Prologue
As Oakstar walked silently into the leader's den, he began to feel regret. He slumped into his nest, pondering his life's most difficult choices. He had lost his son, his closest friend, and his mate to avoidable tragedies. But these times had not hurt him in the slightest. He was most definitely not weak. The setbacks had not broken him, only making him stronger as ThunderClan's leader.
The murder of his son, Birchface, and his apprentice, Flowerpaw, at the hands of Appledusk, had only forced him to be stricter on his warriors, all for the betterment of the clan. Oakstar thought of this silently. Pain is nothing. My clan and its loyalty come before anything else. If I had a second chance, I would rip out that foxheart's throat ten times over.
Then another thought crossed his head. What would Redstar have done? Or Silverhawk? No. Silverhawk would be rotting in the Place of No Stars, but he would be laughing at my weakness. Silverhawk had been Oakstar's brutal mentor, using any opportunity he could muster to kill any enemy warrior he deemed crossing ThunderClan's borders. As an apprentice, Oakstar had looked up to Silverhawk. He revered him and hoped that one day he would become as fearsome and noble as his mentor. But what Silverhawk had done was inexcusable, and he had paid for his reckless fury with his life. Oakstar remembered the day perfectly. He and Silverhawk had been on a border patrol with Beetail on Redstar's orders, when a RiverClan patrol ambushed them, in a crude attempt to retake Sunningrocks. Redstar, on the other hand, was an honest leader, but he was weak. Redstar had allowed ShadowClan to usurp ThunderClan's territory, an act that under Oakstar would never happen again.
Those fish-faces have no skill. No sense of honor, and nothing to stop them from becoming the murderers that they are today. Oatspeckle had tried aimlessly to save his life as hard as he knew how, but Silverhawk had been blinded and cut open in the side. He bled out. But today was different. Oakstar had a family again. Frecklewish, his daughter, had been distraught ever since Birchface had been killed by Appledusk. Oakstar's claws cut into the ground as he thought about it. But, his family and his mate's spirit lived on. He realized that what Silverhawk had done was wrong, and Oakstar tried to redeem himself of his past crimes by having a second chance with Mapleshade's kits.
A new generation of warriors, he thought. My son lives on in their lifetime. It was a shame that he could not witness their growth in ThunderClan. Her, her kits and their descendants are all my kin now.
Oakstar awoke in a dream with a start. StarClan was not present here. Only a vast darkness was in this place. Large trees surrounded him, but there was no scent of prey here. Only one cat came forward. Oakstar recognized the starry tom as Redstar, ThunderClan's leader when he was an apprentice. He had died naturally many seasons prior. Oakstar greeted him with a nod. His stature indicated that he was weary of something, but Oakstar did not know what. Redstar bowed his head.
"Beware Oakstar. Someone in your clan is not who you believe them to be."
Oakstar frowned. What could this mean? He dipped his head as he spoke. "Redstar, what are you talking about?", Oakstar meowed. As he spoke, Redstar silenced his glare with a mew.
"That is for you to find for yourself. StarClan cannot determine you or your kin's fate. Our function is not to put other cats astray as we please. Only you can decide this. You are ThunderClan's leader. Cats such as Silverhawk will never understand this, and will do anything to substitute blood and revenge for proper action. A decision approaches you, Oakstar. This place where we stand is what is to become of you and your clan if your judgement fails. I only trust that you will make the correct judgement."
Oakstar observed the environment swelling around him. It smelled of death. Death, starvation, and the rancid stench of filth. He recognized where he was now. The Place of No Stars. The area itself sparked fear into the ThunderClan leader. But with that remark, Redstar's starry form began to slowly disintegrate around Oakstar, leaving him without any answers. Oakstar wondered what Redstar had meant by his statement. Silently, Oakstar vowed to find whoever was involved in Redstar's statement and do what was needed.
Oakstar woke, startled by the vision he had just had. He left his nest, startled by Redstar's words. As he moved out of the den, his deputy, Beetail, greeted him with a nod. As Oakstar stalked outside, he overheard talking in the back of the clearing. He came closer, until he heard a voice he knew from Ravenwing, ThunderClan's medicine cat. Ravenwing's voice rose from ahead of the clearing. Ravenwing paused.
"I am sorry, Mapleshade. Sorry for you, but even sorrier for your kits. They will suffer for the lies that you have told." Before he arrived, Ravenwing stopped him in the clearing. Ravenwing padded over to his den. "Oakstar, I have something to tell you" he said with a frown. Oakstar answered him with a stoic glance. "What is it, Ravenwing? How are Mapleshade's kits?", he asked suspiciously. The black tom only responded with a sad glance.
"Oakstar, you have been deceived. Birchface was not their father. Appledusk, Birchface's killer, was."
Oakstar's shock radiated into his glance.
How can it be true? he thought. "There was an omen. StarClan has indicated to me that these kits do not belong in ThunderClan, and never will. By the color of their fur and how they seem to naturally swim, I suspect Appledusk is their father. They have none of Birchface's qualities", Ravenwing meowed.
I have been betrayed, he thought silently. Oakstar stormed out into the clearing, enraged. He would punish Mapleshade for the insult to not only the warrior code, but to him, Birchface, Flowerpaw, and all whom Appledusk had murdered. He found Mapleshade talking with her kits. Patchkit walked over to her.
"What's wrong?" he whimpered.
"Nothing for you to worry about," Mapleshade muttered to him. Her three kits trodded over to the pile of bracken at the edge of the clearing. "Come here, Mapleshade," Oakstar said with an edge of a snarl in his voice. Mapleshade walked forward.
"What is it, Oakstar?", she said nonchalantly. Oakstar bared his teeth. "Who is the father of your kits?" he growled. "Tell the truth!" he snarled. Frecklewish stood beside Mapleshade. "We know it's Birchface!" she called to Oakstar. Oakstar padded up to her, fury glowing in his eyes.
"I want Mapleshade to tell us herself. She let me believe that my own son was her father. I cannot imagine that any of my warriors would dare to tell such a lie." Mapleshade simply backed away. "Any clan would be proud to have these kits grow up to serve them," she declared to Oakstar. Ravenwing dropped into the conversation.
"Even if they are half-clan? We deserve to know the truth. Appledusk is their father, isn't he?" Oakstar tensed, as the shock encircled his Clan.
What?
Oakstar's daughter tensed at this. Upon the revelation of the truth, Frecklewish lashed stopped for a moment, out at Mapleshade, clawing at Mapleshade's eyes, tearing her eyelid and leaving gash marks over her face.
"You have betrayed ThunderClan and my brother's name! You do not deserve to be called a warrior, and neither do these… these half clan creatures!" she spat. Oakstar struggled to contain his anger. He remembered Silverhawk and imagined himself clawing open Mapleshade with the same show of force his mentor had given to enemy warriors all those years ago, then and there.
"Mapleshade, you have betrayed your clan and lied to your clanmates. We will not raise these kits within the walls of out camp, nor the boundaries of our territory. Take them and leave. You are no longer a warrior of ThunderClan. Ravenwing told me about an omen he received from StarClan, a stream of water washing three pieces of reed in our clan. Reeds do not grow in our territory, indicating that these kits will bring nothing but danger to ThunderClan."
As Oakstar exiled her, Mapleshade's mentor, Bloomheart, pulled away from Mapleshade. "Oakstar's right. They don't belong here," he growled.
Mapleshade hissed at them and glared in disdain. "I will never forget this. You have betrayed me and my kits. You will live to regret this day forever, ThunderClan, and that is a promise," she said before stalking away with her kits. Oakstar could not believe that he had been deceived so easily. He walked over to his daughter, Frecklewish.
"Track Mapleshade and her kits. Make sure that she leaves ThunderClan territory and drive them out of the forest if need be," he growled. "I want that she-cat out of my territory for the rest of time." he uttered with distain in his voice. Mapleshade betrayed me, as well as the entirety of ThunderClan by taking my son's murderer as her mate. She deserves to rot in the Place of No Stars for eternity, until she fades away like the rest, he thought.
Even though he had banished Mapleshade, however, a form of sympathy echoed in the back of his head. Had he just doomed her kits to die? They deserved it. Mapleshade, and all RiverClan scum that cross this border must be dealt with without mercy. However, Oakstar realized, he had been mistaken in banishing her kits. They, like him, would suffer much at the hands of forces beyond their control. A thought crossed his mind, as the fading memory of his former mate, Shinecloud, echoed in his head. Mercy is not weak, Oakstar. It is, in fact, strong.
Oakstar had made the biggest mistake of his life.