Deaf Ears and Farewell

Whitestorm, Nightfrost and Mousefur patroled the borders in the morning. Near the Twolegplace, the patrol scent blood. The warriors nodded and hurried to the scent, a familiar scent to Nightfrost and Whitestorm. Covered in blood, was Red and her kit next to her, mewing with eyes closed.

"Red!" Nightfrost cried out, burying his nose to her red fur. Whitestorm quickly block Mousefur's view, taking the kit to the she-cat, giving orders to her. Nightfrost did not notice her leave with the kit. Red stirred from his touch.

"Nightfrost...?"

"Shhhh, rest now, a friend of mine is bringing help. What happened?"

"Bloodclan has returned, with a new leader." Nightfrost stiffened. Red widen her amber eyes and look around. "Where is our kit?"

"He is in safe paws. What is his name?" Her chest was heaving, slower with each passing second.

"I...Ic..." Her head dropped, her eyes glazing at nothing.

"No! Red!" Nightfrost cried, burying his nose into her neck.

"I'll...I'll be at the camp, Nightfrost," Whitestorm mewed, and padded off, glancing back at him from time to time. Nightfrost twitched his tail, not taking his eyes off his mate. The sun rose higher to the sky. The black tom let out a stutter breath. He pawed at the ground, kneading the soil. The kneading eventually turns to digging, the soil thrown out in chumps.

Soon Nightfrost dug a deep enough hole and leap out. He dragged her body to the hole. There, he cleaned her body, licking the blood off. Soon, her fur is sheek and he jump out of the hole. Nightfrost push the dirt back to the hole, burying his mate. He stood there for a while. It was sunhigh when he start to return to camp.

Longtail nodded to him as he push though the tunnel and headed straight to the nursery, ignoring the stares. There, Willowpelt was nursing the kit. The queen looked up.

"Whitestorm told me this is your kit, so you should be the one to name him," Willowpelt mewed, her tail curled around the kits.

Nightfrost looked at the kit. His dark ginger pelt with a much lighter belly and paws was just like his mother's.

"Redkit. He will be Redkit."

"Snowkit! Snowkit! Snowkit!" a recognizable voice called out to Speckletail's remaining kit. Nightfrost grunted and headed out of the nursery. Two days passed since Yellowfang's dream and a day since Red's death. Right now, Fireheart was calling out to Snowkit, with Yellowfang watching carefully and Speckletail calm, but her eyes were scared.

As Fireheart keep calling Snowkit, a few other cats paused on their way to the pile of fresh-kill and came to see what was going on. Bluestar emerged from her den and sat watching near the base of the Highrock. Dappletail, who was strolling back to the elders' den, stopped beside Speckletail and said something to her. Speckletail spat an irritated reply but Dappletail only ignored Speckletail's snappishness and sat down next to Cinderpaw to watch closely. Nightfrost padded next to Yellowfang.

Fireheart kept on calling Snowkit until Speckletail gave the kit a nudge, nodding in his direction, and the kit came bounding across.

"Well done," Fireheart meowed, and repeated his praise when Snowkit looked at him blankly.

After a pause the kit mewed, "S'all right," but the words sounded so distorted that Nightfrost could hardly understand him.

Fireheart led Snowkit back to his mother and Yellowfang. The medicine cat turned to the elderly queen.

"I'm sorry, Speckletail. But Snowkit is deaf."

Speckletail worked her paws on the ground in front of her. Her expression was a mixture of grief and anger. "I know he's deaf!" she snapped at last. "I'm his mother. Do you think I wouldn't know?"

"White cats with blue eyes are often deaf," Dappletail mewed to Fireheart. "I remember one of my first litter…" She sighed.

"What happened to him?" Fireheart asked. Both brothers felt relieved that Cloudpaw, who was also white with blue eyes, had good hearing.

"No cat knows," Dappletail told him sadly. "He disappeared when he was three moons old. We thought a fox must have gotten him."

Speckletail gathered Snowkit closer to her, fiercely protective. "Well, a fox won't get this one!" she vowed. "I can look after him."

"I'm sure you can," Bluestar mewed, padding over to them. "But I'm afraid he can never be a warrior."

"Why can't he be a warrior?" Speckletail demanded. "There's nothing else wrong with him. He's a good, strong kit. He gets on just fine if you signal what he's got to do."

"That's not enough," Bluestar told her. "A mentor couldn't teach him to fight or hunt by signals. He couldn't hear commands in a battle, and how could he catch prey if he can't listen, or hear the sound of his own pawsteps?"

Speckletail leaped to her paws with her fur bristling. Then she whipped around, nudged Snowkit to his paws, and vanished with him inside the nursery.

"She's taking it badly," Dappletail remarked.

"How do you expect her to take it?" asked Yellowfang. "She's getting old. This could well be her last kit, and now she learns he can't ever be a warrior."

"Yellowfang, you must talk to her," Bluestar ordered. "Make her see that the needs of the Clan must come first."

"Yes, of course, Bluestar," Yellowfang mewed, with a respectful nod to her leader. "But I think it's best for her to have a little time alone with Snowkit first, to let her get used to the idea that the rest of the Clan knows about his deafness."

Bluestar grunted agreement and padded back toward her den. Nightfrost bite back a growled and headed to the nursery. The Bluestar from back then would have considered it.

"Speckletail?" Nightfrost asked though the tunnel. The queen had turned away, licking Snowkit, while the kit mewed and tried to lick her back.

"Leave me alone."

"Speckletail, all I want to say is...Bluestar is wrong. A deaf cat can be trained into a warrior."

The queen's eyes lighten up with hope. "Really?"

"Yes. When...when I was a rogue, there was a deaf kit by the name of Amber. No one believed that he would survive in such a harsh world, but he did. He really did. He surprised us by hunting and fighting for himself."

The queen remained silent and Nightfrost signed, turning away from the den.

"Thank you, Nightfrost," Speckletail mewed. Nightfrost twitched his tail.

Nightfrost was hunting a mouse when a loud noise came from above the trees, the mouse darting into the undergrowth. A hawk flew passed by in a circular motion and his eyes widen as he noticed it heading to camp. Nightfrost raced back to camp just in time to see Speckletail hanging onto the hawk.

For a couple of agonizing moments, both cats dangled from the hawk's claws. Fireheart launched himself into the air, but they were too high. Then the hawk released the kit with one foot and scored its talons across Speckletail's face. The she-cat lost her grip and fell back, landing heavily on the ground. Without her weight, the hawk mounted rapidly to treetop height and flew off toward Fourtrees. Snowkit's terrified crying died away.

Ravenwing dashed past Fireheart, leaping the camp wall at a place where the rebuilding had barely started, and vanished into the forest. Even though Fireheart knew the pursuit was hopeless, he swung around and caught the eye of the nearest cat. "Swiftpaw, go with him."

Swiftpaw opened his mouth to protest, clearly aware that the pursuit would be hopeless, then closed it again and took off after Ravenwing. The rest of the cats, stunned by shock, gradually crept out into the clearing again and formed a ragged circle around Speckletail. Sandstorm pressed against Fireheart.

"It's my fault!" Speckletail wailed. "I left him…and now he's gone. The hawk should have taken me instead!"

Sandstorm moved closer to the tabby queen, pressing herself comfortingly against her side, and Yellowfang came up and gave her ears a gentle lick. "Come to my den," she mewed softly. "We'll look after you. We won't leave you."

But Speckletail refused to be comforted. "He's gone and it's my fault," she whimpered.

"It's not your fault," meowed Bluestar, pacing toward them.

"It's not your fault," she repeated. "Whoever heard of a hawk that dared to swoop down and take a kit from the middle of a camp, with so many other cats around? This is a sign from StarClan. I cannot deny the truth any longer." Bluestar gazed at her shocked, assembled Clan, and her voice vibrated with anger. "StarClan is at war with ThunderClan!"

As her Clan stared at her in horror, Bluestar spun around and stalked away to her den. Fireheart took a pace after her, but without turning her head she snapped, "Leave me alone!" There was so much venom in her voice that Fireheart stopped in his tracks.

Fireheart's legs shook, just as confused as every other cat. Nightfrost padded to him out of worry. The orange tabby then took on a determined look and sprang onto the Highrock.

"Listen!" he called. "Gather 'round, all of you."

Gradually the cats obeyed him, creeping into a huddle at the base of the rock. Several of them glanced fearfully up at the sky, as if they expected the hawk to return. Fernpaw pressed close to Dustpelt, and Longtail crouched on the ground as if he thought StarClan were going to start raining fire on them there and then.

Cloudpaw was gazing around in bewilderment. "What's all the fuss about?" he meowed to Brightpaw. "Every cat knows StarClan is just a tale for kits. They can't really do anything to us."

"Come on!" Cloudpaw gave her an affectionate flick with his tail. "You don't really believe that load of thistledown, do you?" He showed his indifference by sitting down and giving his paws a thorough wash.

On the other side of the clearing, Yellowfang and Brindleface were gently guiding Speckletail in the direction of Cinderpelt's den. Yellowfang stopped, mewed something rapidly to Brindleface, and came back toward the rock.

"I think you might need me, Fireheart," she mewed. "But make it quick. I have to take care of Speckletail."

Fireheart nodded. "Cats of ThunderClan," he began, raising his voice, "we've just seen something terrible. No cat can deny that. But we have to be careful about what meaning we give to this tragedy. Yellowfang, is Bluestar right? Does this mean that StarClan have abandoned us?"

Yellowfang spoke up clearly from where she sat at the base of the rock. "No," she meowed. "StarClan haven't shown me anything to suggest this. The camp is more exposed since the fire, so it's not surprising that the hawk could see its prey."

"So it was just an accident that we lost Snowkit?" Fireheart prompted.

"Just an accident," Yellowfang repeated. "Nothing to do with StarClan."

The clan begin to relax and realized that Yellowfang's certainty had reassured them. The cats still looked shocked and grief-stricken that Snowkit had been snatched away, but the wild stares of panic were fading.

"Thank you, Yellowfang," Fireheart meowed. Yellowfang flicked her tail and limped quickly toward her den.

"There's something else I need to tell you," he continued. "We think there's a loose dog on ThunderClan territory. We haven't seen it, but we've scented it at Snakerocks and near Fourtrees. Until it goes away again," he went on, "we all have to be especially careful. Apprentices mustn't go out without a warrior. And all cats who leave camp have an extra duty. Look for traces of this dog—scent, pawmarks, scattered scraps of prey…."

"And dung," Mousefur put in. "The filthy creatures never think of burying it."

"Right," meowed Fireheart. "If you come across anything like that, report it to me right away. We need to find out where the dog has made its den."

Fireheart dismissed the clan and leap off the Highrock. Ravenwing limped back into the camp with Swiftpaw just behind him. The black warrior's fur was torn where he had forced his way through briers and undergrowth in his pursuit of the hawk. One look at his lowered head and dejected expression told the cats all they needed to know.

A brown rogue turned his head up at the shadow of the hawk caught in his amber eyes, circling the sky. The tom watched the bird as it gave up searching for something. The tom jumped up the wall and headed to where the hawk had been circling. There, hidden in a cardboard box, was a white kit with blue eyes shivering.

He padded to him and podded the kit. The kit twisted his head to him. He pointed to himself, mewing 'Amber' and pointed to the kit.

The kit turned his head curiously. Amber repeated again and the kit nodded.

"Snowket." Snowkit tried to mewed and the rogue nodded and started to lick the kit's fur the wrong way. Hopefully, the new leader of Bloodclan will let the kit stay. If it were the founder, he would let Snowkit stay.