The long, steep path leading up to the camp had never felt this long.
Iceglade sighed, her eyes downcast and fixated on her paws as she slowly trudged up the path lined with imprints of cat paws that had sunk deep into the mud. The smell in the air was calm and damp as a heavy fog rolled in off the coast after a quarter-moon of nothing but heavy rain.
The grassy, rolling hills that lined the sides of the cliff's sloping and gently curving sides were drenched in small droplets of rain water. A spider's web, meticulously built with the arachnid's finest, silky and nearly transparent thread was dotted with droplets of rain, their reflective surfaces casting small spectrums over her bulky black body as she crawled across its surface, waiting for her next meal.
Iceglade shifted her dull, downcast eyes up to stare ahead blankly as the path came to a gradual end. She knew what was coming and what sort of trouble she'd be in.
She cautiously glanced over at her best friends, Crookedshadow, Distantpeak, and Needlesong as they trudged along with her, all of them looking either upset, disappointed, aggravated, or everything all at once.
Iceglade cleared her throat. "Needlesong?" she asked in a polite voice.
"What?" The brown and black mottled she-cat asked, narrowing her eyes.
Iceglade cringed slightly, hoping for a better response from her friend. "Is your leg okay?" She questioned in a small, quiet voice, her gaze falling on her back right leg which was twisted at a painful looking angle and oozing slightly with crimson red blood.
"What do you think? I got attacked by a badger, Iceglade! A badger!" she snapped, stumbling as Distantpeak helped her walk by allowing her to lean against his shoulder.
Crookedshadow shot the she-cat a cold glance and came to stand closer to Iceglade. "Need I remind you that it wasn't her fault that you decided we go wandering out of the camp so late at night?" He growled.
Needlesong went silent for a moment, her breathing slightly laboured from the effort it took to limp up the incline. "I never said it was her fault... When did it become your priority to be so protective of her anyways?" She grumbled.
"Since you started taking your anger out on her like an insecure little kit." he replied suavely, brushing his tail across Iceglade's back quickly while glaring at Needlesong coldly.
Needlesong grunted but didn't say anything more as they finally reached the top of the steep hill.
When the reached the top, all four cats looked down at their clan camp. Below them spread a lush green forest, dense treetops obscuring the inside of it almost completely. A small, winding path led into the thick forest. It was a bit worn down, but the tall grass that grew along the side of the hill covered most of it, making it look like nothing had ever even passed through. That was the way the clan always liked to stay; hidden from everything and everyone else.
Crookedshadow led the way down, followed by Iceglade, then Distantpeak and Needlesong.
For the rest of the way, no one said anything more to one another. Whether it was because none of them wanted to bring up their misadventure again, or because they were all too exhausted to say anything at all was uncertain.
When the foursome reached the large Twoleg stone ruins in which their Clan had made their camp, Crookedshadow suddenly spoke up.
"Now then," He started, turning towards the others. "Distantpeak, you take Needlesong to the Medicine Cat den and see if Sootpelt can fix her up. No one is to speak of what happened. If anyone asks, simply tell them that Needlesong got attacked in the SlateClan territory. Not out. Understood?"
All three of them nodded and dispersed.
Iceglade fell into place beside Crookedshadow and sighed, her head hanging low as her eyes were fixated on the ground beneath her paws. "It's all my fault." She mumbled, screwing her eyes shut tightly. "If I had just stayed with the group and listened for once, then Needlesong would be fine, and we wouldn't even be in this situation right now."
"Hey, it's alright..." Crookedshadow meowed in a soothing tone. "It wasn't your fault that badger attacked Needlesong. In fact, you saved her life by pulling off that stunt. She has you to thank that she still has her leg!" He sat down beside his friend and smiled softly at her.
Iceglade sighed heavily, a tiredness her her greyish-blue orbs. "Still, it's my fault that it happened." she muttered in a somber voice.
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will seem much better after you get some rest." Crookedshadow purred, flicking his thick, black-tipped tail towards the Warrior den where most of the cats were still sleeping, as Sunup had just barely begun.
"Hmm, I hope so." Iceglade grumbled indifferently, stalking off into the Warrior den, falling onto her side to finally get some rest.
Maybe Crookedshadow was right, and things would seem better in the morning. They couldn't get any worse...
Right?
Greetings, darlings!
Let me start off my apologizing for not updating in what seems like a lifetime. I have been a little preoccupied with my other, more personal writings, as well as the meticulous task of homework, school, and of course, the odd role play.
Anyways, enough about that, this is a new story I wanted to get started on for quite some time now, and I just wanted to just take a little breather from Counting Every Echo at the moment. (As I have a terrible case of writer's block on that at the moment.)
But other then that, I hope you all enjoyed this wasp nest of dialogue, and I promise, things will get interesting very soon.
P.S: For anyone wondering, yes, this is taking place in the Counting Every Echo world. As all my stories pretty much do, considering that more will be published, and each of them, if you look closely enough, will hint at one another and possible even connect in major ways.
If you survived this massive author's note, then I tip my hat to you! xD
~Ciao