Gotham's Reckoning: Thank you for your review! I'm glad you like the story!
SnowLily Rose: Thank you AGAIN! :) :) You are awesome. I'm serious.
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"Duskfall, it is you!" the white tom cried, padding forward. Firelily noticed he didn't actually look that friendly. His fur was bristled, and his ears were flattened against his head. His tone sounded forcedly cheerful. "Why are you here?"
Duskfall's tail was twitching slightly. "Why are you here?"
"Um, can someone tell me what's going on?" Firelily asked.
Ghostsong's eyes darted to her, and then back to Duskfall. "And who's this?"
"You could ask me," Firelily grumbled. "I'm right here, you know."
Ghostsong's eyes flickered to her once more.
"Just let us pass," said Duskfall at last. "We're heading to the Twolegplace. We don't want any trouble."
Ghostsong stepped to one side, and Duskfall limped forward, Firelily following him. She glanced at Ghostsong warily.
"Hold up," the older tom said suddenly. "Duskfall, what's wrong with your leg?"
"Nothing." Duskfall continued to hobble onward.
"Don't you "nothing" me. I'm a mystic. I know an injury when I see one." Ghostsong no longer seemed wary or tense. Now he seemed strong and confident. "I can help you. Wait a moment while I look at it. Then you can go."
Duskfall shook his head. "We've got to get to the Twolegplace. LostClan is probably already after us, and—" He clammed up almost instantly as Ghostsong gave him a long look.
"So you've run off," Ghostsong meowed. "Just like me."
Duskfall said nothing, but continued forward.
"Duskfall, maybe you should stop," Firelily said quietly. "You can't run very fast with your leg like that. If LostClan did catch up with us…"
"You should listen to the she-cat," Ghostsong meowed. "She's right."
"My leg is fine," Duskfall hissed, whirling around. "Now let's go."
"Your leg is not fine, and you know it," Ghostsong said sternly. "Weakness is not a fault, Duskfall, no matter what your mouse-brained mother has told you. Cats get hurt. It happens."
Duskfall gritted his teeth together. "Fine," he muttered, and sat down. "But make it quick, Ghostsong."
The older white tom smiled. He padded forward and sniffed Dusfall's leg, prodded it, pulled it, and twisted it in different directions, causing Duskfall to hiss in pain.
"Well," said Ghostsong. "Good news: it's not broken, just dislocated. So I can fix it."
Firelily let out a long sigh of relief.
"Bad news?" Duskfall asked.
Ghostsong sighed. "It's going to hurt. A lot. Especially since it's been dislocated for a while…"
Firelily's sigh of relief halted in her throat. "Can't you give him something to ease the pain?"
Ghostsong shook his head. "Does it look like I have stocks of herbs around here? I don't have anything. I'd give it to him if I did. And the Moon is too small for me to draw on much healing power. I'll do what I can, but it won't be much."
"Let's get it over with," Duskfall said. "Now."
Ghostsong nodded. "Okay. Lay down on your side and give me your leg."
Duskfall did as he was told. "
"You…what's your name?" Ghostsong turned to Firelily.
"Firelily," she meowed.
"Hold him still, please."
Firelily padded over and pressed her forepaws down on Duskfall's side.
"This won't even take two heartbeats," said Ghostsong. He gripped Duskfall's leg in his teeth, cold silver-white moonlight racing from his muzzle up Duskfall's leg. "Ready?"
"Ready," Firelily affirmed.
"Ready as I'll ever be," grunted Duskfall.
Ghostsong bit down on Dusfall's leg and pulled with all his might. Firelily leaned all her weight on Duskfall to keep him still as he screeched in pain. Then there was a solid pop, and the leg was back where it belonged.
"There! All done." Ghostsong let go of Duskfall's leg and offered up a small smile. "It'll probably still feel a bit sore, but it should be better soon."
Duskfall was panting, but he nodded to Ghostsong. "Thank you."
Firelily stepped off of Duskfall. "Yeah, thanks," she mewed.
Ghostsong nodded. "No problem," he said softly. He touched his nose carefully to Duskfall's leg, and a wisp of silver moonlight wrapped around his leg and then sunk in. "There. That should ease the ache."
Duskfall got up and tested his weight on the leg. He walked a few steps. It didn't seem to hurt him at all. Firelily let her sigh of relief return at last. He was healed.
"Alright. Now let's go." His energy seemingly renewed, Duskfall beckoned to Firelily with his tail. "Come on." He hesitated, glancing at Ghostsong.
"I'm coming with you," he said simply. "You're going to need me at some point, I can just feel it."
Duskfall frowned, but didn't object. Firelily got the feeling that they had once been friends…but there seemed to be something between them now.
As they walked toward the towering silver trees, Ghostsong said, "I meant to go to the Twolegplace, too. But I couldn't get past the gangs, and so I gave up and just hoped no one from LostClan would come after me. No on did, by some miracle."
"No miracle," Duskfall explained bitterly. "Skyblaze figured we didn't need a mystic. So she let you go. The injured are left to die if they're too weak." He said this sharply, as if he blamed Ghostsong.
"But that's terrible," said Ghostsong, echoing Firelily's thoughts. "I never would have left if I knew that was going to happen…"
"Really? You didn't guess it would happen?" he snapped, even sharper this time.
"I sincerely thought they'd just replace me. I thought perhaps Breezewhisper…"
"Breezewhisper's dead." The words came out hard and choppy and jagged around the edges.
Ghostsong shrunk away from Duskfall. "Oh," he mumbled. "Duskfall, I'm so sorry…"
"Sorry?" Duskfall growled. "She died from an infected wound. It wasn't even that deep. If you'd been there, you could've saved her! I had to sit there and watch her burn up with fever and—" He broke off abruptly, apparently having said too much.
Firelily felt sort of awkward, like something private was going on, something she shouldn't be listening to. She fell back a few steps.
"I really am truly sorry," Ghostsong whispered, his head low. "You know that Breezewhisper meant a lot to me too."
"Not as much as she meant to me," Duskfall said in a low, angry voice.
They both fell silent as they padded forward. The Thunderpath was growing, Firelily noticed, spreading and rising, filling with more and more monsters. She was beginning to get used to the roaring beasts.
Finally, the three cats arrived at the tall silver trees. They padded among the streets warily, watching over their shoulders. Everything seemed to be going fine. Firelily didn't see any trace of the gangs Ghostsong and Duskfall had mentioned.
Until a large, thick tom stepped out in front of them, grinning. "Hey, there," he said, his tail flicking back and forth. "You're in my territory. And I'd advise y'all to get out."
"And why should we listen to you?" Duskfall asked mildly.
A large group of straggly cats came out of the alleyway behind the big tom.
"'Cause I'm Scratch," he said. "Leader of the Flea-Bit gang. And we decide who comes in or out of our city."