CHAPTER 67- I'd Never Let You Go
Ember skittered into the charred skeleton of the ThunderClan camp, pausing with her ears pricked at the top of the slope. She surveyed the ashen ruins. The whole clearing was completely and utterly quiet, save for the soft murmurs of dying embers as they crackled on the burnt logs. Dim traces of smoke still lingered in the grey air, and she fluffed out her chest fur before wandering nearer.
She had never seen flint before. What did it look like? Rolling over a random stone, she peered at it closely before growling in frustration. How did she know that flint didn't look like any other old rock? Picking up her pace, she stuck her nose in each of the dens, sneezing from the amount of soot that floated in the air like dandelion seeds.
She nosed the ground, pawed at it, sniffed it, breathed in nothing but the smell of death and the cold promise of tomorrow, and right when she began to give up, she caught the whiff of something bright and burning.
It was a tiny, sharp-edged pebble, flat as the sky and as smooth as ice. It was the color of night, and as she flicked her tongue gently over it, she scented fire and mud and frost and rage all rolled into one, in that tiny, cold shell of an egg.
Is this flint? she thought, and she rolled it up against the side of the rocky den, chipping a corner as she went. One or two tiny sparks leaped out, as bright and yellow as shooting stars. Triumphant, her ears perked up and her eyes flashed, and she picked it up in her mouth to hurry on back to the tunnels.
"Where do you think you're going?" someone said, and the fur on the back of her neck immediately prickled with the memory of that voice.
Dropping the flint, she braced herself and snarled. Scarlet stepped closer, her yellow eyes hard and emotionless.
As the two foxes faced each other, a cold wind skimmed over the blackened camp, scattering the ashes like seeds, ruffling their manes like blood-red grass. Ember searched her sister's gaze in vain, hoping that she would find a glimmer of mercy or sadness, but there was nothing. Scarlet's eyes could have been made from stone.
The elder vixen bared her teeth and snarled, and despite of herself, Ember flinched.
"Sister," she began, but Scarlet cut her off.
"When I realized that the black cat was still alive, I figured that you might be here as well," she muttered, advancing. Abruptly, she broke off and gave a guttural cough that could have been a laugh. It was a teasing laugh that bordered on maniacal insanity, a mockingbird's song. Ember didn't know who she was anymore.
It hurt her, not being able to look at her own sister and recognize her. It was the same face that Scarlet bore, the same narrow, black tinged, sharp-whiskered muzzle, the same neatly shaped ears, the glittering, calculating golden-brown eyes, but she could have been a stranger.
Ember backed away slowly. "Listen to me," she pleaded. "I have to help my friends. Help me—"
"Those Clan cats are your friends?" Scarlet spat out the words like a piece of rotten fresh-kill. "Open your eyes, Ember! You're a fox, you're part of the Pack!" She paused, her nose quivering, and the faintest glimmer of sadness flashed in her eyes for a split-second. "You're a part of me," she whispered. Her voice trembled slightly like a branch in the breeze.
Ember couldn't meet her gaze, and instead stared at something past her face. "I'm sorry," she said. And then she shook her head fiercely, as if shaking water out of her ears. She straightened her back and held her head up higher. "But I don't regret my choice. I've lived in the darkness for so long, but Shadefrost offered me a chance to live in the light. You…you could join me, if you want. We could live together. Hunt together. Be sisters together, not one on opposite sides of the river. We could see the stars every night. What do you say?"
Scarlet's eyes were unreadable. Her mouth was set in a grim line.
For a few gracious moments, she actually looked as if she would agree. And then her glare flared up and she curled her lip, eyes flashing like two pools of fire, and she kicked up her heels and surged forward.
"Traitor!" she howled.
Ember yelped as a claw snagged on her ear, nicking the top. A thin, barely noticeable stream of red trickled down the side of her face. She backed away and crouched down, muscles taut and ready for a fight.
Scarlet eyed her like a piece of fresh-kill, jaws parted slightly. With a sinking feeling, Ember realized that her sister had been lost to her from the start.
Scarlet's nostrils flared. "You betrayed your own Pack. You betrayed me and our mother and Fang. How could you even dare show your face around here?" As soon as she had barked the last word, she roared and pounced again, aiming for the throat, her eyes in a frenzy for blood. The two foxes leaped and jumped and jabbed at each other. To a faraway eye, it might have looked as if they were dancing.
With a muted howl of pain, Ember squeezed her eyes shut as Scarlet clenched her neck with her teeth. She was shaken roughly from the scruff of her neck, a helpless rabbit at the mercy of its killer, a different sort of dance.
Ember scrabbled her paws frantically and sent a kick to her captor's ribs. She was dropped to the ground and immediately spun around, crouching into a fighter's stance.
Scarlet faced her, sides heaving. They locked their gazes on each other. Electricity crackled between them.
A lone jay's hoarse voice echoed and echoed repeatedly across the darkening gloom of the heavens.
Ember wanted to say something. Maybe, just maybe, something would be able to convince her sister otherwise.
"Consider the cats," she said desperately. "Please, if you'd just—"
Scarlet shook her muzzle and muttered something under her breath.
Ember's ears pricked forward. "What?" she breathed.
"Shut up," Scarlet muttered quietly. "Just…shut up!" Her voice turned into a bellow of rage. "You are no longer my sister! You are an outcast of the Pack, a traitor to Fang, and an enemy to me! You are my sworn opponent, and I will not stop at anything to destroy you!"
For a brief moment, the world seemed to stand still. There were no victories, no hope, no stars in the night. The wind was as dark as the soot that covered the moorland. The jay had fallen silent, and the sky had formed a deep, threatening scowl.
Ember's heart crumbled into two.
With a bloodcurdling yell, Scarlet sprang forward and pinned the younger fox to the ground. She was powerless to stop her.
"I've got you," the older vixen huffed, the warm breath tickling the younger's ear.
Ember was ready to give up when Scarlet leaned down to sink her teeth into her throat. Everything was lost now. Did the Clans even win? Was Fang even dead? Really, everything had been for nothing.
But then, past the gloomy storm clouds, she spotted a ray of light shining down from the dark blanket of the sky. It twinkled, like a lone star.
And she thought about Shadefrost and how she was counting on her to bring the flint, and the way the cat had looked at her with those warm, kind brown eyes and those quiet evenings that they had spent together in the meadow, dandelion seeds sailing the wind above their heads.
She grunted and slashed her hind paws into Scarlet's stomach. The older fox grimaced in pain and jerked backward, allowing Ember to wiggle out from underneath her. Wasting no time, she turned and faced her sister, cuffing her paws across her face, and they attacked each other like strangers.
They snarled and growled and reached for their throats, fangs flashing, claws slashing each other's thin muzzles. Adrenaline flowed through Ember's veins. She didn't falter or hesitate or pause. An animal instinct jerked her forward, sending her sister reeling backward.
The heavens let out a splinter of lightning onto the earth, cutting open the sky like a wicked claw, but no rain came from the stubborn clouds.
The light flashed white across Scarlet's horrified face as Ember sank her teeth into her neck and crunched.
Her gaze widened in horror when it dawned on her, what she had done. Scarlet crumpled into a heap at her paws.
No…what have I done?! she thought desperately, and crouched down in front of the older vixen, trying hard to stare into those dying eyes.
The rising and falling of Scarlet's side began to grow weaker and weaker. She seemed to be saying something, but nothing would come out of her mangled, chewed-up throat. Her golden brown eyes began to fade, but then they hardened into an expression of hate.
"No!" Ember cried. She buried her face in the fur and breathed in her sister's familiar scent, trying to remember and preserve her life. The fox's breathing began to slow to a stop. Ember inhaled large mouthfuls of air, as if she could breathe for her, as if she knew how to save a life.
"Please," she whimpered. "Please, please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
Her voice turned into nothing but a high-pitched whine. Scarlet squeezed her eyes shut, and with a shudder, her body went still. Ember knew that she had gone.
Ember wanted to vomit. She just couldn't believe what she had done, what she had just done. Her sister lay dead in front of her, and before she could stop herself, she began to cry.
"I'm sorry."
And she realized that even a million sorrys wouldn't bring her back to life. She crouched over her and hung her head, closing her eyes to the feel of the ginger fur under her paws.
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Just a short chapter for this week ;v;
School started, and I don't really have a lot of time as before.