Chapter 18
"What's wrong, Siftpaw?" Faithpaw asked gently as they padded through a willow grove, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing!" She replied, much too cheery, "Everything's fine." She gave a forced laugh.
Faithpaw sighed out, still noting her overly stiff back and rigid paws. "So, what help do you want from Clockpaw?"
"I've got a new plan," Siftpaw said, "And we need as many cats as we can get to see it through. I was thinking, instead of always running from the Clans and hiding you away, why don't we face them head on in a battle? If we win, it'll show that you have rights and they can't force you to mate. Then you'll be safe."
"Okay…" Faithpaw replied, "But there's a flaw to that, isn't there? We're more likely to loose, because we'll only have three cats on our side. You, Clockpaw, and I. Then we'll be back where we started."
"Well…" Siftpaw sighed, "Clockpaw's a really good fighter! I think, anyway…I'm sure we'll win! We have to!"
"Three cats can't beat four Clans," Faithpaw sighed, "Siftpaw; we're just going to die."
"No we won't! Don't believe that!" She hissed.
"You're being incredibly irrational!" Faithpaw spat, "It won't work!"
"Just believe it," she said seriously.
"No!" He snarled, "I won't! I want to have a plan that I know could work!"
"Well what do you think, then?" She spat, "What's your plan? What do you think we should do? Sorry to break it to you, but I've been working really hard for you all this time! You haven't come up with a single plan of your own! You're relying on me to get you out of every niche, to help you escape! That isn't fair! I'm not an object!"
Faithpaw lowered his eyebrows and glared at her. "I thought you wanted to help me. If you hadn't, why didn't you speak up sooner?"
"Because you're a naïve brat. Without me holding your paw all the time, you would be the father to about a hundred kits! And I know you don't want that, and I care about you enough to stop that, but really, I'm getting tired of always having to protect you!"
Faithpaw just glowered at her and said nothing.
"And, I don't quite see why you're so intent on not mating with anybody!" She went on, "I understand you not wanting to be forced, but really, did you see how AirClan treated you? They didn't even call you by your name, just as 'the tom'! Why can't you just mate with one she-cat? Just one! One! And, don't you ever want to have kits? Don't you ever want to be a father, and have a family with offspring?"
"I don't want to be forced into mating," he hissed, "Don't you see how disgusting that is? And about the kit thing, sure I'd love to be a father someday, but when I'm ready, and I'd want my mate to be somebody I chose!"
"Fine that," Siftpaw spat, "We can keep on struggling and fighting to keep you from being a father, and then when you're ready, you can choose a mate and be happy!"
"Alright then!" He snapped back and they continued on in silence.
Birds trilled in the evening darkness. The sky was still smeared with a pinkish glow from the sun that had set just minutes ago.
"Who would you choose?" Siftpaw asked suddenly, out of nowhere.
"Huh?" Faithpaw asked, startled, "I don't know! Why do you think I would?"
"Just wondering," she said carefully and padded on through the willow grove.
"Why did you want to know?" He asked quietly.
"No reason," she replied quickly.
Why? He wondered to himself, what made her want to know? He stared at her pelt, glimmering in star shine. Did she want me to say I'd choose her? Does she like me? Would I choose her?
Faithpaw was suddenly reminded of the time when they had escaped from MidnightClan, and Moonfeather was taking them somewhere safe, the day he had realized he liked Siftpaw. He remembered the sun on her pelt…the stars were glistening the same way on it right now, making the little tips of her fur sparkle.
Once again, he realized he couldn't look away from that shiny spot on her fur. His mind stared to wander. He wanted her beside him…he wanted to lick her face…he wanted her to touch him…he wanted to feel her beneath him…
He gave a gasp and jerked from it. It felt like waking up from a dream. What was going on with him? Why was he thinking those things?
He tried to keep it from his mind, even though he wanted to return to the strange thoughts and feelings he had felt. He wanted to think about getting closer and closer to her body…and yet he was afraid to. He wasn't ready for those kinds of thoughts.
And still the questioned swirled, unanswered, in his head:
Would I choose her?
--
Amidst the gloom, Faithpaw could see the WaterClan camp looming ahead. The territory here was soggy, gloomy and dark, with misty trees and pools of still water every few feet.
"How are we going to get Clockpaw without being seen?" Faithpaw asked Siftpaw as they crept stealthily through the trees.
"It won't be hard," she mewed, "None of the Clans are very alert right now, they're all too focused and battling the other Clans over you. We'll just sneak it in the back and get Clockpaw."
"Alright," he agreed as Siftpaw crept cautiously underneath a low-hanging pine branch.
"Wait here," she told him as they reached the brambles surrounding the WaterClan camp, "I'm going to go in. If I'm seen, the cats won't recognize me as much, because of my she-cat scent. I'll be right back."
"Okay," he hissed as she pushed her way through the brambles, ears back, short tail straight out behind her. A second later the thick tendrils swallowed her up and she was gone from view.
Faithpaw waited for her to come back out with Clockpaw. He peered through a crack in the brambles and saw the Clan milling around. Everyone looked depressed.
Glancing up at the night sky, Faithpaw realized that gray clouds had rolled across it, and everything was turning misty and cold. He groaned.
He wished Siftpaw had come back up. He had realized that all he really wanted to do was stare at her endlessly and never look away. Well, more than that, he wanted to run away with her…then they could have some real quality time. He chuckled.
The brambles rustled. Faithpaw back up so they could have room to come through. Siftpaw hauled herself up and stopped on the damp ground.
A brown and gray tabby head poked through the tendrils and soon Clockpaw pulled herself onto the ground and blinked at Faithpaw without saying anything.
"How are you?" He spit, once again unnerved by her strangeness.
"I'm good," Clockpaw replied. She looked over at Siftpaw. "Are you going to tell him?"
"Yeah," Siftpaw answered. She started to clear away some brambles. "Help me get these away, otherwise the plan won't work right." She tugged a tendril away and threw it into the trees.
"What are you going to tell me?" Faithpaw asked as he went to work beside Clockpaw. She clawed a bramble away without saying anything.
"Clockpaw isn't a she-cat," Siftpaw said as if it were as normal as discussing today's weather.
"She's a tom?" Faithpaw yelped, then quickly remembered to lower his voice, "How is that possible? I would have known!"
Clockpaw still said nothing, so Siftpaw continued.
"She isn't either gender," she meowed, "Well, she's both, whatever. She looks like she should be a she-cat…but she realized that she has both tom and she-cat 'parts'."
"That's disgusting," Faithpaw growled, backing away from Clockpaw, who worked on without looking at anybody, "I was right to not trust you," he added to the double-gendered she-cat.
"So you aren't the only tom in the Clans, Faithpaw," Siftpaw continued, "Clockpaw's one too. Or she's both."
"So should I think of you as a tom, or a she-cat?" He asked Clockpaw. She turned to him this time and replied.
"I think I'm more of a tom. I mean, I feel more like a tom. I just feel…like a tom! More rough, I guess. I don't know. Plus, I like she-cats."
"And you found out about this when?" Faithpaw asked Siftpaw.
"I knew as soon as I met her," she replied, "Clockpaw told me. She trusted me from the beginning. I just didn't know when it was right to tell you."
"Oh," Faithpaw said. He looked Clockpaw up and down once more. "Okay." He didn't really know what else to say. This was quite a shock really, but did it mean some of the pressure of all the she-cats wanting to be his mate was off him? "Does this mean I won't have to mate with all those thousands of she-cats?"
"Yes it does," Siftpaw said, "Because Clockpaw's in love with one of the she-cats in his Clan.
"Siftpaw, there's something that you need to know, though-," Clockpaw began, but Siftpaw cut him off.
"I've got a plan on how we're going to battle the Clans," she meowed briskly, "And I decided we'll need to get them fighting amongst each other, and then they won't all be fighting us. We'll need to lure the other Clans here, to WaterClan."
"Does that mean I have to go to the other three Clan's territories and lure them here?" Faithpaw groaned.
"Yes it does," Siftpaw hissed. She rolled her eyes at his groan. "Faithpaw, I'm trying to make it work!"
"Whatever," he growled.
"Siftpaw, this is really impor-," Clockpaw tried again, but once again Siftpaw stopped him.
"Shh! This is the only important thing right now. Faithpaw's going to lure the Clan's here, with our help, and then there's going to be a war. Faithpaw, I want you to run as fast as you can and then when you-,"
"SIFTPAW!"
She jerked her had up and glared at Clockpaw. "What do you want?"
"This is really important," he whispered, "I…I realized I can't reproduce."
"What?" Faithpaw gasped, and Siftpaw did the same.
"I can't," she whispered.
"But…you said that you had mated with Brownpaw!" Siftpaw yelped, lowering her voice when it got to high.
"I did," Clockpaw said, bowing his head, "But she said she wasn't pregnant. I decided it was just because she must not have been in heat, nothing more. So, when I was sure she was in heat, very, very sure, I mated with her again. And she still wasn't pregnant."
"Oh no," Siftpaw whispered sadly, "Oh no."
"Darn it!" Faithpaw shrieked, "I thought I could relax. Argh!"
"Sorry," Clockpaw rasped.
"It isn't your fault," Siftpaw said briskly, rasping her tongue over Clockpaw's ear, "It doesn't matter, either. I had suspected as much, anyway. So, back to the plan. Faithpaw-,"
"What are you three yowling about?" Chuckled a dark voice from nearby. Faithpaw spun around and his eyes widened.
"Clockpaw?" Hissed a she-cat, holding up an unsheathed paw, "What are you doing with the tom? Planning on mating with him? Don't you remember the plan? If he is found, you take him to us before you get pleasured by him. And who's this other she-cat?" She gave Siftpaw a nudge, and the silver and gray she-cat growled, "Or are you all getting into each others bodies together?"
Clockpaw narrowed his eyes. "Sandclaw, nothing's going wrong. I just stumbled across these two losers and I'm reporting them to you."
"Good," Sandclaw spat, "Blackfur, take them into the camp. We'll see what Inkstar's plan is."
Faithpaw groaned. Caught again! He looked over at Siftpaw. She had her teeth gritted and looked frustrated. He sighed.
Clockpaw looked back at them. "Think of a plan!" she mouthed. Siftpaw nodded ever so slightly.
Faithpaw felt teeth prick his neck and he was dragged along, over to the camp entrance. He didn't even bother struggling, he knew how strong these cats were.
As he was tugged down the slope into the camp, his head began to hurt. Too much stress! He thought angrily. He needed a break, even though he wasn't going to get one.
The cats stopped tugging him once he was in the camp. Siftpaw, squished beneath a brawny black she-cat, was squirming helplessly.
"Inkstar!" Sandclaw shouted, dashing foreword across the muddy ground.
The pure black she-cat jumped off a boulder and landed with a small split in front of the party. She glared down at Faithpaw.
"You got him," she said softly, praising her warrior.
"Cats of WaterClan! Gather around!" The WaterClan leader bellowed.
Out from the dens and bushes she-cats began to emerge, flicking their tails when they saw Faithpaw. They gathered around in a rough sort of circle.
"We have gotten hold of the tom," Inkstar meowed, staring icily down at Faithpaw, "And he is in our possession. We can now mate with him and bring kits back to our Clan."
Siftpaw growled, still squirming. The big black she-cat slashed her, and she moaned.
"Come here, Bluepaw!" Inkstar caterwauled suddenly. Silence fell, and a small, blue/gray she-cat snuck out of the crowd gingerly, eyes flickering around nervously.
"You shall be the tom's first mate," Inkstar said softly to Bluepaw's face. The little she-cat nodded slowly, blue eyes staring hard into Faithpaw's.
"Do it!" The WaterClan leader barked suddenly. Faithpaw gasped as a paw was sent into his side, winding him. He was shoved foreword, and before he knew it, he had been shoved on top of Bluepaw. She squirmed a little.
Shocked at where he was, Faithpaw gave a vicious snarl and whipped around, trying to dash away. But the other cats pushed him back, holding him in place on top of the tiny gray apprentice.
"Mate with her now," Inkstar hissed, sounding deadly. She came foreword, claws out.
"Never," he rasped, gasping for breath from all his struggling.
"Why do you rebel so strongly?" The leader hissed, coming closer and closer to Faithpaw, green eyes narrowed and deadly, "What is it you're afraid of?"
She stuck her face right up to his, and he pulled back instinctively.
"What do you need?" She breathed.
Faithpaw moved. He slashed his paw across the leader's chest. She gasped as she blood welled up and looked, shocked, into his eyes. Faithpaw ignored her and shoved one of the she-cats holding him onto Bluepaw off. As another one tried to hold him down, he plunged his fangs into her throat. Bluepaw rocketed out from under him and lunged at him, claws out and fangs flashing. "I want your love!" She screeched.
"Never!" Faithpaw raged. He backed up, barreling his holders aside. Then he lunged straight at Bluepaw, sinking his fangs into her throat. He kicked upward, the little apprentice hanging limply from his jaws, and then back down again, Bluepaw flying from his mouth. She lay still, blood draining from her body.
"I will choose who to mate with," he growled, still trying to get his breath, "And it will be when I want."
"Faithpaw," Clockpaw said softly. He looked up at gray and brown tabby, and realized that the other cats weren't looking at him. He gasped at the crumple of gray and silver fur lying beneath Inkstar's claws.
"Let her go," Faithpaw snarled as Siftpaw struggled as hard as she could against the sturdy black leader, but to no avail.
"I can't," Inkstar sneered, "First we'll make a little deal."
"No!" Faithpaw spat.
Inkstar unsheathed her claws a little further, and they began to poke into Siftpaw's fur. The apprentice grew still, aware of the danger. "Yes," the leader hissed, "Either you mate with one of us, or I kill your little friend. She's just another she-cat, after all. We do have to many of them, do we not?" She chuckled darkly, staring into his eyes with cold fury in her green ones.
"Faithpaw," Clockpaw rasped beside him, "Faithpaw, please…" The tabby looked down at Siftpaw, holding still beneath Inkstar's long claws. He shook his head sadly.
Faithpaw stared unblinking into Siftpaw's eyes. She stared back, terror glimmering in her blue ones.
"You wouldn't," Faithpaw rasped to Inkstar.
"I would," she hissed and tightened her grip a little more.
"Please let her live," he tried, wanting to stay calm.
"I will," she meowed, "If you mate with one of my cats."
Faithpaw looked over at WaterClan, all watching him curiously.
He looked back at Siftpaw, weak beneath Inkstar's claws, eyes brimming with unshed tears.
His headache was really getting bad now, pounding around his skull. It had been joined by a wrenching stomachache, and now it seemed like he was getting body pains. Ugh, the affects of stress…
A mate…he thought, staring unseeingly down at Siftpaw, it's my decision. I'll choose who I want to mate with, and when…I'll choose….I'll choose…
Siftpaw didn't look away from him. Please, her eyes seemed to say desperately, please, please, please…
Faithpaw turned around, padding slowly away from the two she-cats.
"What do you choose?" Inkstar called after him.
Faithpaw froze. He slowly lifted a paw and held it level with his body, sheathing and unsheathing his claws. Then he turned around to lock eyes with the WaterClan leader.
"Kill her."
OO!! Review! Yay, long chapter for ya! So, Clockpaw's a hermaphrodite? And Siftpaw…is she going to die or not? What do you think? And hah, you still don't know what Siftpaw wasn't telling him! XD –dances-