𝚂𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚜 || 𝚂𝚑𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚜 #1

Chapter Seventeen

"No one can hurt you now, okay? I'm- I'm so sorry no one was there to protect you. kiddo," he adds, resting his chin on the little gray tom's head.

Shuddering, Hailwatcher nestles into Beechfoot's fur and forces out a shaky breath.

"I don't think we should make him continue, Featherstar," the cream-furred tom mews to his leader.

"..I agree," Featherstar replies, sounding rather taken aback.

"I don't need further convincing, regardless. They can stay for as long as they need."

Relieved but still overwhelmed, Hailwatcher lets out a long sigh into Beechfoot's fur.

"I...have another question, but you don't have to answer," the SkyClan leader mews.

Feeling a tinge of nervousness, Hailwatcher glances up from Beechfoot's fur to look the brown tabby in the eyes.

"W-what is it?" he sniffs, ears drooping down.

"Regarding the new injuries on your pelt...where did those originate?" Featherstar mews, tipping her head to the side.

"Again, you don't have to answer as I have an inkling, but if you're willing to talk about it I'd like to hear from you directly."

Hailwatcher stiffens again; Beechfoot notices and begins to gently stroke the little tom's back with his tail.

"Last night, the queen who nursed me came in to talk to me...I kind of broke and told her some things, but not anything that Slightstar made me agree not to talk about. One of Slightstar's friend heard me, though, and he told on me....I begged him not to, but he kicked me in the face and left anyway."

"Slightstar and his cats came in and dragged me into the back of the medicine den, and they beat me until I passed out. Probably...after that, too..."

The young medicine cat trails off, shuddering, and huddles into Beechfoot's fur.

The SkyClan medicine cat curls tighter around Hailwatcher with a quiet sigh, gently licking the little tom's ear.

Featherstar draws back with a grimace, surveying Hailwatcher's expression and looking as if she's finding something to say.

An awkward, stiff silence elapses; the little gray tom can sense the anger radiating off both Beechfoot and Featherstar, though they both try hard to hide it from him.

Hailwatcher, pawing his throat, clears it and braces himself to say one last thing.

"There's something else," he mumbles hoarsely, ears drooping down.

Featherstar raises a brow.

"Go ahead."

"Before that last thing happened, I had a vision and I..I thought that I should tell Slightstar about it. I didn't want to, but I wanted to stay on his good side...and be a good medicine cat."

Hailwatcher swallows.

"It was getting dark at that point, and he invited me into his den to talk about it. I saw his claws out and I got scared, but I still wanted to tell him."

"I told him about it and he hadn't said anything else, so I asked him if he liked being a father," murmurs Hailwatcher.

"He...got mad and knocked me over. He laughed and said that I was just a pawn to him. I guess he was trying to say that he didn't care about me."

"He was pushing down really hard on my neck and I couldn't breathe...he said that I couldn't save anyone and that the only reason he hadn't killed me yet is because he still had plans. I was trying to get him to let go of me, but he wouldn't listen."