"What are you two doing here?" Jaymint asked, his tone sounding both suspicious and curious.

"Yeah," Swamppaw's hair began to rise. "I can understand a warrior coming, but why him?"

Jaymint used his tail to cover Swamppaw's mouth.

"Why are you here?" he asked again.

"We came to help," Echotrail meowed. "Our clanmates might not agree with helping the clans that exiled us, but I have no relation to Willowclan by blood, and I want to help."

"Where's Flintpaw?" Flamingpaw demanded, looking around.

"Why do you want to know?" Swamppaw's meow was muffled by Jaymint's tail.

"She went hunting," Jaymint replied carefully. "And how do we know you weren't sent to kill us in our sleep?"

"I highly doubt any clan would send a mere apprentice to kill eight cats," Echotrail responded, her tone getting hostile.

"Of course you would know all about killing cats," Mistblossom replied, standing up.

Echotrail's eyes narrowed at this comment, and her claws became unsheathed.

Mistblossom's eyes became round moons, she took a step back, fearful that the dusty brown she-cat would actually attack.

"Mistblossom, what have you done?" Skyshadow hissed, his fur rising.

Echotrail remained in the same position for a few more seconds, then forced her fur to lie flat and sheathed her claws again.

The tension between the cats eased off, but it still hung in the air.

"Look, we mean no harm," Flamingpaw insisted. "And if this darkness that you all speak of is real, as soon as it wipes out your clans, it will come for ours. It would be stupid if we did not help."

"Flamingpaw?" Flintpaw asked, her meow muffled by the two mice she had in her mouth. "What are you doing here?"

"What's going on?" Ambercloud demanded, coming out from behind her and dropping two more mice at her paws.

"Jaymint was just about to let Flamingpaw and Echotrail help us with the clans, right, Jaymint?" Ebonyshine narrowed her eyes at Jaymint, silently daring him to object.

Jaymint briefly considered his options. Say no and face two angry she-cats and a tom, or say yes and face an angry apprentice.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Welcome."

Swamppaw looked outraged and Nightsky shook his head.

"Let's eat, we have a long way yet," he continued.

"Oh, where are we going?" Echotrail asked.

Jaymint glanced at Ebonyshine and she nodded.

"Bloodclan," he stated, noticing Echotrail's immediate change of expression.

He glanced at Ebonyshine and saw that she had noticed it as well.

Then it hit him.

Ebonyshine hadn't wanted the Willowclan cats to join them; she wanted them to bow out after learning about Bloodclan.

She was a genius.

0o0

Darkstar sat atop her somewhat mighty throne of mud and grass, her eyes closed in concentration. She could feel her supporters energy; filling her with youth.

"My leader," Darkstar's eyes opened to see a dark brown tom in front of her. He had black stripes along his back and his tail was permanently stuck at a 50 degree angle. His left eye was narrowed, as his right eye was nothing but an empty eye socket.

"Hello, Silentmask," Darkstar greeted her deputy. "The energy; it's great."

"Of course," Silentmask agreed, dipping his head. "But I actually wanted to talk about something else. Or, someone else."

"Well go on," Darkstar encouraged.

"It's about Featherlily," Silentmask began hesitantly. "Are you sure we can trust her?"

"Are you doubting my judgement?" Darkstar demanded.

"I would never doubt you, Darkstar," Silentmask assured. "I am simply wondering whether we should put all our confidence in her right away."

Darkstar purred. "Do not fret. I don't trust the she-cat one bit. Consider her...a twoleg."

Silentmask was silent for a few seconds. "A...a twoleg?"

"Of course. They do everything for you; feed you, give you shelter, and when one dies, another one comes along. Featherlily will be our very own twoleg. She will plan our battle for us, and all we need to do is sit back as she does it. When she's finished, I will seal the deal by finishing her."

Silentmask considered this, then began to purr with his leader. "That's brilliant, Darkstar. And the she-cat is so stupid that we won't even have to put effort into fooling her."

"I told you I had a brilliant plan," Darkstar purred. "Now go grab Nightstorm; we have a war to make Featherlily organize."