I've decided to start writing longer chapters. At least 1000 words in each one.
Chapter Five: Exile
This is it, was all Phaedra could think as two warriors escorted her to the border. This is it. I'm dead. No exile survives more than a moon.
She glanced at the warriors on her right and left. One of them ducked his head in shame when she met his eyes. It was Cedric, a friend of her father's. He knew she hadn't killed him - he'd helped look after Phaedra and her brothers as kits - but was too afraid to oppose Astrid. Does Astrid control everyone? Phaedra thought bitterly.
The other warrior glared back at her when she looked at him. She didn't know his name, but his look of hatred meant that he thought her guilty. I didn't kill him! she exclaimed yet again in her mind, but it would be no use saying it aloud.
"This is our border," he said roughly, pushing her over it. Phaedra bristled - she hadn't been kitted yesterday. She knew where the border was! "Don't show your face here again if you want to keep it, murderer."
"That's what you think," she said coldly. It was all she could do not to claw him. "You'll find out soon enough that Astrid isn't the angel you all think she is."
"We all know Astrid's a piece of work, all right," Cedric supplied in an apologetic tone. "But there's no other cat in Kyto who can heal better."
"Ironic," Phaedra muttered, but it was true. Astrid was a master at healing. She could give the Moon Goddess lessons, if Qamra were still alive.
"On your way now," the other guard snapped. Turning away, he added, "Let's go, Cedric. They'll want us at the burial."
Phaedra bit back a snarl as the two warriors began loping back towards the camp. This was ridiculous; she had been exiled for the murder of the warrior she loved most. Was Suvan watching from StarClan? No doubt he knew she wasn't guilty, but she knew by now that StarClan had no chance against Astrid. Their business lay in the stars, not in Kyto.
She glanced around; this was the border between FireClan and MoonClan. FireClan didn't border directly on the Open Plains, where exiles, rogues, and loners lived. It was a place of hills and open plains, with little food except stringy hares who ran too fast for any but the fastest cats to catch. It didn't sound particularly inviting to Phaedra, but she had no choice; the news of Suvan's murder would spread quickly, and she wouldn't be welcome in any Clan.
There's always the Five, she thought. Maybe a little joking around with herself could lighten the mood. Oh yeah, they'd accept me in a heartbeat. Convicted of murder and not even a warrior yet. Next to no skills to offer, no great deeds to my name. Just the right sort to live among "the Chosen Ones."
Nobody even knew where the Five lived, anyway. They weren't exactly advertising openings for new cats. Not every cat believed in them, and those that did weren't all convinced that they weren't evil. Every mother told her kits at some point that if they didn't behave, the Five would get them. Chosen Ones, anyone?
I'd better get a move on to the Open Plains. Maybe I'll catch enough hares to survive - I'll be skinny, sure, and it's goodbye to that warrior ceremony I was looking forward to. I'll be an apprentice forever.
Sighing, she set off into MoonClan territory. She had never even been to a Gathering, let alone seen other Clans' territories; she could only hope to somehow find her way out of here before a patrol caught her. Just keep heading west. Her instincts knew where to go, if her paws didn't.
She stumbled along for what seemed like hours. Her paws were soon scratched up by thorns in the thick forest of MoonClan territory. FireClan's forest wasn't quite like this; the trees were spaced farther apart and it was lighter, with the sun shining down into the open spaces. She cursed as she stepped on another bramble. How could MoonClan live like this?
"I miss them," she said aloud. She could smell that no cat was nearby, and she was going to be alone for a while; she would need some company. "I miss Xingu and Dragon. I wonder if they'll miss me."
Maybe they wouldn't. After all, they would have plenty to worry about, being leader and deputy with only the experience of a full apprenticeship. She hoped Astrid wouldn't be able to manipulate them like she did other cats. It wouldn't do to have Astrid in charge of FireClan.
She caught sight of light ahead and pressed on eagerly, hoping she had come to the end of MoonClan territory and the beginning of the Open Plains. Instead she emerged from the trees, blinking in the sudden light, and beheld the biggest body of water she had ever seen.
It was a lake. It looked so improbably beautiful, with the sunlight shimmering in the gently rippling blue water, that for a moment she thought she had walked straight into StarClan territory. "Sweet StarClan," she breathed, "it's beautiful."
"It's the Eye of the Moon," said a voice from behind her.
It surprised her so much that she whipped around and lashed out with a paw, expecting a MoonClan warrior, or one of Astrid's warriors come to find her and kill her. Instead she saw a slim black tom who looked about her age. She didn't relax; he could still be a MoonClan cat. "Who are you?" she demanded.
"It's Faolan," he said calmly, still staring over her shoulder at the lake. "It is beautiful, isn't it?"
"I guess," Phaedra said cautiously. "Are you MoonClan?"
"Certainly not. I'm a loner."
"You're young, for a loner."
He sighed deeply, an exhalation of breath that sounded like that of a much older, world-weary cat. "Loner, outcast, if you will. Isn't it enough that I'm not trying to hurt you? You don't seem to be MoonClan either, or you wouldn't be asking if I were."
"No, I'm not," she said, relaxing just the tiniest bit. She sheathed her claws. "I am - was - FireClan."
"I take it you left."
"No, they exiled me. They say I killed my father." She blurted out the last sentence, not knowing if it would scare the tom away or incite him into attacking her.
To her surprise, he didn't move. He just sat there with his tail curled around his paws, gazing thoughtfully at her with eyes so dark blue that they looked almost black. Eventually he meowed, "Well, did you?"
"Of course not," she growled. "Why would I kill my own father?"
"Depends," he mewed, his gaze drifting to the lake again. "In the Clan I come from, it's almost a common thing to kill your relatives. Grudges, madness, or just plain bloodlust."
"What Clan do you come from?" She was almost afraid to ask the question.
His eyes fixed on her again. It was disconcerting; his gaze was intense enough to seem like her fur should be smoking, but at the same time it was calm and casual. "MurderClan."
Cliffie! Well, kinda. Anyway, I finally introduced Faolan, who is one of my favorite characters. Review, people! Remember, free one-shot!!
