WildTotodile: I love mental chats with Earthroot too. I think he's becoming one of my favorite characters... (huggles)
Peachfoot: hey, pairing crazy is fun. Glad you like her... O.o
Faunamon: yeah, I was having trouble with that. I wanted to do something a bit unpredictable, because it was bugging me the way the story was just kinda doing what everyone thought it would be doing. I like twists :)
mapleleaf: you never know...
Shadow of the Nights: wow.
Oceanwind: again, you never know...
Adi Sagestar: we'll have to wait and see, won't we.
TawnyLeaf: thanks for the compliment, but I don't think I sound like Erin Hunter. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I have different style, and she might be a cough-slightlybetter/moreexperienced-cough writer. But thanks anyways ;)
Pinefur of DragonClan: Simple explaination: Smokepaw's just a butthead XP
Strangefur: hmm... don't worry, that was on purpose. Maybe it's a hint that Dark is just cooler/better leader/ready to take over the world... or not the last part... you get the idea.
mysterys: please don't die. Here's the chapter :)
weezalicious: agreed...
Moletail: sorry, too lazy to type out your full sn... thanks :O)
Flamestar211: I did! See! Look straight ahead! Evidence!
Aviation-Nyra's Revenge: wow, I feel special. You went through and picked out all the cats on Smokepaw's side. Aww ;) I'm sure he appreciates it... or not.
Shaded-Strike: I'm updating. You, on the other paw...
BlindSeer220: oh well. Made me laugh XD
Flametail: nope, chainsaws are fun... (toothy grin)
Mistytail: thankies!
skiizers: so, still too lazy to type out your whole username, but now you've given me a nickname! XD Glad to have you back.
And the 300th reviewer was ... (drumroll please) ... STRANGEFUR!! (does strange dance) (everyone looks at me funny) anyways, this chapter is dedicated to Strangefur, the 300th reviewer, and all you other awesome reviewers who made the 300th possible. (After all, you can't have 300 without 299, 298, 297, 296... ok, I'll stop now...)
Chapter 21
Wood pretended to be asleep, curled up in the back of the den, as heard a few sets of pawsteps padding in. He heard a strange noise, as if they were dragging something behind them. But he was not prepared for the sight that met his eyes once the guards left and he opened them.
Three unconscious, bleeding bodies had been dumped in his den like fresh kill. He rushed over to them, and it actually took him a moment to identify the battered forms as three of his fellow Water Tribe trainees. He figured they must be the hostages from the patrol, but then it occurred to him that only Leaf would be scheduled to go on patrol today. Could they have been up to something else... no, they had to have been caught on patrol somehow. It wasn't like they'd try to rescue him or anything.
The dusty brown pelted prisoner, having nothing better to do and deciding it was a good idea, recounted and reevaluated his opinions of the three cats in front of him. Leaf had always just been annoying, even more so after she'd overreacted to his prank by the lake and gotten him exiled... he realized with a jolt that it was all her fault. Everything that had happened to him - being chased out of Water Tribe, his capture, and his horrible stay here in the stuffy Ice Tribe prison den could all be blamed on her. He felt himself filling with anger, and tried to push it away; he knew deep down inside, where the innocent optimistic part within him lay, that it was wrong to blame Leaf. The blame could just as easily fall on Smokepaw, Whitewater, Mud, or even himself.
He'd never had anything against Willow. In fact, he kind of liked the pale-furred trainee, since he was the only one who never seemed annoyed at his antics, and even participated from time to time. He didn't know much about him, but figured he was an alright cat, and less annoying that Leaf, anyway.
And then there was Frost. He definitely had something against Frost. The herb trainee was cold to everyone, particularly mean to Wood, acted like he was ruler of the Snowlands... just the thought of sharing a den with the icy-eyed tom for an undeterminable amount of time made him cringe.
He suddenly realized that Frost looked worse off than any of them. He had more blood matting his fur and cuts across his body, as if he'd been fighting all day. And... was he... no, not Frost, who never showed any emotions what so ever... he was shivering. Leaf and Willow both looked freezing cold, but Frost was shivering in his sleep, and Wood didn't know if he was imagining it or not, but he could have sword his lips were tinged blue.
His train of thoughts was interrupted as a young tortoiseshell she-cat entered the den with a huge wad of cobwebs in her mouth. She dropped them at Wood's paws, gazing sympathetically at the three limp forms.
"Do you need anything else?" she asked kindly, her warm green eyes shining with concern. "I guess I should bring them poppy seeds for pain, and some extra fresh kill - "
"Adder, what are you doing in there?" came a rough voice from outside. "I thought you were just giving them cobwebs!"
"I am!" she called back. "I'm just untangling them!" She gave Wood an apologetic look. "I'm Adder, the herb trainee. I'll try to come back later," she whispered, so quietly that Wood almost couldn't hear.
"C'mon, let them untangle the stupid cobwebs themselves!" called Spruce the den guard, and Wood could barely hear him muttering to himself about Adder being too nice to the prisoners as the young herb trainee darted out of the den.
It took him a moment of staring blankly at the pile of cobwebs to realize that he ought to do something with them. He was no herb cat, but he figured it couldn't be that hard to put a cobweb on a wound, right? For a moment he considered waking Frost, who would know exactly what to do, but then he was subject to a string of questions and insults. Besides, Frost gave another shiver, and Wood couldn't help but feel bad for him, so he decided to let him sleep.
He'd seen Yellowroot and Frost putting another herb on wounds before cobwebs - what was it again? Oh well, it didn't matter, since he didn't have it anyway. But maybe he should clean the wounds before patching them up... for some reason, the thought disgusted him. Sure, he'd shared tongues with his Tribemates before and licked up his own blood, but not their blood. But Willow and Leaf were still bleeding in some places, and the captive trainee reluctantly accepted that he had to clean up their wounds to keep them from getting infected and to keep them from losing too much blood.
He started with Leaf, as she was closest to him. The ginger she-cat was pretty even with clawmarks and blood splattered across her fur. Wood only cleaned her larger wounds, deciding that the cuts could heal themselves. She had a large gash on her side, and it took four cobwebs just to cover the length of it, and then he figured it might need more to help them stay on. It was surprisingly difficult to bandage a cat up, he realized, but after concentrating hard and an indeterminable amount of time Leaf looked like she was properly bandaged, albeit messily.
Avoiding Frost, he decided to do Willow next. Most of the young trainee's slashes were around his face and neck, which worried Wood; it didn't take an herb cat to know that neck wounds were the worst, and the most fatal. There was one gash, still bleeding, that was right next to his left eye and ran from his muzzle, across his face, to his left ear, the bottom of which was cut from the same pawslash. It left a scarlet trail across his face. Wood, used to licking up blood from Leaf but still slightly hesitant, licked up the blood by his eye first so he didn't get blood in his eyes when he opened them, and then moved slowly up his face until he decided the gash was ready for cobwebs.
Wood didn't bother with all the individual cuts on Willow's neck, instead just licking the whole neck clean and then cobwebbing all of it. Frost might say it was a waste of cobwebs, and Willow might find it hard to move his neck when he woke up, but it was easier. Other than his face and neck, there were a few deep scratches across his flank, which Wood took care of with licks and minimal cobwebs because of all the ones he'd "wasted" on his neck. He rolled the trainee over, but there was nothing interesting on the other side of his body, so he rolled him back over so he didn't have to lie on his cuts.
Priding himself on a job well done for a cat who'd never studied herbs, Wood moved on to Frost. He was sort of afraid of treating the herb trainee, mostly because when he woke up he would probably criticize everything he did, claiming he did it all wrong. That's what he always did; Frost never missed an opportunity to tell Wood he was screwing up, to make Wood look like he was screwing up, or to make Wood feel like he was screwing up. To make it simpler, Wood always felt like he was screwing up around Frost, to the ice-eyed tom's satisfaction, and to Wood's anger and annoyance.
Wood might have left Frost as he was, without cleaning any of his cuts like he did for Willow and Leaf, but there were two things stopping him. One, his heart was too big; he could never do something like that to any cat. And the other was that Frost, for some reason, looked worse off than the others. He didn't have any fatal looking wounds, or anything that appeared that deep, but he seemed much colder (the shivers gave that away) and now Wood was sure that his lips were a shade of blue. How was that possible? He bent down to lick one of his cuts, and drew back with surprise the second his tongue met the gray fur. Frost was wet. No wonder he was freezing cold. But how did he get wet?
His thoughts were interrupted as he noticed Leaf stirring. Hastily finishing up with Frost, he moved over to sit by her side. The ginger she-cat slowly opened her light green eyes, gazing at the cat sitting next to her in confusion. "Who're you?" she slurred, lifting her head to get a better look at him.
Wood forced her head back down, suddenly feeling very sorry for the exhausted, wounded she-cat. "Don't try to move. Just rest," he advised her. "It's me, Wood."
"Wood," she repeated sleepily. "Did we rescue you?"
Wood stared at her, puzzled. "Rescue me?" Poor Leaf; she must not know what she's saying, he thought.
"Rescue you," Leaf repeated slowly and wearily. "We wanted to rescue you... did we?"
"You came to rescue me?" meowed Wood incredulously. That wasn't possible...
"We weren't trying to rescue you this time," meowed Leaf, closing her eyes again. "We were just on patrol together, just talking about how we would do it, because we all agreed we should..." her jaws stretched into a yawn, and she winced with the pain of the action.
"Who's we?" Wood asked, his curiosity for what she was saying making him think that maybe Leaf wasn't delirious.
"Me, Willow and Frost," she meowed.
Yep, she's definitely delirious, Wood decided. Why would the three of them - particularly Frost - want to rescue me?
"We... we know you're innocent," she stuttered, shivering slightly with the cold. "We want to help both Tribes by helping you and your friend..."
"You need to warm up," Wood interrupted, proceeded to lick the parts of her fur not swabbed in cobwebs. "C'mon, lick yourself. You need to warm up."
He could hear a conversation outside the den; someone wanted to come in. He ignored it and continued warming Leaf up, not wanting her to freeze to death. The voices from outside stopped, and in walked Tawny, with three mice in her mouth.
She saw Wood licking Leaf and froze in her tracks. Wood stopped licking. "Hey, Tawny," he meowed shakily, not knowing why he couldn't keep his voice steady or why he felt guilty for licking Leaf to keep her warm. Tawny dropped the mice, but continued staring blankly at Wood. "She, er... this is Leaf... she's really cold... I'm trying to keep her warm..." he meowed awkwardly.
As if on cue, Leaf gave a violent shiver. Tawny's eyes softened, though Wood didn't think it was possible for them to harden. He thanked Sky Tribe that Leaf had shivered, otherwise Tawny might not have believed him. "That's nice of you," she meowed, without the slightest hint of annoyance, but seeming to mean every word. She gave Wood a warm look, then turned and wordlessly exited the den.
Once she was gone, Leaf lifted her head again. "You owe me," she muttered.
Fox dung. Apparently she was more aware of the world around her than he'd thought... he decided to play dumb, hoping she was still delirious and had just said that out of nowhere.
"Owe you for what?" he asked innocently, playing dumb to make sure. "And put your head back down."
Leaf obeyed, though she was staring at him defiantly. "I'm not delirious," she snapped. Wood could feel himself blushing beneath his fur. "I never was... well, maybe when I first woke up... but then I remembered everything... I was pretty much aware of what I was telling you, I'm pretty sure I've figured out where I am, and I am aware of what just happened." Her voice was stronger than it had sounded a few moments ago, though he could still hear it shaking and could tell from her weak voice how tired and injured she was.
"Happened? Nothing happened. Taw-- that she-cat I don't know just brought us some fresh kill." He went over and got her a mouse. "You ought to eat it. It'll make you feel better."
"I just saved your butt," Leaf insisted with a weary, satisfied smirk. "You like her."
"Do not!" Wood snapped automatically.
"Do to," Leaf meowed. "I can tell. And I think she likes you back."
"I don't know what you're talking about," meowed Wood stubbornly.
"Right. Just like you don't know who she is."
Wood didn't have a comeback for that. So he answered indirectly, "Well, I don't owe you for anything; I cleaned and bandaged all your wounds."
"So we're even then," Leaf replied coolly. "You clean me up, I save you from embarrassing yourself more than you already did in front of the she-cat you like."
"I don't like her!" snapped Wood.
"Like who?" meowed a quiet, weary voice. Wood turned around to see a pair of pale green eyes staring at him.
"Nothing," meowed Wood, flashing a glare at Leaf. "I'm glad you're awake," he meowed kindly to Willow. "Do you want some fresh kill?"
"S-sure," he stammered weakly, and made like he was going to get up and get it, then fell back down. "Wh-what... my neck..."
"Stay down," Wood meowed gently. "I cobwebbed your neck, and you probably don't want to get up anyway. You look exhausted." The dusty brown tom absently wondered if cobwebbed was a word as he brought Willow the mouse.
Willow ate his mouse in silence. When he was done, Wood turned to both him and Leaf and meowed, "So, how did you get here?"
It was Leaf who answered. "I already told you. We were on patrol."
"All three of you on the same patrol?" asked Wood, not believing that Whitewater would allow it.
"No, just me and Leaf," meowed Willow. "We wanted Frost to come; we - the three of us - were plotting to save you and your friend, and we wanted to talk about it, so we all wanted to go on patrol together - "
"Weren't you afraid that someone might overhear you?" Wood asked.
Leaf shrugged. "The fighters on the patrol were Birch and Stream, and Willow took Birch's place, so there was only Stream, and you know how she runs ahead and doesn't bother with us trainees..." she trailed off. "Where's Stream?" she asked fearfully.
Willow closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to meet hers. "I saw her before I fell unconscious, Leaf..." both trainee's eyes were filling with tears. Leaf knew what was coming, but she listened anyway in case she was wrong, which she desperately hoped she was. Stream had been her trainer, after all. "She... she was... they didn't bother bringing her back here," he finally meowed.
Even Wood was upset, though Stream was another cat who never wasted an opportunity to ridicule and belittle him. No one deserved a death like that; to be killed mercilessly in battle and then just left in the snow to be forgotten. He hoped feebly that a patrol would find her body before it was buried in snow and lost forever.
The den seemed eerily silent for a long while except for the odd choked sob, each cat silently mourning Stream. Finally, when he felt they were all ready, Wood meowed cautiously, "So... what happened on patrol?"
"We were ambushed," Leaf meowed shakily, her face wet with tears. "We didn't stand a chance... we're lucky we're not dead..."
"Yeah. Your friend nearly killed me," spat Willow.
"Smokepaw?" asked Wood. "Why would he try to kill you if you were trying to save him?"
"Whatever his name is - I guess he didn't know. Either that, or he's just mad and bloodthirsty. I don't know. But watching the other fighters beat me half senseless and then pull me back up so he could do it again seemed to amuse him," meowed Willow darkly, wincing with pain from the gash on his face as he spoke.
"Well, he didn't kill you," Wood meowed in pathetic defense of Smokepaw.
"He would have if Frost hadn't pushed him off me at the last second," muttered Willow.
"I thought you said Frost wasn't on the patrol with you," meowed Wood in confusion.
"He wasn't. He just... turned up," Willow replied. "Lucky for me."
"What's up with him anyway?" asked Leaf, pulling herself into sitting position.
"You should lie back down," Wood cautioned.
"I'm fine," she meowed stubbornly. "Now what's up with Frost?"
"Dunno," meowed Wood. "He was like that when they brought you guys here. I don't know why he's so cold..."
"And wet," meowed Willow as he reached out a paw and touched Frost's gray fur. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he nearly drowned in Freezepool."
Leaf shot Wood a glare. "What?" Wood defended, knowing all too well what it meant, and it had nothing to do with their current discussion. "It was a joke."
"Yeah, but I could have drowned," Leaf replied, but she didn't seem angry; she actually seemed amused.
"You know, that's the reason I was chased out of the Tribe," Wood mused.
"You would've been chased out anyway for being with Smokepour, or whatever his name is. But maybe you should look before you leap," she added with a... grin? Wood couldn't believe it, but she was grinning.
"I guess I'm forgiven," Wood stated.
"Yeah," agreed Leaf. "Because if I don't forgive you, we're never getting out of here."
Suddenly Frost gave another violent shiver, and this time his eyes were opening. "C'mon, let's try to warm him up," meowed Leaf. She scooted over to him and began to lick his pelt. Wood went to help her, pausing to stop Willow before he could attempt to get up.
"Stay down," Wood told him. "Don't aggravate your neck." Willow reluctantly obeyed, watching helplessly as Wood and Leaf licked Frost.
"Wh...what are y-you doing?" Frost stammered, seeming to find his voice. "S...stop licking me."
"You're freezing wet and cold," Leaf objected. "And I don't know about you, but we don't want you to die."
"Speaking of which, why are you wet?" Wood asked, bursting with curiosity.
Frost narrowed his eyes at Wood. "Oh great. Are we trapped in a prison den with him?"
"Shut up!" snapped Wood. "I cleaned up all your wounds for you - and don't tell me I did a bad job with the cobwebs, because I'm no herb cat, but at least I tried!"
Frost closed his eyes again. "You did do a bad job."
"What? You..." Wood looked like he was ready to lunge at Frost.
"Stop," hissed Leaf. Wood dug his claws into the ice. "Now, why are you wet?"
"Why are you injured?" Frost retorted.
"I was in battle!"
"There's your answer, then."
"You don't get wet from being in battle," Willow pointed out.
Frost rolled his eyes. "You have no idea."
Willow, Leaf and Wood exchanged glances. "Care to elaborate?" asked Leaf.
"Not really," muttered Frost.
Suddenly, Willow's pale green eyes widened. He had put together two and two. There was his conversation with Leaf what seemed like ages ago about Yellowroot not liking her trainee... there was Frost's disdain... Yellowroot's refusal to let him come on patrol... he stared at Frost in awe. "No way..."
"Way," muttered Frost. "Now leave me alone." He pointedly rolled over to face away from them, though it obviously pained him to do so.
"Do you care to elaborate?" Leaf asked Willow.
"I can give you my guess, but I'm not sure I'm right," meowed Willow. He looked to Frost for permission to continue, but the gray furred trainee was now facing away, so he continued. "Tell me if I'm wrong, Frost, but did Yellowroot attack you?"
Leaf and Wood gasped. No matter how much they did or didn't like Yellowroot, neither believed that she'd attack her own trainee.
Frost didn't reply. They all took that as a yes, so Willow ventured, "Did she... did she try to drown you in the Freezepool?"
Leaf and Wood looked from Willow to Frost in horror. Even if she'd attacked him, she wouldn't... would she?
"Where is she now?" Willow asked quietly.
"I... I killed her," Frost whispered, and he seemed genuinely upset. The other three prisoners gawked at him. "I didn't want to... but I had to... otherwise I wouldn't be here." His icy armor seemed to temporarily disappear, and for a moment Wood was able to see into the heart of a distraught trainee... and then the barrier returned. "Now leave me alone."
Leaf, Willow and Wood obeyed him this time. Leaf and Wood sat opposite Willow so he wouldn't have to move, forming a little circle for their discussion so they could analyze this new development and plan their next move while Wood ate the last mouse.
"So, Yellowroot's dead... this leaves Water Tribe incredibly vulnerable," meowed Wood with his mouth full. "Should we tell Dark?"
"Are you insane?" meowed Leaf. "Why would we tell Dark?"
Wood realized with a start that they knew nothing about the eight traitors. He figured it was alright to tell them, so he told them everything he knew about Dark and his group of traitors, and surprisingly remembered the name of each cat.
"So, should we tell Dark?" asked Willow when Wood finished.
"I don't see why not," meowed Leaf. "Though I don't understand how Dark plans on making peace. The only way seems to be to murder Stoneice and everyone loyal to him, and I don't know how taking over Water Tribe would achieve that. All that would do is make more cats loyal to Stoneice."
"What if Dark is lying?" Frost asked. Two heads turned to him in surprise. Willow tried to turn his head and failed. Frost was still facing away from them, but he continued, "What if he's lying just so he can get information like this out of you?"
"He's not," meowed Wood firmly.
"How do you know?" asked Leaf.
"He brought three other cats in with him, gave me the names of who was with him, he's been sending me fresh kill, he's been kind to me..."
"It could all be an act," muttered Frost cynically.
"I know it's not," meowed Wood. "You'll see when you meet him. You've got to trust me."
"Fine," meowed Willow. Leaf didn't reply. "But you guys are forgetting something. In order to make peace, you not only have to kill Stoneice and everyone loyal to him... but you have to kill Whitewater and everyone loyal to her."
"How do we do that?" asked Leaf. "We don't even know if there are any cats besides us disloyal to her!"
"Once she's dead, many cats will switch sides," Frost put in. "The trick is weeding out those who won't."
"Stop!" Wood meowed suddenly. "This is making my head hurt."
"Me too," Willow admitted.
"How about we sleep and talk more in the morning?" Leaf suggested.
"I like that idea," meowed Wood with a yawn, curling up right where he was.
"Me too," Willow repeated sleepily. Frost didn't reply, but agreed wholeheartedly. Before they knew it, all three of the four prisoners were fast asleep.
But one remained awake. When he was sure his friends were asleep, he got up and padded to the front of the den, waiting for the time of night when a certain she-cat would come to visit.
Wowness! Guess how long this chapter is! Almost 4,000 words! Actually, it's 3,959, but "almost 4,000" sounds better. And that's just the chapter, by the way. With author's notes and review replies, it's waaay over 4,000, but you don't care about that.
Anyways, to backtrack a little to the beginning part of the chapter which everyone probably forgot about, I love Wood's awkwardness about Tawny ;) it makes me want to hug him, especially since he's so bad at playing dumb. I love you, Wood! (hugs)
Hopefully this chapter was nice and long enough to make up for the long wait. See you next chapter! Moonstar