Circle of Life: Book 3: The Last Battle
A/N: So sorry about the delay! First I forgot for like three days, and then they shut down the log-in interface, so I couldn't get on, and by the time I remembered that I needed to post, it was Friday again, so I figured I'd just get back on schedule. :P
On another note, it's Friday! Friday! Gotta get down on Friday! ^.^ Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 9: Muddled
As soon as he got back from the patrol, Tanglepath knew that he had to tell Hawkwing about Shadowleaf's accusations. If Stormstar confronted them about it at the next Gathering, AmberClan would need to be ready.
The camp was quiet when Tanglepath got back. Hawkwing was lying in the center of the main clearing with Shadefoot and Lightjay, who seemed to be giving some sort of report. When Hawkwing saw Tanglepath's patrol coming through the camp entrance, she beckoned to him with her tail. Tanglepath dipped his head in acknowledgement, and turned to speak to Brownpaw.
"I want you to go clean out the elders' den," Tanglepath instructed him. "New bedding, food, and don't forget to check them for ticks. After that, you can grab some fresh-kill for yourself and get some rest."
Brownpaw made a face. "Elders' den?" he whined.
Tanglepath lashed his tail irritably. Couldn't he simply obey an order Tanglepath gave him without any of his mouth, just once? "Yes, the elders' den," he snapped at his apprentice. "And if I hear anything more about it, you'll be doing the nursery and the medicine den, too."
Brownpaw looked rebellious for a moment, and his eyes flashed with a hint of resentment, but he said nothing, and simply turned away, stalking off to the elders' den.
When Tanglepath turned to Wishsong, there was a gleam of amusement in her eyes. "What?" he demanded, annoyed.
Her whiskers twitched. "Nothing. You shouldn't keep Hawkwing waiting. You'll only get her angry. Go talk to her."
Tanglepath rolled his eyes, but touched his nose to his mate's and turned away.
"We chased them off, though," Lightjay was saying just as Tanglepath came up to join them.
"Chased off who?" he questioned.
Lightjay bared his teeth in a snarl. "There were a couple of rogues who thought that they could get away with stealing our prey, but Leafpelt, Cougarfur, and I took care of that little problem."
Tanglepath's eyes narrowed. "Is there anyone who isn't trying to steal our prey from us?"
The other three warriors frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about, Tanglepath?" Hawkwing asked.
Tanglepath quickly told them all about the dead fish they'd found, their meeting with Shadowleaf and Acornpaw on the NorthClan border, and, finally, what Shadowleaf had told him after the others had left.
His Clanmates were silent until he finished, but the moment that the last word had left his mouth, Lightjay exploded, "AmberClan would never steal prey!"
Shadefoot nodded. "And I don't believe that you would have done it, either," he added.
Hawkwing was staring at him seriously. "I would go tell Smallstar myself, but I think you should be there, as well."
Tanglepath hesitated. The last time that he'd had a private conversation with Smallstar was still fresh in his mind, and he wasn't so sure he wanted to have another.
"I'll go with you, of course," Hawkwing went on. Her ice blue eyes seemed to say: Trust me. They don't know about Smallstar.
Finally, keeping himself from letting out a nervous sigh, Tanglepath nodded. "Okay. Should we go now?"
Hawkwing got to her feet, quickly licking the back of one of her paws and drawing it over her face. "Probably," she said. "This is important, and Smallstar needs to know." She turned away, starting for the leader's den, and Tanglepath followed her.
Hawkwing stopped outside their leader's den. "Smallstar?" she called.
For a moment, there was no answer, and Tanglepath half-hoped that Smallstar was asleep, but then the AmberClan leader called, "Come in."
Taking a deep breath, Tanglepath followed Hawkwing inside the den. Almost as soon as he was in, though, he wanted to turn and run back out. Smallstar's eyes were dull and glassy, and his fur was matted and dirty. Tanglepath could see the black-and-white tom's ribs through his skin. On top of that, the scent of crowfood filled the air, and Tanglepath saw that the smell was coming from a rotting mouse that lay in the corner of the den.
"Smallstar," Hawkwing said, sounding disappointed. She almost sounded like she was about to lecture him. "You haven't been eating again."
Smallstar waved his tail dismissively. "I'm not hungry." His voice came out croaking and hoarse.
"You still need to eat." Hawkwing gingerly picked up the crowfood in her teeth and set it down outside the den, calling for someone to take it away and bury it.
Tanglepath turned to look back at Smallstar. The Clan leader's fierce amber eyes were fixed on him. "Hawkwing," he growled, "why have you brought this enemy warrior into our Clan?"
Hawkwing looked over at Smallstar, alarmed. "Smallstar, don't you remember? You yourself agreed to make Tanglepath and his mate, Wishsong, warriors of AmberClan."
Smallstar frowned at her. "Of course I know that. Why would you bring it up?"
Tanglepath didn't know how Hawkwing did it, keeping up with Smallstar's mood swings and topic changes, but she smoothly changed her ton and the direction of the conversation. She quickly filled Smallstar in on everything that had happened on Tanglepath's patrol.
"And some of NorthClan think that AmberClan cats, particularly Tanglepath here, have been the ones stealing her prey," Hawkwing finished. "I don't know why they think that, but they do. How will we deal with it?"
Smallstar's eyes narrowed. "So, Stormstar thinks he can place false blame on my Clan." He sprang to his paws. "The Clan must be informed," he said stiffly, and walked out. Tanglepath and Hawkwing swiftly exchanged a glance that was full of alarm.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Treestump for a Clan meeting!" Smallstar's voice reached them from outside, where they knew he would be standing on a stump in the middle of the camp clearing that hadn't grown for generations.
Hawkwing and Tanglepath hurried outside, the deputy in the lead. They stood outside Smallstar's den, watching from a distance as the AmberClan warriors gathered around Smallstar.
The black-and-white furred leader stared down imperiously at the gathered warriors, and then began to speak. "I have just been informed by Hawkwing and Tanglepath of a horrible and unfair accusation made against our Clan," he growled. "NorthClan has accused us of stealing their prey!"
Shocked gasps ran through the Clan. While Smallstar waited for them to settle down, Shadefoot and Lightjay hurried over to join Tanglepath and Hawkwing.
"What's going on?" Lightjay whispered. "Did you tell him?"
"Hush," Hawkwing snapped. "Just listen, and then we'll talk."
"But there is more to it than just that," Smallstar went on, his voice lowering in tone. "Not only have they falsely accused us of breaking the warrior code and taking their prey, but NorthClan has been stealing our prey!"
"What?" Shadefoot's jaw dropped.
Tanglepath was shocked. Next to him, he heard Hawkwing gasp, "No!"
"What's he talking about?" Lightjay hissed. "Tanglepath, you didn't say anything about NorthClan stealing our prey!"
"Because they haven't been stealing our prey!" Tanglepath hissed back. "I don't know why he said that!" But deep down, Tanglepath had a sneaking suspicion that he knew exactly what was going on. This was more than just Smallstar mixing up his facts or trying to stir up trouble with another Clan. It all started to fall into place—Smallstar's rapidly changing emotions, his trouble with staying on topic, and now this.
The AmberClan leader was going insane.
"How could they?" shouted Leafpelt, Lightjay's sister. Her amber eyes shone with anger. "Those traitors! And to think we've been standing with them against LightningClan for nothing!"
"We've been their allies since the beginning!" added Leafmoon, who was Brownpaw's mother. "Ever since Amberstar started this Clan and defended Northstar and his Clan against TreeClan! They owe us everything!"
Tanglepath felt a strong urge to leap forward and defend his birth Clan, to shout that it wasn't true, couldn't be true, but Hawkwing shot him a sharp glance. "Don't do it," she hissed. She glanced over at the other two. "Come with me. Tanglepath, get Wishsong and bring her, too."
Tanglepath quickly caught Wishsong's dismayed gaze and signaled for her to come over to him. She quickly joined him, and he whispered, "Come on, Hawkwing wants to talk to us." He led her towards where Hawkwing and the others were waiting on the other side of the warriors' den, just out of sight of the rest of the Clan.
He sat down with Wishsong pressed against him, and met Hawkwing's eyes. "Maybe we should all get our facts straight, first."
Hawkwing nodded her agreement. "All right. First off, let's make sure everyone of us here knows this: NorthClan did not steal our prey."
"Then why did Smallstar say they did?" Lightjay demanded. "He wouldn't lie to us!"
Hawkwing shook her head. "No, he wouldn't. But that's the problem. He isn't lying."
Shadefoot frowned in confusion. "How can he be telling the truth if NorthClan didn't steal our prey? That doesn't make sense."
"Because he doesn't realize that it's not true," Tanglepath murmured. He looked into Hawkwing's eyes and saw that she was surprised to realize that he knew that.
"Yes," she said, sounding a bit shaken. "Tanglepath's right. Smallstar doesn't know that what he's saying isn't true. He believes every word of it."
"Didn't you tell him that it's probably LightningClan?" Wishsong asked, perplexed.
"Yes, we did," Tanglepath told her. "But Smallstar's mind has been failing for a while now."
"All right, Tanglepath," Hawkwing said, sounding a bit irritated now. "Mind telling me how you know these things?"
He looked over at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, Hawkwing. It was just a theory at first, but everything that's happened lately, plus your reaction to everything he's been doing…" Tanglepath trailed off, shrugging.
"Wait, so he's right?" Shadefoot gasped, looking rapidly back and forth between Tanglepath and the AmberClan deputy.
Hawkwing sighed. "Yes. He is. Smallstar is losing his mind. Ever since Moonstar died last leafbare, he's gotten worse and worse. At first it was just little things, like remembering which mentor was training which apprentice. But then it got worse. He started mixing up litters of kits, and once he called me by the wrong name. But this…" Hawkwing glanced over her shoulder, towards the clearing where Smallstar was speaking. "This is the worst he's done so far."
"But he'll get better, won't he?" Lightjay looked worried, and it was the first time Tanglepath had ever heard him speak without anger or aggression in his voice.
The AmberClan deputy looked down at her paws. "I don't know," she confessed.
They were all nervously silent for a few moments.
"So what do we do?" Wishsong said finally, breaking the quiet.
They all looked to Hawkwing, but she hesitated. Tanglepath could see in her eyes that she honestly had no clue what they were supposed to do now, and someone had to take over before they could see her weakness.
"We fight for AmberClan," Tanglepath told them, straightening. He looked around, meeting each of their gazes in turn. They all looked surprised to hear the decision come from him, but he didn't let that stop him. "We can't back down, just because Smallstar is sick. We have to stick to the warrior code, and what does the warrior code say?"
"The leader's word is law," Shadefoot quoted quietly.
Tanglepath nodded. "Right. If Smallstar tells us to fight, we fight."
"But what if he tells us to fight NorthClan?" Wishsong murmured. "What if he tells us to do something that's wrong?"
Tanglepath closed his eyes, trying to strengthen his will, and then he opened them again. "First we try reasoning with him. And if that doesn't work…" He trailed off. "I think you all know."
"So we're fighting a war with our own leader," Shadefoot whispered.
"No." Hawkwing raised her chin, seeming to regain her strength. "We're not fighting any war. We're following the warrior code, protecting and preserving it like we all promised to do at our warrior ceremonies." She glanced around. "So it comes down to this: Who promises to stick to Smallstar's word, even if it means doing something we know is wrong?"
There was silence for a moment or two, and then Tanglepath spoke. "I do," he said, echoing the words apprentices said in their warrior ceremonies.
Recognition flashed in Wishsong's eyes. "I do," she agreed.
Lightjay and Shadefoot both said in unison, "I do."
Hawkwing nodded. "Then so be it."
A/N: Dramatic scene is dramatic. Leave a review!
Off to take over the world,
Crazy Girl