The Ancient Stone shows the past!

This thought alone kept replaying in Larkwing's head, like a leaf caught in a whirlpool. Her paws thundered across the forest floor and she ran as if there was no tomorrow. If she was lucky, she would find at least one of her patrolmates by the tree trunk where they were sleeping.

The forest thinned out, but Larkwing didn't even think about stopping. Every heartbeat she lost was one more heartbeat in which the memory of what she had experienced disappeared. Because by now it seemed like nothing more than a dream to her. The image of the MoonClan camp was slowly but surely being torn apart like a cloud cover.

She would probably have kept on racing like that forever if it hadn't been for a shadow that was moving between the trees.

With whirling paws, Larkwing came to a stop. Her heart almost seemed to want to leap out of her chest as she gasped, trying to steady her breathing.

"Larkwing!" The shadow turned out to be Crowshadow, who came towards her, visibly distraught and with her ears flattened. "Perfect, you're just the cat for the job."

Larkwing tilted her head helplessly. "What are you crowing about?" She simply couldn't resist the pun and purred.

However, Crowshadow didn't feel like purring. Fluffing up her fur, she pointed her muzzle upwards. "I was just here hunting nearby when I spotted three kits," she explained. "They seemed too young for me to let them roam on their own, so I wanted to go and ask them what they were doing there. Unfortunately, they must have been so scared at the sight of me that they went up that tree."

Blinking, Larkwing put her head back. It was true, there were three tufts of fur hanging high up in the treetop. "And now they're stuck there," she concluded.

As if they had heard her, the kits began to mew heartbreakingly. Crowshadow looked anxiously at Larkwing. "I think I'm too heavy to climb up there." Her voice was low and sounded almost ashamed.

"A save-three-kits-from-a-tree rescue mission wasn't on my agenda today, but well." Rolling her eyes, Larkwing padded towards the tree in question. It was really high. Her chest tightened at the thought of having to climb it.

She unsheathed her claws, leapt up the trunk and heaved herself onto the first branch she could find. The quicker she got these kits out of the tree, the better.

Fortunately, the bark of the tree was sufficiently soft for her to find enough support. Nevertheless, it was an extremely difficult endeavour to climb up, as many branches had broken off and only thin, light brown splinters of wood were still sticking out of the trunk.

Soon after, Larkwing's claws ached with the strain. Awkwardly, she clutched the tree with all four legs as she gathered strength for the further ascent. By now, she could no longer really be said to be afraid of heights. Nevertheless, she still had a great deal of respect for climbing trees and tried to avoid it as often as possible.

"Don't move!" she shouted as soon as she was within earshot of the kits. "I'll be right with you."

Spurred on by agitated meowing, she continued to climb. The wind began to blow around her ears. For a heartbeat, it felt like the tree was swaying.

Dear StarClan, either even kits can climb better than me or they were genuinely spooked by Crowshadow. She would have found the latter almost too amusing to take seriously. At the same time, she could even understand the kits' fear from a certain point of view. After all, they had never seen such a gigantic cat in their short lives.

As she got closer, Larkwing could finally recognise the kits better. One of them was Phoebe. His dark brown tabby fur camouflaged him quite well in the branches, though his eyes, their irises turning a bright amber shade, were wide open.

The other two kits were female. One was a dark mottled tortoiseshell, her face half black, half mottled black and orange. The other was snow-white and looked more like a small cloud than a cat. She was the only one clinging to the fork where the tree trunk ended, while the other two kits crouched on thin branches.

Squeaking shrilly, the white she-kit stared at Larkwing, her body rigid, an expression of fear in her unusually blue eyes. "Don't touch!" Her voice was so loud and booming that Larkwing pressed her ears to her head in distress. Moreover, she mewed strangely — even alien, as if she was just learning to speak.

Larkwing blinked slowly to calm her down. "Don't be scared. I do not mean to hurt you," she purred, hoping that sounded believable.

The little white she-kit pierced the warrior with her hypnotising gaze. Her lower jaw quivered, but apart from that she showed no reaction.

"What's your name?" Larkwing tried again. With a nervousness that made her stomach twinge, she realised that she had no idea how to deal with kits. Especially when they were highly frightened kits in a sky-high tree.

Again, no answer, just that strange penetrating stare.

Phoebe peered around the trunk, the branch he had saved himself on shaking dangerously. "Crystal's ears aren't working."

Larkwing wrinkled her muzzle in confusion. "So she can't hear me?"

"She can't hear anything," the tortoiseshell kit with the duochrome face explained, her voice carrying a snooty, know-it-all tone that was only mitigated by her cute kitness. "She probably doesn't even know her name because she's never heard it. Or the name of any other cat."

"We can only talk to Crystal with gestures," Phoebe added.

Oh. Surely that was why Crystal had meowed so unusually loudly. If she had never heard her own voice, she couldn't regulate her volume as a consequence.

Larkwing turned to the tortoiseshell she-kit. "Hey, um..."

"Amaranth."

"Could you make Crystal understand that I'm only here to help you?" Larkwing asked, careful not to use 'tell'.

Amaranth turned to Crystal and tilted her head, then shakily lifted a paw just enough to keep it from touching the branch and waved it in the air.

This small movement did indeed seem to have an effect, as Crystal finally — albeit hesitantly — lost her tension.

Grateful for the help, Larkwing twitched one ear. "Well, let's start our descent," she announced, and Amaranth bent the tip of her tail to point downwards.

The fear was immediately back in Crystal's gaze. Larkwing would have loved to howl in despair. Here she was now, clinging to the tree trunk with all her strength, while the rescue of three kits remained hanging over her.

To make matters worse, a rarely heard yet all too familiar voice rang out from the ground. "Where are they?" Topaz shrieked hysterically, putting Crystal to serious competition in terms of volume. "My kits, where are they? What have you done to them?"

"Come on," Larkwing growled through clenched teeth. The sooner we get down, the less Topaz's anger will be. Or so I hope. 

It was Phoebe who tentatively slid closer to the tree trunk first, but when the leaves rustled, he froze. "I don't dare," he whispered pitifully.

Ignoring Topaz's hissing and her claws aching with exertion, Larkwing pulled herself further up the trunk until she was level with Phoebe. The sheer fear in his amber eyes was almost unbearable. "Can you turn round?" she suggested. She knew from experience that trying to climb down a tree muzzle-first was tantamount to a death wish.

Phoebe shook his head violently and clutched the branch even tighter.

So Larkwing didn't know what to do either. She briefly considered whether she should try to take Phoebe by the scruff of his neck. However, that would be far too dangerous at this height and the tomkit didn't look light enough any more to be carried properly.

Instead, she turned to Crystal. At least she was still holding on to the trunk and was already in the right position to climb down. "I think it's better if I bring you all down one by one," she meowed loudly.

The thought of leaving Phoebe and Amaranth on the thin branches any longer made Larkwing's heart pound. Still, it was the best solution she could think of in a hurry.

"All right, but please be quick!" Amaranth answered, blinking at Crystal. At the same time, her tone conveyed: I'm about to die of fear!

Carefully, so as not to frighten her, Larkwing nudged Crystal's hind leg. The white kit's fur bristled at the touch, and Larkwing prepared herself for the fact that she would refuse to co-operate again. The surprise was all the greater when Crystal finally started to move. As slowly as a snail, she slid backwards.

"Good, just like that," Larkwing muttered, knowing full well that it was unnecessary as Crystal couldn't hear her anyway. In fact, she wanted to calm herself down.

One of Crystal's hind paws was already scratching at the trunk. Instinctively, she unsheathed her small claws.

Suddenly, Larkwing heard the flapping of wings. Barely a heartbeat later, a black bird whizzed right past them, so close that Larkwing could have caught it out of the air. With a horrified gasp, Crystal lost her footing and fell back first from the tree.

And Crystal screamed. Amaranth screamed. Phoebe screamed. Larkwing screamed too.

Then Crystal collided with Larkwing's chest and the tortico she-cat pressed herself against the bark to prevent the kit from falling any further. She almost... Larkwing shuddered. That was something she didn't want to waste a thought on.

Crystal wriggled out from under her. "I'm fine," she mewed in her unfamiliar-sounding voice.

But I'm not. The shock was so deep in Larkwing's bones that she could hardly breathe. "Let's go on," she croaked.

To her relief, the rest of the descent went smoothly. Slowly, but without any further incidents. As soon as Crystal touched the ground after StarClan knows how much time she spent in the tree, Topaz, who had been snarling at Crowshadow until a moment ago, whirled around.

"By my whiskers, Crystal!" she exclaimed, rushing forward to give the white she-kit a good lick on her fur.

As long as Topaz is busy caressing Crystal, I'd better get to work rescuing the other two. Just as Larkwing was about to climb back up silently and secretly, Topaz's cold, cutting voice rang out.

"You..." she rumbled. "Did you, too, have anything to do with my kits being in danger?"

With ruffled fur, Larkwing whirled around. She mentally prepared herself for Topaz to attack her. To her relief, the golden speckled she-cat merely glared at her from a safe distance.

Larkwing licked her flews placatingly. "I'm just trying to help them down from this tree," she explained. With these words, she dashed up the trunk a second time.

Wow, don't mess with a queen, she thought, shaking her head. If she could, Topaz would have bitten my head or Crowshadow's — or even both of ours — off as if we were small, pesky insects.

Fortunately, Phoebe and Amaranth hadn't moved from the spot. Under their encouraging meows, Larkwing pulled herself onto the last branch that could still support her to some extent. "Now you," she meowed, addressing Phoebe. His branch looked the most unstable, so she wanted to lead him down as quickly as possible.

Hesitantly, Phoebe moved closer to the trunk. Then, at last, his front paws touched the bark.

"Faster!" Amaranth's voice rang out. "Otherwise I'll grow stuck here!"

Larkwing hissed angrily. "Don't put him under so much stress!" she ordered. "Didn't you just see that Crystal almost died? You're lucky I came by. And especially that you didn't fall off before. What in the world was going through your heads?"

Amaranth remained silent at that. Larkwing felt sorry for her and she noticed, a little ruefully, that she shouldn't have put it in such extreme terms. Nonetheless, the longer she was kept from breaking the news to the reconnaissance patrol, the more irritated she became.

Naughty little beetle-brain. With a growl, Larkwing turned to Phoebe. He hadn't moved the whole time. His fur was fluffed up and he was trembling, and Larkwing wondered if it was still because of the altitude or because of her.

Tensely, she scrambled up the trunk. Seems like I really don't know how to deal with kits, she thought. Only too well that she never intended to bring little copies of herself into the world.

"Use your claws to hold on," she advised Phoebe, as if he didn't already instinctively know that anyway. "And remember: backwards!"

Phoebe rose up on his hind legs, clutching the fork at the end of the trunk with his front paws. "And what if I fall down too?" he whined.

"You won't." Larkwing scanned her surroundings for another bird that might startle them. "And if you do, I'm here to catch you. So come on now, or Amaranth will turn into a leaf or a branch or something like that."

It was much easier and quicker to manoeuvre Phoebe down. Once on the ground, he dashed towards Topaz — but stopped when she didn't give him a glance. Her full attention was focussed on Crystal, who squirmed protestingly under her paws.

Larkwing's pelt prickled with anger. What was that about 'your kits'? She narrowed her eyes. 'Your kit' seems much more appropriate, the way you worship Crystal and ignore Phoebe.

She climbed the tree a third and final time. Her paws instinctively did all the work while she continued to fret inwardly about Topaz. Sure, Crystal had to be handled a little differently than other kits, but just because she couldn't hear didn't mean she had to be kittied like that. Where would that lead later on if Crystal wasn't given the opportunity to develop in her own way?

Shuddering, Larkwing remembered that Topaz had apparently let Phoebe sleep outside at least once as a punishment. But of course she would never do that to her oh-so-beloved Crystal.

"Took you long enough." Amaranth glanced down at her, her face contorted in offence. Now Larkwing realised for the first time that her eyes were dark green around the pupils and became lighter towards the edges. In addition, one half of her nose was speckled black.

This time, Larkwing didn't react to her comment. "Don't do anything stupid," she warned as she stopped.

Amaranth's eyes grew so big and round as if they would fall out of her head at any moment. "Oh, aren't you that special cat everyone's talking about? I always thought it was a lie, the one with the eye colours."

"Obviously not."

From one moment to the next, Amaranth's disrespect turned into impertinent curiosity. Incessantly, she bombarded Larkwing with questions. "Do you really have such great powers as everyone always says? Does the stone speak to you? Were you born that way? Do you see differently?"

"No. I think so. Yes. No." Rolling her eyes, Larkwing answered each question as succinctly as possible. "Now come on, before Topaz bites my head off after all."

Amaranth wrinkled her muzzle sceptically, but she did as she was told. "Tell me, isn't your name Lark?" she quacked after three heartbeats of marvellous silence.

The fur on Larkwing's back stood up. "Larkwing," she clarified proudly. The second part of her name was incredibly important to her and could not simply be dropped into a hole in the ground. After all, it indicated that she was at least a full-fledged warrior and an adult she-cat, no longer an immature kit.

A snort came from Amaranth. It sounded rather mocking. "That's a pretty weird name, though. Why were you called that? It's completely unnecessary."

Oh yeah, and names like Phoebe or Topaz or Cirrus don't sound weird? Larkwing gnashed her teeth in annoyance. She would have loved to put Amaranth in her place, but she was a kit of a she-cat who couldn't stand Larkwing.

"Where I come from, it's customary to have such weird names", she replied curtly.

At last, the last kit had arrived safely on the ground. Larkwing wanted to sneak away quietly and secretly.

But an angry hiss made her pause. "How dare you put Crystal in danger like that?" Topaz paced back and forth in front of Phoebe and Amaranth, who had huddled together. Every word that came out of her mouth dripped with disgust and anger. "She could have died because of your stupidity! What would you have done then, huh?"

Larkwing lashed her tail furiously. The kits were already terrified anyway. That was punishment enough. Hopefully they wouldn't sneak away again so quickly after this incident.

"She seems to have forgotten about me." Unnoticed, Crowshadow had appeared next to Larkwing. The old former SnowClan she-cat watched the scene in front of her expressionlessly.

"I'm worried about how she treats her kits," Larkwing added quietly.

After preaching to Phoebe and Amaranth, Topaz seemed to finally become aware of Larkwing's and Crowshadow's presence again. For a moment she flashed a warning glare at the two she-cats, then she pushed her kits in front of her and stomped off without another word.

Larkwing was so taken aback by this that she just stood there with her mouth open, probably looking like a carp sticking its slippery head out of the water.

"I guess she doesn't like the phrase 'thank you'," Crowshadow commented aloud, snapping Larkwing back into the real world. "Hm, a pity really. Hate makes even the most beautiful cat as ugly as a shrivelled berry."

In silence, Larkwing agreed with her. Then she remembered, hot as blazes, and as if she had fallen into a wasp's nest, Larkwing jumped up. "Damned mousedung!" she exclaimed. "I really need to tell you something."

Crowshadow turned her ears forward curiously. "What is it? Anything interesting?"

Bouncing impatiently from one paw to the other, Larkwing nodded. "Yes. But I have to tell everyone. Come with me!"

Without a care for Crowshadow, Larkwing dashed off. Her heart pulsed with all its might as she darted between the ruins as if she were being controlled. Once she almost collided with another cat, who she thought she recognised as Moth. However, she didn't have time to think about it and so, with a hastily muttered "Sorry!", she simply ran on.

Completely out of breath, Larkwing burst through the thicket — and fell over a pile of fur the next moment. Dazed, she blinked, stretching out all paws. Somewhere behind her, she heard a muffled growl.

"Seriously, is it custom in RoseClan to wake others up like that?" With narrowed yellow eyes, Splashfur looked at Larkwing from behind the hairs of his tail. Apparently he had been sleeping soundly until just now.

You lived in our camp for a while yourself, so you should know all about our wake-up customs. Larkwing refrained from sharing this snarky thought with the reddish-cream tom. She energetically poked him in the flank with her nose. "Where did the rest go?" she wanted to know.

Shaking out his fur, Splashfur pulled himself to his paws. "How am I supposed to know?" he grumbled offended and licked his chest fur smooth.

Larkwing was already halfway out again. "Then find them!" she snapped at him. "And bring them here. There's something I found out about this stone."

As soon as the word 'stone' was uttered, all grumpiness vanished from Splashfur's expression and he left the den before Larkwing did.

Feeling a tug in her chest, Larkwing also set off in search. She had to hurry, otherwise the memory would disappear completely and forever.

It was relatively easy to find Leafwind and Cloverdapple. When she returned to the fallen tree, she saw that the rest of the reconnaissance patrol had already gathered there as well. Out of habit, Larkwing's gaze immediately wandered to Lakepelt, who had settled on the tree trunk with his paws tucked under and his bushy tail hanging down loosely, scrutinising her thoroughly with his icy blue eyes.

A shudder made Larkwing's fur bristle. Just don't think about it... Just don't think about it!, she told herself again and again as she tried to shut out the memory of how she had had that sudden fit earlier.

I wanted to kill him.

Like a bolt of lightning, this cruel thought shot through Larkwing's body, leaving burning marks. No, I must not think like that. This thing... this something that had gained control over me wanted it. It was using me to—

"So, why did you want us to come here so quickly?" Redleaf tilted his head.

Larkwing turned her gaze away from Lakepelt. Without realising it, she had started to breathe faster and choppily. "I think there's more to this Ancient Stone than we thought," she began, then summarised what she could remember. Unfortunately, her memory had faded to the point where she only knew that she had been in the MoonClan camp, but not what had happened there.

As soon as she had finished her story, Larkwing was greeted by Crowshadow with a doubtful look. "Are you sure it wasn't just some kind of... I don't know, dream?" she asked.

Exasperated, Larkwing wanted to object, but then she hesitated. Crowshadow might be right, a voice in her subconscious whispered. It felt like a dream. It was weird like a dream. You don't know how it has happened. Maybe you wanted to believe so much that the Ancient Stone has a purpose after all that your brain made something up.

"Well, I could've been mistaken..." Avoiding to look at her patrolmates, Larkwing stared at her paws. Now that she had told them everything, it seemed like a nonsensical made-up tale to her.

"Dreams don't work like that." Cloverdapple spoke to Larkwing, but looked sideways at Crowshadow. "Maybe you should go there again and see if you can repeat it somehow. And then you need to focus on remembering as much as you can."

Larkwing's fur bristled at the thought of going back to the cave again. Still, she realised that Cloverdapple was right, and not just because he was a medicine cat. She had only just scratched the surface of the stone's power. Now it was up to her to explore its whole mysterious nature.