Warriors: Cobwebs

35. The Exiled

     Howls of scorn rung through the air, eyes filled with anger and disappointment dotted amongst the crowd. The Clan failed to side with Fallenstar and Clearwhisker.

     "Clearwhisker," Webpaw meowed. His former friend was hesitant to risk one last glance at the failure that was once his apprentice, and he stared down at his paws.

     "Goodbye," Webpaw said finally, after a long pause, and he turned and began making his way towards the camp tunnel. Hissing followed him, as did name-calling. He tried hard not to listen, but the harsh words of his former clanmates were embedded in his mind. They called him a coward, a freak, and a monster. They despised him, and yet they knew not of what he had done for them. He hoped to forgive their words in the near future for he could not do so during the present. He left the camp fighting himself, struggling not to look back. The Clan had been his home for moons now, and it was torn from him.

     Webpaw could hear the breathing of pursuing cats. They were following him, he thought, hoping to get one more word in. One more spoken damning of the savior of the Clan. But it was silent, and he looked back over his shoulder. Amber eyes looked back, a grey and white tom following, flicking his black left ear. "Let me go," Webpaw hissed at Blackear, and he picked up his pace.

     "I'm escorting," Blackear insisted. "If you don't cause trouble, someone else will. Patchback couldn't quiet himself about how he was going to tear your other eye out."

     "Let him," Webpaw retorted. "Go back to Fallenstar and tell her that I went for twolegplace."

     He turned his jog through the snow into a starting run, and he soon picked up into a sprint. If Blackear continued to follow he didn't know, nor did he care, and he ran straightaways until he could hear the sound of water.

     The tree line broke and Webpaw emerged at the bank of the Streams. Water flowed through, ice present only at the edges of the interwoven creeks. He approached the edge and stared across. If he were to cross, he would come across the WaterClan border. To turn south was to reach his destination.

     He went to his right and walked forward. He listened to the bubbling of the cold water, and he watched as his paws kicked snow into the air as he stepped onward, creating a trail of prints that would soon be covered by new snow or melt. His path would be erased by time, just as the memory the Clans held of him would, corroded by his actions,

     Emotions hit, tears beginning to linger at the corners of Webpaw's eye. His chest tightened, his mind struggling to understand what had happened. Breathing became difficult as the cold dug into his flesh, reminding him with every shiver that he was homeless. He felt alone. He was hated.

     "Clearwhisker will tell Fallenstar," he grumbled shaking in his thick fur from the cold, trying to convince himself. "He'll tell her, and.. And she'll understand why.. And she'll send someone.. Saying.. Saying: 'he saved us.' And.. they'll.." He trailed off, sniffed, and he shook his head. "Clearwhisker won't say a word.. It wouldn't matter if he did.. They’ll think I'm dead."

     He took another step and sunk in the snow, falling into a frost-filled hole. He was submerged, and he shouted and kicked and flailed to get out until finally his paw landed on frozen earth. He pulled himself out and plowed through the snow, reaching even ground and sitting in agony and defeat. His entire pelt was covered and filled with chilling snow, but the cold became normalcy. He sluggishly got to his paws and shook off what he could in a single jerk of his body. Night would come soon, and the moon would rise, and he would be in the darkness.

     Alone. Despised. All because I solved the problem.. they'd have died without me, if I hadn't killed her. She would have grown up.. And she would have ended them all.

     All of them.

     As he thought, his despair was replaced by anger.

     Ungrateful.

     He drove himself forward.

     But they didn't know.. It couldn't be their fault.

     Webpaw stopped and exhaled slowly, closing his eye. He wanted someone to blame. He wanted a reason to be the good-guy.

     If they'd let me explain. If Clearwhisker had explained.. I wouldn't be here!

     He rushed forward. Dark grey clouds began to move in overhead, and slowly, bit-by-bit, flakes began to fall.

     If Fallenstar had listened..

     None of it mattered now. He had no Clan. No family that he loved; his father meant nothing. His friends meant nothing. He was gone.

     You have a bit of the Clan left.

     Webpaw turned his eye up to the sky and looked west. The white-limbed trees were tinted orange by the setting sun, the sky pink and apricot wherever clouds were not present. The ground was growing shadowed, darkness falling ever so slowly.

     Your name.

     He took in a deep breath and trekked through the falling snow. Darkness fell upon him, but a glow in the distance promised an end to the shadows. And as he stepped out of the forest, exhausted, cold, and defeated, he found himself standing before a thunderpath. Just across was the twolegplace.

     From now on, you're a loner.

     Webpaw looked on with wonder. His eye flitted stars perched on strange, metal trees, streetlights illuminating the concrete walkways. Fences stood tall with snow decorating their tops, lights shining from inside twoleg nests. He was appalled and hypnotized all at once. It was almost glorious in Leafbare.

     Home.

     "From now on, you're a loner," he told himself. "From now on, you are Cobweb."