Warriors: A Shadow in the Light - Tainted Honey [Book Three]

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT

ROSELIGHT | WINDCLAN CAMP

Bracing herself for the impact, Roselight tucked her head in and stuck her forepaws out, colliding with her target.

    She bowled Honeystar off of Beestar, only to be kicked away from Honeystar when they met the ground.

    What in the name of StarClan did I just do? What was I thinking? Roselight's breathing was shaky as Honeystar approached her, eyes like fire. She sent a desperate look in Beestar's direction, hoping that'd he'd help her, but to her shock, he was limp. He was losing a life.

    Roselight looked back at Honeystar, her bottom lip curling to look as fierce as she could.

    "Get away or you'll regret not listening!" her voice went an octave higher.

    Honeystar let out a venomous purr. "You don't have to act brave." His eyes burned into hers. "I won't touch you."

    Roselight frowned, but sharp pain in her tail dragged her out of her confusion. She met Honeystar's gaze and watched his lips twitch up into a smirk. He turned away, returning to his fight with Beestar.

    Roselight twisted around, only to find a black paw smacking her face. The collision made her ears ring and her nose definitely stung, but she threw a swipe of her own, hitting thin air.

    Her attacker was Hollymoon. Hollymoon's teeth were firmly locked on her tail and every time she bit down harder, Roselight cried out. Roselight attempted to kick Hollymoon, but the warrior swiftly dodged it and released her tail, pulling fur out along the way.

    Roselight panted loudly, rolling onto her paws and trying to ignore the biting pain in her tail. Gritting her teeth, she got into a battle stance (or what she thought was a battle stance) and snarled menacingly at Hollymoon.

    Hollymoon aimed a blow at her face, so Roselight readily ducked, but at the last second Hollymoon's paw hooked her legs, flipping her onto her back. Her shoulder blades grated against a rock and brought great agony to her. Blinded by the intense pain, Hollymoon had no struggle to put up with. The black she-cat was about to run her claws down Roselight's vulnerable belly, but a dark gray shape flew into Hollymoon, granting Roselight freedom.

    Roselight wasted no time, getting to her paws and jumping back from any cat. Horsewhisker had come to help her. Roselight didn't know how to share her gratitude since the dark gray she-cat was in a deadly tussle with Hollymoon, so she just inched away awkwardly.

    She closed her eyes, knowing she shouldn't be trying to fight. She had a job to do. 

    I have to check on Rowanmask. StarClan, I've made so many mistakes tonight.

    She checked each mistake off, grief flooding back.

    She left Rowanmask to fend Egret off alone. While he said he could handle Egret, he was just a medicine cat and Egret was a seasoned fighter.

    Kestrelheart saw her thought-to-be-dead daughter and got killed.

    She was too slow to prevent Beestar from losing a life, but at least he wasn't dead forever.

    Roselight halted, entering the medicine cat anxiously. There were no sounds of hissing or rolling around, so she slowly stepped inside.

    "Roselight." Rowanmask's soft meow greeted her. "You wouldn't mind grabbing some cobwebs, would you?"

    "Not at all." Roselight spotted Rowanmask, eyeing the scratches on him. "How hurt are you? I can help! Where's Egret?"

    He answered each question. "I'm not too hurt. I don't need help. A RiverClan warrior pulled that foul rogue away from me. But we mustn't waste time, Thistlemoon needs help."

    Roselight quickly grabbed cobwebs, wincing. Her shoulders felt raw from rubbing on that rock and her legs ached from being thrown all over the place. She limped over to Rowanmask, trying to ignore the throbbing.

    "Thank you." Rowanmask's eyes ran over her pelt, frowning slightly but turned to tend to Thistlemoon. "You seem to be in pain. What happened?"

    Roselight pretended to not hear his question and announced loudly, "I am going out to find injured warriors and bring them back." She trotted out, immediately stumbling across Tawnyhawk.

    "I'm not going to question how you're alive, but help me." Tawnyhawk begged, one of his legs jutting out at an odd angle.

    Roselight nodded, letting him lean on her and guiding him to the medicine cat den.

    "There..." Roselight gently helped him down into a nest. He let out strained whimpers, whiskers quivering. "Rowanmask, his leg is broken."

    Rowanmask appeared at her side. "I got it."

    Roselight went out again, but a loud cry stopped her in her tracks. It stopped every cat.

    "WindClan surrenders!" Beestar caterwauled, facing Honeystar. "Get out!"

    Honeystar shook his head. "You don't understand."

    "Don't understand what?"

    "We don't care if you surrender." Honeystar hissed. "You get out."

    "What?" Beestar and multiple other cats echoed.

    "Some... other cats would like to occupy your camp."

    Beestar flattened his ears, baring his teeth. "You're forcing us out?"

    "What does it look like?" Honeystar rolled his eyes. "Leave now, or my cats won't hesitate to finish the rest of you. Take your dead and wounded and go."

    Roselight's ear twitched when she heard a RiverClan cat.

    "Has all the power gotten to Honeystar's head? What is he doing? This isn't like him."

    Beestar spat one last time in Honeystar's direction, then turned away, trying to look prideful, but Roselight saw the defeat and hurt shining in his yellow eyes.

    "WindClan, gather our dead and our wounded." Beestar commanded.

    Roselight darted forward, stopping in front of Beestar.

    "Beestar, you can't-"

    "Roselight! How are you alive?" Beestar interrupted her, baffled.

    "That doesn't matter-"

    "Look, we can't talk here." Beestar's expression darkened.

    "I know, but-"

    "Go fetch Rowanmask."

    Roselight's tail dropped. Beestar swept past her, leaving her standing there. She would've stood there longer, but the unwelcoming stares of ThunderClan warriors made her pelt crawl. She slid into the medicine cat den, eyes downcast.

    "Rowanmask-" why was she getting cut off constantly? She was mildly infuriated, but she snapped her mouth shut as Rowanmask cut her short.

    "I heard." Rowanmask was nosing Tawnyhawk to his paws, helping the brown-and-cream tom. Thistlemoon was behind Rowanmask, breathing heavily.

    Roselight padded over to Thistlemoon, supporting her and murmuring words of encouragement to her.

    "Roselight," Thistlemoon meowed weakly, "I can't believe you're alive. Again."

    "I have nine lives, what can I say?" she joked without humor. Thistlemoon gave her a half-hearted chuckle for trying to lighten up the atmosphere, but the gloom returned shortly after.

    Thistlemoon's ragged breathing took Roselight's mind off of Kestrelheart's death.

    At least I'm back with my Clan.

---