Warriors || Aspenrose's Goodbye

Chapter Twenty-Two

       An overcast sky loomed over the lake, dark gray clouds growling with thunder and flashing with lightning. Aspenrose padded beside, Firepool, her mentor, carrying a bundle of catmint in her jaws. Silverleaf padded along with them, her white pelt standing out on the dreary day.
       She stopped and raised her tail in a signal for the others to do the same. She crouched down and stalked forwards, angling her ears toward a mouse scuttling in the tall grass.
        She stalked closer, and as the mouse raised its head in alarm, Silverleaf pounced, catching it with one paw. She smiled in satisfaction, raising her prey in her jaws proudly.
       "Nice catch," Aspenrose commented.
      "Thanks!" Silverleaf's green eyes sparkled.
       Rain splattered the cats's fur as they padded in the direction of camp. Aspenrose gazed up at the dark sky. A rain drop dripped onto her nose, and fell when she returned her gaze ahead.
      Aspenrose followed Silverleaf absently, and turned her attention to the distant moorland hills beyond their territory. The grass was more yellowish there, and there wasn't much heather. Aspenrose wondered what lay beyond the lake territories, what adventure awaited, but she had found her home here and that's where she wanted to stay.
       Aspenrose just about walked into Silverleaf before stopping clumsily, barely brushing the she-cat's pelt. Her white fur was bristled, and she had dropped her mouse from the previous hunt. Her ears were angled; green ears sharp and searching. Silverleaf went ridged.
        Aspenrose heard it too, and caught Firepool bristled her dark fur beside her. The noise was distant, but it was clear and gradually getting closer.
        "Dog!" Silverleaf yowled. "Run! Get help!"
The WindClan cats didn't have much time to react before the black and white dog was upon them. Aspenrose dropped her bundle of herbs but hesitated.
She caught a glimpse of Silverleaf, who nodded for her to go, before she was in the jaws of the beast. Aspenrose let out a gasp of horror. Firepool leaped on top of the dog, but that was the last Aspenrose had seen, for she had taken flight.
The cream she-cat bounded away from the scene to where she knew the camp was. Her paws seemed like they would lift off the ground, but the heaviness inside her chest kept her grounded. Her blood pounded in her ears, but still she ran harder.
The crest of the rise was just ahead, and as she reached it she looked out over her camp. Cats were taking shelter from the now picking up rain.
"Help!" Aspenrose stumbled down the muddy slope, mud splattering her pelt.
Cats's head poked out from behind bushes that lined the shallow dip. She motion to the closest cats, which came over, alarm sparkling in their gazes and curiosity ruffling their fur. She recognized Fawntail, the black and white deputy, and Frozenheart, Silverleaf's gray tabby sister.
"Follow me," Aspenrose didn't wait for a reply, but bounded back in the direction of the faint yapping.
They bounded up and down slopes, almost blindly through the thickening rain and slippery mud. The yapping grew louder as they approached.
Aspenrose braced herself before they came over the rise; but she slowed her pace and let the warriors pass her, now aware of the problem. She found her paws grow numb at the scene bellow her.
Fawntail and Frozenheart chased the dog away; but Firepool, ears battered and flank stained crimson, crouched over the unmoving, unmistakable, yet delicate white body. It looked as if she was asleep, or at least at peace. Frozenheart's piercing cry was sharp and unforgettable. Silverleaf's brave green eyes flashed in Aspenrose's memory, fading like her existence.