Chapter 14, murdering

Shadowflight lifted her head. There was snow falling heavily onto the ground.

Skychaser stood up, shaking snow from his pelt. "What now?" He asked.

"We wait." Shadowflight meowed simply.

"For what?" Skychaser asked.

"For Leopardstar to come into the territory, and for us to kill her."

"What?" Skychaser screeched in shock. "Are you mousebrained? Leopardstar isn't dumb. We have to wait until she attacks us, and she will. I'm positive."

"Well alright for you, smarty!" Shadowflight snapped at him.

Skychaser spat angrily at her. "Well my idea makes more sense," He snapped.

"Do whatever you like!" Shadowflight spat at him. "I won't be part of it! I'm going hunting!

She stood up and walked away, keeping a good distance between herself and Skychaser.

She was angry, but she was also sad. She had fought with Skychaser. That was not what she wanted. She wanted Skychaser as a good friend. Not as an enemy.

Shadowflight decided to hunt, mostly to clear her mind.

She crept up silently on a starling, then waited for a long time thinking about Skychaser. The bird flew away.

Shadowflight passed by the gorse tunnel at the front of camp. She peered in, and saw Shrewtail lying with a snake bite on his shoulder.

Yowling no, Shadowflight raced into camp.

"Shrewtail! Shrewtail! Are you all right?" She asked urgently.

"Yeah," Shrewtail mewed in a feeble voice. "I'll live."

Shadowflight's shoulders sagged in relief. She stayed there for a few minutes before turning to the gorse tunnel. She stopped in her tracks.

Brightheart entered the camp with Mousefur close behind. In her jaws Mousefur griped a writhing Skychaser.

"Graystar!" Brightheart meowed furiously. Greystripe appeared from his den.

"There was a RiverClan cat hunting at Snakerocks!" Brightheart spat angrily.

Graystar leaped on the Highrock. All the other cats gathered around.

Mousefur put Skychaser on the Highrock beside Graystar and stepped down.

"What is your name?" Graystar asked Skychaser.

"Skychaser," Skychaser meowed. To Shadowflight's surprise his voice was calm.

"He must be the one who killed Firestar!" Brightheart spat.

"Yes!" Mousefur yowled. "We should kill him now!"

Graystar dipped his head. "We will kill him tonight at Fourtrees, with RiverClan there to." He grinned. "This will be fun. And for the time being, keep this pond scum prisoner!"

Graystar knocked Skychaser off the Highrock. He fell heavily on his shoulder. Cloudtail and Spiderleg brought him over to a bracken bush, and they stayed there as guards.

Shadowflight walked over. "Let me in," She growled at Cloudtail.

Looking bewildered Cloudtail stepped aside and Shadowflight slipped in next to Skychaser.

"We have to run away," Shadowflight whispered urgently.

"Where?" Skychaser asked.

"To a certain Twoleg nest," Shadowflight whispered. "My mom and Dad are there and they will-,"

"I will not live in a Twoleg nest!" Skychaser spat. "I will take the punishment!"

Shadowflight growled. "I don't want you to die!" She yowled.

Skychaser licked her cheek. "Don't worry, I will do something."

Shadowflight looked at his shoulder. It looked bruised. "I'll get something for that," She told him, and vanished out of the den.

She hurried into Cinderpelt's den. "Cinderpelt!" She yowled.

The medicine cat appeared at the entrance.

"Skychaser has a bruised shoulder," Shadowflight meowed. "What can you give him?"

Cinderpelt vanished into the den and came out with a dandelion leaf. "Tell him to chew that," She said. Amusement glimmered in her eyes. "You really like him, don't you?" She asked.

"He's a friend," Shadowflight meowed curtly. She stalked over to the bracken and squeezed inside.

"Cinderpelt told me that you need to chew this," Shadowflight told Skychaser.

Skychaser chewed up the leaf. He put his head on his paws and fell asleep.

OoOoO

Shadowflight woke up from a yowl from Graystar. She was sleeping in the bracken bush beside Skychaser. It was nighttime and Silverpelt was shining above. There were no clouds to cover the sky.

Skychaser raised his head and the two of them left the den. Cloudtail and Spiderleg flanked Skychaser closely.

Shadowflight stayed next to him.

"It is time to go to Fourtrees and have the prisoner killed in the sight of RiverClan. We also invited WindClan and ShadowClan to come and watch," Graystar said happily. He led the Clan to Fourtrees.

Shadowflight's heart pounded. She had to think of a way to save Skychaser.

WindClan and ShadowClan had already arrived they where chattering noisily. RiverClan entered and along came ThunderClan.

They placed Skychaser in the middle of the clearing and the cats formed a circle around him, Shadowflight found herself in the front row, looking into Skychaser's wide scared eyes.

"QUIET!" Graystar boomed. "Is everyone here? Even the oldest elder and the youngest kit?"

Murmurs of agreement followed his words.

"Then let us begin! Skychaser, warrior of RiverClan has killed the former leader of ThunderClan, Firestar. Therefore he will be killed without mercy."

"No! It was Leopardstar!" Shadowflight yowled, but nobody heard her.

"Skychaser is a murderer! Skychaser is a murderer!" A few cats from RiverClan chanted at the same time a group of ShadowClan and WindClan warriors chanted; "Kill-him! Kill-him!

"Let the killing begin!" Graystar yowled. He strode forward a few paces.

"WAIT!" Shadowflight screamed. She stepped into the circle where Skychaser was crouching. The crowd quieted down.

"If you kill Skychaser you have to kill me too," She meowed in a scathing voice. "We will die together."

"YES!" yowled Blackstar. Let's kill them both! A Twoleg and a Traitor! Let's kill them both!"

"We will kill them both," Graystar decided. He bunched his muscles.

"NOW!" Shadowflight meowed. She pelted forward and clawed her way through the crowd. She ran through the opening behind Skychaser, but suddenly Leopardstar sailed over the heads of many cats and landed on her, sinking her teeth into her shoulder.

"Run Skychaser!" Shadowflight yowled. She turned over on her back and kicked Leopardstar off her. She turned around and was prepared to flee, but Dawnfeather and Spiderleg leaped on her.

Shadowflight gathered her last strength together and ran. She pushed through the crowd and Dawnfeather and Spiderleg fell off her, she ran, and she felt like no one could stop her.

The angry crowd chased after her but Shadowflight was faster, she ran until she the voices disappeared.

She stopped. Where was she? She, looked around, and saw that she was near the house where she used to live.

Should I go live there? She wondered, and forget about my destiny?

No. Shadowflight knew that her former family was not her life anymore. Her life was to live with the Clans.

A wolf howled somewhere in the forest. Shadowflight raised her head and yowled. "Skychaser!"

There was a rustle in the bracken and a silver cat appeared.

"Skychaser!" Shadowflight exclaimed.

There was a long wound down his flank that had been ripped by a low branch in his wild dash through the forest.

Skychaser dragged himself over to Shadowflight. "Thanks," he rasped, and collapsed.

Shadowflight inspected his wound. It was similar to the one Ashfur had given her a long time ago. Shadowflight cleaned it out and then turned around. There was a clump of the same leaf Cinderpelt had put on her wound right there.

Shadowflight uprooted several clumps of it and chewed it into a paste as Cinderpelt had done. She pressed it onto Skychaser's wound.

"There," She told him. "You just sleep."

Shadowflight lay down beside him and fell asleep.

"Firestar!" Shadowflight exclaimed when she saw him

Firestar strode over to her. "Shadowflight, you have not completed your destiny. You still must kill Leopardstar."

"And then what?" Shadowflight gasped. "I don't want to go back to my Twoleg's because it is boring there, and I can't go back to ThunderClan because Graystar will kill me. What should I do Firestar?"

Firestar looked at her seriously. "Go back to ThunderClan, Shadowflight. Leopardstar is controlling Graystar's mind. The sooner she is killed the sooner cat's minds will be put back to normal. Go now! The ThunderClan camp is in danger!"

Shadowflight woke up with a start.

"Skychaser!" She jabbed him in the ribs. "Wake up!"

He raised his head, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

"Skychaser, I had a dream. Firestar came to me and said that I have to go to the ThunderClan camp! It is in danger!"

Skychaser sat bolt upright. "Let's go!" he stood up and raced through the moonlit forest, Shadowflight close behind.

They reached the camp. It was silent. Suddenly Leopardstar raced down the side. She lifted her tail and cats spilled out of hiding. Shadowflight saw Ashfur leading Thornclaw, Brambleclaw, Brackenfur, Ferncloud and Dustpelt. On another side a group of ShadowClan cats raced down, then some from WindClan and some from RiverClan.

Leopardstar's helpers. Shadowflight thought

Skychaser gazed into her amber eyes.

"Shadowflight," He whispered, "I love you," and he vanished into the battle.

Finally! Only a couple more chapters and the story is done! There will not be a sequel as I said before, but I will right more stories.