Chapter 26: Aggressive Curiosity
"Cats of Forest. I've been expecting you." The badger somehow mewed, its voice gruff and slurred slightly. It sounded unnatural an alien, but somehow that just made it more mystifying.
We were all still frozen with shock, unable to will ourselves to act against the beast that was far more intelligent than its lumbering monstrous brethren. It peered at each of us slowly, seemingly seeing something beyond us with each look, until it reached me. Its face contorted with confusion, like it hadn't expected something. It briefly shook its head, seemingly shaking off its confusion before spoke again.
"I am Midnight. Your spirits sent you here to me. You six… and one… underwent a journey here becoming one as well. The threat your clans face requires they do the same. Divided, they will perish." Midnight meowed in a shamanistic tone.
Of course, Crowpaw couldn't help nitpicking what Midnight just said. "Six and one?" He queried at the badger.
"I… sorry. I practice for you come. Words hard for me. Not know word for six and one. Thought only six. One more than expect. Embarrassed." She answered, her sentences becoming more disjointed as she clearly was struggling to get her meaning across with her small vocabulary.
"What do you mean you only expected six of us?" Brambleclaw pressed, sensing with this vulnerability that we may be able to get more than prophetic vagueness out of the badger now.
"Expect six." She mewed, waving a paw at everyone but me. "Not one." She stated, pointing straight at me. "Not see you."
It hit me like an unexpected cold wind in Leafbare, striking at my very core. She was claiming I didn't belong. I mean, I always sort of knew that, given how often I was considered dark like my father, but in this case, it felt almost accusatory. She approached me, her size dwarfing mine significantly. I shivered as those beady badger eyes seemed to pierce me, looking deeper.
"Let me look." She commanded, grabbing a hold of me, which frightened us all. Her gaze was unwavering, focusing on something deep within me and beyond my comprehension. It was terrifying, like everything about me was laid bare before her unblinking mystic eyes, and I could do nothing to stop it.
"I see." She stated slowly, seemingly pulling free from her trance. "A dark destiny diverted, a gift given. Fate obfuscated. An anomaly. Good? Bad? Cannot tell. A blessing or curse. You have gift to change path, to divert destiny gifted by dark one who broke your fate. Now you akin to them. Anomaly breeds anomaly." She explained in her unclear and somewhat rambling way, finally letting me go.
Tawnypelt quickly dragged me back, interposing herself between me and Midnight. Her fur was raised in obvious fear and defensive aggression. Midnight had grabbed me so quick before. If she had wanted to kill me, they would have been unable to stop her. I've never felt so vulnerable before. Even with my terrifying nightmares, I never felt unsafe. I just felt worried that I would somehow harm others. This was the first time I really felt my mortality. Not even falling off the cliff made me that scared. There were things I could do, things I'd practiced for, that at made the fall seem bearable. I had agency. When I was in her grip, I had none. There had been nothing I could do to stop her.
The exhaustion and the terror was catching up to me. What had once been just shivers from my unexpected dip into the cold salty water evolved into tremors from the mixture of fear and cold that still clung to me. I felt weak, weaker than I'd ever felt before, weaker than a kit. I just couldn't take it. My strength faded, and I collapsed, breathing hard as my panic remained firm and my heart pounded.
Tawnypelt and Squirrelpaw were immediately with me, pulling me further from the badger as the rest formed a defensive barrier in case the badger decided to attack. I was still vulnerable, easy prey for a potentially hungry badger. I could still see her imposing form out of the corner of my eye, maintaining the terror that flooded my body. Then Tawnypelt gripped my head, briefly frightening me further since it was so reminiscent of what just happened, but then her face came into view.
"Listen to me Darkpaw. You need to calm down. You're having a panic attack, just like before. I need you to breathe. Focus on me. We'll be ok. If the worst comes, there's enough of us here to kill the badger." She stated with conviction, forcing her belief into me. It calmed me slightly.
Squirrelpaw then got my attention my grooming my shoulder, attempting to steady my nerves. "We're here for you. If we knew it was going to do that, we'd have attacked it already. We couldn't risk you when it had you in its grip. I'm sorry we couldn't act sooner." Squirrelpaw apologized.
It was reassuring to know that they hadn't just stood idly by Midnight did whatever she did to me. I glanced over to the rest of the journey cats who had Midnight cornered. No fight had broken out, but it was on the edge of one. Midnight had backed into a corner defensively. There was a look of guilt and possibly fear on her muzzle. It was hard to tell since she was a badger.
"I not mean to scare. Was wanting to know why different that expected. Not mean harm." Midnight was sputtering, trying to convey that she hadn't meant anything malicious. "I am sorry." She stated in a wavering tone, sounding truly guilty for what she'd done.
The rest still watched her, but their claws weren't pulled any longer. They were still ready to fight at the slightest indication that she was lying, wanting to fight or kill us. We were at a standstill. We couldn't retreat because of my condition, and Midnight was somehow key in the prophecy, so we couldn't outright attack her.
"You tired. Here safe. Can watch me. I do nothing. Talk on morrow?" Midnight suggested.
It was true that a night watching her would allow us to better assess her motives. Also, given my current condition, I wasn't really mobile. I'd also likely catch Whitecough if I was subjected to the wind. This was the only close place that we knew of for me to recover from my fall.
"Fine, but we'll be watching you." Brambleclaw agreed, turning away to join us.
It was strange to see him so apologetic towards me, like he cared at all. We never really were kind to one another, maintaining something close to professional since we couldn't stand each other. I'd seen him when he was lined up with the rest to protect me. He wasn't just defensive. He had been furious… for me. It was eye opening to see. It was honestly by Feathertail's cue that Brambleclaw had kept himself from attacking the badger while she was still trying to apologize. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought.