The scent of Foxclaw overwhelmed her. It was dizzying, having the sickly scent wreath around her again. The brown tabby's eyes shone with delight. "Dovepaw," he breathed.
Dovepaw unsheathed her claws. "Get away from me," she hissed, "fox-heart. You kept your dark secret from me until Lynxstar finally exiled you. Why would I trust you ever again?"
Foxclaw stepped forward and let his tail run over her spine. A tendril of ice ran up it. "Dovepaw . . ."
Dovepaw drew back, hissing. "Don't touch me!" She bared her teeth.
Foxclaw didn't flinch. He gazed at her steadily. "Dovepaw, think about all those times we spent by the stream . . . don't you miss those days? Don't you want to go back to what we were? I sure do miss the days when you liked me. I wish they were back because you were all I had."
Dovepaw flinched as Leafpaw's explanation ran through her mind again. She looked Foxclaw in the eyes, her ears flattened and teeth bared. "There is no 'we' anymore. I'm not yours anymore, and you are not mine. So leave. I don't want to see you ever again. I thought you knew that." She backed towards the shadows. "I have to get back to camp."
Foxclaw shook his head. "No, you don't. I know you don't. You just want to get away from me, right?" A flash of hurt crossed his gaze. Dovepaw's heart lurched as his face became as serious as it ever was. "Why don't we go to the stream again, like we always did?"
An image of herself and Foxclaw flashed across Dovepaw's mind. Her anger becoming overwhelming, she leaped at Foxclaw, claws unsheathed and outstretched. She succeeded in making a perfect blow to Foxclaw's muzzle. He yelped with sudden pain and rounded on Dovepaw. He jumped and unbalanced her. Then he held her down with one strong paw. "I don't want to hurt you, Dovepaw, but you obviously want to hurt me. What has gotten into you?"
Dovepaw growled. "The question is, what has gotten into you? You're a fox-hearted, dung-faced, crow-food-eating, snake-tongued traitor!" She kicked upward to his belly, flinging him off her and into the bushes. Her hind paws were stained with his blood. She stood up and faced him when he steadied himself again. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Foxclaw's gaze darkened. "Why do you hate me so much all of a sudden?"
Dovepaw growled again. "You know why! Tell me, what has driven you to betray me, your littermates, your leader, and your Clan?"
Foxclaw didn't answer. He looked speechless for once. "Dovepaw, I . . ."
"And you're still keeping secrets from me! You said you loved me. You said you cared for me, for the Clan! And look at you now. You refuse to tell me—the cat you thought would be willing to be your mate—and then leave. What kind of loyal cat does that?"
"It wasn't me who made the choice to leave, it was Lynxstar's."
Dovepaw curled her lip in a snarl. "That's not the point! See, you try to get out of conversations like this! What kind of warrior are you? Now leave or I'll make you!"
Foxclaw backed away, his eyes flashing with alarm. "But, Dovepaw . . . I wanted a second chance with you."
"And hedgehogs fly." Dovepaw rolled her eyes.
"Please," Foxclaw pleaded.
Dovepaw paused, gazing into his amber eyes. There was warmth and apology in them.
"Trust me, please." Foxclaw ducked his head. "I never meant to hurt you."
I don't think I should listen to him, but at the same time, I do want to have all those times with him again. "Foxclaw . . . I can't." She shook her head, realizing she was becoming soft because of him and his sneaky tactics. She closed her eyes for a moment and then glared at him. "No, Foxclaw. I can't."
Pain shone in Foxclaw's eyes. "You promised when we were apprentices. You promised. You promised that you wouldn't let the medicine cat code get in your way."
"Maybe I did. But now I am older and more mature. I know that doing something kit-like like this will get me in trouble. Big trouble," Dovepaw hissed through gritted teeth. "You don't understand what it felt like to realize that you lied to me, and to realize that you were a murderer, a traitor." She turned her back on him. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going back to camp."
"No, Dovepaw, don't leave . . ." There was pain and feelings of betrayal in his desperate voice.
Dovepaw turned back. "Now what?"
He glanced up at the sky, his eyes clouded with grief.
Dovepaw gasped.The half moon shining brightly upon them brought up an unwanted but helpful thought. Sparrowfeather turned because of MoonClan, and only MoonClan wants to kill us off. So that must mean . . . "Foxclaw, you snake-heart! You're with MoonClan!"
Foxclaw's gaze shot back to Dovepaw. "No, no, you don't understand."
"Oh, I understand. Why else would you kill Frostfeather, who did no harm to anyone? Why else would you be so secretive, and not even give me a hint when I thought you loved me?" Dovepaw turned her head away, her throat becoming tight. "Why else would you trick me and then leave me?"
Foxclaw stepped forward. His scent wreathed around her, soothing and sweet. He brushed his muzzle lightly against Dovepaw's cheek. "I'm sorry. I made a mistake, and now I see how that affected you. I just couldn't bear to see you hurt and heartbroken. But I see I have failed. I'm sorry."
Dovepaw hesitated. Then she purred gently. "I know, I overreacted. You didn't deserve that. I see why you didn't tell me, and I forgive you." She looked up at him with a revived affection.
Foxclaw looked troubled all of a sudden. "Why did you turn me in, though? I thought you promised that you would keep on keeping us a secret."
"I was angry. I knew you were hiding something crucial from me, so I felt betrayed and heartbroken, and I thought I would never forgive you again," Dovepaw explained. "Oh, Foxclaw, I'm sorry."
Foxclaw licked her ear. "Okay. We don't have to talk about this anymore. That's in the past."
Dovepaw nodded. She closed her eyes, feeling safe in his presence, and sighed softly. Foxclaw began to lick her head affectionately.
"Dovepaw!" Badgertooth's worried yowl split the air. He sounded extremely worried.
Foxclaw lifted his head. "It sounds like you have to go."
"I'll meet you at the stream again . . . ?"
"When?"
"I don't know—just be there every night." Dovepaw dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'll be looking forward to it."
Foxclaw nodded. "Yes, me too." He touched her nose with his.
Dovepaw flicked her tail. "Goodnight."
"Night," Foxclaw called as she entered the shadows towards the path where Badgertooth waited.
"What was in there? Are you okay?" Badgertooth asked.
Dovepaw glanced over her shoulder. "Nothing much . . . it was a lovely surprise, though." She looked back at Badgertooth, expecting him to ask another question. She believed he would think it was a collection of beautiful flowers since it was spring, but it didn't matter much because Badgertooth didn't ask any further questions.
But Badgertooth just gazed at his apprentice. "That's wonderful, Dovepaw. Now let's get back to camp." He flicked his tail and they were off towards the camp. The moonlight shone down on the path, lighting it as though StarClan was showing them the way.
Back at the arch that led into the camp, a shadow lay still at the foot of it. Something was glistening near the top of it. It looked like foam. Cautiously, Dovepaw stepped forward. Her breath caught in her throat. Whitefoot! There was a half-eaten mouse beside him. Dark red berries glistened inside. And he's been fed deathberries. Immediately she opened Whitefoot's mouth wide and began to scoop up the mushy deathberries from his mouth. She threw it on the ground. "Come on, help me get him to the medicine den!"
"Er . . . right, yes." Badgertooth nodded and helped her support Whitefoot to the medicine den and laid him on the mossy nest. Dovepaw grabbed some yarrow and gave it to Whitefoot.
"Come on, you have to eat this," she pleaded.
Whitefoot groaned and cautiously chewed the yarrow and swallowed it. He immediately vomited on the medicine den floor. Dovepaw jumped out of the way of the gross, mushy substance. The black-and-white tom moaned painfully and collapsed on the nest, exhausted.
"Hey, what's going on here?"
Dovepaw turned around to see Frozenfang standing in the archway. "Oh, hi. Can you go guard the camp? There's an emergency here," she suggested. She tried her hardest to stay calm, but Whitefoot's life was at risk! Well, I guess that's it now. It's as easy as swallowing a minnow!
Frozenfang cocked her head curiously, but she didn't ask any questions. "Sure. She turned around and left the direction of the camp entrance.
Dovepaw sighed with relief. "I did it! I saved him!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, you did." Badgertooth touched her cheek with his nose. "Good job. I have trained you well." He glanced back at his kit, lying motionless on the nest. "Well, what now?"
Dovepaw narrowed her eyes. Shouldn't you be the one to figure that out? Right— he's testing me. "Well . . . with the pain that the deathberries brought him and the fact that he should be sleeping, I think poppy seeds would be best in this situation, just to close it up."
"That was easy. Okay. Do that then," Badgertooth commanded.
Dovepaw nodded and scooped up a couple of poppy seeds from the store. She gave them to Whitefoot. He licked them up and fell asleep. "That was . . . easy. What do you think happened?"
"Well, I think that MoonClan saw this as a way to kill off another one of our cats since we—the two medicine cats, the cats that save the dying in the Clan—were gone and since the rest of the cats in the Clan were asleep," Badgertooth explained. "But now it's all okay."
Dovepaw sighed. She glanced down at her paws. "I just wish that they would leave us alone. They've been causing so much trouble."
"Trouble that we can manage," Badgertooth pointed out. "If we couldn't manage it, we would be crow-food for sure by now."
Dovepaw winced. That was extremely true. Maybe they would be crow-food if they couldn't manage, if they didn't leave their old home. But that way, I would be a warrior like I always dreamed of as a kit. "Well, for now we can sleep, I guess."
Badgertooth nodded, slipping into his nest. "Yes. We sleep." He curled up comfortably and closed his eyes.
Dovepaw glanced at Whitefoot, then at the clearing of the camp. Then she slipped into her nest also, curling up and letting herself drift into a well-needed sleep.