Larkwing didn't take long to figure out what had caused Leafwind to be so terrified. Just a few tree-lengths away, the meadow seemed to simply end. A cliff, she realised. But that wasn't what made her shiver.

It were square, partially holey and leaning structures that rose high into the sky from the gorge. Withered ivy wound its way up the hard, unusually straight walls and between, in and on the structures rested long, huge, black vines, studded with spikes. Some seemed to be stuck deep into the ground with their tips, while others reached upwards or had wrapped themselves around one of the tall structures. This made it recognisable that their tips resembled oversized bird claws.

"I think we've found them," Cloverdapple muttered, his reed-green eyes filled with a mixture of fascination and dread.

The abandoned skydens. Who knew they were actually so close? Larkwing's chest tightened the longer she stared at the structures. There was just something about them that trapped her in a trance.

What was this place? What use was it, who had created it? And most importantly: what must have happened that it was now forsaken? Did it have something to do with the giant black tendrils? Questions upon questions swirled around in Larkwing's head. Suddenly she felt the urge to simply run off and explore this strange, dangerous world that opened up before her.

Only when she felt Lakepelt's soft fur brush past hers like a feather as he lumbered forwards did she shake herself vigorously and hurry after him and the other cats. Arriving at the edge of the cliff, Larkwing realised that the skydens were even more enormous than she had assumed, for the cliff face was incredibly high, perhaps even higher than the tallest trees. Convulsively, she clawed at the dry, crumbly earth and shuffled a few steps further before stopping at a safe distance.

Meanwhile, Redleaf crept on, pressed close to the ground. With a sweeping movement of his tail, he signalled the rest of the patrol to stay where they were. He stopped just before the edge of the cliff and looked down into the depths. "The cliff here is far too steep and smooth to descend," he reported. "We have to find another way to get down."

Larkwing arched her back in fear. Now I'm supposed to climb this mousedung-giant cliff?, she wanted to protest. I'm not particularly crazy about dying!

The wind tugged at her pelt as she reluctantly cast a gaze down into the abyss. She had climbed trees many times before, but a cliff was something completely different. The rock appeared too hard for her to anchor her claws in it as she normally did with bark.

"Over there, next to the waterfall, is a rock scree," Cloverdapple pointed out. "We should try the descent there. It could be safer. I don't know about the medicinal plants here. In the end, there won't be the ones I need if one of you gets injured on the way down."

His serious tone made Larkwing shiver. She hadn't even thought about that. All this time, she had been glad that they were accompanied by a medicine cat. However, she only now realised that a medicine cat was nothing without herbs. Breaking a leg out here and not being able to treat it wasn't something Larkwing wanted to try.

"It's definitely worth a try," Redleaf agreed.

On stiff legs, Larkwing trotted on. Her eyes were focussed on the dry, brownish grass. Just don't look at them. Just. Don't. Look.

A sombre, ominous aura seemed to surround this place. She could sense it in the smothering feeling in her throat. It was as if all hope, all bliss had been sucked out of her.

I mustn't let it affect me. Larkwing tightened her lower jaw energetically. I got to survive. I got to get back to my Clan.

As they got closer to the waterfall, the roar grew louder and louder until Larkwing had to press her ears tightly against her head. "That's really loud!" she meowed over the noise.

"Now imagine if this waterfall replaced ours. How would anyone be able to sleep, let alone think?" Lakepelt snorted.

With humour, Larkwing let her whiskers twitch. "Yeah, but you know, I bet Fruittail would even be able to sleep right under it."

"Fruittail? What makes you think that?"

"Oh, Bramblepaw once told me that Fruittail could sleep through anything," Larkwing remembered. "Even if it was raining stones or something."

Arriving at the bank of the river, the cats halted. At the sight of the fast-flowing water, Larkwing suddenly became aware of the dry scratchiness in her throat and realised that she hadn't had anything to drink for ages.

Sniffing cautiously, she stepped closer. The river water looked so clear that the pebbly bottom could be seen. It must be safe to drink.

She tried not to think about the skydens and the huge tendrils as she dipped her snout into the water. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but secretly wonder whether the surroundings, or rather the ground, might be poisoned by the strange structures. After all, some of the tendrils were firmly rammed into the ground.

But so far these seemed to be unnecessary worries. The water tasted cool and refreshing, just the right thing to quench her thirst.

Exhaling deeply, the tri-coloured speckled and mottled warrior shook the water droplets from the tips of her whiskers and closed her eyes for a moment. Before finally descending into the valley, she needed to calm her throbbing heart.

Her fur bristled, fear almost seemed to engulf her. It wrapped around her body like thorny tendrils, wanting to crush her.

Deep in her heart, she was aware of one thing: this place harboured dangers that they could not even comprehend. At the thought of seeing the skydens — and even worse, the giant tendrils up close — she suddenly felt cold, as if she were being splashed with a gush of water.

Hang on... Larkwing froze. Another load of water landed on her. Squealing, she leapt back. "That scared me! Stupid furball!" She wanted to growl angrily, but in the end she couldn't suppress a purr.

With flashing, icy blue eyes, Lakepelt was standing in the river up to his belly.  "You can sleep later, lazy furball!" he retorted banteringly. "In case you haven't noticed, the others have already gone ahead."

Astonished, Larkwing whirled around. It was true, apart from her and Lakepelt, there was no one else to be seen. "They should have told me a bit earlier," she grumbled grumpily. Her fur prickled with shame. How long must she have been standing there that she had completely blocked out her surroundings?

"Why would I know that?" Lakepelt jumped back onto the shore. As he passed by, he flicked his tail against Larkwing's muzzle, causing her to sneeze.

She hurriedly followed him to the edge of the cliff. "By the way, you could've pointed that out to me with words and not just splashed me wet like some fish."

"Hardly. That would have been too nice."

"Do you even know what being nice means?"

Feigning cluelessness, Lakepelt tilted his head. "Do I look like I do?" he meowed ironically.

Larkwing snarled. "You're really outrageous!"

"Good."

"What do you mean, good?" Larkwing imitated him very slowly. "Stop being so blatant and come down from your wow-I'm-so-bad-mannered-and-dark-though-I'm-actually-so-cute trip."

Startled, she paused. Cute, really now? The tips of her ears were burning with humiliation.

Narrowing his eyes, Lakepelt scrutinised her thoroughly. "Thanks, I think you're cute too," the dark grey tabby warrior meowed simply in a neutral tone, then he turned around without making a face and clambered down onto the top layer of scree.

Cute? Fluttering birds, he thinks I'm cute! Larkwing had to clench her teeth with all her might to stop herself from squeaking. That must have been the first compliment on my appearance that had nothing to do with the colour of my eyes. A cosy warmth shook her whole body. Only now did she really realise how much she had needed it. It just felt good, especially when it came from her absolute best friend.

But doubts arose in her mind. Weren't these thoughts a little too intense for a friendship? What if she was now starting to develop romantic feelings after all, even though it was something she had rejected her whole life?

Larkwing shook her fur energetically. She didn't even need to worry about something like that. I'm such an unromantic she-cat. I've never given a damn about such mouse-brained things and never will.

With that thought, she finally made her descent. She half expected the rocks to be loose, but to her relief they were solid. Nevertheless, she slithered on with extreme caution. There was a treacherous gap between some of the stones where a paw could get stuck.

Every now and then she allowed herself a short break to check on her patrolmates. Splashfur had already reached the bottom, closely followed by Leafwind, who, thanks to his small size and light stature, had no problems getting himself from stone to stone.

Only Crowshadow had problems moving elegantly. Larkwing couldn't suppress an amused purr at the sight of the burly she-cat sliding awkwardly down the scree like a beetle on its back. SnowClan cats can probably only walk on flat ground, anything else is too much for them.

The closer she got to the ground, the safer Larkwing felt again. The rocks were also bigger and her sturdy pads offered her enough support.

Soon she reached the last rock and jumped down into the high grass. Her legs felt as fragile as twigs as she tilted her head back to look up the rock face. Just a few moments ago she had been up there.

Crowshadow plodded around with her tail fluffed up. Every now and then her nose twitched as if she was looking for something. "Why did we go down again?"

"Because there are probably cats living here who might know something about the Shadowless," Larkwing explained, rolling her eyes. How could it be that she had forgotten that again? That was the whole point of the journey.

"Is there seriously anything living here?" Cloverdapple lashed his tail. "I'm not so sure about that anymore. Have you had a look around? This is no place for cats!"

That was what I wanted to say, Larkwing thought grimly. The lack of surrounding sounds made her fur prickle with worry. There was only the roar of the waterfall, which cascaded into a small lake, and her own shallow breathing. Not even a single chirp had been heard yet. If even the birds weren't singing, they had to be prepared for the worst.

Then she gave herself a jolt. Now that they had found the skydens, they had to keep going. "I think we should continue anyway," she meowed loudly. "The skydens seem to cover a wide area, and we're only at the very edge. Maybe it looks better further ahead."

With a cautionary shake of his head, Splashfur turned to Larkwing. Even without words, she recognised what he was trying to tell her. However, she didn't care at that moment. She might be the youngest cat in the reconnaissance patrol, but she didn't want to risk anyone getting the idea to turn around so close to the possible destination. She was happy to take on the role of the decisive leader.

"We mustn't jump to conclusions. There must still be cats out here somewhere," Redleaf meowed firmly.

"Does that mean we are going further?" Cloverdapple arched his back.

For a heartbeat, Redleaf made eye contact with his littermate. "Yes." Was there a tremble in his voice? "Are you seriously going to give up after we've already come this far? Don't forget that we're the last LaurelClan cats! We owe it to our Clanmates to rebuild the Clan. We owe it to them after we left them alone in their last moments."

At the last words, the tip of his ginger tail had started to twitch, but Redleaf quickly regained his composure.

For a long time, Cloverdapple stared at him without making a move. Two pairs of green eyes — one reed-green, one the colour of pine needles — met. Tireless determination against doubt.

Finally, Cloverdapple lowered his muzzle. "All right, then. Do what you think is right."

The brief disagreement between them worried Larkwing. Especially since Cloverdapple had been one of the first to vote in favour of the quest. It was peculiar that he had changed his mind so quickly. But maybe he also felt this threatening aura that was surrounding the place.

The patrol set off again. "Keep an eye on the surroundings," Redleaf ordered. "And stay away from the... from the tendrils or whatever those are."

As they continued on their way between the abandoned skydens, Larkwing's fear gradually turned to fascination. Surely there was a thrilling story behind this place. No doubt it would also be tragic, but she could clearly sense that something extreme must have happened here.

On closer inspection, the skydens looked even stranger, as they were perfectly angular. And even though there were flat stones and thin, translucent leaves glinting in the sunlight laying around everywhere, which appeared to have once been part of the skydens, their complexity and beauty were still recognisable.

Larkwing would have loved to try to slip into one of the structures and take a closer look around. At the same time, she knew that the others would not agree. Besides, she wasn't particularly keen on causing problems that could have been prevented anyway.

The black, spiky giant vines, on the other paw, were neither beautiful nor impressive. They were simply ugly and ruined the surroundings with their appearance alone. Some of them were as thick as the body of a full-grown cat, others as thin as a tree branch. Above all, they were so shiny that Larkwing could see her deformed reflection in the largest of them.

She was certain of one thing: this place had once been inhabited. But by whom? Who had created the skydens? Where were they now? It was clear to see that the tendrils that had destroyed the dens were the reason for their escape.

Or for their death? Suddenly, Larkwing felt a shuddering chill. The thought that numerous living creatures must have died here made her feel sick.

Tentatively, she let her gaze wander over the surroundings. She hadn't been able to discover any corporeal remains so far — which she was incredibly glad about —, but that most likely meant that it had happened so long ago that there were no remains left.

After a while of aimless plodding, she noticed a tugging sensation. Oh great, she thought sarcastically. Going out here to the dirtplace is really inappropriate.

So she tried to ignore it. Sooner or later they would leave this place behind and she would find a nice bush.

At some point, however, it became too much for her. What must come out, must come out, she thought, trying to think of the best way to tell the others that she needed to get away for a moment.

"Ahem," she croaked, her fur hot with embarrassment. "I know this is very unfitting right now, but..." She flattened her ears. "I really need to... I, uh, need to empty myself."

Silence. Larkwing hardly dared to look at any cat. Stars in the sky, this is so awkward!

Out of the corner of her eye, she could catch a glimpse of Lakepelt twitching his whiskers.

"Alright," Redleaf replied so calmly that it made Larkwing even more embarrassed that she was making such a big deal out of it. "Shall we wait for you in the meantime?"

Larkwing shook her head vehemently. "No, no, just get going already. I will catch up with you again."

With these words, she whirled around and stormed off between the skydens. Only when she was sure that no one could see her did she slip into a gap between a den and a withered, tall shrub.

Suddenly she felt her fur bristle. An odour — a strange cat odour wafted around her nose. Alarmed, she jumped up, her claws instinctively unsheathed. "Who's there? Come on, show yourself!"

At that moment, a thin, frighteningly mangy she-cat emerged from a skyden not far from Larkwing. Her long, dark brown tabby fur was matted and dirty and also smelled horrendously.

Tense with fear, Larkwing stepped back, not taking her eyes off the stranger for a heartbeat.

Much to her astonishment, she didn't even seem to notice Larkwing's presence. With a glazed golden gaze, she let her paws shuffle across the hard stone ground.

"I'm weak, they say." Every word sounded like it was pure agony for her to speak. "They can make me stronger... if only I let them have my body."

Horrified, Larkwing opened her mouth into a silent scream.

But then a thin tendril shot from the wall of a skyden, penetrated deep into the strange she-cat's mouth and burst out of her back along with part of her spine.