Chapter 27

I was sitting next to Silentstorm, sharing a squirrel with her. Songpaw, Gravelpaw, and Tigerpaw had all been enjoying their apprenticeships so far. None of Boulderfang's worries had amounted to anything, but it had only been a few days. They still had six more moons of training where things could go wrong, but hopefully they'd stay out of it. I still felt guilty every time a cat got involved in this, even if it wasn't something I could control.

There was no point worrying over that. There were much more prevalent things in our life right now. Darkpaw's mood was finally improving after our confrontation with Flurrytail, but she acted odd regarding her mother, spending all her time with either me, Meadowpaw, or Tallblaze. I felt bad for her. It obviously hadn't been easy on her and she was taking it harder now than ever. I sighed, knowing there was nothing I could do about it.

"It's time for dusk patrol," Silentstorm told me.

"Lovely," I sighed. "Let's go get the apprentices."

Silentstorm and I went over to where Meadowpaw and Darkpaw were talking.

"Time for patrol?" Meadowpaw asked. I nodded. "Alright then."

We headed out of camp toward the SunClan border. It was late in the day and it was our turn to go out and search for Deathfire. I was tired, but knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight. Searching for Deathfire was more important however. She was in suffering and we all knew it. We had to do everything we could to get her back. A little lost sleep was nothing compared to the things she was going through. I caught the scent of a couple SunClan cats.

"What do you two want?" Silentstorm asked.

"We need to talk with some cats. We have some news," a tom answered. "Please take us to your camp. I'm the medicine cat apprentice, we mean no harm."

"What do you say?" Silentstorm whispered to me.

"Let's go to camp then," I announced.

We escorted the two cats back to camp, loosely surrounding them. I doubted two cats, one of which was a medicine cat apprentice, would try to do anything bad, but it was always better to be on the safe side. We arrived at camp.

"Fieldpaw, what are you doing here?" Tallblaze asked, walking up to us.

"I have some news," Fieldpaw answered. "If your leader could come, that would be great."

"Do you want to come to my den?" Tallblaze asked.

"We're perfectly fine in the open. The Clan will learn of this soon enough anyway, it's not a secret," Fieldpaw told him. "I'd rather explain it in one go anyway."

"What's SunClan doing here?" Wingstar asked.

"Relax, this is SunClan's medicine cat apprentice, it's no invasion," Tallblaze responded.

"Well then, what does he want?" Wingstar questioned.

"One of our warriors found Deathfire not far from our border," Fieldpaw answered. My ears perked. "Apparently it was two SunClan cats holding her there, but Brownstar exiled them. She's in poor condition and I doubt she can be moved for a while, but we'll take care of her until she's up to it."

Wingstar stormed off, muttering something about traitors and bad luck. I chose to ignore it. Deathfire was finally safe! She wouldn't have to suffer their torment any longer! Well, that isn't entirely true. The mental torment will last for a while to come. But still, she's been rescued!

"How is she? How bad is she? How long do you think it will be? Is it possible she won't be okay?" Tallblaze questioned. "How deep are her injuries? How is she mentally handling everything? Will everything be okay in the end?"

"I don't know," Fieldpaw responded. "Those questions would be better answered by Violetnose, I didn't have a chance to even see Deathfire yet."

"If it's okay, I can drop by SunClan tomorrow and check in with Violetnose," Tallblaze said.

"That would probably be best," Fieldpaw responded. "I'll see you then."

"I'll take you two back to the border," Silentstorm told them. "Meadowpaw, come on."

They left camp, leaving me feeling hopeful that things would get better for the first time in moons. Things would finally be okay again. She was okay. Everything would be fine.

"I'm going back to the medicine den to fill Tigerpaw in on what happened," Tallblaze told me. "And that he'll be in charge of the medicine den for a bit tomorrow. I'm going to go see that tiny mouse-brain and I'm never letting her leave my sight again."

"She'll love that," I laughed.

"If you see Boulderfang, Songpaw, or Gravelpaw, do tell them what is going on," he told me before walking towards his den.

I heard voices entering the camp. The hunting patrol, it sounded. That meant Boulderfang was back! I walked over to him.

"Great news, Boulderfang!" I exclaimed.

"It'll only be great if Deathfire is safe," he responded.

"Well then, great news!" I exclaimed. "SunClan found Deathfire!"

"She's okay? She's been rescued?" he asked.

I nodded. "She isn't well enough to be moved a lot yet, but Tallblaze is going to go check on her tomorrow. Although in less great news, Wingstar was really mad that Deathfire was found."

He sighed. "Of course, she was. There's not much we can do about that however. Let's just focus on the good things."

I couldn't deny I was was worried about it, but he was right. "Okay," I agreed. "We should be focusing on the good things."

"I can't wait to see her again, although I'm not sure I'm prepared for everything I might see," he told me. "I miss her."

"Me too, but it's just a little longer until she's up to it," I responded. "Everything will be back to somewhat normal soon enough."

I was aware things would never be fully the same. Those three moons would haunt Deathfire for the rest of her life; she wouldn't be able to easily put them behind her. It would take time for her to even remotely act like her typical self. We'd be there for her all the way, however. As long as she was safe, everything was bound to improve. Everything would be fine in time.

I still couldn't help but be worried though. She was my little sister, after all. She had never been good at coping with anything and I wasn't sure how she'd cope with this trauma. I know we'd all try our best to help her, but there's only so much we could do. I could only hope she could find some good way of dealing with her issues after this. Knowing Deathfire, however, that was a slim chance.

"Gravelpaw and Songpaw are back, I should probably tell them the news," Boulderfang told me. "I'll see you around!"

"I'll see you as well!" I responded.

There was one gut feeling I couldn't ignore. I was worried about Wingstar's reaction and what it might mean for Deathfire. I didn't want her to come back to a dangerous situation after everything she had been through. Although I couldn't deny it, NightClan was no longer safe for Deathfire. It hadn't been safe for her obviously. I didn't want her coming back just to be taken away again. Even if he was joking, I had to agree with Tallblaze. Once she's back, I'm never letting her out of my sight again. We have to find some way to make sure she is safe, but how? Especially now that she'll go back to warrior duties once she heals; Flurrytail will just boss her around again.

As much as I wanted to believe now that Deathfire was free everything would get better, I couldn't bring myself to pretend that. I knew things would only get worse from here as time builds up towards the final battle between good and evil. Which would triumph in the end? It was a mystery, but it seemed as if evil would have the upper paw. Evil always had the upper paw; at least in real life. I have to accept that no matter what happens, I can't prevent everything. These past three moons had taught me that. I can only do everything I can to make sure Deathfire's safe and that will have to be enough.

Fate doesn't have to be anything and it will never be enough until I can keep her completely out of harm's way.

Hopefully there is no such thing than a fate worse than the past three moons because if there is, Deathfire is going to experience it and we will be helpless.

Maybe I'm just pessimistic.

Author's Note: Maybe she's just pessimistic, guys. Or maybe I'm an evil author who will do worse to Deathfire. Stay tuned to find out. I guess in good news, the seventh book is coming along nicely. This was originally going to be a six book series and that I am horrible about giving up on projects that so the fact that I'm even writing book seven in what now seems like it's going to be a nine book series astounds me. But don't worry, I'm definitely seeing through this series! This story means a lot to me and so do all you guys reading it. Anyway, three more chapters until this book is over! Leave a review if you'd like! I'll see you back here next week!

-Rowan W.