Warriors AU: The Darkest Hour

Chapter 16

Author's Note: Sorry for not posting this chapter yesterday! I was almost done until I was swept away by family to a party. I forgot to publish it when I got home. Happy New Years everyone!!!

"No." Silverstream's voice rasped in his throat.

Sandstar pressed closer to his friend, sharing his grief at Stonefur's death and his anger that the Riverclan warrior's courage had been worth nothing in an unfair fight.

Blackfoot looked down at Stonefur's body in satisfaction.

Darkstripe whirled to confront the two apprentices. "Goldenstar," she meowed, "let me kill them."

Silverstream would have sprung forward then, in spite of anything Sandstar could do, but before he could move Goldenstar shook his battle-scarred head. "Really, Darkstripe? A prisoner can defeat you, but you think you could take on two apprentices?"

Darkstripe bowed her head in shame. Her leader's eyes narrowed coldly as he stared at the two young cats. They were huddled together, trembling with shock. They hardly seemed to realize that their own live were hanging by a hair.

"No," Goldenstar meowed at last. "For now I will let them live. They may be useful to me alive."

Sandstar flashed a look at Silverstream, who returned his glance with mingled relief and apprehension in his eyes.

Goldenstar summoned Jaggedtooth. "Take the apprentices back to their prison."

The Shadowclan warrior dipped her head and herded the two stunned cats away through the reeds. Silverstream's hungry gaze followed them out of sight.

"The meeting is at an end," Goldenstar declared.

At once the cats in the clearing began to slip away. Goldenstar leaped down from the Bonehill and vanished into the reeds, flanked by Blackfoot and Darkstripe. Eventually only Leopardstar was left. He padded forward until he stood over the broken body of his former deputy. Slowly he bent his head and nosed Stonefur's torn gray pelt. If he meowed a last farewell, Sandstar did not hear it, and after a moment he turned and followed Goldenstar through the reeds.

"Now!" Silverstream sprang to his paws. "Sandstar, we've got to rescue my kits."

"Yes, but don't go rushing off," Sandstar warned him. "We have to make sure all the cats have gone."

His friend's body was quivering with suppressed tension. "I don't care!" he spat. "If they try to stop us, I'll rip them all apart."

"The kits are safe for the moment," murmured Patchpaw. "There's no need to take risks."

Sandstar cautiously raised his head above the level of the reeds. By now it was quite dark; the only light came from Silverpelt and a pale glow from the moon low in the sky. The Shadowclan and Riverclan scents were rapidly fading. The only sound was the dry rustle of wind in the reeds.

Crouching down again, Sandstar murmured, "They've gone for now. This is our chance. We've got to find where they're keeping the apprentices, and—"

"And get them away," Silverstream interrupted. "Whatever it takes."

Sandstar nodded. "Patchpaw, are you up for it? It will be dangerous."

The loner's eyes widened. "You think I'd leave, after we saw that? No way. I'm with you, Sandstar."

"Good." Sandstar blinked in gratitude. "I thought you would be."

Beckoning his two friends with his tail, he led the way into the clearing, his pawsteps growing hesitant as he left the shelter of the reeds. He knew what he was doing was against the warrior code, but what Goldenstar had done had left him no alternative. He did not know how his warrior ancestors could have watched the slaughter of Stonefur without doing anything to save her.