Rogue - Chapter 10

I do not own Warriors.

Chapter 10

A chilly autumn breeze ruffled Frostflower's fur as she led her small border patrol along the border with Will and his cult. His scent could definitely be detected as they drew nearer. Anger steamed up inside her like a tea kettle waiting to spew out its steam.

The gentle murmur and gurgle of a stream could be heard as she walked. She realized how close Will was to SkyClan. She wondered if her two adversaries were conspiring against her. She wondered if what Leafstar had told her was coming true. StarClan experiencing a civil war, over her!

It was little more than a moon before Candy gave her the okay to resume her duties as a part of the family. She hunted, ran patrols, cleaned out the old hay and lay down new. During all of these tasks, Toby would always be at her side to help her if she needed it. Today was her first patrol without him. Darrin believed that it was time for Toby to let her pass or fail on her own, and this did not go well with Toby.

Ginger, Sydney, Charlotte, and Patrick followed her as she got closer to Will's territory. His was the entire town and part of the forest. His band wasn't even that big, everyone was just terrified of him so they surrendered to save their pelts.

"Frostflower, maybe we should turn back," Charlotte suggested quietly.

Frostflower turned to face her. She knew that Charlotte had a bad past with Will and the other toms he was associated with. She could see her scars clearly in the mid-day sun. There were slashes across her face where claws had collided with her soft flesh. Frostflower sighed sadly. "They've moved the border inward again. We'd better tell Darrin."

"He won't be pleased," Patrick mused.

Sydney nodded in agreement. "Let's move it back," she offered.

All but Charlotte agreed and they reset the borders to their original state. Once the borders were set and strong, Frostflower turned to leave but a yowl in the distance made her freeze.

Her ears pricked back toward it. It sounded like it was coming from the Twolegplace. She turned and looked at the adjacent Twoleg dens positioned in Will's territory. So much could go on in the allies in between… She remembered her last few days as a SkyClan cat and how she had heard those yowls before…

"Frostflower," Ginger hissed at her. "Come on!"

Frostflower turned to her companions. "Don't you hear that?" she queried.

"Hear what?" they all asked in unison.

"Those… yowls…" she murmured, but her mind was somewhere else. She wondered what was happening. The yowls sounded like they were young cats no older than six moons. What would Will want with apprentices?

"Frostflower, I have to request that we do turn back now," Sydney meowed from standing right beside her. "It's too dangerous to go alone."

"We have to help them," Frostflower growled.

"It's none of our concern," Patrick pointed out.

Frostflower's lips curled back in a snarl. "In the warrior code, it states that no warrior may neglect a kit in pain or in need no matter who its parents are or what Clan it comes from."

"In case you haven't noticed, you're not in the Clan anymore!" Ginger growled. "What do you think Toby would do to us if we let you go to face Will alone?"

"Then come with me," she shot back at the pale ginger she-cat.

Ginger frowned and flattened her ears against her head glaring.

"That's what I thought," Frostflower huffed.

Sydney rested her tail on her shoulder. "Calm down. I hate this as much as the next cat, but there really isn't anything we can do. Right now, we should just go back and tell Darrin."

Frostflower hated to agree, but Sydney was right. There was nothing they could do. "I just want to see what they're doing," she explained.

"We will. When we have back-up, we will," she promised.

Frostflower sighed and agreed. Sydney led the way back to the barn. They didn't bother to finish the patrol. The sounds of the yowls echoed in her head bouncing off the walls of her brain. She thought of what she would do if Foxkit had been taken. She would've killed them all to protect her son. She had failed to protect him from Tigerstorm, but she would not make that same mistake again with any kit.

When they got back to the barn, Sydney took the liberty of telling the others. Frostflower wasn't interested. She padded off to her and Toby's 'secret' place. She lay down in the hay and closed her eyes. She didn't want to go to sleep in fear of a nightmare. With the yowls of cats still thundering in her head, she snuggled deeper into the hay trying to block them out. It was as if the world around he was muted out and all she could hear was those terrified yowls…

"Frostflower!" Toby yowled.

She looked up, his voice breaking the barrier. "What?" she asked sniffling. She realized she was crying. The moisture had over-flooded from her eyelids.

Toby bounded up to her and wiped the tears away with his tail. "What really happened?" he asked her, his voice a soft as velvet.

Frostflower buried her face in the fur of his chest. "I heard the yowls… they sounded like kits or young cats and… I thought of my son," she confessed sobbing now.

Toby brushed along her back with his tail. "Shh… He's okay now. He's with Ripplefur."

Frostflower nodded. "I love you, Toby," she told him.

"I love you too."

The moon had just reached its highest point in the sky as the barn door creaked open. A small dusky brown tom cat had pulled it open from the outside. He slipped silently in, trying to maintain his secrecy. Just go through with the mission, then you can get the heck out of here, he assured himself.

The pale crescent moon shone above and through a hole in the roof onto the wooden floor. Nothing made a sound as he slunk silently through the shadows like a night-time predator searching for its prey. His prey was a white she-cat by the name of Frostflower.

Will's orders burned in the tom's mind. "Kidnap her, bring her back," he had said so vaguely that it left him to come up with a plan of his own. Thanks Will. So because I'm your son I have to go out and do your dirty –work? he thought.

He saw the she-cat with fur like snow. She slept next to Toby, one of the leaders of the other band. He wants me to kidnap their leader's mate?! Is he insane?! he thought staring wide-eyed at them.

The tom let out a sigh and gently grabbed her by the scruff. He drug her toward the barn entrance praying she wouldn't wake. It'll be my pelt if they find me here! he thought nervously.

Once he was outside, he drug her back to Will's territory wondering what his father would do with her.

A/N: Review?