Warriors #2: Warrior Rising

Chapter 24

Lilypetal's POV

"Goldenpaw!" I yowled, my voice practically straining with how loudly I had spoken. I could barely contain the grief and pain that I felt as I watched the last of my daughter's golden fur disappear among the falling dirt.

Immediately, I leaped at the pile of earth and began to dig, trying to hold back whimpers of complete distress. Just a few heartbeats ago, Goldenpaw was right here beside me, safe, and now she could be buried alive. I then threw my head up in the air, letting out a distressed yowl. She can't be dead! She can't! I though miserably. I refuse to believe it.

"It's no use, Lilypetal," I heard Lionblaze meow behind me. "Goldenpaw is gone. Hollyleaf too."

I whipped my head to the side to see the tabby tom holding Jayfeather back, whose blind eyes were filled with misery as he clawed at the ground desperately. I shook my head quickly, realizing that in my blind panic, Jayfeather had also been trying to dig at the earth in order to retrieve his sister.

"You... you're joking right?" I growled to Lionblaze, trying to keep my voice level but not succeeding as I responded to his words. "You think that you can say that to a mother? No!" I then whipped my head back around to attempt to dig some more. "There is no way in the name of StarClan that I will believe that Goldenpaw is dead unless you heave her dead body out of this ground and show me her corpse!"

I heard Lionblaze simply sigh at my words as I continued to throw clods of grass and dirt behind me. Oh, StarClan, what will Thornclaw say? I will barely be able to handle seeing the look on his face. And Snowpaw! How will I tell her that her sister may be dead?

I tried my hardest to push those thoughts away, inhaling and exhaling the deepest I ever had. None of that will happen, because I won't have to tell them that Goldenpaw is dead, because she's not. She's not!

I stood up completely, trying to replace all of my worry and grief with determination and optimism. I knew that if I didn't do that, I would just crumble down as the earth had into the tunnels. I turned back to Lionblaze and Jayfeather, who were exchanging some fairly quiet words.

"Let's say that she chased a squirrel into the tunnel, and it collapsed on her," Jayfeather was meowing once I was back in earshot. "They can remember her for being a brave hunter, feeding her Clan. They don't need to know the truth - that she was trying to escape from them."

I realized that the two brothers were trying to find a way to make Hollyleaf's legacy sound a bit lighter to ThunderClan, despite all that she had done tonight. I nodded, not even sure if Jayfeather or Lionblaze noticed the approval. I do agree with that, I thought. But Hollyleaf won't need a legacy yet, because she and Goldenpaw must be down there, alive!

I then watched as Jayfeather and Lionblaze took one last glance at where the tunnel had been before beginning to travel in the direction of camp.

I immediately trotted up to meet them. I nodded to Lionblaze before meowing, "I'll run ahead and tell Firestar what is going on." Without waiting for Lionblaze's or Jayfeather's response, I gave them a curt nod and then began to pelt through the forest, not looking back.

There's no way that I'm going to let Jayfeather and Lionblaze arrive first, and make the Clan believe that Goldenpaw and Hollyleaf are dead! I thought to myself. I'm going to find Firestar first thing, tell him what's going on, and then get a patrol together to save Hollyleaf and my daughter!