"Lightningfire! Lightningfire!"
I stirred in my nest, blinking sleep out of my eyes.
"What?" I meowed, looking around groggily in the pale early dawn light that streamed into the warrior's den.
"Lightningfire! Have you seen Crash?" Whisper rasped, standing in front of me with her ginger fur on end.
"No," I meowed rubbing sleep out of my eyes with my paw.
Wolfshade raised his head beside me, and other warriors were stirring around us too, awakened by Whisper's hoarse shout.
"What's going on, Whisper?" I meowed.
"Crash and I got into an argument last night. He stormed off into the forest. I let him go so he could cool down, but when I woke up this morning, he was still gone. I'm worried that something really bad has happened to him," Whisper meowed, her ears pinned back.
"Are you sure he's not just sleeping somewhere in the woods?" Wolfshade meowed through a yawn.
"Crash and I have been best friends since we were kits," Whisper said, turning to Wolfshade. "And, we've never been apart for this long. He wouldn't have stayed out all night."
Whisper lashed her tail, sinking her claws into the ground agitatedly.
"Please. You've got to help me look for him," she meowed.
"Don't worry, Whisper. We will," I meowed, getting to my paws.
"I'll help," Wolfshade said, rising to his feet next to me.
"And, take Sparrowpelt and Egg," Sharpclaw meowed, raising his head from his nest in the back of the cave.
The cats he named rose to their paws with only a couple of grumbles.
"Thank you," Whisper gasped to Sharpclaw.
Sharpclaw nodded his head to her in reply.
The group of us padded out of the den and bounded down the cliff into camp. Shiver and Tattered were waiting for us there.
"Is your shoulder healed enough to go out on patrol?" I meowed to Shiver as she joined our group.
Shiver flexed her claws, turning to look at the sealing wound that marked the white fur on her shoulder.
"Yes. I'll be fine. I have to help find Crash," Shiver meowed.
I nodded.
I looked around at the patrol of cats around me and was surprised to see that all the cats were looking to me, even Sparrowpelt, a senior warrior.
My stomach flipped nervously. Apparently, I was leading my first patrol today.
I suppose I was the first to volunteer to help Whisper.
"Alright, Whisper," I meowed, turning to the ginger she-cat. "Which way did Crash leave camp last night? We'll see if we can pick up his scent trail from there."
"This way," Whisper meowed, padding along the river.
We followed her out of camp. As we walked I breathed in deeply, running the air over my tongue to try to tease out Crash's scent. But, the scents of all of my clan mates from camp were too entwined for me to pick out a specific one.
"Anything?" Whisper meowed, turning to look back at us.
Everyone in my patrol shook their heads. Whisper's face fell.
"Don't worry," Wolfshade meowed, turning to Whisper. "Lightningfire is one of the best trackers in the Clan."
Shiver, Tattered, and Whisper all looked at me with hopeful eyes.
I swallowed, suddenly feeling a lot of pressure.
I closed my eyes.
Come on, Lightningfire. You've got this.
I slowly breathed in the warm morning air again, letting it linger in my nose and my mouth.
"I think I've got something!" I meowed, my eyes snapping back open as Crash's coarse and slightly acidic-tinged scent drifted into my nose.
I bounded forward, taking the lead as we exited camp and entered the forest. Crash's scent became clearer in my nose as the scents around me became less muddied. The scent trail continued to follow the river downstream. Our patrol loped single file with me at its head. We traveled through the forest for a while, Crash's scent heading unwaveringly parallel to the river. The scent was from last night, just starting to go stale.
I looked over at Whisper from the corner of my eye. She looked more and more distraught the more distance we traveled, her tail low and ears angled back. I slowed my pace to drop back, by her side.
"Can I ask you something?" I meowed to her. "Why were you and Crash fighting last night?"
"I mean, you don't have to tell me," I added quickly, turning to look away from her. "If you don't want to, you know."
Whisper sighed.
"No, it's fine," she said. "We were fighting because, now that the fox that wounded Shiver is dead, he wanted the four of us to head back out into the woods and start living on our own again. I told him that I like it here and don't want to leave, and he didn't like that very much."
"Why would Crash want to leave SkyClan?" I meowed, feeling a bit hurt that he would abandon the Clan after we've fed and sheltered him for around a moon.
"It's nothing personal," Whisper said with her mangled purr at the offended look on my face. "He just doesn't like big groups of cats. He doesn't trust them. They remind him too much of where we grew up."
"Oh," I said, blinking in understanding.
"I like you guys though," Whisper meowed softly, turning her gaze back forward to scan the undergrowth for any sign of Crash's black-and-white pelt.
Her brow furrowed with worry.
"Crash wouldn't have left us," Whisper meowed quietly, half to herself, shaking her head as we continued to walk farther and farther from camp. "He couldn't have."
Unable to assuage her fears, I didn't reply.
We walked on in silence. Eventually, we reached the edge of our territory. Here the river steeply dipped into a waterfall, tumbling through the air for several fox-lengths before crashing back to the ground. I stopped at our scent markers at the top of the waterfall, my gaze searching the forest ahead.
Crash's scent continued on over the border.
My patrol grouped around me at the border. Whisper's ears were flat against her head as she gazed out into the forest. Shiver pressed herself comfortingly against her side.
"We can go on a bit farther," I meowed, turning to look to Whisper.
I glanced back at Sparrowpelt. The senior warrior hesitated for a moment, before giving a nod of permission. I turned forward again.
"We must be careful, there could be any sort of rogues, foxes, or badgers ahead," Wolfshade murmured to me.
"I know," I replied, briefly pressing my muzzle to his cheek.
The sun was high in the sky as I led the patrol down the small cliff, and we padded into the unfamiliar forest.
My ears were pricked and every hair on my pelt vibrated with alertness as we traveled on. These were my first paw-steps outside of SkyClan territory.
What a strange thought.
I gazed up at the unfamiliar branches waving above my head and the trees stretching around me in all directions. I remembered the forests and the fields that I could see in the distance from Skyrock, even the faint cropping of mountains far beyond the two-leg place where Ebonyclaw, Harveymoon, and Macgyver live.
How large the world must be.
As we continued to travel, the sun starting to fall from sun-high, showing that we've been gone more that half a day now. We were still following the scent trail by the river. And, there was still no sign of Crash.
He has a whole night on us. We can't catch him. He wanted to leave, and now it looks like he's gone.
I sighed, defeat dragging at my paws as I came to a stop. I turned to look back at my patrol, opening my jaws to suggest that we return to SkyClan territory.
Before I could speak, the familiar heavy, salty scent of blood nipped at my tongue, carried over to me on the breeze.
"Oh no," I whispered.
"Blood," Wolfshade meowed quietly, walking up to my side to stare down the scent trail ahead.
Whisper took off, tearing down the bank of the river.
"Let's go," I meowed, bounding after her with the rest of our patrol in pursuit.
We ran down the river bank, the hot scent of blood growing stronger and stronger, until it was so powerful it coated my lungs and throat and made me want to gag.
I saw the lump of black-and-white fur washed on the stone bank in the river. Whisper made a bee-line for him, her paws scrambling on the loose stones. Crash's hind-legs were in the river, swaying gently in the current. His front half was on the bank, and his torso was drenched in a pool of his scarlet blood.
Whisper gave a heart-wrenching, strangled cry as she nosed his side. I slowed as I padded up to them. Crash's eyes were wide, but they stared up at nothing. His throat was torn open so viciously I could see the gleam of the white bones in his neck. More gashes covered his sides and belly, those wounds just as deep as the one on his neck.
Whisper was hunched over the body, staring blankly down at Crash. I gently touched my nose to Whisper's shoulder.
"His fur is so cold," she rasped, her sides shaking.
"What could have done this to him?" Egg meowed, looking horrified at the state of Crash's body.
Shiver and Tattered came to Whisper's side, pressing themselves on either side of her.
"It must have been a fox or a badger. Maybe a dog," Sparrowpelt meowed quietly as to not disturb Whisper, Shiver or Tattered.
I watched the three rogues, their faces awash with grief as they sat by their dead friend's side.
"We've never been apart, since the day we met when we were just kits," Whisper rasped, her head bowed. "And, now he's gone. I'll never be with him again. And, I wasn't there for him when he needed me. I let him die alone and afraid."
She crumpled over, burying her face into his side.
"I'm—so—sorry—Crash," Whisper meowed into his fur, her words so garbled that they were barely understandable, and her sides shook so hard that she had to gasp for breath.
I watched her in silence for a moment.
"…Don't worry," I murmured quietly to Whisper, touching my tail to her side. "Crash is safe. He's in StarClan now."
"But, he wasn't a clan cat," Whisper meowed, raising her head to look up at me.
"He was a loyal friend to you all, and he had a good heart." I meowed slowly. "I'm sure StarClan would…"
"If he was such a good friend why did he leave us," Tattered growled.
"Tattered," Shiver hissed, giving him a glare then casting a pointed look at Whisper.
Tattered clenched his jaw and glared back at Shiver, but then he dipped his head to press his scarred muzzle to Whisper's cheek.
"Sorry, Whisper," he meowed. "I didn't mean that. I know Crash loved you very much. He would've followed you to the ends of the earth if that's what you would've wanted."
"And, I know he would have come back to us," Shiver meowed, then cast a sad glance down at Crash. "If something hadn't gotten to him first."
"We can take his body back to camp to hold vigil for him," Sparrowpelt suggested.
"No. Let's just bury him here," Whisper meowed.
She turned to glance over at the patrol.
"It wouldn't matter to him if he was buried here or in SkyClan territory," she said.
"Alright. Whatever you want," I meowed.
We dug a hole at the edge of the forest, overlooking the river. Whisper, Shiver, and Tattered carried Crash's body to the grave. We filled it in with dirt, and Tattered dragged over a big grey stone from the bank of the river to mark it.
Whisper sat by the grave as the sun dropped lower in the horizon. Sparrowpelt sent us out to hunt while we waited for her. Wolfshade and I went off into the unfamiliar forest together, being careful not to stray too far from the river.
"It's terrible what happened to Crash," I meowed.
"I know," Wolfshade replied. "Poor Whisper."
"Do you think they were mates?" I meowed.
Wolfshade glanced at me, then looked away.
"I don't know," he said.
We caught two mice, which we brought back to the river bank. Sparrowpelt, Egg, Shiver, and Tattered returned with their own prey. We ate together in silence. Shiver tried to bring Whisper half of a squirrel, but she sent Shiver away, saying she wasn't hungry.
I settled down after I finished my mouse to groom my fur. Wolfshade sat down next to me, and I leaned over against his grey side. I breathed deeply, his sharp scent comforting as it washed over me.
Finally, Whisper slowly rose to her paws. Green eyes dull and tail held low, she padded over to the rest of us. She cast a final glance at Crash's grave, before turning to me.
"Let's go back home," Whisper rasped.