Warriors: The Deadliest Challenge

Chapter Nine

The weight of Lizardwing's body on Ambertail's back made her drag her paws. Toadleap padded beside her, helping to carry the light brown tabby's body. Palestride and Ripplecloud were walking slowly ahead of them, and Wolfwhisper walked at the rear of the patrol, letting out sorrowful mewls every now and then.

The Clan sat vigil for Lizardwing that night, with his closest friends and kin sharing tongues with him one final time. Cinderstream, who had been Lizardwing's apprentice, had comforted Wolfwhisper deep into the night, while other cats padded drowsily to their nests to get some sleep. Ambertail tried to stay awake for as long as she could, feeling that she needed to reconcile with Lizardwing's spirit after the rivalry they had had during the competition, but after two consecutive sleepless night, Ambertail was pulled easily into sleep.

Having awoken early that morning, Ambertail had offered to help the elders carry Lizardwing's body for his burial.

The four cats padded silently to their burial ground as Wolfwhisper let out a final wail of anguish. Ambertail gently placed Lizardwing down, letting him roll off her and Toadleap's backs, and onto the ground in front of where the elders were digging his final resting place.

Wolfwhisper stepped forward and groomed Lizardwing one last time. "I want him to look his best for StarClan," she whispered.

"Of course," Ambertail mewed gently, placing her tail on the grieving queen's shoulder. Wolfwhisper suddenly looked into Ambertail's green eyes, regret filling her own.

"I also wanted to say...I'm so sorry for thinking you pushed him out of that tree two sunrises ago," the dark grey she-cat apologised. "The way you tried to save him yesterday, well, I won't ever forget that, Ambertail."

Ambertail knew she could never tell the queen the truth about how Lizardwing had tried to push her out of the tree, it would be too painful for Wolfwhisper to take.

"It's okay," Ambertail soothed, rubbing her tail along Wolfwhisper's back. They both looked back to the elders; they had carefully lowered Lizardwing's body into the hole they had dug, and were starting to push dirt back over him.

"Let's get back to camp," Toadleap suggested. "Palestride and Ripplecloud know what they're doing."

***

Everyone was gathered at Sunhigh beneath the Great Stump where Driftwater was standing, instead of Streamswirl. Soft droplets of rain were falling on the Clan, but everyone was too curious to take shelter.

Driftwater looked out at the gathered Clan anxiously, his fur standing on end. "I-ugh." He gulped. "I'll be announcing today's challenge, as Streamswirl is tending to Sprucejump currently."

"That's frog-dung!" Toadleap stood up. "She's too ashamed to show her face after what happened!"

Fishpatch and Frogskip both yowled in agreement, while Waterheart and Swallowflight nodded. Ambertail could see Wolfwhisper's slitted eyes as she sat at the edge of the nursery, listening intently.

Driftwater tried to take back control of the situation. "I'm j-just doing what m-my mentor told me to." His stammering mew gave away his nervousness.

Pinewhisker stood up and glared at Toadleap. "We've come this far into the competition, we may as well see it through."

"Easy for you to say, you're still in the running!" Toadleap growled.

To Ambertail's utter astonishment, Appleblossom turned to her and asked, "What do you think, Ambertail?"

Toadleap stared at Appleblossom, his mate, with disbelief.

"Well, um..." Ambertail had no clue what to say. "I guess...I-ugh, I agree with Pinewhisker." She looked at the light brown tom, who was beaming at what she said. "We're down to four cats, as long as each of us is careful, and we all look out for each other to keep one another safe, we may as well see what this holds for us. We need a leader, after all."