Rising from the Ashes

Chapter 47

It had been almost a quarter moon since PineClan scent had been found on the ravine. Nothing more had come up including that morning on dawn patrol. After getting some rest, Swanflight had decided to get in some hunting. She found herself near the ravine but told herself that PineClan was no longer a threat. She hadn't been hunting long when she heard low mews.

Drawing closer, she almost couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was Shadowheart

and Ivytail, the PineClan deputy! She crouched at the top of the slope, trusting the snow that had fallen that leafbare to give her ample cover. The two she-cats were on the slope that led down into the ravine from the GrassClan side. They sat comfortably close together as if they were still Clanmates rather than rivals.

What were they mewing about?

"Everything going well?" Ivytail asked.

"As well as could be expected," Shadowheart replied.

"More complicated?"

Shadowheart gave a firm shake of her head.

"Prey seems to be running well," Ivytail meowed with a flick of her ears.

It sounded normal enough, polite chatter like one would hear at a Gathering.

Knowing it would not end well if she were caught by either she-cat, Swanflight

cautiously backed away. Once she was far enough away, she tried to refocus on

hunting but it was no use. Her mind kept drifting back to what she had seen. She

couldn't say she was surprised but what did it mean?

Before Swanflight could get far, she was suddenly thrown into the snow. Shadowheart had her pinned and she couldn't do anything about it, given the other she-cat was bigger and a far better fighter than she could ever hope to be. Fear swept through her, colder than the snow she was now pressed into.

"Have you been following me?" Shadowheart demanded, one paw on Swanflight's throat and a hard look in her amber eyes.

"No," Swanflight mewed, voice tight with fear.

"But you were spying on me."

"I'm not a spy!"

"I believe you but if you were, there was nothing to see but two cats having a nice chat in the ravine, right?" Shadowheart flexed her claws, pressing them into Swanflight's throat.

Swanflight trembled, unable to respond.

"Right, Swanflight?" Shadowheart growled, sinking her claws deeper into the white she-cat's throat.

"Right," Swanflight managed to squeak, heart hammering in her chest.

Shadowheart looked down at Swanflight with disdain for a long heartbeat. Abruptly, she stepped away from her and gave a short toss of her head. "Get out of here then."

Swanflight fled as if a pack of hounds were on her tail. Her paws slipped through the snow, and she stumbled several times but didn't dare look back or slow down. Blinded by her fear, she barreled right into another cat. She collapsed, trembling so hard that her paws couldn't support her anymore.

"Swanflight!" Thistletail's green eyes scorched her. "Swanflight, what's wrong?"

She took a shaky breath but couldn't manage to do much more than that.

Thistletail used his tail tip to lift her face up to look at him. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

For one, Swanflight didn't flinch from the strength of his gaze. She desperately needed reassurance and-for all his faults-Thistletail had never actually hurt her. If anyone could handle this, it was him. "It's Shadowheart. I saw her in the ravine with Ivytail," she trembled again, looking over her shoulder as if Shadowheart would suddenly appear and attack her again, "It looked harmless but-" She shook her head, unable to speculate on what this meant.

"But it's nothing good," Thistletail growled. "We have to report this to Hawkstar, now."