TB MOONRISE -- Chapter 20 (Patreon)

<< INDEX || Chapter 19 || Chapter 20 || Chapter 21 >>

Mothwing looked up at the sky, frowning. The clouds that had formed the night before looked like they were staying around. She had a feeling it didn’t signal another sudden downpour, but she was unwilling to trust her own instincts at a time like this.

Tawnypelt… The deputy’s absence was a huge blow to the Clan’s morale, and Mothwing could see it on every cat’s face. Even though Leopardstar had stepped in and was doling out the morning patrols as if nothing happened, Mothwing could see behind her mother’s confident stance – Tawnypelt had been her closest friend for a long time, and Leopardstar was worried.

“Keep an eye out for her,” Leopardstar was telling every patrol. “But no cat is to go near a Twoleg if you see one; and stay within our borders no matter what.”

“Even if we catch WindClan stealing our prey?” asked Brackenflight, her eyes flung wide.

Leopardstar nodded. “Be safe,” she urged.

She’s finally taking this threat seriously, Mothwing thought, her stomach churning. She could hear the Twoleg monsters starting up in the distance – they always roared to life just as the sun rose, and their patrols were getting closer and closer…

Mothwing had to force herself to breathe evenly. If she panicked in front of the whole Clan, it wouldn’t make anything better. Mudfur was already so weak he refused to get out of his nest until the sun warmed him through – RiverClan needed her to be strong.

A flash of gray caught her eye, and Mothwing straightened her back as she watched her brother pad towards her. Mothwing frowned – he smelled faintly of the reeds, like he’d been outside recently, and she spotted him favoring a paw slightly.

What have you gotten into? A season ago she might not have hesitated to ask such a question, but Falcontail’s attitude had soured since Mothwing had become a medicine cat. Lately, though, Mothwing wondered if her littermate had always been that way, and she had been blinded by their shared perspectives while they trained to be warriors. She kept her jaws shut for now, only dipping her head to acknowledge Falcontail as he stopped a tail-length away.

“I want you to come with me,” he stated.

Mothwing’s ear twitched. It ruffled her fur that it sounded more like a command than a request. I might be an apprentice, but I’m not your apprentice! Still, there were no other tasks pressing her – it was her duty, after all, to see to the needs of her Clanmates. Falcontail might be a pain in the tail lately but he was still her Clanmate.

“Where to?” she asked.

Falcontail sniffed. “Just come,” he insisted, turning his back.

Mothwing sighed and got to her paws, letting Falcontail lead the way out of camp. His scent lay very faintly on the path they were trotting along, heading towards a thick reed bed that lay beside an open stretch of land near WindClan territory. Mothwing’s nose twitched – she could smell it so well because they were littermates, but… He tried to disguise his path, she realized.

Not only that, but Mothwing saw the seriousness in Falcontail’s yellow eyes, and the stiff way he walked put her on edge. Where were they going? What did he want with her?

Falcontail led her into the center of the thicket of reeds. Mothwing could hear the roar of the gorge water not far off, and her legs ached. He’d come all this way, earlier than any cat was awake… for what?

She smelled it before she saw it – the smell of blood, and something bird-like. Falcontail parted the reeds to reveal a dead falcon hidden in the fronds, still fresh. Mothwing looked up at a nearby young tree – there was a falcon’s nest just at the top. Empty, now, she realized. Did he climb up there just to kill it?

Mothwing flinched and took a pawstep back, staring incredulously at her brother. “What is this?” she demanded. Her claws flexed with uncertainty, and something in her was telling her this was a very strange, bad situation to be in.

“I want you to take a feather from this bird and give it to Leopardstar,” Falcontail stated, his tone very even and serious. He sat himself down beside the corpse, curling his striped tail around his paws. “Tell her it was a sign from StarClan that I should be deputy.”

Mothwing stared at her brother, jaws agape in shock. It took her a moment to collect herself, to really process what her littermate was suggesting – “You want me to fake a sign from StarClan? For you?”

“Yes.” Falcontail’s tone was flat.

“Do you know how against the warrior code that is?!” Mothwing hissed, glancing behind her to ensure no cats were within earshot – thankfully they were so deep in the reeds that no cat could see or hear them. Her heart was pounding in her ears. “I can’t believe you would ask me such a thing! Have you any idea how much trouble we would both get into?”

Falcontail still looked unoffended. He shrugged. “It’s no big deal, really. RiverClan needs a deputy and we can’t afford to wait for whenever Tawnypelt decides to return. I’m the cat that can help RiverClan best now – everyone knows it, but Leopardstar needs a push to see it.”

Mothwing was bristling from ears to tail, her limbs shaking. How could Falcontail be so arrogant?! “You’re an ambitious fool!” she spat. Remembering that he was her littermate, she added, “Maybe one day you could be a great deputy, but you’re too young! Frostsplash has been your only apprentice, and he was already an adult! Not to mention the fact that you want me to fake a sign from StarClan to get you what you want! Have bees gotten into your brain?!”

Falcontail’s eyes flashed. “I have the backing of the Clan, and by the warrior code I can be deputy,” he stated simply. “There have been younger deputies, and not just in RiverClan’s history. Leopardstar will wait until the sky falls before she appoints someone to replace Tawnypelt – a sign is all that will make her budge.”

He got to his paws. “So, if you won’t do it, I will,” Falcontail declared.

Mothwing stared at her brother, feeling as if he had taken all the wind from her lungs. She gripped the earth beneath her paws in order to keep from swaying.

Falcontail seemed to take Mothwing’s silence as an invitation to keep going: “It’s really not so hard – I’ve done it before. For you.”

Mothwing’s mouth went dry. “I was chosen by StarClan,” she retorted, her hackles rising. How dare he say—

“StarClan? Please – I killed the moth. I put its wing in front of the medicine cat’s den,” Falcontail snapped. He rose to his paws to meet Mothwing, his face twisted and smug. “Did you really think StarClan had done it?” He said ‘StarClan’ as if they meant nothing to him. “Did you really think you were worthy?”

Mothwing flung herself at Falcontail before she could process what was happening, her screech of horror echoing through the reeds. She dug her claws into her brother’s pelt as she pushed him to the earth, but though fury was searing in her veins like fire, she couldn’t bring herself to tear into him. He was still her littermate.

Falcontail wasn’t even fighting back. He lay beneath her, his yellow eyes narrowed to slits as they bored into her. “You wanted to be a medicine cat so badly,” he hissed. “But Mudfur wouldn’t dare accept an apprentice without a sign from his precious StarClan. I helped you get what you want, Mothwing – so now it’s your turn!”

Mothwing trembled. She didn’t want to believe him but his words rang with truth – Mudfur had been so reluctant at first that Mothwing had felt like she would never be a medicine cat; but the moment the moth’s wing sign appeared…

She felt hollow, like Falcontail had drained all the life and light from her body. It’s true, she thought, staring down at her littermate. He… it’s all because of him… He’s the reason StarClan won’t talk to me!

Falcontail’s eyes burned. “If you don’t do this for me… I will tell all of RiverClan the truth – and then who knows what will happen to you?”

“You… you faked the sign, though,” Mothwing trembled. “It would be you in trouble, not me!”

Falcontail shrugged. “I don’t have to tell the whole truth… ‘Oh, my poor sister wanted to be a medicine cat so badly!’” His voice rose in shrill mockery. “‘She begged me to help!’ That’s all I have to say – what do you think RiverClan would do if they found out their medicine cat was falsely appointed…?”

Mothwing felt as if the world was upside-down. She pulled away from her brother as if he were a snake about to strike, her entire body shivering. She curled her tail around herself, trying to keep from fainting.

“I won’t do it,” she managed to whisper. Though she felt like collapsing, the fury at what her brother had done was still there – perhaps that was what was keeping her upright. No matter what, she would not let RiverClan suffer. She forced her lip to curl, growling, “StarClan chose me. I will never help you!”

Falcontail shook his head and sighed as he got to his paws. “If you really think so… why not ask them?” he meowed, his voice low and dark. He gave her a very sinister look, and for the first time Mothwing could see darkness in his eyes, pulsing and hungry and angry. “And when you learn the truth, you’ll see the mistake you made in defying me.”

He bent down and plucked a feather from the falcon’s corpse before he slunk away. Mothwing watched him go, bile rising in her throat. She felt sick, and pushed herself into the reeds to retch. Every bit of her felt like it was coming apart, and she didn’t know how to keep it all together.

A raindrop hit her ear. And then another, and, a long while later, another. Mothwing lifted her head to look at the sky. The gray clouds had come together, and it felt like the whole world was weeping with her… but the sound of the Twoleg monsters drowned out the pitter-patter of the raindrops, and Mothwing felt like retching again.

She stared hopelessly at the falcon corpse. Mothwing knew she should have stopped Falcontail, but how could she do that short of killing him? How could she explain his death to her Clan? What good would it even do?

Mothwing moved her gaze up into the clouds, into the rain. A medicine cat should see something in this weather, right? All she could see were clouds.

“Why couldn’t you stop him?” she asked, her voice small and quiet. “Why did you let him do this to me?”

There was only the sound of Twoleg monsters, and rain.