Chapter 9

“It was an accident!” Skypaw yowled at her leader, ignoring the fact that she was most definitely making Breezestar want to exile her right this moment. “We didn’t want to run into Bubble!” Half a lie, Skypaw thought guiltily, but she pushed the thought away.

Breezestar glared at her, her yellow eyes blazing. She opened her mouth to say something but then froze suddenly.

Right after that a yowl came from outside the den, followed by a shriek and a growl. Skypaw inhaled, a scent touching her nose, and immediately figured out what had stopped Breezestar and caused the commotion outside.

Bubble…and blood.

Breezestar shot out of the den. Skypaw followed on her heels, her heart pounding. She stopped in the middle of the camp, surprised by the number of cats gathered there. She was just thinking of trying to find a way to calm everyone down when a rustle sounded at the camp entrance. Skypaw whirled around toward it.

Bubble stepped out from the shadows, and Skypaw jumped in horror as she saw that the rogue was dragging a limp Shadowleap with her. Blood trickled from wounds on her shoulders, her back, and mostly from her neck.

A pang of guilt shot through Skypaw. If she hadn’t run back to camp, Bubble would have been outnumbered. Or at least Skypaw could have gotten help sooner.

“Let her go!”

A gray blur suddenly shot toward Bubble from the group of cats. Bubble dropped Shadowleap to defend herself, letting the black she-cat fall to the ground. She easily kicked Rockheart away and he landed hard on the ground with a thump.

“Oh, look,” Bubble growled. “My own brother, trying to attack me for his sister. Remember this, Rockheart. I’m your sister too.”

Rockheart glared up at her. “You’re a monster. A murderer.” He crouched, ready to attack again. Skypaw readied herself too, shifting her body into a stance Shadowleap, she thought with a pang of grief, had taught her.

To her surprise, Bubble backed away. “I’ll be back!” she snarled. She kicked Shadowleap’s body toward them. “And if you’re lucky, you might have the slightest chance of not ending up like her!” Then she disappeared into the forest.

As soon as she was gone, Skypaw and Rockheart rushed to Shadowleap. “Yarrowleaf, you have to help!” Skypaw yowled. She could feel her mentor’s heart beating as she put a paw gently on her chest. She’s alive. So surely Bubble wouldn’t be cruel enough to kill her own sister. Because she could have. So easily.

The yellow medicine cat came bounding over to them with a leaf wrap in his jaws and cobwebs in his paw. He set his supplies down and started working quietly, putting the cobwebs on the bleeding parts and gently spreading poultices onto her wounds. “She’s too seriously injured for us to move her yet,” he muttered, not taking his eyes off his work. “Rockheart, please get some other warriors to find some more cobweb, and marigold if you know what it looks like.”

As the gray warrior bounded away, Skypaw hung her head in grief and guilt. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t forced her to come into the forest in the first place, we would be safe from Bubble for now. What was I thinking?! I was so focused on getting rid of Bubble, I didn’t think of my Clanmate’s safety. She squeezed her eyes shut. Will I ever be worthy of a warrior?

 

“Skypaw, are you okay?”

Skypaw was half annoyed to hear Cloudpaw’s voice again. Why did he force me to go to the medicine den when we could have been going out in the forest to help Shadowleap? She had moved to her nest, and now Cloudpaw was sitting next to it. “I’m fine,” Skypaw mewed anyway.

“I know you think this is your fault,” Cloudpaw meowed. “It pretty much is your fault.”

“Wow, THANKS,” Skypaw snapped. Even though she was blaming herself, for some reason it still hurt to know Cloudpaw thought it was her fault, too.

Cloudpaw’s voice was filled with nothing but gentle concern. “But it’s alright, Skypaw. Shadowleap is okay. She’s even woken up! She wants to speak with you.”

“No.”

“What?” Cloudpaw sounded slightly surprised.

“No!” Skypaw cried. “No way am I speaking to her! No way am I ever going to let myself affect her ever again!”

“You know you’re just saying that out of guilt, right?” Cloudpaw murmured. “Surely you can’t rip yourself away from Shadowleap. She’s your mentor. You’ll miss training with her. She’s your Clanmate. You can’t just separate yourself from her because of one mistake you made, Skypaw.”

“It was a big mistake!” Skypaw hissed. “It could have cost her her life! I should have stayed and fought!”

“You know that already,” Cloudpaw meowed. “I know you know that. So please, stop thinking about the past, because you can’t change it. It’s okay if you do something wrong, Skypaw. You just have to fix it.”

“I can’t fix it!” Skypaw exclaimed. “I can’t go back in time and change my actions! Isn’t that what you just said?”

“I mean fix it in a different way.” Her brother’s voice was calm and soothing. Skypaw wanted to cling to it forever, listening to him. But she knew she couldn’t do this forever. I have duties to perform. For my Clan. She took a deep breath. I’m loyal to SkyClan, and I’ll never let my Clanmates down!

Skypaw pushed herself to her paws, her legs aching. “Thanks, Cloudpaw,” she murmured, touching her nose to his cheek. She padded to the entrance of the apprentices’ den, gazing outside.

“They moved Shadowleap to the medicine den,” Cloudpaw explained, padding to her side. “You can go talk to her if you want.”

Skypaw shook her head. “Not now. I don’t think I’m ready.”

Cloudpaw smiled at her. “When—” He broke off, sniffing the air.

Skypaw exchanged glances with her brother. No. She absolutely hated the scent of Bubble now. She was so sick of it.

Skypaw ran out from the den with Cloudpaw. Other warriors had already scented the rogues too and were gathering in the middle of camp again. Breezestar leaped down from the leader’s den and let out a yowl. “SkyClan, be prepared! I scent many more rogues this time! Sandpelt, Mudheart—” She broke off as Bubble burst into camp, followed by more rogues.

“Defend the camp!” Breezestar screeched, flinging herself onto a ginger rogue.

Skypaw gasped as claws immediately raked her side. She swung around and slashed back at the large black rogue who’d attacked her—Black, she remembered—but missed by a whisker-length and ended up getting hit by his massive paws and thrown right toward Cloudpaw.

Her brother stepped out of the way and leaped at Black. Skypaw landed and instantly scrambled to her paws and shot herself toward the black rogue, ignoring the sting of her scratch.

Black easily jumped out of the way of Cloudpaw’s claws, but was too slow to notice Skypaw coming straight toward him. She slammed into him and dug her claws into his shoulder, then leaped onto his back.

Skypaw dug her claws in even deeper as Black swung around wildly, trying to get her off. Cloudpaw leaped at him again and raked his ears, making him let out a yowl of pain. Skypaw screeched as claws suddenly raked her side again. She stumbled off Black, shocked by the burning pain. Black snarled and slashed her chest, which sent her reeling away.

Skypaw lay where she was for a few moments, panting, and glanced around. Cloudpaw seemed to be handling Black pretty well, using her tactic of clinging to his back. The rogue that had scratched her side again was busy fighting Swingtail. I’m not helping, Skypaw thought. Again.

She yelped as Stormsky and another rogue rolled past her, barely dodging their flailing paws. She glanced around wildly and glimpsed a cat shoot into the elders’ den.

No. Skypaw seemed to freeze for a heartbeat. Then she raced after the rogue, terror and panic driving her faster. She burst into the elders’ den immediately crashed into the rogue, pinning it to the ground. Bubble’s scent hit her nose and Skypaw recognized the black-and-ginger pelt. What do you think you’re going to do, Bubble?

Realization hit her like a lightning bolt as Skypaw’s eyes adjusted to the darkness. She had only spotted it once, the tiniest glimpse, since she had to keep her eyes fixed on the rogue, but it was enough for her to know. There was limp and lifeless body in the corner of the den, the pelt stained with the same blood that was on Bubble’s claws.

No.

Skypaw raised her paw, claws outstretched. “You killed Goldenfur!” she screeched, but just when she was about to swing her paw down and end her once and for all, Bubble kicked her off. Of course. Like always.

Skypaw slammed into the wall, and hot pain bloomed across her side again. When Skypaw opened her eyes next, Bubble was gone. She tried to get up, but her paws wouldn’t obey her. Her vision swam, and blackness started to swallow her.

No…no…I have to get her…catch up to her…

But in the next heartbeat, the world turned black.

 

“Skypaw.”

“Skypaw, please, wake up.”

Cloudpaw… Skypaw wanted to tell him that she was okay. I’m here…

“Don’t try to wake her!” That was Yarrowleaf’s voice. “Let her rest!”

No… Skypaw found the energy to open her eyes. She was lying in a nest in Yarrowleaf’s den. Her brother was beside her, peering anxiously at her body. He blinked when she lifted her head to look at him.

“You’re awake!” Cloudpaw exclaimed.

“I told you not to wake her!” Yarrowleaf meowed exasperatedly. “What is it with you today? First you just come in when I’m obviously busy treating cats here, and then you just—”

“But I didn’t wake her,” Cloudpaw protested. “She woke by herself.”

“Cloudpaw,” Skypaw meowed weakly. “Where’s…Goldenfur…”

Cloudpaw looked at his paws. “I’m sorry. He’s dead. They’ve buried him already.”

Skypaw let grief overwhelm her. Of all the SkyClan elders she’d known, Goldenfur had been her favorite. He’d comforted them when their father died. He always had a funny joke or a good story when she’d visited him. He’d always been kind to her and seemed to understand her point of view, even when Cloudkit had just laughed in her face. I’ll miss you, Goldenfur.

“How’s the pain, Skypaw?” Yarrowleaf asked, heading toward Rainleaf’s nest. Skypaw had seen the senior warrior get a nasty scratch on her belly. “I can give you some poppy seeds.”

“No, I don’t need any poppy seeds,” Skypaw replied even though her side really was stinging. “I want to talk.”

“That’s good.” Skypaw blinked as Breezestar pushed her way into the medicine den. “We haven’t finished our discussion from earlier.”

Skypaw gulped.

To her surprise, Breezestar mewed, “I was wrong to not trust you before, Skypaw. Now tell me what happened with Goldenfur.”

“I saw someone run into the elders’ den,” Skypaw meowed. “I knew what that rogue was going to do, and I followed it to try to stop it. But I was too late. Bubble had already killed him.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Then I…I had her pinned down. I was so close. So, so close. I was about to slice her neck, but she kicked me off at the last second.” She hung her head. “Then I fell unconscious.”

Breezestar let out a hiss. “That monster…”

“I know!” Skypaw blurted. “I hate Bubble! She killed so many cats, and she should pay for it! So why didn’t you just order us to attack her then?”

“When?” Breezestar meowed patiently.

“When she came to camp with Shadowleap!” Skypaw yowled. “After Rockheart attacked her…you could have made everyone attack her at once! Chase her into the forest! Surround her! And BAM it would have been DONE! We could have ended her, right then and there! So why?”

“I know how you feel, Skypaw,” Breezestar mewed with a calmness Skypaw wanted to rip out of her. “But we have to wait until the right moment. Maybe I made the mistake of not attacking, but it might not have worked anyway. Bubble is a clever cat. She wouldn’t just walk into our camp without defense.”

Skypaw let out a growl. She wanted this to end, so no more cats would be hurt or killed. She wanted to wipe the stupid rogue from existence already, not “wait until the right moment”!

“Skypaw. Calm down.”

Skypaw nearly jumped out of her skin as she realized Shadowleap had been awake in the nest beside hers this whole time. She gazed into her mentor’s blue eyes and saw nothing but sympathy and concern in them, and suddenly she could see the truth. Shadowleap wasn’t mad that Skypaw had forced her to go into the forest. She wasn’t mad that Skypaw had left her alone to fight Bubble.

Skypaw took a deep breath and relaxed. Cloudpaw flashed her a smile.

And maybe I don’t need to be mad either.