As the patrol prowled close nearby, the kitten in the ditch began to wail again.
Brightpaw heard it first. Raising her head, the gray-and-white she-cat angled her ears toward the other side of the stone wall. Her orange eyes were bright as she caught the wail again.
Unsheathing her claws, the apprentice leaped up to the wall, digging her claws into it and hiking up to its top, where dull gray bricks had been lain in a long, perfect row, one that seemed to stretch out endlessly towards the horizon.
Peering at the other side of the fence, she saw a thin brown kitten with matted fur laying in a small ball in a circular ring in the ground. Its amber eyes were dull and weak with hunger and pain.
Glancing over at the patrol, who had stopped and were starting to look for Brightpaw, the apprentice knew she had no other choice. Closing her eyes, she inhaled sharply and leaped off the wall.
Landing neatly on the dirt by the edge of the ditch, Brightpaw gently prodded the kitten, which wailed again, slightly louder this time. Lowering her head, she gripped the kit by its scruff and turned back towards the wall.
Ridiculous Twolegs, digging weird rings and leaving kittens in them. Great StarClan.
Rolling her eyes, the longhair apprentice leaped back up to the top of the wall, digging her claws into the stone once again. She had almost reached the top of the wall on her leap, and scrabbled against the stone, hauling herself back to the top of the wall.
Addertail, the leader of the patrol, looked up to Brightpaw.
"Brightpaw! Why in the name of StarClan did you go down there- wait, is that a kit?"
The other two members of the patrol, Cherryflight and Sandfang, glanced over at Brightpaw. The older cats easily made out the lump of brown against Brightpaw's gray-and-white fur.
"Great StarClan, that is a kit!" exclaimed Sandfang, hopping up to the top of the wall. "I'll take it."
Brightpaw smiled, lowering the kit onto the wall. It let out a small wail as it hit the stone, and again as Sandfang took it by the scruff.
Springing back to ground level, the two cats returned to the patrol.
Addertail examined the kit, green eyes bright.
"Two or three moons old, I'd guess." He looked up to Brightpaw. "Where was it?"
"In a ditch on the other side of the wall," the apprentice replied. The kit wailed pitifully and Brightpaw's orange eyes narrowed. "Come on, let's get it back to camp."
Addertail nodded. "Come on, everyone."
Turning away from the wall separating the Clans from the abandoned Twolegplace, the four set off toward home.
"Dustfeather!"
Brightstar smiled weakly as the lithe brown she-cat appeared by her side, amber eyes bright.
"Thanks," Brightstar mewed as she swatted her claws across a gray warrior's muzzle.
For moons, war had gripped IceClan and RainClan with deadly talons, at first small skirmishes during border patrols, but eventually full-on battles. This would be the last of the fights, the one that would decide which Clan was better, which would return home bearing the spoils of victory.
Brightstar grinned as Dustfeather lashed her claws down a ginger she-cat's flank and bit into a black tom's shoulder, sending both reeling. Tackling a dark-colored tabby, Brightstar slashed her hind claws into its belly, feeling blood well up at their tips.
Leaping off the tabby, Brightstar fought off another warrior and raised her head proudly as she saw the RainClan cats beginning to retreat.
"Dustfeather! We've won! We-"
The longhair she-cat broke off at the sight of her friend.
Dustfeather was laying on her side, blood pouring into a pool from two large wounds, one on her belly, one on her neck.
Falling to the ground, Brightstar prodded Dustfeather and the day they met tumbled terribly into her mind, the day she'd been an apprentice and Dustfeather a kitten in a ditch.
"D-Dustfeather…no! No, please, Dustfeather, don't go! I need you! I was going to make you my deputy, and someday a leader after me! Please, Dustfeather, don't leave me."
Dustfeather's amber eyes slowly opened. "I'm…I'm sorry, Brightstar," she croaked, letting out a shuddering gasp. "I'm sorry I…can't do that for you. Especially…when you've done so much for me."
Brightstar's eyes were bright with desperation. "Please, Dustfeather. We can take you to Birchberry. He'll heal you right up. Please."
"No…good…goodbye, Brightstar."
Dustfeather's head slowly drooped back onto the dirt floor of the clearing, and a small breath of air pushed out of her.
Her last breath.
The very, very last.
Brightstar slowly reached out a paw and laid it on Dustfeather's, the one that was held out to her.
Goodbye, old friend.
Goodbye.
