Warriors: Broken

Chapter 9

⠀⠀ Ashfang flattened his ears as his eyes shifted from Jayfrost to Jaxx. He unsheathed his claws with a growl when he noticed the dead body of the tabby sprawled unnaturally behind them, with blood staining only Jayfrost's pelt.

⠀⠀ "You did kill her, didn't you," he murmured, eyes narrowing in disgust. Jayfrost parted her mouth to deny it, but before she could speak Ashfang was sinking his claws into her pelt. Jaxx let out a hiss and clawed at the black and white warrior, creating a gash along his shoulder. He let out a shriek and tumbled back, but Jayfrost wasn't done. Pure hatred fueled her now. Hatred for Wrenflight, hatred for lies, hatred for secrets, and hatred for clans. With an outstretched claw, she created a deep slice along his neck. He yowled and weakly kicked her off.

⠀⠀ "I'll never trust you again," he wheezed. "Nobody will! Thunderclan will hate you for moons to come, and soon the others will too!" Ashfang snarled as he staggered away, reluctantly wading into the shallow water and into Thunderclan territory, leaving a trail of red behind.

⠀⠀ Tears stung the back of her eyes once again, though this time she let them fall. Her legs became wobbly as she padded towards the river, staring at the rocks beneath the thin, ever-changing layer of water. Her paw reached into it, but it was soon pricked by a sharp stone. Droplets of crimson swirled into nothing as they plummeted into the water. Jayfrost then shifted it so it hovered over the other rocks. She noticed how the ones not submerged in the river were stained with blood, even if they had no part in releasing it from her paw, yet the one guilty of the crime was washed clean. A sudden realization came to her mind. Wrenflight was the sharp rock, protected by the water, which represented Willowstar, who constantly forgave the ginger feline of all mistakes, whether she knew Wrenflight had committed them or not. Jayfrost was the stained rock sitting helplessly at the edge of the water, its colors giving a false warning to all who passed by.

⠀⠀ "I have to have revenge," she murmured as the flow of blood came to a stop. Jaxx appeared startled as he padded to her side.

⠀⠀ "Revenge on what?" he mewed, with an odd mixture of worry and ambition tinging his voice. His black pelt became rustled as the sound of a cat echoed ahead of them, somewhere close to them in Thunderclan territory.

⠀⠀ "What was that?" she whispered. Jaxx shot her a glance as the figures of several cats came rushing towards them on the other side of the river.

⠀⠀ "I don't know. Run!" he hissed, nudging her and bolting into the mess of trees and vines that lay behind them. Jayfrost followed, but she only got so far before her paws became tangled in dense foliage. Thudding paw steps simultaneously approached her.

⠀⠀ "Jaxx!" she wailed, tears streaking her cheeks. Would she be murdered by rogues? Had Wrenflight created a group to track her down and kill her? A vague answer soon became clear as she realized that the scent of Ashfang tainted her attackers' pelts.

⠀⠀ "Shut up, murderer!" a voice snapped. It was her old mentor, Nettleheart. His snowy fur had the blood of Ashfang on it, and one of his paws was placed directly in front of her nose. She gagged at the scent, though it was more from the disgust she had towards herself rather than the smell of blood.

⠀⠀ "What will we do with her?" Spottedwing mewed quietly. She could tell that all eyes were on the back of her pelt, their gazes tearing through like a dog's teeth as it attempts to reach flesh.

⠀⠀ "We'll take her to Willowstar, I suppose," Hollowtail said with a sigh.

⠀⠀ "What do you think she'll decide to do?"

⠀⠀ "I'm not sure, but I know that we'd probably never find this one again," he mewed, motioning to Jayfrost, "if we didn't catch her now. Who knows? Maybe Willowstar will be glad that we caught her."

⠀⠀ Fear caused Jayfrost's body to go rigid. She didn't know where Jaxx had gone, or if he had even escaped. With each pulse of her heart, adrenaline pumped through her veins. Slowly, she worked her paws out of the mess of undergrowth until she was sure that she'd be able to bolt once she was out of them. The group continued discussing what to do until finally Nettleheart suggested that they bring her back. Just as he had lifted his weight off of her, Jayfrost darted into Thunderclan territory. She heard a worried yowl from Jaxx, but ignored it as her paws swiftly carried her through the familiar territory.

⠀⠀ She veered to the left, cats hissing behind her. Jayfrost flattened her ears as she realized that she was running towards the camp. The dappled feline slid to a stop at the outside barrier, wheeling around to run the other way, but she was tackled by a pair of tabbies before she could convince her paws to move.

⠀⠀ "Why'd you do it, Jayfrost?! Why?!" Adderbite sobbed as Timberwing corralled her into the camp. She backed away, looking at him with an emotionless glare. Wrenflight padded up to her, for once with real tears rolling from her eyes. She unsheathed her claws, preparing to lunge at Jayfrost, but Nettleheart stopped her. The look of defeat plastering itself onto the ginger tabby's face was too much. A wicked smile curled the corners of Jayfrost's mouth as she turned to face her.

⠀⠀ "Funny, isn't it?" she hissed, padding up to Wrenflight. "You accused me of murdering Sparrowcry when I was innocent. I was exiled because of it. Now that I actually have killed someone, you're crying. You're crying because you loved him, but so did I. The only problem is... well... he loved you. I just took something that was important to you and killed it. Just like you've been killing me. I know who you are."

⠀⠀ Shock and fear replaced the tears as Wrenflight's hackles rose. She took a step forwward, trying not to appear afraid, before taking a deep breath. "Tell Willowstar that I have a specific request as to what happens if we decide to further punish... Jay," the she cat snarled.

⠀⠀ "It's okay, Wrenflight. I already know what I want to do," Willowstar said solemnly as she eyed her old clan member. "On tomorrow's moonfall, every cat except for kits will attend. We'll rid ourselves of her for good." Gasps echoed through the clan, followed by rushed murmurs of disapproval.

⠀⠀ "Willowstar," Blossomfall began, "you can't do that. Exile her? Sure, that's fine. But to take her life?" Yowls of agreement erupted from half of the group, while others simply shook their heads.

⠀⠀ "She has killed two cats within a single day. Would you like her to continue?" The clan went silent. "Good. Then I need four volunteers to watch her. Two tonight, two tomorrow."

⠀⠀ Flamestripe, Daisytail, Quickstep, and Snakefoot padded forward. Jayfrost was surprised that Wrenflight didn't volunteer, but she realized that the ginger feline would probably have other business to attend to. Quickstep and Daisytail were to be the first to watch her, with Flamestripe and Snakefoot taking their place at sunrise.