I'm alive. Believe me, I'm really, really really really really sorry about the long wait...I can't believe it's been a month. I've worked on this chapter sparatically over the last four weeks, never completely forgetting it. I hit a little roadblock in this chatper (not writers block...I had the scene, I just was thinking about how to write it) and then I procrasinated. And with softball tryouts this Saturday (eek) it takes up a lot of time...plus an evil chemistry teacher who thinks torture of students is amusing, and a few new books I've got (Airman by Eoin Colfer is amazing)...it all adds up to lack of updates. Terribly sorry, but at last, here's chapter 29.

Moletail Of The Squeaky-Cats: cool indeed. :P

Stonetail's Loyalty: shhhh!!! XD

Shaded-Strike: yeah, me too. I kinda hated her before, but now I feel sad...oh well. And yay, you updated! (pats you on the back)

TawnyLeaf: I suppose things don't always go as planned. I'll stop now, since I don't want to sound all intelligent and deep. ;)

MagicNo333: using the Alt key! Hold alt, and use the numbers on the side of your keyboard. It's so fun to play with... ♫ Also, I didn't find the scene that bad either, but...I guess it's the most violent thing I've ever written (so far...XP) so I thought it might disturb some people...guess not. ;)

Flamespirit-eth: I do feel bad for poor Rowanclaw and his/her gender issues. Though I like him/her better as a him.

Shadow of the Nights: easy for who? Ok, so no one stopped them... but I'm pretty sure they didn't think it was easy. :P Dunno, ask them.

Stardawn: that's always something I like. I hate how good-guys and bad-guys are so defined; particularly if you've read Redwall, how the bad guys are always a particular species, or even in Warriors, how the bad guys are always from ShadowClan. It should be hard to differenciate - so, yes, that is what I was aiming for. :)

Flametail: he's not quite ready to die...he's got some exciting stuff do to first. (dun dun dun?)

Rawr: um, roar? Cool name. XP

Feathersong: thanks for reading, then!

Tim: I believe I've been through this...I try, I try, I really really do try. And I know you get this from everyone, but it's true: homework and school take over lives. And softball five days a week complicates things. I really am trying, though. :) (gives you a plushie to tide you over)

Mudheart: sorry, can't answer that... ;)

Chapter 29

The guards came for them around moonhigh. Willow had volunteered for watch, and the second he heard the approaching pawsteps, his drooping eyes snapped open.

"Leaf! Frost! Wood!" he shouted their names in a panicked whisper. "They're coming!"

Frost, who Willow had suspected wasn't actually sleeping, blinked his eyes open. "Really? I thought they weren't going to come."

The pale furred trainee couldn't tell whether the herb cat was being sarcastic or not, but it wasn't the time to ponder. He ran over to Wood and nudged him roughly, causing the sleeping tom to groan, and hurriedly jabbed Leaf in the back.

"We've got to go!" he hissed. "Come on!" It took a few seconds to get everyone awake and to their paws, and not a moment too soon. Sand tiptoed through the door, and jumped backwards when she realized that her targets were awake and prepared.

"They're awake!" She shouted in warning to her comrades.

"That makes our job a lot harder," Wood heard someone from outside muse. He swallowed. Job? These cats had probably been ordered to kill them all...

"RUN!" yowled Willow. He bolted out the door, streaking past the surprised Sand.

"No duh," Frost muttered, and charged out after him.

At this point, Sand had gathered herself, but Wood leapt on her. Leaf took the opportunity to escape while the she-cat was pinned to the ground, only to find that she had run right into a pack of Ice Tribe fighters outside.

Wood and Frost were already meeting them, trying to claw their way through the circle enclosing around them. Here goes nothing, she thought, and leapt into the fray. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Wood following. She pinned a black she-cat to the ice, but told herself not to strike. I'm not trying to kill. I'm just trying to pass. She got up and pushed past the she-cat's winded body, bowling over a tabby in her charge before finding herself claw to claw with yet another cat.

Willow came down on said cat's head with a crash, knocking him senseless. "They really were intent on killing us, weren't they," he grumbled, placing himself back to back with his fellow trainee.

"Yeah, and looks like the whole Tribe wanted to join in the fun," Leaf added, whirled around to block a claw aimed at her neck.

"Keep moving!" she heard Wood yowl from somewhere ahead of them. Right; they had to move forward. Once they broke free of the cats, they could easily outrun them till they decided the chase wasn't worth it. How hard could it be to simply push through?

Without warning, Wood burst forward into an empty space. He lifted his eyes; there were no cats in front of him. He was through, and now was his chance. He turned to make sure his friends were following, but only caught sight of Frost as the herb trainee pushed past a burly brown tom. He saw Leopard, and ferverently wondered if she'd fight for them or not. Doing so, they both knew, would loose the she-cat her home and position in Ice Tribe, and he was pretty sure she wouldn't think it was worth it. He didn't see Dark anywhere, but he would agree with their allies if they told him that Dark's position was too valuable to loose.

Snapping out of his muses, he quickly scanned the battle for his friends. "Willow! Leaf!" he called. He saw the ginger she-cat trying to push past a final pair of opponents, and quickly leapt to her aid. He knocked one down, and Willow came at them fro them other side, barreling into the second Ice Tribe fighter. The gray tabby flew backwards and skidded into the snow, winded, but only for so long.

Hastily begging Sky Tribe to allow her friends to follow her, Leaf took the opportunity to make her escape. She dashed into the open. The snowy landscape would have blinded her with brightness in the day time, but at night it was simply a blank, black expanse. There were no stars that night; they were all hiding behind the shadowy clouds. Oddly enough, the ominous dark hole of a landscape that seemed to want to swallow her up was strangely inviting. For her it signified freedom, and just maybe, a sliver of a chance.

When she had sprinted several foxlengths, she turned to make sure Willow and Wood were coming after her, only to see them just overcoming their growing number of adversaries. One of them knocked Willow to the ground, but Wood was quickly at his side, fighting off the attacker. "Just run, Leaf!" Willow cried over the roar of angry, bloodthirsty cats, quickly picking himself up and charging after her.

Wood turned to follow, but was slammed into from the side by a large tom. He landed with a loud thud on the ground, feeling the sharp pain of the wind getting knocked out of him. His attacked loomed over him, dark eyes gleaming with malice and sick joy as he raised his claw for the deathblow.

The large paw came down hard. Wood rolled to side, and the slash intended for his throat grazed his shoulder. He gritted his teeth as he felt the new wound start to bleed. But hey, he told himself, it's better than what would've happened if he'd hit his target...

He realized with a jolt that just because his opponent had missed, didn't mean he was gone. The muscular cat was coming at him again, looking angry and frustrated, which was definately not good. He tried to pick himself up, but couldn't in time, and the enemy swiftly pinned him to the ground. Too fast for a cat his size, Wood mused. And I don't have a way out of this one...

He wondered if this was how it was meant to end. If he'd never get to see Smokepaw again, or see peace in the Snowlands, or help it come. He'd never get to see Tawny again, or his sister's kits. All because he couldn't simply push through. It somehow didn't seem right.

Suddenly the weight on top of him was lifted. A gray flash flew over him, and his would-be killer rolled into the snow. Wood wasted no time in getting up and sprinting away for his life. He had to catch up to Willow before they caught him again.

He was running a ways behind Willow, who was hot on Leaf's heals. He knew he had to keep running, no matter how much he wanted to drop. The gash on his shoulder burned and throbbed, and it took every drop of his willpower to shove it to the back of his mind. Run...run...run...

After what seemed like an eternity of running, Willow decided that he would have loved to just drop to the ground and let them catch him. At least his numb legs would be allowed a short break. But then he caught sight of Leaf out of the corner of his eye. The she-cat looked just as exhausted as he was, but she was still running. She glanced sideways at him, and gave her comrade a tired grin. The weary yet determined look in her eyes gave him new strength. If not for himself, he had to keep going for Leaf and his friends.

Wood lagged behind, and behind him was a crowd of pursuers. But as the refugees ran into the night, the crowd began to thin. They ran for a long, long time, longer than any of them had ever run, or even walked before. Pure adrenaline and fear kept them going. The pack of bloodthirsty pursuers slowly narrowed until the sun poked its head over the horizon, showing as just a glowing orange line. When the glowing orange line began to illuminate the night sky, spreading gentle rays of light slicing through the darkness, Wood risked a glance behind him, coming face to face with one remaining opponent.

He couldn't fight. He didn't have the strength. His shoulder flared with pain. He again felt the helpless feeling of approaching death. Had he escaped death and run his heart out half the night only to face the end again? He summoned all of his courage and strength to give his opponent a hard, defying look, which may well have been his last act of merit, and collapsed to the ground.

What the exhausted trainee didn't take into account was that the black and white patched tom he assumed to be his killer had also been running all night. By the time Leaf and Willow ran back to rescue their friend, both cats were lying passed out in the snow.

"What do we do?" Leaf panted, her legs wobbling beneath her. She and Willow couldn't drag Wood away; they didn't have it in them. But if they stayed here, the Ice Tribe fighter might wake up and kill them.

"We...we don't have to kill him, do we?" Willow asked quietly, gazing almost sadly at the black and white tom.

"N...no," she stammered in reply. "He's tired too...I think." She fell to the ground. "The others are gone...can't we just rest?"

"Fine by me," Willow answered. He was asleep before he hit the snow.

§ § §

When Tawny and Reed were finally finished with the tracks, it was almost light out, barely dark enough to conceal them from the soon to wake Water Tribe cats. They made their way out of camp, careful to cover their own fresh pawprints until they reached the group.

Raccoon was sitting up, staring blankly out into the Snowlands as if in some sort of trance. He looked hollow-eyed and tired, as did Creek, who was resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were closed, but the tears that had come from them still sparkled on her face. To Tawny's surprise, Flake was resting his muzzle on Whitewater's still flank, paying her a fighter's respect. Judging by his half closed eyes and ragged appearance, he had probably been sitting vigil for her, and the limp black tom at her side, all night.

It took her a moment to realize that someone was missing. Reed had noticed a split second before her, so it was him who demanded fiercely, "Where is he?" None of the three cats acknowledged him. "Come on. Don't any of you know where that wildclawed foxdung is?"

Creek lifted her muzzle off of Raccoon's shoulder and opened her eyes slowly. Her trainer didn't stir. "He...left," she mewed quietly.

"Left? Are you kidding me?" Reed was absolutely livid. The fiery temper he'd mostly kept in check during the assassination was bursting free from its restraints. "You just let a crazy wildclawed murderer wander off?" He couldn't believe this. In his mind, the stupid fishbrain was wandering across the Snowlands killing random cats to satisfy his bloodlust, meanwhile leaving the patrol without a leader. Though that wasn't such a bad thing.

"He didn't just wander off," Raccoon snapped, waking from his transfixed state. He blinked a few times and waved his paws to shake off the cramps that had come with sitting up still for so long.

"Where did he go then?" Reed demanded. Tawny stepped backwards, not wanting to be a part of what, to her, had potential to become an extremely heated debate.

"Back into Water Tribe camp," Creek answered quietly. "Or so he said. He went the wrong way."

Tawny's first assumption was that their mysterious leader had lied, and had some shadowy business to take care of. Visions of rogue life, wolves and bears came to mind. Was he was part of some rogue tribe, a spy from a wolf pack, or a servant of bears?

"Or maybe he was just trying to avoid me and Tawny," Reed snarled.

Tawny winced. She hadn't even thought of that, absorbed as she'd been in her fear-inspired fantasies, though it did seem much more likely.

"Why would he want to avoid you two though?" asked Creek. "It's not like he's afraid to show us what he does."

"Maybe...maybe he has a secret," Tawny suggested softly. "Maybe there's something he doesn't want us to know."

The four of them pondered what secret their violent leader could possibly be harboring. Being him, whatever it was had to be dark...

"Or maybe he just ran off," mewed Flake. His voice was hollow and dull, as if he didn't really mean what he was saying or as if he was barely conscious. "He's that kind of coward."

There was a moment of silence. Creek broke it with a quiet question. "Is...is there another way into Water Tribe camp?"

"Of course," meowed Reed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's not required that you go in the main entrance. He could easily have slipped through the trees."

Another frightening thought occurred to Tawny - what if he planned to murder all of Water Tribe before they woke? She wouldn't put it past him, and he did seem to have a grudge of some sort against their enemy Tribe. But she couldn't let that happen; there were innocent cats in there, cats who hopefully find sympathy for them and their cause and fight by their side for peace. And, she realized with a lightning-like jolt, Wood's sister's kits were in there.

"I have to go after him," she meowed suddenly. Everyone, even Flake, turned to her in surprise.

"Tawny, he'll kill you," Flake whispered, concern prominent in his warm amber eyes.

"You think I can't stand up to him?" she demanded, tears building in her eyes. Everything was overwhelming her - her own thoughts, what she'd witnessed, and the cats who could die at their gray-eyed leader's wild claws. "I'm a fighter too!"

"A fighter in training," Raccoon reminded her gently. "And even us fighters..." he waved his tail at Reed and Flake, as if willing them to continue for him, but neither spoke. "Even us fighters may not be able to defeat him."

"Why not?" Tawny cried.

"You saw the look in his eyes!" Reed yowled. "You saw his bloodlust! He kills anything in his path, and he's not exactly a pushover. He's a skilled fighter with the will to kill."

"How skilled could he be?" Tawny hissed. "How much training could he ever have had? I doubt he ever had a trainer. And how old do you think he is? He looks my age!" The cats around her were stunned into silence. "Didn't any of you ever take the time to look at him?" she growled. "He looks like a trainee! And you're all saying none of us can beat him!" She took a deep breath, and let it out.

Flake stood up and walked over to her, and rested his tail on her back. "I hear you," he whispered. "But...calm down."

She took a few breaths. She couldn't ever remember having been so angry in her life, or so determined to do something. Didn't they understand? "I'm going after him," she declared hoarsely, her voice rough from her shouting and weariness.

"Then I'm coming with you," Flake mewed firmly.

"And me," Reed added.

"Count us in," meowed Creek.

Tawny almost laughed with the joy of having her friends unite with her, but she knew she couldn't bring them all with her. "No. We need someone to stay here with the bodies..."

Raccoon sighed. "Creek and I will. You three go ahead."

Tawny nodded, and took off. She didn't even check to make sure that Flake and Reed were following her.

"Tawny, wait up!" called Flake. She reluctantly slowed her pace, and the two toms skidded to a halt beside her, spraying snow. "Taste the air. Try to smell him. Don't just run around."

Tawny felt herself warming in embarrassment - why had she been so reckless? Normally she was the cautious one, and it was her reminding her friends to scent - but not today. She tried to push the clouds out of her mind, wishing it was clear so she could think properly.

"We shouldn't let ourselves be seen," meowed Reed. "If Water Tribe sees us in camp before they find Whitewater, everything could be ruined."

This made Tawny and Flake pause. Was what they were about to do worth it? Would they even find their leader in camp?

"Maybe it's best if we split up," Flake suggested. "Our scents should still be disguised a bit by the dung. We search the camp, and if we find him, report back here. Come back here by sunrise anyhow, alright?"

"Sounds good," mewed Tawny, slightly disappointed that she hadn't been the one to come up with the well-thought-out plan, but willing to follow Flake nonetheless. They didn't have much time till sunrise, so she had to be swift. As Flake and Reed took off to the left and right, respectively, the small tawny she-cat padded straight into Water Tribe camp.

She was surprised to find that no one was awake yet. She supposed that technically it wasn't dawn yet, and the patrol might not wake up for a little while longer. Only how much longer she didn't know, so they had to move quickly. She walked by a series of tree dens, wondering subconsciously at how strange it was to have dens in trees. She didn't risk peeking inside any of them, in case some cat was awake and capable of seeing her. She padded silently, not bothering with the tracks behind her - after all, in the center of camp and away from Whitewater's den, it could have been anyone.

A sharp squeal snapped her out of her thoughts. She pricked up her ears, and heard only silence. Convinced that she was imagining things, she lowered her ears again, only to have the same squeal echo on the edge of her hearing.

Leave it alone, she told herself. It's probably some cat having a nightmare. Nonetheless, she found herself padding carefully towards were the squeals had come from, ears remaining upright at attention.

Another squeal - to her right. She turned. There was a den inside a thick rotting tree. She poked her nose inside, only to see a pair of sleeping she-cats who looked about her age, probably littermates. They were both sound asleep, each curled up with a separate piece of moss, and completely harmless.

So much for that, Tawny mused. She wondered if lack of sleep, stress and emotional trauma were causing her to hear things. She quickly shoved away the idea that she was re-hearing Whitewater's death the second the thought occurred to her. No, it was just her mind longing for sleep -

- There it was again! I can't be imagining this, she told herself. It's too real. While the noise was barely on the edge of her hearing - if it wasn't dead quiet in the pre-dawn camp, or had she been walking with Flake, she would never have heard it - she was beginning to convince herself that it was all too real. But then if it was, did it matter? Probably just a dreaming cat -

- And again! This time behind her. She whirled around, finding herself staring at the back of another tree, slightly thinner than the last. For her own peace of mind, she walked around to the other side and poked her head in.

And there she found her leader.

She nearly leapt back and screamed in shock, but held both impulses in check. If he found out she had followed him, she didn't know what he would do, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't be happy. She cautiously moved forward, trying to get a better glimpse in the fading darkness of approaching dawn.

And there was the squeak again. It was coming from directly in front of her, but not from her leader. She blinked rapidly, trying to improve her night vision. When she opened her eyes, she could make out the faint outline of a small cat underneath him... a kit.

The kit squealed again in terror. He's hurting a kit! I can't let him do this! Tawny decided. Without a single second thought she leapt at him, barreling into his side and throwing him off the kit.

"What - you!" the leader exclaimed, picking himself up quickly and seeming to glow with fury. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "This is my business!"

"It's mine too!" Tawny meowed heatedly. "It's our patrol, and so it's our business to know where our leader is! So we have the right to come looking for you -"

"There are more of you around?" he spat. Without warning, he shoved her into the wall and had a claw at her throat with amazing swiftness. "Allow me to repeat; are you the only one who came searching?"

All Tawny's previous boldness deserted her. She hadn't even noticed, but in just the past two days she'd come a long way from Dark's shy, quiet trainee. Now, though, pinned to a wall and with a direct threat to her life, she once again she became the timid little trainee, afraid to speak and stand up for herself and always shuffling her paws in the snow. Fear pooled in her widened green eyes as her mind raced for an answer.

"N-no," she stammered. "But...but I'm the only one searching the camp...the others are s-searching around," she lied.

The leader was breathing heavily. He paused, as if pondering what to do with her. The moment seemed to last forever. Finally, still holding a claw at her throat, he opted to delay whatever punishment he had in mind with conversation.

"Do you know who these cats are?" he finally asked, his voice surprisingly lacking venom. Tawny couldn't believe him - making casual conversation while dangling her life over a cliff? A metaphorical cliff, of course. Her thought trail paused to reflect on what she had just thought, then she mentally slapped herself. She was beginning to sound insane, if not a bit like Dark. Maybe such were the effects knowing your life could end any second if one simple cat chose to make it so.

"You don't, do you," he murmured, taking her silence for lack of knowledge. Though in truth, Tawny hadn't looked at the cats at all. Now that her night vision was improving and the light of dawn was growing, she could make out the tiny brown and black kit her leader had been on top of. It was lying eerily still, though the weak squeaks it gave off every few seconds told her it wasn't dead. To its left, however, was a dusty-brown kit, lying noiseless and unmoving. Tawny realized, with indescribable horror and feeling her stomach drop to her toes, that the kit was dead.

"You...you killed an innocent kit," she spluttered, tears welling in her eyes. How...how could he?

"He's not innocent!" he roared, spitting in Tawny's face as he yowled. She closed her eyes, but shutting off her vision could never eliminate the picture of the dead kit in her mind. "Take another look at him," her captor commanded.

She opened her eyes slowly and cautiously, and for reasons unknown to her obeyed her leader's demand. She focused in on the bloody dead kit, taking in its dusty-brown fur, and glazed amber eyes...

"Great Sky Tribe," she whispered. The kit was the spitting image of Wood.

"You recognize him, I take it?" His dark gray eyes glowed with sick amusement.

"Wood..." she whispered, scared at how much the small kit looked like Wood's dead body.

"You must care a lot about Wood," the gray-eyed tabby taunted. "The look in your eyes and the lust in your voice say a lot."

Something, somewhere, somehow unlocked Tawny's inner fury. "You wouldn't know anything about caring!" she cried. "And you certainly wouldn't know anything about Wood! Wood is a kind cat who cares about the lives of others - something you wouldn't know a thing about!"

Tawny was panting, gasping for breath after her shouting rant. To her surprise, her captor loosened his grip on her and let her slide to the ground. She considered running, but no...the kits. She couldn't let him kill the remaining kit.

The realized, as her senses came back to her, that the brown tabby was laughing. Laughing. "What's so funny?" she hissed.

He turned to her, a scary unidentifiable light in his eyes. "You have no idea how much I know about your dear Wood," he meowed darkly. "He doesn't care about the lives of others - and he doesn't deserve to live."

Tawny gaped in horror. For all the time she'd known Wood, he'd seemed nothing but caring in kind, if not maybe a bit over energetic. How could this cat have come to hate him so much? How did he even know him? Then, suddenly, everything came together. She realized that these kits must be Wood's sister's kits; but why would he go after them in particular? It was simple, combined with the other facts coming together in her mind. The kits, his knowledge of Water Tribe territory, his hatred of said Tribe, his concealed identidy, his rogue lifestyle, his hatred of Wood, and most of all...those eyes. Those dark, smoky eyes.

"Smoke," she whispered.

The gray-eyed leader laughed darkly. "So, he told you, huh?" He took a step towards her. "Well, I'm afraid you know too much."

"You can't kill me," she mewed, trying to sound more confident than she felt, but failing miserably. Fear gripped her like an icy claw. "The other cats will see...they'll find out..."

"And what will they do?" he taunted. "I'm a better fighter than any of them. I've learned the hard way. I could take them all down."

"Dark would kill you," she meowed, her voice and body shaking. "I'm his trainee...and if you kill his patrol..."

"I'm not afraid of Dark," he meowed firmly. "Dark may be able to beat me, so let him. It's better than being a coward, like you and Wood and your worthless friends." He lashed out at her, but she was ready, and rolled to the side just in time.

Now's the time to run, she decided. Forget the kits - RUN! She got up and dashed for the exit, only to be knocked down from behind. A pair of strong teeth clamped down on her forepaw, and she yowled in pain.

A pair of scary, vengeance filled eyes were illuminated in the advancing light. "You won't be running anywhere," he growled. Tawny squeezed her eyes shut.


I do believe that's the longest chapter I've ever written, at 4,475 words without the author's notes. (cheers) I guess you guys deserve it, since I've been so bad about updating...

Just to let you know, each of those two parts were long enough to be individual chapters (the first one barely, though). I guess I could've separated them to make your screen a bit smaller, but I like to have two different view points in most chapters. Just justifying the overly long chapter...you don't need to listen. XP At least I took off the bold for the long author's notes to keep you from being blinded.

And with that, till the next chapter (which I WILL try to make sooner),

Moonstar