Warrior Cats: The Deaf Warrior

Chapter Sixty Seven

Goosewing placed his prey at Tigerstripe's paws. The tabby queen smiled at Goosewing, mewing a thank you to him. Her kits were snuggled up against her. They looked very cute. Goosewing glanced at Fuzzytuft. The grey tabby was looking at him, as if trying to remind him that he would be doing himself a favour if he tried to get along with Spiderkit and Rosekit. One of them could be my future apprentice.

They left the den, heading towards the freshkill pile as Fuzzytuft had already taken some prey to the elders. They had just gone out hunting together, and to Goosewing's relief, Fuzzytuft had acted rather normal - quiet, with no mentions of murder or death.

Settling down by the freshkill pile, Fuzzytuft grabbed a fish, nodding at Goosewing, offering for him to share it. The white tom smiled in response, his heart beating faster as he gazed at the tabby. Did his heart beat faster from love, or from fear?

She killed Sheepcloud!

His mother's body, he still remembered it, it still horrified him.

The white pelted tom took a small bite out of the fish, realising he wasn't even that hungry. He noticed that Fuzzytuft was only taking small bites, too. He turned to her, swallowing his prey and mewing, "Are you okay?"

The fluffy she cat slowly shook her head, and simply answered, "Do you hate me, Goosewing? Nod or shake your head."

He hesitated.

He really wanted to nod his head. He really did. He believed it was what any reasonable cat would do.

But Goosewing shook his head.

Fuzzytuft's good eye gleamed with delight, and she grinned. "Thank you! I feel much better now. I was so scared... about everything. But I'm glad you accept me." She glanced around, looking a little nervous, making sure nobody had overheard her. Then, Fuzzytuft took a much larger bite from the fish, clearly feeling much better thanks to Goosewing's response.

But Goosewing felt so much worse.

In that heartbeat, he knew he had betrayed his mother completely. He didn't know how to stop himself. He was in love with the cat who had murdered his mother.

And it was horrific.

Turning around, Goosewing could see his father watching him from the entrance to the warriors' den. There was worry in his blue eyes.

Flamefeather shouldn't worry about someone like me. I don't deserve it.

"I'm going to sleep now," Fuzzytuft mewed, leaving the rest of the fish to Goosewing. "The Dark Forest is waiting."

Goosewing shuddered. He hated that Fuzzytuft trained in the Dark Forest. But he didn't know how he could stop her, either.

She loves me. Maybe if I reason with her, she'll listen to me.

Forcing the words out, Goosewing mewed, "Why?"

He looked around, feeling uneasy. He didn't know whether he was speaking loudly or not. But none of his Clanmates were looking at him now, and Flamefeather had vanished into the warriors' den.

Fuzzytuft turned around. "I'll explain soon, don't worry. I hope you get a good night's sleep. Sweet dreams." She looked a little sad as the last two words left her mouth, as if she was very aware she wouldn't be having any sweet dreams any time soon.

The fluffy she cat headed into the warriors' den. Goosewing turned back to the fish, taking another bite but feeling like he wanted to vomit straight afterwards. He shakily shook his head, deciding he should go give the fish to someone else.