed of hastily gathered wildflowers and the cats clustered nearby and wondered aloud, “How long have I been out?” 

None of the cats even acknowledged her. Close by, Branchbark and Ospreymask loafed side by side, completely unaware she had spoken. Ospreymask leaned weakly on Branchbark, a patchwork of cobwebs plastered over her dark pelt and Branchbark’s eyes were raw and red. More cats sat nearby, all of them somber and quiet in the pre-dawn light. They looked miserable and something foreboding stirred inside Sagetooth at the sight. 

“About an hour, I think,” said a familiar voice. Sagetooth turned her head to see Poppyblaze standing nearby. At her feet lay Lakepaw, stiff and cold and decorated with morning glory and goldenrod flowers. 

“Oh,” Sagetooth said simply. 

“Yeah,” Poppyblaze grimaced. “I’m sorry old friend. I wasn’t expecting to come for you for a while.” 

Sagetooth’s gaze drifted down to the apprentice laying beside her own body, over which she now stood. “She died to protect me,” she said. “Poor kit.” 

“She gave quite the fight for her age,” hummed Poppyblaze. “Are you alright if I wake her now? We really should be going.” 

“Of course,” Sagetooth said, then inhaled sharply with memory. “Wait, I have to check on something!” She quickly hopped over the flowers woven around her feet and headed for the healers’ den at a brisk pace. 

“Don’t go far!” Poppyblaze hissed worriedly. “It’s not safe!” Sagetooth twitched an ear dismissively and continued into the den. There was nothing that would hurt her here and she had important things to do. 

As she stepped into the den, the blood that covered the floor made her pause. Even though every scent felt like it was miles away, she could pick up on the pungent odor of blood and urine -- and not just the expected amount of urine that came with the dead. Stepping further in, she found the herb stores in disaster, every herb tossed to the floor, shredded, and sprayed by the rogues. She curled her lip in disgust.

“Honorless brutes,” she muttered under her breath, shaking her head. Turning away from that mess, she marched purposefully around the corner to Oddstripe’s empty nest and sighed in relief when she saw the small lump underneath the back corner. The horsetail and juniper she had hidden there was safe. She had no doubt Oddstripe would find it eventually. There wouldn’t be another death like Nightfrosts. 

Set at ease, she turned back and padded out into the clearing where Poppyblaze was standing with Lakepaw’s spirit in the middle of the circle of mourners. Poor Lakepaw was softly weeping into the guide’s starry fur. 

Sagetooth padded over and said, “There, there, Lakepaw. It’s going to be alright.” 

Lakepaw looked up at the sound of her voice and sniffled. “I’m so sorry, Sagetooth,” she whined. “I promise I tried my best.” 

“I know,” Sagetooth smiled. “You were a brave warrior.” Lakepaw sniffled again and rubbed a paw over her face, managing to return her smile, just a bit. 

“Alright, now, let’s be quick,” said Poppyblaze. “This place isn’t safe.”

“How so?” Sagetooth scowled. “I’ve never heard of anything dangerous in StarClan.” 

“We’re not in StarClan,” Poppyblaze explained, leading they over to the Stoneperch. “We’re in a place called the Parallel. It’s the place where the spirit and the physical meet, and right now, Razor’s ghost is prowling around it somewhere.” 

“What?” Sagetooth couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “How is that possible?! Only Clan cats move on to the afterlife.” 

“Oh, Sage,” Poppyblaze shook her head. “There’s so much you don’t know about the universe.” Sagetooth bristled indignantly. If there was knowledge out there, why hadn’t StarClan shared it with her? Why hadn’t Poppyblaze told her about it before? 

With a flick of her tail, Poppyblaze sent a shower of stars into the sky, leading up in a series of platforms, and said, “This way! Let’s get climbing.” 

“Wowzers,” breathed Lakepaw and Poppyblaze chuckled. 

“I like you, kid,” she purred. “Now, come on.” She gave Lakepaw’s rump a nudge with her nose and the apprentice hopped up, easily leaping from platform to platform into the sky. Sagetooth hesitated, shifting her weight. 

“You can’t make a slope of some kind?” she asked. 

Poppyblaze laughed and said, “Just give me one jump, yeah?” 

Sagetooth sighed, grumbling under her breath, and bunched her legs beneath her. It had been a long time since she’d properly jumped and she was not looking forward to it. Still, if Razor was loose somewhere around here, she’d be much better suited to jumping than fighting him. She leapt and was amazed to find herself easily and painlessly landing on the first platform. Her eyes sparkled in wonder and she glanced down at Poppyblaze who laughed again.

“See? You don’t have a body anymore so no more joint pain! Pretty cool, huh?” 

“It’s very nice, yes,” Sagetooth purred to herself, stretching out each leg experimentally. 

“Great, now let's go, go, go,” urged Poppyblaze, hopping up beside her. Sagetooth nodded and started ascending. She was buzzing giddily at the freedom in her movements, in the way she could coordinate her limbs and move them without the aching resistance she had grown used to for the last few years. 

Over their heads, Lakepaw cried out, “Wowzers! Look at the world from up here!” 

“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” grinned Poppyblaze. The higher they climbed, the more Sagetooth had to agree. The world was a stunning mess of mauves rustling in the breeze. A hint of orange had just started to peek over the eastern horizon and the contrast took Sagetooth’s breath away. 

“Hey, what’s that?” Lakepaw asked. 

“Hm?” Poppyblaze perked her ears. She and Sagetooth followed the apprentice’s gaze to the south. Standing in the grass, not too far from camp, several smudges of glowing red broke up the peaceful purple landscape. 

“Oh, that’s not good,” Poppyblaze swallowed. 

“Razor?” Sagetooth asked. 

“Yeah, I think so. I’m going to check it out. I need you to stay here, okay?” She looked at both of them sternly and said, “Don’t go up without me and don’t try to go down under any circumstances, understood?” 

“Yeah,” Lakepaw’s fur was standing on end as she nodded.

“Absolutely not,” Sagetooth huffed. “I’m coming with you.” 

“Oh, Sage, my stubborn, stubborn friend,” Poppyblaze’s expression was some mixture of distress and admiration. “Now really isn’t the time for this.” 

“If it isn’t safe for me to go along then you shouldn’t be going, you reckless fool,” Sagetooth stood her ground.

Poppyblaze sighed. “I guess that’s a fair point. Alright, fine. Stay here, Lakepaw, we’ll be back soon.” 

“Okay,” Lakepaw’s voice was shaky. “Please be safe.” 

“We will be,” Sagetooth assured her, then looked at Poppyblaze and gestured for her to lead the way. Poppyblaze took a careful step forward into the open air and when her paws moved away, there were starry platforms in their wake. Sagetooth fell into step behind her and they set out over the fields towards the red shapes. 

As they drew closer, Sagetooth started to make out the silhouettes of cats. A tall grey tabby stood in the center of the group, flanked by a cream tabby she-cat, a black-furred tom with white paws, and a pair of blue and white cats with notches in their ears. All five of them had the same shimmery pelts as StarClan but the stars were red tinged or dull and grey. 

“What are so many cats doing in the Parallel?” Poppyblaze whispered to herself, halting to observe them from a short distance behind and a tree’s length above. 

“That big one, is Razor, yes?” Sagetooth asked in the same hushed tone. She’d never seen the rogue’s body, too busy with healing the wounded, but she had heard the stories. She could see the gaping wound in his throat dripping ichor as he hunched over in the grass. He looked like stories of Dark Forest ghosts but that didn’t make any sense to her.

“Mhm,” nodded Poppyblaze. “He destroyed Darkmoon and EarthClan’s guide and tried to destroy me.” 

“What’s he doing?” asked Sagetooth. Both she and Poppyblaze squinted at Razor who was doing something with his paws over a space of fresh churned earth. He hooked his claws into something and pulled up dragging a new glowing red shape up from the dirt. In horror, Sagetooth watched the face of a cat burst from the ground, choking and gasping for air as Razor hoisted his spirit up by the scruff. The cat scrambled to his feet and stared around, eyes wide, chest heaving, and Razor smiled with a deep rumbling purr that Sagetooth could just barely hear. 

“Welcome to the land of the not quite living, Harry, ” he said, slapping the new cat on the back. 

“Oh, no,” Poppyblaze swallowed. “This is bad. This is very bad. Where’s Bakari?” 

“Who?” Sagetooth couldn’t help but ask. 

“What’s going on? Where are we?” the newly dead cat panted. “Who are they?” Sagetooth’s stomach dropped as he looked directly up at her and Poppyblaze. Razor cocked his head and turned in their direction. When he saw them, a terrible smile spread across his face, made all the more gruesome by the ichor seeping between his teeth. 

“Oh, look,” he purred and the whole group of cats turned to look at them, “It’s my little friend. I never did catch your name, sweetheart.” 

Poppyblaze bristled and twitched her tail against Sagetooth’s flank. “We’re leaving,” she whispered. “Now.” Sagetooth didn’t need any further prompting, quickly, she twisted on the starry platforms and started bounding back to where they had left Lakepaw waiting. Poppyblaze was close on her tail.

“Come now, don’t be like that!” Razor jeered after them and a couple of the other cats laughed. “Come on down so we can get friendly!” 

“This is very bad,” Poppyblaze hissed under her breath. “Worse than I thought.” 

“How so?” Sagetooth tilted her ears backward in curiosity. 

“How to explain…” Poppyblaze hummed thoughtfully. “So, when a creature dies, their soul is trapped inside their body. If left there, it rots and disappears, just like the rest of them, but if someone disconnects them from their body, they can live for effectively eternity, given the right conditions.” 

“Right, as long as they’re remembered, they resist fading away,” Sagetooth nodded. 

“Not exactly,” Poppyblaze said, “but that’s not really important right now.” Sagetooth twitched an ear in irritation, wishing Poppyblaze would stop saying confusing and ambiguous new things, but held her tongue so the guide could continue. “Separating a soul from a body is a tricky process, one that guides have been teaching each other for countless millennia. It looks like, somehow, Razor has figured out how to do it, or how to brute force it at least.” 

“Alright,” Sagetooth frowned, trying to put the pieces together. “So now, instead of wasting away, the kittypets’ spirits will be stuck on the Parallel with Razor where they can harass spirits waiting to go to StarClan?”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Poppyblaze said to Sagetooth’s frustration. “Usually, Bakari comes and collects the non-Clan cats in this area, but for some reason, he hasn’t been doing that.” 

“Who is this Bakari you keep talking about?” Sagetooth grumbled. 

“The guide for feline souls,” Poppyblaze’s tail began to twitch, “exempting Clan cats who have their own guides.” 

“But that’s not-” Sagetooth grit her teeth. “That doesn’t make any sense! Only Clan cats persist after death. That’s how it’s always been!” 

“Sorry, Sage, but that’s just not true,” Poppyblaze shook her head. “Everything has its own guide -- cats, dogs, mice, birds, beetles, twolegs. Everything! There’s even a guide who collects the plants! He’s a big ol’ thing with a prehensile nose and the shaggiest fur you’ve ever seen. Name’s Frost. Lovely guy, excellent conversationalist.” 

“Poppyblaze!” Sagetooth snapped, lashing her tail. They were almost back to Lakepaw now and she turned around to glare at the old spirit. “Enough about the plants! I still don’t understand what’s going on!” 

“It’s a lot to understand,” said Poppyblaze sympathetically, “but I’ll try to summarize.” She shifted her posture, collecting her thoughts, and said, “Alright, so Bakari usually collects the spirits of cats from outside the Clan. Every so often, a creature with a particularly strong will can separate themself on their own -- that’s how the first guides were created and it's what I assumed Razor had done. When I ran into him the first time, he said that he’d already destroyed two other cats and since EarthClan’s guide had never returned from gathering Darkmoon, I assumed they were the cats he’d destroyed.

“But this is so much worse. I think he destroyed Bakari when he tried to take Razor to the next life. He’s obsessed with getting back to his body like Goldenstar did and said he was going to keep killing cats until someone showed him how.”

“Oh,” Sagetooth swallowed. “That’s definitely not good.” 

“And that’s not all,” continued Poppyblaze. “If he’s only killed two cats and they were Bakari and Chestnutsprout, then Darkmoon is missing. He could be here on the parallel or he might be lost in the Clouds! Who knows!” 

“Then we need to get back to StarClan,” Sagetooth said. “They have to know.” 

“Agreed,” Poppyblaze chewed her lip. “Come on, let’s grab Lakepaw and get moving.” They padded quickly over the remaining distance to where Lakepaw was waiting dutifully for them. 

“Is everything okay?” she called as they approached. 

“Everything’s fine, dear,” said Sagetooth.

“Not really,” smiled Poppyblaze, “but we’re all safe for now. Let’s keep climbing, okay?” 

“Okay,” nodded Lakepaw and they all started up the platforms again. 

Sagetooth glared at Poppyblaze. “You didn’t have to worry the kit like that.” 

“She deserves to hear the truth,” Poppyblaze shrugged. “Or would you prefer I hide things from her like StarClan hid things from you?” Sagetooth’s anger fizzled immediately. 

“I suppose I’d rather not lie to her,” she sighed. After a moment she asked, “Why did StarClan keep the nature of things a secret? What harm is there in knowing other creatures have spirits that linger just like we do?” She trusted that there was some explanation, that StarClan had made the choice with good reason, but she couldn’t think of what it could be.

“A lot of them don’t know,” Poppyblaze admitted, “not any more at least. And the cats who do, well, you’d have to ask them, but I suspect they thought it would keep the Clans in line.” 

“In line?” Sagetooth sputtered. “What are you talking about?” 

“Well,” Poppyblaze hummed, “if you think that leaving the Clan means you lose your chance at the afterlife, you’re a lot more inclined to stay in the Clan, aren’t you?”

Sagetooth scowled. “I suppose.” This was very troubling. Wasn’t that for the best though? Leaving the Clan was tantamount to death. The poor young cats who were seduced by the lives of kittypets or rogue lovers were abandoning their homes, their traditions, their families. But still, even if their spirits existed after death, they didn’t get to hunt in StarClan’s forests so why lie? Wasn’t the outcome the same either way? The whole situation didn’t sit right with her at all. 

“Alright,” Poppyblaze said, as they neared the lower reaches of cloud cover. “We’re about to head into the Clouds, alright? It’s pretty maze-like in there and easy to get lost so make sure you stay where you can see me and let me know if you need to stop or slow down, got it?” 

“Yes ma’am,” Lakepaw said, eyes wide with awe. 

“Fine,” Sagetooth huffed, still deep in thought. This wasn’t what she had imagined her voyage to StarClan would be like. Still, she resolved to make the most of it and so set her shoulders and raised her head proudly. There would be time to get to the bottom of things and she was going to, that much was certain.