"What is this place?"
Aspenclaw's voice rang out like a leader at a Garhering, looking down to the cats below and preparing to deliver.
Spiderpaw wished he knew the answer to his question, but even after the times he had been here, he still didn't know what he could even begin to say.
"Whatever the answer, we can't stay here."
Aspenclaw brushed past Spiderpaw, and he watched anxiously as his brother grabbed Vinetail's neck and lifted him onto his back.
"I can't see a thing," complained Aspenclaw, quickly making his way back to the exit and fitting his muzzle through.
"You and Briartail are a lot slimmer than me," Aspenclaw moaned as he slipped through the gap. Spiderpaw wished he could appreciate his humour, but he was so tired and so fearful that he couldn't beam. He followed him through and once he felt the green grass on the other side, he nudged Vinetail up to secure him on top of Aspenclaw.
"SunClan is far enough away," Spiderpaw complained. "Let's get a move on."
The moonlight shone down just enough so that Spiderpaw could quickly find the deepest wounds on Vinetail to cover them with web. He felt sickened by the cuts on his pelt and neck and legs.
Spiderpaw took the lead, and together they pelted through the undergrowth.
"So - why was he in our land anyway?" Aspenclaw questioned. "Did you even know?"
Spiderpaw dipped his head as he kept alongside his brother. "The story is long."
Aspenclaw glanced up at the moon and then back at his brother. "And you don't think we have time?"
Spiderpaw sighed. If not now, when would he tell Aspenclaw about the separation of StarClan? How warriors had been getting dangerous training from cats who lived before they did?
Spiderpaw let the story slip out of him word by word. He started right back to the reason why Heronkit had continuously gone missing. He recalled the strange cats he had seen in the strange place - even his encounter in StarClan with the cat who had explained the division. But with every word, Aspenclaw's ears fell.
Spiderpaw continued right up until he had admitted what he had seen today. The fighting and the fear.
"You mean, all this had happened between you and Briartail, and neither of you told me anything?"
"We didn't tell anyone!" Spiderpaw spat back. But he felt himself freeze. "Hardly anyone."
"Well, who did you tell?" Aspenclaw argued, his thick paws pulsing through the ground. "Is this why Vinetail was on our land?"
"I can't speak for Briartail. I did speak to a SunClan cat - but not Vinetail!"
"The only other possibility is Slatestripe then."
Spiderpaw dipped his head. "Yes, I did tell Slatestripe a little. But only because I was stressed. There was so much pressure, I couldn't keep this all to myself!"
Aspenclaw turned away. "I'm your brother, Spiderpaw. I can't believe you chose a cat in another Clan over me."
Spiderpaw felt an overwhelming sense of guilt build up within him.
"I'm not trying to say I need to be involved with everything that you say or take part in Spiderpaw, I just..."
He cut himself off for a second. Spiderpaw shrunk as he noticed Aspenclaw was now walking at least a fox-length further than him.
"I just wish you didn't hide everything from me."
Spiderpaw opened his mouth to speak, but Aspenclaw didn't give him the opportunity.
"Even about you and Slatestripe. I had to find that out through your panic. You and him must have been going on for moons, and I never was told."
Spiderpaw dipped his head. "I'm sorry, Aspenclaw."
"I know you're busy with your duties," Aspenclaw replied. "But we're drifting apart."
Spiderpaw tried not to freeze in place. His legs were still moving, but he felt as if all of his thoughts had been bound together with stickyweed.
"I had no idea," he breathed.
Aspenclaw shook his head. "No surprise."
There was a very long exchange of silence between the cats. Spiderpaw didn't know what to say.
The cats walked together quietly for a large part of the journey. Aspenclaw didn't even meet Spiderpaw's eyes for longer than a few seconds, and whenever their gazes did meet, Aspenclaw was the first to look away.
Spiderpaw let himself fall behind. Aspenclaw looked even taller and bulkier than he was - and Spiderpaw could tell that was because the hairs on his pelt were staying up with anger. He didn't mean to make his brother feel so betrayed.
"Did you feel the same way about Briartail?"
Spiderpaw wished for a few seconds that he didn't break the quiet, because Aspenclaw grunted and flicked his tail the other way.
"None of us are as close as we were when we were apprentices. Except you and Briartail. And now, I feel even more like a shadow."
Spiderpaw once again had no clue what he could say to change his brother's mind. He was truthful with the sense he had no idea his brother had felt that way. The two had still spoken and been relatively close, but he knew Aspenclaw was right on the level that he was closer to Briartail than he was to him. And he was so selfish that he hadn't even realised.
The two didn't converse for the rest of the journey until they had gone far out of ThornClan land. Spiderpaw watched as Aspenclaw's fur flowed in the wind the second they stepped out of the forest and onto the open moor.
"Want me to carry Vinetail?"
Aspenclaw shook his head. "We're nearly there," he grunted harshly. "Let's keep moving."
Spiderpaw's heart sunk down. He really had upset his brother. But he only blamed himself.
Not a word was uttered more. The two walked silently up the open moor. Spiderpaw shivered. The breeze was attacking him like ice, but he felt immune after the emotion that was filled within him after he realised how badly he had hurt his own brother with something he could have prevented.