Oh my goodness, thank you so much for all the reviews! I have never had this many in my life! You guys are so awesome!

I'll apologize in advance for this chapter. I try to get a chapter out every three or four days and I was really scrambling to finish this one... which means I didn't really edit too much. Please let me know if anything went too fast or didn't make sense!

Uh oh... I think someone might die this chapter... Enjoy!

(I'll be on vacation for a week so I won't be able to update!)

Chapter 4

The infection came quickly. One moment Dewkit seemed perfectly fine. Sanddune had wrapped her legs up in cobwebs and, although she wasn't walking around, her eyes were bright and she attempted speech so often that her sentences became almost perfect every time.

And the next moment she was shaking uncontrollably and giving off heat in waves, her blue eyes glazed.

Mountainkit jabbed his paw into his father's sandy side. "Sanddune! Sanddune! Wake up! What do we do?"

Sanddune must have been dreaming about it since he shot to his paws, eyes instantly wide and alert. He was at Dewkit's side in less than a second, ripping off the cobwebs. The fine threads crumbled under Sanddune's desperate clawing. Mountainkit gasped at what was underneath. The gouges were red and swollen, with gooey yellow pus oozing from the torn flesh.

"I'm so c-cold," Dewkit whispered, trembling violently.

Mountainkit looked up at his father and could almost see thoughts flying through his head. Sanddune reached down and gently picked up the shivering gray kit. He brought her back to the stream's edge and set her legs in the cold water. "Mountainkit, keep her warm," he commanded sharply and the brown kit instantly lay down next to his sister and pressed his fur into hers. The heat coming off of her was overwhelming and soon his paws were giving off damp. Sanddune was washing her cuts as quickly as possible so that she wouldn't lose too much heat, but hoped that it would ease the pain and reduce the swelling, if slightly. Then he pulled her back as gently as he could from the water's edge.

"Stay here. Keep her warm. I need to get us food." As he left their sides, Mountainkit could hear him muttering, "Food will help. Food will help."

.

"At least we don't kill our sick cats!"

Every gaze turned to him. Surprise turned to disbelief and then to anger. Sanddune wished he could just disappear… wished he could've controlled his anger better. It was a guess! A hunch! Why on earth did he voice it out loud? But his emotional side was quickly settled as logic took over. He couldn't show a hint of uncertainty. He had to make those gazes turn to Fogstar. He had to make him make the mistake.

Sanddune didn't even flinch as the gazes burned into his pelt. Instead, he focused entirely on Fogstar, shutting everyone out.

The silver tom was completely shocked. He wasn't expecting any accusation. Sanddune watched his eyes closely. There! The smallest hint of fear skimmed the shock on the silver-blue surface. Confidence shot through him.

The other cats slowly seemed to be turning towards the young leader. Seabreeze was pleasantly surprised. Tidepool's dark blue eyes were glinting with mischievous amusement. Riverbend seemed to be the only gaze that didn't turn to the Fogstar. She was looking directly at Sanddune, complete trust in her happy gaze. She mouthed, 'Really?' with a look that said that she had just discovered a juicy secret.

Sanddune reveled in his victory as MapleClan turned suspicious and some angry eyes on their leader. There would be doubts and lost trust in each other. They would need to welcome a new leader and deputy and banish the old. This meant time… precious time that might give OakClan a chance to build up their strength.

But there was still a battle to be won. Fogstar wasn't going to go without a fight. He forced angry disbelief. "How dare you!" he snarled, "Why would I ever kill my leader? I respected him! Greencough took his life, not me!"

"Why would you kill your leader?" Sanddune repeated, his voice calm, an extreme contrast to Fogstar's loud tone, "He had greencough. It had already killed a few of our cats and you didn't want it to kill any of yours. You had to kill him so it wouldn't spread." Fogstar's brown nose twitched. There was his mistake. "It didn't matter whether he would've survived it and… oh… conveniently, that left you to become MapleClan's new leader." Fogstar's claws unsheathed. "It was a perfect set up."

The cats that hadn't turned to Sanddune to listen to him had seen Fogstar flinch and realization lit up their eyes with an angry blaze. The logic of Sanddune's words caused snarls to burst from the other's throats.

"He killed him!"

"Traitor!"

"Murderer!"

The Gathering collapsed into chaos.

.

Mountainkit sat up. His sleep had been short but strangely refreshing. He had felt so hot before, laying next to his feverish sister. Now, he felt comfortably warm and a stiff breeze was ruffling his sandy brown fur.

Wait.

He wasn't hot anymore! That meant…

He turned to his sister and watched her chest move slowly with her steady breaths. She was no longer shaking and her body was barely leaking heat anymore.

"Sanddune! Sanddune!" Mountainkit cried.

Sanddune turned from his position near the stream. He hadn't been able to sleep, but his hunting had been successful earlier and they were all fully satisfied. That just left thinking. Mountainkit wondered what he was thinking about. His sister? His mother? Now that he could talk pretty well, maybe he could finally ask him. He imagined Sanddune speaking in his confident tone, like he did when he was describing things to him, and not in his half-muttering-to-himself voice. He would gather Dewkit, when she got better, and Mountainkit together, after they all had full bellies, and tell them a dramatic story about their beautiful mother. He pictured her looking exactly like Dewkit, with silky gray fur and bright blue eyes. He wished he could still remember her voice, but the memory had escaped him like smoke in the wind.

He snapped from his thoughts as Sanddune's fearful gaze met his. "No, Sanddune! She's better! She's better!"

There was a wonderful change in Sanddune's stance. His ears tilted forward, his tail shot up, and his eyes brightened in immense relief and joy. "Really?"

"Yes! She's not shaking anymore!"

Sanddune inspected the sleeping kit, peeling the new cobwebs off more slowly this time. The wound still oozed, but the swelling had noticeably gone down. Sanddune heaved a great sigh and nudged Dewkit gently.

"Hey," he murmured, licking her between the ears, "How ya feeling?"

Dewkit stretched, giving a slight wince from the pain, but her eyes had lost the fever glaze. "Better," she whispered, "Much better."

.

Three Moons Earlier

"Don't say anything. Cherrystem will notice."

It had been two moons since the Gathering when Fogstar's betrayal had been revealed. Sanddune had heard nothing from MapleClan. The scents by the first maple had gone stale and were strengthened back at the agreed-upon border, but none of the OakClan cats had ever met one of their patrols since that night. The only thing they had heard was from a messenger cat telling them that MapleClan was not going to last moon's Gathering. This had surprised everyone and Sanddune was itching to hear what had happened. This was the perfect chance.

The MapleClan patrol consisted of five cats: two mentors with apprentices and Autumnleaf, whose apprentice must have been given a warrior name by that time. Sanddune was glad to see a friendly face among them, but he worried that the other member of their three-cat patrol would notice something if Riverbend tried to talk to him.

Cherrystem seemed like the manipulative type, with dangerously beautiful amber eyes that glowed like embers in a fire and soft, dark brown tabby fur. She also was the mate of Tidepool, the deputy who was very much like their son, Waterpaw. Yet, even with her looks and choice of mate, she was a gentle and caring she-cat who had unfortunately experienced blind young love. She learned her lesson, though, and is known for being the best cat to go to for relationship advice. Sanddune wondered what advice she would give Riverbend, and decided he didn't want to know.

"I can't even say hi?" Riverbend protested quietly.

"Don't say anything," Sanddune repeated.

The patrols stopped as they came in line with each other at the border. Moonlight dripped through the trees, pooling at their paws and revealing the stiff hostility in the MapleClan cats' eyes. Autumnleaf was the only cat with his fur still lying flat, and he quickly greeted the other patrol. "Hello Cherrystem, Sanddune… Riverbend." He gave only the slightest hint of stressing her name, enough to alert Sanddune but not enough to bother Cherrystem. Riverbend gave a soft shake of her head to him, tipping it slightly in Cherrystem's direction. Luckily the other MapleClan cats were too busy glaring at Sanddune to notice.

"Hello, Autumnleaf," Sanddune meowed uncomfortably, "How is… um… your Clan doing?"

Even Autumnleaf's eyes narrowed slightly, although it looked forced. "Fogstar's been banished, if that's what you're asking. We have a new leader now, Nettlestar." Sanddune took a sharp breath. He had forgotten that Nettleleaf had been deputy under Fogstar. He had wondered why Fogstar had chosen him and had guessed that he wanted a deputy too weak to challenge him. That cat was afraid of his own shadow. "It took him a while to accept his new position and the Clan to accept him… or anyone," Autumnleaf quickly added. "He finally went to get his nine lives on the night of the Gathering. I'm… I'm his deputy." He cast a proud look at Riverbend and Sanddune quickly flicked his tail over her mouth to stop her from bursting out in congratulations. "We're fine now," Autumnleaf continued, giving Sanddune and Cherrystem a challenging glare as if they were going to say otherwise, "We just needed to recover. You can trust we'll be at the next Gathering."

Sanddune dipped his head. "That's good to hear. Congratulations on becoming deputy."

Autumnleaf couldn't keep up his loyal Clan persona anymore. He stepped forward. "Sanddune," he began breathlessly, "I just wanted to thank you for… you know… We would've lived under that traitor's power until he destroyed us all. I just thought that was brave of you to… to announce it like that… and to hold your ground. Just… thank you."

Sanddune couldn't believe the words coming out of Autumnleaf's mouth. He burned with pride and gratitude.

"But how did he know?"

It was Juniperpaw who had spoken out, her dark green eyes blazing.

"How did he know Fogstar was a murderer? Was he spying? Maybe he was the mastermind behind it!"

"Murderer!" the other apprentice chimed in.

Sanddune almost looked amused at the two apprentices trying to look good in front of their deputy by challenging the other Clan until he realized that their mentors were bristling even more now… and ready to attack.

"Are you kidding me?" Riverbend retorted with a little too much sass, "Why on earth would Sanddune want to help Fogstar to power?" It would've been fine if she hadn't muttered "Idiots" loud enough for them to hear.

Juniperpaw was the first to attack, lunging straight for Riverbend, with the other apprentice on her heels. The other two warriors charged into Sanddune, side by side. One barreled him backwards so that his sandy paws were skidding across the dirt while the other ripped his claws down his side. Just as Sanddune cried out, Cherrystem rammed into the tom's side with all her might, sending one cat into the other and into a heap in the dirt. Sanddune felt warmth leaking from his side and the scent of blood hit his nose. He stumbled backwards, pain blackening his vision.

He looked up at Autumnleaf and his shouts sounded like whispers. "Stop!" he was yelling, "Stop!" His Clanmates weren't listening. The two apprentices were relentlessly attacking Riverbend, but Riverbend was luckily playing defensive and blocking their inexperienced slashes. Nevertheless, that was where Autumnleaf headed, attempting to pull the two apprentices off of her. The two warriors had turned their full attention on Cherrystem now, embarrassed at the dirt covering their fur and thinking that the sandy brown tom was too dazed to attack. They were smart, attacking from both sides, and scoring blow after blow on the overwhelmed she-cat. Sanddune stumbled to her aid but knew how clumsy of a fighter he was without deep gouges in one side that sent black dots crisscrossing his sight. His brain struggled to work over the clouding pain.

The tom closest to Sanddune tore a chunk of fur from Cherrystem's flank as she was blocking a blow from the other. Cherrystem kicked out and managed to catch him on the right shoulder. The tom spun and fell and Sanddune seized his chance.

Work with me, paws. Work with me.

He moved forward and brought his claws down on the nearest leg, which happened to be the right foreleg, cutting as far down as he could, where the leg met the torso. The tom screeched and lashed out with his other foreleg, catching Sanddune right below his left ear.

Sanddune stumbled as the blood dripped into his eye. The tom got to his paws, but his right foreleg was giving out from under him. The two faced off, Sanddune's heart thumping in his ears, blood covering his eye and blinding it. He could barely hear Autumnleaf shouting as time seemed to slow down.

The tom stepped forward. His leg bent dangerously and his eyes clouded with pain.

Sanddune stepped forward. His side burned and he couldn't judge distance anymore.

"Stop!" Autumnleaf yowled.

The tom took another step.

"Stop!"

Sanddune tensed. The tom tensed.

"Cherrystem!"

Sanddune looked away. He saw Riverbend screeching, the MapleClan warrior backing slowly away, Autumnleaf frozen, Cherrystem on the ground… unmoving…

Suddenly, he felt the tom's paw bash downwards on his head and slam it into the ground. He lost consciousness.