Warriors: The Golden Age

Chapter Five

Antkit heard crashing from inside the den as Twigfang tried to get Acornstar to drink from the moss he had just brought her, but she continued to refuse. There was the sound of Acornstar's voice crying out in frustration, then Twigfang murmured something and stopped speaking. Acornstar emerged from the den.

"We need to find the little pignosed bugger, then!" Acornstar ordered. "You all know I kinda lost my first life today, a plague upon those disgusting ShadowClanners, but I'm in good enough shape to go out and search. Thrushclaw, stay and make sure nobody's killing each other."

Twigfang emerged behind her. "Your wa-"

"I'll drink when we make a detour to the lake!"

"All right." The elder left.

"Silverpaw, Hailpaw, Piketail, Beetleshade, Goldenpaw, Wingfall, come with me. We will split up into pairs consisting of one apprentice and one warrior..."

Antkit snickered. Time to be a smart-tail. "You appear to have formulated a miscalculation. You are including seven individuals, therefore we require an additional apprentice to go with you, if we are to form a number of cats divisible by two. Which produces a proper product, of course."

"I'm going!" Copperpaw screeched, volunteering.

"You are in absolutely no shape to come with us!" Acornstar screamed right back at her. "You lost it and had a fit tonight! No, Pinepaw will accompany us tonight."

"What? First you give her a better mentor than me, then you make her take my spot!" Copperpaw yowled, storming away, but passing by Pinepaw. "Nobody likes you! Why did they even let you into this Clan? You'll always be a loner!"

"Wait!" Cloudpaw sprinted off after her. Antkit rolled his eyes. Can a tom get more desperate?

Antkit stared at him for a moment, then nodded. The kit's thoughts were snapped back to cold, intimidating reality. What happened in Pinepaw's past? What would happen to Kestrelkit?

"Let's go." Acornstar made a flying leap off the Highledge, almost landing on top of poor Berryfoot.

The eight cats gathered together in a corner of the clearing. Thrushclaw waved his tail for dismissal. Antkit followed Owlkit and Talonkit back to the den, with Falconkit trailing behind him. None said a word, but a shared air of tension and fear crackled between them like a storm about to break. Antkit felt that his grip on sanity was more loose than ever before. Will things ever go back to normal after tonight?

That night, laying in his den, Antkit couldn't sleep. He was pressed against his adopted brother Falconkit on one flank, but he missed having Kestrelkit's familiar warmth radiating from his left side. It was customary that the toms slept near Darkstorm's nest and the she-kits with Lizardpelt, but Redwhisker had moved her den closer to Lizardpelt, Owlkit, and Talonkit tonight. Sometimes the young queen would lift her head to look up. It seemed like nobody could sleep.

"Are you awake?" Falconkit whispered.

"No, I'm dead." Antkit sighed. "What do you think, egotistical hypocrite?"

"Calm yourself." Falconkit lowered his voice even more when Darkstorm stirred. "Kestrelkit's gonna be back tomorrow, and we can play the game again in the morning, everything will be all right soon. I know it." His voice quavered, holding uncertainty.

"I'm already almost an insomniac!"

"Shh!" Redwhisker's voice, a mixture of a yell and a whisper, came over.

Antkit shut up, but he lay awake for what felt like generations. And then the air was pierced by the sound of Copperpaw's familiar scream. Panicked noises came from outside. Falconkit shoved his head deeper into the moss, making high-pitched sobbing sounds.

Beetleshade poked his head into the den, followed by his little brother Berryfoot, as well as the unrelated Wingfall. "Don't worry, Lizardpelt!" The small ginger tom mewed. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you tonight..."

"We're fine!" Lizardpelt snapped. "Get out, before I make something happen to your neck! With my bare claws!"

Antkit almost felt bad for the queen's mate. But he knew Lizardpelt was only so snappish under stress, so it wasn't all her fault. Besides, shouldn't Beetleshade have known better than to treat her like she couldn't fend for herself? She-cats were downright murderous in battles, just as much as toms. Despite the fact that they were a bit smaller on average, giving them a slight strength disadvantage, they made up for it with agility. Lizardpelt would be fine without him fussing over her.

Wingfall, Antkit's father, was a bit gentler with his approach. "Darkstorm, may I come in? I need to talk to you about what we found."

"Like, our discoveries were totally messed." Berryfoot snorted. "I can't believe what happened to the poor little guy! Redwhisker, you gotta hear about this stupidity!"

"An outrage..." Wingfall murmured in a soft voice. "Berryfoot, you can't talk like that."

Falconkit shuddered as another round of sobs wracked his tiny body. Antkit raised his brows in confusion, then horror. What happened to Kestrelkit tonight?

"Come in, just don't talk to me." Lizardpelt spat, getting up to retreat to a corner of the den.

Kestrelkit was her son. She didn't want to know what Wingfall had to say. Antkit could tell. It was obvious. What other explanation could be made?

Wingfall leaned in, but Darkstorm pushed him away. "No, absolutely no whispering. The kits should know whatever happened to him."

"You sure?"

"Yes, now get on with it. Or I'll pull a Lizardpelt and beat you up, darling."

"We found him."

Falconkit raised his head, and Owlkit and Talonkit, who had obviously not been asleep, leaped right up. "Yay! Where is he?" Owlkit mewled.

"Outside, kit." Berryfoot moved to block the entrance before the she-kits could bound out. "But he's having an issue."

"Issue?" Darkstorm demanded. "What issue?"

"I'm sorry." Said Wingfall. "I should've been more specific. We went to search a small ways away from the training hollow, the clearing you were playing in this evening. His scent trail led just a bit over the border. And-"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Redwhisker groaned. "Tell me what problem he had. Did he eat crow-food? Is he with Emberstripe or what?"

"Please let me speak, Redwh-"

"Is he sick?"

"Redwhisker." Darkstorm shoved the other queen. "Stop and let Wingfall continue."

The tom sighed. "And there, we found his body."