"No sign of ThunderClan," Longears announced.
Or Racconpaw, Silvershine thought to herself.
The evening patrol padded up the border towards the Moonpool. Silvershine noted that the scent markers along the border were fresh; ThunderClan's patrol had been by recently. A chill wind crept along WindClan's territory and plastered Silvershine's fur against her.
"Leaf bare might as well be here," Rainfall said what Silvershine had thought.
"I feel sorry for Bluemist's kits," Echobound said, "they're going to be born in the cold. And isn't delivering kits in leaf bare supposed to be harder?"
"They'll be fine," Snowsoot soothed. "Blackpaw was a leaf bare kit too, and an only kit as well. I mean, sure, Icepaw and Bitterclaw were both in the nursery at that time too, but denmates are not the same as littermates."
It didn't surprise Silvershine that Icepaw was born in leaf bare, her name says it all. "Are Icepaw and Bitterclaw littermates?" she asked, innocently.
"No, Icepaw is a moon younger than Bitterclaw," Snowsoot replied.
"Wow, that's a lot of only kits," Silvershine said.
"Well, WindClan cats are small," Rainfall said, "not that many kits can fit inside a WindClan queen, so, naturally, they have less at a time."
Silvershine pondered that, not really caring too much, but it was an interesting tidbit of information. Silvershine's ears twitched as a sound reached them. At first, she turned away in an attempt to ignore it, but then snapped back to attention. I'm on a patrol! I can't ignore things at the border!
The rest of the patrol had slowed, ears turned towards the sounds and jaws parted as they crept carefully up the border. A wave of fox scent rushed over them and snarls could be heard not far from the border.
"The fox!" Snowsoot gasped.
"No," Longears hissed, "that's not a fox, that's foxes!"
"Get outta here!" the mew was urgent, coming from just beyond the trees on the ThunderClan side.
Silvershine squinted, peering through the trees. She could make out the two orange pelts of foxes, their backs turned to her. In front of them, pressed against a tree was a young blue-grey tom. Silvershine gasped as she noticed the black stripe across his eyes. "Raccoonpaw!" she called. Without even thinking, she hurled herself across the border towards the foxes.
"Silvershine!" Longears yowled with surprise.
Without hesitation, Rainfall leapt across the border with Echobound at his heels. Unable to convince their clanmates, Snowsoot and Longears pelted after them.
Silvershine was there in a heartbeat. She threw herself onto the fox's hunches and dug her claws into its back. Her attention was drawn away for only a heartbeat when she thought she saw something gray disappear into the undergrowth.
"S…Silvershine!" Raccoonpaw was utterly shocked.
The other fox opened his jaws and lunged for Silvershine. Silvershine leapt up and the fox bit the other fox on the back. She darted under them, and attempted to hook their claws out from under them, but the foxes stood tall. The second one pulled its teeth out of its companion's back and stood snarling at the two cats.
With a yowl, Rainfall and Echobound appeared, each landing squarely on a fox's shoulders. Both foxes rolled on their backs, and Rainfall and Echobound were lucky to leap off in time.
Seeing her chance, Silvershine darted in and slashed the underbelly of one of the foxes. It yowled in pain, but instead of fleeing, it lashed out and snapped Silvershine's leg in its jaws. Silvershine wailed in pain and squeezed her eyes shut. They flew open again as she felt the fox's jaws suddenly leave her leg.
Raccoonpaw stood, panting heavily, glaring at the fox. The fox returned his stare with an evil look in its eye. "Get lost NOW!" Raccoonpaw sneered, shouting the last word.
The fox casually rose to its paws, as if what the apprentice had said meant nothing to it. It barked to its companion, who abandoned its fight with Rainfall and Echobound at once. With a final snarl at the cats, the two foxes darted off. The one Silvershine had slashed winced as it padded forward, but within a few heartbeats, they were gone.
"Is everyone alright?" Snowsoot panted.
"Silvershine, your leg!" Echobound exclaimed.
Silvershine winced as she looked down at it. Seeing the blood, she turned away; looking only seemed to make it feel worse. "I woulda been fresh-kill if it hadn't been for Raccoonpaw."
Raccoonpaw smiled awkwardly, scraping the ground with one paw. "Well so would I without you."
"It serves you right, though," Longears glared sternly at Silvershine. "What were you thinking, running across the border like that?"
"B…but Raccoonpaw was in trouble!" Silvershine protested.
"That doesn't concern WindClan," Snowsoot hissed. "We're lucky you were the only one hurt. What would you say to Stormstar if one of our warriors had died protecting a ThunderClan apprentice?"
"Snowsoot, that's not fair," Echobound said, "Silvershine was only trying to help. I'm sure ThunderClan would understand why we crossed the border."
"And hedgehogs will fly," Snowsoot spat. "ThunderClan's been unusually vicious recently, and we can't risk more unnecessary hostilities. I'd say they deserve to lose an apprentice."
"But Raccoonpaw doesn't deserve to die," Silvershine protested.
"Let's not talk about it now," Rainfall mewed. "Let's just get Silvershine back to camp so Pepperface can have a look at her. And you," he turned to Raccoonpaw who looked up, startled, "be more careful. This is probably the last thing WindClan will ever do for ThunderClan."
"Y…yes sir," Raccoonpaw stammered. Slowly and cautiously, he turned around towards his own territory. After being assured they weren't going to stop him, he bolted through some undergrowth and was gone.
Rainfall and Echobound supported Silvershine on both sides so that she didn't have to put any pressure on her injured leg. Slowly, they padded back to camp, having to wade through the stream since Silvershine couldn't jump it.
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"There, that should do it," Pepperface wrapped the last of a cobweb around Silvershine's leg. "That better?"
"It still hurts," Silvershine winced.
"I'll give you a poppy seed," Pepperface disappeared into the crack in a wall where her store was.
Silvershine fidgeted in the nest she was in, unable to get comfortable without moving her leg, and any time she moved her leg, a bolt of pain shot up it like lightning.
"Here you are," Pepperface returned with a small black seed on her pad and held it up to Silvershine, who licked it up. "That'll make you feel better and help you sleep tonight. Oh, and if you haven't guessed already, you're not going back to the warrior's den, it'll probably be too painful for you and the less you move it, the better."
Silvershine nodded in agreement and returned to trying to get comfortable. After struggling for what seemed like a moon, Silvershine flopped down in defeat.
"Don't worry," Pepperface said, suppressing a mrrow of laughter, "it should feel better tomorrow. And the poppy seed will help it feel better and help you sleep."
"I hope it hurries up," Silvershine moaned. Even as she said it, a yawn escaped her jaws. She remained in her current position, despite that it wasn't entirely comfortable. Still, drowsiness flooded over her like waves and soon, she couldn't stay awake if she had even wanted to.
A cold wind blew over Silvershine and sent chills throughout her body. Unable to ignore it, Silvershine rose and stretched. She stopped in mid-stretch; her leg didn't hurt. She looked back at it and saw the cobwebs were gone and there wasn't even a scratch on her leg.
"There you are, sleepy head," a female meow startled her and she turned to see her mother standing across the Moonpool from her. "I thought you would sleep clean through leaf-bare."
"M…Moonsong," Silvershine hadn't thought of what to say when she met the starry cat again.
"It's alright," Moonsong meowed, "I knew you would react the way you did, that's why I've never told you about your past."
"I see," Silvershine muttered.
"Now do you trust your mother's judgment?" Moonsong asked.
"I still wanted to know," Silvershine replied, "even if the truth hurts, I'd rather know it than go on living a lie. I'm glad you told me."
"Ah, but I didn't," Moonsong meowed with a coy smile.
"Wh...what?!" Silvershine exclaimed. "You mean it's not even true!? You didn't die for me?! Then why in StarClan's name didn't you tell me that?!"
"Now, I didn't say I didn't die for you either," Moonsong said, playfully.
"This isn't fair!" Silvershine growled in frustration. "Why can't you just talk clearly?!"
"It's the way of StarClan," Moonsong replied. "Can't say anything directly, just hinting at it."
"You're not even part of StarClan!" Silvershine yowled. As soon as the words had escaped her mouth, she clamped it shut, ashamed to have said such a thing.
Moonsong didn't seem appalled or even phased by what her kit had said. She simply sat down and wrapped her tail around her paws. "So, you figured that out too."
"W…well, I had a suspicion," Silvershine replied. "It all made sense, StarClan didn't really know anything about you, you come see me whenever you want, you always talked distantly about StarClan, and you never said anything good about them. What do you have against StarClan anyway?"
"So many questions," Moonsong said, "so much to explain."
"Well then start explaining!" Silvershine demanded. "You can start by telling me what actually happened that day the fox attacked."
Moonsong looked down at her paws and drew in a large breath of air. She looked up at Silvershine with so many emotions mixed in her eyes, Silvershine could hardly make anything out. "Silvershine, it wasn't me who was killed by the fox that day," she paused, inhaling again. She seemed to be trying to muster up the courage to tell her daughter the truth, "it was you."
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~Ha ha! How's that for a clifhanger! I'm horrible, I know. Looks like you'll just have to wait to find out the whole story!~
