Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 31: Friend or Foe?

Chapter 31: Friend Or Foe?

"Alright; Painted, Jump, and Mira may stay and help. But they must agree to follow the orders they're given. If they don't, we'll have to have them leave," Sunstar agreed gruffly. Scorch dipped her head in gracious thanks and with a sigh of relief in her breath. Sunstar hadn't been very willing to take in more strangers for a number of reasons that he vaguely hinted at, but she'd won her friends a spot in the Clan for the time being.

"Now, Scorch, you'll be directly responsible for them, right?" Sunstar asked, a glint in his orange eyes.

Scorch shuffled her paws, not liking the tone in his voice. As if he were trying to get her to slip up... "Yes, of course. I trust them not to do anything terrible, although I won't be responsible for Painted's tongue," Scorch added quickly.

Sunstar's whisker's twitched and he stretched lazily in the weak morning sunlight. Going to him to get the OK for Painted's, Jump's, and Mira's allowance into the Clan, had been the first thing Scorch had done when she'd gotten up the morning after the late night excursion.

"Well, go help Flickertail with the herbs," Sunstar ordered as she turned away.

"Hmm? Why?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder at him curiously.

"There's a planned attack today, I just sent out the orders. If all goes well, we can beat Nightwing before dusk," Sunstar purred as if the fighting were already done.

"What about those mystery cats I just told you about?" Scorch asked, frowning. She would have gotten a hold on the situation before acting.

"Oh, I'm sure there's little chance that they'll be of any trouble," Sunstar brushed it off and Scorch's tail twitched as she realized he wasn't taking that threat seriously.

"When do we leave?" Scorch asked.

"We? There is no 'we,' you will stay here. It's too dangerous to bring a kit into battle no matter what you say, especially with an injury," Sunstar's tail tapped her cobweb-wrapped head.

"I've fought before! And I'm not a kit, I'm the age of an apprentice!" Scorch argued, feeling miserably overlooked.

"And you've been seriously injured and almost killed several times. You're still very small and young, not to mention you haven't had the same training a regular Clan apprentice would get. As far as I'm concerned, you're still a kit," Sunstar mewed calmly, confident in knowing his words were spoken law to all the Clan cats.

Scorch chewed on her tongue, indecisive on whether to continue this fight or not. If I don't go, then its all out of my control. If I'm there, even on the sidelines, I can help. "How about I just stay with Flickertail and help with the wounded?" she suggested.

But Sunstar shook his wide head, "No."

"Why not?!" Scorch almost whined.

"Because I don't trust you to stay out of the fighting," Sunstar growled warningly, narrowing his eyes down at her. Scorch's heart jumped a little. He didn't trust her? It turned her blood to ice. Fear and self-reproach swept her, what did I do to make him stop trusting me? She racked her conscious, but couldn't find an instance in which she'd earned herself distrust from him.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have a battle to organize," Sunstar mewed, striding past her and leaving her alone in his den, shivering slightly as she continued to frown and desperately try to remember what she'd done wrong.

...

The lines are so blurred. Scorch scratched her claws through the snow, leaving three long furrows in which she stared at remorsefully. The camp was hushed in silence and she was full of jittery bugs as she anxiously flexed her claws through the snow.