Aspenleaf's Duty

Chapter 15

"Blackfang? Blackfang no!"

Aspenpaw raised her head. Xerxes was shaking the older cat frantically. She could tell from the limp way his body was rocking back and forth that Blackfang had not survived the night. Dry slipped out of the nest beside her and laid her tail across his shoulders. "I'm so sorry." She murmured.

"It's not fair!" he muttered, finally ending his frenzied attempt to wake his father. "I didn't have enough time..."

Aspenpaw trotted over and sat on his other side. "He walks in Starclan now."

"Pfft." Sniffed Xerxes. "Starclan..." He looked up at her. "That's not a comfort to me. There is no Starclan. It's just a kit story."

Dry looked up at him surprised. "How can you say that?"

Aspenpaw tipped her head. "You actually think that?"

"Yes." He said looking back at his father's body. "He's gone and... I've lost the only chance I had to know him..."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why did you come here?"

He looked up at her, his anger beginning to show. "You know why. I came to find him."

"Yes... but why now?"

He made a little shrugging motion. "I don't know... just... a feeling I guess."

"Then don't you think it's possible that maybe... just maybe that was Starclan guiding you here to bring him peace?"

He said nothing, just looked at her for a long moment, the angered expression on his face clearing a little.

"Young ones?" murmured a voice from the entrance of the den. They looked up as Harestar entered. "I don't like to rush you, but dawn has come." The old cat's eyes came to rest on his clanmate. "Oh Blackfang..." he murmured moving forward and touching his nose to the cat's head. "Starclan has gained a fine warrior tonight." He looked up at Xerxes. "I'm truly sorry young one."

"I should have gotten here sooner." He muttered looking away. "It's... not fair..."

Harestar nodded. "It must seem so that we had a whole lifetime with him when you barely had one night. He was only an apprentice when I became leader. He will be missed most sincerely."

Xerxes looked up at the old leader. "What was he like?"

"A pain in the tail." Harestar said with a flick of his tail. "But what apprentice isn't." He glanced at Xerxes, his eyes warm. "By the looks of it, the mouse doesn't fall far from the prey pile."

Xerxes just blinked back at him. "He was a troublemaker?"

"His heart was in the right place, but he wasn't much for following the rules." Harestar gave a little purr. "But looking back, it should have been expected. Being displaced from his home clan, going to a strange place... and cats struggle to accept what's different. There was a lot of fights after Shadowclan fell."

"Shadowclan?" A glimmer of happiness flitted over his face. "He was a Shadowclan cat?"

"He was." Nodded Harestar. "And proud of it."

"He told my mother he was a Shadowclan cat."

"That doesn't surprise me." Nodded Harestar, looking sadly back at the warrior's body. "I really am sorry young ones, but it is time for you to go."

Xerxes nodded. "Just... a few more moments, and we'll go."

Harestar nodded before looking at Aspenpaw and Dry. "Your other friend is outside. Let's not keep him waiting too long."