Chapter 15: A Decision Has To Be Made

The next morning Rougefoot woke abruptly to cats screeching in anger. There was a meeting to decide what to do with Stardapple.

"Kill her!" Some cats yowled.

"Let her starve to death!" Others roared.

"Feed her deathberries!" Yet more screeched.

"Enough!" Snapstar growled. "She will stay our prisoner. No harm is to be done to her. She is old and will die soon anyway."

Almost every cat in the clearing yowled challenges to the leader.

"You should kill her!" Rashthroat yowled. "After all she has put you through!"

"I will mimic my sister. I don't want to become a traitorous murderer. Would you stoop to her level?"

The cats grew silent. They mumbled to one another seeing the wisdom in Snapstar's words.

"I didn't think so." Snapstar meowed. "Fresh guards will be Rougefoot, Tinyflight and Mapleheart." He wandered out to the forest with Iceshine and Pebblepaw at his side.

Rougefoot, Tinyflight and Mapleheart went to relieve Snowclaw, Squirreltrack and Rashthroat at the other side of the clearing.

Specklepaw came up to Rougefoot and asked, "Does this mean I won't get any training today?"

"Yes it does. I'll be too worn tomorrow. Why don't you go out with Brackenpaw and Littlepaw and do some hunting?"

"Ok!" She meowed and jumped happily away to the apprentices den.

"Why'd you do it you mangy critter?" Mapleheart spat in her face.

"Because Mudleaf abandoned me…" Stardapple meowed sadly.

"If I could tell you how many mates Mudleaf had I would. But he's had so many it's hard to remember."

"I bet you did it to your mother just because she scolded you. You were such a spoiled brat."

Stardapple growled but didn't say anything.

"Can you believe that Rougefoot? She did that to your own father! Her own kit!"

"Ah so you are kin?" Her sickly sweet voice wove from the back of the tree.

"What's it matter to you?" Rougefoot hissed.

"All the better to know." She hissed back.

Rougefoot drew his lips back in a snarl. He saw Stardapple's golden eyes glowing back at him.

Tinyflight mumbled to him quietly, "How are you going to see Icechest tonight?"

"Crap!" Rougefoot hissed a little too loudly.

"What?" Mapleheart meowed.

"Uh. Nothing." Rougefoot meowed.

Mapleheart gazed at him curiously but then returned his gaze to the middle of the clearing.

"I hope Snapstar will let us off before High Moon." Rougefoot meowed.

"I doubt it." Mapleheart meowed. "Why do you need to get off before High Moon?"

"I'm feeling a little bit tired since my sleep last night was rudely interrupted."

"It's not my fault Snapstar is an early riser." Mapleheart joked.

"I wish he wasn't." Rougefoot yawned. "I'm super tired." He thumped his tail irritably against the dirt.

"Why haven't you chosen a mate yet Mapleheart?" Tinyflight asked randomly.

"There's been no one here for me. I'm satisfied being alone. I don't need kits but I always wonder what it's like."

"Why haven't you chosen a mate Rougefoot?"

Rougefoot gulped. He felt like his throat was tightening. He let out a small cough and replied, "I'm too young. There's no one here for me either."

Tinyflight snorted and Mapleheart eyed him curiously again.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mapleheart meowed.

"I'm fine. It must have been the dust."

Mapleheart sneezed. "I suppose. It is pretty dusty this year."

Rougefoot looked over to where Brownkit, Berrykit and Sandkit were playing with a ball of moss. It was rare to find moss in the pine forest but sometimes they did. Leafstream was beside her kits, eyeing them like a hawk. A few hours later, at Peak Sun, Brackenpaw, Littlepaw and Specklepaw came home with prey. They gave a vole and a shrew to Leafstream, a rabbit to Mapleheart, two mice for Rougefoot and Tinyflight and a magpie for Stardapple. They still had more prey so they took it to the apprentices den and shared it with Pebblepaw.

"Our apprentices are getting better and better." Mapleheart observed.

"I know. Specklepaw has barely been my apprentice for two weeks and she's making amazing progress." Rougefoot added.

"Same with Pebblefur… except she's not my apprentice." Tinyflight meowed.

"Who ever knew our apprentices could be trained so quickly? It's amazing what they've accomplished." Mapleheart meowed.

"Why don't the warriors all sleep in one place?" Brownkit meowed.

None of the three cats noticed her approach and stood dumb-struck.

"I don't know." Mapleheart meowed.

"There's a lot of room in the tree." Brownkit meowed.

"I guess we could all sleep in the tree." Tinyflight meowed.

"I was wondering. I think it's silly that Blackwhisker sleeps near the nursery and you sleep near Snapstar's rock and Squirreltrack sleeps up the wall." Brownkit giggled.

"I sometimes wondered that too." Rougefoot meowed.

"Me too." Tinyflight and Mapleheart meowed.

"Can I play with you guys?" Brownkit meowed.

"I don't think Leafstream would like that very much." Rougefoot meowed eyeing his mother who was locked onto her kit with unblinking eyes.

"Why? Berrykit and Sandkit are bullies!"

"Because she doesn't want you to get hurt. How about this? You bring me a moss ball and I'll toss it for you and then you can bring it back and I'll toss it again. And then maybe you can attack my tail."

"Yippee!" Brownkit yowled and dashed off to find a moss ball.

"I remember when Shortleg and I were kits. We always used to play like that." Mapleheart meowed distantly.

"I only had Rougefoot to play with. Well I had Dashkit and Coalkit for a little while." Tinyflight meowed.

"Mapleheart?" Rougefoot asked.

"Do you know how Blankkit got her name? And how she died?"

"Poor Blankkit." Mapleheart meowed. "She was born deaf and blind in her right eye. She was very playful, always pestering the warriors because she wanted to go on an adventure. Well she decided to go on an adventure one day and she climbed to the very top of the Warrior's Tree, even higher than Tinyflight's nest. She lost her footing and fell, but she survived. Well she decided to leave the Clan because she thought she was too much of a burden. We haven't seen or heard of her since then. There's a very slim chance she may still be alive but it's highly doubtful."

"How did she learn to talk if she couldn't hear?" Tinyflight meowed.

"She was a very smart kit. She could also write in the dirt, which is what she did most of the time." Mapleheart meowed. "She used to pester me a lot because I was a new warrior at the time she was born. I've heard of stories on the plains that a blind and deaf cat still lives past the territories. The story goes that she rallied up blind, deaf and injured or deformed cats and kittens and created her own Clan where all are welcome."

"But that's just a story." Tinyflight snorted exasperatedly.

"It may be true." Rougefoot meowed.

"You never know until you go there." Mapleheart meowed.

"Stupid cats. Believing elders and rogues tales." Stardapple spat. "Have logic. No blind and deaf kitten could have survived in Clan territories for more than a day."

"She may have been picked up by a Clan and raised. Or maybe a rogue or a loner." Rougefoot spat back.

"Whatever you say. I actually have a working brain."

"And so do I." He argued.

Stardapple hissed, then went back to sulking.

"Do you think Snapstar would ever let us past the territories?" Rougefoot meowed hopefully.

"I highly doubt it. But it doesn't hurt to try." Mapleheart meowed.

"Not today. Or tomorrow. My loyalty lies here. My Clan needs me. For good or for bad, I will always be here somehow."