Duskowl's eyelids opened slowly, revealing the blurry image of skeletal trees against the contrasting whiteness of IceClan territory. He took a moment to lay still, hearing his own ragged breath move in and out of his lungs as condensation danced in front of his face. The world around him spun, warped and distorted like some cryptic nightmare.
Then a she-cat's amber tabby face appeared in front of him, "Duskowl? Duskowl, can you hear me?"
Her words triggered a ringing in his ears, and Duskowl squeezed his eyes shut again, praying for the high-pitched whine to stop. When at last it petered out, he reopened his green eyes and nodded.
"Good," the she-cat meowed, before moving to his side and bending down to hoist him upwards, "Come on now, we need to get back to camp."
The enormous brown tabby grunted with the effort as he pushed himself to his paws, relying a great deal on the support of the she-cat. His vision had begun to clear, and he now recognized Embermist, Hawkstar's sister. "W-what happened?" his aching muscles tensed, "Where's StreamClan?"
"Gone," Embermist murmured, "And so is IceClan."
Duskowl blinked, his head foggy as he glanced around. Red-stained lumps of fur dotted the battleground. But to his surprise, none of the bodies were of IceClan cats. "How did this happen?" he snarled, ears falling to his head and teeth bared in disgust.
Embermist's eyes were sorrowful, "It seems IceClan was involved with StreamClan this entire time. They fabricated that story of war to fool us and led us here to destroy our Clan."
"Those disgusting flecks of rabbit dung! I knew we never should've trusted them," Duskowl said grimly.
A group of cats was forming in the center of the clearing, with Hawkstar sitting at its middle. Duskowl leaned on Embermist's shoulder, and together they went to join their Clanmates.
The large orange tabby tom was covered in long gashes, and his eyes were dull, "Frostlion is dead," Hawkstar breathed, his head bowed in grief. Only then did Duskowl notice the limp body of the senior warrior lying at his leader's feet. Frostlion's once pure white fur was dyed a disturbingly vibrant red. "We must return to camp," Hawkstar didn't take his eyes off the fallen warrior as he spoke, "Only there can we rebuild our strength. Say your goodbyes now, to one of LeafClan's finest warriors, and one of the bravest cats I have ever known."
One by one, the LeafClan warriors limped forward to touch their noses to Frostlion's pelt. Duskowl leaned in to the old warrior's cold body, sending a silent prayer to StarClan to protect the fallen cat during his journey into the stars. Then, he split away and fell into the line of cats that followed Hawkstar toward home.
Realizing something, Duskowl picked up his pace, although his body protested. When he arrived next to Hawkstar, he slowed back down to walk alongside the leader. "Where's Ravensplash?"
Hawkstar sighed, dragging his paws as he led the slow march down the mountain, "I'm not sure, Duskowl. Her patrol returned to aid us in the battle against StreamClan, as you can tell, since Frostlion was there. However, I've spoken with Redwind, Berrythorn, and Whitepaw. None of them have any idea what happened to her. They say that she was the one to order them back to help us. And so they went."
"They didn't see what happened to her?"
"Apparently not."
"Well, then, she could be in grave danger," Duskowl's voice was a low growl, "After all, Darkivy and Mistpaw were with her as well."
Hawkstar narrowed his eyes, "I'm aware. But my duty is to my Clan, not my deputies."
Duskowl felt an uneasy feeling rolling in his stomach, but he lowered his head and trudged onward, "I understand."
His labored steps fell into rhythm as he and Hawkstar led their Clan, side by side, down the sloping hillside of the mountain. Snowflakes fell against their fur, and the brisk winds of the high altitude still blew all around them. With each pawprint he left in the snow, Duskowl grew one step further from the deputy they'd left behind.
» - - - «
By the time LeafClan reached their camp, the moon was setting and the first purple hued streaks of morning bled across the horizon. Duskowl limped through the fern tunnel, his green eyes soft with exhaustion. As soon as he and Hawkstar broke into camp, Oakflame bounded up to meet them. "You're late!" the medicine cat mewed, his eyes widening at the two cats' excessive wounds.
"Alderpaw!" Oakflame called to the air behind him, "Bring some cobwebs out here right away!"
Hawkstar's green eyes grew slitted at the sight of his brother, "Make sure everyone gets proper treatment before dawn."
Oakflame's stare was hard, "Of course."
Duskowl felt for a moment like the tension between the two littermates was so strong that it couldn't be cut with even the sharpest claws. He blinked, then stepped between the similar looking toms, "Hawkstar, I'll see to it that everyone gets directed to Oakflame and Alderpaw in an orderly fashion. Why don't you go get treated first?"
The leader's green eyes flickered, and for a moment Duskowl thought he was going to protest, but then Hawkstar nodded. "Fine," he agreed, following Oakflame towards the medicine cat's den.
Duskowl glanced briefly at his own wounds, which stung now with more ferocity than when they'd departed SnowClan territory. But he did his best to push the pain to the back of his mind as he went back through the crowd of cats, determining by the severity of their scratches who would need to be seen first.
When Duskowl had picked his way to the back of the mass of cats, he spotted the pale ginger pelt of Nettlesand. He stalked towards the tom after noting the dried red and brown blood that clung to his pelt. "Nettlesand, you should go see Oakflame and Alderpaw too. Those marks look nasty."
"What?" the small beige tom glanced up Duskowl, legitimate confusion shining in his bright blue eyes.
"Go see Oakflame," Duskowl repeated.
Nettlesand just stared at him blankly for a moment, then gave a curt nod, "Okay."
As he pushed past the deputy to cross the center of camp, Duskowl stopped him with his tail. "Nettlesand. I'm sorry about Ravensplash."
The tiny warrior blinked, "Me too."
Duskowl watched as the tiny warrior made his way to the small hollow that served as the medicine cat's den. He breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that every cat had been attended to. His gaze wandered to the fresh kill pile, and his long-empty stomach growled. I should have my wounds tended to first.
The medicine cat's den was packed. Cats lay everywhere on its mossy floor, their sides pasted with bundles of cobweb and poulitices of mashed dock leaves. Alderpaw padded inbetween his Clanmates, inspecting each one in turn, while Oakflame sat at the back of the den with Nettlesand.
Duskowl hobbled towards them, catching a whisper of their conversation.
"I'm not going to tell anyone, Nettlesand," Oakflame soothed, "Just try and act as normal as possible." The tom stepped forward to apply cobwebs to Nettlesand's ear, which was badly torn and bleeding profusely.
"Tell them what?" Duskowl asked, eyebrows raised.
Oakflame turned abruptly to Duskowl, clearly startled. He blinked, "Nothing that concerns you."
"Excuse me?" snarled Duskowl, "I am your deputy."
Nettlesand's blue eyes were distant, and he ducked his head to stare blankly at the floor, "Tell him, Oakflame."
"What?" Oakflame's voice was raised in a panic.
"Tell him," said Nettlesand, more insistant this time.
Oakflame swallowed, then turned his head back to Duskowl, "Nettlesand is... um, he's.... he's gone deaf in one ear."
Duskowl felt a shock wash through his body like a cool wave. He looked to the young warrior, "Is this true?"
Nettlesand didn't take his eyes off the ground, but there was no trepidation in is voice, "Yes."
A whirlwind of thoughts spun inside of Duskowl's mind. He knew what this meant. He knew what StarClan wanted when cats went bad. He knew what needed to happen to keep the LeafClan blood running pure.
Nettlesand would have to die.
// a.n.
not my baby! ;-; poor sweet nettlesand. let me know how you enjoyed this chapter with a comment. and please leave a vote and share this fan-fic with your friends! i can't thank you enough for all your support. ;)