Chapter 23

Aspenpaw sighed as she arched her back, and took a long, deliberate yawn. Behind her, Brackenflight and Fang were returning from a brief hunting excursion. Between them, they carried a fairly large sized rabbit.

"Prey runs well here," Aspenpaw commented.

Fang nodded, dropping the fresh catch. Eagerly, the three of them sat down and tucked into the freshkill. Aspenpaw was surprised by how quickly she had lost track of the warrior code; warriors were meant to thank StarClan for every catch.

The flavour of the rabbit along with the feeling of finally filling her belly since the journey began, made Aspenpaw tingle with excitement. They had only just crossed out of ValleyClan territory, and into no-clan's land.

The mountains still loomed tall and imposing, but Aspenpaw was merely thankful for a bit of rest on their journey. Brackenflight still looked grim and worried, but she had noticed a certain upbeatness in Fang's step since they had started off this morning that hadn't been there since losing Nightshade.

"You look better today," Aspenpaw commented. She instantly cringed. Is that insulting?

Fang winced slightly, before nodding. "I suppose," he meowed slowly. "It's just been really nice journeying with you all... and finally seeing the sun."

Aspenpaw glanced up at the glowing golden circle which illuminated the sky. She understood at once; by leaving clan territory, they had left behind whatever weird curse had been placed on there since the destructive gathering that had obliterated the Midnights. Then, she remembered with a sudden pang that Fang had never been under the sun before; it was his curse, wasn't it?

"I severed my relationship with Thistleheart," Fang said grimly. "She was the one that was causing it, I reckon."

"So you're... completely free of your mother?"

Fang looked away. Aspenpaw shook her pelt out self-consciously, trying to remind herself not to ask mousebrained questions. She took a final bite of the vole idly, while Brackenflight stared off into the distance, a perturbed expression on her brown tabby face.

They had been journeying for a day and a night so far, and now their second day was nearing its end. Thornshade had told them that so long as they kept this pace up, they ought to be able to make it to the peak of the mountains within a quarter moon.

"Really?" Aspenpaw had scoffed. "Don't you fly here and back in a day or something?"

"No," Thornshade drawled. "It takes a couple days there and back. But I had wings, and that made the ascent easier. For you three, it'll be dangerous. There are threats up there that you've never even dreamed of."

Irritated by how the tom had taken charge of their group, Aspenpaw had turned her back on him, and stuck out her tongue behind his back. I'll show him, she thought. I may be an apprentice, but I've proven my worth many times over.

Aspenpaw glanced around at the craggy outcropping where she was sheltered. Speaking of Thornshade, the winged tom was nowhere in sight. That instantly set Aspenpaw on edge, and she turned to ask whether the other cats had seen him.

Then, she saw him slinking quietly along the underbrush in a forest to her left. Her belly squirmed as though it were full of maggots as he watched his hawk-like motions, and his obvious desire not to be seen. Thornshade's ears flicked to and fro in agitation, as though he were looking for something. Eventually, with a small growl that Aspenpaw could barely hear, he whirled about, and padded towards her.

"What were you doing?" Aspenpaw growled softly. "We're supposed to be sticking together."

The accusation lay thickly in the air as Thornshade surveyed her. She didn't know a single thing about the tom. If she had guessed, he was a little younger than her parents, but Thornshade claimed to be hardly a year old. There were so many parts of him that she didn't understand. She found himself irked as he ruffled his feathers, and continued to stare at her, blinking slowly.

"Scouting." Thornshade said. "I was scouting. Ahead. And there is a cat coming straight towards us."

Aspenpaw felt her fur begin to rise. Thornshade calmly padded passed her, as though nothing was amiss, and provided the news to Brackenflight and Fang. She saw a similar look of unease flash across Brackenflight's gaze, while Fang rushed towards Thornshade.

"Where?"

Thornshade kinked his tail slightly in the direction of the forest. "Over there, I guess. Big guy. Looked sort of out of place."

Aspenpaw padded towards the cats as they began to cluster together, dropping their voices to low whispers. She desperately wanted to play the leader, and say the comforting, obvious answer, but she had no idea what to do. Instead, it was Brackenflight who raised a voice of reason.

"Looks like we should move on then. Stars know we've been lucky not to come across any other creatures besides prey this far along. Did he look like a threat, Shade?"

Thornshade narrowed his eyes, a contemplative frown passing across his face. Aspenpaw could hardly imagine what he was thinking. A sudden vision of him passing them off to Thistleheart, as DawnClan and Eagleswoop would have eagerly done, flickered into her vision. She could imagine him gazing back at her, a black expression on his face, as Thistleheart indoctrinated them all.

I don't trust you, Thornshade. Not a whisker.

The worst part was that Brackenflight seemed to enjoy spending time with him.

"Finally a cat who sees sense," Brackenflight had mewed wryly when the two of them swapped the night guard. "Unlike some other clever paws I know."

Aspenpaw had purred, but quickly her thoughts had turned to Thornshade's cold, calculating expression. When she stared out at the night sky, she could practically see those eyes following her.

Fang also seemed to be getting along with the winged cat, though in his own quiet, friendly way. It was only her, the former DawnClan apprentice, who looked at the creature, and saw a potential threat.

"He looked upset," Thornshade meowed, breaking into Aspenpaw's thoughts. "I don't think we have enough time to clear camp, but we best move out. Alright?" he turned to her in particular.

"Yeah," said Aspenpaw, surprised by the intensity of the question. "Alright. Let's move out."

"It'll be good to stretch my legs," Brackenflight meowed wryly. "Like we haven't walked enough as is."

Aspenpaw let out a faint mrow of amusement. She heard a noise somewhere between a grunt and a growl, and turned to see that Thornshade had uttered it.

After that, the four cats fell into silence. Aspenpaw took the head, while Thornshade took the rear. Brackenflight and Fang remained in the middle, on either side, ears pricked, eyes narrowed for any sound of movement.

The longer the four of them travelled towards the mountains, slowly so as though not to make noise on the unfamiliar terrain, Aspenpaw felt unease begin to stir in her gut. Apprehension tingled in her paws as she leapt over a straggly brown root, staring out at the receding treeline. She couldn't help but shake a certain premonition... There's something not right here, but I don't quite know what it is.

She kept moving forward, but instinctively tried to draw her power closer to her. She wanted to be prepared in case of an attack.

The faint darkness stirred within her, like a wild beast groggily emerging from its slumber. Tentatively, Aspenpaw began to work it, and the creature inside her began to stir. It was hard to describe, but soon she felt it at the tips of her paws, ready to emerge when the time was ready.

They continued to slink on for a while longer. With each pawstep, Aspenpaw's apprehension grew, and along with it, the unbearable urge to whirl around and strike at the first enemy she saw. Part of her worried that she might attack Thornshade by mistake.

Fang padded up to her. "You feel it?" he whispered.

Brackenflight, who was listening, stopped dead in her tracks. Thornshade did the same, staring at them with a faintly bewildered expression. Aspenpaw rotated her ears, very slowly.

They were in a pine forest, trees growing thickly around them, towering into the air. Aspenpaw could hear a faint pounding noise, barely audible over the whisper of the breeze. It was like the noise of a mouse, or rather... a cat trying to hide their pawsteps.

Someone is out there... Someone that's been tracking us very carefully.

Suddenly, Brackenflight yowled, "WATCH OUT!"

In the exact same instant, something dark and black came hurtling towards Thornshade, driving him to the ground. The winged cat could barely let out a gasp of shock before the shadowy thing struck him.

He was flung off the ground, tumbling through the air, and landing with a dreadful crack against the base of a pine tree. Barely a heartbeat later, another black, siwrling substance came hurtling towards him.

With impressive speed, he managed to dodge out of the way, and avoid the attack. Aspenpaw turned, trying to see where their assailant was. She flexed her claws, feeling the darkness brewing up inside her. It's now or never.

As he paws began to glow black, Aspenpaw sprang forward. With impossible speed, she lunged towards their invisible assailant, claws unsheathed, body swirling with dark mist. She narrowed her eyes, making out the shape of a cat. She aimed herself right for their back, and prepared to strike.

She landed with a heavy thud, and the cat collapsed beneath her, a tremor rippling along its spine. With a sudden manic urge, Aspenpaw imagined ripping into him, taking him down, letting the shadows disintegrate his body...

"Yes! You did it!"

Aspenpaw looked up to see Fang standing beside her, eyes bright with relief. At once, the rage left her, but she knew instinctively that it had been a close call... too close. If he wasn't there, I-I would have...

The cat stirred weakly, and Aspenpaw jumped off of his back. She turned around just in time to see Brackenflight supporting a limping Thornshade into the clearing. He sank to the ground beside a thick pine trunk, a small bit of blood trickling from a wound on his cheek. He looked scuffed up and bruised, but otherwise unharmed.

"That's the cat," Thornshade murmured quietly, staring at the limp shape in front of Aspenpaw. "The one I told you about."

"So he's been following us," Brackenflight muttered darkly. "Why for this long? What does he want with us?"

Fang bent down to sniff the flank of the cat. "He's waking up."

"I guess we'll get some answers then," Aspenpaw said brightly. "I know I have a lo-"

She stared down at the cat, and the words died in her throat. A shiver coursed along her spine as she surveyed the cat, a tom. He had dark grey patches, a fluffy pelt, and innumerable scars. She'd seen this cat before, though never in the waking world. Fang glanced up at her sharply.

"No..." Aspenpaw muttered, staring up at him.

His eyes seemed to widen as though saying. Don't you just love it when fathers you never even know, and who are former leaders stalk you in the woods? Aspenpaw almost let out a bitter sort of laugh as she turned back to the cat. Duskstar, if she was right. Once of ShadowClan. Mate of Lightsong. Her father.

"Hey," she said, shaking off her premonition. "What were you doing stalking us?"

The tom let out a pained growl, though he didn't open his eyes. "I'll kill any follower of hers... And he's one of them. I thought he was taking you to her. I've seen him in the mountains, grovelling at her paws!"

Aspenpaw and Fang both glanced at Thornshade. Instead of contempt or an attempt at hiding smugness, Thornshade seemed to turn towards Fang, pain and guilt briefly giving emotion to his monotone face.

"Did you really work for her, Thornshade?" Fang asked softly.

Thornshade swallowed, but his reply came quickly afterwards. "Yes, I did. It's not something I'm proud of. I've lived there basically all my whole life. It's all I'd ever known until..."

"Until what?" Aspenpaw asked.

Thornshade was still staring at Fang. He shifted his expression towards her. It took significantly more time for him to respond, as though he was choosing his words very carefully.

"I began to see things for how they really were there. Even if I'll never be free of CoalClan, I can at least free the other cats."

Aspenpaw nodded, accepting his words. But when she turned back to Duskstar, the last part of what the winged cat had said sounded in her mind. I'll never be free of CoalClan. What did that mean? That he would always be loyal to them? Or that he knew no cat would accept him for who he was and what he had done?

"How did you take me down?" Duskstar asked gruffly, still on the ground. "Never seen any cat do it."

"The shadows," Aspenpaw whispered, feeling a strange pull in her chest towards this cat. "They let me reach out to me. I suppose you'd know something about that, huh, Duskstar?"

Instead of being surprised, or even figuring it out, Duskstar let out an agonised wail. He shivered on the ground, tremors rippling along his spine. His paws gripped his head, digging into his pelt.

"No," he moaned. "Don't say it. I-I'm not... It's Duskwood. Please. I'm just Duskwood. Or Dusk."

Fang had drawn away from her. He flicked his tail to Thornshade, quietly urging the tom to get to his paws. Brackenflight was watching her with an odd sort of sympathy as she padded away. Fang dipped his head to her, as though to say. We'll give you two some space.

Aspenpaw wanted nothing more than to run away and leave Duskstar- Duskwood- to some other, more experienced cat. But she knew that she would have to face her fears, and talk to the cat who was her father. If Fang can do it, then maybe I can too.

Duskwood seemed to be relaxing, though his breath was still coming out in short gasps. Eventually, after what felt like moons, he finally opened his eyes, and got into a seating position.

"My apologies," he said formally, still not looking at her. "I-"

Aspenpaw knew the moment he turned to her because his words broke off with a gasp. She stared at him, trying her best not to look away as their eyes met. His were green. Hers were green. They were almost identical, if not for the tinges of red in the corners of his eyes.

"Who are you?" Duskwood demanded.

"I'm..." Here goes nothing... but really, its everything. "I'm still trying to answer that question myself. Throughout my kithood and my apprenticeship, I was a loyal DawnClan cat. I wanted to be one for my mother. But then I met the Midnights, the remnant of ShadowClan, and I began to feel confused. Then, one day, they attacked at a gathering, and I felt this strange surge running through me, and I attacked my clan leader, and then, I received these memories," Aspenpaw turned to him. "I saw you."

She could still imagine the pained green eyes of Duskpaw the ShadowClan apprentice as Blazepaw proudly boasted DawnClan's territory gains. The way the two of them had slunk about the border, relaxed and content, finally at ease from the pressure of their clans. She remembered all the pain, the bravery, the anger, the confusion, the determination, which this cat had carried on his shoulders simultaneously.

Aspenpaw inhaled deeply. "I saw you and Lightsong. After that, I was no longer Aspenpaw of DawnClan. I still am trying to figure out who I truly am, but there is one thing I can tell you, Duskwood. I am your daughter."