Realm of Shadows

Chapter Three

Both of the Clans gathered at their leader's announcement. A dark gray tom jumped down into the clearing, and a black she-cat shouldered her way in through the ground entrance. Firesplash abandoned her half-eaten mouse and joined Dawnheart in the middle of the crowd, who was licking her lips sourly.

A queen herded her kits out of the nursery, her eyes hollow and exhausted.

"There's sand in my eyes!" a ginger kit complained.

"Blink it away, Fox, and don't rub," his mother replied tiredly.

"I wonder what this is about. Maybe Claw's introducing us." Aquapaw glanced to the side to see Sunpaw sit next to her. His golden fur blazed in the sun, and his amber eyes glimmered with mischief.

She gazed around the camp. "I think they know already."

"Cats of the Realm of Shadows, as you know, Felidae has sought out our aid in their time of need. I accepted, but I do have a request for their leader, Leafstar." He beckoned to her with his tail.

Aquapaw's fur bristled. This couldn't be good.

Leafstar padded forward and dipped her head.

"Leafstar, during your stay you will no longer be leader. I want you to give up your name and spend your time here as an ordinary warrior."

Every Felidae cat gasped.

"You can't make her do that! StarClan gave her her name!" Silverpaw yowled.

"Yeah!" Silentwhisper, for once speaking, added.

Leafstar surveyed her cats with eyes she couldn't read. Slowly, she nodded. "I agree to your terms, Claw," she meowed. "I agree to be called Leafpelt until we leave."

Claw raised his head and began to chant, "Leafpelt! Leafpelt!"

An icy chill snaked down Aquapaw's stomach, but she looked up towards the sun and yowled along with everybody else. Why did he revoke Leafpelt's leadership? She was still leader of Felidae, even if they were holing up in the Realm of Shadows.

The crowd dispersed, and the two cats jumped down from Meetingrock. Immediately, Leafpelt's Clan swarmed her, muttering and complaining about her consent.

Aquapaw strolled up with Sunpaw and listened in.

"That old flea-pelt is crazy!" Bramblespots snarled, arching his back. "You can't just revoke a name from StarClan! You still have your extra lives!"

Leafpelt twitched her tail, and Aquapaw could see the annoyance in her narrowed eyes. "I will be leader when we return to our home," she meowed. "For now, we are in the Realm of Shadows, and that means Claw is our leader. Don't forget he's the one who gave us shelter and food in our stomachs."

She nodded, but the mouse sat heavily in her system. The tortoiseshell warrior herself said that the Clan was full of lying, scheming fox-hearts. The direction Claw took... There had to be something behind it, and it wasn't reason.

StarClan, protect me, she prayed, but instead of feeling the usual comfort of her ancestors, she felt... empty. Maybe they don't walk these grounds. I don't blame them.

"Pit, send out a dusk border patrol," the gray tom ordered. "I don't want those rogues to think we're distracted by the newcomers."

Pit dipped his head. "Of course." He turned around and called out, "Frost, Rat, Berry! Go patrol the sunrise border and see if there are any intruders around."

A pretty white she-cat lifted her head from the fresh-kill pile. "Should we take our apprentices?"

"Sure, it'll be a good training exercise," he mewed, and padded away to talk to Claw.

"Hmph, Pit and his obsession with borders. Why can't we just take the whole land, and kill any cat who dare set paw into it?" Aquapaw glanced back to see a small but muscled brown tom drag himself toward the patrol.

She bared her teeth at him. "I'll rip your pelt off any day!"

He cast a sly look towards her, green eyes bright against the twilight. "You Felidae cats are too soft," he sneered. "I can still take you on with a dog on my tail!"

Her hackles raised, and she unsheathed her claws. This apprentice was asking for a fight, and her body thrummed with the energy to bring it. "Oh, really?" she snarled.

"Really," he meowed.

Their moment was interrupted by the she-cat from before calling, "Earth! Stop meddling with that outsider and do your responsibilities!"

Earth shot Aquapaw another smug look and paraded off after the patrol. She hissed after him, but then turned around straight into Leafpelt.

Her before-leader glared down at her. "What was that about?"

"These cats are savages! He was talking about taking over the whole land and killing anyone who set paw on it!" she burst out.

The green-eyed warrior sighed and sat down, beckoning for her apprentice to join her. "What did I tell you? This Clan will say a lot of things like that. The most important thing is that it won't get to you, and you won't start thinking like them." She stared off behind her, slouched with an invisible weight that Aquapaw understood.

"I'm sorry, Leafstar—I mean Leafpelt," she corrected herself. "It won't happen again."

"Good. Try to join a patrol tomorrow. We need to prove our worth." She sat up and padded off to join Silverpaw, lurking in a corner.

Aquapaw sighed and rested her chin on her paws. She could almost feel the soft grass under her pads, the wind playing with her whiskers and rustling the trees, the warm, juicy scent of a mouse as she ran through hills and grasslands to catch it...

"Well, how do you like it here, Aquapaw?" She was jolted out of her reverie to see Hollypaw settle next to her.

"I hate it," she confessed. Hollypaw would understand, right? "I want to go back home."

"I want to go back, too. But this is how it is, even if we don't like it." Hollypaw scuffed her paws into the sand, watching it float gently down. "This was once my home. When my sister was still alive."

"You had a sister?" she asked. Skykit's young, furry face drifted into her mind, but she pushed it out of the way. She was never really your sister. You failed in saving her. She ran away in the first place.

"Yes, I did." Before she could prod her for more details, something to replace Skykit with, Hollypaw stood up and yawned. "I'm going to sleep early. After a long journey, you should, too."

In a rush, Aquapaw's paws ached and her throat burned with thirst. Through the exhilaration of everything, she didn't notice the toll the journey took on her.

"Sleep well, Aquapaw." The black she-cat touched her nose to her head and padded away.

"Sleep well," she murmured back before following her.