Warriors: The Chosen Warrior: Final Darkness (Book 6)

Chapter 7

Leafsong didn't know what to say, didn't know how to react. Dumbfounded, she found herself asking, "Where's Lichen?"

Stone returned his attention to her. He and Swiftclaw gave her the same heated gaze. "Dead." His voice was hidden of any true emotion. "By an infected rat bite."

The she-cat took the news in. She lowered her eyes.

"Don't pretend to be sad, Leafsong," Stone growled with bared teeth. "You would have killed her yourself if you had less of a conscience, along with me. Chosen Warrior."

The camp exploded into another barrage of gasps and expressions. Leafsong's ears were subject to the softest utterance.

"The Chosen Warrior is back?"

"And Leafsong is it!"

"Wasn't the previous Chosen Warrior named Rainshine?"

"It's been seasons since the last known Chosen Warrior was in the Clans. Generations even."

"Does this mean that Stone tried to kill the Chosen Warrior?"

"Did Swiftclaw try to kill the Chosen Warrior?"

Frozen, Leafsong dragged her eyes up to look at Stone. His face showed his immunity to being the cause of an entire Clan's discovery of the living Chosen Warrior. He shrugged indifferently. "They had to learn sometime."

The pale-ginger she-cat couldn't bring herself to turn around and face all of her Clanmates at once. Each swipe of their gazes across her back left an invisible burning mark that left her shuddering.

But then those burns seeped into her to ignite a fire of her own within. And though her voice sounded like her own, she knew it was someone else.

"Yes." At her strong and firm speech, all quieted. She turned to face her Clanmates head-on. "What Stone said is true: I am the Chosen Warrior. And several cats we have lived with around the lake have attempted to kill me for one reason or another. Two of these cats, though at different times, are currently standing behind me. Stone, former warrior of ThunderClan, and also my brother, became envious of my title after learning that I am the Chosen Warrior, and Swiftclaw, former warrior of WindClan, sought to take revenge on the Clans after how they treated her and her kits of - of a rogue." She turned around to look at them. "Is this correct?"

Stone's and Swiftclaw's hostility had noticeably been replaced with wariness as they stood close to one another for comfort and shifted from paw to paw. Their treachery against the Clans were just spoken for all of ThunderClan to hear. A long time passed before the two of them both nodded, albeit hesitantly. But it was a confirmed answer, and the cats yowled and hissed in outrage.

"At least they admit to their past actions!" Leafsong clashed with the onslaught of noise. The cats gradually quieted again as she continued speaking. "Swiftclaw's been who-knows-where since the past two seasons, probably lamenting about her lost kits and forgotten mate, and wondering just where she could find a place to call her new home. And Stone has had a life outside the Clans for nearly as long as I've been a ThunderClan warrior, finding a small group of cats to keep some sort of Clan organization alongside our sister. At a time, they proved to be too dangerous to remain in the Clans to potentially cause even more ruin, and I chose to make them leave the lake for the sake of protecting everyone else. But I can imagine that being told to leave your homeplace could have major effects."

"What are you trying to say, Chosen Warrior?" Longtail's voice was tight with the current circumstances, but the tagged title held respect.

"That feelings could have changed," Leafsong announced. "That since she is now with her kits and her mate, Swiftclaw's rage at the Clans might have diminished, at least by some degree. And that perhaps Stone has gotten over the crave for the title of Chosen Warrior and has grown to regret his actions he did while he was in ThunderClan." She glanced behind her at them.