~Again, sorry the last chapter was so long and I had to keep it going on this one.~
CHAPTER 43
Dawnstar watched Fire's ginger pelt fade into the trees. A groan behind him shocked him back to reality.
"Sableheart!" Dawnstar ran back to his friend's side. Sableheart's eyes were dull with pain. Blood matted his pelt on his flanks and shoulders. "Hang on, Sableheart!" Dawnstar grabbed the silver warrior's scruff and started to half carry, half drag him towards camp.
"Dawnstar," he croaked. "Dawnstar, let me go, I'm fine."
"No you're not, mouse-brain!" he muttered through Sableheart's fur.
"Let me go!" he groaned. Dawnstar dragged him towards the edge of the trees, out of the way of the few cats left fighting in the clearing, and settled Sableheart onto the grass.
The silver warrior's eyes fluttered open. He looked himself up and down, gave his bloodstained chest a few licks, and tried to get up. He slowly put weight on his hind paws, and pushed up with one of his front paws. He tried to put the other forepaw on the ground and walk but he winced and pulled back. He smiled. "I'm not dying, you idiot." He let Dawnstar lead him around the trees into camp.
The camp was in chaos. The battle patrols had managed to keep most of the rogues out, but a few made it past the Clan cats. Four EarthClan warriors were guarding the corner of camp with the medicine den and nursery, each battling a rogue of their own. Many wounded EarthClan cats were huddled together in that corner. Some of their pelts were matted with blood. Others had fur stained with poultices. Cherryfoot and Finchpetal were darting from cat to cat with herbs in their jaws.
Dawnstar sped up against Sableheart's protests and led him into the safety of the corner. As soon as they made it past the rogues Sableheart collapsed beside Amberstrike, who was bleeding from a deep cut on her flank.
Cherryfoot was still licking poultice onto another warrior's wound farther down the line of waiting cats, so Dawnstar settled down between Amberstrike and Sableheart. Sableheart just leaned on his shoulder. Ambershine looked at him dully.
"Dawnstar," she croaked. "I'm not sure we can keep this up."
"I bet we can!" Dawnstar protested. "They're almost defeated!"
"And so are we," she muttered sadly. "Look around, Dawnstar. Look at me." She folded her paws under her chest, wincing as her back legs were forced to move. "I don't want to defy you but if I have to go back out there, I don't know what would happen to me." She flicked her ears. "I'm out."
"Me too," mewed Brindlepelt on her other side. He showed one of his forepaws, which was matted with blood. One of his claws was wrenched out. Thin claw marks ran halfway up his leg, and some were still bleeding. "I couldn't use this paw if I tried. Those cats are tough."
"But Cherryfoot and Finchpetal will heal us," Dawnstar bristled. "Have faith in our medicine cats!"
"I agree with Dawnstar!" Scorchpath growled. His ears and shoulder were coated in yellow sweet-smelling poultice. "Stand by your Clanmates, you mouse-hearts!"
"We can't just throw ourselves back into battle," Amberstrike argued, "not when over half of the Clan is already down for the count! There are only about ten cats out there, for nearly thirty of us!"
"Dawnstar!" Cherryfoot came rushing over with a mouthful of herbs. She looked him up and down. "Get out there, you mouse-brain! We need all the help we can get!"
Dawnstar nodded. He shrugged Sableheart's head off his shoulder and nudged him over to lean on Amberstrike. He raced back into the forest.
There were only a few cats left fighting, but almost all of the were rogues. Five or six warriors lingered around the edge of the clearing, licking their wounds. Only two or three warriors were in a group in the middle, surrounded by twice as many rogues.
He pounced on a rogue and chewed his ear. The rogue growled beneath him and flipped Dawnstar on his back. He shredded the rogue's belly and jumped up, jabbing his forepaws and making him trip forward. Dawnstar aimed a blow at his head and the rogue screeched and dashed off.
"Dawnstar!" Fawngaze called behind him. She was clawing at a rogue. Dawnstar sliced into her attacker's back, bit down on the rogue's tail and sent it running, leaving a trail of blood. Fawngaze nodded and stood beside him.
As they caught their breath Fawngaze pricked her ears. "Did you hear that?" she asked warily.
Dawnstar listened over the battle. He heard pounding on the forest floor and a wave of fear washed over him. He unsheathed his claws.
"Oh, no." Fawngaze gasped as a wave of rogues swept into the clearing, pounding down the undergrowth. They were snarling with anger at the cats in the clearing. All the EarthClan cats escaped their own opponents and huddled with Dawnstar and Fawngaze in the center of the clearing.
Fawngaze, cringing beside him, suddenly relaxed. "Thank StarClan."
"What are you talking about?" Dawnstar cried. He scanned the sea of rogues and suddenly realized that fear-scent was in the air. All over the place. And that almost all of the rogues were bleeding or seriously wounded.
"They aren't running to us," Fawngaze said slowly. "They're running away!"
"But what could so many of them possibly be afraid of?" asked Bouncestorm, voicing every cat's question.
The rogues swept towards the EarthClan group, but didn't crash or lash out. They flowed around the cats, screeching in terror of whatever had been chasing them. The group was gone as suddenly as they'd appeared.
Snowypaw came stumbling towards Dawnstar from camp. Her eyes were wide with shock. "I-I tried to find Harvey..." she stammered. "He's gone. Have you seen Fire? Or Cardinal? Cardinal killed him, I just know it." She sunk to the ground. "Harvey's dead. They killed him." Sunnycloud wrapped her tail around her daughter.
Dawnstar's fur prickled as he felt the tremors again. He saw a patrol of cats darting through the trees and burst into the clearing.
"Aha! Those mouse-hearts," growled a silver she-cat. "That'll teach them to mess with TreeClan!"
"TreeClan?" Dawnstar recognized the faces of five TreeClan cats, breathing in their fresh -and familiar- scent.
Tigerstep was leading them. "Dawnstar." he sniffed. "Those rogues fled onto our territory. Chase them out of the forest next time."
Dawnstar eyed. He led the EarthClan cats toward camp, sliding through the rock entrance. He looked around camp and saw that the rogues were gone. He sighed with relief.
The wounded cats stumbled over to the corner of camp. Every cat was resting, most covered in bright poultice that shone in the sunlight. The TreeClan cats followed them in carefully. Tigerstep turned to the silver she-cat and whispered in her ear. She nodded briskly and rushed out of camp.
Dawnstar scanned the group of wounded cats. Shadefire... Patchpaw... Sableheart... Specklegaze... Rainpaw. He looked again. Cherryfoot was gone.
"Dawnstar?" Frostpaw was behind him. He turned around. Her white paw was stained with blood.
"Frostpaw!" he snapped. "Didn't I make sure all the youngest apprentices stayed in the nursery?" He growled under his breath. What kind of rogue did it take to hurt a little cat like Frostpaw?
Her eyes were wide with shock. "Some cats got past the warriors, and one of them started attacking the kits... so I tried to fight him off..." She shook her paw. Blood trickled onto the wet ground. "Buzzardkit is bleeding. Where's Cherryfoot?"
His eyes darkened. "I'm not sure." He looked around again for her dark red pelt.
He heard a cat wailing in a group on the other side of camp. He led limping Frostpaw there and shouldered his way through the crowd.
Amberstrike was crouched over Brindlepelt's body. She was wailing her brother's name. Brindlepelt's eyes were glazed over. Blood was streaming down his dark tabby pelt from a deep wound below his neck.
Amberstrike was shaking with sobs. Dawnstar laid his tail-tip on her shoulder. It didn't help.
Peachnose rushed through the crowd. She growled and nudged Brindlepelt's body. "Brindlepelt! Wake up!" She nosed his bloody fur. "Don't go to StarClan yet, my kit," she whispered. Aldergaze came up behind her and rested his tail on her shoulder. Aldergaze nosed Brindlepelt's fur and sighed.
Aldergaze shook his head. "No, this wasn't supposed to happen." He looked up at the sky. "They're just rogues."
"Why would they take my brother away?" Amberstrike growled, following her father's gaze. "Why would StarClan take him?"
Dawnstar leaned forward and touched Brindlepelt's limp body. His fur was warm with blood, but the scent of death was already in the air.
"I saw his death," Eaglefeather mewed. "A red rogue was trying to break into the nursery. Brindlepelt scraped him up bad, but the rogue slashed his neck and ran." He padded forward and nosed Brindlepelt's fur. "He was an amazing mentor. I just can't believe a rogue got the best of him."
More cats flooded forward to grieve for Brindlepelt. Dawnstar padded to the nursery to check on the kits and elders.
"Hello?" he called. "Is everyone out?"
Shadowheart slipped out from behind a rock. "I was just checking that the kits were out," she meowed hoarsely.
"The kits?" he echoed. "Where are the kits?"
Shadowheart shrugged. "But there's no cat in here, so I assumed the queens had led them outside..."
She was interrupted by a sharp yowl from outside. "Go and see to Brindlepelt," he ordered Shadowheart. Her eyes flashed -she must not have known about his death- and rushed out. He followed her outside and pricked his ears. It was coming from his den. He ran over and scrambled up the rocks and into the cave.
He heard screeching from deep in the cave and claws scraping the rock. He made out two bright red pelts in the dim light.
His blood ran cold when he heard the mewling of kits. "Kits!" he called. "Get out of there!"
He heard the kits scrambling, wailing as they made their way around the two battling cats and towards Dawnstar. Hazelkit, Buzzardkit, Acornkit, Viperkit, and Sprucekit scampered under his legs. Moorkit was coming out of the shadows leading Floatkit, whose sightless eyes were wide with fear.
"It was soooo scary," Hazelkit hissed. Sprucekit huddled closer to her.
"I-I wasn't even that scared," Acornkit stammered.
"You liar!" Viperkit mewed, trying to be playful. "Your tail was between your legs the whole time Cherryfoot-"
"Cherryfoot!" Dawnstar let his eyes adjust to the darkness and made out Cherryfoot's green eyes flashing with anger in the darkness. He felt his paws tingle, wanting to jump into battle to help his mate. He turned to the kits. "All of you, stay just outside the cave. Don't move or try to go down until some cat comes to get you," he mewed sternly. They nodded and scrambled out into the sunlight.
Cherryfoot and the rogue were still hissing and spitting. Dawnstar ran further into the cave.
Cherryfoot paused for a split second and saw Dawnstar. Her eyes filled with hope. As soon as she was distracted the rogue grabbed her neck and slammed her head down on the rock. Dawnstar gasped. He heard the kits wails outside. They must be watching. "Get back!" he shouted, not taking his eyes off Cherryfoot. The whole Clan had to hear what was going on now.
He heard more scrambling on the rock outside. Two cats suddenly rushed past him and dove into battle.
Dawnstar scented TreeClan in the cave. "Mintstar!"
Mintstar didn't turn around. The other cat -he only saw shadows in the darkness- pulled the rogue off Cherryfoot. Mintstar dragged Cherryfoot's limp body away from the two cats. They caught their breaths, studying each other.
"Cardinal," hissed the black cat. "We meet again."
"Cardinalclaw," the red tom hissed. "You're such a traitor, Harvey."
Harvey! Dawnstar made out the black tom's pelt in the dim light. The two cats circled each other.
"I'm a traitor?" Harvey said. He was incredulous. "I'm not the cat that outcasted his brother and sided with that dictator!"
Cardinalclaw rolled his eyes. "You abandoned our side," he huffed. "What kind of a beetle-brained cat leaves the strong side, along with a good home and strong cats for protection--"
"Those crow-food-eaters wouldn't have protected us for a mouse-tail!" Harvey snarled. "And you knew it, trying to get in good with Fire and then abandoning me and Speck!" His eyes flashed. "You don't deserve a Clan name! Fire's a joke, for making up those stupid names! And now you're going to pay, Cardinal!"
"CardinalCLAW!" The rogue spat and leaped at Harvey. Harvey wasn't trained at all like the Clans, but it still shocked Dawnstar when instead of sidestepping, he took Cardinalclaw's attack head on. Harvey grabbed his shoulders and dug his claws in, slamming Cardinalclaw on the rock on his side. Harvey held him down but Cardinalclaw jumped up and sliced his claws down his side.
Dawnstar turned to Cherryfoot. Her head was bleeding below her ears, and from some scratches on her legs. Mintstar was licking her wounds and carefullly watching the two battling cats. Dawnstar ran over and wrapped his tail around Cherryfoot's shoulders. "I'll take her," he whispered to Mintstar. "Please go help the black cat. Please."
Mintstar nodded knowingly, and with a last look at Cherryfoot's limp body, ran into the fight. She raked her claws across Cardinalclaw's chest, sending blood raining down.
Dawnstar started licking Cherryfoot's fur. She didn't move. Her breathing was shallow. Dawnstar licked quicker. He heard sounds from outside, the desperate wails of the kits outside as a cat rushed past them. Snowypaw kicked aside the lichen, making sunlight flash her shadow on the cave floor. She was breathing heavily and her pelt was matted with blood across her flanks.
"Harvey!...Cardinal?" Her eyes flashed. "I should've known!" Her claws slid out and she was about to jump in when a high shriek cut the air.
Mintstar stood catching her breath. Her eyes were wide with shock, and blood was running through her cream-colored fur. Harvey was panting, standing over Cardinalclaw's limp body. Blood was streaming down his face from scrapes across his head. Dawnstar heard a small whimper and looked down at Cherryfoot. She was watching, too.
Snowypaw was staring at Harvey. Her green eyes were wide as moons. Harvey's were, too. After a few moments she blinked, and looked from Harvey to his brother's body, and back again. She rushed forward, burying her face in his neck fur. He licked her head.
"...Dawnstar..." Cherryfoot's mew was barely a whisper.
He looked sadly down at her body. "Cherryfoot?"
Mintstar padded up behind him and looked down at her body. Snowypaw and Harvey nodded and padded out of the den, each taking a kit in their jaws.
Cherryfoot blinked. Her eyes were dull. "I can't feel my legs."
Dawnstar licked her ear. The tang of blood stung his tongue. "I'm so sorry, Cherryfoot."
Cherryfoot blinked. She slowly picked up her head and licked his nose. She looked up at the cave. He followed her gaze. Nothing.
Her eyes were dreamy. "It is my time to join StarClan," she whispered. Mintstar gasped behind him.
"No, no it's not," he said quickly. "No. You're going to be fine, Cherryfoot. The cat that hurt you like this, he's dead now. That means you'll be fine. Finchpetal will help you, and I'll help you." He blinked at her. "You can't go. EarthClan needs you."
She shook her head feebly. "No, it is my time." She looked around his shoulder at another random place in the cave. Her eyes flared. "Get away, Coalstar," she hissed, barely above a whisper.
Dawnstar ignored it and licked her red ears again. "No, please don't go. Please."
"Finchpetal will carry on without me," she said. "Just one more thing... Make sure that Floatkit never becomes a medicine cat. Hazelkit and Buzzardkit must train together. And Moorkit... he must take care of his brother... Take care of the kits..." she whispered, trailing off. Her eyes began to close.
"NO!" He jerked her shoulders. Her eyes snapped open. But they were dull. It was too late. Dawnstar buried his nose in her still-warm fur. He shivered. Cherryfoot was gone.
Mintstar laid her tail across his shoulders. She said nothing, but nosed Cherryfoot's flank in respect. She picked up a kit, all of which were keeping their distance from the cats inside, and started down the rocks.
Dawnstar sat in silence, in the darkness, feeling sorry for himself. Sorry for Cherryfoot. For EarthClan. For the kits. Who had led Cherryfoot to StarClan? She was probably in their hunting grounds by now. Brindlepelt was her kin, born from the same parents in a different litter. They would go together. The TreeClan cats that had been killed by the foxes would go with them. That had been only yesterday. Yes, they all would go together to StarClan, the land of no boundaries. He would have to die nine times before he could join his ancestors.
He looked up at the mouth of the cave. Light filtered in through the lichen. He saw a faint shadow pass across the light. He blinked.
He turned back to Cherryfoot's body. A pool of blood surrounded her head. The scent of death wavered around the cave now. Dawnstar looked toward the cave entrance. The last set of tiny paws that he could see under the lichen, disappeared. He heard more scrabbling on the rock.
Dawnstar grabbed Cherryfoot's scruff and half-dragged her body to the cave mouth. He shoved aside the lichen and gingerly pushed her body to the ledge.
"Dawnstar?" Aldergaze looked up at the ledge. His eyes widened when he saw Cherryfoot's body.
Dawnstar tried to pick her body up but she was deadweight now. He wasn't sure how he'd ever get her body down.
Aldergaze was at the bottom of the rocks now. "I-I'll come get her," he stammered. He rushed up the rocks and dragged her body down the rocks before Dawnstar could help him.
Dawnstar jumped down the rocks. As soon as Cherryfoot's body reached the ground Peachnose was there, licking her daughter's fur. Aldergaze took a deep breath and brought her body beside Brindlepelt's. By then the Clan was surrounding the two bodies.
The TreeClan warriors were crowded awkwardly beside the camp entrance. Tigerstep was standing away from the crowds like he was EarthClan deputy. Sweettail was leading Finchpetal to Cherryfoot's body. Finchpetal pushed through and buried her nose in her mentor's bloody fur. Sweettail did the same.
Dawnstar barely had a moment before Skypelt came rushing up. His ear and tail were coated in dark poultice. "Dawnstar, I understand you're tired" -he looked at Cherryfoot and Brindlepelt- "but we have to at least send out the sunset patrols." He looked up. The sky was already darkening.
"Do you honestly think any cat is fit to go patrolling right now?" he snapped. "But I guess you're right." Dawnstar padded up to a boulder and jumped up.
"Cats of EarthClan," he started. Most of the warriors and apprentices looked up. "I want to thank Sweettail for coming to help us with herbs. TreeClan warriors, thank you for helping to chase the rogues away." Tigerstep stood up straighter. "EarthClan warriors, I understand that you're not prepared, but we need patrols." The cats below murmured. They sounded worried.
He hopped down from the rock and went to the center of the group of cats gathering there. "Shortwhisker, lead a hunting patrol. Take Squirrelcloud, Amberstrike-"
"Amberstrike?" Shortwhisker asked skeptically.
"Right. Take Squirrelcloud, Creamflight, and Springpaw and Stormpaw. Smokeyes, lead a border patrol to the FieldClan border and take Clovermist, Eaglefeather and Flamepaw. Lightwing, lead a hunting patrol and take..." Dawnstar looked around the group. "Take Shadefire, Sunnycloud, Sparrowbelly, and Leafpaw."
As the patrols headed out grudgingly Dawnstar padded to Cherryfoot's body. The elders and a few apprentices were beside Brindlepelt's body. Finchpetal, Sweettail, and Spottedclaw were beside the medicine cat. Dawnstar sat beside Finchpetal, who was bent over Cherryfoot's body.
"She's in StarClan now," he whispered. Finchpetal nodded.
Shadowheart separated from Aldergaze and Peachnose and touched Dawnstar's shoulder. "It's getting late," she mewed. "When the patrols return we will have their vigils. You should get something to eat." Shadowheart had to pull Dawnstar away from the body to go to the prey pile.
All that was on the pile were two sparrows and a rabbit. Shadowheart took the rabbit and set it down in front of them. She took a bite. "We're sharing. Take a bite."
Dawnstar slowly took a bite. It was stale, but he swallowed it and took another bite anyway. He realized he hadn't eaten since this morning. Shadowheart purred.
After they'd finished they sat in silence until the moon was high and the patrols came back into camp. The prey pile tripled in size; Lightwing had taken her patrol back to the mole's nest they had found that morning. Cats crowded around Brindlepelt and Cherryfoot to share tongues with them for the last time.
Dawnstar sighed. He padded over to the crowd and started licking Cherryfoot's flank. She would be okay in StarClan.
*Okay, one last chapter! I finally updated!! BTW the pic to the right is what Mintstar should look like. THANKS!*