A/N: I am SO sorry for the delay; had major problems uploading this.
Chapter Sixteen
It wasn't that Sunfire distrusted Icestorm; she just felt wary of him. She'd seen a shadow of Nero appear beside him three days before, so wariness was natural. He was still the same warrior. Still had the bizarre ability to combine good humor and seriousness. Still had the deep blue eyes, still...
Sunfire shook herself hard. Focus. ShadowClan border patrol. Coming back to herself, she noticed the rest of the patrol had gotten ahead of her. She took long strides until she was in second position, keeping her warrior's dignity up.
Then again, she thought with a guilty twist in her belly, if he's still the same cat, why am I afraid of him? She wasn't going to lie to herself. The past three days, Sunfire had been more distant with him, stayed away from him. At night, she felt tense sleeping next to him. She was wary and afraid of him, and at the same time knew that nothing could possibly have changed in him.
"Sunfire?" Jerked from her thoughts, Sunfire looked up to see the patrol standing still, looking at her with narrowed eyes. Raintail had spoken. Her blue eyes concerned and her tail tip twitching, Sunfire knew her friend was silently asking if she was alright. After a moment, Sunfire realized why: she'd drifted several tail-lengths away from and behind the others. Raising her head, she stepped back over to them, her green glare daring any cat to comment. Badgerclaw, who was leading the patrol, threw a mocking glance over his shoulder before he continued on.
"What's up?" whispered Raintail as Badgerclaw paused to leave a scent marking.
Sunfire sighed and studied the sun-high sky, the sun glaring an intense white. "I'm fine."
"You're not," retorted Raintail, her tone sharper than Sunfire had ever heard it. "I've seen you these past few days. You–"
"Hey!" called Badgerclaw, his amber glare fixed on them. "We're patrolling, not gossiping." The patrolwas moving again.
"And we're not gossiping. That involves talking about other cats, an element distinctly missing from our conversation," growled Sunfire, but she got to her feet and caught up, Raintail beside her.
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"Raintail tells me you're having a bit of a time," said Sorrelflower's voice.
Looking up from her magpie, Sunfire saw the tortoiseshell-and-white elder standing beside her. Feeling nettled, and not at all in the mood to have a discussion about the 'bit of a time' she was having, Sunfire shrugged and tore a wing off the magpie. "Lots to think about," she muttered.
Though she wasn't looking at Sorrelflower, Sunfire had the distinct impression that the old she-cat twitched her whiskers. "Like Icestorm?" she asked. Her tone was mild, but amusement was barely concealed beneath her casualness.
Sunfire jerked her head up, then lowered it, aware of the fact that feathers were stuck to her lips. Pawing them off, she looked up again, slower this time. A warmth burned through her, and she felt it mingle with the strange guilt. No point in denying. "Yes."
Sorrelflower lay down beside Sunfire and met her gaze. Sunfire noticed her amber eyes were becoming slightly clouded; blindness was starting to set in. "Fine young tom," said Sorrelflower. "Brave and loyal." Sunfire mumbled unintelligibly. Her guilt twisted.
"Strange, though," added Sorrelflower. "You're tense around him now, like something's happened. You always were very close and easy around him, more so recently." She said the latter with a flick of her tail and a sideways glance. StarClan, Sunfire hated this; discussions about relationships had never been her thing, even if she didn't have one. She told the elder as much.
"You'll never get anywhere avoiding conversations," Sorrelflower replied. "Just know that--" Sunfire didn't care what she should know.
"I'm due for a hunting patrol," she said abruptly, standing and mewing a good-bye as she headed for the slope. She wasn't, and the thick, still air wasn't ideal for hunting. Just need to get away. Sorrelflower made her feel even more guilty about distancing herself from Icestorm, and doing something else would take her mind off it.
Still, the familiar image came to her, one she'd seen at the Silverstone: Icestorm turning away from her, loss and anger in his eyes. Sunfire swallowed hard, feeling slightly ill now, and headed for the RiverClan border. Chances were slim, but she might find Pinefur there.
She had no luck. The RiverClan scent that always wafted over was faint; mere threads of it remained, like no RiverClan cat had walked here for over a half-moon. Disheartened, and wondering where her friend was, Sunfire turned away into her own territory.
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After returning to camp, Sunfire lay outside the warrior's den with Raintail and Icestorm. Despite her wariness of him, Icestorm lay comfortably beside her like he always did, washing a forepaw. Earlier that day, he and Sunfire seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement to not discuss her sudden tenseness. Sunfire heself didn't quite understand how it had happened; she recalled the silent agreement came into being around when Icestormfoundher after she left the RiverClan border and rubbed his cheek against hers.
The still-present guilt clenched as Sunfire recognized the fact that she remained wary.
Narrowing her eyes to slits, Sunfire watched Lightningstar talking to Treeshadow across camp. Waterdrip was also there, as was her daughter Rootkit. Something nudged at Sunfire, a feeling that something important was being discussed. Before she could say anything, Lightningstar moved away to the nursery, where Yellowflower sat with her kits. The tawny queen said something to Lightningstar, who responded and flicked his ears. Yellowflower brightened as he did so, and dipped her head as Lightningstar turned away.
"Something's up with the kits," murmured Raintail.
"Maybe Softkit and Rustykit are being apprenticed," said Icestorm.
"They're nearly two moons too young," replied Sunfire, rolling her eyes.
"With all the trouble going on, maybe Lightningstar's planning to apprentice them early," suggested Raintail mildly.
Lightningstar himself came walking over to them, moving much slower than he usually did; the combination of the heat and his age undoubtedly caused that. "Could I see–" he began.
He never finished who he wanted to see or why: Snowwind came barreling down the slope, yowling, her eyes wide. Her long white coat was matted, and her breathing was ragged. The heat made those who were in camp drowsy and dull-witted; few were startled immediately. Sunfire, responding quickly, stood so fast her paws hardly touched the ground.
Snowwind, holding one paw above the ground, was sputtering out disjointed words. "Birch...four...Hawkclaw..." Sunfire felt flame and ice course through her at once. She must've been patrolling and Hawkclaw came after her...even as the thought raced through her Sunfire knew it sounded pitiful, at best.
"Birch Stream?" demanded Mudspeckle. Snowwind nodded weakly, and the deputy beckoned to cats with his tail. Sunfire scrabbled over, all laziness gone; she was the first out of camp. More warriors, including Mudspeckle, followed her. Disregarding the fact that Mudspeckle, as deputy, should be leading the patrol, Sunfire raised her tail and ran faster, a flash of pride running through her. The others could have passed her, but they chose to let her lead.
She felt like a leader, not one of the youngest warriors.
The lingering threads of pride vanished as a powerful blood-scent drifted over. Sunfire, in the lead, reached the stream first. What she saw stopped her dead.
Orangestripe lay on the ground, blood pooled around his neck, clearly dead. Hawkclaw stood over the tabby. His teeth were fastened around the warrior's neck. Sunfire only saw this for a split second before Hawkclaw, sensing the presence of others, dropped Orangestripe and stepped back hastily.
Bodies streamed past, jostling her. Hawkclaw stood still, his pale amber eyes fixed on Orangestripe's body. His flanks heaved, and he said in a voice thick with false sorrow, "It was the Tribe. Four of them. Snowwind ran to get help; Orangestripe and myself stayed and tried to fight them off. One of them got his teeth around his neck before I could pull him off."
Sunfire saw Mudspeckle give Hawkclaw a long, level look through narrowed eyes, as though trying to piece together what his brother had said. After a moment, the deputynodded and turned to Orangestripe. A wave of despair and anger swept over Sunfire; Hawkclaw certainly knew how to play the part of regretful warrior.
"Liar." The word was whispered so quickly Sunfire thought she'd imagined it until she saw the faintest flash of dark orange tabby fur beside her. Turning her head sharply, she saw a pair of pale green eyes before they winked out. Orangestripe's spirit and voice, not Firestar's.
With a prickle of something unidentifiable, Sunfire turned again to see Hawkclaw staring at her coldly. His eyes burned with hatred she'd only seen in Shadowfur's gaze before now. Feeling both triumphant and, yes, frightened, Sunfire realized Hawkclaw knew that she had seen him with his jaws fastened around Orangestripe's neck.
;-;-;-;
"Orangestripe was a brave warrior, one who always saw to it that justice would be done. Let us now give thanks to StarClan for his life." The Clan was silent as Lightningstar spoke, and, as one, turned their gazes up to Silverpelt. Sunfire saw Yellowflower was the only cat who sat with her head down and shoulders hunched, eyes fixed on her dead mate. Then, slowly, cats stepped forward to join the tawny queen as shebegan hervigil.
Sunfire looked at the dead warrior, grief and hate rising. She extended her claws fully as she switched her gaze to Hawkclaw, who sat with his ears flat in false sorrow.
"Don't be angry he died," said the cracked voice of Sorrelflower. She sat upright, looking noble with moonlight and shadows dappling her fur more than it already was. The elder fixed her gaze on Silverpelt. "This is the way it was meant to be." With that, she moved to join the group clustered around Orangestripe.
Sunfire stared after her, skeptical. She never could believe things like that, when cats said things were destined to happen or it was the way things were meant to be. One event determined the next. One falter could cause the ultimate fall. Nothing was definite. The future was always shifting.
Did that make her one of the only cats in the forest who wasn't a fatalist?
Yes.
Swivelling her ears, Sunfire heard fading pawsteps. Turning around, she saw the darkly mottled pelt of Hawkclaw disappearing out an alternate entrance to camp. Growling, she stood and followed him. After only a few seconds, she saw him several fox-lengths ahead.
He walked tensely, his ears pricked and mouth open to scent. Sunfire didn't give much thought to stealthily trailing him, as other cats would have; on impulse, she took many long, quick, silent strides and thrust herself into the air. Landing on Hawkclaw's back, she heard his snarl of surprise as he tried to shake her off. Nimbly, Sunfire leapt off his back onto the ground and, with a trick she had taught herself, swept his paws out from under him. When he collapsed onto his flank, she pinned him down, growling and feeling flame run through her.
"Out of sheer curiosity, how many cats are you planning to murder in your lifetime?" she snarled, shoving her muzzle into his.
"As many as necessary," he answered smoothly, his eyes glittering. "Or as many as I am ordered."
Sunfire didn't like that, in more ways than one. "How many cats have you killed, besides Roseleaf and Orangestripe?"
"They are the first. Get off me before you join them."
Sunfire didn't move. "Why didn't you go with Shadowfur three days ago?" she demanded. "You have no place here."
In a move so sudden and skillful she never expected it, Hawkclaw threw Sunfire off him and pinned her down as he had done. Furious and humiliated, Sunfire tried to rise before Hawkclaw placed a long claw on her throat. "I fought Shadowfur for joint leadership of the Tribe," growled Hawkclaw. "And I lost. Now my work is here. Pity, isn't it,that not one cat will believe for an instant that I told you this." He slipped off her and ran for camp.
Scrambling up, Sunfire stared after him. She knew of the many enemies ThunderClan had outside of their camp, but somehow, the single enemy living among them was a much greater threat.
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A thousand enemies outside the house are better than one within. –Arab proverb