Author's Note: By far the longest of all, I give you the twelfth chapter! Will Rose be taken away from Ravenwing? Are they truly safe from Tigerclaw? Will Rose ever see her family again? Am I asking too many questions? Yes! No! No! Yes! (The answers to the above questions in sequential order :) ) And without further ado…
Chapter Twelve: A Heartfelt Goodbye
Sunlight filtered through the window of Barley's Farm, shafting down on the haystacks below where two figures slept, their pelts brushing. One was a dark black tom, the other a peculiarly colored she-cat. Ravenwing and Rose.
It was Rose that stirred first, her head lifting and her inquisitive gray eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight. She yawned, and then Ravenwing stirred, stretching out his tired muscles.
"Good morning," he mumbled, getting ready to fall back to sleep.
Rose laughed and nudged the black tom's shoulder, but she was obviously preparing to tell him something. Ravenwing noticed.
"Well, let's get on with it," he meowed, sounding bemused, "what do you have to tell me?"
Rose gave a timid smile, then meowed: "Ravenwing…I think you should take Hollypaw with you to see ThunderClan."
The tom cringed. 'Tigerclaw…' he thought darkly. 'Great StarClan, I don't need to think about that this early in the morning…do I?'
"Why the sudden interest?" he meowed instead, tentatively.
Rose shifted uncomfortably atop the scratchy hay, allowing the sunlight to illuminate her pale gray eyes. "I want to take Storm with me to see the Tribe…and I thought it would be fair if you took Hollypaw with you to see ThunderClan. Besides, Storm deserves to see the place where I came from!"
"And Hollypaw doesn't?" Ravenwing challenged, trying to keep a civil tone, knowing that they were near an argument. He and Rose had never argued about anything serious before.
"Well, I just thought Storm might want to come with me to the Tribe of Rushing Water because he has a Tribe cat's name, and I thought Hollypaw would rather go to you to the Clan since she has a warrior's name."'
"An apprentices' name," Ravenwing corrected stubbornly. "Why do you want to split up the family? Rose, I think Hollypaw and I should also go with you. You could never travel the mountains alone in this weather."
"Oh, I couldn't, could I?" Rose replied tartly, getting to her paws. "You have no idea what I experienced in my life, Ravenwing, and I'm stronger than you think. What do you know about being terrorized by a monster since kithood?"
Her words infuriated the black tom, and he sprang to his paws, tail twitching. 'Tigerclaw!'
"You haven't been through half the things I have!" he yowled. "I had a life in a Clan before this, and it was all about fights over territory. You don't even know why I ran away from there!"
"Does it matter?" Rose retorted scathingly. "If you want to come, you should've asked! You pretend to be tough and all that, but what do you know about seeing a cat being murdered before your eyes?"
'Redtail!' Ravenwing thought, 'Rose and I are more alike then I thought!'
"I've seen that," he retorted furiously, "I just wanted to protect you! I don't want anything bad to happen to you again. Like losing someone close to you!"
"You think Storm would die if he came with me?" Rose meowed furiously. "I can protect the ones I love!"
"Oh really?" he snapped angrily. "What about when you landed on my doorstep, weak and alone? You needed help then."
He brushed past Rose and out of the barn, tail lashing angrily.
"Where are you going?" Rose yowled, frustrated.
"To catch rats!" Ravenwing nearly screamed back in response. He disappeared behind the back of the barn and was gone.
xxx
"Mother, where's Daddy? He promised he would teach me how to catch rats today," Storm meowed reproachfully, fixing his mother with a baleful look in his gray eyes.
"Yes, where is Ravenwing?" Barley meowed placidly, finishing a plump mouse in a single swallow.
"It's not like Daddy to miss breakfast," Hollypaw added, sounding deeply amused.
Rose looked from one pair of inquisitive eyes to another and finally meowed: "I don't know—he was gone when I woke up."
"Let's go find him!" Storm yelped.
"Well, I guess we could practice our tracking techniques," Hollypaw meowed hopefully, sending an eager glance at Rose.
"Go ahead, scat!" Barley laughed, waving them off with a forepaw.
The two kits scampered out of view, yelping and giggling excitedly, and Barley meowed: "Now. What really happened? Did you fight?"
"Maybe," Rose muttered ungraciously. "I just wanted to take Storm to see my homeland, and Ravenwing thought I was too weak to make it there! He thought Storm might die if he let me go with him. He has no idea what it's like to see someone murdered before your eyes, or to be terrorized all through your life!"
"I daresay he has," Barley replied simply, looking grave.
"What?"
The old loner told Rose about a cat named Tigerclaw, ambitious and bloodthirsty; who turned out to be a murderer and Ravenwing's former mentor. When he had finished, Rose looked horrified.
"I had no idea a cat could be so evil," she meowed guiltily, shuffling off.
"So you understand why Ravenwing had gotten so mad?" Barley meowed. "You both had very difficult lives before you came here."
'We're more alike than I thought,' Rose thought miserably. "Should I go after him?"
"No," Barley replied, "wait for him to come home."
Rose let out a grateful sigh. "What would I do without you, Barley?" she laughed.
Barley opened his mouth, probably to explain what exactly would happen if he weren't there, but Rose laughed and swished her tail over his mouth. "That was a rhetorical question," she chuckled.
xxx
Rose sat at the edge of the barn entrance with her tail wrapped around her paws, her fur neatly groomed, and her eyes bright. Ravenwing, Storm, and Hollypaw had not yet come back, but when they did, Rose would surely apologize to the black tom and make things better. She hated it when they fought—and she silently vowed never to again.
Soon, a dark shape could be seen slipping through the shadows, and bright emerald eyes caught Rose's attention.
She waited for him to approach, her head held high and her body poised. "Ravenwing?" she meowed softly.
"Yes", came the gruff reply.
"Barley told me about Tigerclaw," she replied softly, slightly put off by the response she had received.
"Oh", came the short answer.
Rose paused, then meowed; "Ravenwing, I really am sorry for what I said earlier. I was hoping you would forgive me."
She waited tensely; she had an apology rejected before, and it had left her feeling dejected and hurt.
"Maybe I overreacted," Ravenwing replied, his voice kinder now. "I was just so hurt that you wanted us to go our separate ways. I was so afraid that I might never see you or Storm again if we split up. Some cat might get to me, or an eagle could attack you…" he trailed off. "I'm sorry Rose."
The she-cat let out a soft purr and touched her nose to his. "Now we hold no secrets from each other, right?" she meowed.
Ravenwing smiled softly. "Right," he agreed.
There was a pause, then they simultaneously meowed: "Where are Storm and Hollypaw?"
They froze.
"I thought they were with you!" Rose meowed breathlessly.
"With me?" Ravenwing exclaimed. "But they were with you this morning."
"Yes, but Barley gave them permission to go and track you down so they could practice your skills! Haven't you caught their scent trails when you were out ratting?"
"Not at all," Ravenwing replied anxiously. "We should go looking for them."
"What do you think happened to them?" Rose cried out, her gray eyes welling with emotion. "What if some badger or fox took them? What if it was—Ravenwing, what if it was an eagle?"
"Don't talk like that," he meowed soothingly. "Rose, you stay here. I'll go looking for them. You don't know WindClan territory like I do, and the WindClan cats might get angry if they see you on their territory. They know me—they wouldn't attack me without interrogating me first."
Rose started to pace with apprehension, but she nodded. "All right…" she meowed quietly. "But please, be careful! If it was a fox or a badger…" she swallowed hard. "I don't want to lose you too, Ravenwing," she finished.
Without another word, he slipped into the shadows, merely an inky black blurr amongst the gloom of the night.
xxx
Ravenwing raced across the barn, his fur pressed down to his pelt, his eyes narrowed with fear. He paused to sniff the air, but his own fear-scent was drowning everything else out. He forced himself to calm down. Even though Hollypaw and Storm were still young, he and Rose had taught them a few fighting moves. Together, they should be able to handle a badger…
He closed his eyes and let out a relaxing sigh, then opened his mouth to taste the air. With a jolt of fear and excitement, he caught a whiff of Hollypaw's gentle and soothing scent. It came from the WindClan moors; it had drifted towards him in the wind.
His heart hammering with panic, he tore towards the moors, praying to StarClan. 'Please StarClan, let them be safe, please, StarClan, let them be safe!'
Their scent grew stronger and stronger until the scent of Hollypaw and Storm was clear in the air. And so was the stench of panic. Fighting down his rising fear, he stopped once more to carefully sniff the air. They were near!
Racing forwards, his right forepaw suddenly stumbled over something, and he let out a yelp as he went crashing down to the ground. Sore and shocked, he got to his paws and strained his green eyes in the darkness.
Then, he let out a heart-shattering yowl.
Before him, body strewn out across a patch of barley, was an ominously still shape. It was a cat—young, with muscular limbs and a black pelt. Ravenwing knew that if the cat's eyes were opened, they would have been steel gray.
Storm.
"Storm! No!" Ravenwing screeched, rearing up on his hindlegs and yowling his grief to the dark skies. "Storm! StarClan, no!"
The black tom let out a piercing cry and looked around wildly—was Hollypaw here too? He prayed that he would find her here; but he knew that if he did, she would be dead as well. Dread engulfed his frame and he touched his nose to his son's still black fur. "Storm…oh no…"
He sat back on his haunches and closed his eyes, letting a tear trickle down from his eyes down his cheek. Storm was dead…Storm, his firstborn, so energetic and confident and carefree. Storm was dead. He sat there for the longest time, until the moon crept at its peak in the sky. He grew stone cold, but felt nothing. When he finally stirred, his muscles ached with fatigue, so he knew he had been sitting there for a long time.
Suddenly, the breeze shifted, and with it came a familiar scent.
But not a welcoming, familiar scent.
xxx
Ravenwing wheeled around, dreading what he would see. He became face-to-face with a dark tabby with a pair of gleaming amber eyes. Amber eyes that Ravenwing knew all too well.
Tigerclaw!
Ravenwing drew back with shock and he drew his lips back in a snarl. "Tigerclaw!" he spat. "You did this!"
The tom was poised and elegant, his muscles rippling under his dark tabby fur, his amber eyes gleaming with a sort of pleasure at the pain he had caused his former apprentice.
"Did what?" he meowed innocently, his lips also drawing back to reveal teeth as sharp as bramble thorns.
"You killed him!" Ravenwing meowed furiously. "You killed Storm!"
"Storm?" Tigerclaw replied gleefully, his amber eyes narrowing with delight. "You mean this disgusting ball of black fur? My, my Ravenpaw, he looks an awful lot like you, doesn't he? I mean, he did."
Grief and rage twisted his features and he meowed: "Where is Hollypaw?" Fear and dread clutched as his heart, gripping it with icy fingers.
"Hollypaw…Hollypaw," Tigerclaw meowed, pretending to be thinking hard. "That she-cat with the brown fur and green eyes? Green eyes like yours, Ravenpaw," he added, though it was not in any way meant to be a compliment.
"That's Ravenwing to you," he spat angrily, "where is she? What did you do with her?"
"I'm not sure I quite remember," Tigerclaw replied innocently. "Were you so miserable about your apprentice status that you chose your own warrior name?" he taunted. "How pathetic is that!"
Ravenwing quelled the urge to unsheathe his claws and attack the tom. He had to where Hollypaw was. "I received my warrior name in the presence of StarClan warriors," he spat venomously, drawing himself up to his full height, green eyes bright with emotion. "Where is Hollypaw?"
Tigerclaw let out a dramatic sigh. "She'll probably die in a few moments anyways. Your precious son was trying to save her, and was killed. Bravery…very brave, that tom is. I pity that he couldn't join me. I admired him so. But of course, he was stupid…and conceited. He thought he could defeat me. Arrogance…such careless arrogance."
Ravenwing growled low in his throat, green eyes narrowed to slits. "Don't talk about my family like that," he spat. "Where is Hollypaw?"
The tabby tom looked surprised at the venom Ravenwing had in his voice. "She's over there," he admitted finally, gesturing with his tail towards a bare patch a few foxlengths off.
He snarled with fury. "Tigerclaw, you killed my kits…but you will never harm another cat again! I defeated you once…I can surely defeat you again."
Fueled with rage, he sprang at his former mentor with unsheathed claws, his heart burning for revenge—for Hollypaw and Storm, slaughtered cruelly by his old enemy, and for every other cat that had died for the sake of Tigerclaw's evil. Tigerclaw would never again harm another cat.
Tigerclaw had not anticipated the attack, and Ravenwing managed to pin him down. However, Tigerclaw quickly twisted over and smashed the black tom against the ground before rolling away to safety.
Ravenwing leapt to his paws and tore after his enemy, but Tigerclaw was quick. He sprang one way and that, and Ravenwing was exhausted by the time he caught Tigerclaw by the shoulders and forced him to the ground.
"You are a traitor to the warrior code," Ravenwing snarled into Tigerclaw's ear, his emerald eyes burning with a green fire.
Tigerclaw let out a mirthless laugh. "You cannot kill me, Ravenwing," he chuckled, "you are much too weak. Besides, don't you want to know how I stumbled upon your precious kits?"
"All I know is that you killed Storm and Hollypaw is dying as we speak!" Ravenwing spat. "You will die today, Tigerclaw!"
With those valiant words, he unsheathed his claws and raised his paw high above his enemy's throat. "You will die, Tigerclaw," he spat, "and StarClan will not receive you."
And he brought his paw crashing down.
xxx
As Ravenwing stared down at the limp body of his most malevolent enemy, there was nothing in his emerald eyes but sorrow. Sorrow for the lives that Tigerclaw had stolen, especially Storm's and Hollypaw's. And sorrow that Tigerclaw was dead. The tabby was a great warrior. He was powerful and strong and intelligent. He would've become a great leader if he hadn't turned treacherous.
The black tom stared up at the half moon, his eyes brimming with a pool of tears he refused to shed. How was he going to tell this to Rose? Both Hollypaw and Storm were dead. He thought he could protect them! But no; he could not even save the ones he cared for.
He touched his nose to Storm's pelt one more time and padded over to Hollypaw, feeling dread creep up to him. He would have to ask Rose to bring back Storm's body—he had to bring Hollypaw home.
He felt a wail rise up in his throat when he caught a glimpse of Hollypaw—her beautiful, dappled brown fur mangled and torn. He let out a sigh and dropped his head, feeling the ground sway before him. He glanced up, trying to steel himself to approach his slain daughter.
What he saw before him made him give off an ear-splitting yowl. Hollypaw…she was alive? He heard a rasp come from her throat, and he broke out of his trance.
"Hollypaw!" he meowed, his voice high-pitched with urgency. "Hollypaw?" He gasped when he caught sight of her face—scarred and bloody, Hollypaw would never be the beauty she was before. "Hollypaw, can you hear me? It's Ravenwing!"
Foggy green eyes blinked open. "Fa…ther…" she croaked.
Ravenwing nearly collapsed with relief. "Oh Hollypaw," he breathed, "I'm here—I'll get you home." Tears spilt from his emerald eyes. "Don't worry. I've got you now. You're safe. I…" he trailed off. "I'll never let anything happen to you again. Please forgive me."
But Hollypaw had already drifted off into an uneasy sleep, hanging in the balance of life and dead by a thread. Ravenwing knew how close his daughter was to slipping to StarClan.
Sinking his teeth into Hollypaw's scruff, he walked as quickly as he could towards Barley's barn, feeling a rising horror that he was abandoning Storm.
'I'm not abandoning him…' he thought uneasily.
After what seemed like moons, he saw the faint outline of his home. "Don't worry Hollypaw, we're almost home," he mumbled, through a mouthful of dappled brown fur. He gently set his daughter down next to the barn entrance and raced inside the warm barn, his emerald eyes wildly scanning the hay stacks for Rose and Barley.
A scream tore from his throat as he saw a limp form spread across the floor of the barn. Rose! No! But how did this happen? And where was Barley?
He raced across the barn and skidded to a halt beside Rose, his heart cracking. "Rose! Rose!" he wailed, his tail lashing. "Please…no!"
"Ravenwing?" a hoarse croak came from her mouth, her pale gray eyes fluttering open, pale and full of pain.
Ravenwing crouched over the pale pink she-cat, into her deep gray eyes, full of kindness and brimming with unconditional love. "Ravenwing…you came," she purred out, her voice catching in her throat as the tears began to fall.
The black tom looked away roughly. "Of course I came," he meowed strongly, his voice tremulous, his emerald eyes pained. "Rose…I promised I would never let anything happen to you…I won't ever break that promise."
"Ravenwing." The name came as the quietest of whispers—quieter than the leaves rustling in the breeze, quieter than the morning gale caressing the treetops, and as soothing as the waves lapping against the shore. In that word, Rose managed to convey every single bit of affection and love she had for him. But it wasn't enough. It could never be enough. "You were the best thing that ever happened to me. Running away from the Tribe…letting my mother get killed…leaving my family—I would do it all over again just to see you."
His breath came in gasps now, and his heart was too full to say anything. He couldn't whisper her name. He couldn't even tell her that he loved her. And that was all she wanted to hear.
"I will always be with you now," she breathed quietly, her eyes fluttering to a close—like the wings of a dying bird. "StarClan or the Tribe…they've granted me my one wish…to always be with you. Now you must promise me one more thing." Her voice dwindled off, than came back stronger than ever.
"Never let the sorrow you feel crowd out the joy of living in this world," she said softly, relaxing, "Ravenwing, there are so many more precious things in this world…I want you to see everything and anything you can. Cherish every memory…Ravenwing…promise me this."
She shifted and her pale gray eyes looked into his emerald ones. "In Leaf Fall, when the leaves of all the trees turn scarlet amber and beautiful gold, when they drift down from their branches and encircle you in a fiery crown…that'll be me, Ravenwing." Her voice came quieter now, and her vision swam before her pale gray eyes. "In leafbare, when things seem bleak and dark…keep hope. There is always hope. And there are always choices. In newleaf, when the spring buds open and bloom into beautiful flowers…you'll always see a trace of me somewhere."
Ravenwing bowed his head, his shoulders shaking as he tried to stop the sobs from coming from his maw. He was too overcome for words. He tried to say something—anything—but he couldn't.
"Ravenwing…do you love me?"
The tom could only nod furiously, tears flowing freely.
"Can…I hear…I want to hear you say it…one last time…Ravenwing…I love you."
A sob tore from the black tom's throat, and his emerald eyes veiled over with grief and rage. He was trembling violently, his tail lashing, and he felt as if he had turned to stone. He let out a strangling noise—he had to tell her that he loved her…but he couldn't speak. A croak came from his throat, and he formed the words with his mouth: 'I love you Rose.'
But she was already gone.
End Note: shakes head sadly I think that was the saddest thing I've ever written. Be sure to leave a nice, long review, because my exams are looming up before me, and it'll really be a struggle to update my stories :( And here's a little hint for Chapter 13…
Tigerclaw isn't dead. And he killed Rose. How? I couldn't possibly reveal that!
More to come…