Warriors: Burnttail's Regret (Complete)

Chapter 24

 Burnttail weakly shook his fur and padded back in camp, looking around. It was the next day, and RiverClan was still in shock after what they found out about Spottedfur. Acaciapaw followed Burnttail, her eyes flattened. ''Burnttail..? Are you alright?''

 Burnttail blinked and looked at his apprentice, then he let out a sigh. ''I'm fine. Why?''

 ''You just.. didn't seem like yourself today.'' Acaciapaw whispered, then raised her head. ''You kept tripping over rocks and you stuttered a lot. I'm.. very sorry about everything, really..''

 Burnttail looked away, closing his eyes. ''I'm fine, don't worry about me. Come on, go and talk with your siblings.''

 Acaciapaw opened her jaws to say something, but then sighed and closed them, padding towards her siblings. Burnttail opened his eyes and looked after his apprentice, then looked around. His heart ached in pain when he remembered that, if it would be a few days ago, then right now he would walk towards Dogspot, Spiderfrost and Spottedfur and just gossip. But he couldn't anymore. Dogspot and Spiderfrost were dead, and Spottedfur was the cat who killed them, and she was also dead. Burnttail lowered his head and sat down, closing his eyes.

 Frecklestar hesitantely approached her deputy. ''Burnttail, I.. if you'd like, I could do the patrols for a while, until you recover from your loss. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this..''

 ''No.. no, don't be sorry.'' Burnttail whispered and raised his head. ''I'm.. kind of glad I did, I guess. Because if I didn't, then Spottedfur would still live with us, and we wouldn't even know she was a killer, but..''

 ''But?'' Frecklestar tilted her head.

 Burnttail sighed and shook his head. ''Nevermind. I'll just do the patrols, I guess.'' He meowed and got up, but Frecklestar stopped him with a flick of her tail. ''No, Burnttail. Look, you're still heartbroken after what happened. Take a few days off to rest, I know how you feel.''

 Burnttail shook his head, flinching when he realized that Dogspot said something similar to him after Snake died. He let out a wail. ''I can't, I'm the deputy. I already took a few days off once, after.. after I found Snake dead. I think Dogspot told you. But.. I can't do this again. I can't keep neglecting my duties, Frecklestar. I'm such a bad deputy..''

 Frecklestar flinched. ''You're not a bad deputy, Burnttail! You're a brave one. You went through a lot, and yet you still want to keep doing your duties. But your health matters more than doing your duties. Come on, atleast take a day or two off, I'll do the patrols myself.''

 Burnttail sighed. ''I guess I will, thanks.. But I still want to train Acaciapaw. I can't neglect her, either. I want her to take her last assessment tomorrow, along with all of her siblings, and I want to be the one that does that.''

 Frecklestar dipped her head. ''Of course, Burnttail. Now come on, go, I'll make the patrols myself.''

 Burnttail sighed. ''Thanks.'' He whispered, then he looked around, unsure of what to do. Then, he padded towards the camp exit and dived in the river, carelessly swimming to the other side. He got out of the river and shook his fur for a little bit, then he padded towards the hunting grounds. Leaf-bare would be here in a few days, and he wanted to hunt before the rivers would freeze.

 Burnttail crouched and watched the river, not letting his shadow fall on the river. When he finally saw a movement, he unsheated his claws and plunged his paw in the river, trying to claw the fish, but he didn't feel anything. He sighed and raised his paw. I was too slow.

 When Burnttail saw another movement in the water, he tried clawing the fish again, but it swam away. He let out an annoyed hiss. This time I was too fast! For StarClan's sake, what's wrong with me?