Chapter 7
Jadepaw looked at Rowan in question. What was that look for? Instead of asking she turned to look at what remained of the camp.
The walls were still in good condition, few warriors lay panting on the ground as Froststripe ran from cat to cat, treating injuries. The only one that was still was Tigerfang, still in a shady corner of camp.
"Where were you to protect her!" Out of nowhere, Russetpaw let out his rage. "Anyone could have helped her! Why her!"
Rowan recognized her brother and whispered in her ear."Is that your mother, lying on the ground?"
Jadepaw only nodded and went to her grief-stricken brother and pushed her face into his side as he collapsed on his side, his body shaking with silent sobs. Froststripe brought Tigerfang to the center of the clearing, rearranging her limbs to make her only seem asleep, and rubbed sweet smelling herbs over her fur to hide the smell of death. Sagestar walked to her side and bowed his head.
"May you find good hunting, swift running, and shelter where you sleep." He lifted his head, eyes full of sorrow. "We have not only lost a brave warrior today, I have lost a life." Mews of alarm sounded around the clearing. "Tonight we sit vigil for Tigerfang, tomorrow, we begin preparing for what's to come next." He turned to the kittypets, "Who are you kittypets?"
"My name is Rowan, and we come from Twolegplace, though I know you already know that." He pointe to a mottled gray tom with purple eyes, "That's Jag." Next, the large brown tabby tom with white paws and ice blue eyes, "Konkel." Then the tortoiseshell with amber eyes, "The she-cat is Patches. The last one is Angus." He then pointed to a black tuxedo tom with yellow eyes. "We all used to be part of those rogues but we escaped when we were still kits to live with Twolegs. I overheard them talking about their raid on a Clan camp, so we came to the closest one."
"You didn't need to help a bunch of cats you don't know, so why come?" Sagestar looked at him distrustfully.
Rowan glanced at Jadepaw, "I know what those rogues can do, and I didn't want anyone going through what we had to go through… but I guess we were too late," He bowed his head toward Tigerfang. "I am sorry for your loss, and I regret not coming here sooner, but I know I am not welcomed here, so me and my friends will be going."
Sagestar watched as Rowan and the other kittypets silently left the camp and then crouched at the head of Tigerfang with his head bowed. Jadepaw and Russetpaw waited their turn to go up to their mother and crouched at her side, pelts touching as they pushed their noses into Tigerfang's cold fur for the last time, Blazeclaw on the opposite side of Tigerfang. Jadepaw could see the mixed emotions of rage, grief, and regret in the eyes of her brother.
After the long night of vigil, Jadepaw and Russetpaw were told that they were off apprentice duties for the day and to go to their nests and rest. Jadepaw ended up sleeping most of the day, every now and then she would wake to see Russetpaw had brought her freshkill but she couldn't bring herself to eat. After Russetpaw would eat he would curl back around Jadepaw. He wouldn't sleep though, Jadepaw could tell he couldn't sleep, he was restless and he would keep fidgeting around.
A moon passed after the death of Tigerfang. It was hard for the next couple of sunrises after the rogues invaded. Jadepaw found her feet dragging all the time and her head hanging low. She couldn't even bring herself to be cheerful when Foxkit came by to show her what hunting moves he had been practicing, she knows they'll be apprenticed any day now. Russetpaw tried not to let it show as much but she knew he was just as down as she was, he spent most of his time training now, Jadepaw knew he wanted revenge, and he wanted to be ready the next time someone attacked.
The littermates didn't go to the last gathering. All that had happened was the announcement of two new warriors, Willowbreeze and Stonetail of DuskClan, and Sagestar and Cloudstar had completely ignored each other, neither bringing up what happened. DuskClan had also reported scents of rogues on the border of their territory but luckily they didn't get a little visit as well.
On this particular sunrise, Jadepaw was patrolling the borders near Twolegplace with Leafstorm, Dustmoon, and Thunderpaw, who was almost as big as Leafstorm now. The rest of the patrol had gotten a few fox-lengths ahead when she heard rustling in the bushes, immediately alerting her, fur standing on end.
"Jadepaw! It's just me, you know, Rowan?" Jadepaw scented the air and was relieved it wasn't the scent of rogues.
She whispered back, "What are you doing here! You practically scared me to death!"
He stepped out of the bushes and walked a little closer, "I've been trying to catch you out here for a moon, where have you been? Are you doing ok?"
"Why are you so worried? And how would I be a ok? My mother died!" She almost yelled before remembering to keep her voice down. "If you get caught by anyone they're going to think you're with the rogues you know."
"Worried?" His eyes held a glint of amusement until she glared at him. "Ok, kidding!"
Jadepaw suddenly remembered something that happened during the rogue invasion, "By the way, I remember just when the fight ended, and Retch was about to walk away, he sent this look of hatred at you. What was that all about?"
A rustling sounded at the far end of the clearing, "Your friends are coming back, meet me here at moonhigh and I'll explain everything!" Then he quickly disappeared around the edge of some bushes, running back to Twolegplace. Leafstorm appeared on the far end of the clearing.
"Jadepaw, what's got you held up?"
"Sorry I spotted a thrush but, it got away."
"Then let's continue with this patrol."
I can't believe I'm doing this. Jadepaw snuck out of camp, and was waiting in the clearing for Rowan. He isn't even here. Why did I even trust him to show up?
No sooner than the thought crossed her mind, Rowan walked through a bush at the edge of the clearing. "What took you to long! My paws are so cold they're going to fall off!"
He let out a mrrow of laughter, "Pretty sure that's not possible." He couched beside her, pelts not quite touching, but Jadepaw found herself wanting to move closer to his warmth. No, stop that.
"So you wanted to know why Retch looked at me like that?" Jadepaw nodded. "Ok well, here it goes… Retch is my brother."
He watched her face as it went from shocked to distrust, "I should have known! I bet what happened was the whole plan! You were in on it weren't you?!" She jumped away from him and was heartbeats away from ripping his fur off.
"No! Of course I wasn't! Let me finish! Retch is my brother but my parents disowned him! Me, Retch, and my sister Koza were born in the world of rogues. As my brother got older it became clear where his loyalties lie, with Knox, the leader of FangClan then, and not our family, when he killed Koza." He looked away, grief raw in his eyes.
"Why would he kill his own sister?"
"Knox thought Koza and my family were plotting against him. He knew Retch was completely loyal to him, but to test him, Knox ordered him to kill Koza. I was outraged and fought with my brother, he gave me this scar." He rolled onto his side and lifted a foreleg. From the center of his belly to right under his chin was a long, nasty scar, mostly hidden by his long fur.
"After that day my parents carried me to a Twoleg nest where I was healed and taken care of, it's where I currently live. Ever since then, I've snuck back into FangClan to rescue helpless kits that have been abandoned and brought them to Twoleg nests as well."
"You've done a good thing." Rowan had moved to sit on the roots of a nearby tree and Jadepaw came over to crouch beside him. She didn't know how long they stayed like that but thoughts whirled across her mind.
Suddenly she blurted out, "My leader doesn't trust me right now and I'm not sure how I can make him trust me again."
"What happened? Was it because of the rogues?"
"You won't believe if I told you what happened."
"Try me."
"... I have a strange… power... And I'm not completely sure how it works yet."
He turned to her but she didn't see any look of doubt on his face, "Tell me about it."
She explained to him how she discovered it, and how she used it during the fight with the rogues. "Maybe if I was in more control of it, I could've saved my mother." She looked down at her feet.
Rowan stood up and walked in front of her, "Try it on me."
She glanced up and cocked her head to the side, "Are you crazy?"
"No I'm being serious! I'll help you figure this thing out. Then maybe you can show your leader that you're nothing to be afraid of!" He looked excited at the thought of helping her out.
"If you say so…" So Jadepaw crouched across from Rowan and looked him in the eyes. I don't want to hurt him though. Instead of imagining some fighting move, she decided to try something new.
In her head she imagined her first day out of the nursery, how she got caught in the warrior's den, Tigerfang scolding her and Russetkit for jumping all over Blazeclaw, and her rush of excitement and nervousness as she was being made an apprentice. She watched Rowan's face with wonder, his eyes held a glint of amusement and he purred as he lived in her memories, "Wow… this… is amazing!"
Jadepaw glanced away and broke the vision off. "I didn't want to imagine me fighting you, so I thought I'd try something else, I didn't think it would work honestly."
His eyes were wide with wonder, "I saw everything! I've never even imagined something like that was possible!"
"Yeah, well, welcome to the world of Clans." She let a little amusement show on her face. " I should be getting back, it'll be sunup soon, they'll notice I'm missing."
Suddenly he looked disappointed, but the looked disappeared so quickly she wasn't sure, "Right, I'll see you again?"
She glanced back before returning to camp, "We'll see."
The next couple of sunrises had been pretty uneventful, along with Jadepaw's nightly training with Rowan. She was starting to think she was getting the hang of it, and she figured out other ways to use it, now she couldn't wait to try it for real in a battle.
Today was turning out to be a special day for three little kits as Sagestar called a meeting together. The three kits, now six moons old, were sitting off to the side of camp, all nice and groomed as they were about to be apprentices. Ravenkit sat completely still, looking disinterested but Jadepaw was sure he was excited on the inside. Foxkit could hardly keep still and Aspenkit sat obediently beside Lionstorm, her eyes shining with excitement.
"Ravenkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Ravenpaw. Your mentor will be Scorchfoot. I hope Scorchfoot will pass down all he knows on to you." Sagestar signalled Scorchfoot forward.
"Scorchfoot, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Breezefrost and you have shown yourself to be brave and cunning. You will be the mentor of Ravenpaw, and I expect you to pass down all you know to him." When Sagestar finished speaking, Ravenpaw walked calmly up to Scorchfoot and touched noses with him, then they moved to sit beside Amberstrike.
"Foxkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Foxpaw. Your mentor will be Dustmoon. I hope Dustmoon will pass down all he knows on to you." Sagestar then signalled Dustmoon forward.
"Dustmoon, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Bramblebush and you have shown yourself to be smart and loyal. You will be the mentor of Foxpaw, and I expect you to pass down all you know to him." This time Foxpaw ran up to Dustmoon and clumsily touched noses with him before Dustmoon led him away from the center.
"Aspenkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Aspenpaw. Your mentor will be Blizzardspeck. I hope Blizzardspeck will pass down all she knows on to you." Sagestar signalled Blizzardspeck forward.
"Blizzardspeck, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You had received excellent training from Maplebranch and you have shown yourself to be open-minded and a fantastic hunter. You will be the mentor of Aspenpaw, and I expect you to pass down all you know to her." Aspenpaw and Blizzardspeck touched noses but the meeting didn't seem over yet.
"Also, a congratulations to Bramblebush who is now moving into the nursery, she is expecting my kits soon." He gazed down fondly at her as the Clan gave them their congratulations as well.
A/N: Not sure how I didn't realize this before but I accidently made Breezefrost and Maplebranch the parents of Schorchfoot and Blizzardspeck, and they both mentored them -.- …. So now that's changed in Chapter 2 and their parents are Foxshade and Squirreltail.