THE STOLEN || OLD - being rewritten

Chapter 14 - { Dying as Warriors }

There's no more stars to find and I'm too far behind.
I'd love to let you go, but you're all that's on my mind.

Sauntering back to camp, Darkpaw's pelt was prickling and her tail was constantly lashing back and forth. Her heart pounded and her mind raced with thoughts. Her clanmates had been massacred, hadn't they? They had been killed, and those that escaped probably helped in the slaughter. Sagepaw constantly looked back at Darkpaw, eyes anxious and worried. Keeping her gaze on the ground, she wondered what she would tell Shadowpaw, or if she even would.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sagepaw asked, her green gaze concerned.

Darkpaw closed her eyes and frowned. "Yeah, you go on without me. I'm going to go and clear my head."

"Okay, I'll tell everyone you've just gone for a walk." Sagepaw nodded, touching her tail tip to her shoulder as she left.

Darkpaw nodded to Sagepaw as they parted ways before changing directions as suppressed panic slowly rose into her throat. Wiped out? StormClan and BlazingCla were wiped out? Terror shook her to the bone as she stalked at an ever quickening pace through the forest. Was Brightfur there during the slaughter? Did she help The Legion murder my clanmates? My own mother? As useful as the information was, her position was more dangerous than she had previously anticipated and her instinctive fear of The Legion and it's warriors only grew.

Sprinting through the foreign forest, the she-cat headed south east towards StormClan. Are Roanpaw and Adderpaw safe? What about Mosspelt! And Ivystripe! She unsheathed her claws as she tore across the border, her lungs burning while her muscles cried out against the velocity of her desperate and panicked movements. Thunder roared deep in the belly of the sky above her as heavy rain began pouring down. Splashing along the edges of the StormClan river and marshes, she remembered how she and Sagepaw had weaved through the mud and across the border into BlazingClan. Her home. Rage burned inside of her. They used the games to get to know our territory! Sagepaw betrayed me! Fur slick against her sides as she skidded to a halt along the pebbly shore. All scents were stale and faded. Bounding along the stepping stones, she paused at The White Willow, the scent of her and Roanpaw mingled from the last time they had met each other here. Bittersweet memories flashed before her vision before she hissed and tore past, regretting every second of it.

Forcing the aching feeling from her chest, she turned her head, and bounded across to BlazingClan territory. The earth felt so right beneath her paws here. She felt strong and centered being back on her own territory. Paws pounding on the earth, she tore up dirt and grit behind her as misty pines flashed by her dim gaze.
The metallic reek of blood grew ever stronger the closer she got to BlazingClan camp; the stink of crow-food making her nostrils flare as she fought the rising bile in her throat.

StormClan scent flooded her senses as she approached the camp entrance, a few cats were stood at the entrance, turning to look at her with wide eyes as she approached, breathing ragged.
Roanpaw was among them, he had a torn ear and a nasty wound on his shoulder. He seemed unphased by his injuries, as if they hardly bothered him. He turned his face to look at Darkpaw as she approached. His gaze rounded with worry and shock, his green eyes warning and fretful.

"Darkpaw, you can't go in there." He mewed, blocking the entrance as other StormClan warriors watched helplessly, fresh grief welling in their eyes; knowing there was nothing they could do to stop the BlazingClan she-cat from seeing her camp. Blood was all she could smell as well as crow-food and churned up earth. Her heart pounded in her chest, rattling her ribs as she drew in yet another shaky breath.