Spirit's Journey

Chapter 78- Spirit: Standing Still

"I'm sorry, Diamond. There's no way she could have survived that fall."

I was standing still, with the body of a black wolf not far off. As I'd guessed, she had saved all her strength for one battle with me. Brought down by Storm, me, and Shadow, the wolf had bared her fangs even after death and snarled for the vengeance of her father.

She never received it. And now, Hannah was gone. A heavy weight sat on my chest that even Storm couldn't remove, so he sat beside me and licked his wounds. Diamond had her head bent and shoulder hunched trying to keep out the sobs. Looking at her caused me to choke up in grief.

Though the battle had been won, and Ash's pack was gone, it felt like a loss. I couldn't feel a single speck of hope anywhere in my body. In fact, I felt nothing but remorse and unbearable pain.

My muscles screeched their need to rest, and a shoulder wound was bleeding badly. But first, we had to help the worse wounded cheetahs- and next, those who were dead.

"Come with me across the water- everyone." No cheetah argued, and none of them smiled. That is, none until we reached Fallan. Diamond told her immediately, causing Fallan to throw back her head and yowl her pain to the Sky-cat. I felt the same, as I sat down next to the tree beside the river and let my tail fall in the water.

"You need to wash off your wounds before they get infected," Midnight told me, who I'd forgotten about. Without arguing, I stumbled forwards and let the cold water clean my wounds. It only made the aches worse as I stepped out, my pelt streaming, and Storm began to carefully groom my shoulder.

"How do we live with this," I told her suddenly, sinking my claws into the soft dirt as I realized the extent of the damage. Hannah was gone, and several cheetah's were dead- along with a few wolf bodies strewn around them back where the battle had first started. Behind me I could hear Diamond sobbing against Fallan's legs, and Storm was so wounded he could barely stand.

"We have things to look forward to," Midnight commented with a swish of her tail, then sadly lowered her head.

"But Hannah's loss is going to be a hard blow. First, we need to help the wounded and bury the dead. After that we can remember Hannah and Blaze in a formal way." Midnight was gently reminding me of the things that needed to be done, but for what? With my sister gone, it seemed like the battle had only brought on pain. I looked away for a moment, feeling my eyes begin to water. Then, I stretched out my shoulders and aching, burning limbs.

"Let's go."

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We arrived back at the battle ground, spotted pelts torn and bloody littered the ground.Sand's mate had died of his wounds shortly after Storm had taken the cheetah to Fallan and Shine. There was five other cheetah bodies, all from prides other than my own. I knew that Hannah's body would never be found, only washed up father downstream out of territory, or trapped under the water forever. Thinking about this caused a new wave of grief to crash upon me so I leaned into Storm's shoulder.

Staring at the bodies of earth and hearing many cats licking their wounds or struggling to stay standing was almost too much to bear. I felt my legs began to shake and sat down to steady them, knowing I was near my peak of exhaustion. Storm's pelt was covered with dried blood and I imagined mine was the same. Around my neck was some shallow bite wounds that still bled; inflicted by Mace before Storm and Shadow had jumped on her with me.

"Didn't your mother-wolf never teach you to fight fair?" Shadow, the older brown dog had snapped in her ear when she'd attacked me.

"My mother was killed by cheetahs, and her mother before that!" The wolf had spat, hatred brimming on the edges of her eyes where they began to turn red in a frenzy.