Warriors: Skytail's Reckoning (COMPLETED)

Chapter 27

"Skystar?" The leader looked up from where she was laying in a patch of dark, gloomy shade projected by the Fallen Tree. Skystar blinked a few times and realized the cat who was talking to her was Martenclaw, accompanied by Mistyfrond and Grayriver. Prey-scent wafted up her nose, sweet and tantalizing as she spotted a thrush in Mistyfrond's jaws. "Are-are you hungry?" Martenclaw's voice was thick with emotion as he blinked awkwardly at the leader.

Skystar begrudgingly shook her head, ignoring the pangs of hunger in her belly. "No. Give it to the queens or eat it yourself with the elders." She put her chin back on her front paws and she stared at her adopted kits' legs aimlessly.

Beside her, Sparkheart shifted and propped herself up on her elbows. Her once bright blue gaze was glazed and dull, as though she were trapped in a dark pit never to get out. "Jayfang has been complaining of starvation," she mewed to the three warriors, every word dragged out of her like thorns. Skystar winced at the raw grief and sorrow in her voice and screwed her eyes shut as tears threatened to overwhelm her senses. "Go give it to him and Sloestrike."

Mistyfrond shifted on her paws and cleared her throat. "Wh-what about the kits?" She asked quietly and Skystar gulped. "They-they want to see you two."

"They're in the nursery without you now," Grayriver added solemnly. "They're scared and sad about...you know."

Anger and grief washed over Skystar again and she opened her eyes into slits and glared at the tom. "Just say it," she hissed through her teeth and Grayriver's eyes widened with shock. "It's not like we can avoid it, right? Just say what you mean." A lump grew in her throat and she pressed against Sparkheart, her emotions becoming a whirlwind in her mind.

Martenclaw sighed and took the thrush from Mistyfrond and pushed it toward the two she-cats. "You haven't eaten in two days," he urged gently, prodding the bird with a paw. "The Clan doesn't want to see you two starve yourselves."

"Too bad." Skystar growled and shoved the fresh-kill toward Sparkheart, who looked away quickly, her eyes tightly closed. With a pang of guilt, she remembered the dismay and hurt on Petalkit, Dapplekit, and Thriftkit's tiny faces when she told them Featherpaw wasn't coming back anymore.

"What do you mean?" Dapplekit had wailed when Skystar hid them from Featherpaw's dreadful vigil. "Featherpaw always comes back!"

"Yeah," Thriftkit had added with confusion. "Doesn't she like us anymore?"

Skystar was taken aback by their questions. "O-of course she loves you." Her voice cracked as she recalled her daughter's happy face whenever she played with the younger kits, teaching them how to hunt and fight.

"Then why isn't she coming back?" Petalkit had demanded, stamping her paw on the ground in frustration. "If she really loved us, she'd be here right now!"

"Kits," Skystar had felt crushed by their need to believe Featherpaw still loved them. She'd always love them. "Featherpaw...went on a journey that will take a very, very long time for her to come back." She'd gone against trying to explain that their older sister was dead, even when Skystar couldn't believe it herself. "When the time comes, you'll see her again, okay?"

Her head spun from the lie and secret she kept from her kits- her own fur and blood- that she'd forced herself not to sleep in the nursery for three days. The three days where Featherpaw would've been so excited to be a warrior with her new name, talking to all her friends and chattering eagerly about leading her first patrol. But that'll never come now, she's never coming back. Skystar felt a pain in her chest she hadn't felt since her father's death so many moons ago. Even so, the pain had returned and more agonizing than ever.