Chapter 11
Standing just outside the warrior's den on the rough gravel, Appleheart watched the sun go down and the moon begin to rise on the opposite end of the sky. The sky all around her were brilliant hues of red, purple, yellow, and blue, like that of a beautiful painting that none other than Icefur would gasp at and faint from it's beauty and magnificence. Glancing around, Appleheart took in the moon washed scene around her. She was sitting in TwilightClan's camp, which was in a large stone crater. All the cats in her newly founded Clan had learned to keep their balance much better than other cats to get along the skinny, rock paths that connected the dens.
At the bottom of the crater sat the cave where the nursery resided, where Thorntalon was currently nursing her kits. Left of that and up a small amount of rocks was the apprentice's den, and left of that on the ground near the nursery was the elder's den. Left of the elder's den and up a rocky path was the warrior's den where Appleheart now sat watching the sky. Left to this was the medicine cat's den, and straight across was the leader's den, the Highledge, and the fresh-kill pile.
Appleheart then reflected on all that had happened since the previous Gathering only a few days ago; Duskshine, being the rightful leader, was given her nine lives and renamed to Duskstar, all three Clans had quickly arranged and agreed on territories, Brightfeather became the medicine cat, the WoodClan cats that had been the six friends' mentors made sure they had memorized their hunting skills, and now, finally, today was the day that TwilightClan made their new deputy. Even StarClan themselves would be there!
"Applehawt!" squealed a happy voice from down below. Looking down, Appleheart saw Darkkit and Whitekit making a dangerous and poor attempt to climb up the rock pathway to her.
"Get back here," hissed Thorntalon, who looked as if she had just woken up from sleeping. "You'll fall off those rocks if you're not careful!"
"But we wan' tell Applehawt the good news," protested Whitekit, the smaller of the two kits. He, unlike Darkkit, had stopped climbing the rock once getting onto one, while Darkkit had climbed nearly halfway up the stone path.
"Darkkit," called Thorntalon, ignoring her other kit without noticing. "Get down from there right now!"
"Never!" squealed Darkkit, and immediately lost his balance with a squeal of panic and horror.
Panic flooded through Appleheart, and her instincts flared. Leaping off the ledge that sat outside the warrior's den, she half-fell, half-slithered down the rocks, leaping over Whitekit's head, colliding with Thorntalon, and falling to the ground with a thud. Another, smaller thud and a thud as loud as Appleheart's thud followed. Pain stung Appleheart's front left leg and back right paw, preventing her from getting up within moments. Eventually, after a few moments, Appleheart managed to push herself up. Pain stung Appleheart even more when she got up, and she barely held back a yowl of pain.
A small, squeak sounded a tail length ahead of Appleheart. This was followed by a small voice asking, "Applehawt, awe they okay?"
"Ugh..." grunted Appleheart, fully heaving herself onto her paws. "Lemme look..." Limping to the small, black and white body that had squeaked, Appleheart sniffed Darkkit and inspected him closely. "Darkkit's alive," she called, relief flooding over her, not realizing the other cats of the Clan had come out. Appleheart then limped over to the large, brown tabby body of Thorntalon and looked her over closely.
Nothing.
She looked her over again even closer, and still, all she found was nothing. Not a beating heart, not a shallow breath, not a twitch. But she did find long, slightly harmful scrapes all along Thorntalon's paws, legs and side.
"No..." whispered Appleheart, immediately blaming her for this innocent queen's death. Glancing around, eyes watering, she looked to Whitekit, who was still on the stone he had climbed up to. Appleheart gulped, realizing that each stone was about one or two mouse lengths from one another. I shouldn't have jumped, thought Appleheart. Or I should have gotten there quicker, or later, or... her mind trailed off and she let out a loud, mournful wail.
After some time, the Clan had gathered around the cats. Appleheart was now leaning on Brightfeather's shoulder, where she mumbled, "It should'a been me..." and fell unconscious, but alive.