Tooottallyy am being dumb by having revised this this morning and now posted... I have to leave for work in fifteen minutes... and I haven't even gotten out of bed yet... RIP my life X'D
Haha so yeah, hopefully my not answering reviews this morning is Understood ':D Please?
I really do love and appreciate every single one of them and also the idea for the next chapter is already fleshes out it's just a matter of time when I can write but I hope you enjoy this one!
Chapter 53: Nightpaw
Nightpaw watched from the shadows as his mother walked out of the Tunnel with her head held high. The fear that had gripped his heart lessened as he anxiously scanned her body for wounds.
Blessedly, he could find none.
The young tom quickly cast confused eyes to Pinestar as he came out of the tunnel with a smirk plastered on his face. "I let her have her moment of 'strength,'" he crooned to the other toms, pausing to lick his lips when they gave him confounded looks. "In exchange for more….. Without any resistance." Nightpaw nearly flinched as his father cackled like a mad cat. "She paid for her defiance with invisible scars. Now the other Hunters will give her no mercy in her workload."
The toms all broke out in raucous laughter as Shade pressed closer to his side.
"I can see that look on your face. You're worried, aren't you?" she asked.
The soft tones of her voice soothed him, but not enough that all his pains were forgotten. With a sigh, he turned to look his mate in the eye. "Yes."
She gave him a small smile and twined her tail with his. "It's your parents, isn't it? Pinestar?"
"Pinestar? Death?" He shook his head. "I don't know what to call him anymore…. I don't know what to think of him anymore."
She regarded his father with cool blue eyes. "He looks like one who wears a mask to hide his true self. Whether that mask was the cat you call Pinestar or not, he wears a mask all the same."
Nightpaw rose to his paws, lashing his tail. "He told me to trust him! And I have. And I've been safe…. And I've been able to keep my family safe…. I know why he would change so quickly, though… back to his Bloodclan roots." The tom scratched his claws against the ground. "There's a power here. A sinister power. One you know better than I do. Maybe it—"
"Shhh." She put a paw over his muzzle. "Whatever the reasons, Death has made his choices. The Tribe doesn't completely take over a mind, only influences it to want to bend to their will. They can't be trusted, but they can be resisted." He eyes softened as she looked at him. "You've done it yourself, after all."
"But—"
"Shhh." She quieted him with a lick to the ear. "A thought for another time. For now, you should make sure your mother is okay." With a sudden yip of pain she started and then licked her belly. "And I think I need to lay down for a few minutes."
Like a shadow, she disappeared into the depths.
Nightpaw flicked an ear and laid down, trying desperately to think of anything but his father's twisted allegiance. He watched Greyleaf pad around for a while, scanning and scanning for signs of injury. He found none. It was both comforting and disconcerting; he feared that the scars Pinestar meant were mental ones.
He flinched as he saw his mother stepping off the cliff edge in his mind's eye, the yowl haunting his ears.
Then, with a jolt of fear, he realized the yowl wasn't a memory.
It was real.
"NO!" a she-cat yowled, twisting and writhing so violently that Nightpaw couldn't tell who she was.
Rahmin dropped the tornado down at Zindo's feet with a snarl and cuffed her over the head. She lay still, breathing heavily, blood pooling from her ear.
Amada.
Nightpaw rose and stiffened with fear as he saw Greyleaf whip around to stare at the scene from across the cave. Goldenpaw came through the waterfall a second after, eagle in her jaws, and froze. Three pairs of wide, scared eyes fixed upon their den-mate as Velvet and Velora dragged Goldenpaw along while they stared. Ellena ran to Greyleaf's side and cowered as the second wail came.
Claws dug deep into Amada's flesh, Zindo stood atop the she-cat with a disgusted grimace. "LET IT BE KNOWN," he yowled, "THAT AMADA HAS NOT GENERATED KITS IN TWELVE MOONS! THIS SHE-CAT! IS BARREN!"
A gasp went through the Hunters, tangible throughout the room. In the silence, the toms rose in uproar.
"Eagle-scat!"
"Waste of resources!"
"Worthless filth!"
"Useless she-cat!'
"Kill her!"
"Kill her!"
"Kill her!"
Nightpaw watched in horror as Zindo grinned maniacally and tore his claws down her side, wrenching forth screams of utter agony. Blood oozed down into the stones, staining the Fighter's white paws, and in a millisecond his teeth were stained the same dark crimson. Ripping out a chunk of her thigh, Zindo stepped away from the wailing she-cat and swallowed. Licking his lips, he purred, "She's all yours, boys."
Yowling in glee like rabid foxes, the Fighters descended upon her like a wave: spitting, clawing, tearing, howling, and cackling. Nightpaw should've looked away.
But he didn't.
Zadimus and Vladimir stayed at the edges, circling around and cheering the others on as they continued in their horrendous assault, taking a few nips here and there, and Nightpaw silently thanked them for that. Besides the two of them, there was only one tom who stayed away. His father.
"I'll go inform Blood," Pinestar—Death? Nightpaw didn't know anymore—said, stalking off towards the Scourge's den.
His eyes tearing from the grisly scene, the tom watched his father's form as he slipped through the shadows, but to his surprise, the dark brown tabby took a different turn than the one to the Scourge's den.
Almost as soon as it began, the attack ended. The Fighters disbanded, leaving the bleeding, broken Amada to painstakingly drag herself to the Addendum's cave as her friends watched in horror, unable to come to her side.
"Dear Starclan," Nightpaw prayed, "Let Sparrowpaw be able to heal her."
Knowing Shade was safe in the tunnels, he slipped off through the shadows to get as close to the Addendum's cave as he could. He winced with silent pity as Amada, covered in bite wounds and gashes, lacerations oozing down her sides, pulled herself in the final few tail-lengths. The silent sweep of Sparrowpaw's fluffy tail was the only sign that she was there to pull the other she-cat in.
He didn't even get the chance to breathe before he was nose to nose with his sister. "Why didn't you save her?!" she demanded, whispering with all the ferocity of her yowls. "You could have done something! But you just sat there and watched!"
Nightpaw couldn't help it; his anger bubbled to the surface. "Oh, I dunno, what did you want me to do, Gold? Fight against all of Bloodclan, exposing myself and Shade? And my kits?" He spat at her feet. "Yeah, that's a great idea."
"Yes!" Gold hissed, then paused, looking back and forth, anywhere but at him. "No. Yes. Maybe…." She took a few steps back, then glared back up at him, fire in her eyes. "We can't let them get away with this."
Nightpaw nodded, his anger dissipating. "I agree."
She hissed and lashed her tail. "We're doing it. Now."
"What?" Nightpaw took a step back. "Not now! We can't! With one fighter down—"
"We have a trio."
"They aren't the strongest fighters and you know it." He glared her down, and when she didn't open her mouth he continued. "Wait for Amada to get better. Then we strike." He leaned in close to her eyes. "Then and only then."
She held his stare for a second before breaking away with a growl. "Fine."
He sensed a familiar pelt against his as she stalked away. Resting his tail against her swelling belly, Nightpaw felt the familiar seed of dread make his way into his heart.
"You're going to have to fight."
Silence.
"It's worth it if their deaths mean the freedom of so many more lives."
With just those few words, she broke his heart.
