Corruption. Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power.
Nightstalker flinched and turned away from the corpse of her fallen leader.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Mistfall murmured, casting her gaze downwards in a respectful manner.
Nightstalker nodded and mumbled a thank you, still shaken up over the events that had transpired. Mistfall gave her one last sympathetic gaze before padding away. Nightstalker gazed down at her paws. She was feeling many emotions. Not grief, like her clanmates believed. She didn't care much that Ravenstar was dead. Not when she'd seen what she'd seen.
Like father, like daughter.
It was Ivyflight that broke her out of her thoughts. "Are you ready?" The silvery medicine cat glanced at her expectantly.
It was time.
"Yes, yes. Of course." Nightstalker rose up. "I'll just address the clan first." She jumped up onto the Tallpine.
"May all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Tallpine for a clan meeting."
Cats padded up, looking mournful. You have no idea what he did. No idea.
"We are all devastated by the loss of my father, Ravenstar." The very words tasted bitter on her tongue. "As much as we wish to mourn, there are many things that must happen in order to keep ShadowClan running smoothly. Shortly, I will be leaving for the Moonpool to receive my nine lives from StarClan. Before I leave, however, I wish to appoint my deputy."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. "I say these words before StarClan, so that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice." She paused to think for a second.
"The new deputy of ShadowClan is Redfire."
The murmurs of the crowd turned to whispers of confusion. Redfire, sitting at the back of the crowd, was the most confused of them all.
"Redfire." Nightstalker meowed, meeting his gaze. "You are young. But not inexperienced. I am confident that you can be a good deputy for this clan." She turned her gaze to the rest of the clan.
"Starting now, ShadowClan shall enter a new era of greatness! We will not let this tragedy bring us down, not now! Hear me now. What doesn't kill us will only make us stronger!"
The crowd broke out in triumphant caterwauls. Nightstalker closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths. New era of greatness. That's what I'm doing. She gritted her teeth. That's exactly what I'm doing.
~000~
Redfire was stressed. One would assume that he would be, considering the circumstances. It had been six moons since he'd been appointed deputy. Six moons since he'd witnessed something in the woods that he could never forget.
How could she have known? He paced back and forth in front of the warriors' den. She had to have known. There's no other explanation. All of ShadowClan was surprised by his appointment as deputy. They eventually pieced together that Nightstar had likely made him deputy since he was the mentor of her daughter, Hollypaw.
Now, Hollypaw had become Hollywing and Redfire knew the truth. He knew exactly what Nightstar was thinking, and what she had done.
~000~
Redfire padded through the pines, feeling the soft spring of the fallen pine needles under his paws. His ear twitched. He thought he heard something. Probably just the wind. He tasted the slight breeze. Ravenstar… and Nightstalker? He followed the scent to a small clearing. There was the leader, engaged in a heated argument with his daughter. Redfire knew it was impolite to eavesdrop, but he couldn't resist.
"This has gone on long enough!" Nightstalker's meow was quite agitated. Her tail swished back and forth in an angry pattern. "I won't let you end any more innocent lives!"
Redfire stiffened. What?
Ravenstar blinked, his amber gaze cool and unwavering. "Which innocent lives are we talking about, dear?"
"Sparrowpaw? Frostflight? Duskflower? Poolkit!?" The last name was hissed in a deadly whisper.
Redfire flinched. All of those cats had died strange deaths, where the body was either completely destroyed or missing entirely. Except for Poolkit, Nightstalker's own son. He'd been found just outside of camp, a deep gash in his stomach. Everyone assumed a fox, maybe a rogue.
"They were weak. It was inevitable." Ravenstar padded closer to his daughter. "A clan cannot live with so many weak links. You'll understand this when you become leader one day."
"POOLKIT WAS NOT A WEAK LINK!" Nightstalker screamed. Redfire could here some startled birds take flight nearby. "HE WAS A KIT! JUST A KIT! MY SON! YOUR KIN!"
"You must learn to control that temper." Ravenstar murmured. "I was just doing you a favor." Nightstalker ignored his words.
"I'm going back to camp right now. Everyone will know just how corrupted you really are. Not even the sickest of toms would kill his two-moon old grandson. You're a demon."
Ravenstar reached a paw out and lightly stroked his daughter's fur. "Aren't you blowing this out of proportion, dearest?"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Nightstalker lashed out, claws unsheathed. She caught him right on the neck, in just the right spot. Blood gushed out, staining the pine needles a deep crimson. The she-cat stood, horrified, but made no movement to stem the flow of blood. Redfire stood frozen, unable to move.
Then, in a lightning-quick movement, she lashed out her paw again, ripping deeper gashes in his neck.
Nightstalker's icy blue gaze turned colder and colder as she watched her father lose his last lives. She smiled softly to herself, until the tom shuddered. He coughed, splattering blood onto Nightstalker's paws. "You're just like me." he croaked, smiling through the blood. "Like father, like daughter."
His breathing slowed, and then stopped altogether. Redfire was long gone before then, tearing up the forest as he bolted away. Nightstalker watched him leave with the cool certainty of a she-cat who had accepted her fate.
~000~
Three more deaths had followed. First had been an elder, Brightstream. Nobody paid much attention. She had been reaching the end of her days anyway.Then, two moons later, Fernstripe. A young warrior who had been blinded in a battle with RiverClan a quarter moon before her untimely fate. Then, most recently, Silentbreeze. Nightstar's mate. Each death had been during the night, and there were no visible marks on their bodies. Ivyflight was dumbfounded.
It had been when Redfire had been paying his respects to Silentbreeze during the vigil when he had scented something bitter, near the tom's mouth. It was a faint scent, nearly masked by the lavender and rosemary used to hide the stench of death. While Ivyflight was out gathering herbs one morning, Redfire looked through the medicine stores until he found a match: deathberries.
Of course.
It wasn't long until the rest of the pieces had fallen into place. Nightstar had made the one cat who had witnessed her crime deputy. This was so he would never tell others of what he had witnessed. If he did tell, most would just think he was an ambitious young tom trying to be leader. Soon after, she started killing weak links in the clan.
Maybe she wasn't that much different from her father after all. The one piece Redfire couldn't quite get was why the she-cat killed her mate. They didn't ever seem unhappy together. Maybe she had just snapped, plain and simple.
One night, Redfire was ready. He followed his leader as she left camp, and started weaving her way through the forest. She came to a stop at a group of shrubs, and started harvesting the crimson berries growing on them.
"Found your next target?" The she-cat jumped slightly, dropping the berries in her paws. "I know what you've been up to, Nightstar, and it won't be long until everyone else catches on."
"What's it to you?" she snapped. "I haven't harmed anyone close to you. I could never hurt you, my deputy. So loyal. So pure. Too innocent for this world." Her words were mocking, condescending. Redfire refused to take the bait.
"You filled them with poison. Deathberries. Such a fitting weapon for a snake like you, isn't it?"
"Am I the snake, Redfire? Really? I seem to remember a little ginger tom sneaking through the trees a little while ago? Didn't your mother ever teach you not to eavesdrop?"
"You're exactly like him, you know." Redfire crept closer. "All these deaths. Was it how he raised you? To kill?"
"Shut up." Nightstar muttered.
"Even Silentstream! Your love! The father of your kits!"
"Shut up!"
"What would Poolkit say if he knew what his mother had done?"
"JUST SHUT UP!" Nightstar looked at her deputy with anguish. "I didn't kill Silentstream."
Redfire blinked.
"He did it to himself."
"You mean he-"
"Yes." Nightstar cut him off. "He never did get over Poolkit."
Now Redfire almost regretted coming out to confront his leader like this. She looked so empty. Broken.
"I know that I'm corrupted. I know I killed cats that never did anything to me. So now I'm just going to end what I started. I'll eat these deathberries tonight. As many times as I need to, until my lives are gone."
"Don't do this." Redfire blurted out. "ShadowClan can't lose another leader. Not so soon. You can come back. Confess to the clan. Leave this behind you."
"So now you want to save me. Your dear sweet corrupted leader. I know you came here to kill me. You'd make a fine leader, Redfire. Better than me. Better than Ravenstar."
She smiled, and raised the berries to her mouth. "I'm coming, my darlings."
She started foaming at the mouth almost instantly. She collapsed, and after a few convulsive movements, stopped. A faint spirit leaped out of her body, and padded away.
She came to, in a much weaker state than before. She pawed in front of her for more berries. Redfire placed a paw on her shoulder, stopping her. "Don't do this." he repeated. Nightstar turned her head slightly and looked at him.
"Anyone else would have killed me already." she rasped.
"I'm not anyone else. I'm Redfire." He smiled down at her, and, after a few tense moments, she smiled back weakly.
~000~
Redstar padded into the nursery, where Nightstalker (formerly Nightstar) had just given birth. After the night of the deathberries, she'd made the announcement to ShadowClan that, due to recent events, she was renouncing her position as leader. She went to StarClan, where they took back all her remaining lives but one.
Redstar had been a good leader, definitely one of the best in recent memory. His young perspective always made quite the impression. It seemed like he was quite wise and experienced for his age. And now, he could add fatherhood to his list of experiences.
Two kits. One tom, one she-cat. The tom had black fur, the she-cat was a nice ginger.
Nightstalker named the she-cat Silentkit. Redstar named the tom Poolkit.