Time To Live, Part One

Her heartbeat was fast. The dark of the night pressed in around her. She couldn't get to sleep. Hollyfire was dead, and that meant one thing to Iceshadow. Someone had killed her. Someone in ShadowClan? The thought disturbed her greatly. No one had a grudge against Holllyfire.

Another possibility occured to her, one which set her heart beating faster. ShadowClan now had no deputy. Her head spun. Had another Clan killed Hollyfire, weakenning ShadowClan? She was so tired, and so confused. She didn't know anything anymore.

Iceshadow couldn't sleep. No matter how hard she tried, her heart kept beating hard and the image of Hollyfire kept spinning through her mind. Eventually, she got up. She padded through the dark camp, her white fur a dull glow through the dark night.

A voice called out. Iceshadow turned around, to see Sleetflash's deep blue eyes looking into hers. "Sleetflash," Iceshadow greeted her as warmly as she could.

"Iceshadow," Sleetflash dipped her head. "It's good to see you. Could I talk to you for a moment?"

"We are talking," Iceshadow said drily.

"Of course," Sleetflash said softly. "I'd like to see how your cuts are healing if you don't mind."

Iceshadow jumped as if she'd been stung by a bee. "What?"

Sleetflash looked straight in her eyes. "Iceshadow, I know."

Iceshadow growled. "Shut up."

Sleetflash was silent.

Iceshadow looked at the ground. "It's over. It's all over."

"No. It's not. It's not over by a long way, because you're still here." Sleetflash said softly.

"We're going to bury her in the morning. Would you like to see her?" Sleetflash said.

Iceshadow nodded numbly. She stumbled over to the body. Hollyfire was covered with red clawmarks. Iceshadow smiled. "Who do you think did it?"

"I don't know, but thank StarClan, I don't think it was a Clan warrior. The clawmarks are messy, badly placed, not clean like a trained warrior would have made. My guess is it might have been a rogue Hollyfire got into a fight with, or a fox or badger." Sleetflash said.

"I'm going to find who did it," Iceshadow said before racing into the dark away from the medicine cat.

*.*

She was pacing through the dark clearing, the pine needles stained red. She sniffed the air. There was another scent, a different scent than Hollyfire's. Iceshadow raced through the forest she had made her home, until she was out of breath. There was a noise. "Who's there?"

A dark figure stepped out of the gloom. Iceshadow strained to make out what it was.

"Run," A voice hissed.

"Who's there?" Iceshadow asked again, her voice trembling.

"Run!" The figure shoved her away, and panting, they both ran. Iceshadow didn't know what was going to happen, and she didn't even know what she was running from.

Suddenly, a heavy paw knocked her to the ground. Claws raked down her back. A scent flooded her nostrils. Badger. It was a big one, too. The clawmarks stung, and her head was spinning. She couldn't get up, she was paralysed with fear. A much subtler scent crept into her mind, and what it meant confused her was like her scent, but different. She didn't recognize it immediately, but then it flooded through her mind. Maskface. What was he doing here?

Maskface grunted as he was knocked to the ground by the badger. Iceshadow pushed herself up and clawed through the thick fur of the badger. She could barely see anything. She sank her claws into it, until Maskface could get up. They fought against it together, until it sunk to the ground in a pool of blood.

Iceshadow fell back, overwhelmed with all the blood. There had been too much blood, too much death. "Maskface, what are you doing here?"

"The badger came by the barn Shine and I live at. It left, coming towards to ShadowClan. I was going to warn you." he said softly.

"Just me?" The question was hard to ask.

"I made a mistake, one that I can't take back. I only wanted to warn you, because I don't want to see anyone hurt." Maskface said evasively.

"Well, I hope you're happy." Iceshadow said.

"It killed someone, didn't it?" Maskface asked.

"Hollyfire," Iceshadow said softly.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"She's like your daughter, isn't she?" Iceshadow asked.

"Yes, I suppose she is. Shine made many things clear to me that I couldn't see before."

"Maskface, I really do hope you're happy." Iceshadow's voice was breaking as her father turned away from her and walked away. Iceshadow sighed. It was time to go back - time to live.