The questers- to the Mountains and beyond

A mass group of cats, from all clans, marched cautiously across the grasslands. It was odd terrain for some. The ground was bumpy, the grass was short and in some areas the mud was deeper and stickier. There was also an odd mixed smell of; fox, deer, horse (to those who knew it) and to their greater fears- a smell of two --legs. The wind was steady and the sun was hiding beyond the mountains.
Some of the group were still hungry though others had eaten in the morning.

Joy, a silver tabby she cat was one of those who led the group. Her icy blue eyes turned to make sure the stragglers were keeping up. Her paws itched, she wanted to charge forward and get it all over with. Though somehow she knew It was not going to be a five day journey but a long one. She winced, Her back leg had failed her two nights before meeting the mass group. She flattened her ears, was this old wound going to burden her forever? She shrugged and kept her eye on Cold, a cute grey choosing of Switchblade's.
How would he cope?

Sinewpaw stayed with Mosspaw and Hollypaw. His ears laid flat back as he yet again put a paw down a pot hole. He hissed angrily, "I wish I knew my purpose on this journey!?"
He didn't say the rest but inside he knew he was going to be the one to slow them all down.

Sparrowhawk, a bark brown tabby, couldn't help but agree with the Tawnyclan fur ball. He sighed and trotted alongside some mottled gray Abbysclan tom with dark amber eyes. The tom was more focused and had an emotionless face. He turned his nose up in disgust, How do they find a mate who could possibly love them!?
He looked to the Abbysclan she-cat just in front of himself. She was fair faced and pretty, although her body was scarred. She had a deep old alaseration wound on her back left leg, her left eary was torn and a cut across the middle of her eyes and then a couple of knocks and minor cuts across her body. They made her look like she'd been in a massive fight. He tilted his head, With her mood, I wonder if the quieter one's are made ugly with the domination...?

Pigeonwing and Silverkit led the family,each carrying one of Brambleleaf's kits. Pigeonwing's ears were pricked for the first sign of danger, her eyes darting back and forth.
Garnetheart, who had luckily calmed down, but was still trailing behind, looked to the distant mountain, and thought he saw some huge, canine-like shadows moving back and forth.
High in the mountain, Fierie, Cliste and Anamacha, the wolves of the Pack of Endless Midnight, watched in curious silence as the cats trekked across their territory.

Mosspaw, a long-furred calico of Tawnyclan, looked at Sinewpaw.
"Hey, I wish I knew too," the she-cat snapped. She hadn't slept well, and now she sighed. "Sorry," she mewed quietly. Although she did snap at cats now and then, she tried to be nice.

Mistlight, comfortably in the middle of the group with the kits, looked around at the Clans. In a way, Mistlight was the middle ground, the one that could cross borders in peace, a friend to all.
In truth, she loved all of the Clans - well... Maybe Abyssclan a little less than the others... But she was a loving cat. She was glad the she-cats were okay with her walking amongst their young, watching them like an aunt might.
It was nice.
Mistlight had begun to notice that tempers were rising among the cats, and it was from more than just Clan rivalry. A heavy responsibility hung over all of them, and that could maake any cat snappy.
Oh, Starclan, she prayed, Let us get through this quest without eating each other alive... Her pale gray fur moved gently in the wind as she was in her thoughts.

Commons was angry. She was tired, hungry, and her fur still wasn't back to it's original sheen. Her orange parts looked brown and her white parts were gray, and, and - Commons bit her tongue, wishing she was back home in the Council Room. discussing what must be done, why Satin was great...
"Satin's too smart for his own good..." Commons's head snapped up. Who'd said that? She'd recognized the voice, but it didn't belong to any here...
Who'd said that?
An image of a white she-cat with a raven-shaped mark on her chest flickered in her mind's eye.
Raven... But... Why was she remembering that now?
Commons shook her head. It wasn't important. Raven wasn't important, and neither was what she said. Satin was perfect, and all of existence would be better if everyone agreed.


Cold, one of the more enigmatic members of Abyssclan, surveyed the upcoming mountains with his keen, green eyes. His silver-ticked pelt was bristled ever so slightly as a constant 'don't mess with me,' signal, as was uniform for just about everyone in Abyssclan, even Servants to some extent.

What will we find on the other side, he mused. A great army? A kingdom? New creatures, or nothing but rocks and snow?
His tail twitched, This is interesting and all, but Above, please don't let this journey be indefinite. Last thing I need is to smell like a Forester, Cold looked at the other cats with his cold gaze, his eyes hardly staying on each cat for more than a moment.
He had been walking slightly behind Scorchpoint, a warrior he respected, and a bit ahead of Dark, a good but lesser Choosing than Cold himself.
Best to stay with them than to mingle with the riff-raff... Although, that Blackfire had somewhat of a Abyssclannian look to him, what with his dark pelt and shifting gaze.
It may be worth getting to know him, Cold thought.

Pigeonwing looked to the mountains, and saw wolves staring down at them. Blue, yellow, green gazes reflected the sunlight in their eyes. She nudged her kits together. "Stay together, kits."

Redkit snorted as his mother herded him and his sisters into a group. What is she, a sheepdog? The white kit gazed curiously at the mountains and saw three shadowy canine silhouettes sitting on one of the many rising pyramids of stone and ice. He shuddered. "Momma, what are-" he gasped in surprise when they vanished.

Hollypaw walked beside Brambleleaf in silence. The sun warmed her fur, and cast dancing shadows on the walls of the mountains. They seem to rise up into the sky...I thought trees were the highest things in the world. Apparently not. The young tortoiseshell looked away and focused her gaze on what was in front of her. Further up ahead she saw the mountain path curve a bit, and narrowed more. Hollypaw nudged Brambleleaf and flicked her tail to the narrowing path.

"Fierie, are those tiger cubs or something?" Anamacha growled.
"No." Fierie, the pure white alpha with a dark patch over her eye, shook her pointed muzzle. "Cats. In OUR land!"
"What do we do?" Cliste, her closest advisor, asked.
"Watch. It is going to be... Interesting, to watch what they'll do. Plus they're too small to catch our prey anyway. The most they can get are rabbits or weasels."

Gingerleaf, a ginger tom with darker stripes and vivid green eyes, padded alongside his Darkclan friends.
"Lovely," he murmured as he looked up at his mountain home. Though it had only been a few days ago, it felt like years had passed since he had last seen his home.
To no one he mewed aloud, "Nowhere in all the world is there a more beautiful place to live."

Scorchpoint, padding next to a Dewclanner - he didn't really care at the moment. He currently had no quarrel with the bark-colored tom, so he padded along in his usual silence. His reinforced claws dug into the damp earth and smoothly came back out, the stained weapons gleaming with worn age.
The mute tom felt as though a part of his true purpose would be revealed in this journey. It was... Pleasing.
Scorchpoint sighed almost soundlessly.
Life, he thought wryly. Above, I know you watch me... I know you wait. And I shall die if it pleases you.

Tala had begun to lag behind, sadly. Even with Jace's help, she was unable to keep up with all the younger, stronger cats.
Tala almost yowled in frustration when she nearly was unable to step over a large-sized branch. Why had she been chosen?

Jace had been keeping away from all of the other cats his age. In fact, he'd really been staying away from all the cats, excluding Tala.
Jace had always been a solitary Youngling by nature, and being in a situation where he simply had to be near others was somewhat stressing.
But now, Jace found himself looking up at a sharp snap in someone's voice. Apparently the calico 'Apprentice' had snapped at her friend.
Jace kept back a bubble of laughter (which surprised him). Laughing would probably go over wrong...
The pale beige tom continued helping the dark gray she-cat along, hoping to no one in particular that they would make it to the mountains.

Silverkit's head turned as she saw a mouse sprint into a bush. She sank into a crouch, her silvery tail waving like a pennant. She bunched her hind legs, and sprang into the air, slamming her front paws into the frail brown body. Opening her mouth wide, she sank her front teeth into the mouse's neck, snapping it and killing her prey instantly.
Pigeonwing, who had been watching her daughter, purred in admiration. "Your first catch BEFORE you're even an apprentice!"
Silverkit looked about to explode with pride.

High up in the mountains, Fierie pointed triumphantly with her front paw as she saw the tiny cat catch something so tiny she herself couldn't see what it was. "You see? Cats aren't any threat to our food supply. Let them be."
"You never know." A fourth wolf, Lasair, stepped out. "Our pups aren't familiar with cats. What if they wander out and run into them? Our pups may be tough, but they'll be really outnumbered."
"They won't." Anamacha assured his packmate. "We'll keep a close eye on those rambunctious scraps of fur."
Fierie looked to the sky. "Rook, why didn't you tell us the clans were moving? Where are you anyway? Why aren't you doing your job?"

Sinewpaw fondly brushed against Mosspaw and came back to her gate, "Its okay, I'd wish it was quicker then I suppose its going to be."
He was honestly scared of what he'd find when he came back. His mother, current Tawnyclan leader Lokistar; was well seasoned and near that terrible time. He looked at his paws, He'd seen a dead cat before.... Lionblaze a minor warrior who'd been attacked. The scene was so gory that it seemed impossible to see or smell what had happened. He had his suspicions- after all Stormclaw went missing on that day, plus he was angry at something. Lokistar... would she have died by the time he'd be back. he hoped not.

Seeing the canine shadows in the far distance, Sparrowhawk felt a little weak, he trotted forward to temporarily join the leaders of the groups, The Abbysclan she-cat, Dark and some City cats.
He mewed to Joy, "We should dodge the wolves and go further towards the lover red hills_"
"No..." Joyless mewed.
"But we'll get eaten!?" He hissed angrily.
"We'll go between the two borders to make up time," She mewed, "We'll head straight up and over. Those wolves have deer so chasing agile cats isn't on their 'to do' list."
Sparrowhawk shrugged acquiescing to what she had said.
So he dropped back again thinking.

Joyless's eyes glinted as she looked determindly across the mountains. We'll be watching the sun's fall when we reach them mountains... she thought with alacrity.

OOC: I think this song suits this journey

Blackfire listened to the mild quarreling occurring, and for some reason, added:
"Who exactly is leading this group," he mewed.

Snowfeather looked at the handsome tom, not really thinking about his question.

Blackfire looked around at all of the cats and stopped walking.
"Honestly - Who's leading? Did we ever decide who'd be doing what? I mean, yeah, there's a lot of us, and some may be stronger than others - but what's the point if we keep arguing? I thought the prophecy said to unite, not fight." He looked at his own Clanmates then to the others.
"Darkclan has had no say in what happens, and we're the ones who live in those mountains." He looked at Joyless and said, "And you. The she-cat who simply must be a burr. Yes, you've a hard life, I understand, but don't take it out on us."
The things he was saying might have been more uniform if he had spoken it when he'd first felt it, but he was feeling fed up. Though, he spoke it in a matter-of-fact way, as he tended to.

Pigeonwing, seeing the cats arguing, came forward. She had a hard time talking around the kit she was carrying so she set it down. "I have an idea. The stronger, well-fed cats can lead, and when they tire, others can take over. Just so long as we know where we're going. And another thing. We need scouts, you know, to scout ahead and all."

MEANWHILE
"What's say we go hunting?" Anamacha asked.
Fierie nodded. "Yes. Take Lasair, Cliste, Jnemmu if she's well. I won't be coming, I'll be looking after the pups." She sighed, almost regretful she'd volunteered herself for the hard job. But the Alpha was supposed to look after the pack. Fierie shuddered, it was almost time for her to... ugh, pick a mate.

Joy looked at the darkclan tom, a clouded calloused look came above her face and then turned back to her calmer state, so she shrugged in a brusque way and mewed, "Half of us don't want to be here," She looked to her clan mates, "And some of us are taught far differently from what you know, We cannot just suddenly become best friends in a period of two days. It's not going to be a skip in the field- We need to work together, maybe the separate clans could nominate a leader? The leaders could discuss what the plan was. The strongest cats could be guarders, the most agile; hunters and scouts," She mewed giving way for the she-cats ideas.

Sparrowhawk kept quite for now, like the others: the she-cat's dismissive tone put him off and he was a hot headed tom anyway. He looked to the tom who had slowed the party and the look of agitation on her face. He wanted to deride her put he hated her arrogance and loathed her irritable aura, like everyone was against her.
She was somewhat right though...
Tawnyclan and Dewclan was in a weak feud and himself and Sinewpaw were not 'tight' buddies either. He wasn't sure he wanted to be. She was right in the fact that some didn't want to be here- he himself was not against it but several cats had been caught moaning. He shrugged, wishing to forsake this whole journey and go home and sleep all day long....

Sinewpaw flicked his tail in annoyance and mewed, "Why don't we sort this out when we reach the mountains?"
The Abbysclan she-cat shot him an incisive, amiable glance. He cocked his head; Does she agree?

OOC: I can just tell that this quest WON'T strengthen inter-Clan relationships...

IC: Mistlight held her tongue. She knew that if she said anything, it'd be put down by the Abyssclan she-cat.

Mosspaw glanced over at Snowfeather - a nice she-cat, she'd found - and shrugged.
"I wonder why Starclan stuck us with cats that can't get along," she whispered to Sinewpaw . And she had a point - most of the cats present were either prickly, stuck-up, shy, or somewhere inbetween, and for that they weren't listened to.

Cold rolled his eyes - who said anything about following a leader? They were headed to the mountains, finding the moon- Cold stopped.
Crap... The Moon. He'd heard the stories. He'd seen the teeth, the skeletons. Cold looked at Scorchpoint, tapped him with his tail and silently walked off a ways - the others were too busy talking.

Commons stuck her nose up to all of the Foresters (even with her dirty pelt) and agreed with the silver she-cat's comment, 'Half of us don't even want to be here'.
"Least of all me."

Joy nodded over to the Cityclan she-cat and turned wistfully away. "I just want to go home," She padded on towards the mountains.

Sinewpaw mewed to Mosspaw, "Maybe ot was a force greater than Starclan?"

Sparrowhawk shrugged and carried on past Blackfire with haste and caught the Abbysclan She-cat up. He had a question in mind.

Scorchpoint looked at the silent Choosing and, curious, followed him. But I'll stay at the ready, he thought. That tom holds enough resentment to destroy a Clan. Scorchpoint looked at Cold, a question in his amber eyes.

Jace had kept his trap shut during the 'civil argument' the silver Abyssclannian she-cat and the other Clans had.
They have no order - only hate, he thought sadly. As he padded along, out of the corner of his eye he saw two Abyssclannians fall back, like they were talking about something.
"Keep going," Jace whispered to Tala, and he slid off to join them.

Tala had been thankful for the brief rest. She'd gotten her second wind and felt like a new cat, ready to take on the mountains. For now, she'd be okay without the clever Gatherer's help, and she could see that he was doing something he wanted kept secret, so she nodded and kept on.

Gingerleaf looked around at all of the cats, wondering if they'd be passing Darkclan's camp.
It'd be kinda nice, he thought in his soft-voice way. But dangerous with Thornstar around.

Cold made sure no one was around to hear, took a breath and whispered,
"I know what the prophecy is about," his voice was soft and threatening - it just came out that way, and Cold didn't care.
"We're bringing back Moonclan."

Pigeonwing's head shot up curiously."Moonclan?" she asked.
Garnetheart bounded up. "Moonclan? Really?"
the kits started talking at once, no one could tell who had said what.
"The lost clan?"
"The one that was banished?"
"Hey! We heard about them in tales! Pigeonwing, you told us the tales?"
Pigeonwing shook her head. "Sorry kits. My memory is shredding like tree bark. I can't remember."

MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE IN THE MOUNTAINS
"Okay, Lasair, go for it!" Anamach acalled, slowing to a lope.
Lasair bounded forward. The patrol had seperated an old cow caribou (if there are any in the mountains) and her calf.
"Double course meal, coming right up!" Lasair leapt, the impact crushing the cow's spine. The calf sprinted off.
"Get the calf!" Jnemmu cried, running after the calf.
Cliste got there first, growling and snapping at the calf. She stared into its dewy brown eyes for an instant...
Then Jnemmu was flying throught he air, and the calf was dead.
Anamacha investigated the kill. "Great. More cave floor to clean." he sighed.
"Don't fret. Maybe Fierie will get Smoke to do it. He should learn the words 'hard work'." Jnemmu joked.
Lasair's head snapped up. "Uh oh. Are those the cats?"
Jnemmu saw the shadows coming, but they were still quite some distance away.
"We're going." Anamacha took the calf in his jaws, and Lasair took the cow with the others helping him.

Back up the FAIL TRAIN.

Technically, your cats are too far away to hear any of this! You are Metagaming.

Runfast wrote:
Cold rolled his eyes - who said anything about following a leader? They were headed to the mountains, finding the moon- Cold stopped.
Crap... The Moon. He'd heard the stories. He'd seen the teeth, the skeletons. Cold looked at Scorchpoint, tapped him with his tail and silently walked off a ways - the others were too busy talking.

Runfast wrote:Cold made sure no one was around to hear, took a breath and whispered,

As you are in direct violation of the Rules, I'm giving you a Warning.

OOC: Moving on...

IC: Scorchpoint looked at Cold in shock. Moonclan? The Clan that was driven out by Abyssclan? Scorchpoint shook his head, seething in anger. This was humiliating! Why would they be told to bring back those weaklings?!
Scorchpoint sat down, baring his teeth.

Jace, who'd followed them earlier, came out of the tall grass.
"I was wondering when you'd figure it out."

((Sorry, I've been absent for about 3 days but I'm back now.))
Brambleleaf was more jumpy now then when they were at the Bloodstone. What if I'm not there to protect my kits? What kind of mother would I be then?

OOC:... come now... behave

IC:
Joy looked back. Cold was talking to Scorchpoint... COLD WAS TALKING TO SCORCHPOINT!
She could only see his mouth moving but he was definably talking. Switchblade would love this moment.
She sat sadly. He'd have been a good daddy.
She was still sad to admit the true father of her kits- she was disgusted by it. She hated and loathed him.
She shrugged away those feelings and just watched as her 'adopted' son, whom she had oathed to look after
spoke. Did he speak with Switch? she wondered. Before she'd known it; Joy has stopped to watch him from a distance, move his mouth in a motion to say he was speaking. She purred.

Sparrowhawk nearlly fell over the she-cat when she stopped and was surprised to hear her purring.


OOC: Its kind of obvious its about moonclan ain't it? But only Cold and Scorch are sure of that. No one else can announce it since its Runfast's little thing he figured it out. So if he wants to announce it he can.

Brambleleaf was confused, Why did that she- cat stop? Is something wrong? But she couldn't see any tail twitching or flat ears. She then scolded herself, What's wrong with you? Can't you even breathe without fear? She sighed quietly. Where are we headed?

Joy noted that some were following her still, "Carry on with them," She mewed to Sparrowhawk, And he shrugged and began to pad on towards the mountains.

Joy was trotting towards Cold and Scorchpoint....

Scorchpoint looked up at Jace, only mildly surprised.

Jace nodded.
"Yeah... The stories are told in Cityclan, too... It's somewhat humiliating, when I think about it - the current situation, I mean. But anyways, Moonclan was driven out so Abyssclan wouldn't have to worry three Clans pressing up against their borders, which is understandable... But now to bring them back? There's no reason to, yet here we are..."
He glanced over at the silver she-cat who was coming up and mewed,
"But then, we can always talk later..." Jace turned and padded off, nodding to the she-cat as he passed her.

Scorchpoint looked over at the Servant and looked at the now-silent Choosing. He shrugged and mimed a 'shh', and went to rejoin the group.

OOC: Joy's in the dog house :O

IC:
Joy padded up to Switch's Choosing and mewed, "Were moving now," She said dumbly, "But do you understand why were coming on this journey?"
Joy knew why and she loathed it, but she wanted her own thoughts to be confirmed, and the small tom was smart.