Chapter 28

"Mistyfern…it's me." Shadowheart meowed in the dim of the elder's den. "I've come to give you some food…I caught it just for you."

Mistyfern slowly opened her flaming amber eyes and let her gaze singe Shadowheart's fur. Shadowheart placed the thrush at her paws and watched to see if she'd eat it. The scrawny tabby blinked slowly and tucked the dead bird close to her chest.

"Just eat Mistyfern…he's trying to help." Goldfur murmured. Her old voice was creaking with age. Mistyfern ignored the older she-cat and just stared at her food, not daring to eat it. Shadowheart frowned and turned away, his shoulders slumped with sadness.

"Shadowkit…" Mistyfern croaked. Shadowheart froze at the sound of his kit name. The black tom turned his head and looked as Mistyfern tried to stand on shaky legs. She was so weak… her bones were as frail as feathers.

"Mistyfern don't move." Shadowheart helped his frail mother lay back down and placed his paw on hers. Mistyfern shook with hunger, age, and sadness. "You are going to hurt yourself."

Goldfur smiled at the sensitive moment and turned away to give them a moment to themselves. Shadowheart smiled at his mother, but Mistyfern just looked at him with her unemotional eyes. Mistyfern looked down at her son's paw on hers and stayed there…her whiskers slumping.

"Are you alright?" Whispered Shadowheart, the white diamond on his chest glowing in the dark lighting of the cave den, Mistyfern reached her muzzle up to her son and sniffed at him, her eyes so dull. Shadowheart watched as his mother stared at him with soft eyes.

"I-I forgive y-you…" Mistyfern murmured weakly. Shadowheart felt as if he was going to burst with emotion as his mother uttered the three words he had been dying to hear since she abandoned him. Shadowpaw placed his muzzle softly on the top of his mother's head.

"It's okay…" He whispered…noticing that something was off with the way she smelled. Mistyfern sighed and looked up at her son in a way she used to when he was a kit. Shadowheart watched as Mistyfern pushed the vole away from her paws, ignoring Shadowheart as he tried to nudge it back to her.

"I don't…n-need…" Mistyfern stuttered weakly, her voice faint and dainty. "T-This"

"Yes…you need to eat." Shadowheart insisted. Mistyfern slowly shook her head and looked up at the den wall's ceiling. Shadowheart looked up and didn't see anything…but Mistyfern looked as if she saw something. The silver tabby smiled faintly and looked back over at Shadowheart, the mother pressed her cheek to her sons and let go a long breath of air.

"I love y-you…" She uttered in a voice so quiet…it almost didn't exist. Shadowheart felt a lump in his throat as his mother backed away and lay down in her bed of moss. Her bones stuck out and her legs tuck in under her. A moment of sadness hit the tom like a monster as he saw his starved mother lie helplessly in her nest.

Goldfur looked at Mistyfern with worried eyes and let her gaze cross over to Shadowheart, her ears lay flat as she watch her den mate. Shadowheart clenched his teeth in sadness, forcing down the knot in his throat as he watched Mistyfern slowly look up at him again…her eyes looked glazed over and dull.

Her eyes began to look over Shadowheart's shoulder…and soon they stared into the distance. Shadowheart watched as her eyes glazed over and her mouth open as she let go of her last breath. Goldfur wailed quietly as she watched Mistyfern die in the den, Shadowheart couldn't hold onto the tears any longer…he let them fall from his eyes and onto the fur of his mother.

The black tom slowly closed his mother's eyes and looked at how peaceful she seemed in the dark. Shadowheart laid by his mother until her body grew cold from death, the black tom slowly stood to his paws and looked over at Goldfur, the elder was grief-stricken…and all alone in the den. Not able to be in the den any longer, Shadowheart fled the den, his head hanging low.

"What's happened?" Galestar mewed as Shadowheart ran from the elder's den and over to Galestar. Shadowheart's shoulders shook with grief but he managed to look up at Galestar with tear-stained cheeks.

"She's dead…"