Foxgaze's Haunting

Chapter 38

(Cat above is Sky)
Foxgaze took a ragged gasp. I...I killed my own daughter. Beechtooth's limp russet form was splayed out at the base of the HighRock. From the awkward position of her already torn throat, she had broken her neck in the fall. If she hadn't died from the blood loss, Beechtooth had been killed in the fall.

During her right with Beechtooth, MountainClan must have come in, Foxgaze saw Galaxystar and several other MountainClan warriors mixed in with the crowd.

The battling cats froze and were all staring at the dead warrior. Even the rougues stopped fighting. Wolfpath, with a large gash on his shoulder, was staring at his dead sister blankly. Oh my son, I'm so sorry I had to do this. He looked up at Foxgaze slowly, his blues darkened by gloomy understanding, dipped his head.

A scrawny black MountainClan apprentice broke the silence, "What are we all standing here for? She just murdered a cat from her own clan! Punish her!"

"I will not allow that to happen", Wolfpath stepped forward to the base of the High Rock, "Foxgaze did it for self-defense, I saw it with my own eyes".

"So did I", another voice said. Through all the bloodied and bruised cats, an unlikely cat stepped forward. Mousetail, the MountainClan deputy, stepped forward. Foxgaze felt a tremor of revulsion when she saw that one of his eyes was nothing but a bloody hole. An eye lost to the claws of the rougue. His remaining blue eye looked tired from having to worn by itself.

Some more cats stepped forward, all mumbling in same agreement.

Foxgaze nodded in consideration to the brave cats. She looked up at the stormy sky and took a deep breath and mewed, "I have something to tell everyone, espcecially Wolfpath and Leafshade-"

Her speech was interrupted by a loud shriek of pain. All the cats turned around. Foxgaze felt her blood run cold when she saw the awful sight. Dawnstar, her patched fur torn up in several places was grappling with another cat. The tom was clearly winning, and it appeared that Dawnstar has already lost one of her few remaining lives. Foxgaze leaped down from the High Rock and shoved through the crowd. Foxgaze hissed when she recogized who it was. Bear, she thought with disgust.

Dawnstar spat in Bear's face with a venom-laced hiss ,"You stole my kits from me! You were going to drop your own kit over a cliff!"

Bear snarled and raked his claws over Dawnstar's face, causing her to wail in agony, "And you betrayed me! You chose your dung-faced clanmates over me!" His yellow eyes were thin slits. Foxgaze wanted to jump forward but, it felt like her legs were made of stone. What exactly are you Bear?

Foxgaze watched in horror as he pinned Dawnstar down by the neck and raised his other huge paw. With Dawnstar's fading power and Bear's hate-fueled strength, Foxgaze knew that would be a killing blow. With the same insane look in his eye, he chuckled darkly "Now, I'm gonna tear all your lives away and make sure all your precious clanmates pay for what you did to me !"

Dawnstar's eyes widened, a flash of betrayal and rage lit up her ice-blue eyes when she saw Bear's paw raise above her head. Foxgaze could see she was saying a silent prayer to StarClan.

"No!", Foxgaze opened her mouth to shriek. As she was taking a step forward to tackle Bear, and probably die in the process, she realized some one else was attacking . The shriek came from the ginger blur that flew past her and rammed straight into Bear's side. Foxgaze recognized the scrawny ginger tabby anywhere. It was Cricket.

Bear roared as Cricket barreled into his side. His massive paws swatted at the air, but Cricket was too quick for her burly companion. Cricket dug her claws into Bear's chest, causing him to bellow in agony. One of his claws didn't catch just air like it did before unfortunately, his huge hooked claws caught Cricket across the cheek. She remained silent and hardly seemed to flinch as her blood splattered into the ground.