Chapter 4, Consequences
Skyfeather woke in the middle of the night. Where was Leafcloud? She had been right beside Skyfeather all night, but she knew she was gone.
She padded out, the moon catching her white fur and making her glow. Then she hit someone.
"Darkflame!" she gasped. Last time she had spoken to him he had told her he loved her. Then she never went near him again.
"I…" he managed, then his face went red with embarrassment.
"Did you mean it? When you told me…?"
Darkflame paused. "Yes," he whispered, "I did."
"I…" now Skyfeather was at a loss. "I…I…would say I did, but this is against the warrior code."
"I know." Darkflame rasped. "But it isn't fair! We have feelings too!"
He looked miserable, raking at the ground with his claws. "I love you, Skyfeather," he told her.
"I know," Skyfeather said, as fast as she could manage without sounding dumb, "I love you too," then she left.
XXX
Leafcloud stopped running as fast as she could. She was scared. She had been caught. Should she hide? Should she tell Ashfur what she was doing?
But she was already in plain view of the dark warrior. But what was he doing out, in the middle of the night? What was she doing?
This is crazy, Leafcloud thought as she padded up to him. He wasn't deputy, they were both warriors, so he had no power over her…but he was older. His rank was higher. She tried not to growl.
"What are you doing over the border?" he snarled.
"I…I wanted some fresh air. The den is really stuffy. I noticed how low the fresh-kill pile was really low, so I decided to hunt a bit and saw this rabbit…I didn't see the border."
"Where is the rabbit? Where is prey?"
"All…buried around the territory."
"Right," he snarled, "Come with me. I woke up when I smelled a sent. I think it was Brightheart. There was badger. She's dead. The whole Clan should know by know. Then, the new deputy will be appointed, and I will move higher up in rank. Maybe even become the deputy. And then I will chase you out of the Clan for feeding me little lies."
Leafcloud listened in shock, worry, and fear. She let her head and tail drag.
When they walked into camp, everybody was awake. Ravenstar was pacing beside the dead body of Brightheart.
"There is badger on the loose somewhere," she said, "And it killed our deputy."
She leaped onto the Highrock. "I will appoint the new deputy," she yowled.
"Wait!" Ashfur snarled, grabbing Leafcloud and leaping onto the Highrock. "I found Leafcloud in WindClan territory, and she lied to me. How do we know that she didn't kill Brightheart?"
The Clan began to yowl. Leafcloud looked down and saw Skyfeather. Her face wasn't worried for her friend, it was hard with anger.
Suddenly afraid of what was going to happen to her, Leafcloud bowed her head.
"Leafcloud?" Ravenstar's voice seemed to boom above her ears. "Is this true?"
I need to talk to her alone, Leafcloud thought desperately.
"Leafcloud, tell the Clan your story."
"Well," Leafcloud muttered.
"Speak up!" someone shouted at her.
"I-I-t-there-I was at Fourtrees, I wanted to get some fresh air and saw how low the fresh-kill pile was, so I chased a rabbit up and over the border to WindClan. Then this tom, he was sort of brown. I think he was the medicine cat apprentice. Well anyway, he came up to me and said that Barkface was dying and that a ThunderClan cat had to find this purple fungus and give it to him. So I got it and gave it to him, but he was too weak and died."
"Leafcloud," Ravenstar's voice was rather hard. "You know that it is against the warrior code to try and help a cat from another Clan. Your intentions were good, but it is still against the warrior code."
Leafcloud, head still bowed, could not answer. Why had she done it? She knew it was against the warrior code, and she had never done anything against the warrior code before.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled. She didn't want to look up, to see all the shocked and disappointed eyes.
"Now I must appoint the new deputy," Ravenstar lifted her voice. "I do not believe Leafcloud killed Brightheart. So therefore…I say these words before the body of Brightheart so her spirit may look down and approve of my choice. There is one warrior in this Clan who is always alerting me of treachery. Ashfur will be the new deputy of ThunderClan."
Leafcloud felt her muscles twitch but she did not move.
"Ashfur!" The cats roared, basically overjoyed at having him be the new deputy. Leafcloud looked up and saw Ashfur as he walked over to the warriors den, a bunch of warriors speaking to him all at the sane time.
"Ravenstar?" Leafcloud asked quietly.
"You may go," Ravenstar's voice was distant, as if she didn't care. She looked to the sun, which was just barely over the horizon. She leaped off the rock and left camp.
Leafcloud also left the rock. She padded over to Skyfeather.
"Hi," she said, yawning, "been quite a night, hasn't it?"
Skyfeather gave her a furious look. "To you, maybe! Leafcloud, I thought that you of all cats would never do anything against the warrior code! What made you want to do something like that?"
She turned and whisked into the warriors den.
XXX
As Leafcloud lay in bed that night, it hit her why she had tried to save Barkface.