They creep through the shadows, watching, waiting.
He is at the back of the patrol, his fur bushed out and his too-dark eyes round and scared. His leader has given him a mission, and he doesn't want to do it.
It's Ashstar, though, says his mind. If you don't obey her, you'll die.
The dark silver tabby at the front flicks her tail and they pour onto the unsuspecting AirClan. The cats shriek as their attackers wake them from peaceful dreams. He is scared, looking, looking for his prey, his bounty. He is bowled over by a brown she-cat and has to fight her.
Just as he pushes her to the side, a pale cream tail disappears over the ridge. He follows, suspecting that this cat has whatever Ashstar wants him to steal. So he climbs after that thick, cream tail, just in time to see a pretty she-cat dart behind a thick oak tree.
He runs after her. She splashes through shallow puddles, leaps over fallen trees, and ducks under roots, but he is faster, stronger. She is still weak from birthing, her legs tired, mind clouded.
At the QuietClan border, he catches up. She looks terrified, hiding something behind her. "Please," she wails. "Don't hurt me."
He effortlessly pushes her aside and bends down to pick up whatever she had hidden. To his surprise, it is a kit, eyes still sealed shut. It screams as he roughly grabs its scruff and turns away.
The she-cat staggers after him. "Please," she keeps saying. "Please. Please." She says it so many times it doesn't sound like a word anymore. He begins to run, toward his home.
The she-cat hurries after him, determined to get her daughter back. But his black pelt is moving too quickly, dodging behind trees, and she can't keep up.
He glances back before he crosses the border. The she-cat is crying on the ground, just beyond the forest edge. Pity swells in his heart before it is crushed by the weight of guilt. Nevertheless, he darts across the border and begins the climb up to the Sky Pool.
The she-cat lifts her head and spots the enemy tom running effortlessly up the mountain. Beside him, the Sky River rushes by. A feeling of determination fills her heart, and she stands up.
He is panting by the time he reaches the Sky Pool. The kit is whimpering and squirming. The sound of running water makes his head hurt and he sets the poor child on the ground.
Then that word, the one that sounds fake, unreal, echoes across the silent mountaintop. He turns around to meet the desperate yet determined amber eyes of the queen. Somehow she had regained her energy and had chased him up her. Before she can do anything, he grabs the kitten's scruff and holds her over the beginning of the Sky River.
That word comes again, sounding more like a sob than a meow, and she collapses. He feels his heart swell with compassion and he places the kit on the ground. Then, knowing that she is confident in her swimming abilities, drags her into the water.
She disappears for a moment, then surfaces a few fox-lengths away. Her eyes are dark with sadness, but she knows this is the only way her kit will survive. She lets the current carry her to the bottom of the mountain, where she unceremoniously dumped into the pond at the bottom.
The kit begins to cry again, and he picks her up. The attack patrol is returning, pelts spattering with AirClan blood. Ashstar is in the lead, her yellow eyes searching for him. When she spots the kit in his mouth as he trots down the mountain, a deep frown sets on her muzzle.
He earned two things for capturing the kit; his warrior name and a thick scar on his hind leg.
He knew that she would find out one day. He yearned to tell her when he was training her, wanted to whisper the secret in her ear as she ate beside him on her last ay as an apprentice. If he did, however, her emotions would get the best of her and she would crack.
He knew it was coming when she stormed into the cave one day, shrieking about lies and treachery. Ashstar watched, amused, as her victim raged below her. When she smirked, however, that victim reacted.
He knew that Ashstar's terrible reign was over when her organs were ripped from her body and thrown into the pool. Blood dripped from the ceiling, the walls, her paw.
He knew that he should have told her before the accident. Before she ran head-first into a tree and caused brain damage. Then she wouldn't be laughing like a maniac as she slaughtered her Clanmates.
He knew he was dead when, after hesitating for a fraction of a second, she ripped open his throat. He didn't deserve to die like this.
He had just been following leader's orders.
