Diverging Paths (Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter 26

Highwings and the rest of the gang were herded out of the warrior's den, although she was extremely drowsy and exhausted from what had happened. She could barely even rise from the moss, much less comprehend who was around her and where they were going, even though she technically already could guess. Escorted by many other warriors, ones who had stayed behind last night, she was herded off to stand beneath the ShadeRock, along with the warriors who had traveled with her to RiverClan, and of course, the RiverClan cats themselves.

Last night there had been a few more sleep interruptions, but they had not been as consequential as the first two. She didn't know this for sure, but Highwings guessed that Scatterstar ordered Beargrowl to, instead of waking up the entire camp, only wake up her or Murmuringsoil if anyone else came in. And others did come in. Sprintquick, Moorpaw, Lilacbloom, Jumbledworld, Sunroar, and Mixedpaw had managed to return, though Highwings knew not if it was in one group or if they arrived separately. They were likely sent off to the medicine den to get treatment before resting in the warrior's den, as evidenced by the fact that, as they left the warrior's den with Highwings, they were all bandaged up in varying numbers of herbs, and many had limps.

However, quite worryingly, neither Offpaw nor Teasemouth had come back yet. Most cats had lost sight of each other in battle, so nobody knew where they were, or whether they were dead or alive. They were counted as missing officially, but almost everyone believed they were dead, and most held Highwings responsible. She understood that; she, too, thought herself responsible.

Hollowfortune had not returned, either.

Now Highwings stood with the others in front of the ShadeRock. She was at the head of the pack, her chin tilted up to look at Scatterstar with a saddened gaze. There was no one in between her and the leader; she was the wanted one.

"Are you all aware of what you have done?" Scatterstar hissed; though addressed generally, it was clear this was directed to Highwings, from the fact that her eyes stared aggressively at the warrior.

Highwings hung her head, and Moorpaw was the one to answer. "We helped RiverClan."

"And what did you do to ShadowClan while helping RiverClan?" Scatterstar pressed disapprovingly.

Moorpaw now was out of answers, and Sprintquick snuggled up against her, responding instead. "Not help it," she softly and shamefully replied.

"Far beyond that. You hurt it. You hurt us." Scatterstar began pacing on the ShadeRock, but kept her head turned toward the group. "Not only did you burden us with these RiverClan weights, but now we have possibly lost three young, capable cats; not to mention one of which was our future medicine cat. Words cannot describe how disappointed I am with all of you right now." Her yellow eyes flickered down to Highwings, but she seemed to purposefully avoid addressing the she-cat.

"Sc-Scatterstar? May I speak?" Sprintquick inquired in a nervous, squeaky voice, as though the crowd around her choked her throat and made it nearly impossible to talk.

"It better be on-topic," the black she-cat snarled in response.

"I...While I was traveling back, me and Moorpaw, we, uhm...We think we saw some threats around the border, and-"

"I said ON-TOPIC!" Scatterstar thundered, making the brown she-cat go quiet. "Don't insult my intelligence! I don't care what you saw or where you saw it! This is about you endangering our Clan!"

"Scatterstar, if I may?" Lilacbloom spoke up.

"Go ahead, but if you talk about anything other than the matter at paw, then I will color my den with your blood," Scatterstar seethed through gritted teeth.