'Held you tightly in my hands
Why are we unraveling?'
'Salvation' - Skillet
¢нαρтєя тωєηту тняєє: αℓσηє
It was silent. Not a breath of wind stirred the long grass. But the scent of blood was strong on the still air. It hung like a horrifying cloud, submerging and suffocating the tribe's camp. The setting sun cast long shadows over the grasslands, each looking like Padshiy's hulking figure prowling towards them. A hawk screeched from the sky above them but even it too abandoned whatever grim scene it could see lay bare before it.
Willowclaw could hardly swallow; his mouth and throat were so dry. They were too late – far too late to do anything but enter the camp and pick up the pieces left behind. But why, why, was it so still, so silent? Surely the tribe cats would be rushing around after the injured or burying the dead. It was almost like the attack had never happened.
"Are you sure he was attacking the camp when you left?" he murmured to Tau.
The healer gave him a quizzical look in return. "Yes. Why would I lie about this?"
He shrugged, ignoring the cold look Blute was giving him. "It's just so quite, is all," he grumbled.
"Shall we?" Blute stepped towards the sagging camp entrance. A tuft of orange fur snagged on the barrier tumbled to the ground when Willowclaw brushed past. His heart grew heavy. Padshiy had indeed broken into the camp.
Blute gasped; the air came flooding out of her lungs in a single gust as her eyes fell upon the carnage. So too did Willowclaw when he shouldered past the tribe heiress. He half wished he hadn't looked.
No cat moved. They all lay fragilely still. Blood spattered their unmoving forms, leaking from wounds and bubbling from jaws. Here and there glazed eyes returned his blank stare, staring at everything and at nothing, watching even in death. Fur ripped from bodies simply remained still with no air to roll it anywhere.
Crumpled beneath the sharp rock that cast a frightening shadow where Fuhren spoke to his tribe was the tribe leader himself, sides rising and falling in a strangely relaxed way.
"Where are the others?" Willowclaw breathed the question he'd feared to ask. "Are they alive?"
Icepetal. The thought crossed his mind at the same instant that his body lurched towards the healing den, panic flooding his already shocked system. She had to be alive, or at least still imprisoned in her deep sleep.
Prepared to see nothing but a bloody corpse in the nest he'd left her in that morning the RogueClan tom stuck his head into the den, a relieved sounding whimper brushing past his lips. Her sides still rose in a laboured way. Her scent was still strong. Pressing his ear gently to her side he found her heart to still be beating softly.
"Thank you," he uttered to no one.
He could've sworn he felt her body move in response.
"I think you should come out here, Willowclaw," Tau called. "We've found your friends." There was a waiver of uncertainty in her voice that made him wonder darkly whether they'd found corpses void of life.
"We'll take down Crimson even if we have to do it on our own," he promised Icepetal, moving away from her weak body to discover the fate of his fellow Chosen. Surely they weren't destined to only make it this far?
He found the tribe healer crouched over what appeared to be a pile of reddish brown and light orange fur. Upon nearing it he recognised the pile to be none other than Eaglestrike and Littleflame curled up tightly together in a still ball that moved only with their rising sides. They were covered in blood, marred with fresh wounds. He could pick out a single claw mark that ran from the tip of she-cat's nose to her forehead.
"Are they dead?" he choked out.
Tau shook her head. She looked confused. "No...or at least I don't think so."
"You don't think so?" Willowclaw sputtered. "What do you mean you don't think so? I didn't think it was hard to tell if some cat was living or dead?!"
"They appear to be sleeping but nothing I do will wake them up. I can hardly comprehend how they'd just manage to fall asleep with the wounds they have. Eaglestrike must've been suffering greatly with this belly wound."
Peering over the healer's head he spotted the wound she was referring to, angry red in colour and stretching diagonally down Eaglestrike's stomach. It still oozed fresh blood. "If they aren't dead," he began slowly, "and they aren't sleeping normally...then what are they doing?"
Tau shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, Willowclaw. I've never seen anything like this before. Most of the tribe is the same." Her voice hitched, "but some are dead."
"We need to bury them," he said. "It's what they deserve."
"But how can the three of us bury the dead, take care of the injured, keep an eye out for Padshiy, and solve this sleeping riddle?" her voice rose in her panic.
He flicked her shoulder with his tail, "the tribe needs us to stay strong. We're the only ones that can save them now."
A cold feeling spread through his body. There was a scent missing; a body he'd yet to see amongst the fallen tribe. In the forced silence he was overly aware of the lack of stupid jokes assaulting his ears. Spinning in a circle, his eyes frantically searched every inch of the blood soaked camp. He could not find a heap of blue fur. He could not see a heap of blue fur. Where was he? He had to be here. He wouldn't run away from a fight, he wouldn't.
"Rainpatch?" the shout came out as nothing more than a weak, raspy whisper. His legs gave way beneath him, sending him plunging to his knees. Blood soaked into his long belly fur, but he didn't care anymore. Throwing his forepaws over his head he opened his jaw and let out a haunting wail that sent the fur on Tao's spine bristling.
I am alone. Alone. Abandoned. Forgotten. Left behind.
Through his panic he heard a faint voice calling his name that was then joined by a harsher, colder voice ordering him to get a hold of himself. "How dare you!" he screamed, throwing his head back to snap at the air whiskers from Blute's muzzle. "This is all your damn tribe's fault! If your stupid cats hadn't been in the forest that day we could've passed through unnoticed by Padshiy! If your stupid father hadn't of just given Icepetal the healing she needed without expecting anything in return all my friends would still be here! They'd still be awake! They'd still be alive." He was positively livid, lips pulled back in a feral snarl.
"They aren't dead," Tao offered weakly.
"Well they sure aren't alive either," he growled, whirling around to storm over to the medicine den tucked away in the shadows of the willow tree. There was a small part of him that found it ironic for his namesake to be the only thing guarding Icepetal's comatose body. The claws of the old tree cradled her life so very gently.
He just needed to be close to her now, just needed to wrap his aching body around her weak one, to feel her heartbeat stutter fragilely beneath her skin. Laying his head on her neck, Willowclaw curled himself around the only cat he would give his life for, and cried.
Cried for the lives he'd left behind to die. Cried for the home he'd abandoned to chase an idea that was slowly crumbling around him. Cried for the unlikely friends he'd found. Cried for those friends that were now lost to him. Cried for the world he had let down.
Willowclaw was tired. He didn't have the strength or the motivation to go on. He wanted to lie down beside Icepetal and never move again, to close his eyes to this dark world and never open them. His eyelids slid shut, hiding the amber orbs from the world.
Red eyes danced on the darkness of his closed eyelids, dripping blood that became a waterfall splashing on forever. Haunting laughter, so loud and cold, filled his head. Pain lashed at his heart as visions of his friends, of the Chosen, dying over and over played before his eyes. Icepetal stared up at him with dead blue eyes that no longer shone with affection, a horrible wound running from her forehead to her stomach letting her lifeblood spill out. "I've won!" a voice crowed.
He wanted to agree, to surrender, until he felt the surge beneath him; a strong heartbeat that didn't stutter, a slight flicker of the muscles in her shoulder.
His breath stirred the fur on her cheek, and he waited for her to roll over or say something or simply cuff him sharply for being such a soft-hearted warrior. It never came.
"We're sorry for your loss," a quiet voice mumbled from the back of the den.
Willowclaw was on his paws in an instant, spitting and snarling at whoever dared intrude on this safe place. Fur brushed against fur as two pairs of eyes blinked slowly.
"We don't want any trouble," one of them spoke.
His eyes narrowed in loathing. "Why weren't you fighting, Felix?"
The soldier allowed himself a single step forwards, sliding from the shadows that enveloped the far corner, staring wide eyed at the Chosen warrior whose face was distorted with so much grief and anger. Sadie followed closely, brushing her muzzle against his flank. "We put our lives first," Sadie answered for him. "It's what separates us from you Clan cats, and her soldiers."
"Innocent lives could have been saved!" he exclaimed.
"Or more could've been lost. Move out of the way, Clanner, and we'll leave," Felix growled, eyeing the bigger tom warily.
"No," Blute's shadow fell across the den mouth at the same time that her coldly spat words echoed through the den. "You will tell us exactly what happened, and then you may leave." Her face softened upon entering the den. "Or you may stay. Prey and medicine are bountiful here."
Willowclaw couldn't stop the surprise noise that fell from his open mouth. Allowing strangers – ex-soldiers! – to stay for as long as they like put the tribe at risk. Welcoming deserters would no doubt make them a target for Crimson's rage. What would Fuhren think?
"You can't decide that," he began.
Blute sent him a withering look, "I am the leader, and until my father awakes I will remain the leader. What I say is law. You will either abide by it or you will be forced out along with your friends."
"You're acting like your father, forcing me to stay or forcing me to go. Why? What do you have to gain from bargaining with lives? It makes you no better than Crimson," Willowclaw accused. He couldn't even begin to fathom Blute's sudden demeanour change. Where was the she-cat who had told him how much she hated the way her father ran the tribe?
"Tao and I are the only tribe members left, if I don't step up then who will? Weak leaders destroy their tribes. This is what my father taught me for the day when I would have to take over his place. My tribe will not fall at this slight hurdle. You have already promised your aid to him therefore you promised it to me," she stared pointedly at Icepetal, "you know what will become of her should you refuse."
Willowclaw's jaw went slack with rage though Felix stepped in before he could say anything else. "I know what happened," the ex-soldier admitted. "Sadie and I were hiding in here when Padshiy turned up here." He looked down at his paws sheepishly, "your father was deciding whether or not he'd kill us for being involved with Crimson's army."
"Are they all dead?" Blute demanded bluntly.
Sadie shook her head. "Your tribe members and Willowclaw's friends aren't dead. They're just sleeping. Some weird stuff was dripping from Padshiy's claws when he attacked earlier, as soon as he cut a cat they'd pass out."
Putting aside his anger for the moment Willowclaw asked, "Has this happened before?"
"No. The beast has never sent cats to sleep before," Blute replied.
"Then why now?"
"Because of you," was the tribe leader's response.
Felix scoffed, "what's so important about him that the tiger needs to use a secret weapon?"
"The tiger is Crimson's, as is the leopard. What is the one thing that Crimson wants more than anything right now? What is the one thing that she'd be willing to risk her entire kingdom for?" Blute pressed. When no one answered she rolled her eyes, "she wants the Chosen dead in any way possible. Obviously she wasn't happy with how her soldiers were taking care of them, so she gave her ancient soldiers something to use against the Chosen should they show up, something that no one would know about."
"How are we supposed to kill him now?" Sadie whimpered. "One scratch and we're asleep."
"It doesn't matter, this doesn't change a thing. Padshiy still needs to die. He will die," Willowclaw snarled.
Felix cleared his throat, calling the attention to him. "He didn't just put everyone to sleep. He stole something as well." Looking up he met Willowclaw's steady gaze. "He took your friend, the older one, uh, Rainpatch, I think that was his name."
"Rainpatch?" Willowclaw echoed softly. An image of the WaveClanner's body being snapped in two between Padshiy's yellowed teeth flashed across the backs of his eyelids. Wincing he tried to push down the rising sense of panic that threatened to overwhelm him. "How?"
"Just picked him up and carried him out. Rainpatch put up a mighty fight, howling and shrieking the entire time," Felix chuckled. A paw slamming into his throat turned his chuckles into gasps for air, Willowclaw throwing the smoky gray tom onto his back in the blink of an eye.
"How dare you laugh about this!?" he growled. "Don't you have any honour?"
Felix laughed harshly. "Honour? Who has that anymore? Honour is why your Clans remain trapped in that valley slowly being driven to extinction. They refuse to leave their homes and Clan mates because of some stupid code made up by cats whose bones have been in the ground longer than you've breathed for. Why don't you just leave your friends behind? At least that way you'd live a little longer."
Claws nicked at the ex-soldier's throat, drawing small dots of blood to the surface. "Leave," Willowclaw commanded. "Get out of this den, get out of this territory, and never come back. Turn tail and run, like you always do. There is no place for cowards in either tribe or Clan."
"You are in no place to make that decision, Willowclaw," Blute reminded.
"You are in no place to remind me of anything. I'm going to find my kidnapped friend. Whether you stay or go or follow me is up to you, I could not care less." Finding Blute's surprisingly dead eyes and holding them he uttered, "Once I've killed Padshiy and that leopard I'm leaving with my friends. If you try to stop me I will tear out the throats of every cat that gets in my way."
Retracting his claws he let Felix up, leant down to whisper goodbye in Icepetal's ear, and made his way into the cold camp. It still resembled a battlefield. The dead had not been disposed of. Absently he mused whether Blute would drag the dead down to the underground lake to bury them like her ancestors did. He snorted. Of course she wouldn't. That would go against what her father liked.
It left a bitter taste in his mouth to see a once brilliant looking leader turn into something the almost resembled Crimson.
The shadows cast by the trees tucking Padshiy safely away in his own haven of darkness were long and daunting. Somewhere in there rested the monster that held the lives of his friends tightly in his claws. He wouldn't let Crimson win. She was going to die and he'd be there to see the light go from her blood red eyes.
"Willowclaw! Willowclaw, wait!" Sadie's voice reached him over the whistling wind and thrumming of the blood pumping through his ears.
Glancing over he was surprised to find Felix loping alongside her, ears set flat against his skull and eyes narrowed in determination. He halted just before the tree line, waiting for them to catch up, curious as to why they'd followed him instead of taking the chance to run away.
"We're coming with you," the calico she-cat panted once she'd skidded to a stop beside him.
"We want to prove, even if just to ourselves, that we aren't Crimson's slaves anymore," Felix explained, "and if that means putting our lives on the line for this tribe and your friends, then so be it."
A brow arched in slight disbelief but Willowclaw wasn't about to turn down help. It'd take more than just him to kill Padshiy, even he knew that. He knew, deep down, that he would more than likely die in the forest trying desperately to avenge his friends. There wasn't a way he knew to break them out of their slumber, and Icepetal might never recover. But he could make sure that monster would pay.
"Thank you," he murmured. "It takes a lot to do what you've done."
Sadie ducked her head in embarrassment. "We aren't heroes. We're just doing what's right."
They entered the darkness together, side by side, as unlikely allies prepared to do whatever possible to rip the life from Padshiy. Give me strength, Icepetal, he pleaded silently, I'm doing this for you and for them. It was a strange feeling to be willing to lay down your life for others. Sure, he was supposed to do it for his Clan mates; that's what he promised when becoming a warrior, but those rules weren't overly strong in his Clan.
For the first time he had something truly worth fighting for, and it wasn't just her. No matter how much he disagreed with Eaglestrike's hesitation to remain in the tribe for Icepetal, the PhoenixClan tom was still his friend, as were the other two. He wanted to make it to Crimson's mountain together, to fight for the world alongside them. A slight smile spread across his muzzle. They would thank him someday, maybe not straight away, maybe in a few seasons when everything had died down and one of the recalled the time he'd saved them.
The stench of death grew strong. Around them the forest stood eerily quiet, like it was stuck in a bubble, cut off from the rest of the world. Beside him Felix shivered in the sudden chill. Something was terribly wrong.
A stick snapped under Sadie's paw, the sound echoing throughout the still forest. Her mouth opened and closed in silent horror as she realised her mistake. She'd just announced their presence to anything listening close enough. A horrified croaking noise issued from her mouth.
"We don't have a plan," Felix stated.
Willowclaw shook his head.
"Shouldn't we have one?" the gray tom's voice was squeaky and high-pitched.
The reply Willowclaw had on the edge of his tongue died upon seeing the shadow curl itself around the broad trunk of a tree, blue eyes flashing in the murky darkness. A toothy, sadistic grin curled the white muzzle of the stranger as they moved so very delicately.
"Decided to finally have a go?" they purred.
"Who are you?" Willowclaw questioned slowly. He eyed the blood dripping from their open mouth and splashed across their chest worriedly. They weren't a tribe cat; their form didn't appear to be built for dashing across the grasslands.
They trotted silently closer, allowing the three to see them clearly. Long, white fur accompanied by black spots scattered haphazardly across her haunches, a thick plumy tail dipped in shadow. Countless scars crisscrossed her muscled body, one in particular sitting on her chest where her heart would be, puckered skin showing the three jagged lines clear as day. Haunted looking blue eyes regarded the three with a calculating curiosity as well as a sort of hunger.
"Name's Apollo," she flashed a bright smile. "You are?"
"I'd rather not," Willowclaw muttered.
Her smile fell. "It's only fair. I told you mine, so you tell me yours. You too," she jerked her head at Sadie and Felix. They offered up their names with a moment's hesitation.
"Your turn," Apollo insisted.
So he divulged his name, not missing the way her eyes widened in obvious interest. Now another stranger knew of a Clan cat so far from the valley. That was not good. He groaned inwardly knowing just how much more danger he'd placed on both the Chosen, and Sadie and Felix.
"I won't ask what a Clan cat's doing so far from home," the strange she-cat grinned, "in return for your help."
"What do you want?" Willowclaw was immediately on guard.
Apollo sighed dramatically. "You see, I had this wonderful plan that I've been setting up for the past few days to kill that annoying tiger, I'm sure you've met him, but I'm lacking one really important part..."
"You need us to help you get that part?" Sadie assumed. Willowclaw glanced at her from the corner of his eye, watching with interest at the veiled concern on the she-cat's face. Even she could tell that there was something off about this...Apollo. However, the she-cat had something they did not; a plan.
"Sort of," Apollo chirped. "For the plan to work I need live bait."
"No." The word was out of Willowclaw's mouth before he could stop it. "Not a chance. I've seen what that tiger can do. If your plan doesn't work we'll be killed in heartbeats."
The she-cat pouted. "You doubt me. My plan will work, but only if you three could be the bait. Pretty please? I know you must want him dead too. How could you not? He's so ugly and annoying. You won't die, I promise. My plans always work," the steady stream of words seemed to never end. All she seemed to do was talk and talk constantly. It was beginning to give Willowclaw a headache.
No matter how terrible the plan sounded they didn't have a better one. If it did fail they'd just have to hightail it out of there as quickly as possible. It was worth a try. "Fine, fine. We'll be your bait. Now tell us your plan."
A sudden mischievous look spread across her face as she shook her head quickly. "Nope," she refused. "I never reveal my tricks. You'll just have to trust me. Now go around those trees over there and stand in the dip in the ground. You can't miss it, it's huge." She didn't wait to see if they followed her terrible instructions, instead she dashed out of sight.
Willowclaw shared a concerned look with Felix but the gray tom just shrugged his shoulders. "What else can we do? Who knows, this plan might actually work."
He grunted in agreement but he still wasn't too sure. There was something off-putting about Apollo; she seemed far too cheerful for a situation such as this.
As he rounded the tree his sense of smell was assaulted with the stench of death. Gagging he knew exactly what Apollo had meant by not being able to miss it. The dip would've been relatively easy to miss had it been empty, but it was brimming with bodies, most of them belonging to Crimson's mindless soldiers. Blood still gushed from fresh wounds.
Frantically his eyes searched for a blue-furred body. Thankfully he did not find one. Rainpatch had not met his end at the paws of that insane she-cat.
"Just sort of stand there. He'll catch a whiff of your scent pretty soon. Probably won't be too happy about the dead bodies either but oh well," Apollo called from their left. She was half concealed by a clump of brambles, her front half propped up on a splintering, old looking tree trunk. It'd lost most of its leaves, clawed branches reaching desperately for the sky hidden by the thick canopy.
Felix and Sadie shrugged, turning to each other to start a whispered conversation. Willowclaw, however, kept his eye on Apollo as she shifted around the brambles. She looked up, caught his gaze, and gave him the most evil smile he'd ever seen. So bloodcurdling and cruel it could've rivalled even Crimson's.
A roar echoed through the forest but he couldn't take his eyes off of Apollo. He was drowning in her endless blue depths. Beside her appeared, from thin air, a shadow blinking eyes that cried rivers of blood. "Do it," the shadow whispered it so very quietly but he could hear it as if the words had been shouted in his ear.
It was far too late to run away now.
Padshiy crashed into sight, eyes blown wide and nose twitching at the horrific stench resonating from pile. He gave the dip one single look before dropping the bundle he'd been holding tightly between his teeth.
The bundle gave a short cry, and rolled over blearily blinking green eyes. It felt as if the air had been forcefully knocked from Willowclaw's lungs. "Do I make a dashing damsel in distress, Willowclaw?" Rainpatch laughed weakly. "If I'd known you were saving me I would have cleaned up a little bit."
"Love on the battlefield? How touching." Angry orange eyes pinned Willowclaw under a hard stare as a graceful body slid towards Padshiy, spotted fur rippling over hard muscles. Huge paws sporting terrifyingly sharp talons stirred up small clouds of dirt. A long tail swung lazily from side to side. "So that's where that terrible stench was coming from. Your work, Padshiy?"
Apollo let out a muffled cry of delight that only Willowclaw heard. "Both the tiger and the leopard at the same time!" she whispered in awe. "Wonderful!"
Leopard? He allowed his eyes to slide over the newcomer's sleek yet powerful body. So that's the other ancestor plaguing the tribe, Kateria wasn't it?
"You have lovely fur," Rainpatch croaked. Kateria regarded him with a sort of disgusted look.
"Is there a reason why you haven't deal with these pests yet?" the question aimed at Padshiy was barbed with hate.
The tiger rolled his shoulders, stretching out the muscles in them. "I was about to. Care to join me?"
"Not if I can help it!" Apollo cackled. An almighty cracking sound followed her laughter as she gave the dead looking tree an almighty shove, grinning wildly at it creaked a few times before pitching forwards at a dramatic rate.
Tracing its path Willowclaw let out a screech of horror, diving forwards as the tree's claw-like branches snagged on another weaker tree, yanking it down with it. Both crashed into the ancestors with a deafening thundering sound that left a ringing in his ears. He missed their screams.
"No!" he howled, throwing himself at the tangle of snapped branches with desperation. "Rainpatch!"