Fernpaw legs shook as she stepped as quietly as she could into the apprentices' den. With a shaky intake of breath, she slowly inched forward, staring at the trembling mass of gray fur so pale, it was almost white in some lighting---but not here. No, it looked black in the dark of the den, not an inch of moonlight seeping into the thick ceiling of the apprentices' den.
She swallowed with another intake of breath, trying not to think about how loud it sounded in the... silent and too empty den. "Tulippaw?" she whispered. "Are you... are you alright?"
A shrill wail pierced through the cold midnight air and Fernpaw shrank backwards, the fur along her spine fluffing up. Her heart raced so fast she thought it had burst straight out of her chest and flopped on the ground in front of her. Her own breath stuttered then sped up, chest heaving up and down.
"They're coming for me! They're coming for me---I can feel them breathing all around me! Their jaws, their jaws!" Tulippaw screamed as he thrashed around, his eyes wide and his paws flailing out, claws slashing at the ground as they curled irregularly.
Fernpaw stepped backwards from her brother. Her entire body shook and then, suddenly, she gagged and coughed, feeling a strange, sickening, horrible feeling squeeze at her chest and throat so viscerally she might throw-up.
She saw a dark shape lurch forward from the darkness and she startled backwards, the large, towering forms of dogs flashing in her vision. "Hey, hey!" the shape said as it crouched beside Tulippaw's side---Elderpaw. Their sister. It was just their sister... just... the three of them... three... Ashpaw... "Hey, it's alright, there's no---"
Tulippaw's claws slammed into Elderpaw's side and she yowled. The sound made Fernpaw's vision so dizzy that she wasn't even aware when she had fallen to the floor.
"Fernpaw!"
Fernpaw stared at the bramble-woven wall of the den, numb and suffocating without breathing.
What... what had she done...? She had just wanted to get rid of Lionstar's dastardly offspring! Not... not...
...Oh StarClan.
Oh StarClan, oh StarClan, oh StarClan above, forgive her, please, for the thought of spending eternity suffering in the Place of No Stars was too great for her to bare.
With a horrible, sickening feeling of dread building in her chest, she realized exactly what had happened to Ravenwing when he had killed Graystripe.
And what was going to happen to her now that she had done the same.
Related.
