Treacherous Skies

Chapter 17

Whispersong limped beside Echoheart, still weakened from the rogue fight a quarter-moon ago. They had reached the end of the Twolegplace just yesterday.

When they had finished their burial for Hazel after the battle, River had said that he couldn't go on helping them; that he wouldn't be any part of more death, even if it wasn't any of the Clan cats' faults; he didn't blame them, he just couldn't go on. They'd said that they understood, and were grateful for everything they'd ever done for them. Pansy had wished them luck with a miserable look in her eyes, and Whispersong had apologized over and over again for not being able to help Hazel. River had assured her that there was nothing any cat could have done; there weren't any herbs in Twolegplaces anyway. Though his yellow eyes were still filled with grief, he'd treated Whispersong with kindness, forgiving her easily whenever she'd apologized. But Whispersong hadn't been convinced. The guilt of seeing Pansy crying over a dying Hazel, and not having been able to help, still haunted her dreams and ached in her heart.

"Come on," Bumblefrost meowed from up ahead as the two sisters slowed. He looked back at Whispersong, and, seeing the miserable look in her brown eyes, fell back, motioning for Echoheart to take the lead. Echoheart nodded and headed up the steep slope, gripping the jagged rocks and thick-rooted bushes for support.

Bumblefrost turned to Whispersong. "You're still thinking about Hazel, aren't you?"

Whispersong nodded miserably, tears building up in her eyes and clouding her vision.

"You know it wasn't your fault," murmured Bumblefrost quietly.

"It wasn't yours either," Whispersong meowed sternly.

"I know," Bumblefrost sighed. "I just can't help feeling guilty for arguing with Cosmo. He was leading us through the alley to protect us from the rogues, because their territory was around it. Well I guess the alley belonged to the rogues, too."

"But you saved us by arguing," Whispersong pointed out. "If you hadn't, we'd have walked right into the alley, filled with Poison and his rogues, and more of us would've died."

"I guess," he sighed. "But what's done is done. We can't change the past." He llicked her cheek. "Don't look so miserable. River and Pansy are safe now."

"But Hazel isn't," Whispersong shook her head.

Bumblefrost didn't answer. Whispersong looked ahead as Echoheart leapt onto a leaning pine tree, pausing for a breath. Bumblefrost stopped and nodded for Whispersong to go first. Whispersong rocked back onto her haunches then sprang off the ground, clawing her way up the dark brown bark to sit beside her sister. Bumblefrost joined them heartbeats later, and the three sat in silence, looking over the Twolegplace they had passed through.

"There's the grassland where River, Pansy, and... where River and Pansy live," meowed Echoheart quietly. "Good thing it wasn't far from where we split up. They're probably home now."

"I hope they made it back safely," Bumblefrost added.

"Let's get going," Whispersong meowed, not wanting to talk about Pansy and River. The wind buffeted her fur, cold compared to the wind they'd felt in the Twolegplace. She looked up and saw light gray clouds rolling in the distance behind her, and she shivered.

Bumblefrost let out a long sigh. "More snow."

"I've had enough snow to last a lifetime," muttered Echoheart.

"Come on," Whispersong urged them, and the three continued up the slope, soon clustered with more and more pine and spruce trees, dark green against the gray boulders scattering the mountain.

By dusk, the weather had turned colder and the sky was overcast with gray clouds, racing by quickly with the wind. Shadows fell on the traveling cats as the sun set behind the mountains, and Whispersong shivered as the first snowflakes tumbled through the air.