Chapter Nine

Shortpaw, accompanied by Longpaw, returned to WindClan. There was absolute silence as he entered the camp, until Gorsestar spotted the two apprentices. The two of them had spent the night on the WindClan border – it had been far too late to walk back and Shortpaw had hardly been able to stand. Even now he was shaking madly, the strength of his realization weighing down on him.

"Shortpaw! Longpaw!" Gorestar exclaimed, limping towards them. Immediately heads turned and the members of WindClan approached. "Have you been o… Longpaw, take Shortpaw to Barkface immediately." Shortpaw nodded slowly, and Longpaw escorted him to the medicine cat's den.

As soon as they entered, Barkface's eyes grew wide with shock. He had never seemed to have liked Shortpaw, but seeing him in this state there was nothing more he could do. He indicated for Longpaw to leave them alone. She looked hesitant, but left.

Barkface immediately gave Shortpaw some strengthening herbs, which he gulped down and immediately threw up. The medicine cat sighed with irritation.

"You're feverish. For now you might have to sleep the most of it off, but once you wake up I'll give you some herbs for fever. I'll get some poppy seeds for now…" He left Shortpaw to find the herbs. It was a short while before Barkface returned with the poppy seeds, but already Shortpaw was in a worse state.

Barkface sighed to himself and opened Shortpaw's mouth for him. "If you have a scrap of sanity left, try to chew these." Shortpaw slowly blinked in agreement between spasms. Barkface watched as the apprentice's fits became slower and more drawn out, and eventually fell to sleep. He smiled to himself and went back to sorting herbs.

* * *

"Clan meeting," Barkface grunted, prodding Shortpaw with the end of his paw. Shortpaw roused, and sleepily left the den. He felt much better…the fever had gone while he slept. His stomach still churned at the memories, but he was getting generally better. He followed Barkface to where Gorsestar was standing, already surrounded by an assembly of cats.

Longpaw greeted him as soon as she saw him. "Shortpaw, good to—"

"Hey, Shortpaw! Are you okay?" Brookpaw cut in quickly. Longpaw looked slightly startled.

"Uh, yeah…"

"What happened?" She asked, sounding incredibly worried.

"Don't worry about it too much," he replied. Brookpaw looked somewhat disappointed, but nodded.

"Good to see you're feeling better," Longpaw mewed kindly.

"Thanks," Shortpaw replied.

"If you're done, we'll start the Clan meeting now," Gorsestar interrupted patiently. Shortpaw turned his head away, embarrassed. "Good. Now, yesterday, as most of you are well aware, there was a border clash with ShadowClan. Myself and some others were forced into battle when they ambushed them. None of our warriors died, but—"

"What about Shadowwind and Pebblepaw?" Robinsong called out.

"I was getting to that," Gorsestar mewed, his voice beginning to sadden. Silence gripped the assembled cats once more. Shortpaw began to wonder if Gorsestar could bring himself to go on, when it was suddenly broken. "Shadowwind and Pebblepaw are ShadowClan traitors." There were gasps and upset yowls from the assembled cats. Clearly this news did not go down well.

"And where are they now?" another cat called out.

"I don't know," Gorsestar confessed. They disappeared into ShadowClan's territory. Any of the other fighters in the battle who know anything about them, I invite you to step forth." The leader glanced across the assembled crowd, his eyes setting on Shortpaw for a moment. He nodded and stepped towards his den. The hubbub went back to normal.

"That was…really scary," Longpaw whispered. Shortpaw nodded, slightly dumbstruck. Gorsesrar knew. He definitely knew.

"Is something wrong, Shortpaw?" Brookpaw asked, brushing against Shortpaw. He cringed; though he still thought highly of her, he wasn't in the mood for closeness at the moment.

"He's fine," Longpaw interjected artfully. "In fact, he's planning on coming hunting with Thistletail and I."

"Can I come?" Brookpaw added in before they could get away.

"Brookpaw, I need to talk to you for a moment." Longpaw mewed, sadly. She quickly winked at Shortpaw and went away to talk with Brookpaw. Thistletail spotted the two of them, then Shortpaw. She approached him looking curious, but the apprentice quickly shook his head.

After a little while, Brookpaw nodded her head enthusiastically and went away. Longpaw came back to join them, greeting Thistletail warmly and saying that she had told Brookpaw that it might be better for Shortpaw to not be around people he didn't want to make mistakes with for a few days. Her explanation confused Shortpaw a bit, but he got the gist of it…Brookpaw seemed to be somewhat in love with him. The three cats started padding out further into their territory.

"So how did you both sleep?" Thistletail asked, cleverly avoiding the topic of the battle.

"I feel like I slept a moon! I swear my claws were aching after yesterday," Longpaw replied. Thistletail laughed, and repeated the question to Shortpaw.

"Well," he replied, simply. Thistletail nodded.

The hunting went surprisingly well. Longpaw and Thistletail caught a couple of rabbits, but Shortpaw ended up with four. In the end both of the others had to help him carry them back to camp.

"When did you get so good at hunting, Shortpaw?" Thistletail asked through a muffled mouthful of rabbit.

"Yeah, that was amazing!" Longpaw agreed. Shortpaw felt slightly warmer inside. Longpaw knew he killed Shadowwind and Pebblepaw…but she forgave him. And Thistletail didn't seem to at all seem to want to question his actions. He had really found friends who properly cared.

Once they returned to the camp, Robinsong was waiting for them. She looked as if her world had just come to its end. Shortpaw's stomach seized.

"I'll see you soon," Longpaw mewed upon seeing her. Thistletail shared her own farewell and went off with her apprentice. Shortpaw approached his mother.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked her. She turned to him, eyes clouded with sadness.

"Shortpaw…I know that you know what happened to him." She stared at him for a long moment. "You don't have to tell me anything, but I just want you to know that I'm here to listen and I won't judge you – no matter what happened."

Shortpaw took a deep breath.