Splashblossom's Truth

Chapter 2

As Splashblossom hares after her friend, she takes note of every small thing on the way. She listens to the river as it slides by, babbling to itself as if in a conversation. The rhythm on Frostgaze's paws on the warm, dry soil. Thump. Thump. Thump. She is promptly pulled out of the trance when she nearly crashes into Frostgaze's hindquarters. 

Splashblossom gazes across the border, looking at the rolling hills with blooms of heather dotting the barren landscape. The scent of WindClan is so potent, she has to choke down a gag. "How can those cats live with that stink?" she rubs her nose with a paw while Frostgaze flicks her tongue in and out like an adder.

"I know! You'd almost think they were-" Frostgaze's remark is cut short as a flash of brown and white slams into her. Splashblossom's breath is pushed out of her as another cat lands on her back. Momentarily stunned, she feels claws like thorns pinning her to the ground and pushing her face into the dry earth.

"Why are you so close to the border?" A deep voice growls in her ear and she finally feels the strength she needs to fight back. Not answering the cat's question, Splashblossom growls and goes limp.

Just have to trick them... she thinks, her fluffy tail gathering dust.

"You RiverClan cats are easy to beat. It must be all the fish that they eat!" the cat on top of her calls to its Clanmate. Fury igniting inside of her, Splashblossom makes her move. From her limp state, she shoots up and manages to writhe away from her opponent. She rounds on her attacker and faces them, her fur bristling.

In front of her stood a tom. His pelt was dark grey, almost black, with silver tabby markings and his green eyes were filled with fury. Screeching angrily, she jumps at the WindClan tom, only to have him duck under her chest. Her fur is too thick for him to land a blow on her skin, but his barbed claws pull out a decent amount of fur. Hissing with pain, Splashblossom drops back to the ground so she is on top of the sleek tom. She pummels his spine with her hind paws and grabs his shoulders tightly with the front. Her opponent lets out a screech of mingled pain and fury, throwing Splashblossom off of his back and into a nearby willow tree. 

Frostgaze is battling the other tom, tufts of his brown and white fur drifting on the warm, greenleaf breeze. Her wounds are worse than Splashblossom's, and she is struggling to stay in control of the fight. "Why did you cross our border to attack us?" Frostgaze growls to the tabby tom after chasing off his Clanmate.

Without taking his eyes off of Splashblossom, he replies, "I do believe that it was you who was about to cross our border." Frostgaze opens her mouth to protest, but is cut off by the tom. "Before you defend yourself, you do know that you shouldn't be so close to the border after the battle." Splashblossom knew that he was right.

Regaining her breath, Splashblossom meows, "We were only going to the stream to try for fish." She points to the water only a couple fox lengths to the left.

"That's right. I need a trout... for reasons I cannot name." Frostgaze meows with defiance. Splashblossom gives her friend an amused look. Getting to her paws, Splashblossom stands level with the tom.

"No matter, next time you try to pick a fight with RiverClan, I'll have the leader himself get involved. Then you absolutely will not receive this much mercy." Splashblossom growls, her long fur bristling along her spine. "And if you're not careful, you'll have me to deal with. I am not a cat that you want to mess with." Frostgaze looks a bit startled at her sudden change in demeanor but finds herself nodding in agreement.

"I can't wait." The tom replies, seeming lofty. But was there something else in his eyes...? The look left as quick as it had come and he was turning towards the border. "Just stay away from our border from now on, and go get your secret trout from somewhere else." He flicks his tail and bounds across the border, over a rise, and out of sight.

Splashblossom is transfixed on his mood, until Frostgaze mews, "'Get your secret trout from somewhere else' oh please, as if he knows the first thing about where fish swim." Splashblossom nods in agreement as they pad over to the river.

"I see trout!" Splashblossom meows in a singsong voice. Frostgaze looks over the edge of the river, spotting the silver figures deep in the water, weaving among the reeds.

"Thank goodness!" she meows and dives under the water. Splashblossom snickers and pushes the tom from her mind. When Frostgaze returns to the surface, she holds a limp trout in her jaws. "I doubt Thistlefall could have done this!" she meows triumphantly.

"Thistlefall...?" Splashblossom echoes before realizing that was the tom's name. "Yeah, he probably would be floundering around right now squealing for his mother and begging us to save him." Splashblossom agrees.

Frostgaze spits the trout onto the ground and lets out a cackle that startles birds into flight. Regaining herself after a moment, she replies, "Honestly, I would let him drown. Karma for attacking us." Her stub tail twitches in amusement.

න

Returning to camp, Frostgaze goes to deliver her trout to Webstar, who as usual, looks at her in disgust and ushers her away after taking the prey. "What a lousy flea bag!" Splashblossom exclaims when her friend returns. She feels her skin crawl when Webstar stares at her.

"He's just like that..." Frostgaze dismisses, clearly upset. Her ears droop and so does her stub of a tail.

"Hey. He shouldn't be allowed to treat you like that and you know it!" Splashblossom insists, sending a glare in the leaders direction that is so scalding he looks away. "If I were you, I would give him a piece of my mind." She returns her gaze to her crestfallen friend. Her blue eyes are filled with sympathy. "And you do know that Pebbleswipe has  been mooning over you for ages now, don't you?" She gestures with her plumy tail to the speckled gray tom eyeing Frostgaze from across the clearing.

Frostgaze looks over at the tom who gets a hopeful gleam in his eyes and back to her friend. "You think so?"

"Absolutely! You should talk to him to get your mind off of that orange snaggletooth over there." She grins, making a face while pointing to Webstar with her tail. Frostgaze laughs and heaves herself to her paws. She looks over at Pebbleswipe and smiles at him. The tom ducks his head and flicks his ear. "Go on!" Splashblossom meows. Frostgaze smiles before trotting over to the tom.

I wonder what Thistlefall was thinking... And what he is doing now...

She scolds herself for thinking like that and promptly retreats to her den to escape the feeling of Webstar's gaze burning into her fur.

As she curls up in her nest, she closes her eyes, and lets out a long sigh. Her muscles are exhausted from the fight with the WindClan toms and from the hunt with Frostgaze, and now all she wants to do is to sleep for a moon. As she drifts into a fitful sleep, Splashblossom thinks about how life would be on the moor, and slides into unconsciousness.