I'm going to die. The thought filled Rubblefang's head as the ground rushed up below him. It was a terrifying thought, but bearable. The spirit-cats would welcome him gladly, and he would be reunited with Strikestar. He closed his eye and let himself imagine walking among their ranks for an instant as he braced himself for the inevitable jolt of pain that would come with the landing.
And then he stopped falling. But he was still alive. In fact, he hadn't even landed. It took Rubblefang a second to process what had just happened, but he realized he could feel the sharp tug of fangs digging into his scruff. Then the fangs let go, and he dropped harmlessly to the snow from barely a mouse-length above it. Stunned, Rubblefang looked up, expecting to see Honeystar, or another of his Clanmates.
Instead, he saw his mother.
Mist clung to the tree that Rubblefang had fallen from. She must have jumped up onto the tree as he was falling and grabbed him just in time. That made twice she had saved him. She hopped down from the tree and faced Rubblefang, relief clouding her eyes.
"I'm so glad you're alright," she breathed. "I don't care what Arrow thinks; I couldn't stand to lose both my sons to his darling lady Dewdrop."
"Mist, I-" Rubblefang choked on his words. "…You saved me again," he finally managed. "Why? You know I'll never go back to you."
"You'll never go back to the Alliance," Mist murmured. "You'll always go back to me. Even if your brother despised me, you never truly did. I could see it in your face."
"You're wrong," Rubblefang mewed. "You never even called us by our real names! All you ever wanted was to get us back on your side. Well, Strikestar is dead now thanks to an Alliance cat. If you really cared about him, you would have stopped her!"
He wondered if he really meant what he was saying. He knew Strikestar would have meant it if Rubblefang had been the one to die. In that version of reality, he would have already ripped Mist's throat out. But Rubblefang was not Strikestar. And yet he wasn't Honeystar either, forgiving her long-lost sister and letting her guard down only to be betrayed.
"Listen, Rubble, or whatever name you want me to call you." Mist cast her gaze up to the top of the tree. "I saw your friend- Honeypool, is it? - looking for Dewdrop. She's met up with the rest of RogueClan and explained everything. She's sent them back to your camp to stay safe. Now, I want you to run back and join them. I will kill Dewdrop, and tell Arrow that it was you or one of your friends."
"Her name is Honeystar now," Rubblefang informed her proudly. "She's the Clan leader now that Strikestar is gone." Then the rest of what Mist had said caught up with his mind. "Wait, you're going to kill one of your own?!"
"Lady Dewdrop isn't my kin," she snarled. "And a 'lady' is all she is ever suited to be. I am a queen, and Arrow is a king, but Dewdrop… she is something that cannot be called anything other than a rogue. Alliance cats must make an oath of loyalty upon joining, but she never had to make any such an oath. She gets Jet and Jack to fight for her, she sets up dirty tricks and traps, and she manipulates her enemies. This is not the Alliance way, and from what I understand it's not the warrior way either."
Rubblefang nodded; Mist was right. The Alliance was far from honourable, but Dewdrop's mind seemed to be set only on killing. At least Mist loved her kin. Dewdrop had attempted to murder her own sister, and had very nearly succeeded.
Still, Honeystar had seemed so set on doing Dewdrop in herself…
"Is Honeystar still out here tracking down Dewdrop?"
"From what I understand, she is. But I don't-"
Mist broke off, pressing her ears flat and hissing. Rubblefang was confused for a moment before he saw what she was seeing. Up in the tree, Dewdrop was watching them, bemused. She casually rolled a good-sized stone back and forth under her paw. Was she going to drop it on them?
"Oh, so you want to kill me, do you?" she purred. "Well, you'd better get up here, then."
"Oh, I will," Mist growled.
Rubblefang wanted to warn her against it, but she moved too fast, darting up the tree. Dewdrop rolled the rock out from under her paw and for a horrifying second it looked like Mist wouldn't dodge it, but she did, although the rock clipped her left ear.
Dewdrop jumped down from her branch just as Mist reached her, and the two she-cats collided in midair. Rubblefang looked on as they tangled themselves in the high branches, biting and clawing at each other ferociously. Eventually Mist knocked Dewdrop away, sending her tumbling down from one branch to another until she hit the ground, hard but not hard enough to put her out of commission. Mist followed her down and they resumed fighting.
Rubblefang was conflicted- should he run away and go find Honeystar? Or should he try to help Mist? He decided that Mist was more capable than he was, so he ran off to go look for Honeystar.
It didn't take long to find her. She was wandering around near the pile of coniferous branches that she and Dewdrop had collected earlier.
"Rubblefang!" she mewed with relief when she saw him. "I'm glad to see you're okay. I was worried that Dewdrop might have hurt you."
"She threw me out of a tree," he admitted. "But Mist showed up and saved me."
"Mist is here too?!" Honeystar's eyes widened. "Where are they now?"
"I'll show you," Rubblefang mewed. "Follow me."
He led her to the spot where Mist and Dewdrop had been fighting a minute ago. But the scrap was over. Dewdrop stood panting over a fallen Mist, whose sides still rose and fell, but raggedly.
"Dewdrop!" Honeystar's cry was the kind that demanded that all who heard it listen. "Why did you try to kill me?!"
Dewdrop's head shot up and her blazing eyes met Honeystar's. Rubblefang felt like he was watching two of the same cat, although their colour palettes were drastically different. Honeystar took a step toward Dewdrop, who took a step back. Dewdrop bared her fangs, and so did Honeystar.
Finally, they lunged at each other. Dewdrop was a malevolent cat, and she was powerful in her own twisted way, but paw-to-paw combat was a warrior's domain. Honeystar had her pinned down in a matter of seconds. Rubblefang looked on nervously, wondering if Honeystar really was going to kill her.
Honeystar lifted a powerful front paw over Dewdrop's head, and she looked like she had no qualms whatsoever about killing Dewdrop, as she had sworn she would do. But then she hesitated, and in that moment, Dewdrop jabbed her claws into Honeystar's sides. Honeystar wailed in agony, and Rubblefang cringed at the sight of his friend in pain. He wanted to help, but he didn't feel that he could do anything to help. Instead he ran to Mist's side; maybe he could help her.
Mist appeared semi-conscious; her eyelids flickered over vacant eyes, staring aimlessly off into the distance. She seemed to be in good shape for the most part, but there must have been some damage under the surface that Rubblefang couldn't see.
"How bad did she hurt you?" Rubblefang demanded.
"Huh?" Mist weakly lifted her head to gaze at him bleakly. "…I-I think I'm okay. But tell me, Rubble, how are you?"
"I'm fine, Mist," Rubblefang assured her, worry pricking at his pelt. Was she really okay? "Now, where does it hurt?"
"That doesn't matter," she meowed, her gaze sharpening. "Hurry, Rubble, and take me back to the Alliance headquarters. They can treat me there, and they cannot survive without their queen."
"Frostglaze could treat you better than they could," he mewed indignantly. "If you want to enter Alliance territory, you'll have to get there yourself."
"I will not accept your pathetic RogueClan herbs!" she hissed, but it turned into a cough halfway through. Mist lay on her side in the snow for a moment, looking pretty pathetic herself, before mumbling, "I suppose it would be better to live than to die, don't you agree, Rubble?"
"You'll come with me, then?" he mewed hopefully, relief washing over him.
"I can't walk; my leg is broken." Mist shifted her right hind leg, wincing in pain. "You'll have to carry me. Do you think you can manage that?"
Rubblefang wondered if he could, but he'd be willing to try. He glanced back to Honeystar and Dewdrop, who were still fighting. Every time Honeystar would gain the advantage, she'd hold back, and Dewdrop would strike to even the playing field out again. It was infuriating for Rubblefang to watch, but he knew it was not his fight.
"Honeystar, I'm going to take Mist back to camp!" he called to her. "And remember, don't go so easy on Dewdrop! She wouldn't do the same for you."
Honeystar didn't reply, and Rubblefang couldn't blame her; she was still locked in combat. He didn't even know if she'd heard him. But he had no time to wait around for an answer, so he helped Mist to her paws and tried to lift her onto his back.
However, the weight was too much for Rubblefang to carry. Mist had to make do with leaning up against him instead.
"This is an outrage," she grumbled as they walked. "Need I remind you that I am a queen?"
"You're a long way away from your throne, though," Rubblefang muttered. "While you're on RogueClan land, you have no power over any of us."
"Spoken like a true prince," Mist murmured fondly. Rubblefang was going to object, but Mist didn't add anything about coming back to the Alliance, so he didn't say anything about it either.
It wasn't until they hobbled into camp that Rubblefang realized how tired he was. It was long past moonhigh, and he had barely gotten a half-hour of sleep all night. So many things had happened within twenty-four hours of each other- Strikestar's death, Honeystar's leader ceremony, Dewdrop's true intentions being revealed, Mist showing up to save Rubblefang at the last second. He hadn't even had time to think about rest.
"There's a cat here who needs help," Rubblefang called softly, poking his head into Frostglaze's den. "Her back leg is broken."
"Rubblefang?!" Frostglaze lifted his head, blinking. "Oh, thank the stars, you're finally back! Honeystar explained everything that happened to us. Is she with you now?"
"No, but somebody else is."
Frostglaze hesitated when he saw Mist. He curled his tail protectively around his sleeping kits.
"Oh, come now, do I really look like I'm in any shape to hurt you?" Mist sighed. "I know we aren't exactly the best of friends, but RogueClan and the Alliance have a truce, remember? Please just heal me so I can go back out there and kill Dewdrop."
"Not so fast," Frostglaze meowed. "A broken limb isn't something you can fix in an instant. There'll be no more fighting for you tonight- or for at least a few weeks while your leg heals."
"That's ridiculous," Mist snorted. "Jack fell out of a tree and broke both his front legs once, but he was still there to fight off a badger that had come poking around our territory. And then there was the time when Quince and Sally had some kind of spat and Sally's tail got halfway chopped off. I don't even know how she managed to do that, but it's Quince's favourite story to tell me."
Mist rambled on, recounting tales of Alliance cats who'd managed to grin and bear it when they'd gotten serious injuries. Frostglaze didn't even bother trying to get her back onto the topic of her broken leg, but he started picking out herbs to make a poultice.
"Do you want to chew up this dock root for me, Rubblefang?" he asked. "It's fine if you don't," he added. "You've been through a lot tonight. I think it's important for you to get some rest."
"Thanks," Rubblefang mumbled.
He had already settled down in the bramble bush when he remembered that he was a warrior now. He got up and moved to the warriors' den, lying down in Honeystar's empty nest. He supposed that now she was leader, she'd have her nest where Strikestar's used to be. He hoped she would finish off Dewdrop quickly and come back.
Rubblefang was still worried about so many things, but he couldn't think of any of them as soon as he shut his eye and let sleep wash over him- not even what he'd find in the morning.