Turning Tides

 TURNING TIDES

Episode Seven, Season Four, of Rise.

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Turning Tides
Terran is the first to start running. Or maybe I did. He rushes towards me but when we meet, I’m no longer standing where I was either. “Bryce,” he breathes out. I bury my face into his pelt, breathing in his familiar scent.

“You’re back,” Tears press at my eyes, “you’re finally back.”

Terran hugs me close and we cling to each other for a long time. When I finally pull away from him, I realize that Karina is hovering on the side, her eyes watching me almost imploringly.

I swallow hard. Terran notices immediately because he curls his tail around me. “There’s a lot Karina has to explain, but I need you to bring her back to the Coalition.”

“What about you?”

“I have to go find Vicky--”

“No!” I blurt out. Terran looks alarmed. “You can’t go,” I say firmly. “You can’t leave me again.” I need you here.

“I should go after Vicky,” Terran tries to argue, his blue eyes burning with conviction. “She has a cure for Karina.”

A cure? I’ve long suspected there was something going on with Karina, which caused her strange behavior, but Terran had yet to tell me what it was. “I’m going to go with you,” I tell him. “You need to come back with me so that our friends can help you.”

Terran hesitates for a moment before nodding. “Okay, I’ll come. But I’m not so sure I want you to come with me later.”

“I’m coming,” I insist.

Terran doesn’t argue this time and I’m relieved. I’m not going to let Terran go alone to risk his life for his sister. I want to make sure that he’s safe this time.

His pelt is riddled with scratches, as is Karina’s. They both look for worse than wear and that worries me. Karina looks a little out of it, her eyes slightly unfocused. Terran looks concerned and I notice he keeps peering into Karina’s eyes and muttering something to her.

I decide that after we bring Karina back safely that I would have a private conversation with Terran to figure out what’s going on.

We make some small talk and Terran explains to me what they’ve been trying to do for the last few days after Terran caught up to his sister. “We were tracking Vicky because she has this cure—I’ll explain more later—but it didn’t really work out so well.” He gestures at his wounds.

Some of his wounds look half-infected but Terran is unbothered by them. “Anyway, we decided we needed more reinforcement.”

That’s a white lie and I know it. Terran wanted to come back and deposit Karina in my care before running after Vicky again. Terran meets my eyes and they tell me to keep quiet about his slip. His eyes glance at Karina and I understand immediately. This is something he doesn’t want Karina to hear.

We make it back to camp and Terran tells Karina that she has to talk to the leaders immediately and explain that she perhaps would want someone to watch over her for the next few days until he could find a cure for her.

Karina looks disgusted and ashamed of the idea but she nods along and heads for the leaders’ den. Terran stares after her but I tug him away.

“Spill, Terran,” I command, “you haven’t really explained anything since you two returned.”

“Okay,” he exhales, “the truth is that those leaves that Vicky gave you poisoned Karina. They were mixed with my blood and that apparently stimulated an urge in Karina to come after me and kill me. I have no idea why she ended up killing Ruby but I suspect she was controlled by the leaves and attacked whoever she could because she couldn’t find me.”

I flinch at the mention of the cruel realization of Ruby’s death. Terran keeps going though. “So when we realized this, we went after Vicky. She admitted to mixing my blood into the leaves and tricking you into giving them to Karina and she said there was a cure. We were going to try to get it out of her but Karina got possessed and attacked me.” He pointed at his wounds again. “This isn’t really all Vicky.”

My eyes widen. “Karina attacked you?”

“Yeah,” Terran says bitterly, “it was a nightmare coming true; sibling versus sibling.” I shudder. I can’t imagine fighting my sisters or letting them fight one another.

“Anyway, I decided that Karina had to be contained. I brought her back here so the Coalition could keep a watch on her.”

“Good choice,” I nod, “plus, I missed you.”

Terran’s sky-blue eyes soften. “I know; I missed you too.”

We stare at each other for awhile before I blush and look away. Terran coughs awkwardly. “Um yeah, I don’t really want you to come with me but if you insist, we’ll probably leave soon to chase after Vicky. I want to find the cure for Karina as soon as possible.”

“That’s a good idea,” I agree, “and of course I’m going with you! If you couldn’t do it before Karina got possessed what makes you think you can do it now alone?”

“Thanks,” Terran snorts, “for your trust in me.”

“No problem,” I smile sheepishly, “but seriously, we’ll do better together.”

“I like together,” Terran smiles.

I feel my ears turn red again and I try to change the subject. The first thing that came to mind was Firepaw. Immediately I feel guilty for feeling so happy about Terran’s return. “There’s something you should know. Applepaw’s been pretty down because of it and I don’t want you to say the wrong thing when you see her. Someone poisoned Firepaw and he died yesterday.”

Terran’s eyes clouded with grief. “Applepaw and Sunpaw must be terribly distraught.”

“Yeah…they’ve been coping since he got ill but now they’re hit with a whole new grief.” I shake my head. “They’re so young.”

“They’re strong,” Terran speaks with conviction, “and we’ll be here to help them. You’re really good with cats, did you know that?”

“Thanks,” I touch my nose to his ear, feeling overly elated again.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Terran offers, “There’s not really much we can do. I’m sure we can go see Nightshadow and Feathershine but I want to spend time with you first.”

This makes me feel ridiculously happy and I say yes. We head outside, greeting a few warriors occasionally before we exited camp. It feels so normal being with Terran and I almost feel as though he never left in the first place.

The night air is cool and I relish the quiet background. Terran is a warm presence compared to the darkness I’ve felt since Ruby’s death. He presses against me, his pelt warm to the touch.

“You know, I was afraid you wouldn’t accept Karina.”

“Why?” I pull away slightly to face him. “Karina is too dear to me for me to let go of her, even…” My throat tightens up at the thought of finishing the sentence.

“I trusted you would forgive her, but family is a whole new level of grief,” Terran’s eyes are distant, “I would know.”

I don’t ask him about it; he never told me anything about his mother, just his father (who he had presumed dead but I later told him that his father was alive).

Terran lets out a gusty sigh. “She didn’t die from some horrible death, it was just a cold. Karina and I didn’t have the right herbs though, and she died in the middle of leaf-bare. My kithood was mostly about being a survivor, something Karina taught me herself. So after my mother died, I buried my feelings and decided to move on, like I did with Bree.”

“Did you ever tell me how Bree died?”

“Poisoned then murdered,” Terran shakes his head, “By a Viper I presume, since we were close to the border and Vipers do use certain amounts of poison.”

For a few beats of silence I’m quiet. “I trust you and Karina,” I finally say, “Karina must have had a reason for doing what she did, and it’s because she’s controlled by some weird plant that Vicky gave her. I can’t really blame her.”

Terran knows from the tightness in my voice that I can and probably should, but he doesn’t question it.

In fact he doesn’t get to chance to because at this moment the bush next to me explodes (really a cat just flew out and shredded the bush in the process) and out came a slim, cream-colored she-cat. She knocks Terran aside, who goes tumbling into the destroyed remains of the bush, cursing as he gets tangled in the mess.

The she-cat flings herself at me and I realize with shock that it’s Presidia. “What in the name of--”

I put up my paws to defend myself but Presidia is faster and stronger than me. It probably would have ended up a disaster if a brown, lithe shape hadn’t jumped in front of me and blocked the blow.

My eyes must be playing tricks with me because suddenly Aleric has appeared out of nowhere, beating back Presidia with precise techniques. He’s a brilliant fighter, and it scares me how easily he predicts Presidia’s moves and defeats her.

With the cream colored she-cat pinned to the floor, Aleric turns to me, not even breathing hard.

“I changed my mind,” he offers.

Terran has freed himself of the bush and comes over, covered in leaves and twigs. This strikes me as endearing and I use my tail to brush some of it off of him.

“Changed your mind?” I echo, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean I changed my mind about the Blood Army,” Aleric explains. He puts his tail in Presidia’s mouth to prevent her from saying anything. “Guess you said enough to make me consider my ideals and choices.”

“And,” he hops off Presidia (seriously? What kind of expert fighter is he if he just gets off the cat that’s attacking us?) but Terran quickly jumps forward to keep Presidia down. “I have herbs for Karina.”

“How do you know about Karina?” I stare at the herbs Aleric reveals. “And how can I trust you?”

Aleric looks amused. “I know everything,” he says airily, “and I’m your best option. Karina isn’t in such a great shape now is she? Going around…she’s probably already done some harm, right?”

I wince a little and Aleric’s eyes soften like he cares. “I’m sorry about your sister by the way.”

I gape at him momentarily but Aleric just flounces over to Terran and pulls Presidia up. “I’m guessing you have to round her up and bring her back to the Coalition but I might as well come too. Luckily I got here in time too—she could have done real harm.”

“I can defend myself,” I retort, but at the same time I’m glad Aleric did come.

“Let’s bring them both,” Terran decides, “if what Aleric says is true, we can’t risk turning his offer down.” He eyes the herbs eagerly.

Aleric pads between me and Terran, in hopes of keeping him “contained”. (Though I’m positive he can best us both in a fight.)

“I finally get to really meet you,” he tips his head at Terran, “last time I saw you I was holding my claws to your neck and demanding you tell Bryce to leave the Twolegplace.”

“Fun times,” Terran grunts.

“Certainly was,” Aleric’s eyes twinkle, “though I did get to meet your sister. She has a fantastic personality, better than yours.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Terran grumbles, “You’re not exactly our best friend, you know? The Coalition won’t go easy on you.”

Aleric smiles to himself and I watch him closely. It never ceases to amaze me how easy-going Aleric is. He almost never seems serious, though there are times where his face closes off and he becomes almost devoid of emotion. Right now, he seems to find the situation amusing, as if he knows he’ll win.

“Tell me, what changed your mind about the Blood Army?”

“It’s just wrong,” Aleric’s yellow eyes are full of sudden fire, “everything they do is wrong. Of course, I should have realized that, under their orders, but it’s hard to think that the cats you look up to do things wrong.”

Presidia gives a small snort, though she doesn’t offer her opinion on this. She looks slightly glum, as if her ambush had held some importance (it probably did).

“Save your questions for later,” Aleric gives his pelt a shake, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Except prison,” Terran mutters.

“You’ll eat your words later,” Aleric smirks, “I think you’ll find that I’m not lying about anything.”

“You’re also one of the shadiest cats I’ve ever encountered in my life,” I roll my eyes, “don’t expect us to trust you immediately. The first time I met you, you knew everything about me and you certainly weren’t easy to decipher. Not to mention your killer abilities and your crazy fighting skills.”

“I taught myself,” Aleric says absentmindedly, “so not all Blood Army cats are like that.” He glances pointedly at Presidia.

The cream colored she-cat glares back at him, as if she absolutely resents him. I suppose Aleric shouldn’t be too popular, with his skill and attitude.

We reach camp and I tell Nightshadow what happens and he takes Presidia away at once. Calypso looks devastated, her eyes following the other she-cat.

“Can’t you cut her some slack?” She pleads, “I’m sure Presidia didn’t mean any real harm.”

“Honey, she attacked her,” Aleric is the first to speak up, “I find what you’re saying hard to believe.”

“Shut up,” I grunt, stamping on his paw, “nobody gave you permission to speak.”

“I don’t need your permission,” Aleric arches an eyebrow. “You really don’t have any power over me.” He waves the herbs in front of my face.

Deciding to play with him, I surprise him by snatching the herbs from him and handing them to Flameshadow. “Thanks,” I give him a fake smile, “Looks like I’m in power now, right?”

Aleric wipes away the shock from his face quickly and shrugs. “Really, you know you have nothing over me.”

“Thanks for making me want to trust you,” I push him towards the prisons, “you can think over your next words in prison and I trust you’ll decide to tell me the exact truth when I come by later.”

“I promise, princess,” he grins at me before I deposit him into the nearest prison, trying to remain unfazed by Aleric’s unshakable confidence.

I’ll deal with him later, I decide, right now, I had other things to figure out.

The End.