Chapter 20
"Doused Flames."
8/14/16
During the first signs of snow, LionClan mourned the loss of Willowtail, except for the former WindClan leader, who quickly washed the blood off his paws before his warriors could find him
Crowstar and Lionstar held a meeting with each other near Tallrock of WindClan camp.
"We have a problem." Lionstar told him. "Do you know a warrior named Stealthfire?"
Crowstar scoffed. "ThunderClan's darling warrior, yes I do, why?"
"She's becoming a problem, whether you believe it or not, she's trying to uncover what happened to Deerheart."
Crowstar snorted. "What does that have to do with me?"
Lionstar narrowed his eyes.
"Because, if she looks into Deerheart's murder, she'll find something else along with it. Including what happened to Whitestar when you 'found her' near Thunderpath."
Crowstar frowned.
"I suppose you have a point. What do you suggest?"
In the middle of Leaf Bare, Thrushwing gave birth to two toms, Goldkit and Tigerkit.
Sweetflower moved in the nursery for her kits coming in the beginning of the year with Seabreeze's kits.
Spottedkit, Gingerkit, Redkit and Timberkit were now five moons old.
Stealthfire watches them throw snow at each other.
She felt a cold smack on her face and sees Stoatfrost smirking at her with his front paw covered in snow.
"Oh, you suck!" Stealthfire threw a pawful of snow at Stoatfrost. The white tom growled playfully and lunged at her. Stealthfire dodges and flicks more snow on Stoatfrost.
They heard coughing, and see Eaglecry looking on in amusement.
"Stoatfrost, your on marking patrol. You can choose your cats before you leave."
Stoatfrost licks Stealthfire's ears before trotting off. Stealthfire looks to the nursery, and sees Tigerkit looking around the camp with an unreadable expression.
His bright gold brown pelt was wrapped in darker brown tabby stripes, but his eyes were amber.
Just like his Dad… She wasn't the only one who thinks so. Many ThunderClan cats can see the resemblance between Tigerkit and Lionstar. Goldkit had a pure cream colored pelt like Thrushwing. He was courteous and polite to everyone, but Stealthfire couldn't shake off the feeling that it was all show.
While Goldkit seemed popular, Tigerkit was a loner who doesn't seem it fit in with kits his own age.
Just like me…
Stealthfire can remember her previous life of harassment and being ignored in favor of the normal kids. The cats weren't as different from humans as she thought.
Stealthfire slowly pads toward Tigerkit as he hung by the nursery, watching Goldkit talk to Crowtail and Leopardstrike.
She swallowed and touched her paw on Tigerkit's shoulder.
The golden tom narrowed his eyes at her.
"What?"
"Why are you by yourself?" She asked quietly, trying not to draw attention to them.
"Do you choose to be alone?"
Tigerkit glared at Goldkit.
"Might as well be…"
Stealthfire nudges Tigerkit's shoulder. "I can understand that…"
"I prefer to be alone too. I think better that way."
"Aren't you mates with that white furred slacker?"
The mention of Stoatfrost made Stealthfire glare at the kit.
"He's not a slacker, but yeah, I prefer to be away from him sometimes."
Tigerkit stared at her for three heart beats and said,
"You're weird."
"I'm used to it." Stealthfire countered. It wasn't long before Thrushwing called her kits back, and she wanted to talk to Stealthfire.
"Thank you for talking to Tigerkit," she whispered meekly. "It's hard for him to make friends his age, I appreciate it."
Stealthfire nods, her gaze locks with Tigerkit who quickly looked away.
Stealthfire was woken up by paws prodding her side. She sees Thrushwing's green eyes wide with panic.
"Tigerkit and Goldkit are missing!" She whispered. "I found their scent leaving camp!"
Her plight woke up Squirreltail and Eaglecry.
"How long ago was their scent?" Eaglecry asks her.
"It was still fresh."
Eaglecry nods. "Alright, Squirreltail, you take Stealthfire and Sweetflower and look for them. I'll tell Thornstar."
"Sweetflower?" He questioned.
"She's not ready to kit at any moment, she's still able to do her duties."
Sweetflower follows the scent to the lake near WindClan territory. The winds were picking up, and the water was blowing a current down to the Horseplace. She suddenly stops and looks around. "The scent is separated. Tigerkit and Goldkit must have been moved from each other."
Squirreltail said,
"Okay, Stealthfire can look for Tigerkit, Sweetflower, you follow Goldkit's scent and I'll keep watch."
Stealthfire searched the forest that had Tigerkit's scent. She heard shouting and quickly picked up the pace. She saw Tigerkit hiding under brambles.
"Psst! Tigerkit." She hissed. She padded forward and felt a brute force knock her down and claw her flank viciously. Stealthfire tried to fight back, but felt the attacker sink it's teeth in her shoulder and another pair of teeth on her legs.
This is an ambush!
Stealthfire felt claws rip her throat open, and everything went numb as she fell weak with pain.
"Stealthfire!" She heard Tigerkit's voice fade away. She rolls her eyes up and sees Lionstar pushing her away, and her body touch the water that her blood poured in.
She closes her eyes and feels the water drift her away.
Squirreltail and Sweetflower found Goldkit in ferns, but they couldn't find Stealthfire.
They followed her scent and found Tigerkit alone, staring at the lake in paralyzed horror.
"Tigerkit?" Sweetflower said to the kit. "Where's Stealthfire? Didn't she come for you?"
Tigerkit trembled violently, he was muttering something inaudible.
"They killed… They just killed her, and put her in the water…!"
Squirreltail felt his blood run cold when he saw scarlet splashes leading to the lake.
Sweetflower comforts Tigerkit as he cried in her fur, while Squirreltail waited for them to calm down before going back to ThunderClan territory.
What am I gonna tell Stoatfrost?
A stocky, Persian/Himalayan mixed she cat was licking her paws and cleaning her brown, black and tabby colored pelt.
She smelled something horrid and saw something floating in the lake: a cat!
She moved cautiously to the corpse and waits for the tail before grabbing it in her mouth and fishing it out of the water. The she cat heard it groan and weakly open its eyes.
The old she cat frowned. "Poor little mite." She left the she cat and came back with an orange tom and a light brown she cat, who carried the unconscious golden she cat back to the Horseplace.
(Kyubi was suddenly pelted with every weapon of choice. The corpse vanished, and the real Kyubi comes back with a cup of tea.)
Okay-. (A flaming arrow was caught in Kyubi's hand before it could pierce her face.)
SHE DIDN'T DIE! Stealthfire isn't dead, trust me, I'm the one writing this story.
So everyone, put down your bazookas, arrows, guns, and every weapon and be optimistic - Hey! I especially don't wanna see anymore arrows! Seriously, they hurt like mad.
Anyway, on a different note. I'm currently writing a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfic at the moment, so updates are gonna be slow for a while-.
(Kyubi narrowly dodged a bullet, and glared at the shooter.)
I've got my eye on you miss/mister!
But trust me, Stealthfire isn't dead. So in the words of Tpindell, "CHIIIIIILL!"
I'll try to write as soon as I can.
