Venom Within - WARRIOR CATS

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Dingofoot sheathed his claws at the same moment that I drew out my own.

"What are you doing here?" he asked quietly.

I didn't trust myself to speak. All I could think about as I stared up at him were the vicious dingoes. They had always been DuneClan's enemy, scaring prey at our borders. But they had attacked me ruthlessly. I could still envision the jagged edges of their claws, and the murder in their eyes.

"You're friends with them," I whispered. "The creatures who want to kill all of us! How could you?!"

Dingofoot's eyes widened. He stumbled off of me. I struggled to my paws, fur rising on my spine. The win howled mournfully around us, with the large twoleg structure casting long shadows across the sandy dunes.

"Explain," I growled. "Please, why would you ever do this? I trusted you."

"Trust is a fragile thing," Dingofoot said, not meeting my gaze. "It can easily be fractured and broken through secrets. You have known I have been with-holding something from you for a long time."

The weariness in his voice made me stop. A trickle of ice cold water bathed my spine as I imagined Burrowpaw grinning at me, leading me to my demise. Pricklestar's calm, reassuring voice as she promised safety in DuneClan, then watched as I was mauled.

I backed away. "You admit it." I shook my head. "Why not go lying again like the rest of DuneClan?"

"Pythonpaw," Dingofoot's voice was strained. "You know I'm not like the rest of them-" he flicked his tail around at the dilapidated building. "This should prove it."

"All I see is that you're conversing with the enemy," I whispered, watching my mentor wince. "Why?! The dingoes and rogues want to destroy DuneClan. Don't you hate Darkember? You were the one who was always warning me about what he's doing, and now-"

"Please, Dingofoot," I snarled. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't call you my enemy."

The sand swirled around me, obscuring my mentor from sight, and making my eyes water. I needed to get back to DuneClan before Darkember or some other cat noticed my disappearance. Pricklestar had promised far greater punishments for any more transgressions.

Dingofoot swallowed, and looked away. He dug his long claws into the ground, shifting from one paw to the other. At last, he whispered in a voice so soft, so vulnerable, that it was nearly blown away on the wind.

"I'm one of them."

"One of what?" I took a step closer, trying to understand what I was hearing.

"You wondered why I was not clanborn. You're probably also wondering how I can speak dingo. That is because my father's father was one," Dingofoot lifted his muzzle to the large twoleg building behind us.

When he spoke next, his voice had a layer of hardness.

"Here in the Outback, there is very little land where a large group of animals can truly survive. The clans reign supreme in their territory, but outside of it, the land is populated either by twolegs and their rotten structures, or preyless. Twolegs hunted my dingo ancestors, until they were nearly all gone," Dingofoot's claws curled into the ground. "Then, they decided to try to get them back."

I kept padding closer to my mentor, bewilderment making some of the anger wedge out of my heart. I let out a soft hiss, reminding myself of the jagged scratches on my underbelly the dingoes had caused. It felt as though my mind and heart were trying to pull me in two. I looked at Dingofoot.

"I don't understand."

"Fair enough," he let out a bitter huff as he stared up at the looming grey structure. "Neither do I. It's 'unnatural,' but... the twolegs stole my father's mother away from DuneClan. They brought her here, to this big building, and kept her in a big white room, and the twolegs came with all these scary devices. A few moons later, she was having kits, except they were half-canine, half-feline.