Edited ✔️

This chapter won't have much dialogue at first. But this is because I'm always using dialogue, lol! Let me try something different for once. Hopefully you'll all like it!

It was dawn already. Icetail had already sent out the dawn patrols when he decided that he wanted to hunt.

He silently padded out of the camp. I'm sure if I bring some good prey, Brightstar won't mind me being alone, he decided. No cat noticed him go, because mostly everyone was already gone, except for Mousetail, the other elders, Sagepelt and her kits, and a few other warriors who were still sleeping. Every cat who had left camp had been energetic this morning. He wondered if they were simply doing it for his sake.

He walked through the undergrowth, catching the different scents all around him. He could smell frost—it stung his nose, making him unable to smell anything else that could have been useful. He then payed more mind to the things he'd be able to hear instead. He was better at doing that anyways.

Icetail padded up a slope, gripping hard with his claws so he wouldn't slip down. He listened to everything around him. From his vantage point, he overlooked the dying forest, everything dark and gray and still. The wind was blowing lightly, whipping in his face. He could smell the moorland, heather and stale rabbit-holes. CloudClan.

He decided not to go in that direction; Icetail had already set out a hunting patrol over there. He turned away from CloudClan's borders, padding elsewhere. The MoonClan forest felt so familiar to him, it was easy for him to whip past trees and weave through dead bushes without bumping into anything.

But suddenly, he smelled something. Icetail stopped short. A small tang of mouse was made out just below some bramble thickets. Slowly, Icetail lightly pawed his way over to the thickets. He heard the mouse scuffling under the roots. There was a hole large enough for Icetail to squeeze through to get to it.

Icetail slipped down the hole, and spotted the mouse easily. He ducked behind dry and cold grass, hoping that it would cover his scent so the mouse wouldn't scent him. When the right time came, he leaped at it, catching its tail with his paw.

The mouse screached, trying to get away, but Icetail killed it with a bite to its spine. Satisfied, Icetail looked at the hole, intending to get out. Slowly, he padded over so he wouldn't get a thorn stuck in his pelt from the thickets. But suddenly, the ground beneath him crumbled. He gasped. StarClan, I'm going to fall! he thought, suddenly terrified.

He lost his footing and fell down deeper within the hole. He landed roughly on his paws, sending shivers throughout his whole body. "Fox-dung!" he spat, looking up. The exit was far too high for him to reach. He shouldn't of come down here—he should of felt the ground beneath him was hollow.

Then, Icetail looked around him. His eyes adjusted easily to his surrounding, mainly because a little bit of light was filtering through the top. There was a tunnel leading somewhere else. He turned fully. "How else am I going to get out of here?" he muttered to himself, staring at the tunnel.

He looked back up at the hole and growled, clenching the ground with his claws. It was too far up. Why'd he have to fall down here for a mouse? He sighed with annoyance, and turned to the tunnel, beginning to trek into the darkness.

He tried to look around, wondering where he was, but it was no use. He was in complete and utter darkness. Is this what it felt like to be blind? He reached out to his other senses—taste, smell, hearing, and touch. The air tasted of heather, washed by wind and a small tang of river-scent as well. He could hear the echo of his own paw-steps going farther down the tunnel, nothing clear ahead. He could feel his whiskers touching each side of the walls, making sure he wouldn't bump in to anything as he became closed in. It made him uncomfortable and his heart began to beat faster.

He strained harder to see, but it was still no use. As Icetail continued walking, he wondered if it was right to come down here in the tunnel. Maybe he just should've waited for a patrol to come and help him up? Then, it hit him how embarrassing it would be to him for falling in such a place.

The footing beneath him began to change as he continued his way. The smooth moist dirt ground was turning rocky and rough. Am I getting near the end of the tunnel? he thought, hoping that the exit was near. There was a stale scent of cat. He stopped short, his fur rippling with unease.

The stale scent had only passed from a few days time. Had some cat been in here before him, a few days ago? If so, who? He tried to pay closer attention to the scent, but he couldn't. It was already too stale and washed-away.

He held the mouse he had caught tighter in his mouth. Where was he, anyway? Since when was there a tunnel, other than the one he had found moons ago, under MoonClan territory? Was there something Icetail and his Clanmates didn't know about their territory?

Icetail forced himself to continue walking downward. If there was a cat down here, there's bound to be an exit, right? Nervously, he padded on. Soon, he began to see light filtering in the tunnel. Is that the way out? he wondered.

"Who's there?" a voice snapped.

Icetail jumped, startled. So there was some other cat down here!

"I said it once, but I'm not saying it again," the voice went on.

"Brightstar?" Icetail asked with surprise, recognizing the she-cat's voice. He squinted through the darkness, making out a pair of blue eyes staring right back at him.

"Icetail! What are you doing down here?" Brightstar asked with surprise.

"Err, I was hunting. And I fell down this hole," he meowed, and tilted his head. "What about you? What are you doing down here?"

Brightstar's tail lashed with irritation. "I was following a scent trail, and it led down here."

Curiosity sparked in Icetail's amber eyes. "Whose scent trail was it?" he asked. "I found a stale scent not too long ago."

"How stale was it?" Brightstar demanded.

"I don't know. A few days, perhaps," he responded. "Whose scent trail was it, Brightstar?"

Brightstar sighed. "I suppose I can tell you, since you are my deputy. I've been scenting some DarkClan cats lately. I think . . . that there's a spy near MoonClan's camp."

Icetail's eyes widened. "What makes you think that?"

She sat down, and mewed, "Lately, DarkClan never needs me to fill how we are doing at gatherings. Dewstar always just knows. He has a knowing look in his eye, and he even once called me a liar. More importantly, I found scents in the trees, too."

Icetail thought hard about it. "Well, for the past few days I have been smelling DarkClan's scent," he murmured with realization. "I thought it was just the wind."

"But it's not the wind, Icetail," Brightstar insisted. "I followed the tree scents toward this part of the forest, and I found an entrance to this tunnel from a hollow of a birch tree."

"Birch trees have hollows?" he mewed with surprise. He always thought they were too narrow to have places to hide underneath them. The most likely cause for this could be the territory, losing its own footing due to the Twoleg construction.

"Apparently so." Her voice grew harder. "I figured out that DarkClan had been finding a way in our territory without our knowledge by going through these tunnels. They didn't even need to cross the borders!"

"Then we have to block them!" he gasped. "We can't have Dewstar's warriors finding out about our business! They already think they can trespass enough!"

Brightstar shook her head. "No," she meowed. "You have to be smart about this. A true leader must think about the Clan's well-being first. Normally, a cat's first option would be to block these tunnels . . . but I see more ways how to do this."

Icetail thought about it. Suddenly, he finally caught on. "Oh." He took a breath. "You mean that would cause more danger."

"Yes, it would," Brightstar said. "First, I'm going to search these tunnels and find proof. Then, I will announce it to the Clan about what I had found. If Dewstar knows that we knew about these tunnels, he might find another way to sneak onto our territory unnoticed. So I'm going to tell the Clan to get stronger, look stronger, and handle private matters as if we were always at the gathering place."

"How do you suppose we would do that?" Icetail asked her.

"I want to discuss this at camp," Brightstar meowed. "Right now, we should look around the tunnels and see where the other passage leads. The one ahead where you were coming from is toward is MoonClan, the direction I came in from."

He nodded. "Okay. Let's get going, then." He set down his mouse. "Hopefully, nothing will find this piece of prey."

Brightstar nodded. "Hopefully."

She abandoned her spot, and dashed straight into the darker tunnel, which had a slope leading downward. He followed his leader without hesitation, skidding down carefully after her. Small pebbles tumbled down with him, scraping his paw pads.

He watched Brightstar as she confidently strode into the darkness. She's so fearless, he thought with awe. I would've never come up with such a smart plan. I'd never be a better leader than she. I wonder where all her confidence comes from?

He ran up, padding right by her side. His whiskers brushed the side of the cave wall, indicating that the space was closing in once more. Something inside Icetail's belly stirred. It was a feeling of uneasiness. He had never got over his hatred of confined spaces, and right now, the area was seemingly getting more claustrophobic with each paw step they took.

"I wish we could see," muttered Icetail, trying to take his mind away from the fact that they were in a small space.

Brightstar flicked her tail onto his ear. "Focus on your hearing," she said softly. "You have the best hearing senses in the Clan. I have good smelling senses. Let's not rely on our vision for once to listen and scent."

Icetail nodded, and set out his senses. He could hear faint water dripping ahead, and little scuffles of the things that dwell in the tunnels. "I hear something," he whispered to her. "It sounds like something is moving."

"There are probably bats down here," she replied, just as quiet as him. "They have good hearing too. Let's try not to bother them."

He nodded, and followed his leader, keeping his nose on her tail so he wouldn't loose her. As they continued to walk, he noticed something. "Brightstar," Icetail meowed again. "Our paw steps are starting to echo. This must mean we're near a cave."

She nodded with agreement and added, "I smell water."

"Water?" Icetail asked with surprise. "Why would there be water here?"

Brightstar stopped short, making Icetail bump into her rump. She smelled the air, jaws parted and head tilted upward before dashing forward and calling over her shoulder, "Follow me!"

Icetail ran after her, careful not to crash into the wall. He chased after his leader, wondering what she had scented. As Icetail went further down the tunnel, he began to notice the water scent too. He could also hear more dripping. So that's where those sounds were coming from!

Finally, he noticed his leader stop short once more and came to a short stop. "Icetail. Come look at this," she breathed.

He padded after her with curiosity and a bit of worry. Suddenly, he saw something beyond what he expected to see. A large pond-like pool of water was in the center of a large cave, which creased high into the ceiling. All types of scents flooded into the cave—scents of wind and heather, pine and grass, a fishy river scent, and the smell of the undergrowth and oak trees.

He stared at the pool of water with horror.

He'd been here before! He remembered when he had fallen in when he was an apprentice. His memories of it were terrible—the water was doused in blood, as if every cat in the Clans had died here, and he felt suffocated from nearly drowning. Though it was moons ago, the memory made him gasp for breath as if he were drowning again.

Then, he remembered one more thing. There was another tunnel led to the cave of mosses—which was completely destroyed—and a final tunnel that led straight into DarkClan territory. So there were DarkClan cats spying, after all!

And it seems like this cave connects to all the Clans, he thought with unease.

The crystal blue water sparkled like a mirage, rippling softly. Paw-steps started to echo down one of the tunnels, causing his fur to stand on edge. "Brightstar!" he hissed softly.

She nodded, and Icetail knew she must've heard it too. They both ducked behind dry grass and rocks, their pelts merging with the cool gray rock and dark shadows, and waited for whoever was approaching. Finally, two cats emerged into the cave.

He recognized one of the cats immediately. Dewstar! What was DarkClan's leader doing down here? Pain filled his heart as he saw his brother once more, followed by anger and fear and unease all at once.

"So?" Dewstar meowed to the other cat he was with. "Now we are away from the Clan, tell me what you've seen. What are MoonClan's most recent activities, Redclaw?"

Icetail squinted his eyes in the darkness. He made out a ginger-furred tom with a long tail, small ears, but long limbs. He had the appearance of an ideal tree-climber. No wonder he had been spying on MoonClan from the tree-tops!

"Well," Redclaw began. "MoonClan is suffering from hunger. Their lack of prey is worse than ours, I am happy to say. They are training more often, and Icetail had collapsed of hunger just a few days ago."

"Is he dead?" Dewstar asked, his voice quickening.

Icetail flinched at his brother's words. They were harsh, as if he didn't care at all, but there was something else behind his words that Icetail couldn't catch. The pain in his heart for his brother gripped him harder, like claws digging into flesh. We're supposed to be brothers! Don't tell me that Dewstar's love for me was fake? I loved him as my brother!

Even though Dewstar was long gone from MoonClan by now, the thought that his memories as an apprentice could be meaningless scared him.

"No, he's not. I don't think he will die, anyways," Redclaw meowed. "He looked fine yesterday night when he was sleeping." Redclaw's voice grew sharper. "But the amount they are training their warriors and apprentices is troublesome. They go the training hollow at least four to five times every quarter-moon. If the Clan has a lot of energy, it can even go up to six days."

"That's a lot!" Dewstar growled. "That means I'm going to have to raise the amount of days I train my cats, too. It should be every single day, from now on."

"Every day?" exclaimed Redclaw. "You'll kill us!"

"Relax," Dewstar spat in response, turning to the pool of water so that he didn't face Icetail anymore. "Cats haven't been dying ever since I was a leader. I am not like Sandstar. She was a proud fool. I am proud, but I am no fool."

"Sandstar was sick, she couldn't help her mental issues," Redclaw defended. "You're her kin, aren't you?"

Dewstar shrugged. "Anything else?"

Redclaw nodded. "Just a few. MoonClan's current conditions are weak, even though they keep their border markers strong. And their leader, Brightstar . . . I think she is noticing our presence in her territory."

Dewstar flicked his tail dismissively. "Thank you for your report, Redclaw. I know everything I need. Now leave me be while I think."

Redclaw dipped his head in respect. "Be back soon, Dewstar."

Icetail narrowed his eyes. Just what are you planning to do, Dewstar? he thought with pure anger.

He seemed like he wanted to bring MoonClan to bloodshed!

* * *

Icetail and Brightstar returned home unnoticdd later on when Dewstar had finally left the cave. Icetail caught a vole on the way back, and Brightstar managed to catch a scrawny blackbird. The mouse he had earlier was cold and small, but he took it back with him anyways. At least the Clan would be fed.

As he entered the camp, he spotted that most cats were there already. They must be done with their dawn patrols. He looked up in the sky, realizing that it was sun-high right now. Now would be a time for every cat to share tongues, and eat their meals.

Brightstar and Icetail padded to the fresh-kill pile, dropping their catches. Amberpaw immediately ran up to him. "Where were you?" she exclaimed. "While you were gone, Dawnstripe put me on dumb apprentice duties!"

Icetail's tail flicked. "I was hunting."

"Why didn't you take me with you?" she complained.

"I had to talk with Brightstar, that's why," he meowed, purring. "Anyways, it was good you did duties. This means you won't have to do them tomorrow. Every other day, remember? What did you do for apprentice duties, anyways?"

Amberpaw groaned with annoyance just by thinking about it. "I cleaned the elder's bedding, picked ticks and fleas from their pelts, and plucked all the feathers off of a jay for Sagepelt and the kits to eat! It was a pain, Icetail."

He purred. "I'm sure it was." Glancing around, and spotted his mate, Silverleaf. "Go to Sweetheart's den and see if she needs help with anything. I'm going to go."

"More apprentice duties!" she exclaimed with an exasperated sigh, stomping over to the medicine den.

With slight amusement, his whiskers twitched before he turned and made his way to Silverleaf. She was grooming her pelt silently. As he got by her side he licked the ruffled fur between her ears and she looked up with surprise, just noticing him.

"Hi Silverleaf," he greeted.

She leaned in his chest with a purr. "There you are. I was wondering where you'd wandered off to!"

"Just hunting," he replied. "I caught a vole we could share."

"That's good to me," she said with approval.

But before they could even make their way to the fresh-kill like, Brightstar's voice rang around the clearing. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather around!"

Icetail looked up, surprised. Brightstar's head was held high and her eyes shone with defiance and determination, looking up into the trees as if checking for Redsky. Is she going to tell every cat what happened? he thought.

He stood up and beckoned Silverleaf forward, finding a place in the center of the clearing to sit. If that was the case, he was eager for his Clanmates to figure out the truth, as it would benefit them with their fight for survival against DarkClan.

Finally, we won't have to be one step behind them anymore! he thought, thinking back to Dewstar's figure in the cave. We won't have to succumb to your darkness.