Breezepelt Speaks: Love or Duty?



“You will be a legend among the Clans,” my mentor told me as I watched the cats behind him fight and slash each other’s faces. I nodded and growled, “I won’t let you down Tigerstar, as long as you promise those three mangepelts, Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf as well as their mother Leafpool, to me,” I looked past Tigerstar to see my friend’s killer, Ivypool, train a couple new apprentices from RiverClan and an unknown Clan that Brokenstar said lived in a gorge many moons away from the Lake territories. I didn’t trust Ivypool, ever since I saw her and her littermate, Dovewing discuss something very secretive at the last Gathering, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she told Dovewing about the Dark Forest. Tigerstar growled in satisfaction and meowed “Of course, my apprentice. The mangy half-Clan cats are yours, but all of Firestar’s family is mine to destroy. You can claw her a bit before I make the killing blow.” I nodded in agreement and stepped closer, licking his shoulder to show my loyalty. Behind me, a scent wafted around me, one I knew well. I whipped around, not caring if Tigerstar attacked me, to search for the source of the scent. A new cat stepped through the pale gray fronds that covered the Dark Forest’s entrance and I gasped.

My Clanmate, and my mate, Heathertail padded into the blood-soaked clearing with a warrior who clearly must’ve trained her some, because a cat I knew only as Duskstrike padded calmly behind her. He murmured something in her ear and she stepped into the light and some cats who were training looked over at her and mewed greetings then went back to their fighting practice. Seeing me gaping open-mouthed at her arrival, she ran over and pressed her muzzle into my shoulder and whispered, “I didn’t know you came here to train! Duskstrike said that some cats here would be familiar but I never guessed that you would be here too!” I could only nod, not knowing or caring about how and why Heathertail came to the Place of No Stars.