Prologue
"You knew better than to defy the wishes of Starclan."
The speaking cat had a blue-gray pelt, her voice was as harsh as the rays of the mid-greenleaf sun, and her eyes were as hard as the bark of a tree. Even as she watched the tom below, a scar along his neck that fluctuated gently with his breathing, she had the sense that he did something more important than anyone would ever know. His gray pelt with the white forepaw and his harsh green gaze kept still. He had known exactly what he had done, and he didn't regret a thing for it.
"What say you in your defense?" the blue-gray she-cat growled slowly, eyes keeping locked onto his.
There was no response for several heartbeats, as if the tom would not bother defending himself to the group of cats that stood above him. Each cat was there to convict him, they knew exactly what events transpired just moments earlier. What they had been stopped by had surprised even them, but they made sense of the situation with ease. Now, they knew the punishment for the cat below them. He wasn't going to defend himself, it seemed, and the she-cat started to speak before hearing the sound of a grunt, an interruption.
From his small rock, the tom sat calmly, his eyes no longer on the blue-gray cat but on the shadows nearby. His eyes followed back to the jury, knowing they would be his executioners, his judges. While he knew this, he grinned from ear to ear. Whiskers twitched at the sides of his cheeks, and he closed his eyes slowly. A few whispers travelled amongst the "executioners," and they had no idea what the tom was thinking. It even scared the she-cat, but she would not show emotion, not to the one who broke their rules.
"My defense?" the tom mumbled. "My defense," he meowed just a bit louder, as if to let everyone who was in the room hear his words. He was going to be defiant, but they could do nothing to stop him or it. "I shouldn't need a defense," the tom meowed, still not standing and remaining politely seated where he was. His tone had an edge to it, nothing sinister, just a way to say that he was going to be right with his next words. "Starclan needs a defense," he continued after a moment of pause, letting the wind blow between the trees as his mouth continued to move. "These new rules of yours don't make you Starclan, and they certainly don't make you powerful. You were meant to advise, to watch the world and make sure the clans survived. I died. I passed from the mortal world for nothing." Green eyes were cast onto each and every member of the jury upon the branches. Cats of all kinds sat up there, a flaming ginger tom sat to the blue she-cat's left, a spotted she-cat sat to her right. There were maybe twelve cats in all, one having been missing, he was supposed to be here. He was not, and he would be sitting right where the gray tom was now soon enough. "I made amends for that, I gave her the lives she needed to keep the clans alive. You sat by and did nothing, you will not speak and you won't even show them your faces. This is an embarrassment-"
The she-cat to the blue-gray one's right hissed. "You are an embarrassment! You were given an order like a warrior, you take it like a warrior!"
A snicker arose from the tom, turning into a snort of contempt. "Me? A warrior? No, you all denied me that right when you told me that I could not give my own daughter even one life. I should not have to sit by and watch while you all do nothing. I'm starting to think you are nothing. Besides, no longer are we warriors anyways. We are Starclan, and you have betrayed everything Starclan once stood for-"
Another cat, one with bright orange eyes and scars all along her body, rose now. "What? You mean what you were taught by her?" she laughed in a hysterical tone, something dark lying behind it. A tidal wave. "She betrayed the code, and you did too! So did that white one, and I'm glad she left the clans the way she did. Your family is nothing but a bunch of betrayers, all of you betrayed your clan, even your medicine cat for travelling and finding out things she was never supposed to!"
"That wasn't her choice," the tom spoke evenly. The odds remained against him, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of even the flick of a whisker. "You all know it, who wants to lose such a huge piece of their physical body for the sake of information? I remember almost losing my life to my own brother, and now he is making amends, just like I am. We all make mistakes, but this… This is an outrage. Where is even the rest of you? Ever since I arrived, I've seen so little of the Starclan cats that I find this… dissatisfying. You all sit in trees and condemn those who believe in what they think is right. You aren't Starclan, Starclan is all of us."
Each cat was beginning to hiss except for a select few, the fiery ginger tom and another fainter ginger she-cat beside him. They didn't say a word, although the gray tom could tell they were slightly agitated and fear glistened across their eyes. Along the horizon of Starclan's hunting grounds came the faint colors of pink and yellow and oranges, and the gray tom looked up at his jury.
"You all once held the belief that you were made stronger since the attack by the Dark Forest almost destroyed the clans," he meowed, feeling almost hesitant now. The punishment wasn't his worst fear. "Here, I see weak cats who can't decide if they are Starclan or the Dark Forest. This place isn't Starclan, I know that for a fact. Starclan wouldn't let their kin die horrible deaths like those down there. Starclan wouldn't let Bramblestar feel the darkness, just like his own father did, just like his own brother did." His eyes hardened on the blue-gray she-cat, he knew who she was, he knew how much say she had here. "The legacy Tigerstar left behind is long forgotten now, Rowanstar's legacy has ripped the clans apart, and all because none of you did a thing to lift a claw to help them. To help us." A sigh escaped him. "They will get lost, they always do, but even with the knowledge of her choice, they may never return to the clans you all knew and loved. Shadowclan is gone, Riverclan is almost destroyed by the rogues, and Windclan is stubborn. Their leader won't move, no matter what Thunderclan says. Those who know about the coming disaster will try and warn the clans, but it won't prevail."
"We have planned everything we need," the blue-gray she-cat spoke quietly, although with a little less certainty. "I think you know your punishment already, Dewstep."
The gray tom raised his head and looked at the sun. "Night was believed to never fall in Starclan," he meowed before turning away. "I hope the same doesn't befall all of you. I placed my trust in you once, I hope the clans can do the same."
Keeping his head high, Dewstep kept his head turned away, ears perked. With no fear, he let his paws guide him into the cold and frigid leaf-bare forest. It was certainly snowing hard here, and he didn't bother looking back, not as the jury brought in the last cat to be sent into the Dark Forest.
"Darkfire… What say you in your defense?"
AN: Just a short little novella for the fans of Dewstep. Dewstep certainly did what he felt was right, Starclan did not and won't accept his words. I'm sure this will be a great little story!
Don't forget to follow and favorite this story, and I always enjoy seeing the reviews! If you have no idea what is happening here, I advise to read Hollyleaf's Challenge, Fallingsnow's Choice, and Shattered Earth (currently incomplete at the time of writing the Prologue of this story) before coming to this story. Everything in Shattered Earth to know for this story is already there.
