Amaranthine/ten

Neither of us spoke of our encounter with Raven and Cherry for days after that. When it was brought up, the conversations were fleeting, and Belladonna refused to speak about it and simply directed the conversation away from the topic. Our traditions continued, nightly walks and daily hunts, but everything I saw reminded me of my old home. Everything I had left behind when I left the Twilight Hunters stalked me like a shadow, in the petals floating on the breeze and the way the rain made little streams just like the ones surrounding the Council's den.

I reminded myself again and again that I didn't want to get caught up in the war. I didn't want to stay behind with the rigid schedules and early mornings that came with being a Cadet. I didn't want to be a tool for the Council and our monarch. What was his name again? Astor. And his mate, Rasha. And Elzora and Nascha, the twin she-cats, probably the most arrogant cats in the world. Nascha wasn't so bad, though... I shook off that thought and focused on what I had now. Belladonna.

My friend (well, not really friend. More than that.) had healed me. She had comforted me and no cat was between us, unlike Raven and Lark or Cherry and the heirs. Nobody else was more important to either of us. And it would stay that way. We lived together, just the two of us, hunted together, walked together, and she was with me almost every moment I spent with her. Our life together was perfect, and nothing would ever cast a shadow on it. Or so I told myself.

The last hints of dusk had faded from the sky long ago. I was struggling to fall asleep when I blinked open my eyes and realized Belladonna was gone.

We rarely went out alone, and never in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Her precious herbs were still neatly laid out around the corner of the den, so I knew she hadn't left for good, but her empty nest was right there in front of me, and no trace of Belladonna could be found anywhere. I searched the whole den, inside and out, in the melting shadows behind our home and up in the branches above.

She wasn't there.

I began sniffing out her scent, following it down a familiar path through the woods. We never went far this way, and soon the trees I knew every mouse-length of faded into an unfamiliar forest, shadows dappling every surface. The moonlight was useless against the thick covering of rustling leaves above me, and the ground was dark on dark, individual shadows indiscernible.

I broke into a run, both to find Belladonna quicker and to get out of this place as quickly as possible.

Darkness loomed at me from all directions, the shadows threatening to swallow me up and pull me into the trees. The only moonlight that penetrated the foliage above me just made the path look eerier. Crickets' chirps mocked my fear, while an owl's hoot enhanced it. Worst of all, I was alone. I hadn't been alone for long at any point in my life. When I was a kit I had Cherry, Blizzard, and my mother, as a Cadet I was only allowed to leave the Twilight Hunters' camp with permission from an adult, and even when I was captured I had Sparrow, Silver, and the guards.

I stopped short, relieved when I spotted Belladonna ahead of me through the darkness. But she wasn't alone.

I caught a few snatches of hushed voices before my denmate shrieked. An earsplitting sound echoed through the dark forest, and I forgot everything that had frightened me before and raced toward her.

A burly cat stepped in front of me and I crashed to the ground. I was quickly pinned by an unfamiliar she-cat who glared down at me, eyes glowing in the weak moonlight. It reminded me all too much of the time I sacrificed myself for my sister. When I was captured and regretted one of my few acts of kindness for moons.

"We found your... friend skulking around our territory last night," my captor hissed, blue eyes still glinting. "We don't permit cats outside our group here. We have too many enemies for that."

My vision was focused entirely on this cat's face, along with what remained of my sleepy mind. Quick as lightning, the cat above me crumbled and I dashed off, Belladonna directly behind me. How she had defeated both her captor and mine without being brought back down, I did not know. She was full of suprises.

We reached our den again quickly and Belladonna collapsed in her nest, quickly falling asleep. I attempted to copy her, as I was exhausted, but I just couldn't get my mind to relax. I tossed and turned, thinking over the words I had snatched from the conversation I heard earlier that night.

"And the cat is controlled properly?"

A pause. Perhaps a nod was passed between the lines of their conversation.

"I doubt you've been able to get any more information from our informant," the first speaker replied. Another pause. "The plan is working well, though."

"I'm not going to get rid of him yet!" a barely audible, indignant voice replied. It was raspy and low as if the speaker was disguising their voice.

"Can the war hold up without our intervention?" a third cat had asked.

"Easily. Both groups are wearing each other down.  The Twilight Hunters will be weakened enough soon-" The first cat's voice was cut off.

And then Belladonna's screech rang through the air, clear in my mind as it had been in my ears earlier tonight.

I tried to make sense of the few words I had heard, but my mind was too foggy to even process them correctly. I eventually gave up and just lay in my nest, drifting slowly off to sleep.