sage | a warrior cats fanfiction

chapter thirty four

As soon as he woke, he realized that the entire Clan hadn't really registered what had occurred.

Everyone had just stumbled around, waiting for someone else to say something. No words had been spoken about the tom, only logistics, void of the emotion that deaths usually carried. Was that because of the possible lie that Cougarstar had let drift upon the Clan? He didn't know but it didn't seem to matter. What had occurred hadn't sunk in. Not yet.

That Birchpaw was gone, and that his siblings were warriors. That he would never gain a warrior name, and he would never feel the pride of an apprentice finally growing to be old enough to be considered a warrior. Briargaze knew of it, Mudstripe knew of it, Beetlepath knew of it; all of the newest warriors knew of it.

But Birchpaw would never get to know it, and the Clan would never get to see his figure alive and furred once more. Nobody would get to see him running around the camp, ears perked, calls echoing, trying to get his siblings and his friends to do something. No longer would anything happen regarding him. And what would Cougarstar do?

Turn to the rogues. Blame it on the rogues, claim it was all because of them when it was simply his fault. His and the entire complex he'd created for himself, yet one of which he refused to acknowledge because it would diminish the power he'd cradled in paws with claws unsheathed for moons and moons. It was all unfair, all bad and all unfair.

Tears blurring the edges of his dark gray gaze, Adderheart harshly rose from his spot in the den, eyes momentarily traveling around the den, only to land upon Swallowripple. Beside her, Bumblepuddle slept, though he thrashed and turned every few moments. Finchtansy was off toward the edge, and the senior warrior's muzzle twisted.

He forced his eyes away and quickly he turned, pushing himself to the edge of the den as he slipped through the entrance. It would simply be dumb to go hunting when Cougarstar had ordered fighting training for the day, but he really didn't want to do fighting. It was like he was trying to push the fighting-against-rogues thing even more than he previously had been.

Noticing that the snow was actually still around, and very much present and causing the camp to be surrounded by quite a chill that he shivered, the lean warrior shifted uncomfortably. Leaf-bare's snows were always bad, for reasons unknown, but it didn't matter. None of it did, really, for the snow had melted a little.

The walls were growing shorter and shorter, and he could actually see over them at this point of the day, which was surprising. The ground wasn't coated in the chilly substance any longer, and in its place the snow left small chunks of such. It was unable to leave completely it seemed, and the clouds above rumbled as if threatening to spill more snow upon the world.

And in that moment, several bloodied cats stumbled into camp.

"What happened?" He asked immediately, hurriedly loping over to catch a falling Poppyfur. The she-cat's muzzle was coated in blood, and the substance spilled easily from her maw. Horror engulfed him and he stumbled back, eyes widening.

Briargaze, standing nearby, had a cut across her cheek and had a chunk cut out from her ear. She stumbled momentarily, making her way to the medicine cat's den, not wanting to wait, and before she left, she quickly managed to snag Poppyfur. The she-cat appeared tired, and as she disappeared into the den, or at least in front of it, he caught the scent of prey upon their pelts.

"Rogues," a voice coughed out, and Adderheart turned to see Dustshade. His pelt, usually fluffy and mostly white, was now stained red. Crimson red. "At the border. We were hunting."

Adderheart's ears twitched harshly as his dark gray eyes swept the camp.

The spot upon the ground, burnt and already appearing to be fading, was fresh now within his vision as he looked, and he was quick to divert his eyes. Dustshade stumbled, lifting a paw as he huffed for breath, and Adderheart quickly turned to head for the healers' den.