Another Life: Alaepool's Heart

Creekclaw's POV:

Sighing, Creekclaw brought his tail neatly over his paws. Ever since he found out that Coldtail and Owlwing were meeting up with the Exiled, he felt uneasy. When he woke up in the middle of the night, there wasn't Flowerstem to ask what happened. He wasn't even sure if he and Flowerstem were mates. He thought she was expecting his kits, but it was taking long for her to have them. Lakestripe said that she must have had so much shock during the badger attack that she lost the kits, but somehow got expectant again; though around the time she announced pregnant, he never shared his best with her. Only once, maybe that was it. His visits to Flowerstem became less and less frequent.
It had been shocking when Algaepool and Kestrelwing came back from hunting so early. How long were they out? When did they go out? Did Algaepool know about Coldtail and Owlwing's dangerous journeys to meet up with the Exiled? Coldtail and Owlwing couldn't visit the Exiled and still be loyal, it wasn't possible. The two would never tell the Clan, but maybe if he and Algaepool made a plan, then they could without anyone getting hurt.
Narrowing his eyes, he got up, and went to the nursery. The dawn light was leaking through the leaves and ferns of the nursery. He kept his suspicions up about Lakestripe's theory; about Flowerstem loosing the kits, and then getting them back. But he hadn't slept with her since before the badger attack, only one night. He let the suspicions leave his mind. If he didn't trust Flowerstem, they wouldn't have anything.
The growing daylight glimmered on a shell, reflecting a beautiful shimmer on the shell's top. The yellow light shimmered through the nursery entrance, and all the queens were there, except Cactusshine.
An eerie wail rose from just outside camp. He froze, just about to sit down with Flowerstem. The badgers couldn't have come back, the patrols didn't have any recent scents of badgers, so they couldn't have. The entrance was also undamaged, so it wasn't possible that they were back.
Then the cry came again more clearly.
"Washedkit! Blearykit! Where are you?"
He rushed out of the nursery, warriros were already gathered around Cactusshine, and Brokenheart was comforting her. Lakestripe was hurrying across the clearing from her den, Mallowkit came from the nursery, hard on Lakestripe's paws.
"Brokenheart and I have looked everywhere! Blearykit and Washedkit are nowhere to be found." she cried.
Anxiety stabbed Creekclaw. Washedkit and Blearykit were both lively kits, and both likely to get into mischief. It wasn't hard to imagine the two sneaking out.
"When did you last see them?" Burnteyes asked Cactusshine.
"Last night, when I woke up, they were both gone, and we looked, and looked, but they're nowhere to be found. They're nowhere in camp!"
"Calm down, we'll find them, and hopefully return them safely to you." Barkleaf meowed.
Cactussshine ignored him. "Somethings happened to them!"
Brokenheart continued to soothe her, and Brindlestar was already organizing a search patrol.
"We'll send a patrol out." Brindlestar decided. "Brokenheart, you can lead it. Pick two or three cats to go with you."
"Oh, no! I need Brokenheart right here, looking for Washedkit and Blearykit around camp."
Burnteyes looked exasperated, and Coldtail and Owlwing were talking towards the back, small grins on their faces.
"Brokenheart, take Cactusshine to the nursery." lakestripe meowed calmly.
"And I'll lead the patrol." Oneclaw offered.
Brindlestar nodded and watched Brokenheart take the anxious Cactusshine to the nursery. Oneclaw signaled to Breezebird, him, and Algaepool.
"Let's go." Oneclaw meowed. "I'll teach these two trouble makers not to sneak out again once we find them."
"No, you won't." Breezebird affectionately flicked Oneclaw's shoulder with her tail. "You're just as worried as the rest of us."
Creekclaw grunted as he climbed over a hill and into the cool water. For Oneclaw's fierce words, it was obvious that he cared just as much as anyone else. It took courage for a kit to wonder off on their own into the wilderness, especially after witnessing the badgers' attack.
"Well, the sooner they're both apprenticed, the better." Oneclaw muttered. Yea, and Owlwing and Coldtail will ruin their lives by making them fight like the Exiled, if the two warriors became the kit's mentors.
Breezebird picked up the kits scents not far away from the stepping stones. "They've gone this way." she reported, pointing her tail in the direction of the Thunderclan border.
"Then we'd better find them fast." Algaepool meowed.
"I don't think Thunderclan would be pleased to find another Clan's kits on their territory."
Washedkit and Blearykit's trails led to almost in Thunderclan territory. The two would occasionally make a slight detour to scan the shining rocks. Algaepool spotted several patches of tiny paw prints in the mud on the river banks, almost like the kits had stopped for water. A little farther on, were flattened reeds, showing they might've had a little fight.
"The mighty warriors!" Algaepool mewed, her tail curling up in amusement. "They must've been pretending to hunt and fight!"
"Like that, you mean?" Oneclaw pointed to a crushed beetle and ant, another beetle climbing up the fronds of grass. If these were Washedkit and Blearykit's chosen prey, the one beetle survived the experience.
"You weren't different when you were a kit." Breezebird scolded in a teasing tone. "At least we know that they might be safe."
"But the Thunderclan border isn't far away." He pointed out. Just then Creekclaw heard something up ahead. Oneclaw gestured with his tail for them all to be quiet. For moments, all he could hear was the wind and the piping of birds. Then the sound came again: a loud, piercing shriek like the sound of prey under a cat's claws.
Algaepool turned to him, her eyes wide with alarm and fear. "That's Washedkit and Blearykit!"
Creekclaw tasted the air. The kits scent reached him strongly, with another, one strongly unwelcoming and familiar.
"Thunderclan!" Oneclaw exclaimed. "Come on!"
Creekclaw raced through the trees towards the sound of the shriek, keeping pace with the other three cats. The mouse brained kits must've crossed the Thunderclan border and been spotted by a Thunderclan border patrol. He didn't want anything to happen to these kits.
The patrol pelted around Sunningrocks close to the river. "Washedkit! Blearykit!" The thin wail of pain answered Oneclaw. Creekclaw saw Washedkit wriggling on the ground in pain. No cats were near them. At first, Creekclaw thought the kit was too badly injured to get up, then he saw the sharp, silver hook lodged around her paw, and piercing into her flesh. The thin silver line was wrapped around her, as if Blearykit attempted to rescue her. Washedkit was trapped in a Twoleg contraption.
Breezebird let out a hiss of fury. Her neck fur was bristling, pricked up in anger. Her gaze met the shape of three cats, Thunderclan cats. They crouched under a bush near a tree: Coldnight, the Thunderclan deputy, Pineclaw, and Hailsnow. From the look of it, it looked like they'd been there for quite some time, watching Washedkit yowl in agony, and Blearykit trying to help her.
"Stupid crow-food eaters! Fox-dun faces!" Breezebird spat at them. "Why didn't you help them?"
Coldnight rose to his paws, lifting one of them to give it a gracious lick.
"These kits are part of a Clan we're still in battle with," he meowed coldly. "But Thunderclan still follows the warrior code, and we have nice, pure cats. He knew why Coldnight used that, because his mother, Amberbreeze, was part rogue, her father was a rogue, rescued by Riverclan. "We have nothing to do with these mouse-brained kits."
Algaepool let out a hiss, Creekclaw could tell she was angered, too angered for words. "Forget it." he muttered to her. "We need to help Washedkit."
Breezebird twitched her whiskers, and Algaepool flexed her claws, as if the both of them wanted to attack the Thunderclan patrol. Instead they both followed Oneclaw across Sunningrocks to Washedkit's side.
Now Breezebird and Algaepool were bent over her; Algaepool comforting her and Breezebird trying to untangle her. Creekclaw went over to Blearykit, giving him a comforting lick around the ears. Oneclaw sniffed at the silver wire and hook wrapped around Washedkit. On the rock all around Washedkit, was tiny scratches, like she'd tried to free herself.
"I'm sor-sorry." the tiny she-kit whimpered. "We wanted to help catch prey for the-"
"You frightened your mother and the rest of the Clan." Oneclaw meowed sternly. "Don't move, we'll get you out of here."
But when Creekclaw looked closer at Washedkit's paw, he knew freeing her wouldn't be so easy. The kit's haunches were matted with crimson blood, and all around where she was wrapped, thin lines of blood were trickling down. When Oneclaw bent down to try and free the kit, she let out a thin, shriek of pain as the hook tightened.
"You're hurting her," Breezebird gasped. "Here, I'll try biting through it."
Breezebird crouched down next to Washedkit, but Creekclaw could see that the hook was already too deep into Washedkit's flesh, and into her tangled fur. Instead Washedkit let out a whimper. "You bit me!"
"Oh, sorry Washedkit." Breezebird stepped back, a clot of blood washed on her nose.
Creekclaw stared down at the hurt kit. What would they have to do to help the tangled kit? He was bracing himself to suggest biting her paw loose, when Algaepool pointed her tail to four rocks buried, holding down the tendril.
"If we dig these rocks loose, maybe the wire will loosen." Algaepool explained. "The wire won't hold tight if there's nothing making it tight."
"That's brilliant Algaepool!" Breezebird exclaimed, flinging herself to the rock and using her paws to start digging them up. Algaepool joined her at the other rock, letting the wire loosen as they both threw showers of wet dirt up. Every time it loosened, Washedkit would squeak in pain, then relax once Onelclaw licked his ears.
As Algaepool and Breezebird dug deeper, the wire and hook was starting to get looser.
"Does that feel better?" he asked Washedkit.
"Not as tight." the kit meowed.
"Well, just keep still." Creekclaw meowed. "It'll be over soon."
"Almost got it!" Algaepool gasped. "Nearly there!" Breezebird pulled out a rock, and put it closer to the wire. Moments later, Algaepool did the same. Washedkit moved forward when she felt the wire loosen, be retracted when she realized she was still tangled.
"Stop, we need to get you untangled first." Oneclaw meowed.
Now that the rocks were out of the ground, the wire and hook were so much looser. Carefully all four of them loosened the wire and hook, until Washedkit was able to scramble free. Blearykit was just watching innocently while all this was happening.
Relief flooded over him once Washedkit was able to limp over to Breezebird and fall into her legs.
"Rest for a moment." Algaepool mewed. "We'll get you back to camp and all cleaned up in a moment."
Breezebird crouched by Washedkit, while Oneclaw crouched at Blearykit and washed the wet furred kit. Both of them were bloody, but Washedkit was the most bloody. Creekclaw winced when he saw the scars and torn flesh on Washedkit's small body.
"Once we get back to camp, Lakestripe will look over you." he meowed.
Washedkit didn't respond, and he wondered if she was even awake.