High Speed Winds

Chapter 14

Shardfang softly let out a mew as Thornwhisker shoved herbs into his face. He could see Opalstorm watching him close by, a joyous smile spread across her face.

The StarClan-cursed leaves won't eat themselves... The tom thought crossly. He lapped up the green herbs, the bitter taste swamping his mouth. He let out a sharp grunt as he swallowed the leaves.

"Thornwhisker." Shardfang saw the she-cat turned towards him as he spoke. "How many more times do I have to tell you that I'm fine?!" Shardfang rasped. The black tom caught Opalstorm's sharp gaze, her eyes full of joy.

The grayish colored she-cat sat down next to him, and whispered, "How many more times do I have to tell you to not yell at Thornwhisker?"

Shardfang let out a soft purr of annoyance, feeling it throb in his throat, although he did his best to ignore the hoarse pain.

Red flashed in Shardfang's vision, and he glanced up to see Scarletpelt bolting towards them, her eyes wide with relief.

The red pelted she-cat spouted out a jumble of words. "Oh, thank StarClan you're awake. Do you know how worried we are? How did you get yourself into that horrible mess anyway? This is why you should never stray from the group! StarClan, how many times do I have to keep telling you this?"

Opalstorm awkwardly smiled at her friend as she stood, and glancing outside, her ears pricked as she meowed, "It's those twins."

Shardfang's eyes widened, and he jumped to his paws, despite Thornwhisker screeching at him to lie down. He focused his blurry vision on the two shadow-like figures that were approaching, and stumbled forward. He was quite balanced, despite being poisoned by holly juice.

Shardfang stopped his shaky legs as he finally approached the twins, Inkpelt and Inkfur, who affectionately licked the fur on his head and started rambling, "StarClan, I thought you were gonna grow up the size of a kit," and "You still look like a kit though," and "Hey, guess who's who. Am I Inkpelt or Inkfur?"

Shardfang couldn't resist a smile as he pointed to the tom on the right, and meowed, "Inkpelt," and pointed to the other, meowing, "Inkfur."

The twins froze, and Inkpelt murmured, "That sucks. I thought our confusion skills were better than that."

"Shut up," Shardfang meowed with a glance towards his brothers. Opalstorm moved to stand at his side as two more cats approached them.

"Oh! Cometeye. We've been wondering where you went."

The black she-cat had a somber expression on her face as she padded in with Panicscar at her side.

"I bring grave news." Panicscar mewed grimly.

What happened now? Shardfang wondered, his impatience growing like a weed when Panicscar paused to find her words.

"Eightball and Gwen are both dead." 

Shardfang heard his brothers let out soft sighs, shaking their heads.

"How?" Scarletpelt asked, her voice quivering.

"Yes. How did it happen, Panicscar?" Opalstorm perked her head up.

The scarred she-cat exchanged a small glance with Cometeye. "A cheetah killed both of them." She finally mewed, meeting their eyes.

Cometeye, ignoring the mood of the conversation, proceeded to approach Shardfang, who meowed smugly, "Cometeye, I guess long time no see?"

Cometeye smirked, and gave her brother a brief lick on the head before meowing gently, "You seem more annoying than usual."