Warriors: Silverjaw's Sorrow

Chapter Eighteen

The patrol accelerated to a run, urgently evading the ice-cold rivers, leaping over frozen streams, and ignoring the temptation of curious prey, making their way across the territory as swiftly as they could without bringing damage to Wishfern's herbs.

A familiar anxiety clawed its way up Silverjaw's throat as the stench of blood permeated the air, acridly mixing with a familiar, heart-wrenching stench. Her heart skipped a beat as the horrors of the night swamped over her, nearly halting her in her tracks, especially as the stretch of territory became painfully familiar.

Just beyond these trees, there will be a rotten tree stump... She shuddered, recalling the feel of the slimy bark under her claws, the uncertainty in Owlpaw's eyes. It was the border they'd hesitated at. The border she'd been so eager to penetrate, while her brother failed in convincing her to leave.

A decision that had gotten him killed.

"Silverjaw, look out!"

Silverjaw skidded to a halt just as a pair of claws closed around the back of her neck. She gasped, dropped to the ground and twisted wildly. She kicked at her attacker's stomach, the sharp pricks of claw-tips against her throat making her eyes stretch with fear. Heatfur rushed over and hauled the tom away, snarls erupting through the sky as the large she-cat flung attacks at the similarly sized rogue.

"Keep going! I'll hold this one off," the ginger warrior hissed.

Scrambling to her paws, Silverjaw pushed into a clearing with Lichenpaw and Wishfern by her side. Spiderfrost stood, panic clear in her one eye and carrying a limp paw by her stomach. Nightpatch lay beside her, unconscious and bleeding profusely from dozens of wounds.

A beautiful tortoiseshell rogue lunged and tackled the one-eyed warrior, the two rolling in a mess through the snow.

"Nightpatch!" Lichenpaw cried, charging into the clearing. She dropped by her mentor's side, touching her nose to his thick black-and-white pelt. She shot her wild, blue-eyed stare back towards the patrol. "Wishfern, he's still breathing!"

Wishfern raced to join the black apprentice, her paws working quickly to unwind her bundle of herbs. Lashing her tail, Silverjaw's gaze flashed about the clearing. The only other rogue she could spot was the tortoiseshell, who appeared to be winning the fight with Spiderfrost, ruthlessly using the ginger warrior's blind spot to her advantage.

Wasting no more time, Silverjaw leaped on the tortoiseshell's back. The rogue collapsed to the ground, but she was nimble and managed to slip out of Silverjaw's grasp. She flashed a claw across Silverjaw's cheek, scoring her talons deep into the flesh of the silver tabby's scar. Silverjaw yowled, squeezing her eye shut against the pain, blood piercing her vision. In retaliation, she gouged her claws deep inside the rogue's shoulders, heaving her to the crimson-dyed snow.

Silverjaw fought to pin the she-cat, a snarl vibrating through her chest. The rogue clawed at Silverjaw's underbelly and snapped her teeth, narrowly missing her throat. Spittle flew from her mouth.

"There's another one!" Spiderfrost cried.

Silverjaw rolled out of the way in the nick of time as another rogue flung at her. She cuffed her claws across his side and turned to see Spiderfrost racing to assist, while behind her, Wishfern urgently cleaned and mended Nightpatch's wounds with Lichenpaw's assistance, her ears attentively flicking in all directions.

Pressing their flanks together to guard one another's blind spots, Spiderfrost and Silverjaw pushed against the duo of rogues, working in perfect synchronization as they'd been trained to. Silverjaw clenched her teeth as she remembered her apprenticeship. She and Owlpaw had stuck to the Training Pool instead of finding themselves a meal, working together to perfect this exact move.