Edited ✔️

Okay everyone, I am sorry for the long wait in this new update. But I have great news to share—school is officially out and I am up and at 'em again! I've ended all my test scores with something higher than 85% (I got a 96 on my English, specifically), which is AWESOME, and I've been improving my writing in secret for this past month. Well anyways, since you guys have had a long wait, I'm going to try to update at least two (if fortunate, more) chapters before July starts. Icetail's Enemy will be complete very shortly, and then I will begin the sequel to the book. Thank y'all for sticking to this book for so long! To show my thanks, I'll write my best for these last few chapters ^o^

Murmurs rippled throughout the Clan as soon as Icestar finished his announcements. Deep down, he was hoping he made the right decision . . . because if not, the fate and blood of all of his Clanmates will be in his paws. They were his responsibility, after all. He kept a watchful eye on all of his friends, wondering what they were thinking about it. Finally, he met Silverleaf's gaze. Her light blue eyes shone of approval.

Icestar felt a bit relieved.

Ashtail stood up from his spot. "I'm with Icestar!" he called, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Me too," Swiftbreeze yowled at an instant.

Sagepelt brought her kits closer to her, and her chin rose high. "I will fight too!" she declared.

Cats in the crowd exchanged glances. Sharpfang stood up too. "I will support you, Icestar," called the senior warrior. "DarkClan will not beat us!"

Amberpaw and Blackpaw were fidgeting with eagerness, and Goldenpaw was shrinking by her brother's side, obviously scared. "MoonClan! MoonClan!" chanted the apprentices, excluding Goldenpaw, and in a moment, the whole Clan began to chant along with them. "MoonClan! MoonClan! MoonClan!"

A whole weight lifted off of Icestar's shoulders. From the Moonrock, he could see that Stripeeyes was in the elder's den with a disapproving look on his face. Goldenpaw trembled in her spot. Some cats don't approve, he thought sadly. But we will fight this battle; most of the Clan wants to, and so do I. He remembered Silverleaf's words about their kits. Her desire to protect them buried deep in his heart.

When the chanting died down, Icestar began to speak again. "In a moon at our next gathering, I will ask CloudClan for their assistance if we need it," he said. "I don't like being in anyone's debts, but for the sake of our own Clan, we have to beat DarkClan."

Ashtail looked up at Icestar. "May I have permission to speak?" asked his deputy.

Icestar nodded. "You may. Come here so that everyone can hear you."

Ashtail began to make his way up the Moonrock, climbing gracefully up the steep stones. When he had taken his place besides Icestar, he cleared his throat and raised his voice high. "We will need to form more training patrols," he said, glancing around. "Our apprentices must know the advanced skills of a warrior by two moons, and we have to secure our camp as much as we possibly can. Even our kits must learn to defend themselves."

Ashtail looked over to the nursery, glancing at Shadekit and Berrykit. Eagerness lit up in the both of their eyes, and Sagepelt seemed to become uncomfortable with the idea by the look on her face.

Icestar heard the knowledge of the seasoned warrior's voice. He was right. Ashtail had fought in a real war before, thought the leader. Most of the senior warriors had. We will need their guidance in every step of this.

"We will also need a battle strategy," Ashtail went on. "When the day comes, we will have to have an ambush ready, and our whole territory grounds secured."

"I'll defend our camp and help the other elders regain their strength," Mousetail said. "I haven't been an elder myself for too long, so my warrior skills are still fresh. Stripeeyes needs to re-learn battle moves since his vision is not that great, so I will teach him and the others."

Stripeeyes snarled. "I can fight well, thank you very much!"

Icestar ignored the rude elder and dipped his head to Mousetail. "Thank you. I'm sure you will be successful."

Nightrose stood taller. "I'll take care of securing the camp," she said. "I'll make it that it'll be easy to exit, but hard to enter."

"I'll help Nightrose," Fireshade called.

"As will I," Thrushclaw called. "I may be an elder, but I am sure that I will be defending our camp as well."

Icestar nodded with approval. His Clanmates were already forming preparations, even though he had just told everyone of his plans. He was glad that every cat was taking this seriously. "And," he meowed, "Sagepelt will be in charge of taking care of the nursery."

"I can defend it too, just as well as Sagepelt will," Silverleaf called, her voice a little snappy.

"I'm asking Sagepelt because she's not expecting kits," Icestar said back in the same tone of voice.

The queen silenced, though her expression gleamed with defiance. He tried to ignore it; of course she'd get mad at him for saying that. She'll just have to get over it until the kits were born.

"And starting tomorrow, we will begin our training," Icestar continued, forcing himself to look away from his mate. "In two moons, we have to be ready. Our Clan is small in comparison to DarkClan, but they are not unbeatable."

Goldenpaw was still shivering. "I-I don't want to fight," she whimpered, loud enough for Icestar to hear.

Nightrose, her mother, ran up by her, pressing her pelt to her daughter's to comfort her. Icestar gave Goldenpaw a stern look and began to speak. "It's understandable that fighting in a war at such a young age is tough, but you must. You will have to be brave, like Amberpaw and Blackpaw."

"Icestar, I'll talk to her," Nightrose said.

"No!" Goldenpaw meowed, snapping away from her mother. "Just leave me alone." She clambered into her nest in the apprentice den, and Icestar took a deep breath.

"Everyone is dismissed," he announced. "We have a long day tomorrow, so I suggest that everyone should rest up."

For a moment, cats were speaking softly to each other, but everyone began to disperse in their dens. Nightrose reluctantly returned to her guard post outside the camp, although she looked back to the apprentice's den at her upset daughter. Blackpaw went after Goldenpaw, his tired eyes concerned. Every other warrior, including the elders, went back to their dens, and Sweetheart was giving Icestar a look as if she wanted to talk.

Ashtail turned his gaze over to Icestar as well. "You did the right thing," mewed his deputy, his voice low. "Goldenpaw will come around eventually."

"I hope so," Icestar murmured.

"I must go to sleep now. We all have a long day tomorrow, and I will have to wake up early to assign patrols," Ashtail explained.

"Go ahead, and goodnight." He gave his deputy a friendly look before Ashtail climbed down the stones of the Moonrock with caution. The cold snow almost had made him slip, but he successfully leaped onto the ground. Icestar followed his deputy, with his tail out evenly to balance himself down on the rocks.

Ashtail departed ways when he went to make his way to the warriors den, and Icestar fell into the safety of the leader's den inside the Moonrock. He was sleepy, and his paws were heavy as he stepped inside. Relieved, he lied down on his nest, becoming more and more exhausted.

Moments passed until Icestar finally went to sleep.

* * *

Icestar stalked a mouse in the undergrowth, his tail carefully above the ground and his eyes straight on the small brown creature. His mouth watered from hunger, and he took a step closer. With a leap, he pounced onto the mouse, killing it successfully with a blow to the neck.

"Yes!" the leader said triumphantly, keeping his voice low in case there was anymore prey around. He buried his mouse under a bush along with the squirrel he managed to kill, and went off back into the cover of the undergrowth and dead trees. He could already taste the scent of a thrush. He wondered what a bird would be doing here so far into leaf-bare. Most birds usually left during leaf-fall to get away from the cold.

Icestar watched as he saw his apprentice skillfully stalk it on the sensitive snow. She waited for a moment before leaping at it, but unfortunately she landed just a whisker away from it, and it had noticed her and began to flap its wings frantically, though it did not take off.

Surprised, Icestar watched and realized that the bird's wing was at a weird angle, clearly broken. Amberpaw scrambled up and noticed it too, her eyes widening. She did not move from her spot. What is she doing? thought Icestar. She should be catching it!

He was about to leap at the bird himself, until his apprentice realized what she was doing. She ran for the bird before it got too far, and pinned down the wing that wasn't broken. "Everything will be okay," Icestar heard her whisper to the suffering creature, before giving it a quick killing bite. She stared at its broken wing right after it was dead.

Icestar padded out of the undergrowth, revealing his spot as soon as she set it to the ground. "Well done, Amberpaw," he praised her. "I thought you weren't going to go for the kill."

"You were watching?" she asked.

"The whole thing," Icestat replied, bending down to give his apprentice an encouraging and comforting lick behind her ear. "It's okay that the bird was suffering, you just put it out of its misery. It will do good to the Clan by feeding us."

Amberpaw nodded. "I know. The very thought made me kill it. I just . . . felt bad for it. Fresh-kill are alive like us, so I just couldn't imagine what it went through."

"We need to have all of our strength for when the day of the battle comes," he reminded her. "Prey is what gives us strength, so I am proud of you."

Amberpaw beamed, and picked up her thrush just as a rustle sounded in the dead bush branches behind him. He turned swiftly to see Blackpaw's tall figure squeezed through the small opening uncomfortably before meeting with Amberpaw and Icestar.

"I caught something too," he boasted as soon as he emerged into the clearing, holding up a plump vole in pride. "Sagepelt's kits will love this. They eat fresh-kill now, right?"

Icestar nodded. "That's a great vole, and I believe so." He remembered Sharpfang watching his kits with pride as they ate their first bites of prey. Sagepelt's milk was running out, so she had no choice but to give them a new option of fresh-kill, which they were very excited about. "By the way, have you see Goldenpaw anywhere? I think it is time we get going back to camp."

"I passed by her a while ago," Blackpaw said, turning to look over his back. "I last saw her over there." The black-furred apprentice was pointing with his tail to a shallow scoop in the ground that was filled with snow. Small branches stuck out of the snow, and paw-prints covered the ground. They were faint, as he noticed that the snow had fallen slightly inside the deep, small prints.

"I haven't seen her since we all departed from one another," Amberpaw put in.

Icestar padded over to where Blackpaw had pointed, but his ears raised in alarm when he realized that the scent was faint. "She hasn't been here. She left a while ago, Blackpaw," Icestar told him.

"Goldenpaw told me she'd meet us back here," replied Blackpaw.

Amberpaw tilted her head. "Maybe Goldenpaw had to make dirt?" she suggested.

"No cat makes dirt for that long," Blackpaw snapped in reply.

"Maybe she found something good to hunt, and chased it away. She might be coming back right now," Amberpaw went on. Her eyes were hopeful.

Icestar shook his head. "No. This scent is too faint for that. How long ago did you last see her here, Blackpaw?"

"Since the birds stopped singing. We passed by each other; the sun was barely above the trees."

"Perhaps she went ahead to camp . . ." Icestar murmured. "We must go and see."

"But what if she is in the forest?" Amberpaw said with a fearful tone. "She could be anywhere!"

"I'm sure she went to camp," Icestar comforted. "Hopefully she did."

* * *

By the time Icestar reached the camp, he had three pieces of prey in his mouth even though he had originally caught a mouse and a squirrel. Right near the camp, a second mouse had ran right under his paws, and he managed to swiftly kill it by accidentally stepping on it. Blackpaw called it luck, and Amberpaw was wildly impressed when she saw it happen. He dropped the two mice and the squirrel on the fresh-kill pile, and Amberpaw dropped off her thrush. Blackpaw, having caught a vole and a starling, left his prey there and bounded off to Flameheart near the warrior's den.

Icestar left his spot, following Amberpaw. He ended up by the apprentice's den. "Goldenpaw, are you here?" called Amberpaw. She looked inside the den, and so did Icestar, but it was empty. "Goldenpaw . . .?"

"She must be with some cat," Icestar suggested. "Let's keep looking."

"She's nowhere!" Amberpaw murmured, clawing the ground. "Not in the forest, not in camp!"

At an instant, both Blackpaw and Flameheart raced by Icestar. The leader was startled for a heartbeat at the suddenness of the two toms, but he straightened his back. "Yes?" he asked them.

Flameheart was the one to speak. "Goldenpaw hasn't been here ever since she left with you to go on the hunting patrol," he said, his eyes worried. "She's clearly lost somewhere in the forest." He gestured with his nose to Fireshade and Nightrose, who were talking side-by-side with one another, their gazes scanning the camp worriedly. Nightrose turned and looked at Icestar right in the eyes.

His pelt struck with fear. She suspects that Goldenpaw is gone! he thought with worry. Nightrose got up from her spot, and padded over to Icestar, Flameheart and the apprentices. "Icestar," she meowed, her tone a tad sharp, "where is my daughter?"

"Nightrose, Goldenpaw's missing!" Amberpaw blurted out. Nightrose's eyes widened. "We searched and we searched but we—"

"Amberpaw!" Icestar scolded.

"Is this true?" asked Nightrose. The black she-cat's pelt was bristling. Fireshade, obviously sensing the tone of the conversation, padded up to join them as well. He looked concerned.

Icestar sighed, and nodded. "Yes, well, I don't know for sure. She might still be out hunting, but after looking and waiting for some time, we could not find her. Blackpaw told her where to return when she finished hunting, and at a specific time, too." He stopped himself for a moment before reluctantly adding, "We thought—err, I thought she came back to camp ahead of us, so we came here."

"But you can't find her," Nightrose said, her voice bitter.

"It's not Icestar's fault!" Amberpaw meowed, standing up to her mentor's defense. "I-I think that she was scared of battle, and she ran away."

Fireshade's eyes angered. "Amberpaw! How dare you have such thoughts about your own sister!"

"It might be true though," Blackpaw put in. "Ever since this morning she looked different. I know it hasn't been long since Icestar made the announcement, but when we woke up . . . I don't know, she was just different."

Nightrose shrunk down. "My poor daughter," whispered the she-cat, and shut her eyes.

Fireshade brushed his pelt to her's in a comforting way. "We have to find her as soon as possible," he demanded. "We can't leave Goldenpaw stranded outside of camp. She could have gotten chased by a fox or a badger, or even captured by—"

"Don't say it," Icestar snapped, before Fireshade said DarkClan. He hoped that Dewstar's Clan had nothing to do with it this time. They had enough troubles in the past, and now a war coming up in the future. If something were to happen to the two Clans now that every cat was not ready, destruction upon MoonClan would be for certain, and Icestar would have to give up his home and flee the territory since he refused to give up his friends.

"We must find her," Fireshade went on, casting a glance down at his mate, "before something bad happens to her."

* * *

All through sunhigh, Icestar led the search patrol through the forest. The sun was going down by now, and he was tired since he had to work his muscles all through the afternoon. His paws stung as the ice cold snow got through his paw pads, and the wind whipped uncomfortably at his face, indicating that another storm was soon to come. Amberpaw wandered ahead, following Nightrose as they looked through all possible spots where Goldenpaw could be hiding. They couldn't even pick up a fresh scent of her, and Icestar felt that he was slowly giving up hope.

Beside him, Fireshade confidently looked around, while Flameheart went off into a close patch of frozen dead grass, trying to pick up a scent from there. Icestar himself was keeping his ears pricked and his eyes alert, closely looking at good places where the apprentice might be hiding. He felt terrible.

If only I were a better leader, Goldenpaw would be more confident, he thought sadly. She wouldn't be so scared of war, and she wouldn't have ran away.

He looked down to his paws. Sharpfang padded by his side. "Why do you look so bad?" asked the older tom.

"It's my fault." Icestar gave a deep sigh, his warm breath turning into mist in the frozen air. "I should of never—"

Sharpfang snorted with disgust, cutting Icestar off. "You're not a sorry excuse for a leader, and it's not your fault Goldenpaw chose run away." He looked at the dead forest trees. "If anything, it was she who decided to run away."

You wouldn't know, Icestar thought bitterly.

"You will be a sorry excuse for a leader if you don't find her," went on the senior warrior. "Nightrose is devastated enough."

"I know that!" Icestar snapped. "I can imagine."

A few more moments of silence passed by, before a loud voice cut through the air.

"Goldenpaw!" yowled Amberpaw, her voice projecting through the trees of the forest. For a moment, Icestar himself was startled, until he realized that it was only his apprentice being obnoxious again.

He suddenly became aggravated. She can't go off yowling like that! She'll scare every piece of prey in the forest, or worse, give out their position to an uninvited enemy. "Amberpaw," Icestar snapped, before she could yell like that again. "Keep your voice down!"

Amberpaw whimpered. "But we can't find Goldenpaw anywhere!" she exclaimed. Her pelt was bristling with frustration, and her gaze was engulfed with a worried look.

Nightrose padded up to her an pressed her pelt to her daughter's in a comforting manner. "Don't worry," whispered the she-cat. "We'll find your sister no matter what. I won't stop until she's safe and sound back in camp."

"Me neither," Fireshade assured, while Sharpfang gave a nod of agreement. Even though they were trying to comfort her, Amberpaw still looked distressed.

The small apprentice sighed. "Isn't it easier to call out for her?" she asked. "That way, Goldenpaw will hear us and we won't have to go looking everywhere for her."

Flameheart shook his head. "We can't go off doing that. We can risk many things by letting ourselves be known by our surroundings." His voice was low. "There can be a fox somewhere for all we know, and if we drive it towards us, it will be harder to find Goldenpaw. Don't you think?"

Amberpaw looked down to her paws. "Yeah, I guess," she mumbled.

Icestar was surprised. I've never seen her this sad before, he realized, keeping his eyes fixed on the young she-cat. She and her sister must be very close. He sighed. I hope Goldenpaw turns out to be okay . . .

"Let's keep searching," Flameheart urged her. Amberpaw nodded and padded on ahead with Nightrose on her tail. Fireshade went off into a different direction, but Flameheart and Sharpfang stood by Icestar's side.

He pricked his ears once more to listen to the forest around him. The only sound to be heard was his own Clanmates as they exchanged soft murmurs, searching through the bushes and the undergrowth for a clue of Goldenpaw's whereabouts. Icestar himself was getting more discouraged and scared, knowing that he was the one to announce the war in the first place.

Up ahead, Fireshade stopped in his tracks. "I . . . I think I scent something!" he gasped. "It's fresher than the other scents we picked up." Eagerly, he turned to Icestar. "There might even be a trail!"

"A trail?" Sharpfang asked with curiosity.

Icestar opened his jaws and smelled the spot that Fireshade had caught. It was fresh with Goldenpaw's scent, with faint paw tracks lining the snow on the ground.

Nightrose jumped from her spot, Amberpaw following eagerly. "Let's go!" meowed the she-cat warrior. "She could be in trouble!"

She was about to charge from her spot, until Icestar leaped in front of her. "No, wait Nightrose," he said, standing in her way.

"What do you think you're doing?" she snapped, her eyes blazing with anger. "My daughter is out there all alone, and I have to find her!" Icestar didn't move from his spot, and her eyes darkened. "I respect you, Icestar, but don't make me force you."

Icestar shook his head. "I'll go at it alone." He turned and looked at Amberpaw, Sharpfang, Fireshade and Nightrose in turn. "She ran away because she's scared of war, and I think I'm the only one who can talk to her." It's my fault she got upset anyways, he thought.

"That's no reason! She's still my daughter," Nightrose objected, "and I'm going!"

Icestar's fur bristled. "This is something I have to do. She clearly went this way, so I'll go get her back myself. Too many cats once out of camp is dangerous." He turned his stern gaze on Amberpaw. "And you're not following me."

"I-I wasn't even planning to!" she gasped. Icestar could clearly tell that it was a lie.

He looked at Fireshade, wondering what the tom had in mind. "I won't go against you," he decided. "Leader's word is law, after all."

"If it's something you have to do, I won't follow you either," Sharpfang agreed, while Flameheart nodded as well. "I'll lead everyone back to camp by dusk if we don't meet up by then. We will keep searching."

Icestar nodded of approval. "Hopefully she is not far," he told them, before picking up the scent-trail that Fireshade had found. He knew that Goldenpaw's parents and sister wanted to go with him to find her, but he knew that her being away was his fault, and he wanted to make up for it in the best way he could. He hoped that she was okay. "I'll meet you back in camp," he said to the search party, before following the trail as carefully as he could.

A bad feeling clung to his chest, even though his hopes were slowly rising once more. Oh Goldenpaw, please tell me you're okay, he thought as he followed Goldenpaw's fresh scent.