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| - S U R V I V O R S 🍁 episode 6 When she stumbled out of the Council room, bleary-eyed and stiff with fatigue, Casper immediately rose to greet her. He and Hyacinth were curled just outside the door, Hyacinth fast asleep and snoring. Glancing at his best friend sheepishly, Casper said, "She was awake till about an hour ago. I told her she could take a nap and I'd wait up." "Neither of you had to wait up," said Larksong softly. "But thank you." "What did they say?" "They're going to decide whether I'm a traitor or not at a later day." A scowl creased his brow. "That's absurd. There's no way Leopardfur had any evidence whatsoever. Why would they even hold the trial? She's raving." Larksong didn't respond. She was more troubled by the trial than she wanted to admit to Casper. She knew, of course, that she wasn't a traitor. But some of the things General Leopardfur had said brought her back to the day of the Drurray Way Massacre, pushed her into that corner and made her look more closely at everything she had just shoveled into a haphazard heap of abandoned memories and had fully intended to leave that way. Who had betrayed them? Whoever it was had caused the deaths of those she loved most. Brackenface, Cherryclaw, Eagleclaw... A cloud of despair circled Larksong, threatening to envelope her. So she was free. So what? She was still useless. She didn't know who Panther was. She didn't know where she had been held or why she'd been released. And her family was dead. She didn't know the why of that, either; why was she kept alive while they were killed? She had nothing and no one to return to. That's not true. You have Tildie and Drurray Way. But could she be content, living a peaceful life after what the war had taken from her? "You are a born warrior." Tildie had told her she was free to leave--though Larksong didn't think the she-cat had meant for her to leave by being dragged away by the police. Tildie meant she was free to become a warrior. An avenger. Involuntarily, she felt her claws come unsheathed. "Larksong?" Casper was regarding her with a cautious expression. The first time she'd met him, she had found his gaze rather unnerving; the different-colored eyes threw her off. But now she liked the uniqueness; the cool, pale sky contained in his blue eye, the warm chestnut of his brown eye. "Are you all right?" "I'm fine. Just thinking." He walked over to the heap of ginger-and-white fur that Hyacinth composed and gave her a rude kick. "Get up, lazy furball." Hyacinth yawned, rolled over, and stretched, promptly hitting Casper in the face. She stood, smoothing down her fur and purring. "Oops," she said sweetly. "Larksong's out of the Council room. They've decided to reach a decision at a later date." "They can keep trying; they're never going to do anything sensible or effective. I can't believe General Leopardfur had the guts to accuse you like that," Hyacinth said. "Though I suppose she has to make up for her lack of brain with extra guts." Larksong smiled at her; she couldn't help it. Hyacinth was a bit prickly on the outside, but though the she-cat would be a formidable enemy, she could tell she was an invaluable friend. Casper lead the two of them to the far corner of the entrance hall. "There's been some trouble overnight at the Emerald River. That's why they had to cut the trial short." Larksong couldn't help but object to that relative term. "I wouldn't say short. I feel like I spent a lifetime in that courtroom." Sympathetically, Casper said, "I wish we could've come in, but only family of the accused is permitted at Council trials." "And even those rules only apply to Clan cats," added Hyacinth bitterly. "The only cats the Council considers to have basic rights." She tilted her head to the side. "Not that having family with would do anyone any good anyway. Actually, they'd probably walk over to the accuser's side." Larksong couldn't help but glance away, and Hyacinth softened fractionally. "Sorry. I realize that not everyone hates their family. I wish you could still have yours, instead of me having--" "Hyacinth," interrupted Casper sharply. "Stop it." She cast him a dark look, but shut her mouth. "Anyway, as I was saying before, there was trouble by the Emerald River." Scoffing, Hyacinth said, "There's always trouble by the Emerald River, Casper. Even before the Shadow Army. TreeClan cats, LightClan cats, Redscouts, Trackers, wanderers, even the odd Negoui cat. You can't put them all on a riverbank and expect them to behave. Oh, and I almost forgot about the Scarlet pits." Her eyes gleamed. "Night by the river is quite an event." "All of us wouldn't know," said Casper. Larksong could sense a wall of anger building under his relatively calm exterior. No, it wasn't quite anger, actually--it was more like regret. A very deep sadness. Hyacinth clearly realized how insensitive her words were, but Larksong also knew she was not the type to apologize. Instead, she changed the subject in a boisterous, painstakingly indifferent voice, "What kind of trouble?" "There's been an attack." Larksong's claws came out immediately. Her deepest scar, the one right above her eye, prickled with unease. "What kind of attack?" One of the Council's police stopped nearby, overhearing Larksong's question. "An attack that's going to cause a lot of trouble." "What kind of attacks don't cause trouble?" Larksong raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Attacks that end up with everyone on the other side dead. Dead cats tell no tales," the guard said grimly. "This was an attack launched by amateurs. A group of young cats took on more Shadow Army than they could handle and are now believed to be fleeing for their lives, northward, along the Emerald River, with a Shadow patrol in pursuit. We plan to cut off the pursuers and enable the young cats to escape, but we're going to have to work fast. And kill a lot of Shadow soldiers." Her eyes glittered. "If you want to help, you could always sneak into a patrol. Fight for the Coalition, spill blood." Hyacinth blinked. "Can you say 'crazy'?" The guard glared at her. "This is bad," Casper said. "We attacked. Think of how ruthless the Union is when they're on the offensive; now imagine them on the defensive." Shrugging, the guard said, "They might not care, if it was just an attack on RockClan forces. But these young cats went after Lord Vector." "What do you mean, went after Lord Vector?" demanded Hyacinth. "That's insane. Lord Vector's location is concealed carefully at all times." "Exactly. It's done by planting false rumors as to his whereabouts. The attackers went to one of these rumored spots. Lord Vector wasn't there, obviously, but the Shadow Army understood what they planned to do. We believe the Union soldiers haven't caught up to them yet, but it's only a matter of time." The guard looked at Casper. "The Council wants you to bring a Tracker patrol on the rescue mission." "Me? Why?" She gave him a grim smile. "Because there are cadets among those who sprung the attack." Casper swore darkly. Hyacinth lashed her tail, muttering, "Fools." The guard's face remained unfeeling. "The rescue patrol is assembling outside Headquarters. We'll leave in ten minutes. See you there. Otherwise, I doubt the Council will expend much effort to rescue the Tracker cats who are in danger." She shrugged and walked away, her black fur rippling. Scowling after her, Larksong said, "She's not too concerned, is she?" "She told us just to piss us off," agreed Hyacinth, livid. "Who is she, anyway? A Sho-Co guard?" "She's not a guard at all," Casper said, to Larksong's surprise. "I've seen her before, on trial for war crimes. She was hired as a spy for TreeClan, and ended up killing two RockClan civilians while on her mission. Her name is Canary." Larksong's eyebrows went up. "And they let her go?" "Evidently they need killers like her on the warfront more than they need justice," said Hyacinth. "Casper, we don't have time to put together a Tracker patrol. Mudpoint is too far; we only have ten minutes." He nodded, his face set in determination. "Then it'll just have to be the two of us." She sighed. "I knew you were going to say that. Can't we just let the buggering cadets deal with their own problems?" "I'll come," said Larksong. Shaking his head, Casper said, "You're in enough trouble already. Leopardfur's after you for some reason, and until we figure out why that is, we can't afford to anger the Council. You're supposed to stay here until they reschedule your trial." Supremely annoyed, Larksong said, "I'd rather be out saving cadets than stuck here, Casper." "Let her come," said Hyacinth. "What if all the cadets are out there? Toby, Greg, Maia, Blake, Snowflake... The two of us can't help them all." "Toby and Snowflake are too smart to get wrapped up in a dumb plot to kill Lord Vector," said Casper. Unconvinced, Hyacinth said, "We did some really stupid stuff as cadets too, remember? I could drag you into anything. It's called peer pressure. Plus, maybe Toby and Snowflake went along to stop Maia and Blake from getting themselves killed." "They should've told someone, not gone along with them," said Casper. "We weren't at Mudpoint, and they don't trust Raven as much as they trust you," Hyacinth pointed out. "Why would they tell her?" Larksong watched the guilt cover Casper's face as he realized that his not being home might have endangered the cadets. "We'll get them back," she promised. "We've got to get going, then," Hyacinth said impatiently. Something like stone hardened in Casper's eyes. "Come on. Larksong, you're staying here." "That's rubbish--" "I'm not letting you walk into a battle again," he snapped. "This isn't Drurray Way," she said, with more fury than she knew she had building inside of her. "I'm not who I used to be, and I did not survive hell so I could go back to hiding in the shadows. Also, you're not the boss of me." "You go, girl," Hyacinth said admiringly. She looped her tail around Larksong. "I like her." Sticking out her tongue at Casper, she said, "Quit sulking and let's go. We've got Union butt to kick and cadet butt to save--and then kick, because honestly? Trying to attack Lord Vector? Must be out of their minds." * * * Toby was very annoyed. Running for his life was annoying. His paws hurt, which sucked, because he would like nothing more than to wrap them around Maia's throat. The she-cat and her boyfriend were two of the biggest idiots he'd met in his life. Greg, too, for following Maia around like a lost kit, doing everything she suggested. He glanced at Snowflake out of the corner of his eye. "That was ridiculous." The small she-cat nodded. There was a deep graze along her shouder, staining her white fur maroon with dried blood. Toby knew he looked much worse; he'd taken a few heavy blows, and was sure there were purple bruises flowing under his skin. "Too heavily guarded. They were ready for us." "Not only that, I doubt Lord Vector was even there. It was too easy. If a group of apprentices and cadets could find the spot, there's no way it was legitimate." A frown creased her forehead. "I wonder if all the Clan apprentices managed to get away." It was just the five of them running in a small band, the five Tracker cadets. They had split up from the rest of the group, who had continued to follow the Emerald River northward. Being raised as Trackers, the five of them were unafraid of getting a little dirty and had ducked off the beaten path, into the marsh west of the Emerald River's northern tributaries. In retrospect, the marsh was probably not good for the open wounds they were all sporting. The risk of infection was high. But Toby was more interested in escaping the soldiers following them, interested enough to grit his teeth and bear the sting of nettles hooking in his skin and mud clumping in the fur around his scratches. Others did not feel the need to be so silent in their suffering. "There are mosquitoes everywhere," groaned Maia. "Up my nose, in my mouth, in my ears." "Maybe you should've thought of that before dragging us along on this harebrained scheme." Blake, for once, was not fawning over his girlfriend. They walked with a foot of space between them, and Blake kept giving her nasty looks. Toby guessed the main reason for this was the swelling above his eye, and wondered what the two of them had expected. A completely clear shot at Lord Vector himself? "Maia, what are we doing here? Seriously, what happened?" he asked. For a second, her eyes flashed with defiance, and she looked on the verge of giving him one of her usual flippant excuses. Then she deflated, biting her lip and turning away. "I want to be more than a cadet," she muttered bitterly. "Casper likes you, Toby. Brings you along on missions." "Yeah. Like my first mission, where Raven lost it and murdered a RockClan apprentice," Toby couldn't resist interrupting. Maia didn't flare up. "I know," she said quietly. "I know it's not easy, fighting on the front lines of a war. I realize that now." "Bit late for that," Blake said, unmoved by his girlfriend's tear-sparkling eyes. "We accomplished nothing, and we might be lost in this marsh forever." "Shut up," Greg snapped unexpectedly. "No one forced you to come. Besides, we did take out a few Union cats." A nasty sneer contorted Blake's face. "Sure, defend her. You always do. Don't you have a mind of your own? Why are you always following her around?" Though Toby had asked himself the same question many times, he wasn't about to let Blake talk down to his brother. Standing by his brother, he demanded, "What's your problem?" "My problem is that this creep is in love with my girlfriend!" shouted Blake. Maia's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?" Greg backed away as if Blake had slammed a boulder into his face. "M-mosquito bite induced fever, clearly. He's raving." "Let's hear it, scum. Tell her how you feel," Blake said, a vicious look on his face as he wrapped his tail around Maia in a clearly territorial fashion. "Guys..." Snowflake tried to intervene, but Toby held her back, not wanting Blake to turn on her. "Greg, let's go. Let's get back to Mudpoint before the Union soldiers find us. Me, you, and Snowflake," Toby whispered in his brother's ear. "Coward," snarled Blake. "I'm sick of you making eyes at Maia. Let's fight. Let's end this." "Are you insane? We have bigger things to be worrying about!" Maia cried, pulling the tom back as he lunged at Greg. At the same time, Toby stepped in front of Greg, eyes flashing. "Don't you dare touch my brother," he growled. Snowflake's ears flattened against her head. "Hush, all of you. Do you hear that?" Cats approaching. Toby couldn't tell how many. He swore ferociously, cursing everything from the Union to fate itself. The five cadets bunched together, each facing outwards in a five-pointed star. The undergrowth nearby rustled ominously, and two she-cats stepped out. Toby was astonished to find he recognized them. "Merry? Sunny?" "Who?" asked Greg confusedly. The two she-cats looked just as confused, which wasn't exactly reassuring. "Who are you?" asked one of them, who had a glossy black pelt, bright yellow eyes, and a faint accent in her voice. Nudging her, her companion said, "It's that cadet who was with Casper when he came to visit us, remember?" "I'm Toby," he said. "This is Greg, my brother, and these are the other cadets: Maia, Blake, and Snowflake." "I'm Merry, and this is Sun's Light--" Sunny shot Merry a pointed look, and the tabby she-cat quickly corrected herself-- "Sunny, I mean. What are you guys doing here?" "It's a long story," Toby sighed. "What about you two?" "We're looking for the Coalition Headquarters." Merry wrinkled her nose. "We sneaked out while Captain Briggs and Tildie were tending to Mumbles. Larksong was taken by Council police, and we need to know why. We need to get her back." Toby gave her an apologetic look. "That's really noble, but you overshot. This marsh is north of Headquarters." Blushing with embarrassment, Merry said, "I have terrible navigational skills. Sunny and I rarely go very far from Drurray Way." "That's all right. We can escort you back to HQ," he offered. Looking at him in disbelief, Maia said, "No, we can't. We have to get back to Mudpoint." "Then you go. I'll take Merry and Sunny to HQ to get Larksong, and meet up with you at Mudpoint later." "I'm coming with you," said Greg immediately, and Snowflake nodded. Before anyone could say anything else, a shadowy shape came flying out of the same bush Merry and Sunny had emerged from. Only this shape was definitely a RockClan cat, one of the Union soldiers who had been pursuing him and the others. Much worse, he was armed with a claw-sheath. Without thinking, Toby lunged forward and pushed Merry and Sunny out of the way; they were the closest to the tom. The tom's claw-sheath grazed his foreleg. He would've hardly felt it if it had been a scratch with cat's claws, but the metal tore his skin like it was made out of thin leaf. He screamed in pain and stumbled back, blood turning the ground to mud underneath him. They stood no chance, he realized, as three more Union soldiers slipped out of the darkness, their eyes glowing with menace. They had the advantage of numbers, but that would do them no good when a single blow from the Union soldiers' cruel claw-sheaths could cripple or kill them. According to Tracker code, cadets weren't allowed to have claw-sheaths, and of course Merry and Sunny, raised in the peaceful Drurray Way atmosphere, didn't have them. "We have to run," Toby blurted. No one needed telling twice. The five cadets and two Drurray Way she-cats turned and ran like their paws were lit on fire. Behind them, the Union soldiers gave chase. Toby heard the whiz of metal as they clawed their way through the undergrowth, slicing it down and leaving a pile of wreckage in the forest behind them. An ear-piercing scream sounded at Toby's right flank as Blake went down. A RockClan soldier had pinned him to the ground. Toby swung all his weight into the RockClan cat's stomach and bit down in his neck. Muscle and flesh compressed in his jaws; his mouth filled with blood. The RockClan cat pummeled him till he was forced to let go, retreating behind the ranks of his three companions. Spitting, Toby turned to Blake, who was still crumpled on the marsh ground. "Blake?" Gently, he flipped the cadet over. He froze in horror. Blake was dead. His eyes were glazed over, staring in terror into nothingness. A deep red hole had been punctured in his chest by the RockClan cat's claw-sheath. One calculated blow, and he was dead. Toby couldn't understand. It had been so quick. One moment he was trying to save Blake, and Blake was struggling and yelling but alive... and the next he had thrown the RockClan cat off, and Blake was dead. How could that be? A scream sounded from behind him; Maia had seen what happened. She tried to run towards them, but Greg dragged her away, shouting something in her ear. "Toby!" Merry was at his side, shoving him. "We have to leave him! He's gone." Toby couldn't respond; his throat had closed up so tight he could hardly breathe. He let Merry yank him along, half leaning against her as she led him towards Snowflake and the others. Maia was sobbing. "It's my fault. It was all my idea, all my fault." No one could say anything. Greg was bleeding badly from a cut on the side of his head. Snowflake was limping. Merry and Sunny were covered in mud. But worse were the looks in everyone's eyes. Defeated, disgusted with themselves. Just now realizing the cost of what they'd done. Toby had always stifled under the condescending sayings of older cats. Youth doesn't understand some things. What didn't he understand? He thought he knew it all. Well, now he knew he didn't. He didn't understand death. Didn't get how someone could be here one second, gone the next. "Why, Maia?" Greg asked. His voice was rough and unsteady. "I thought... Kill the emperor of evil. I thought we could make a difference, end this stupid war." Tears glistened on her cheeks. "Stupid. My parents died in this stupid war. I made a horrible mistake. I'm a murderer, just as surely as if it'd been me who stabbed Blake." "Stop," Sunny said, shuddering. "Let's not think about that." Merry turned to her friend with an alarmingly ferocious gaze; Toby had thought of her as rather ditzy and shallow, not as intense as she looked now. "This is a war, Sunny. How can you not think about death? It's everywhere." * * * It was afternoon when they caught up with the remains of the apprentice patrol. Mostly TreeClan apprentices, but a few LightClan apprentices as well. Worse, Casper recognized one of them. He had seen her at Waller's Trench, screaming desperately for her mother. Her name was Dewpaw, he learned. Her entire family had been killed in Waller's Trench. It was obvious why most of these cats had chosen to join what they called "Project Kill The Emperor". The Council police were furious. They saw a bunch of stupid, ignorant young cats, too high on their own invincibility to realize the awful fragility of life. Which Casper saw. But he also saw broken young cats who had lost too much in this war already, who were desperate to regain some semblance of control over their own lives. The cat who symbolized it all, all the pain and suffering they had endured, was Lord Vector. They wanted to end it. Didn't everyone? The pain could drive you insane sometimes. "Where are our cadets?" whispered Hyacinth as she, Casper, and Larksong stood awkwardly on the edge of the crowd. "Dewpaw said they went towards the marsh," he responded. "They'll probably go back to Mudpoint. And we can meet them there." He looked at Hyacinth. "It's time we get home." "Me too," Larksong said. "What about--" "My trial? The Council will have to drag me by my toes." Her eyes traveled skyward, reflecting the afternoon sun like a pair of amethyst jewels. "I just want to be at Drurray Way right now." "You could come back to Mudpoint with us, you know," Casper said. Hyacinth agreed, "Us Trackers are tough. We'd protect you if Leopardfur came to get you." But Larksong didn't waver. "That isn't necessary, though it's really kind. But I have some stuff I have to sort through on my own." She softened; Casper guessed his face had betrayed disappointment. "I'm sure we'll meet again. All of us." She touched her nose to Hyacinth's cheek and gave Casper a lopsided, sad sort of smile. Regret coursed through him. He remembered how it used to be between them. Carefree friendship. Laugh till your sides ache, shout yourself hoarse at sunset in the woods, chase fireflies... Too much had changed. The old Casper wanted to stay at Drurray Way, didn't know he would soon become the leader of the Trackers, didn't know how much responsibility he would have to shoulder. The old Larksong, well... He didn't even know what she had endured since she'd been that version of herself. But he could guess why she was going back to Drurray Way. Answers. She wanted answers. Why her parents and brother were dead, but she wasn't. Why she'd been released. Why, why any of it? "Good bye," Larksong said. Hyacinth broke into a real smile, nudging Casper. "Didn't you tell her? We don't say good bye. We say 'stars watch'. Stars watch over you. Till we meet again." "Till we meet again," Larksong echoed.
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