Chaper 16: Shattered Silence
Razorpaw padded silently across the damp ground, his pawsteps muffled by the wet grass. The drizzeling rain from the past few days had given the forest a revitalising drench, and Razorpaw couldn't help but feel the place was colder, even in Greenleaf. Greenleaf couldn't last forever though - Leaf-fall was aproaching. And fast.
"Are we far enough?" Chaospaw, who had been padding along in front of him asked, looking back over his shoulder. Razorpaw always found it hard to see Chaospaw at night, it was like his all black pelt blended in with the shadows. Only his bright red eyes were visible.
"Y-Yeah" The silver tom mumbled, taking a shaking breath. He'd been thinking about what Chaospaw said about a quater-moon ago, about making a journey to the MoonFalls to try to talk to StarClan. He still thought it was impossible - they didn't know the way, and they'd have to cross MountainClan territory even if they did. The jouney would be perilous without a sense of direction; there was every chance that they'd get lost in the mountains, or caught by MountainClan cats and accused of tresspassing. And that was something he really didn't want. They'd have to go without travelling herbs too, it wasn't like they could ask Shimmerpool for some before they left.
This time, however, it was Razorpaw who needed to confess something to his friend. Something he'd been sworn to secrecy about, but something he could no longer keep to himself. If he could go to the Moonfalls with Chaospaw, maybe he could ask StarClan about the falling star, and maybe even his father's death.
"So what is it?" Chaospaw tilted his head slightly.
"Well..." Thinking about it now, Razorpaw didn't really know where to start. He shut his eyes for a heartbeat, recalling the hectic events of the past quater-moon.
"Do you remember the day before we were apprenticed?" Razorpaw started, and Chaospaw nodded in return, "Well..."
There was a short silence. Razorpaw didn't know how to fully explain it, so he decided to let it go and put it bluntly.
"The night before that day, I was hit by a star"
He expected his friend to make a sarcastic comment, but Chaospaw stayed quiet. The black tom's eyes narrowed slightly, but appart from that he didn't move - or at least Razorpaw didn't think he did, it was still hard to see the black tom at night. He felt tense inside, which was strange, he usually found it easier to talk to Chaospaw than anyone else. He glanced at the ground, feeling confused and somewhat annoyed.
"I know it sounds really mouse-brained, but I swear-"
"Dont worry; I beleive you" Chaospaw cut him off, simply blinking. His eyes weren't slits anymore, they had returned to their usual circular shape.
Razorpaw gawped, shocked, "What, really? Cheetahstar and Shimmerpool didn't beleive me, they said I couldn't tell anyone"
"I can see their point" Chaospaw stated, looking away slightly, "It's not something you hear every day"
"Then why do you beleive me?" Razorpaw accused the black tom. He didn't know if Chaospaw was just saying it to make him happy, or if he really beleived him, or if he thought this was all stupid, "I sound like I have bees in my head, right? Saying I was hit by a star? That's what Cheetahstar thought, so why-"
"As far as I'm concerned, you have no reason to lie" Chaospaw cut him off again, something which he did a lot, "And it only backs up what I said a while ago. StarClan isn't the only thing out there"
Razorpaw sighed, shaking his head, "I dont know about that..." He confessed, "But I met a strange cat. I was on a beach, and I couldn't hear what he was saying..."
"A StarClan cat?" Chaospaw quiried.
"No. He was bigger than that"
"Bigger than Wolfstreak?"
"Yeah"
Chaospaw's whiskers twitched, "Bigger than Wolfstreak? Again, something you dont hear every day" He looked back to Razorpaw, "What else happened?"
Razorpaw thought hard, "I remember he came towards me and touched my nose, and then everything went black...There was a voice..."
"A voice? What did it say?"
The silver tom shut his eyes, trying to recite the words spoken to him on that fateful night.
"From highest sky to lowest ground,
From shroudest noise to loudest sound,
Through day and night,
Through cold and warmth,
Search until the one is found."
"Search upon the moutains high,
Search upon the oceans wide,
Search upon the desert dry,
For every moon, one more will die"
Chaospaw listened intently throughout, but his breath caught at the last line, "What? Every moon one more will die?"
"I didn't think it meant anything" Razorpaw admitted, "I dont even know who's voice it was, I thought it was just me..."
Chaospaw muttered the rhyme out to himself, going over some lines more than once. Razorpaw kept silent, watching Chaospaw think. He'd try to think about it himself, but he just ended up going in circles and making himself more confused. He was surprised that Chaospaw actually beleived him in the first place. It felt better to share the story with somebody, after keeping quiet for what felt like moons.
"When I woke up" Razorpaw almost missed out an important part, "Cheetahstar and Shimmerpool...They though I was dead. Cheetahstar said that I died and came back to life, altough I'm not sure how that's even possible..."
"Even StarClan cant bring back the dead" Chaospaw muttered, but he spoke about StarClan as if they didn't mean so much to him any more. He sunk his claws into the ground while he thought, while he decided what to make of all this and what to do next.
After a few more moments, Chaospaw shook his head, "We have to go to the MoonFalls"
"What? Do you think StarClan will know something?"
"Maybe" the black tom admitted, "But that...I'll call it a Prophecy, tells us to search, what for, I don't know, but the first place is highest sky. And the highest point on the coast is-"
"The Moonfalls!" Razorpaw gasped, "That has to be it!" He felt a sudden tinge of energy singe through his body, the same tinge he hadn't felt for about a quater-moon now. It made him freeze, the sense of de-ja-vu beggining to nag at his mind.
"You okay?" Chaospaw asked. Noticing his friend was looking at hims strangely, Razorpaw shook it off and nodded.
"Yeah. But how can we find our way to the MoonFalls? And how would we get there without the clan noticing?"
Chaospaw sighed defeatedly, "I'm not sure about the Clan not noticing" He admitted, shifting his paws slightly, "But it's Quater-Moon in two days. Shimmerpool and Ghostpaw will be going then. We have to follow them"
"Only two days!?" Razorpaw gasped, "But-"
"It's then or never" Chaospaw growled, "We have to go. We have questions to answer"
A chilling breeze shifted through the trees. Razorpaw puffed up his fur, but Chaospaw remained still.
"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Razorpaw whispered, eyes shimmering with the glow of the moon through the trees.
"Well. There's only one way to find out"
Iceclaw 
Silverstream 
Congratulate them 
