12/09/2012
A/N: New chapter time! We're back to the Wings for now, and no, the Elites don't get food poisoning (though it would be convenient, I guess).
Thanks to Runningfur, Swiftstorm of Forestclan, Snowsong of SnowClan and Pumkinfur for your reviews! In response for Snow, I have no clue, and the cats ate all of the chinese food, sorry (hey, isn't it ironic that I had Chinese food for tea last night? xD ). And to Pumkinfur, I try to update every other day or so.
Anyway, on with the show, and Warriors doesn't belong to me (yet…)!
xXx
Chapter Nine : Toadfoot's POV
Toadfoot sighed, lying beside Mallownose's stiff body. Petalfur had insisted they hold a proper vigil for him. The former RiverClan she-cat was heartbroken.
That's why it's dangerous to love.
He'd always thought it. Since his sibling, Marshpaw, had died, he had loved nobody. He was still friends with people of course- mainly his sister, Applefur- but he didn't love them. He wouldn't be heartbroken when they died. Everybody thought he was rather cold, and cruel; but in reality, he was trying not to get hurt. Things didn't always work out- and he didn't want to be the one suffering.
Dawn came. He nudged Petalfur. "Come on," he whispered. "It's time to move." She looked up at him, eyes full of sorrow, and nodded.
Her voice was barely a whisper. "I never got the chance to tell him how I felt."
He gave her a sad smile. Then he raised his voice. "Come on, everybody! It's time to leave!"
Nobody but him seemed up to the job of leading the patrol. As they flew up into the sky, he thought he heard a cat yowl in the distance.
Nobody else seemed to have heard it, and he shrugged.
"Toadfoot," Applefur called as she caught up to him. "How long till we get there?"
"About two days away, I'd say," he mewed, glancing at the ever-nearing plane on the horizon. "If we fly as fast as we can until sunhigh, maybe we'll get to it tomorrow morning. We'll have a small rest and eat, and then we'll set off. We'll camp again at sunset. Hopefully they wont catch us up."
However, his plans were soon spoilt. "I need to rest," Hollowflight called. Toadfoot sighed, and landed in a large open field by a small brook. The cats lay down, resting their tiered wings.
He stood up. "Ferretclaw," he mewed, spotting his clanmate pawing at the grass in frustration. "Come for a walk with me?"
The cream-and-grey tom nodded. They padded downstream, happy in the friendly silence.
"Do you smell that?" Ferretclaw asked suddenly.
Toadfoot tasted the air, eyes widening in alarm. "That smells like-"
Suddenly Crowfrost leapt from the undergrowth and bowled Ferretclaw over. Toadfoot raced over to help, but Crowfrost had slit his former clanmate's throat.
Yowling in anger, Toadfoot bowled over Crowfrost. "Get out of here!" he hissed. "Never- ever- kill- another- of- our- cats- again!"
With each word, he lashed out at the black and white tom, who had struggled to his paws. With each claw-stroke, he stepped back. He then lost his balance and fell into the brook behind him. Eyes wide, Toadfoot peered over the edge. Crowfrost lay dead in the stream, blood streaming from where his head had hit a rock. He took a step back, grabbed Ferretclaw's scruff, and raced back to the others.
Dawnpelt let out a shocked yowl. "What happened?" she asked, bounding over. Toadfoot dropped Ferretclaw on the ground.
"We were ambushed by Crowfrost."
"Not again!" Petalfur cried. "First Mallownose, now this!"
"I took care of Crowfrost, though," Toadfoot added. "I chased him into the brook and he hit his head. I doubt he survived," he reasoned.
"Good," Tawnypelt mewed. "But we must leave straight away. We'll lay Ferretclaw in the stream. He'd like that."
Toadfoot grabbed his friend's scruff, and with Dawnpelt's help, hauled him into the brook. He lay there for a few heartbeats, before the current pulled him downstream, around a corner, and out of sight.
Nodding to the cats, he took into the sky, feeling a prick of sadness for his dead clanmate.
Ferretclaw was a good warrior, he thought, And I hope he'll be accepted in StarClan.
xXx
A/N: Aw, I just love that bit at the end! Ferretclaw does appear again later in the story, so if you're a fan of his, you wont be disappointed! Oh, and if you were wondering, when planning this story I took a leaf out of the Erin's book and started off planning which cats would die. Don't you just love it when characters die? Probably not. Anyway, R&R, and no planes! I mean flames! I'd like a plane! Except I'd bring my own food, as Airplane food makes me sick... anyway, where was I?
~Invisi