Warriors #6: A Kittypet's Destiny

Chapter 34

Goldenshine's POV

With my son's words, I suddenly felt as if the ground had disappeared beneath my paws.

"Lilypetal's gone?" I nearly cried out, barely being able to hear my own words from how loudly my head seemed to be pounding. "What do you mean, she's gone?"

"She's not in camp," Swiftflight answered sharply, his gray-blue eyes wide. "I've looked for her everywhere."

"Absolutely everywhere?"

Swiftflight then rolled his eyes. "No, I decided to leave out a few shrubs next to the Highledge just for kicks," he hissed before proceeding to give an irritated lash of his tail. "Yes, absolutely everywhere!"

I felt my heart sink, and I had to stand up as straight as I could to keep my legs from shaking. "Oh my StarClan, no..." I nearly whispered as I brushed past Swiftflight, padding ahead. "No, no, no!" She left before I even got a chance to stop her! I thought, my panic rising with each breath I took. Oh, Lilypetal! I hope Swiftflight didn't discover her disappearance too late...

I quickly heard my son's pawsteps running up to meet me as I made my way across the camp clearing. "Goldenshine, wait! Where are you going?" 

I then abruptly stopped in my tracks as he pelted ahead to intercept me. To my surprise, he looked almost as frightened as I felt. "Goldenshine, don't you realize what could be going on?" he pressed to me. "Lilypetal's going to-"

I shut my eyes tightly and shouldered past the dark gray tom, already knowing that I wouldn't be able to handle hearing out loud what he likely would have said. "Swiftflight, I know exactly what she's going to do," I meowed to him tautly, cutting off his words.

I then paused in my travel once again, slowly turning around to face Swiftflight, and the smallest shudder ran through my body as the image of Ashfur standing alone in the ThunderClan forest flashed in my mind once again. "I... I saw..." I began, trying to figure out how to describe what I'd seen just a bit earlier in the night. My attempts at telling Lilypetal herself hadn't gone very well, and the both of us had quickly gotten lost in the battle.

I then shook my head quickly and let out a huff, realizing that another cat needed to be in on this conversation. "Hold on," I then muttered. "We need to find Thornclaw first." 

I held back a frustrated growl as Swiftflight instantly opened his mouth again, seemingly wanting to protest. But to my relief, he quickly shut his jaws and gave me a reluctant nod before proceeding to lead the way as we both dashed around the camp clearing in search of my father. 

And the entire time that we searched, my heart was pounding so strongly and so loudly that it almost seemed to be the only thing that I could hear, and I practically felt dizzy with panic. I've never felt a helplessness like this before, even when I've thought that my own life was hanging in the balance, I realized as I continued to flit my eyes around the clearing. At least then, I had some control of the situation. But now, I know that Lilypetal had left camp, and I also know of the likely reason that she's left camp, and I was too late to stop her from leaving at all.

I then nearly had to hold back an anxious whimper. Oh, Starclan, be with her, or let us catch her before you'd even need to save her tail!

Well, StarClan was already giving us one blessing - Swiftflight and had only looked for what seemed like a few heartbeats before I noticed him pause in front of me. He glanced back at me over his shoulder and nodded to something in front of him.

Before I could even join Swiftflight, and see where he'd spotted Thornclaw, I hopped backward and let out a startled yelp as my father's golden brown tabby pelt flashed into sight, nearly crashing into my son's dark gray one.