Warrior Cats: Rainfall

Chapter Fourteen

Sootpelt and Fernpaw burst into camp, their pelts heaving from sprinting such a far distance. Stonestar ran over with wide eyes of concern.

"What happened?" He urged.

Sootpelt shook his head wildly with fake disbelief, "A GloomClan patrol!" He gulped. "They. . .attacked us! They. . ."

Fernpaw gulped with flattened ears and managed to make out in a soft, stammering voice, "They k-killed A-Ambersong."

Stonestar's tail dropped to the ground, "What?!" Cats from all around camp perked their ears. 

Bouncestep slowly padded over, "Ambersong?"

Sootpelt nodded slowly, "The patrol attacked us brutally. They thought we were trying to hunt on their borders. Ambersong fought with her life."

Bouncestep's stance wavered with shock. Tears welled up in his eyes, "No! She couldn't have. She's too strong and wouldn't leave us!"

He looked back up at Sootpelt, "She couldn't have left us! Where is she?"

"She's back by the border," Sootpelt sighed. "I should have brought her. I just figured. . ."

Stonestar laid his tail on Sootpelt's back, "I understand what you were trying to do. Let's go retrieve her now."

The patrol walked back through the seeping rain. It soaked their pelts and made them slightly slower, yet the pulled forward. Fernpaw was twitching nervously from behind. Bouncestep calmly comforted him while trying to pull through his own tears. 

"I'm sorry," Sootpelt groaned to Stonestar. "I was trying to protect Fernpaw. Adderblaze and Shadowpelt were swarming him."

"It is not your fault, Sootpelt," Stonestar grunted. "You protected a young cat. It was the right thing to do. What really worries me is why GloomClan would attack so brutally."

The dark gray warrior nodded, "Usually, GloomClan keeps to themselves. Emberstar prefers to avoid bloodshed."

"So why now?" Stonestar worried.

"We are approaching the site," Sootpelt hurried ahead of the patrol.

A few moments later, a gray and white rain-sodden body lay out in the open. There were slightly fresh wounds that had stopped bleeding as the deputy's heart had. Ambersong's eyes were clouded and empty, as her spirit has left her.

Bouncestep let out a wail and collapsed by his mate, "Ambersong. . . please, come back! I can't lose somebody else."

Stonestar and Sootpelt waited in sorrow as Bouncestep's fresh and overwhelming waves of grief poured out of him. The poor tom had lost his only love. The mother of his kits. 

"Bouncestep," Stonestar whispered. "It's time to take her back to camp." 

Bouncestep rose from his mate and looked at her solemnly. He brought a paw to her face and whispered something incoherent to Sootpelt's ears.

Stonestar walked over and grabbed the end of his deputy's spine, while Bouncestep had her scruff. Sootpelt and Fernpaw led them back to camp, where a ritual would take place and a new deputy would be chosen before moonhigh. Sootpelt looked at the sky where he saw that the moon was not visible so it must be rising. They walked to camp in silence for their friend as the rain pelted them mercilessly. Sootpelt smiled to himself, hopefully, all would go well.

"Is. . .Is that mother?" Dawnpaw whimpered as the patrol dragged the limp deputy into the center of camp.

Tigerpaw stepped up beside her, "There's no way! That can't be her."

"It's her," Sharppaw growled. "Who did this to her?" He belted out empty threats as tears welled in his eyes. To Sootpelt's surprise, for a brief moment, he felt bad for killing Ambersong. But the feeling faded away as he realized that he would get what he wanted.

Stonestar narrowed his eyes as he brushed his tail along Ambersong's flank to smooth her ruffled fur. "A great deputy has fallen to a GloomClan patrol. She will be remembered, and would've made a better leader than I ever could be."

Gradually, cats overcame their shock and walked over to mourn her. Sootpelt stayed a couple tail-lengths back. He would feel awkward pretending to mourn the cat he killed. He has never had any afflictions for or with her. No connections whatsoever. He had no reason to mourn her. She had just been an obstacle in his way.

He watched as his sister and his brother both came to pay their sorrows to the fallen deputy. Sootpelt had to admit Ambersong was a good deputy. She defended her Clan, actively participated in patrols, frequently communicated with Stonestar, and hung out with her family.

Family. Sootpelt realized. He had to continue his bloodline. So after he drove fear into their Clanmates, if he ever fell from the hell of life, the fear would still emanate from his kits. He would live on forever! Sootpelt chuckled quietly to himself. Of all cats, who would be his mate?

His thoughts were distracted as Stonestar leaped onto the Great Boulder to announce the new deputy. Sootpelt's heart thrummed with anticipation.

"All cats who can catch prey for themselves, gather beneath the Great Boulder for a Clan meeting," the LightningClan leader waited as cats gathered their attention and directed it towards him.

"A great deputy was lost today. A great mother, mate, and friend. Ambersong joins the ranks of StarClan tonight, where she will never fade for many a decade. Let us now choose a deputy in her place."

Stonestar scanned his subjects, "Ambersong and I have recently talked about who should succeed her if she should die. I agree with her decision and it shall be made."

He looked up at the sky, "I say these words before StarClan, so that our warrior ancestors and the spirit of Ambersong may hear and approve of my decision. The new deputy of LightningClan will be Sootpelt."

Sootpelt's heart lifted with relief as he looked around to hear cats cheering his name.

"Sootpelt! Sootpelt! Sootpelt!"

He was deputy. Everything was falling into place too easily, he loved it.

"Now, we mourn our loss of Ambersong, whereas she will then be buried with other noble warriors who have fallen. Who would like to take her to her burial place at sunrise?"

Bouncestep, Yellowgaze, Longwhisker, and Mousefoot all volunteered. They were her family. Stonestar agreed and told them they would all rise early at sunrise to bury her.

Flowerstorm walked over with a good smelling herb in her jaws. Sootpelt watched as she chewed it into a pulp and rubbed the pulp on Ambersong's fur. After the scent of the herb was rubbed in, the medicine cat laid a branch of lavender on Ambersong, then bent her head down and whispered something before leaving back to the medicine den to tend to the queens and their kits. Sootpelt realized it was likely rosemary and lavender to hide the scent of death.

Everything was falling into place. Sootpelt would reach his goal within a few moons, likely. He will drive LightningClan back into its place.