Broken Reflection

Chapter 11

Whispersong stared open-mouthed at Stoneteller. Star's destiny lies with us? But how?

"W-What do you mean?" Star stammered.

Stoneteller blinked. "You had dreams about them, Star." He nodded toward Echoheart and Whispersong. "And you've had dreams beyond what any Tribe cat has ever imagined."

"But... but I..." Star fumbled for words. "You... you  had dreams about them coming!"

Stoneteller smiled weakly. "That's because it affects the Tribe. Your dreams have no effect whatsoever on your Tribemates. It had to do with their  Tribemates." He nodded at Echoheart and Whispersong again.

Whispersong finally found her voice. "But w-why?" she stammered.

"I don't know," Stoneteller sighed.

Whispersong stared silently at Star. This little mountain cat belongs with us? There has to be some mistake...

Star took a deep breath. "Stoneteller?"

Stoneteller turned.

"Um, in mine, Echoheart's, and Whispersong's dreams, well, we saw a creature. I felt like I recognized it from somewhere... but, in the dream, it was hiding in the shadows, so it was hard to see. Echoheart and Whispersong have never seen it, but I feel like it lives here, in... in the mountains."

Stoneteller looked intrigued.

"It was going to kill cats, cats that I now know as their  Tribemates," Star looked at Echoheart and Whispersong with fear, and Echoheart was reminded again of how young she was.

Stoneteller looked between all three of them. "What did this creature look like?"

Echoheart finally spoke up. "In mine and Whispersong's dream, it was huge and black... but it may have just been the shadows turning it black."

"It had claws longer than any badger's or eagle's," Echoheart added, shuddering.

"And it's teeth were larger than any cougar we've seen here," Star murmured with a shudder. "All I saw was the teeth and claws!"

"Larger than a cougar?" Stoneteller demanded, eyes wide.

"What's a cougar?" Whispersong asked. The only time she'd heard the word cougar was in the DayClan cat, Cougarfang's name."

"A mountain lion is its other name," Star shivered. "You've heard of lions?"

"Yes," Whispersong meowed. "Manes like the rays of the sun, and golden pelts that—"

"Well cougars do not have golden pelts, they're dirt-brown. And their manes are gone. They're evil."

Whispersong blinked. She could picture the cougar in her head, huge and merciless; a lion so evil it didn't have a mane, like the ones she'd heard stories about from her parents and the elders. She shuddered. And the Tribe cats had met them before!

Echoheart shuddered. "At least the danger isn't a cougar."

"The animal in the dream seemed worse," Star murmured.

"Worse?" Whispersong exclaimed in fright. "Worse than a cougar? Worse than an evil, merciless mountain lion?"

"Well, from what I saw of its teeth and claws. I couldn't see much else of its body or face, so I don't even know what color its fur was," Star murmured.

Whispersong shrugged. "We don't know exactly what color it was either. It seemed black, but that may have just been the darkness and the shadows."

Stoneteller narrowed his eyes, then he nodded. "Well, tomorrow Star can take you around the territory and show you all the animals that live up here. Maybe you can figure out what it is."