My claws scraped the bottom of the stone tunnel as I sprinted through it. Tears blurred my vision, but it was far too dark to see anyways. I knew these tunnels like the back of my paws, so it mattered not.
Finally I reached the centre, the main area, so to speak, of the tunnel. The moonlight coming through the hole in the top of the cave was the only thing illuminating these dark, terrible caverns. I glanced around, seeing just how many tunnels there were and remembering how many forks and splits there were in each individual tunnel. For a moment panic and fear gripped me, and I called out to the silence, as loud as my lungs would allow me.
"Shatterfang!"
I wailed. The only response were my own voice echoing off the tunnel walls. Panic gripped me. He was still here, wasn't he? I waited by the tunnel exit for him for several suns. He should be home by now. Louder now this time, I called out again. "SHATTERFANG!" My voice hurt from calling out his name.
My paws gave out beneath me and I collapsed to the ground, my breath coming out in silent sobs. Where was he? He had to be here. His sharpclaw ceremony was three suns ago. I had waited outside the exit from the moment he left. But now it had been too long, if he hadn't stopped to rest there was little chance he'd be alive.
After the panic and crying settled down, I began searching each tunnel. Each fork, each twist, and each turn, with slow and careful precision. I made sure each end of the tunnel, each cave-in, each old den, was empty. I went through several tunnels with no luck, but my heart dropped when my nose met Shatterfang's scent at the inclined tunnel. This tunnel had taken so many lives, and I'd retrieved so many cats from here. Shatterfang couldn't have met his demise here, right?
I padded along the tunnel, my fear-scent overpowering that of Shatterfang's. I knew how this tunnel ended. It was a steep upward slope, and at the top there was a hole in the ceiling. It hadn't rained, so this tunnel hadn't flooded, but the tiring trek up only to come to a dead end could kill a cat that hadn't rested or eaten.
I came to the end of the tunnel, where I found nothing of Shatterfang other than a tuft of fur. I tried not to panic again, but it wasn't easy. I headed back through the tunnel, now contemplating why I was given this job. I clung to the tuft of fur I found, my only solace against the crushing fear of losing him. When I first became the softpaw retriever, I thought it would be me entering the tunnels, being he hero who had saved the softpaw. But now, after countless moons of doing this job, I hated every second of it. So many of the cats I retrieved were dead. My only hope was that Shatterfang hadn't shared their fate. He was the only cat I loved, and I feared the pain of losing him would be far too much to bear.
I searched every tunnel, coming back each time empty-pawed. Defeatedly, I began padding towards the exit tunnel. He wasn't here.
As the fresh air washed over my muzzle, Shatterfang's scent did too. Hope filled my heart, and I began racing down the tunnel, out into the open air. His scent was strong here. He had just left the tunnels. My hope turned to dread as I bent down to follow the scent trail he had left. Blood. I hoped his paws were just raw, and he wasn't hurt badly.
I continued following his scent trail, until it abruptly came to an end. I looked around. *Where is he?* I thought panickedly. I searched the area, checking behind every rock and in every tree stump. Nothing. He wasn't here either.
After a while of hopeless searching, I went back to the tunnel exit. He'd come back some day, if not from the tunnels then he'd at least pass by here and see me.
As moonhigh came and went, I refused to leave my spot. Shatterfang's scent on the outside of the tunnel started to fade, but I waited yet. My stomach began to growl, but I refused to move. I'll eat once he returns, I told myself.
Days, weeks, moons passed, Shatterfang's scent faded, and yet I waited. He'd come back. He had to come back.
