As Tadpolepaw blinked, she heard the crunch.
And time slowed down.
And, for a moment, despite her eyes being closed as she was in mid blink, she could picture all the cats, from ShadowClan and WindClan, in her mind. The shock and horror of hearing a crunch, knowing that, one, possibly two brave cats were dead. Everyone was worried. Everyone wanted them to make it. But, why had everyone been fighting just heart beats ago?
Then the crunch stopped, and the monster just kept going, speeding away across the thunderpath.
Tadpolepaw then opened her eyes, and saw what had happened.
Next to the thunderpath, Tadpolepaw saw the brown furred body of Weaselfoot, very much alive, panting, eyes wide in terror, as he realized what had just happened to him.
On the thunderpath, there was a bloody heap lying on the ground, motionless. It looked very squashed. Judging from it's white color where the blood hadn't splattered it, this must be Sparkstone.
She was dead.
"Sparkstone! No!" cried a dark brown tom, who had been in the battle. The tom ran towards the thunderpath, where Sparkstone's dead body lay. The tom crouched down next to the body, and began to sniffle.
"Falconwing," mewed Stepfrost, moving towards Falconwing, and lightly touching his tail to Falconwing's shoulder. "You're sister is in StarClan now. She's in a better place."
Thornleap turned towards the ShadowClan cats.
"I hope your happy with what happened, a brave warrior is dead because of your actions."
Tadpolepaw saw the fur on Seedstar's back raise, but Gorsewater placed his tail on her shoulder.
"If I recall correctly," Gorsewater said coldly. "We seemed to be fighting because you stole an apprentice because you wanted payment for something that never happened."
Thornleap let out an angry hiss, but did not say anything.
Meanwhile, Tadpolepaw noticed Pinefrost licking the top of Weaselfoot's head. Her mentor seemed very shaken up by being nearly hit by the car, and was shaking. Pinefrost was of course, Weaselfoot's mate, and Tadpolepaw could hear her making comforting noises towards him. A thought echoed in Tadpolepaw's mind. With Seedstar losing a life, we've had two deaths in this battle.
"Tadpolepaw! Owlpaw!" Tadpolepaw heard the voice of Gorsewater calling her. "We're going to go fetch Ashenpaw. Tadpolepaw, can you manage with your leg?
Tadpolepaw looked at the senior warrior determinedly. "I need to check that Ashenpaw is OK."
Gorsewater nodded. "Let's go then."
Flanked by the WindClan cats, the patrol, with the exception of Pinefrost and Weaselfoot, who went back, traveled deeper into WindClan. A tense silence hanged over the group, the silence wasn't holding up the sky this time, instead it was holding back a storm. A storm, full to the brim of range, anger, hatred, false accusations, and battle. So, no cat dared to speak. The possible consequences were to dire.
Finally, they reached a dip in the uneven ground. In this dip, Tadpolepaw could see many cats simply milling around the camp. She was shocked by how there weren't many dens. It seemed as they would just sleep out in the open. Tadpolepaw found the thought weird and frightening. Wouldn't it be cold, with the wind blowing through your fur all the time? And you'd be so exposed while sleeping too… Tadpolepaw thought.
As the cats came to the bottom of the dip, Thornleap let out a sharp call.
"Ashenpaw! You're going home!"
From one of the few dens in the camp, Ashenpaw emerged, with Deerpaw by her side. Judging by the fact that Deerpaw had came out as well, Tadpolepaw guessed it must have been the medicine cats den. Deerpaw was, of course the WindClan medicine cat apprentice. And they would have to shelter the herbs somewhere.
But, what was more shocking was the state of Ashenpaw. Although, maybe it shouldn't have been. She just looked… so normal. She didn't look scared of the WindClan cats at all, she looked well treated, and Tadpolepaw would have guessed that she had been fed last night.
"I'll have to tell you the story about the frog another time." Tadpolepaw heard Ashenpaw mew to Deerpaw.
She sounded so chipper. So happy. So… just like she normally did. Ashenpaw had always been one of the most cheerful cats Tadpolepaw had met. And here she was, acting like normal. And yet, there had been a battle which had taken two lives, if you counted one of Seedstar's nine. Why would such a deadly battle be fought over a cat who didn't even seem to realize that that anything unusual was going on?
Ashenpaw walked up to the patrol and let out a friendly mew.
"Hi! Good to see you all. WindClan's nice, but I can't wait to be home."
"Ashenpaw," mewed Seedstar slowly "What happened?"
"I was on my solo hunting assessment, and you'll never believe what I found! A squirrel! How often do we see those on ShadowClan territory? I wanted to see what squirrel tasted like, so I tracked it. Unfortunately, it ran over the border, making it WindClan's prey. Still, I was desperate to see what it tasted like, so I ran over the border and killed it. A WindClan patrol found me, and since I was breaking the warrior code after all, they took me prisoner. But it gave me a chance to hang out with Deerpaw! And here you are! I'm ready to go home now, though it was fun seeing how another clan lived." Ashenpaw sucked in a breath as she finished speaking.
"Ashenpaw," said Gorsewater. "There was a battle fought to try and get you back. A cat named Sparkstone was killed as a result of it. We thought something terrible had happened. But, all this was over you chasing a squirrel?
Ashenpaw's face fell as she heard the news. She glanced up at Thornleap.
"But you said it would be simple to get me back to ShadowClan!" Ashenpaw said to Thornleap, horror growing in her face by the heart beat. "You said it would be quick and simple!"
Thornleap let out a soft growl. "I said it would be quick and simple if ShadowClan complied with our demands, such as apologizing for hunting on our territory, and giving us prey equal to that which they stole. I made no such promises on it not happening if they did not comply."
Ashenpaw stared glumly at her paws.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice barely rising above a whisper. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"There's nothing to be done now," said Seedstar. "We should go."
With that, swiftly and silently, ShadowClan left WindClan.
By the time ShadowClan finally got back to camp, the sun was setting, and Tadpolepaw was regretting her decision to go to WindClan's camp. Her leg still refused to take any weight, and where Thornleap had bit her on her belly, a gnawing pain still lurked. She definitely felt ready to go to the medicine den.
In fact, she was heading there when Seedstar stopped her, calling a clan meeting.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Clanrock for a clan meeting!"
Within a few heartbeats, the clan was gathered, and Seedstar began.
"Clan mates," Seedstar began. "We have won a victory today. While this wasn't a battle that I wanted, and it may have only come about due to our apprentice's folly, we have won the battle. With any luck, I am hoping for a quieter border in the coming moons.
"During this battle, two new warriors stood out to me more than most. Owlpaw, Flightpaw, please come forward."
Tadpolepaw watched as the two walked up to their mother and clan leader. What was happening?
"I, Seedstar, leader of ShadowClan, call on my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They have both trained hard to understand your ways of your noble code, and I commend you to them as a warrior in their turn.
"Owlpaw, Flightpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do." said Flightpaw confidently and calmly.
"I-I do." said Owlpaw, stuttering as he said it.
"Then," Seedstar mewed, "From this day forward, Flightpaw, you shall be known as Flightfang. StarClan honors your spirit and speed. Owlpaw, form this day forward, you shall be known as Owlheart. StarClan honors your thoughtfulness and dedication. Together, we welcome you as full members of the clan."
Seedstar moved towards Owlheart, and rested her muzzle on his head, while Owlheart licked his leaders shoulder. Seedstar then moved away, and did the same with Flightfang. Then the cheer began.
"Owlheart! Flightfang!" called the clan.
While cheering, Tadpolepaw shot a look at Ashenpaw. Owlheart and Flightfang's sister was cheering just as loud, if not louder than every other cat in the clan, but her eyes told a different story. A story of hurt, and pain. A story of knowing that when it was her turn to become a warrior, her siblings would not be up there beside her. And, beneath that, something else. Something much more powerful and shocking then her hurt or pain. Something that no one else knew. But, what that something was, Tadpolepaw could not tell.
Oh StarClan, please let her be all right thought Tadpolepaw…
It feels like I'm saying this a lot, but I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter. Life has just been incredibly hectic. Hopefully I should get on a more normal schedule soon.
Reviews!
ASJ7: Thanks! I think I'm getting better at cliffhanger's.
ASJ7 (2): Will be fixed soon.
SomeoneI'mSure: Yeah, Thornleap is a pretty all round horrible cat. I'm hoping to get into his reasons later on.
A Sky Of Blazing Stars: I'm now trying to think of a time where a crunch meant something good happened. Let me know if you think of something.
I-really-hope-not: Thanks! I try my hardest. Sorry about the wait!
AviRay: No problem! I'm glad I could capture her character well.
ExplodingQuasar: No problem mate. Can't wait to see them in your book! Good luck with that, by the way. Yeah, that was Seedstar's first life that she lost. She still has eight. Hah, been trying to fit in Gorsewater for a while. I have thought about changing the POV, but I'm not sure when, and if, it will happen. It's possible. Thanks for the review!
That's it! Thank you so much for the reviews, everyone, and I'll see you next chapter!
Thanks!
- Willowstorm
