Silvermoon yawns as she pads into LunarClan camp, the sound muffled but still rather loud in the dead of night. The rest of the camp is silent, with the exception of shuffling paws over the hard ground. The cats divide up, towards their dens, until the voice of Badgerstar is heard from atop Highledge.
"Warriors!" she yowls, getting the attention of everyone, and each cat turns to look at her. A silent sigh escaping Silvermoon, she pads back towards the large rock on which her leader stands, sitting swiftly as she awaits the word of Badgerstar.
"We attack at dawn!" she announces, watching each of the cats closely for their reactions to the statement. "Eat well, get some rest. Tomorrow, we claim back the Meadow!" With that, she climbs off Highledge, lurking in the entrance to her den with a swish of her tail.
Silvermoon's ears flick, and she tenses, frowning. Attack, already? She's not sure if she can. Her tail lashing, she pads back towards her den. She would eat, but she doesn't feel hungry, and she doubts she could hold anything down right now. Her ears twitch as she hears a cat's pawsteps and lifts her head to see the dark brown eyes of Bloodstone. She doesn't say anything as he pads to her side, his pelt brushing hers.
"What's gotten into your fur?" he asks, questioning her silent state. He watches her carefully as she lowers her face, turning away from him.
"Nothing," she says quickly. She couldn't let him know that the battle was what was bothering her. He'd call her a coward.
Bloodstone rolls his eyes, letting out a rather deep sigh. "Just spit it out," he says, still watching her.
She lifts her face to look at him again, her eyes showing nothing, but hiding everything. "It's nothing," she repeats, her tone firm.
Bloodstone tilts his head to the side. For once, he seemed kind and gentle and Silvermoon fought the urge to spill out her secrets. "Okay."
"Okay," Silvermoon says back., unsure. The tom gives her another hard stare before he moves away and over to the deputy.
Silvermoon watches him go, but stays where she is. What does Bloodstone have to say to the deputy that's so important? They finish talking shortly Bloodstone casting her a sidelong glance. Foxfur says something else before dipping her head and leaving the camp, vanishing as she's swallowed up by the tendril tunnel. Bloodstone is still watching her, and now she feels uncomfortable. She frowns, but doesn't make much of it – Bloodstone was always acting strange. She never bothered asking him what he did. There was no point; he wouldn't tell. She turns away from his cold stare and pads into the warrior's den, curling up in her own spot and settling down to sleep.
The night stretches on for a while as she thinks about the upcoming and battle and the tom's gaze on her. She almost thought she could still feel him staring at her. With the sound of cats' breathing all around her she grew more comfortable, before her grip on consciousness slips, allowing her to drift off to sleep.
Silvermoon is shaken from her sleep by yowling. Badgerstar's yowling.
There's something wrong and for a moment she thinks she's back in the forest watching her leader get torn apart by badgers. Luckily, she had made a quick recovery, she didn't even lose one of her lives like she originally thought.
Sitting up quickly, she blinks, clearing sleep from her eyes. It's still dark, the stars of Silverpelt twinkling up above them.
"What's going on?" a voice says from beside her. Nightsong.
"I'm not sure," she replies, keeping her voice low even though every cat was awake now. She creeps out of the warriors' den, the other cats filing out after her.
Badgerstar stands atop Highledge once again, another form next to her. Silvermoon squints in the darkness, and recognizes the form to be that of Bloodstone. Something lies limp at his feet.
As she pads closer, it becomes clearer – and she suppresses a gasp as she finally makes it out.
At Bloodstone's paws lays the body of Foxfur.
"LunarClan, I'm afraid we've lost our great deputy. Her life was snatched away by the river," Badgerstar announces, her voice tinged with sadness. Her leader didn't seem kind most of the time, but Foxfur was her denmate and they had known each other since kithood.
Several cats give a gasp, murmurs sent throughout the crowd of how this could've happened.
"We must continue on with our battle," Badgerstar continues. "I will appoint a new deputy next moonhigh. We must not let this delay our victory."
More murmurs.
Silvermoon glances over at Bloodstone. His head drops, as if mourning, but not before catching his eyes. His posture is slumped, as if weighed down with sadness. The look she saw gleaming in his eyes does not support this.
It is now that the young she-cat realizes that Badgerstar was wrong about Foxfur's death.
But Silvermoon knows the truth. She knows it wasn't the river that killed Foxfur.
But as she looks at Bloodstone, she also knows that she will never tell. She shook her head. She was wrong. Bloodstone didn't even leave the camp with her. He would never kill one of his clanmates anyway!
"Let us sit vigil with Foxfur, before she is sent to StarClan, may they light her path," she added as she jumped down from the rocks to collect her deputy's limp body. She and Bloodstone brought her into the middle of the camp where all of the clan could mourn for her. As Silvermoon got closer she could see the Foxfur's fur stuck to her frail frame. She was old, but she could have lived many moons longer. The silver she-cat dipped her head in respect, touching her nose to the deputy's cold cheek. She didn't know her as well as other's did, so she would not share tongues with her this last time. Nightsong and Hawkfire stood by her head, her kits, their heads bowed as they dried her fur. Ghostfang, her mother, stared with clear eyes at her lost daughter. She had been forced to retire as an elder when she couldn't fulfill her warrior duties because of her blindness, but she loved like any other cat. And even though her eyes were blind, you could see the love she had in them. She was led by Ravenwing, Foxfur's mate, to her body. Ghostfang buried her nose in Foxfur's flank, while Ravenwing cleaned her fur. The others gathered around to share their last words with the deputy before returning to their nests. The apprentice's were gathered in a corner, shocked at the sudden death of one of their clanmates. As Silvermoon padded over to them, Lichenpaw, her apprentice looked up at her with sad eyes. She was half blind too, but she could see everything. "Come on, kits," she said kindly, ushering the apprentices to their den. "Let's try to get to sleep." The small cats went reluctantly and she could feel them shaking. Lichenpaw cast her a quick, frightened glance, and she shuddered. "Can you stay with us?" She asked in a small voice that sounded like it was about to break. Silvermoon tried to smile and nodded. She curled up around Lichenpaw, and the other three apprentices climbed around her, finding comfort in her silver fur. Letting out a deep breath, she went to sleep.
I need feedback, because I am lacking. This is the last chapter I wrote when I first started this story. I have nothing left to go on. I can't remember exactly where I was headed with this story, but I guess I'll figure it out
I notice I switch from tense to tense as well, and I need to work on that. For some reason, I also seem to forget what I write even days after I write it. (Rip me) I reread and what not and I always have to go back and fix mistakes, yet I can't remember what I read. Too many Warriors books to keep up with. Just finished the newest one: The Apprentice's Quest and the short story E-books: Shadow of The Clans. I highly recommend those three, but mostly just Mapleshade's Vengeance. Amazing, that one. Very sad and what not. Anyway, that's probably why I can't remember anything. Thanks for reading!