Secrets to be Revealed

 SECRETS TO BE REVEALED

Episode Eight, Season Two, of Rise.

Enjoy <3

Secrets to be Revealed
The Coalition can certainly rally up an army even in the middle of the night. Feathershine and Nightshadow are standing by my side, although Nightshadow is staying behind of his wound from half a moon ago. It’s still a puffy red scar and still healing. “Be careful,” he cautions us. He glances down at Applepaw, who puffs out her chest, “and take care of Applepaw.”

“I don’t need to be taken care of!” Applepaw retorts indignantly, “I can fight better than Bryce!”

I wince. “Thanks, Applepaw,” I roll my eyes, “it’s nice to know you have faith in me.”

“Of course I have faith in you,” Applepaw grins, “just not your fighting!”

Nightshadow nudges his apprentice and casts me a glance. “When you get back, I’ll have to continue your fighting lessons.”

I smile. “All in good time.”

I’m glad he said “when”, because anything else would seem like we’re not going to come back. I don’t know what I’ll face when I return to the Twolegpalce to get Terran and Karina out of whatever trouble they might have gotten themselves in, but I know it won’t be pretty.

And then we’re setting out, Nightshadow fading into the distance as we exit camp and head out. I can see lights glowing from the Twolegplace, Twoleg built lights. They glow like tiny suns, as if the Twolegs had gathered a part of the sun itself into a tiny jar.

It takes awhile for us to get there, and I talk to Feathershine in hushed voices. I feel the cold air next to me where Terran would usually walk.

By the time we get to the Twolegplace, it’s hard not to hear the yowls and hisses. I can see a white pelt lighting up the darkness covered by the dark gray pelt of Karina herself. Terran glows in the moonlight, rearing up to slash at one of the advancing cats.

“Coalition, forward!” Amberstar shouts, racing forward to lead the charge.

Cats around me let out fierce battle cries and join the battle. “Come on!” Applepaw nudges me from where I’m rooted to the ground, “Let’s fight!”

Her enthusiasm is contagious, and I find myself launching into battle feeling pumped. My veins are on fire and I land on a tom, clawing his back. He grunts and tries to throw me off, but I roll with him, just like Nightshadow had taught me.

I find myself fighting my way to Terran’s side, although the white tom is doing fine on his own, fending two cats at once.

The tom I was fighting lunges at me while I was distracted, knocking me off balance. I go flying, smacking into a tree on the way. I struggle to sit up, trying to raise my paws to block the blow that is sure to follow up.

But the blow never comes.

I manage to open my eyes and stare as Terran kicks the attacker away. When the attacker doesn’t relent, Terran doesn’t hesitate to tear a bloody scratch down the other tom’s flank. It’s enough to send the opponent yowling.

“Thanks,” I pant as he helps me up, “I haven’t really been trained to fight yet.”

“We’ll fix that,” Terran says shortly, casually clawing anyone who comes too close to us. “Are you all right? You hit your head pretty hard.”

“I’m fine,” I sway on my feet. “Just need a few seconds.”

Terran keeps me steady, continuing his duty as temporary guard. “Well, the battle is thinning out,” he mutters, “guess you guys really came prepared.”

“Prepared is an understatement,” I eye the way we outnumber the Blood Army cats. It’s a miracle we got here fast enough though.”

“No, you should have come later,” Terran responds, not even glancing at me, “Karina and I almost got something out of them before you guys showed up.”

“Excuse me, but they were about ready to tear your throats out,” I snap, pulling away and immediately regretting it.

“You’re not well,” Terran reprimands, “you really hit your head hard.” He grabs my scruff and tugs me onto his back. I yelp in surprise.

“What are you doing? Let me go!”

Terran doesn’t put me back down and he carries me over to the rest of our friends as the Blood Army cats flee around us. “What do you say we head back?” He asks easily, “Bryce has a head injury your medicine cat needs to look at.”

“Our,” Feathershine corrects.

“Our,” Terran dismisses, “can a medicine cat really be a possession?”

“Flameshadow is the medicine cat for the Coalition,” Applepaw pipes up, “He doesn’t belong to anyone, but rather to the entire group. We all do.”

Terran is silent after that. To my surprise, it’s Karina who comes up and answers. “It’s like that for everything,” she says softly, “it’s what makes us who we are. No matter where we go, we belong somewhere, and that makes us loyal. The Vipers may have been wrong, but we belonged there before. It felt right, despite the wrongness of it.”

“You don’t belong there anymore,” I say firmly, “You and Terran belong with us.”

“We don’t only belong,” Terran tilts his head up so he’s glancing at me with his sky-blue eyes, with the white dotted clouds floating within them. “We chose to be there.”

I’m not sure what really happens afterwards, but Karina coughs and shoves Terran. “Don’t get all moony-eyed now, we have to get back home.”

Home. It feels so real now, the fact that Terran and Karina belong with the Coalition. So do I.

Together, we all turn and head back. Just as we exit the Twolegplace, I glance back, memorizing the place one last time before finally turning my back. Perhaps I will return to defeat the Blood Army but I will never return here and think of this as my home.

Never.

~

When we return to camp, Nightshadow greets us with news that my sisters are asleep in my den. We go there anyways, careful not to wake my sisters though. “Spill,” I turn on Terran and Karina. “Why were you guys out there?”

“We don’t have to--” Karina starts hotly.

Terran stops her with a paw. “Best friends don’t keep secrets from each other,” he casts me a glance, “we were there searching for our father. We didn’t find him because we were stopped by the Blood Army, but we want to know why he’s there.”

“I know,” I say meekly.

Terran nods as if he already knew (he probably did, considering I already knew so much about his father he didn’t seem to know).

“Tell us,” Karina turns her golden gaze at me.

I don’t hesitate this time. Terran is right. We shouldn’t be holding secrets. “Okay, this strange mysterious she-cat scared me a few days ago and told me that your father was being held prisoner by the Blood Army. I figured it out later that your father must be the one who had figured out how to mix plants and blood to create different mixtures. That must be why he’s there because he’s a Viper and the Blood Army wants these mixtures.”

“So the question is,” Feathershine blinks, “why don’t the Vipers know about these mixtures and their father?”

“We were told he was dead.” Terran says slowly.

There is a pause and then Terran gasps as if in pain. I shoot him a concerned look but Karina is the first one to ask. “Terran--?”

“Bree,” He whispers, “Stars, Karina, Bree.”

Karina frowns. “Bree? Your best friend? What about her?”

The term “best friend” hits me like a blow, and I don’t know why it hurts so much. Terran is stiff with shock and paler than ever. “She was poisoned by a Viper, remember? I remember that glassy look in her eyes, like the one Hawkstar had. There was no wound on the outside, but inside, she was bleeding. I thought it was a Viper, but if the only Viper who knew remedies such as those was our father…”

Karina goes slack with horror. “No.”

But the white tom shakes his head. “It has to be,” he stares at his sister, “Bree is dead because of our father.”

I feel selfish and horrible when I feel a sense of relief at knowing that Bree is dead, and that she’s not someone Terran wants to go back to.

“How did the Vipers not know about the mixtures then?” Feathershine repeats.

Karina stiffens. “No, we do know about the mixtures, or at least one of them. We’ve only ever had one that is used—other than the one on Bree--and it’s the ones with the wolves.” She turns frantically to Terran, “The wolves!”

The white tom’s eyes are wide. “The wolves,” he whispers, “by the stars.”

“The wolves?” I echo, “What are you guys talking about?” Nightshadow flinches at the repeated use of the word and I remember the battle from half a moon ago with the Vipers and the savage creatures that had been in our camp.

But the siblings are lost in thought. They continue to murmur to each other until I can’t stand it anymore. “Come on guys,” I say loudly, “we can’t hear you.”

Karina shoots me a dirty look which I return. “We need to do more research on this first,” the dark gray she-cat says abruptly. “Can I see Shadeflower?”

“Can we,” Terran corrects, “I need to go too.”

“We should all go,” Nightshadow pipes up, “Shadeflower is my sister.”

Karina hesitates and exchanges a glance with Terran. “Sorry,” she says bluntly, “but you wouldn’t understand.”

“Nightshadow is right,” Feathershine frowns, “Shadeflower is his sister and we should do things together. Didn’t we just say we shouldn’t keep secrets?”

“This isn’t a secret,” Terran stands, “it’s just that it’s too hard to explain. You guys don’t understand anything about how Viper standings work. Shadeflower may be the key to figuring out this puzzle and we have to do it alone.”

“Let me come,” I plead, stepping forward, trying to catch Terran’s eye.

He ignores me and averts his gaze. “No.” He says firmly, pushing Karina outside before following.

I watch them go, unsure what to say.

~

The siblings take a long time to emerge from Flameshadow’s den. When they do, I can see their necks bent, obviously deep in conversation. Nightshadow is out training Applepaw and he offered to train me also, but I had declined. My excuse was I needed to talk to Terran.

That isn’t entirely untrue. I do need to talk to him. I want to apologize for hiding all these secrets from him and try to restart the trust we had built between each other. (Why was it that when I wasn’t sure which side Terran was on we had more trust than we do now?)

Feathershine went with Nightshadow and Applepaw and my sisters are with the other kits. It’s just me waiting for Terran and Karina.

The moment they step out, I hurry towards them. Terran jerks his head up at the sound of footsteps and I wave my tail in greeting.

“Hey, I just wanted to talk--”

“No time,” Terran interrupts, pushing past me. He veers towards the exit of the camp and Karina mutters something before hurrying after him. It becomes obvious that Terran had last minute decided to walk out of the camp.

I head out also, not in the mood to bring my sisters into this or be alone. I remember the directions to the training clearing Nightshadow is using today and make my way there. I stand on the side for a bit; watching Feathershine and Nightshadow show Applepaw move after move before Feathershine finally looks up and notices me standing there.

“Bryce!” She waves me over, “I thought you were talking to Terran.”

“I did for like five seconds,” I mutter, “he walked out on me.”

“Did you guys break up?” Applepaw asks eagerly (a little too eagerly), bounding over.

“Break up?” I echo.

At the same time Nightshadow snaps, “Applepaw, that’s none of your business. We’re still training and I expect you to pass your assessment in a few days.”

“I didn’t break up with Terran and he didn’t break up with me,” I confirm for the apprentice anyways, “wait, who said we were even dating?”

“I say so!” Applepaw declares, but Nightshadow trips her to make her focus.

Feathershine is smothering a giggle. “You and Terran weren’t dating? I remember the looks you two gave each other.”

“He saved my life,” I point out, “I don’t have a romantic relationship with Terran; I don’t even have romantic feelings.”

Feathershine smiles knowingly. “Yeah, guess so.” I’m not sure if she thinks differently, but I’m positive.

Nightshadow calls for a break and makes his way over. “Are you here to train too, Bryce?” I’m grateful he doesn’t point out that my conversation with Terran didn’t work (or bring up any mention of my nonexistent relationship with Terran).

“Yeah,” I follow him to where Applepaw is, “I am.”

“I’ll train Applepaw then,” Feathershine brushes past Nightshadow and for a moment I envy their easy relationship with each other.

Nightshadow turns to fully face me. “Okay, where did we leave off the last time we had a training session?”

I shrug helplessly, “That was awhile ago, before the Vipers attacked the camp. My first battle…” I say, a little too wistfully.

“We’ll just go over the basics again then,” Nightshadow decides, “attack me.”

I don’t hesitate to lunge towards him, claws sheathed but paws outstretched. The black tom easily ducks and rolls over, kicking out as he goes. I go flying. “Oof,” I mumble as I push myself back up.

“Too predictable,” Applepaw calls.

“Shush,” Feathershine laughs, cuffing her gently, “focus on me and let Nightshadow teach his lessons.”

“I can teach better than him!” Applepaw shouts.

Nightshadow rolls his eyes but he walks over. “She is right, however. Your move was too predictable. I knew immediately that you would lunge at me without any idea of what would happen next.”

Applepaw gives a hoot of victory behind her mentor but I focus on the black tom. “What do you suggest?”

“Teach her some defensive moves,” Feathershine suggests.

“No, offense for the win!” Applepaw disagrees.

Nightshadow mutters something under his breath and ignores them. “I think we should have you just work on form. Give me your best battle crouch.”

I crouch down, keeping my weight balanced so I can go whichever way I want. It’s the way I would hunt.

“Terrible!” Applepaw snickers.

I glare at the apprentice but her goofy look makes me smile. Feathershine doesn’t say anything but is watching with an expression that says I’m doing every wrong. Nightshadow uses his paw to adjust my crouch so my weight is leaning forward instead. “This will let you be even faster. It works with hunting too,” he adds.

“That’s not what you said to me!” Applepaw bounds over, “You said you had to be distributing your weight evenly for hunting and for fighting it depends on your crouch!”

“That’s more advanced, Applepaw,” Nightshadow growls, “I’m just trying to get Bryce prepared with simpler moves in case we encounter another battle.”

“Which we will,” Feathershine supplies.

I glance at the three of them, at the way they bicker and make fun of one another. It makes me smile.

“Why are you grinning like that?” Nightshadow demands.

“She thinks your training sucks,” Applepaw tells him.

I start to laugh. Nightshadow glowers at me but I smack him with one paw. “Relax! This is the best way to train, after all. How will you react quickly if you’re all tense?”

Nightshadow flushes because I’m right and then we’re all laughing. It makes me feel good because this is what it should feel like with friends.

Only a part of my heart is aching because I know there should be two more cats laughing with us to complete this group.

The End.