Chapter Sixteen: Decision

Snowstar shouldered his way through his Clan, eyes wide, as he gazed between the crumpled bodies of Brightpaw and Blackscar. The rest of LightningClan was gathering, limping and bleeding, to see what had happened.

"Pebbleheart!" he called.

The slender medicine-lion slipped through the crowd, followed by Amberpaw. Her eyes were dazed as she looked at all the wounds, and then her gaze fell on the two motionless lions. Lionpaw was laying still, but from exhaustion and grief, not his wounds. Rowanpaw and Cricketpaw sat a way off, but Frostpaw lay close to Lionpaw, rasping her tongue over his ear. They were both crouched next to Brightpaw's limp body.

"I- I'm here," Pebbleheart breathed, stepping next to her leader.

There were spasms of dark concern in Snowstar's eyes; after all, that was his only brother laying there in the broken grass and dirt, his scrawny body bloody and his throat ripped. "Is he dead?" he breathed.
Lionpaw slowly opened his eyes, and felt grief shaking his body. Frostpaw pressed herself close to him, and murmured something he missed. Bluefur stepped forward and exchanged a glance with Snowstar, touching her tail to her mate's shoulder gently. The whole Clan seemed to stare at Pebbleheart then, waiting for her answer.

To Lionpaw's disgust, the Clan did not look worried for Blackscar or Brightpaw. They looked angry, tired, and worried for themselves. How long will they refuse to care about them?

"I'm not sure," Pebbleheart murmured, bending down gracefully and touching her ear to Blackscar's chest to hear for his heartbeat. Everyone held their breath, and finally her eyes closed in relief as she took a step back.
"He's alive, but barely."

"Blackscar! Brother!" A flash of desperation colored Snowstar's voice as the great leader bent over his brother's collapsed frame. "Who did this to him?" he snarled.

"It was Featherfoot," Rowanpaw spoke up, voice brittle. "She pinned him down and would have killed him if we hadn't come over and distracted her."

"And she smashed Brightpaw against the stone!" Frostpaw spoke up for Lionpaw, ears flattened. The Clan's eyes swiveled to her as they saw Brightpaw's crumpled body. Something flashed in Snowstar's eyes when he saw the motionless apprentice, and he tore away from Bluefur to step over to the body, easily dwarfed by his large frame. Delicately, he rasped a tongue over the apprentice's face, licking away a trickle of blood from his head
where it had cracked against the stone.

"He is unconscious," Pebbleheart murmured as she quickly padded over, checking his breathing. "Not dead. But in great pain."

"Featherfoot tried to kill him, too," Lionpaw whispered, feeling unimaginable relief and joy crash over him. Brightpaw wasn't dead!

Snowstar frowned, his face darkening. "These are deadly charges. How dare she try to kill two of our lions."

"Why did they attack, Snowstar?" came a voice from the crowd.

Lionpaw shakily stood up, and gratefully rasped a tongue over Frostpaw's ear before looking to his Clan. It hadn't struck him that one or two warriors still had no idea why they'd been attacked.

"Because of those two," came a voice thick with venom. Lionpaw knew it was Longfang, but watched Pebbleheart closely as the powerful deputy strode through the crowd to stand by Blackscar's body. Just as he expected, she flinched and lost her cool as he approached, eyes widening and ears flattened. Feeling Amberpaw's gaze burn into him, he turned and nodded just barely to her, to silently say he saw the whole thing.

"Longfang," Snowstar rumbled, warning in his voice.

"No, it's time LightningClan listens," Longfang retorted, swiping a tongue around his bloody muzzle. Every pair of eyes were trained on him as he spoke. "We risked everything moons ago when we accepted Blackscar and that cross-Clan cub, and we've been nothing but kind to keep them. And how does StarClan repay us? An ambush."

"I believe it was WaterClan warriors who attacked today, Longfang, not StarClan warriors," Snowstar pointed out quietly,

"But if they let this happen, surely it means they approve?" Longfang growled.

Lionpaw's eyes flashed open. How dare he suggest StarClan was against Blackscar and Brightpaw! It was outrageous... and yet clever. If he didn't dislike Longfang so deeply, Lionpaw would have almost agreed with the deputy. In a twisted way, it made sense. And he felt sick as he saw lions nodding and murmuring to each other.

"StarClan does not control everything," Bluefur growled.

"Why don't we ask the medicine-lion how she interprets the fight," suggested Curlclaw.

Murmurs of agreement rang out from the Clan, and Lionpaw watched curiously as something flickered in Longfang's eyes. He swung his head around as the Clan's eyes turned to Pebbleheart, standing beside the motionless Brightpaw.

"Yes, Pebbleheart. What do you think?" he asked with such mocking in his voice it made Lionpaw's stomach churn. Snowstar flashed a look at his deputy, but clearly everyone else missed his mocking tone.

Pebbleheart locked eyes with Longfang for a heartbeat, then turned away, shivering. "I- I don't know. StarClan has not spoken t- to me in some time."

Lionpaw pricked his ears. But that was false- just days ago she'd received the ominous warning of the monster from StarClan. Why was she covering that up?

"You're the medicine-lion. You're supposed to know these things," Longfang growled.

"That's enough," Snowstar snarled, gazing between his deputy and his medicine-lion. "The ambush had nothing to do with StarClan, and all to do with WaterClan. They've been angry about Blackscar and Brightpaw for moons; this was going to happen sooner or later."

"But they've made their point! Both of the lions connected to Littlecloud are injured, and every warrior has been wounded. Why are we taking these prices for a traitor and a cross-Clan cub?" asked Curlclaw. Lionpaw blinked at the wise warrior; only he could make the question truly genuine with no scorn.

"Because we are warriors," Snowstar rumbled, eyes burning. "If we had cast out a small cub and a warrior all those moons ago, we'd be no better than DarkClan, the warriors who murdered Firerunner."

Lionpaw's spine quivered. At once, the exact same look of mixed worry and apprehension crossed Longfang's and Pebbleheart's faces. He felt frustratingly close to the answer he'd been seeking for so many moons; it was just a heartbeat away. But just as quick as it had come, both lions were calm again, and it was like nothing had happened.

Mutters of grief spread through the Clan, and Lionpaw thought of Firerunner, the lion he'd never met, but had been as great as Longfang, possibly even better. The warrior whose life had ended so suddenly... the warrior who may have been killed by one of his own Clanmates.

"I agree, Snowstar," came the voice of, surprisingly, Dustleg, Brightpaw's mentor. "Brightpaw may be of cross-Clan blood... but he's a good apprentice. We need to stop this fighting and realize what's really important."

There was a pause, then a couple warriors were nodding, and finally there was no more arguing. For now, they would accept Snowstar's and Dustleg's words and try to move on from the dark attack. But Lionpaw observed that some warriors were far from being content; Longfang sighed and shook his head, looking frustrated, and a few senior warriors glanced between each other, expressions troubled.

Pebbleheart shook herself and sighed, turning to the two wounded lions. "Come on, Amberpaw," she murmured, and looked up at Lionpaw. Their eyes locked, and she looked away first. "We have a lot of work to do."

Heyy! Thanks for reading. And thank you to all my reviewers... I really scared some of you with hurting Blackscar and Brightpaw. I'm glad you guys were worried for them; its cute (:

So I'm having a lot of fun with this story. I know I updated REALLY fast but I hate it when authors dont update for months, so surely this is better? Haha.