Reviews

Featherfrost of Stormclan- Yes, yes he is

Pikapower9- Haha, thank you! Also, yes, Shadepaw is an ass to literally everyone she knows but, whilst she does have a decent motivation, I think it's really unhelpful just to lock every single emotion inside of yourself and make everyone hate you. Also, Willowpaw is a good friend to Shadepaw, even if Shadepaw doesn't realise it yet.

Chapter 8:

Forestpaw was woken up by Hollypaw shaking him, her fur was dishevelled, eyes sleepy. He heard a dull roar in his ear which, at first, he thought was him going deaf, before he felt a heavy drop of rainfall onto his nose and, looking outside the den, saw the weather raging.

"We need to fix the roof," muttered Forestpaw.

"You know they won't let us," Hollypaw glanced up at the hole in the ceiling, "last time it rained, Hawkclaw told us to suck it up and deal with it."

"Well he would say that, wouldn't he?" Forestpaw felt an odd, rebellious feeling overcome him, "he's too high a rank for us."

"Hush," Hollypaw batted him around the ears, "that's blasphemy!"

He shook his head, "right, sorry. Why did you wake me up?"

"You're on dawn patrol."

"It's dawn?" He peered outside again.

"I know it doesn't look like it, but…" she sighed, "it is. Plus, guess what?"

"What?"

"Well, Yellowpaw was an escort at the gathering and guess what he told me."

"Can you just not tell me without me having to guess?"

"Basically, he said that the True Glorious and the Leader are in camp, right now! And they're gonna be here for like two moons or something."

This finally seemed to shake him out of his bad mood. The True Glorious and the Leader were in the camp, right at this moment? It took him a second or two to realise what that meant. Who was one of the most prominent members of the True Glorious? Darkfall. And, wasn't Shadepaw plotting to kill him with the resistance? Oh dear…

"Really?" He said with an enthusiasm he didn't feel, "all of them?"

"Yep, that's what Yellowpaw said anyway," she shrugged, "apparently they're doing a check-up on everyone in camp, including the Soldiers, starting with the dawn patrol."

He stood up, stretching out and letting out a loud yawn, "okay, then. Are you on it?"

"Yep, lucky me."

"More like lucky us," he sighed loudly, looking out at the rain, "this isn't gonna be fun."

"Let's go," she said, "before our mentors yell at us."

They left the den, both of them instantly feeling the icy shock of rain as the weather hit them the moment they stepped out into the exposed clearing. The wind was blowing so hard and so violently, the rain fell almost in a horizontal line, smacking them around the side of their faces and their fur billowed in the brutal breeze.

"I swear to the Glorious," mumbled Hollypaw, "how are we supposed to patrol in this."

As they made their way over to the patrol waiting outside the camp, Forestpaw's eyes were drawn to the entrance of the high-rank, apprentices den. He supposed that, as they were high-ranks, none of them would be doing much work today, leaving only the soldiers to deal with this weather. How unfair. No, he needed to stop thinking like that. Ever since he eavesdropped on Shadepaw's conversation with the rogue, he couldn't help but feel slightly more rebellious. Maybe, by osmosis, he was becoming like Shadepaw, who had little regard for the system. He couldn't become like that, he was a loyal Soldier, no matter what. Right?

At the entrance of den sat Shadepaw and Willowpaw, the latter of whom gave Forestpaw a sympathetic look at being out in the weather. It made the tom wonder about when he was going to talk to the silver she-cat about all of what he had heard about Shadepaw like he told himself he would.

No, he would tell her. Tonight.

Shadepaw was glaring at him, her piercing green eyes intense as she looked down at him with distrust. He looked away.

"Shadepaw doesn't like you much, does she?" Said Hollypaw, amused.

Forestpaw shrugged, "she doesn't like anyone."

The black she-cat yawned, "good point."

Gooseglare, the grey soldier who was also Forestpaw's mentor, was waiting at the front of the patrol with Hollypaw's mentor, Pouncepelt. Beside them, the young, ginger she-cat Kestrelpelt was chatting with the senior Soldier, Daisyeyes.

"Good," said Gooseglare as the two apprentices drew closer, "we can head off. The sooner we can get this over with, the better."

Forestpaw glanced back over at the apprentice's den, Shadepaw was gone.

Daisyeyes, being the oldest, was leading the patrol. "We'll head out to the edge of our territory. We probably won't pick up many scents, but Hawkclaw has asked us to look out for any prey or any signs of rogues, so keep your ears pricked, okay?"

"Oh, good," said a voice, "I thought we'd just missed you."

The patrol turned around to see who it was. Two toms were making their way towards them, looking important, yet relaxed. One was a large, tabby tom with amber eyes and, beside him, was a lithe, dark grey, tabby tom with cold, green eyes that, somehow, seemed to pin Forestpaw to the ground with just a passing glance.

Instantly, all the Soldiers on the patrol bowed in greeting, so did the apprentices to follow suit.

"Woodenfoot, Darkfall," said Daisyeyes when they stood back up again, "I was not expecting you to join our patrol in this weather."

'Darkfall?' Thought Forestpaw, glancing back at the apprentice's den, he couldn't see Shadepaw.

"Well," said Woodenfoot, "We could do with the fresh air."

"Not to mention, it's important that we make sure that everything is running correctly," said Darkfall, moving to the front of the patrol

Now that he knew that this tom was definitely Darkfall, Forestpaw examined him closely. His posture was surprisingly relaxed, and he didn't seem to hold any animosity towards the lower-ranked cats, despite the fact he was easily the second most important cat in all The Glorious. He was strikingly handsome, with an athletic, well-built body and glimmering green eyes that seemed to reflect light, despite there being no sun. He was not large with muscles nor did he have thick fur like Woodenfoot, instead he seemed more stealthy, less clumsy in his built. Every part of him felt calculating but, at the same time, friendly.

How could Shadepaw want to kill a cat like him?

Then again, after he had met with Emberpaw the night before, they had both concluded on the theory that Darkfall had killed her parents. Then again, how could a tom that seemed so nice kill anyone?

"It would be an honour for you to join us," said Daisyeyes.

"Well then," Darkfall glanced back at Woodenfoot and then at Daisyeyes, "you may lead the way, you know your way around this territory better than we do."

There was no way this cat was a murderer, he seemed pretty nice.

As the patrol head off, Woodenfoot dropped back to walk beside Pouncepelt, asking him questions. Darkfall, too, kept in pace with Daisyeyes at the front, lightly asking questions, making jokes, completely relaxed.

Maybe he should tell him, maybe Forestpaw should tell him that there was a cat in this clan plotting his murder. Did Darkfall even know who Shadepaw was? Probably not, he was too important.

Then again, he was only a Soldier, there was no way he would believe him.

Maybe, he needed to convince Willowpaw about all this. Maybe Darkfall would listen to a high-rank apprentice rather than a Soldier apprentice.

But would Willowpaw betray a cat she considered her sister?

She'd have to, Forestpaw wouldn't let Darkfall get murdered, he was far too nice to deserve such hate.

Forget Emberpaw, forget the resistance, he was going to save The Glorious! No matter what it took!

By the time it was night, the storm had loosened up a little. Whilst the rain continued to fall, the flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder had come to a stop, meaning it wouldn't be too hard to get to the meeting place with Stormpelt. She figured she was meeting him in the same place as last time, even if there was a strong lack of shelter there. So, when Shadepaw estimated the point that it was moon-high, and everyone else in the den had fallen asleep, she got up and crept out.

Luckily, because Moor camp was so exposed, it gave lots of different paths as an exit, meaning there was no need to slip past the guards in the entrance. Deciding not to slip through the dirt place, Shadepaw took the exit behind the nursery and slunk away, nothing more than an invisible shadow, grey fur blending in with the grey sky.

Once she was a comfortable distance away from camp and slinking through tall grass, she was able to stand up straight and not feel worried about anyone spotting her.

She drew closer to the clearing she had once been in, before stopping.

The ground was muddy, wet, leaving paw prints behind, much to her annoyance. However, she doubted it really mattered. If the rain kept going like this, it would probably just fill her paw-prints up with even more mud by morning. The moment she reached the clearing, she heard two cats rather than one.

The first was Stormpelt, his fur looking completely soaked through, but his blue eyes still glinted with a spark of optimism. Beside him sat another cat she vaguely knew and, much to her surprise, was Emberpaw, the cat she had met on the messenger patrol.

"I figured there was something off about you," she said flatly to the ginger she-cat whose eyes sparked with cheekiness.

"I work as a spy for the resistance, and I've been talking to your Soldier friend."

"Forestpaw," Shadepaw flicked an ear, "what does he talk about?"

Emberpaw regarded her for a couple of seconds before answering. "He's a tom who can't keep his mouth shut."

"As far as I'm concerned, he hasn't betrayed me yet," her gaze flicked back to Stormpelt, who was watching the exchange with a surprising amount of amusement, "but I can't be sure if he will or not."

Emberpaw seemed to agree with this observation.

"Now," began Stormpelt, "you wanted proof I with the resistance?"

"I did," confirmed Shadepaw.

He grinned, "well take this."

Another tom emerged from the tall grass, and Shadepaw recognised him instantly. It was him, the resistance leader. Each cat in Moor camp had been given a vivid description of him. He was a lanky, tall, dusty, brown tom with weirdly large yellow eyes that seemed to scan her with a cold detachment. There was evidence of age, stress and wisdom in his posture, and a kind of grandeur that differed from any other cat Shadepaw knew. And, of course, there was that one specific detail about him that every cat knew to look out for...

He only had half a tail, some said it had been bitten off by a badger, but the truth remained unknown.

"Gorgestar," said Shadepaw formly, "the leader of the resistance and the only living leader of the old clans."

"Shadepaw," he returned, his tone sly, "the apprentice plotting murder."

"Murder for a good reason," she growled, "Darkfall killed my mother."

Gorgestar was the only leader who managed to survive the takeover and, previously, had been the leader of Windclan. It was unsure how many lives he had left, but he was slowly becoming one of the oldest cats in all the clans.

"The resistance has no business dealing with petty, personal vendettas," the leader shook his head, "we have no place dealing with issues on such a small scale."

Shadepaw, remaining as calm as possible, cooly replied, "this isn't petty."

"But it is personal," he returned, "I shouldn't be wasting my time with kits."

"I'll kill him with or without your help," she told him, "but wouldn't it be better if you at least helped me?"

"Why is that?"

"It would be mutually beneficial," Shadepaw looked at Emberpaw, "you have a spy in Forest camp, maybe you have some in the other camps, I don't know. However, as far as I know, you don't have one in Moor camp."

He looked at her, "you're offering to become a spy."

"If you help me," she said, "I'll help you."

Gorgestar took a couple more seconds, looking deep in thought, before shaking his head. "No, I have no reason to trust you or your motivations."

"My motivations?" Shadepaw snarled, anger building up inside of her, "I'll make my motivations very clear, then, Gorgestar." She took a deep breath, "I want to kill Darkfall because I watched him forcefully drown my mother in the Moonpool when she had done nothing wrong. He then came over to me and threatened me, told me that if I didn't do what he said, he would kill me. I was two moons old! Is that reason enough to trust my motivations?"

Emberpaw looked surprised, Stormpelt looked angry, yet Gorgestar's expression had not changed, despite the news. Shadepaw supposed that, in a way, she was this frustrating to negotiate with. Similar to him, they were both distrusting, uncaring and mainly detached from everything. To be angry at him, though Shadepaw, would be hypocritical.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

There was a heavy sigh from Stormpelt, who stepped between the two, "Gorgestar, listen, she has a point. We don't have a spy in Moor camp and she's the daughter of Brightfeather, we have to give her a chance."

To her surprise, Gorgestar snorted dismissively at Brightfeather's name.

"Yes and Brightfeather was the most trustworthy cat in the world, wasn't she?" The resistance leader said sarcastically.

Stormpelt's fur fluffed up aggressively, "how dare you!"

But he was cut off, "you're too emotionally invested in this, Stormpelt," Gorgestar looked back at Shadepaw, "this kit may be your kin, but that doesn't make her trustworthy. Emberpaw, what do you think?"

This too, shocked Shadepaw. She had grown up around leaders who took no advice except their own, who would punish cats that spoke back to them, or even looked at them funny. Yet, there was a strong, solitary yet professional leader who, whilst he was a bit of a dick, still looked to his companions for advice. Somehow, despite how much she didn't like the leader, it was a respectable thing to do.

The ginger apprentice stepped forward, "I think we should listen, Gorgestar," she said, "it may be a personal vendetta, but Darkfall is still an intelligent strategist, it would be beneficial to all of us if he were dead."

"And you have no personal motivation to kill Darkfall?"

"None at all, sir," Emberpaw told him, "I hardly know the tom."

Gorgestar frowned thoughtfully, thinking over the she-cats words very carefully.

"You would act as our spy?" He asked Shadepaw.

"If that's what you want me to do," she nodded complacently, though she hated the idea of having to follow orders.

"It's settled then," Gorgestar looked at Stormpelt, "we have been talking about this plan for a while now, it's time we put it to the test, wouldn't you say?"

Stormpelt blinked, "right now, sir?"

"No," Gorgestar looked up, "we'll give it a little longer, just to perfect the plan. In the meantime, you can go back to camp."

He looked at Shadepaw who flicked her tail, "what plan? How am I supposed to know when we'll meet again?"

Gorgestar looked at Emberpaw, "well, report anything interesting to her when you get the chance," he glanced at Stormpelt, "us three will hold a meeting at the moonpool, at the half-moon."

Shadepaw, cautious but slightly more relaxed, nodded. "Okay then, I'll head back to camp."

She heard something but didn't react.

"You do that," Gorgestar dismissed her and walked away, Emberpaw on his heels.

Stormpelt glanced back, "see ya."

She simply dipped her head in farewell and watched them walk away. She tried not to feel slightly irked by Gorgestar's attitude and wondered whether people found her that annoying.

When she was sure they were out of earshot, she turned around.

"Willowpaw. Forestpaw. I know you're there."

A/N: I'm honestly so annoyed, I'm not seeing The Last Jedi until Wednesday and literally everyone I know has already seen it. So, I'm gonna have to get through three school days without having anyone spoil it to me.

Anyway, what do you think of Darkfall? Do you think he's as nice as everyone seems to think he is? What about Gorgestar, what do you think of him?