"My kit! Has anyone seen Berry?"
The Riverclan cats had just returned, exhausted from their duel with Windclan. Many warriors had been lost. Stonetail, Shrewfur, Pearlpaw, Bluepaw and Deary's kit, Berry was missing. Deary was now running around the camp frantically, trying to find her kit.
Fish, her mate, was laying at the edge of the camp. His tail was wrapped around their other kit, Orange. He stared down at her with narrowed green eyes. "Orange, I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
Orange stiffed. "It all happened so fast." She said quietly, her head low. "A group of cats burst into the camp and attacked us. I remember two of them coming into the nursery. Momma had left us with Robinwing and Rubyshine. Her and Rockfur went to go fight."
"What did the two cats look like?" Fish said, steadily, trying to keep the panic from leaving with throat.
"One of them looked really old. It was a she-cat with gray fur. The second one looked younger. He had black and white tabby fur. He...he...he said he was going to kill a few of us. But the she-cat told him not to. Rubyshine and Robinwing tried to fight them off, but they couldn't. The she-cat said 'grab one' and the tom bit Berry's tail and dragged him away." Orange's voice was shaking and so was her body.
Fish froze. "They took him..." He mumbled. "Deary! Deary! I'm going to find lakestar!" he called to his mate before sprinting off.
Clampaw watched the scene from the safety of the apprentice's den. He mentor, Rainsprinkle, had given her a few days off. She needed time to mourn for Pearlpaw, her dead sister.
meanwhile, Fish was now padding up to Lightfang. "Excuse me, were is Lakestar?"
"Hm? I think he's in his den." Lightfang answered, looking up from where he had been grooming his fur. "I wouldn't be talking to him now, through. Whatever it is, wait until tomorrow."
"But this is urgent!" Fish pleaded, his tail lashing. "Please, I need to talk to him."
Lightfang sighed. "Whatever you need to say to him, you can say to me."
Fish narrowed his eyes, then relaxed a little. A deputy was like the leader but with less power, right? So this was okay. Fish sat down, now calm. "I want permission to lead a patrol to Windclan. I believe they may have kidnapped my son." He said professionally.
Lightfang shrugged. "Sure. I was just about to send a patrol over there to mark the border anyway. Take three warriors and two apprentices. Just in cast." Lightfang stared at Fish, a serious look in his eyes. "If their is any trouble whatsoever, do not heisitate to retreat. Especially you." His gaze tore away from Fish and was now fixed on Deary. "She doesn't need to lose her kit and her mate all in the same night."
"Now wait a heartbeat, don't say 'lose.' We don't know if Berry is dead or not so don't say that!" Fish yowled, defensively. Clampaw sighed, understanding how the father felt. She remember when she first learned of her sister's death.
Mousetail and Otterpaw broke into the camp, blood dripping from both of them. Cats had already began to gather around them.
"What's going on?"
"Where are the others?"
Mousetail collapsed as otterpaw began to explain. "We were pratrolling the Windclan border. A-and a group of Windclan cats attacked us."
Angry yowls had erupted from the clan.
"How dare they?"
"two attacks in one moon? The nerve of those Windclan cats!"
Lakestar silenced them with a swish of his tail. Otterpaw continued. "Stonetail, Shrewfur, Pearlpaw and Bluepaw are dead." He fell to the ground.
"Bluepaw is dead? No!" Onepaw, who had been made an apprentice with Otterpaw and Blue yowled.
Clampaw crouched at the edge of the cats, her belly just barely brushing the ground. Pearlpaw was dead. Her eyes widened as the words finally sunk in. Hollypaw meowed in distress beside her. "Two warriors. Two apprentices. Our clan is shrinking! Riverclan is over!"
A large uproar arose from the clan cats. Their cries were full of morn, anger and panic. Lakestar silenced them again. His voice rose above them. "All cats who are willing to fight follow me, now. We are going to stop this once and for all."
Sadly, they only managed to hurt a few Windclan cats.
Lightfang's tail twitched with irritation. He didn't have kits and didn't know what it was like to care for them. He did, however, have a mate. But it was unknown if they would ever have kits of their own. "Okay, okay."
Fish stopped his yowling and looked around, surveying the cats. "I don't know many of them well. Who do you suggest I take?"
"Fishtail, Onepaw, Coralshine, Redfur and Glitterpaw." Lightfang responded almost immidiantly, clearing just saying the first names that came to his head. "You should leave in the morning. Let everyone rest."
"Berry doesn't have that long! I'm going now." Fish retorted, and stomped off towards the apprentice den. Clampaw ducked back inside, not wanting to talk. Inside, the apprentices were gossiping. Otterpaw was unusually quiet. He wasn't much of a talker to begin with, but it was still weird not hearing a meow of laughter or grunt of disagreement.
Soon after, Fish poked his head through. "Hello. I need Onepaw and Glitterpaw. We are going on a patrol."
Onepaw jumped up, all to happy to leave the conversation. Clampaw hadn't been paying much attention, but from what she heard they were disgusing future mates. She almost choked on her breath.
Onepaw and Bluepaw wanted to be mates! She remembered them hanging out together. Otterpaw was always left out and it seemed to really bother him.
Glitterpaw followed quickly. "Let me guess, Windclan border?" She said, rather irritated. Fish nodded and disappeared with Onepaw. Glitterpaw walked out and went to go sit by the entrance to the camp. Onepaw sat beside her, his head turned away. Glitterpaw's amber gaze fell onto the back of the tom's yellow head. "Onepaw...?"
"Hm? I'm fine. Don't worry." He said with a smile, still not looking at her. She took note of his cracking voice. Soon, the others joined them. Fishtail, Coralshine, Redfur and Fish padded up. The group of cats left without a word. Redfur fell into step with his apprentice.
"How are they?" He said, his amber eyes glazed.
Glitterpaw stiffened, confused. He must be talking about the other apprentices! "Oh, uh, well..." She stammered, trying to find the right words or make up a lie to spare the others' feelings. After a few heartbeats, she took a deep breath. "Pearlpaw and Otterpaw won't talk. Onepaw is trying to hide it but I think he was crying earlier."
Redfur nodded. He finally looked down at her. "And you?"
Glitterpaw froze, then remembered to continue walking. She didn't really know how she felt. Her life had always been full of lose. most of her littermates were dead. And so was her mother and father. All she had was her sister, Coralshine. She looked ahead at the calico, who was in deep conversation with Fish. "I'm okay." She finally answered. Although it was probably a lie.
"Okay." Redfur said blankly, showing no emotion. "Good to here. You know, it's okay to be upset about it. three of your clanmates died. We're all upset."
Glitterpaw only nodded. All the cats were growing silent. The Windclan border was coming into view.
The Riverclan cats stopped. Fish however, padded over the border without a second thought. Redfur exchanged glances with fishtail before following the traveler. They stayed near the lake. It wasn't trespassing as long as they stayed on the shore. They walked along the bank for awhile before Coralshine let out a hiss of alarm and ducked down. The others followed her action as a group of Windclan cats came into view.
Sandstar was standing in the lake, the waves gently lapping at his paws. He was holding a small, orange colored shape in his mouth. The Riverclan cats gasped as he threw it out into the lake. Fish yelped and ran forward but was soon tackled by Redfur and Fishtail.
"Th-that was Berry! He can't swim! I have to get to him!" Fish whispered. Glitterpaw sighed in relief. At least he understood the urgency to be quiet.
"You mouse-brain!" Fishtail hissed. Redfur continued for her, his tone softer.
"Didn't you see his body? Berry was dead before he even touched the water. I'm sorry, Fish. But it's no use. Berry is dead."
Fish yowled in distress. "No! My son! H-he can' be dead."
Onepaw growled, silencing the distressed father. "He's dead, Fish! At least you got to say good bye!" He said, his lip drawn back in a snarl.
Fish had been given the chance to touch noses with his kits before leaving to fight for Riverclan. Onepaw hadn't even gotten the chance to speak with Bluepaw before her death.
Redfur helped Fish back to his paws. "Come on. We know where Berry is and what happened. Let's get back to camp." He said, before turning to go back to camp. Fish glanced back at the lake one last time, staring at it for a few heartbeats, before following the warrior back to Riverclan territory.
Glitterpaw was the last to follow. Sandstar was saying something. He bent down a picked up and bright mass of fur. Then tossed it into the lake.
The apprentice gasped, recognizing the small body of a kit.
A little aftermath of last chapter. Last chapter was fun to write...