"Have you gone to see Minnowfrost's kits yet?"
"It's been a half-moon now. Almost everybody in the Clan has."
Pebblescar watched, his gaze trained intently on the two warriors. They'd come out to hunt together. He'd heard from other patrols, which had gossiped about them proclaiming themselves as mates any time now, but he hadn't cared much about the information except that it meant they'd be alone, compared to normal patrols, which had been increased in size. He let a grin creep onto his face. All because of him.
Lakestrike sighed in response to Pikenose's answer. "What with the things those kits had to go through before being born, it's only expectable."
The creamy brown tom nodded as he raised his head and dropped his jaw to taste the air for prey. "It's quite a pity."
The she-cat made as if to reply, but Pikenose's expression morphed and he abruptly cut her off. "Is that scent - Pebblescar?"
Pebblescar held his breath as he watched. He'd rolled in some unknown but especially vile-smelling substance to cover his odor and he only hoped that they were smelling the trail that he'd purposely made and not him.
"I smell it too," Lakestripe said, her tone stripped of its lightness and now filled with seriousness. She shared a glance with Pikenose. "Do we get more cats and follow him, or should we go after him ourselves?"
"I-" Pikenose cut himself off, staring in the direction of the trail. "I want to, but you saw-" His voice trembled and he broke off once again, before finally continuing. "You saw what he did to Gartooth, Featherlight, and Ripplefoot."
"I remember," Lakestripe said, her voice tight. "It's not something that I can ever forget." She turned. "Let's go."
Pikenose followed her, casting one last glance through the gaps in the trees to where the trail led.
---
Two sundowns later, Pebblescar observed carefully through the reeds as the excitement and playing of Minnowfrost's - no, his - kits slowly died down and they eventually fell asleep in a pile of small bodies.
Minnowfrost watched wearily from the side, a small smile that spoke volumes of contentedness and tiredness at the same time covering her face, finally getting and retrieving them once all were silent, taking each one to her nest. Reedkit awoke and began to wail before Minnowfrost shushed him, and he drank her milk for a moment before lapsing back into sleep.
"Minnowfrost," Hailtail's voice came, and she stepped out from the shadows on the other side of the den.
"Yes, Hailtail?" the gray she-cat lifted her head and raised her gaze to Hailtail. Pebblescar's heart gave a pang at the sight of her beautiful, clear blue eyes.
"You should really eat something. Trout, perhaps? Water vole if you're feeling otherwise?" the medicine cat asked, some unidentifiable expression playing over her face. "Come along with me, and we can share something."
"I-" Minnowfrost glanced down at her kits and back again at Hailtail. "Well - I don't think - could you possibly grab something from the pile for me? I'm sorry to trouble you, but-"
"But what, Minnowfrost?" Hailtail took another step forward, a mask of no expression falling over her face barely a moment after Pebblescar was able to make out the concern. "But what? I noticed. I noticed you, muttering in your sleep, the way you flinch when some cat abruptly calls you out, how you bring your kits closer to you when they stray too near the entrance to the den."
Minnowfrost's expression grew troubled. "Hailtail-"
"No, Minnowfrost. You're wrong."
"What are you-"
Hailtail's tone was ferocious this time as she interrupted. "You know what I'm speaking about!" She leaned close to her face. "Pebblescar - he is gone, Minnowfrost. He is gone. He cannot do anything to you from where he is - from the dark place that those with tainted souls, those whom the darkness has taken over, whose minds have been warped by evil, where they go." The medicine cat stood, tall, and proud, and for a moment, Pebblescar thought that stars had appeared in her pelt, but they gone were the next time he blinked. "And they cannot touch the life-filled lands of ours, the places where blood still flows inside veins, where the warrior code stands strong."
At that moment, Pebblescar realized, watching Minnowfrost's face, that something had been troubling her, something she'd kept hidden and none but Hailtail had noticed. But as the medicine cat spoke, each word cleared away more and more of her worry.
"You know they found his blood, Minnowfrost. No cat can lose the amount of blood found at the border and survive." Hailtail laid her tail on Minnowfrost's shoulder. "If you don't believe the warriors, believe me, as a practicer of healing."
A dark smile slipped onto Pebblescar's face. He remembered the terrified face of the kittypet, the blood Hailtail spoke off streaming out of the long gashes, the strands of his own fur slipping through it as he rolled in it, leaking his scent onto it.
"Thank you, Hailtail." Minnowfrost's voice brought him back to the present. "I - just - it's so hard for me. To believe that he's gone." The silver she-cat closed her eyes, and Pebblescar realized that she meant the statement both in an apprehensive and wistful way.
"But you must, Minnowfrost. There is nothing else to do but believe."
Both she-cats were silent for a moment before Hailtail spoke again. "Alright then. Get up."
"What?" Minnowfrost asked, her mind elsewhere.
"Get up. You're still coming with me for that trout."
"But-" Minnowfrost glanced at her kits before accepting with a sigh. "Alright." She carefully disentangled herself from the small forms, making sure to not accidentally wake any of them.
She rose, stretching her body, and Hailtail led the way out of the den.
Triumph rose inside of Pebblescar. Finally. He'd been waiting for an opportunity where Minnowfrost was absent. There may've been something wrong with Pebblescar's conscience, but he'd lost none of the smarts that had eventually made him deputy. He knew that one of the most dangerous fights in the world would be one in between a mother and her young. But Minnowfrost had seemed to somehow know, unlike the guards stationed around the nursery, who had dispersed after the site of his alleged death had been found.
He waited a few heartbeats longer, straining his ears until he could no longer hear the sound of their pawsteps, and then stepped out of the reeds, stealing around the side of the den and casting one last glance about him before slipping inside the yawning, dark hole that was the entrance. He passed right by the kits, looking for another first.
Bumblebuzz lay sleeping, her body rising and falling softly with each breath. Well, Pebblescar thought as he padded to her, it wouldn't be for long. He pushed over the young medicine cat, and her eyes opened, widening almost immediately when she saw him, but her cry was cut off by his jaws closing around her throat and her body flexed under his for a few moments before she laid still.
He removed his teeth from her flesh, running his tongue over his canines before turning to where the kits lay. He made his way to them, quickening his pace. He had no idea when the other two inhabitants of the den would be back, so he needed to get done as soon as he possibly could.
Pebblescar reached out a paw and softly pushed Reedkit off of the pile, and the movement caused all three kits to awake in a series of mewls. He quickly shushed them.
"Who are-" Pebblekit began, but his namesake cut him off.
"Quick! ThunderClan is attacking! We need to get out of the camp!"
"Oh!" Reedit's eyes lit up.
"But Minnowfrost-" Rainkit started.
"Minnowfrost will come later. We're the best warriors, right? We need to go first," Pebblescar said hastily, glancing towards the entrance to the den.
"Yes!" Pebblekit said, but then his eyes narrowed. "Who're you?"
"I'm Pebblescar," he responded, and suddenly made a split-second decision, looking the kit in the eye. "And I'm your father."
All three of their eyes widened simultaneously. "But Minnowfrost said our father was Reedstorm!" Reedkit exclaimed.
"It's not him. It's me. Minnowfrost was just playing a game with you," Pebblescar said.
"But she looked sad-"
"Never mind that! Don't you want to get out of camp?"
The kits looked towards each other, but the excitement won out. "Yes!"
"Alright then, follow me! And make sure to stay quiet! We don't want the enemy to know we're here, now, do we?"
"No, we don't," Rainkit said, her eyes round as she shook her head.
Pebblescar began to slink by the walls to the entrance, and the kits followed, giggling slightly and tripping over themselves. They made their way outside, the warrior quietly shushing them from time to time, but satisfaction grew inside him more and more as they neared the forest. Finally, they slipped through, and Pebblescar let a smile slip onto his face.
"Pebblescar? Are we there yet?" came Pebblekit's mew.
"Just a little farther," he replied.
But in reality, it was only beginning.
~ Duskie ~