The Surviving Few (Warrior Cats)

Chapter eleven - separated at last

"Remember to breathe," Honeydusk told Raindrop. She could not quite keep the purr out of her voice. Raindrop could not see what was so funny.

Honeydusk padded away to stand beside Leafwillow; Raindrop felt unreasonably bare and cold as their flanks separated. Honeydusk could not stay with her forever, Raindrop did not even know why she wanted her to, but it was her secret wish nonetheless. It was stupid; for all she knew, Honeydusk was glad to be rid of her. Calming her down just now had only been her natural instinct as a trained medicine cat. A fantastic one, at that.

This secret little wish of hers was not, however, top priority as of now. It would just have to go away. Raindrop gave her pelt a shake, rather roughly.

"Just follow me," Ryespring told the group, "and stay alert."

And so they did.

Raindrop was grateful her brother had taken it upon himself to lead them; she was not sure she could have managed it at the current moment. She was glad, even more so, that they were moving at last. Even if her desires would never be fulfilled, StarClans simply had to.

...

The RiverClan camp Raindrop had once known was paradise compared to what had become of it now. Bones of killed prey were scattered around and outside dens, looking as if the flesh had been torn off them rather viciously. Amongst them lay the many shells that had once lined the nests of RiverClan warriors and prisoners alike. The fresh-kill pile consisted of crow-food, feathers, bones, and... blood. The rogues had stayed here for a while, that much was obvious. And even if they hadn't, Raindrop thought, the fire would have caused big enough damage by itself.

The sight made her heart ache, made her wish for the past, when things had been okay. She could not let herself feel these things, yet pushing them down was becoming harder and harder.

Worst of all were the rogues strolling around as if they owned the place. One thing was certain: the rogues were the literal definition of the word foul.

'Remember to breathe.'

She would.

...

"Now what do we do?" hissed Sharpsight, though, thankfully, he kept his voice down. Still, Leafwillow shushed him at once. The group was stood behind a rock that covered the lot of them, though barely.

"We can't just walk in, we don't even know what we're here for—" Ryespring broke off as Leafwillow once again hissed, "hush!" She then looked expectantly at Raindrop. Raindrop felt utterly useless; now that they were here, she had no clue what they were supposed to do. She stared down at the ground, unwilling to meet anyone's gaze but the earths. The earth always forgave.

"Oh, look — over there!" Poppypaw exclaimed under her breath. She waved her tail frantically toward the medicine den. "There's a cat in there!"

"Is it a Clan cat?" Ivywing asked abruptly. A rogue cast a suspicious glance in their direction. Sharpsight glared at Ivywing. Leafwillow only frowned.

The rogue turned around and carried on with what he had been doing: picking apart a piece of fresh that looked perfectly well and edible.

In the shadows of the medicine den lay a shape, seemingly asleep. There was something disturbingly familiar about its flecked coat, those cool, blue eyes...

"Drizzlestar," whispered Raindrop and Ryespring simultaneously. Ryespring went on, "we have to get her out. It looks like they've captured her." He managed to keep his voice lower and quieter than Ivywing ever could.

"And how do we do that?" Sharpsight asked. Poppypaw added, "I'm sure there's some way."

Raindrop frowned. She half expected Ryespring to come up with a plan for them. He had always done so when they were little, when their mother was in a bad mood and refused to let them leave their nursery. Their father abandoning her for Springfall was their fault, clearly. Him taking Strawkit was too, of course.

She remembered sneaking out through the hole in the very back of the nursery den, the creeping through the camp, avoiding warriors and especially their distant father, then ending up in the medicine den with Shivertail and a curious yet frightened Reedkit. It was a rather rebellious act, seeing as their parents, and Reedkit's, did not allow them to even talk to each other. Sneaking out like it would have been gravely punished had Shivertail ever told on them.

How they had managed to go unnoticed for so long, however, was a memory buried deep in her memories. Her kithood was not something she liked thinking of. But...

"The back entrance!" she breathed. Ryespring met his gaze; his eyes widened in realization, as if he was thinking the same thing.

"Drizzlestar probably doesn't know of it." Her brother spoke in a low but clear whisper. "We won't all fit through; it might have been easy as kits, but we're larger now. Poppypaw is our best hope." Ryespring paused, and Raindrop thought she could guess why. This was sensitive information. Then he seemed to make up his mind.

"We'll show you the entrance," he fixed his gaze on Poppypaw's ginger shape, "and then you'll go in, get Drizzlestar, and help her back out through it."

"Then we sneak out of camp and run as if our lives depend on it. Out of borders, out of reach," Leafwillow added. Raindrop only hoped no rogues had listened in on their hushed conversation.

"...yes," agreed Ryespring. "Okay, Poppypaw, Raindrop, come with me." He took a deep breath.

"You wait here," he told the rest. "We'll be back."