Caɾղaցe Ɱօօղ ~𝙰 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝙵𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌

29 🌙

"How can you say that, Darkflower?" It's pathetic how I'm more willing to fight for Shadowclan than Shadowclan's own deputy is! She nearly had the gall to say it out loud.

If only I was a warrior so my opinion could be valued like one. Her gaze burned into the larger she-cat's.

But saying so will only make it worse. She compelled herself and brought her paws together in a mature manner.

"You're Shadowclan's deputy. You can easily go to Starclan and get nine lives for your clan-"

"WHAT CLAN?" Darkflower yowled, her voice ringing throughout the pine forest. Their lush needles lifted with the breeze, gently brushing together in the silence that followed.

Crescentpaw was pleased to now be the one saying, "Look. If you're Shadowclan's last hope, why would you throw that away?" she kept her voice a lot more level and calm than the deputy's had been. Her gaze was questioning and genuine, while Darkflower's was defensive and ill-tempered. The dark she-cat glared over Plumetail's ears at her.

"Oh. Miss know it all, I see." She cocked her head in a mocking gesture as she sneered. Wow, I don't think many cats would've liked having her as a deputy. How did she even get appointed- did Gravelstar just have no other choices left? It was almost funny. The apprentice had never seen a warrior act so aggressively childish.

"If you'd use your brain to think for a second, you'd realize that Gravelstar took some of his lives with him. He lost five of them fighting against the wolves. But the snake-heart took his other four and fled," she narrowed her eyes at Crescentpaw against the sun. It had reappeared with a vengeance, plunging the clearing into a yellow radiance once again. Plumetail sighed contentedly while Crescentpaw wondered how she could stand the heat.

"What happened to your medicine cat?" She asked, thinking about a smaller tabby tom named Elmshade. She had seen the healer beside the roots of the Great Oak on her last gathering.

"Elmshade was killed a few moons ago, toward the end of leaf-bare." Darkflower lifted her head to further inspect Crescentpaw while she spoke.

"There were no new healer apprentices in Shadowclan before or after then?" Despite the bitter she-cat's previous retorts she wasn't afraid to ask more questions.

"We had one but they were killed as a kit. I'm sure you smelled the burial plots right outside camp when you approached them."

The apprentice shifted her paws, then looked up to meet her gaze. "Yeah. Why is it so close to camp though? That's not custom of Riverclan's burial sites," she pointed out.

"It's not custom of any clan!" Darkflower sounded increasingly impatient. She gnashed her teeth together as she said, "and it's because I'm only one cat, you know! I can't waste strength dragging them farther than that." Her voice grew ragged.

"The only reason Plumetail is in this state is—..." she took a deep breath. "-is because she couldn't make it up a pine fast enough. I managed to distract the wolf so she could get away; but it wasn't without consequence."

Crescentpaw's ears twitched. She's been here alone with Plumetail for a long time.

"My last kin- my son Nighthowl couldn't stand watching our clan die. He knew that there was no hope here. He got tired of burying the bodies. So he took his apprentice and left." She angrily swiped at the ground then turned her face away. Darkflower's shoulders were hunched as she went on. "And so did several other Shadowclan cats. So I'm going to do the same."

With her jaws facing the opposite direction of Plumetail's perked ears, she huskily dropped her voice. "If- When Plumetail dies, I'm going to leave this place. It's hard enough as it is. I have to hide in the trees at night, but leave her on the ground." She whispered urgently, and Crescentpaw leaned closer to catch her meows.