Rise

Chapter 22

"Am I dead?" Novasong meowed weakly, opening her eyes for the first time since she was knocked out.
"No, you're okay. You have a nasty bruise on our head, but nothing time won't heal." The healer, Crowfur, meowed while applying cobwebs to her scratch.
The she-cat stared at the ceiling of the den. "Then why do I feel dead?"
Crowfur let out a mrrow of amusement. "You're in shock. Here, eat these." He nudged a like of leaves to the gray warrior.
She reluctantly lapped up the thyme leaves and swallowed them down, before leaning her head back against the ground again.
Across the den, Doestep was asleep on her side, and her belly was massively swollen. There was no way Crowfur hadn't noticed, and Novasong assumed he was trying to help the she cat by keeping her away from everyone.
"Did Frost really kill my mother?" She murmured to the black tom.
He hesitated, and then meowed, "that is what it looked like."
"Did anyone actually see him kill her?"
Crowfur tipped his head to the side and thought for a moment. "I believe Stormstripe said he did. That's why Frost is being accused."
Novasong sat up. "Stormstripe saw Frost kill Bluemist?"
"That is what he said."
She took in what he said and wondered for a brief moment if Stormstripe had accused Frost just because he didn't like the red.
"Stormstripe?" Doestep faintly lifted her head and blindly looked around in the den. Unsatisfied, she laid her head back down and fell asleep once again.
Novasong looked at the poor she cat and turned back to Crowfur. "How long have you known?" She asked thoughtfully.
"Since the day her belly grew even the slightest inch." Crowfur scoffed. "I can't believe what she did, but I also can't blame her either."
"What do you mean?" Novasong asked, suddenly very interested.
The black tom obviously wasn't sure if he should share what was on his mind, but did anyways. "When I was an apprentice, the healer was a she cat named Whitesplash." He crossed his paws and confined.
"She was a very stern healer. A stickler for rules." He meowed and chuckled a little. "She's was a fine mentor."
Novasong didn't see where this was going, and wanted to go back outside, but knew not to be disrespectful.
"I was a young and immature cat, and didn't have much respect for rules. One full moon I was at a gathering, back whenever out tribes still had those, and the most beautiful cat I had ever seen walked up to me."
Her paws now pricked with anticipation. He had caught her attention.
"Her name was Scarletpaw and she was from the Tribe of Golden Sunsets. We hit it off immediately, and secretly started seeing each other at the border. I knew it was wrong. To love someone from another tribe and to be a healer's heir, but oh we did it anyway." Crowfur paused, as if he was in pain, but continued.
"It was the best and worst day of my life when she came to meet me one day and she told me she was pregnant."
Novasong gasped. Crowfur? Had their beloved healer broken the code so badly?
"It would have been fine for her except she was an apprentice. When they asked her who the father was she refused to say, much like Maple, and was executed... Along with my kits." He lowered his head, Novasong almost thought he was in too much pain to go on.
"I knew I couldn't tell my tribe because they would banish or kill me, too. All I could do was forget it ever happened and move forward. It still pains me to this day."
Novasong laid one of her paws on top of his. "I'm so sorry."
"The world is a cruel place. That is why I am helping Doestep, because she was just like me." He finished with a sad mew.
Novasong felt his grief. She had watched her love and her mother die within the same day.
"Anyways." He stood up abruptly. "I know you're angry and upset, but maybe you should talk to Frost. See what really happened."
"Are you saying that there's a chance my mother deserved to die?" She hissed sharply, narrowing her eyes.
The healer didn't seem at all affected by her reaction. "Of course not. Just talk to him."
Novasong considered his words. She would talk to Frost. But if he really murdered her mother out of cold blood, the same would come for him.