Beast of the Sea - WARRIOR CATS

Chapter 20

While I waited for Whisper to return, I began to groom my pelt. I expected it to be salty, but instead there was a strange scent on it. I couldn't place it, but for some reason it felt as though I'd scented it before...

"Here you go," Whisper announced gruffly. I hadn't heard her return.

She dropped a soaking pile of moss at my paws. Still eyeing her pale blue eyes warily, I settled down, and began to lap the water out of the moss. I relished the fresh water, lapping it up until there was nothing remaining. Then, I tilted my head to watch as Whisper grabbed something from the left side of the den in her jaws.

"Herbs," she grunted, dropping the bundle, and using her paws to open it. "For your ear."

"My ear," I repeated in bewilderment as Whisper got some green pulp on her paw, then turned to face me.

"Yes," Whisper said guardedly. "Your ear. If you don't want the infection to come back, you should sit still and let me dob on this pulp Puddle mixed up."

I stared at her then, slowly, I ran a paw over my left ear. Or rather, where my left ear had been. I retracted my paw instantly partly from the pain, but also from how strange it felt. I stared up into Whisper's stony gaze, and saw a glimour of something like regret, but as quickly as I thought I'd seen it, the emotion was gone.

"Did you do this to me?" I growled, getting to my trembling paws and taking a pace back.

Whisper's eyes widened. "No," she rasped, then her eyes seemed to harden once more. "It was from your fight with Dewocean...You're lucky you survived."

Her voice was cold, and I narrowed my eyes instinctively. "So you know her name," I said slowly. "You know what she did to me. Are you with her?" I whipped my head around. "Is she here? Are you merely preparing me for her?"

"No!" Whisper yelped. After several heartbeats, she continued, her voice sounding as though some cat was strangling her. "You don't understand," she rasped. "I saved you. I saw you fall into the water. I dragged you down-"

"YOU DRAGGED ME DOWN?!" I shrieked, anger and confusion warring in my mind.

Whisper looked at me worriedly, while I took yet another step away from her. "There was a cave," she said quickly. "The entrance was underwater. I knew it was the only way-" her voice broke off. "The only way to save you."

I stared at her in bewilderment. Whisper was trembling. She looked up at me, eyes wild, as though she expected me to strike out at her. Part of me wanted to. Conviction surged through me that she was the reason I had been separated from my friends, from every cat I cared about.

I took a step closer to her. "Where am I?" I repeated, spitting out each word, my claws flexing in and out.

Whisper lifted her chin, an act that would have appeared defiant except for the obvious sorrow mingled with bitterness in her gaze. Slowly, the she-cat got to her paws, and padded towards me. I held my ground, not stepping back. It was when she was within a mouselength of me, that I felt my blood run cold.

Her spiky fur was dark grey in colour, and scars ran deeply across her flank, including one particularly brutal gash along her throat. Silver streaks could be seen close to her ears and paws. My growl died in my throat.

"You are where the defeated go," Whisper said, her eyes glittering. "This cave," she gestured with her paw, "the darkness here is so great that there are scarcely any shadows." A shiver rippled along her flank. "I came here in hopes that she would not find me, and she has not. She thinks I am dead, as she thinks you are too."

Her voice seemed to crack, and Whisper looked away. When she settled her gaze back on me, powerful emotions seemed to be warring in her ice-blue gaze.

"I thought you died. I was sure of it, after all, Dewocean had you in her paws. But she didn't..."