Jaded View: Chapter twenty-two

## Chapter twenty-two

Picklekit
woke up, dawn light entering her den, Snowflight and Lilykit were still asleep,
and the clearing was silent. She got, slowly sneaking past the sleeping white
she-cats. As she poked her head out of the den, light shone onto her, something
caught the corner of her eye, two shapes fell down from the rock wall, one was
Tigerfang, and in his jaw was a limp cat, blood stained her back and blood
trickled from the patch of scarlet, *Silentfrost! What could have happened to*
her, *Tigerfang padded to the centre of the clearing, gently placing the*
limp body on the ground, Picklekit ran over, staring in shock at the she’s
body. “What happened?” She mewed in shock, “we were out hunting together last
night, since it was dark, we could barely see, she decided to climb a tree, and
then…” He gazed at the body, then looked at Picklekit, he didn’t speak, but she
understood what he meant, *she fell from a tree,* “I wish I didn’t ask her
to go hunting, maybe this wouldn’t of happened.” The tom’s voice was quiet, and
tears welled up in his eyes, “it’ll be okay Tigerfang,” Picklekit could feel
sorrow filling inside of her, around them, cats started to come out of their
dens, most likely drawn by the smell of blood. Moonlight came out of her den,
her tone sharp as cats started to mumble around Silentfrost’s body, “it’s only
been what, a day or so and we’ve had two cats die on us? What are we, flies
that die of every few days?” The she pushed past the crowd, coming to stand
beside the deputy’s body, “now, Cresentfeather, you, Flatface and Fuzzytail can
bury her, while I decide on a new deputy.” The small healer nodded, while the
other two toms padded over, the three carrying the body out of the tunnel. All
the cats that were in the centre of the clearing started to mumble to each
other, “oi! I’m trying to think, be quiet!” Moonlight spat, glaring at the
clan, “Moonlight, this is a bigger issue than what you think, what if this
isn’t an accidental death. What if this is just the start of something bad?”
Greystar pushed his way towards the leader, “this isn’t something bad! This is
just a minor issue that we need to overcome. If it was serious then the entire
clan would be dead.” The she growled, “now get out of my face your useless
guardian!” She spat, scaring the tom off. The she jumped on top of the root in
front of her, looking down onto the clan, “cats of Shadeclan, today we have
lost our deputy, so I must pick a new one.” Picklekit couldn’t hear any amount
of care in the she-cat’s voice, “and I shall choose Tigerfang as my deputy.”
Cats started to cheer at the sound of the ginger tabby’s name, “Greystar, do
you agree with my decision?” The she looked behind her, where the tom was
slowly padding up the root. “I do.” He meowed unsteadily, looking down at
Tigerfang. “Then Tigerfang shall be the new deputy of Shadeclan.” The she
meowed, smirking, “clan dismissed.” She jumped down, Greystar running towards
her, his grey tail fluffed up, “good job Tigerfang!” Picklekit mewed, bounding
over to the ginger tabby, other cats were already crowding around him, meowing
and congratulating him. “Pfft, you’re the only good warrior, even if you don’t
fit the criteria for being deputy.” Flatface smirked, “you are, like, the best
choice, ever.” A white, fluffy tom meowed, “you’re gonna be the best leader
when that horrible cat’s gone.” Shadowtail meowed, standing beside Darkkit.
Then something tugged Picklekit away from the group, it was Snowflight, who had
Bearscar behind her. “Come on, we’ve got to go train.” The white she padded
away, followed by Lilykit. Picklekit ran after them, Bearscar behind her, once
they got to the wall, Picklekit lunged at it, quickly making it up, adrenaline
pumping in her veins. Once Junglekit climbed up, the golden tom mewed, “how’d
you get up so fast?” He puffed, “adrenaline”, Picklekit sat down, letting the
other training sit beside her, “should we go on ahead of the others?” Picklekit
mewed, glancing down the other side of the stone, “we shouldn’t, what if we get
lost or attacked. We want to stay safe.” Junglekit mewed, flicking one of his
ears, “anyway, do you want train this afternoon? Maybe with Bloodkit.”
“I would love to.”

Next Chapter: Jaded View: Chapter twenty-three

Previous Chapter: Jaded View: Chapter twenty-one