Chapter 6
Brambleclaw rolled himself in a pile of foxdung and some wild berries before making his way up the steep slope to the river cliff path. The odor didn't phase him in the slightest; in fact, he barely smelled it. He had too much weighing on him to pay any heed to the horrible scent that clung to his fur.
The berries, violet and plump on the outside, had a dark red-purple inside. They oozed with juice, popping and splattering all over his pelt, splashing it in a fearsome dark red. It was as if the blood had already stained his paws. Brambleclaw pushed the thought and accompanying image out of his mind and continued on.
The path along the cliffside was much wider than it had been in the old RiverClan territory, and much less perilous besides, and there was some errant brush growing along the rock face. The wirey plants were thin and barely concealed the large tom, but he wouldn't have to hide for long. By the time Mistyfoot or Reedwhisker saw him, it would be too late.
The sun was just dipping below the horizon as Brambleclaw settled himself into the brush. His heart pounded loudly in his chest, and he tried to stop it, afraid that if it beat any louder Mistyfoot and Reedwhisker would hear it all the way back at camp.
I'm about to kill. I'm going to become a murderer.
It sickened him. It was against everything he'd ever learned and the warrior code he clutched so tightly to his chest -
The warrior code never mattered to Tawnypelt.
It never mattered to Tigerstar.
After a moment's thought -
It never mattered to Firestar.
What was the warrior code? No one followed it anyhow, not even the great Firestar everyone worshipped so blindly.
Firestar broke the warrior code for good reasons.
The stupid voice in his head wouldn't leave him alone, and it wouldn't make up its mind, either. It kept reminding him of things he knew he shouldn't remember, and then went and defended the transgressions of the accused.
Tigerstar broke it for selfish reasons.
No, he told himself. His father wasn't selfish.
Then what was he?
He didn't know. Why had Tigerstar tried to take over the forest? He was sure the reasoning was justified. He'd have to ask him while he slept that night - after the murder.
Tawnypelt broke it to follow her heart.
There was another time and place - another dimension and universe, maybe - where Brambleclaw would have been perfectly fine and happy with his beloved sister following her heart. But that time and place was not now. Everything he'd ever placed his trust in was collapsing around him, and Tawnypelt shattering his trust and breaking the warrior code was something he couldn't, wouldn't tolerate.
And why are you breaking it?
For Tawnypelt. For Hawkfrost. For Tigerstar. For Squirrelflight.
Not for yourself?
And yes, for himself. But only after the cats he held dear, because he wasn't rash or selfish.
His train of thought slid off the rail as the thud of pawsteps echoed in the ground. Voices, he heard voices. Hawkfrost. Reedwhisker. His unsheathed claws dug into the earth.
It was time. Now there was really no turning back, but he wouldn't have given the chance. Because now the chance to have everything he was fighting for was presented before him, his for the taking.
His eyes landed on the bend, from behind which he could hear the casual conversation of the patrol.
They're walking to their deaths, and they have no idea.
And then an unfamiliar cat came around the bend.
x
"Ripplepaw, what do you scent?" Reedwhisker asked as the patrol walked.
The little gray tabby opened her jaws hesitantly and took a tentative sniff.
"Don't be shy!" Mistyfoot laughed lightly, giving the apprentice a playful shove. "It's alright if you get it wrong!"
"Yeah, you should have seen me as an apprentice," Reedwhisker mewed. "I always got scents wrong, and I was really clumsy -"
"Like that time you fell in the river," Mistyfoot remarked, her tail waving in amusement.
"That's not funny!" Reedwhisker protested. "I almost -"
"Died," Hawkfrost interrupted coldly. "You had to be saved by a ThunderClan amateur."
"Quit throwing cold water on the fun, Hawkfrost."
"He doesn't even have control of his pathetic apprentice," the ice-eyed tom mused, completely ignoring Mistyfoot. "He asks her to taste the air, and then completely forgets about it when the kit is too scared to open her jaws -"
"Leave Ripplepaw alone," Reedwhisker cut in. His apprentice cringed behind him timidly. "Keep your bad mood to yourself."
"Yeah, you're awfully fidgety and upset tonight," Mistyfoot commented. "Bad prey?"
"No."
The string of conversation came to an awkward halt.
They walked in silence for a brief moment, Ripplepaw's tail hanging between her legs dejectedly. She respected and feared Hawkfrost, and saw him as a role model and a something to live up to, and resented him calling her pathetic. She knew she was, really, but having Hawkfrost say it -
"Ripplepaw, why don't you lead across the river cliffs?" Reedwhisker brushed her confidently, as though reading her thoughts and providing the remedy. Her cerulean blue eyes brightened; her mentor never failed to cheer her up.
Ripplepaw darted excitedly to the front of the patrol. Hawkfrost rolled his eyes distastefully, but his Clanmates ignored him. Ripplepaw made the turn around the bend, Reedwhisker falling in step behind her, and Mistyfoot behind him. Hawkfrost brought up the rear - and because he was behind them, they didn't see his icy eyes gleaming with horribly excited malice.
"Hey, Reedwhisker, I smell something funny," Ripplepaw mewed suddenly, her nose and ears tipped to the sky, but she kept walking along the cliffside path.
Reedwhisker took a sniff. "That would be..." he paused in confusion. "ThunderClan?" his brow knotted in confoundment, and he exchanged a perplexed glance with Mistyfoot. "Why would there be ThunderClan scent here?"
Mistyfoot opened her mouth to respond, but the words never left her lips. Something collided with her from the side, and the force sent her reeling sideways, dangerously close to the edge of the cliffs. In a horrible split second, her paws flailed, trying to regain balance - and then she toppled over the side.
"MISTYFOOT!" Reedwhisker screamed, his voice high in horror. He dove for the edge to where his deputy had fallen, but all that remained were rocks and gravel tumbling in her wake. He was just in time to see the tiny splash endless foxlengths below.
"Mistyfoot! NO!"Brambleclaw, hidden in the brush, could almost hear the tears in Reedwhisker's voice. It penetrated his heart, seeing the loyal, kindhearted deputy of RiverClan fall to her death, and then the anguished cry of her warrior as he stared helplessly down into the river. He knew that now was his time to act, but he was paralyzed.
Suddenly Reedwhisker felt hot breath in his ear. "You've made this too easy for me, Reedwhisker, placing yourself so conviniently."
Something shoved him from behind, and the RiverClan warrior found himself tumbling face-first over the cliff. He grabbed instinctively and desperately for something, anything, and by some miracle managed to find a paw-hold in the rock face.
Already his hold was beginning to slip as he tried to secure his grip. He looked up hopefully, pleadingly, for an outstretched paw to grab on to, but was met with a pair of shining ice-coated eyes.
"Hawkfrost," he choked. "Why?"
"For Tawnypelt," Hawkfrost growled, grinning sickly at the way his victim's eyes widened, "And for the future of RiverClan." He swiped at Reedwhisker's grasping claw. The black warrior tried vainly to maintain his hold, the adrenaline rushing in his ears, but not even the superstrength given before death could save him now. His hold broke, and he felt backwards down into the river with a horrible, ear-splitting scream.
"REEDWHISKER!" a terrified mewl echoed from off to the side. Standing frozen in fear, the little apprentice watched with unnaturally wide eyes as within one minute both her deputy and beloved mentor fell to their deaths. Hawkfrost turned on her, his face spelling her fate.
Ripplepaw took a numb step backwards. "Please, don't..." she whimpered softly. "I'll... I'll tell Leopardstar..."
Hawkfrost laughed mockingly. "I dare you."
In that split second, Ripplepaw made her decision. She turned and ran. The apprentice was completely prepared to run like the wind and beyond back to camp with her tears streaming in a river behind her, but she literally bumped right into the only thing that could stop her.
Brambleclaw.
"Ah, my brother, so you finally decide to join me," Hawkfrost meowed, approvingly taking in the scene. Brambleclaw had positioned himself in the small apprentice's path, making her unable to escape. Just as Hawkfrost had been counting on.
"You... what... how..." the apprentice was lost and terrified, practically drowning in her fear. She turned her wild eyes on the brown and scarlet-splattered warrior standing in her path, looking to him for rescue.
Brambleclaw looked right into her eyes. They were a deep azure blue, endless as the sun-drown-place, rimmed by silvery gray fur. The sheer horror and plea glazed in those young eyes may once have been enough to break Brambleclaw's shell, but now all he saw in the little apprentice was Ashfur. Ashfur's eyes, Ashfur's fur, Ashfur his rival and hate of his life. Ashfur would die.
He stepped towards the apprentice. With a squeal, she turned to run, only to be stared down by Hawkfrost. She glanced rapidly left, right, back, forth, but she was surrounded by cliffs, a deadly drop, and two murderers.
Ripplepaw was young, barely seven moons old. She'd heard the legends and stories of warriors past, and if she had learned one thing from the tails of her kithood, it was that a warrior never stood down. A warrior who stood bravely and fought for justice would survive. That's what her mother had told her.
Ripplepaw was young, barely seven moons old, and she didn't really understand death. She was horrified that her mentor and deputy had fallen over the cliffs, and it had registered in her fragile young mind that they must be terribly hurt, but the prospect of their death never truly dawned on her. And so her own death seemed like it wouldn't, couldn't happen, and the best option open to her was to stand proudly and defiantly. Her mentor would praise her later, and Mistyfoot might even make her a warrior early. She would be able to tease her little brother Beechpaw endlessly, being a warrior before him, and basking in her bravery.
Ripplepaw was young, barely seven moons old, and she was taking her last stand. "I'll fight you," she growled, lowering herself into a half-learned hunter's crouch.
Hawkfrost laughed, but his horrible mocking tone was lost on the apprentice. "Fight me? You don't stand a chance."
Ripplepaw gritted her teeth. "Watch me." For the first and last time in her life, the timid apprentice showed fire and defiance.
Just like Squirrelflight, thought Brambleclaw, watching her raptly. His vision of Ashfur faded, and instead he saw Squirrelflight in Reedwhisker's apprentice. His stony heart crumbled, and he almost gave in to his impulse to save her, to help her, to speed back to camp with her and tell Leopardstar everything. She was only an apprentice, and he didn't want to kill her. Hawkfrost hadn't told him there would be an innocent apprentice, he hadn't agreed to it, and he wouldn't do it. There, he thought firmly. I'll save her, and I'll expose Hawkfrost for what he truly is.
Ripplepaw had no idea that had she turned and run in the opposite direction, the cat blocking her path would not have stopped her. She didn't know what was going through his head, that he wanted her help her. She didn't know about his change of heart - all she knew was that the cat who attacked her and her mentor was standing before her, and the piece of crowfood was going off the cliffs. She ran at him, with all the fight and fury she'd ever had and ever would have fired into one leap.
And still it wasn't enough. She was a new, untrained apprentice, and Hawkfrost was a skilled warrior. He sidestepped smoothly and effortlessly pinned the apprentice to the ground, effectively extinguishing her spirit.
"I'm sorry, but you're a witness," he meowed emotionlessly. He picked her up by the scruff as she flailed and screamed and howled at the top of her lungs.
"Hawkfrost, don't!" Brambleclaw yowled, but his words fell on deaf, uncaring ears. Without even a second's hesitation, Hawkfrost tossed the apprentice over the cliffs.
Brambleclaw heard her yowl disappear into the water, and the splash that cut it off forever.
"Good work, Brambleclaw. Now spread your scent around, you did a good job of mixing it up -"
"You killed her."
Hawkfrost blinked.
"You... killed her."
Hawkfrost cocked his head. "So?"
"So?" Brambleclaw's eyes blazed. "So? You murdered an innocent apprentice! And all you say is so?"
"You didn't stop me." Hawkfrost stared him down fiercely. "You're just as much to blame."
The cold words hit Brambleclaw like a crashing, crushing wave. It was his fault. He could have saved her and he didn't. Three lives gone, one innocent bystander, and it was all his fault.
"It's alright, it's what you wanted anyhow."
No, this isn't what he wanted, was it? Had he wanted to hear an apprentice's wrenching cry fade into darkness? To play a role in her untimely death? No, this couldn't be what he had wanted, he thought numbly, not this...
"Now surely I'll be made deputy," Hawkfrost continued, "And then we can get to your matter of Squirrelflight."
Squirrelflight. That's right. He was doing this for Squirrelflight.
"Tawnypelt will be free, RiverClan will be headed in the right direction, and you'll have your she-cat." Hawkfrost's voice was a mesmerizing murmur. "Surely one life is a small price to pay?"
"No... she was innocent..."
"But so was Tawnypelt," Hawkfrost persisted, "And how about all the cats of RiverClan? Would dear Ripplepaw have wanted her Clanmates to live forever under Mistyfoot's rule?" Brambleclaw didn't respond. "No, she wouldn't have," he whispered darkly. "Surely the brave apprentice would have sacrificed her life for those of her Clanmates. We only helped her."
"We only helped her," Brambleclaw repeated, trying to convince himself.
"That's right," Hawkfrost cooed. "We saved RiverClan, helped her, and helped Tawnypelt, so now as a reward we'll help you. Alright?"
Brambleclaw's eyes, coated in glass, stared into the ground. "Yeah. Alright."
He hadn't even noticed that Hawkfrost had been kneeling by his side until he stood up. "C'mon now, let's spread your scent around. We still need to follow through."
Brambleclaw dully pushed himself to his paws. The words echoed hollowly in his mind, not really resonating.
He was lost.
But Hawkfrost can help you find your way.
If there was anything in life he was sure about anymore, that was it. No matter how lost he was, Hawkfrost was his lifeline, his road back. So he would stand by him and help him.
In a blink, the image of wide blue eyes dissapeared from his mind, and Ripplepaw's last cry faded into nothing.
--
A/N: Sorry if last chapter was filler-ish. Hopefully this was a swift return to the action. :)
A quick note: yes, I know Ripplepaw was a tom in the books. If anyone was sharp enough to pick that out... kudos. My explanation is that Ripplepaw's role was so small that it probably didn't mention his gender anywhere other than the allegiances in The Sight, and being a girl seemed to work better in her role. Besides which, she wouldn't be the first gender-confused kitty in Warriors. (note Rowanclaw, who used to be a she-cat and is now the father of kits) Not saying whose kits, though. Nope. No spoilers here. I'd tell you to go read, because it's better than being here on the computer anyways, but then I'd be a hypocrite. ;)