Call of Honor #1: The Apprentices' Honor

Chapter Ten-The New Leader

Batpaw stared at the dead bodies with shock. "This can't be...Juniperstar is dead..." She muttered, feeling the grief rippling through her. It opened an empty space in her heart, making her feel like she was floating in nothingness. She couldn't feel her paws, nor her tail. Not even her body. No emotions, no crying. Just plain, dull emptiness.

Batpaw was tired, really tired. It felt like she had been out in the snow for ages. The events of this day were starting to become too much for her. First, that hunting session with Ironpaw, Coalwhisker, and Spiketooth. Then Brightkit disappeared, having the whole Clan looking for him. And now, Juniperstar was dead, and so was Brightkit's mother, Tinyshine. Poor Brightkit! She wished that she could be somewhere else, maybe in a warm nest without any problems. That would do just fine.

Batpaw closed her eyes with a sigh of exhaustion. She didn't want to see the bloody corpses of her beloved Clanmates. She just wanted to sleep. Sleep solves everything.

That was the moment when she heard a low, but very aggressive growl. She opened her eyes to see Ironpaw next to her. The silver-and-white tom looked really bad. He was sitting there like a piece of prey waiting for its end. His shoulders were hunched, his ears were flattened against his head tightly, and his soaked, thick fur clung to his frame. He was also trembling, and his tail was swishing with anxiety. And Batpaw saw something strange in her best friend. She didn't know what, but it was there.

"Ironpaw!" She moved closer to him, nudging his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Ironpaw looked up slowly, meeting Batpaw's gaze. Batpaw almost flinched back from the silver-and-white tom. There was something in his eyes that she had never seen before in them. In the green depths of Ironpaw's eyes, there was pure, harsh, blazing rage. The caring, gentle warmth that Batpaw had seen in the morning was completely gone from his gaze. His face was twisted into a dark expression, reflecting nothing but deadly anger. This wasn't the cat she knew. This cat was frightening, dark, angry, and somehow evil.

Ironpaw growled in a low, intimidating tone. Batpaw took a step back from him. What happened to Ironpaw?! He would never harm her, right?

"Someone. Hurt. Them." Batpaw managed to make out the tom's words from his growls. "Someone. Hurt. My. Clanmates." Ironpaw was roaring now, but his voice was almost unhearable in the caterwauls of the confused, grieving FrostClan cats.

Batpaw just didn't understand. Her mind was too tired to figure this out. It seemed like her friend didn't even recognize her. She took a careful step forward. "Ironpaw?" She asked, looking into his eyes uncertainly. His answer was only a low growl. He hung his head low, looking at his claws that were dug aggressively into the snow.

Batpaw stepped to his side, but he didn't even look up. He just kept staring blankly at his paws. She stroked her tail across his spine, trying to comfort him. "Ironpaw?" She murmured soothingly into his ear. "Are you okay?"

Ironpaw finally looked up at her, the malicious gleam disappearing from his eyes. Only heavy grief remained in them. Maybe he is just really angry because Juniperstar died, Batpaw told herself. She had never seen her best friend this furious.

"Yeah..." Ironpaw muttered weakly, his tail drooping. Batpaw could see that he was just as tired and confused as her. She laid her tail calmingly on his shoulders. It must be really hard for him, she mused. Seeing deaths after his family succumbed to that sickness must be horrible. She didn't know what she would do without Adderclaw. Her mother wasn't the most caring and loving mother in the world, but she was at least there, not like Ironpaw's mother, Squirrelbreeze.

Speaking of Adderclaw, Batpaw couldn't see her anywhere. Her heart began racing. Where is she? She craned her neck, hoping to catch a glimpse of her mother's red tabby fur.