Starlightlynxes: Stars in the Sky #1: Twilight

~Chapter 9~

That was a weird dream. Star thought. Cool though. I thought I'd never see Larch again. She was sniffing for some more herbs, but she paused for a few moments to lay on her back and stare at the clouds as they moved by quickly. Doing that always helped

"Hi Star." It was Owl, Hawk's sister.

"Hi." She scrambled up and nodded greetings then bent down to pick the feverfew that Leaf needed for Brook's headache.

"Why are you, Storm, and Hawk hanging out so often?" Owl's question took her by surprise. "Oh. You thought no one would notice? Well, almost everyone has noticed."

Star thought for a moment on what to say. She's Hawk's sister, so maybe I can trust her. "Can I trust you?" She meowed out loud, setting the herbs down.

Owl flicked her ears. "Of course." Then she added, "Actually, that depends."

"Well... I can't tell you then."

"Wait wait wait wait wait." Owl called her back as she started walking back to camp. "I won't tell anyone."

"Are you sure?"

"I won't tell a soul. I promise."

"Okay." Starlight trusted her, and told the whole story, from the blood in the clearing, to now, searching for the traitor.

"Uh-" Owl paused, speechless. Then when she found her tongue again she continued. "Bring me to the clearing tonight please. I would like to know everything. And I think you need more allies."

Starlight, very glad that she had told Owl about all the stuff going on, purred. "Great. We need all the help we can get. Now I need to bring this back to camp. Care to help?"

"Of course!" Owl grabbed a mouthful of herbs and ran off. Star purred again and went to pick a few more before following.

"Hi, Starlight." Hawk mewed as Star entered the clearing. "Why did you call us here?"

"I found someone that would like to help us find River and Dawn." She replied, moving aside to let Owl through.

"Owl." Hawk purred. "That's nice of you to help. I think we're going to need it."

"Can we trust you?" Storm questioned.

"Of course you can trust her." Hawk meowed. "She's my sister!"

"You can trust me." Owl sent a glance at Hawk meaning 'I can answer for myself, thank you very much'. "I would like to have Dawn and River back."

"Shh!" Storm hissed suddenly.

"What?" Star meowed.

"Listen!" Her ears were pricked and she closed her eyes. Hawk did the same and Star quickly followed.

They waited a moment, then Star realized that it was just the voices that she always could hear. But then how come Storm can hear them? She opened her eyes and glanced at Hawk. Judging by his face he could hear it too. Just as she started to make out the voices, Owl broke in.

"I don't hear anything." She sounded frustrated.

"Be quiet!" She snapped, then realized how rude that had been, and added, "Sorry."

She heard it again and moved her ears in that direction. Suddenly she could see. She looked around and saw Hawk and Storm.

"Are you seeing this?" Hawk asked. Storm and Star nodded.

"Look down there!" Star exclaimed.

There were two lynxes, none of which Star could recognize, that were talking. She could just barely make out the words.

"The two poor lynxes. They are still so young." The first lynx was meowing.

"I know. I hope that they can escape." The second one replied.

They must be talking about River and Dawn. Star thought.

"Do you think that that is even possible? You never managed to get away."

"I wish I could've. I would've warned the others."

"The only way would be to..." They were starting to trail off and fade.

"But who would..."

"I do know that..."

"Who?"

Starlight craned her neck to hear, when Owl screamed, breaking her concentration. She was going to yell out of frustration, but a thud beside her where Hawk was standing stopped her. Her eyes flew open just in time to see Hawk a wolf away.

. . .

A whisper outside woke River.

"I wish I gone." A wolf wined.

"Me too." Another complained.

She peeked through a small crack in a den to see three wolves.
"Red- eye, Splinter, you both know that too young." The third wolf barked. Too young for what exactly? River asked in her head.

"What Nightshade doing anyway? Didn't hear all of it." The Red- eye wolf questioned.

"I think he said going into lynx territory to kill" Splinter answered.

"Where you hear that?" The third wolf growled.

Splinter lowered his voice so River had to lean forward and strain her ears to hear.

"I just come back from hunting, I saw Nightshade talking to lynx-"

The lynx? Who's 'the lynx'?

"-and he said that heard few lynxes talking to rescuing the lynxes we caught. And Nightshade doesn't want these lynxes 'go missing' before he has chance to take them you-know-where."

So there's a traitor now? Isn't that just wonderful. That helps a lot.

"Did you hear what lynx's name was?" A female wolf's voice broke in.

"Adder!" Red- eye exclaimed. "I didn't know you here."

"Scratch sent me help guard lynxes. Actually, he sent to relieve you."

"As matter of fact," Splinter whispered. "I did hear what name was."

"Tell!" Red- eye begged.

"I don't know... Nightshade might find out I spilling secrets, and that would be the end of me."

"No one tell him. I promise." Adder barked quietly. "And anyone does, I'll personally rip them shreds."

The other wolves whimpered in fear.

So y'all're scared of Adder, now are you? I honestly don't know if I should think that's funny or not.

"Think Nightshade called him-"

"River? You're awake?" Dawn's voice interrupted.

"Dawn!" River hissed crossly. "Perfect timing!"

"Sorry." Dawn apologized. "Why are you so mad?!"

"Never mind. Forget it." She growled. "I need more sleep."

"Okay grump."

"Aren't you grumpy? We're stuck in a camp full of wolves."

"Of course. But still."

"Okay, I'm sorry for snapping at you." She wanted to change the subject. "Are the herbs still working?"

"Yeah. Can't you tell me where you got them?"

"Nope. I don't even know what they are."

"Then how'd you get them if you didn't know what to get?"

"They were given to us, okay?"

Dawn flicked her ears. "Fine. Don't tell me."

"Okay, I won't."

"That's not what I meant."

River laughed. "Goodnight Dawn."

Dawn sighed. "Goodnight."