Cinders to Flames

Chapter 23

(To improve the experience, read while listening to 'Irene's Theme' by David Arnold & Michael Price.)

Cinderfrost stared at Appleheart for a moment, and then to the she-cat and her kit. The cream tabby's eyes widened with fear.

"No," she took a few steps back. "The kit is innocent."

Appleheart bared her teeth. "I'm leading the patrol. You must do what I say. Kill the kit." She said with a snarl. Cinderfrost looked down at the kit. He had the same cream coloured fur as his mother, and a forest green gaze. He must have been a few moons old. She turned back to Appleheart, and gave her a hard look. "Traitor," she snarled, striding forward to the queen and her kit. "I'll do it myself. Wax, hold her back."

The rogue let out a screech and threw herself at Appleheart. Wax and Bronze wrestled her to the ground with ease. "Make sure she can see," Appleheart ordered. The kit whimpered, his little stump of a tail quivering with terror. Cinderfrost swallowed hard, but couldn't make herself look away. Appleheart raised a paw and sliced the kit's soft tawny furred flank. The force of the blow threw him across the ground. The cream she-cat let out a yowl of grief and fury, struggling against Wax and Bronze's grip. Cinderfrost felt her throat tighten. Appleheart hooked the kit up with a paw and threw him once again against the ground. The kit tried to limp away, but Appleheart planted his tiny form against the ground with a paw. She unsheathed her claws and the kit's blood pooled beneath him. Another few blows and kit lay motionless on the ground, his now blank and blurred eyes gazing sightlessly at his murderer. "Free her," Appleheart ordered. The cream tabby collapsed by her kit's now still body, her body shuddering with grief. "Let's go." Wax and Bronze started to follow the red and white she-cat.

"Are you coming?" Bronze asked, and then saw the horrified look on her face. "You'll get used to it," she murmured before turning away and leaping after her companions.

Cinderfrost stared at the dead kit and his mother. I shouldn't get used to it. This is... This is evil. That kit didn't deserve to die. Blackwhisker was right. These cats are monsters.

She slowly walked up to the cream tabby. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

"How could you?" She cried, "how could just watch her kill him? And then apologize afterwards?"

Cinderfrost stared at the ground. "I should have stopped her," she murmured, "I should have."

The tabby shook her head and looked down at her kit. She stroked his bloody flank. The devastation in her eyes made Cinderfrost's heart sink. She leant down next to the queen and started to clean the blood from his fur. The rogue joined in and they worked in silence.

"His name was Olive." The queen finally spoke. "He loved to watch the clouds and chase his tail. His father died before he was born. Whenever I saw my little kit I was reminded of my mate." She paused as she choked back tears. "He must be buried somewhere beautiful."

"I have just the place," Cinderfrost meowed solemnly.

She and the cream coloured queen carried Olive to the single maple that stood at the border of the twolegplace and FrostClan territory. The maple's leaves had started to regrow after they fell off during leaf-fall. The maple seemed to stand out against the barren space between where the twoleg nests stopped and the trees began. Cinderfrost imagined it as a symbol of defiance. It refused to be one with the rest of the trees in forest, but was too wild to belong in the twoleglace. It didn't really seem to belong in either place.

When they finished burying Olive, Cinderfrost sat vigil for him until the sun started to rise into the sky. When the queen asked her why, she told her of the ancient rituals of her clan.

"I always thought the clan cats were the killers." She mused quietly after listening to her.

Cinderfrost dipped her head to the queen. "It is time for me to return to my clan," she explained. "I'm sorry that I didn't save your son."

She shook her head, forlorn. "There was nothing you could do. My name is Briar. Thank you for helping me bury Olive."

"It was what needed to be done. My name is Cinderfrost. I hope you will forgive me one day. May StarClan light your path." Then the two went their separate ways.

A stranger watching from a distance would see two cats, one walking in the direction of the forest and the other to the twolegplace. Between them stood a lonely maple, swaying slightly in the frigid wind. A single lily lay beneath the tree, marking the death of an innocent.

Yes I wrote two chapters in a day. I'm sick and sitting at home with nothing better to do, what do you expect.