WARRIORS // Uprooted

Chapter 24*

"Are you sure we can handle this?" Coot asked her mate, Leech's uncle Mist. "Can we do this?"

"Of course we can do this," Mist replied. "We're stronger than we know."

We are, Leech thought, remembering her dream with Flowerstride. She looked up at the stars and wondered if she was there. Was she watching over them?

Could she even see them?

Leopard padded up to Leech's side. "Are you sure this plan will work?" She mewed.

"Of course I am," Leech said.

"You were taking a big risk when you killed him," Leopard said.

"They knew it was a Clan cat. I used a tactic Shrewwater showed him once," she said with a cruel smirk. "Because Clan cats are all about technique and not holy shit I'm dying, for whatever reason."

Leopard shrugged. "It worked in our favor, anyway. Rushstar was way more pissed than she was worried for anyone's safety."

"I can assure you every single Soldier will be out of there with a special sort of haste."

Leopard laughed. "I have to go check on the others. Be careful with that giant egg of yours."

"Hey!" Leech giggled, voice low.

Fox trotted up to her sisters. "So you're really leaving?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Leech said with a smile. "We are."

"You're coming with us, right?" Leopard asked.

"I can't," Fox said. "I can't support you guys leaving."

Leopard's eyes went wide and Leech was shocked into silence. "Why not? We're going to be free!"

"Our true place is here. StarClan mandated it, BirchClan or no BirchClan. We don't know if what Leech heard was true - if anything, it was a lie to make the Soldiers feel more important."

"You know in your heart that's not true. You know it was the truth," Leech said.

"I don't," Fox said. "And besides, I have obligations here."

"What sort of obligations?" Leopard asked, with a bit of a growl.

"I have a mate now," Fox said.

"And who might that be, to keep you enslaved?" Leech asked.

"Thornbright," Fox said in embarrassment. "One of the Tellers."

"What? That mean creature? When did you ever get in with him?"

"A long time ago," Fox said softly. "When we were three moons old, I was training with Juniper, and got lost. Thornbright found me. It was the same day that Burner hit you with the torch."

"And you fell in love with him? He was a grown tom, and you were a kit! Three moons old!"

"I was queen enough for him," Fox said. "He.. He took me, that day, away from Juniper. He made me a queen there, and I hated him for it at first. But he kept finding me and sweeping me away, again and again, and I found myself craving it. Craving him. I wanted to be near him all the time and I still do!"

"That- that's not love, Fox," Leech said empathetically. "You're just too scared to tell him no."

"No! I'm not. You're wrong." Fox shook her head furiously. "He was there to comfort me when Brindle was killed! He distracted me, he made me feel good, he made me happy. He loves me!"

"Snailfall said he loved me," Leech said, "And yet he did the same thing Thornbright did to you! They don't love us, Fox, they use us, that's all."