Warriors: The Fall of the Clans: Sunlight

Chapter 12

Foxpaw blinked.

His hackles were raised, his claws unsheathed, and as much as he tried, he couldn't get his pelt to stop bristling.

"What?"

The tom had a wide, unsettling, giddy grin. "I'm here...to destroy you. RiverClan...has angered my patron. And now, you'll pay." The tom leaped, his claws outstretched, ready to tear into Foxpaw's flesh. "What's going on?" Tigerpaw's assertive voice was demanding, but Foxpaw was too busy trying to dodge the tom's attacks that he had no opportunity to reply. Foxpaw wildly looked around, his claws gripping the bark of the tree so tightly they ached.

"Now, no need to fight me, kitten. I'll end you either way." The tom had landed on the branch closest to Foxpaw, who scrabbled down the trunk, meeting a bewildered Tigerpaw's gaze.
The tom laughed, loud enough for Tigerpaw and Foxpaw to hear him from the ground. The tom lightly jumped down. "What in StarClan?!" Tigerpaw glared at the attacker. "Get off RiverClan territory, kittypet." But this only caused the tom to laugh harder. "Oh, foolish kitten. I'm taller than you, faster than you, bigger than you, and frankly," He smirked, and Foxpaw swore he looked completely insane. "Much deadlier than you."

Tigerpaw didn't back down. "But see, that's the thing. There's two of us. And only one measly flea-ridden you." Foxpaw tried to match the older apprentice's ferocity. The tom laughed. "And now you die." He watched them idly and Foxpaw felt tense.

How would he attack?

And then, before either of them could react, the attacker was holding Tigerpaw down, his claws extremely close to Tigerpaw's throat. Foxpaw felt his breathing hitch.

No...not another death. I won't let him die!

Foxpaw leapt at the tom from behind, scrabbling his claws against the tom's spine, earning a hiss of pain. The cat arched his back, trying to throw Foxpaw off, but he held on. Tigerpaw took the opportunity and swiped at the attacking tom's paws, making him lose his balance and stumble.

"You a rogue? You fight like one." The tom spat out, glaring at Foxpaw.

Foxpaw froze.

He wanted no memory of his kithood, especially not now. "I'm a cat of RiverClan, no rogue." Foxpaw made sure he kept his voice cool. The cat laughed at him, resting his head on the ground where he laid. "You look exactly like her mate..." He found this hysterically funny. The attacker rose up, as though the claw marks running down his back were nothing at all. Tigerpaw matched Foxpaw's alarmed state. The tom was still laughing. "It's Night's kit, out and about and alive! The kit who was left in the forest! The kit who became a puny little runt."

Foxpaw launched himself at the tom. "Shut up!' He seethed, dodging the tom's blows directed towards Foxpaw's skull, instead hitting the tom's foreleg. The attacker didn't fall, instead, he stopped laughing, eyeing Foxpaw gleefully.

"Wait! Wait! I surrender." Foxpaw was ready to deliver a killing blow, but Tigerpaw raised his tail. "The warrior code." He reminded Foxpaw, who stopped at that moment. He was a warrior now. Or at least, he would be soon. No honour in killing a surrendered enemy.

Foxpaw stood down. "What now?" Tigerpaw's expression was nothing short of grim. "We take him back to Froststar."

The stranger laughed, padding ahead of them. "Lead the way, little kits. Lead the way to your doom." His matted ginger fur had dirt and small twigs stuck in it, and Foxpaw maintained as much distance as possible. Tigerpaw led the way after catching up to the intruder, while Foxpaw was fine walking last. He realized they hadn't even gotten a real chance to practice.

The way back was long and silent, with occasional mocking words from the tom. Foxpaw tried to ignore it, focusing on the path ahead of him. Tigerpaw stopped, signalling to Foxpaw with his tail as he began walking towards Froststar's den. Stonewhisker watched from the warriors den suspiciously, and Icepaw saw them as well. She looked at Tigerpaw questioningly, but he'd already walked past her. Foxpaw didn't meet her gaze either, figuring he didn't want to get involved in any silly drama at the moment.

"Who's there?" Froststar's voice broke the silence.

"It's Tigerpaw and Foxpaw. We found an intruder." Tigerpaw explained. He walked into the den, and the tom looked around, seemingly analyzing everything he could. It made Foxpaw uneasy. Froststar was sitting up and Ripplewing sat with him, her expression tense. "We were going to go train, but then this tom snuck up on us and told us he was here to destroy RiverClan." What he said was alarming, but Tigerpaw's voice was levelled and calm. Froststar nodded.  He flicked his ears. "Thank you. You two can go, we will handle this." Tigerpaw was about to protest, but a pointed stare from Ripplewing silenced him. He nodded. Foxpaw turned around, walking out of the den, his unease only growing. "Who do you think he is?" He asked Tigerpaw. The other apprentice only shrugged, his eyes narrowed. "Whoever he is, he's bad news." Icepaw joined them as they neared.

"What's going on?" She asked pressingly. "We found a rogue on our territory who said he'd destroy RiverClan." Foxpaw summarized. She blinked, before narrowing her eyes. "I don't like the sound of this..." Tigerpaw shook his head. "Neither do I."

Foxpaw bade them goodbye, and made his way to the apprentices den. Moonpaw was still there, but she was cleaning up Dawnpaw's nest. The sight twisted his heart. She really was gone. Foxpaw, deciding no one should have to do something like that on their own, joined her. She looked up, but didn't say anything. "Do you know where they took her?" Foxpaw asked, sweeping up moss before too sing it into the growing ball in the corner. "I think Ravenflight is helping Oneeye with prepping her before the vigil." She murmured. "What do you think she'd say right now? If she could speak to us." Foxpaw thought for a moment. "I think she'd tell us to hurry up and stop being slowpokes." Moonpaw's whiskers twitched. "Yeah, probably."

The ball of moss was large, and Foxpaw nudged it along outside. It was dry,and so he took it with him outside of camp. A bit deeper into the territory, he began to dig into the soft earth. Foxpaw buried the moss, then hurried back. He wanted to stay do the entirety of the vigil, and so he decided he'd take a nap.

Foxpaw noticed that he hadn't seen Stormpaw since yesterday and looked around camp for him, to no avail. He shook his head, and decided that he must just be out. Everyone had their own ways of dealing with grief.

Settling down in his nest, Foxpaw curled up and closed his eyes. Whenever he'd come close to sleep, his lungs began to feel as though they were being crushed, his mind simply looking for ways to survive but finding none. The currents of the water, dark and unforgiving, pulled his downwards, assuring him he wouldn't make it. Foxpaw tossed and turned, haunted by nightmares and memories.