Tornstar was dead, to begin with.
The low hoot of an owl sent fear down the black warrior's spine. Yet he remained transfixed on the open belly of his leader. Tornstar was dead. Tornstar was really, truly dead, and he wasn't getting up. His ninth life had been taken. Tornstar was dead.
Tornstar was dead.
And it was her fault.
Spiderfoot stared at her paws, dark, wet, heavy. She flexed her white claws and saw they were stained red. Her mouth tasted of copper, and thick, hot liquid dripped from her fangs. Tornstar was dead. She had actually done it. She had killed Tornstar.
"Good work," grumbled a low voice behind her.
Startled, Spiderfoot flipped in midair, arching her back and baring her fangs.
"Don't do that, you fool," the cat said.
With a sigh, Spiderfoot relaxed. "Ravennose."
"You've done well," the bigger black female said, swishing her tail lazily. "He's really quite dead now. That tyrant. He won't be killing any more kits or barren females any time soon." She looked up at the stars. "And with any luck, StarClan will make me leader."
"But Slugface is his deputy," Spiderfoot replied quietly. "And he's still alive."
"Barely," said Ravennose. "I'm sure after we clean you up, we can arrange for Mapleleaf to, shall we say, make some mistakes in treating his greencough?"
Spiderfoot felt uneasy. "Ravennose, maybe Slugface doesn't need to die."
"He is an ally of that monster's!" Ravennose replied harshly, curling her face in disgust. "He deserves to die! All his allies deserve to die! They sat by and watched while Tornstar starved our elders, raped our apprentices, killed our kittens, murdered cats who could not be queens! If they can sit back and simply watch while that happens, then they don't deserve to be alive!"
"But they're ShadowClan, like us," Spiderfoot whispered, suddenly more afraid of her sister than she'd ever been. "We can't kill them."
Ravennose laughed audibly. "And who are you to talk, murderer of Tornstar?"
"You told me to do it!" Spiderfoot gasped. "I followed your orders! You're my sister, he killed your babies! That's different!"
"You're the one with the blood on your teeth," Ravennose replied coldly. "You don't get to lecture me about morality. Now get cleaned up, get your fur out of his claws, and push his body into the badger sett. Be grateful that when I'm leader, I will keep your dirty secret."
And then Ravennose went away, leaving Spiderfoot more confused than she'd ever been. She looked up to the stars, but there were none. Was this a sign from StarClan? Could they be abandoning ShadowClan? Even the pine trees, normally whispering in the wind, were silent.
Spiderfoot felt so, so terribly alone. And she could feel the cold, dead eye on the good side of Tornstar's face staring into her spine.