Chapter nine up now~! Thank-you to Kawakage, Loststream, Lugirox, Darkness of the Eclipse, Aylen-Aussie (new reviewers always welcome :D), Silverstream rox, and Snakefang (I'm not sure what your review means, but I'll take it). I hope you like it! I'm proud to announce that this is the last chapter for a while that cats get killed in.
Chapter Nine
Somehow, Hawkpaw had been given the duty of carrying the dead kit back to camp. He held the limp body in his jaws, and pushed through the gorse tunnel, aware of all the eyes on him.
Ferncloud had already found out that her kit was missing, but she was devastated on a different level when she saw his limp body. She was bawling, and hissed at him to leave.
Hawkpaw backed up, and sighed. Bramblestar padded out of his den, getting used to the ritual by then. He murmured a few words of apology to Ferncloud, and returned back to his den.
He now felt sorry for the leader. He didn't know what to do about the killer, and his clan was even more by the moment.
Hawkpaw padded over to Ferncloud, and rested his tail on her shoulder. She looked up at him, her eyes sad, clouding over. "Dustkit never did anything wrong. Why did he have to die at the paws of the killer?"
"I don't know, but don't mourn too much. You still have two beautiful kits in the nursery to look after. Look at the bright side of things, not the bad," he mewed.
Ferncloud nodded. "Thanks Hawkpaw, it means a lot."
Getting back up on her paws, she padded back into the nursery. Soon afterwards, a border patrol came in with a second limp body. It was Spiderleg.
Hawkpaw stepped backwards, his tail between his legs. Spiderleg had always been a close friend of his father's, and now he was dead. Rushing into the apprentice's den, a wail erupted from the nursery.
Ferncloud was hissing and growling, and two small bundles were tossed out of the nursery. Dawnkit landed awkwardly, and was sobbing, while Pyrekit dashed over to check on his sister.
"I'm sick of this! All I've ever done is been a nursery queen! I've given the clan a future to think about, but all I've ever been is punished. Shrewpaw died, Larchkit and Hollykit died, and now Dustpelt and Dustkit died, both killed by a murderer in the clan. I'm officially retiring. Don't ever show me another kit, or I'll slaughter them myself!" she yowled, breaking down by the end of the speech.
Hawkpaw peered out of the den, thankful that he had taken cover. Dawnkit was still in a weird position on the ground, and he padded over to the kit. He nudged her to her paw, and he could tell immediately that her leg was broken.
"Molewhisker!" he called to the medicine cat. "Dawnkit's leg is broken!"
The medicine cat dashed out of his den and checked on the kit. He had rushes and thick grass in his jaws, and he agreed that her leg was broken.
The sun was setting in the sky, and Cindershadow had begun her silent vigil. Molewhisker was also silent, but he was still doing his job.
Hawkpaw returned to the apprentice's den, realizing that his paws were just about ready to fall off. He curled up, and didn't think he'd be able to fall asleep so quickly, but the gentle lull came over him.
*
The artist had indeed killed Spiderleg, but not in the way that the others had thought. Upon Molewhisker's further examination, he announced that a snake had bitten the tom.
The artist had tripped him, and knocked him unconscious, later to bring him over to a place she found that a snake nested. It did the job so well, and she didn't even leave a hint that she did so.
*
Hawkpaw yawned, and shook his pelt of any moss scraps. He padded out of the den, and watched curiously as Daisy was giving Hazeldawn, Cindershadow, Whitewing, and Tawnypaw a pep talk about something.
He padded in closer to listen, and was astonished at what she was explaining.
"With the killer on the loose, Ferncloud feels that it would be best if the younger she-cats in the clan were to start carrying kits. Having kits in the end of Leaffall to early Leafbare would be beneficial," she explained.
"But we're so young, I'm not even a warrior," Tawnypaw mewed.
"Yes, but you'll be a warrior in no time. When kits are born in Leaffall and Leafbare, they start their training during Newleaf and Greenleaf, which is a great time to begin," Daisy continued.
Whitewing let off a purr. "I've got to go, but thanks for telling me," she mewed, and bumped into Hawkpaw on her way out. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"No problem," Hawkpaw answered, dipping his head.
"Daisy and Ferncloud have been trying to convince the she-cats of the clan to start carrying kits. Since the killer has taken away ten now, the clan is at a need for kits. I'm just not sure if that's the right way to go about having more kits. I mean she can leave the she-cats alone for now…" she trailed off, a light purr coming from her chest.
"What do you mean?" Hawkpaw questioned.
"Oh, I said to much…well, it's why I'm so sad about Spiderleg's death. I'm carrying his kits right now," she sighed, her eyes dulling. "He was a great warrior. Why did he have to be bitten by a snake?"
Hawkpaw's eyes widened. He never saw the budding relationship, but the she-cats probably did. He could just imagine Cindershadow, Hazeldawn, Tawnypaw, and Emberpaw gossiping about relationships.
"You won't tell the clan yet, will you?" Whitewing pleaded.
"Of course not," Hawkpaw shook his head.
"Good. I want to figure out a way to tell Ferncloud before the rest of the clan knows," Whitewing dipped her head thankfully, and bounded out the gorse tunnel, flattening her ears against the rain.
A whisker of lightning zigzagged out across the sky, followed by the crash of thunder ten heartbeats later. He found that the storm intensified as the number of heartbeats between the lightning and the thunder shortened.
Whitewing appeared back through the gorse tunnel, and Hawkpaw wondered what she did. He shrugged, and took cover under the shadow of the Highledge. The prey he had caught earlier was still in the pile, and he dragged them over to the protection of the Highledge.
Bramblestar came out of his den and looked at Hawkpaw strangely. "You're not going to eat all of that prey…are you?"
He shook his head. "No, I'm just putting it here so it stays dry from the rain," he mewed.
Bramblestar jumped down to talk to his deputy, and Hazeldawn padded over to him. "Hey, Birchfall and I were going to go out on a patrol with Tigerpaw, we were wondering if you wanted to come."
"But I like Hawkpaw, he wouldn't do that," Hazeldawn mewed, oblivious to the fact that Hawkpaw was hurtling away. "He's a sweetheart, the son of Bramblestar and Squirrelflight. They're both noble cats."
"I still don't trust him," Birchfall hissed.
"No," he growled. It was his patrol day, and he'd ask different cats to come with him. If Hazeldawn and Birchfall really felt that way about him, he didn't want to be around them for any more than he had to.
Bramblestar had finished talking to Brightheart, so Hawkpaw asked if they could go on a patrol. "You've got some guts if you want to go out on patrol in a storm like this, but I guess we could patrol the ShadowClan border. Why don't you go out and ask Mouseclaw if he'd like to join us?"
Hawkpaw nodded, and padded over to the warrior's den. He poked his head inside of the bush, and prodded Mouseclaw's side. "Huh?" he asked, yawning. "Oh Hawkpaw, what do you need?"
"Brightheart and I are going on patrol, we need a third cat, so would you like to come with us?" he mewed.
"Sure," he answered, and the three-cat patrol padded out into the forest. The rain didn't hit their pelts as hard as it did in the open camp. But still, it only took a minute for Hawkpaw's fur to be plastered against his pelt.
The group made their way down to the lake, and took in the rough breeze. The water was getting choppy, and Hawkpaw felt mesmerized by it, just like he had been the day before.
With such a fluffy pelt, Cloudtail would never be able to manage the water. Speaking of Cloudtail, I haven't seen him around lately; I wonder where he went. Hawkpaw thought to himself, but shook his head.
He was on patrol, he shouldn't be thinking; he should be focused. Each scent was hard to distinguish, but four black shapes came into view. They seemed too close to the border, but Hawkpaw had never seen the ShadowClan border before, so maybe not.
As they became more clearly in view, Brightheart mewed her greetings. "Having fun in the rain?"
"Not at all," a gray she-cat hissed. "RiverClan is probably loving it though. I don't get how they can handle being wet all the time."
The conversation continued on a little longer before Brightheart and Mouseclaw marked the border and they headed back to camp.
Border patrol has been completed. I just finished the next chapter, so depending on how many reviews I get, I might update again tonight~! Please review. ~Sayonara~!
