"MARCH!" A voice sounded through the cold, dark forest. Breezepelt was furious. Sandbreeze hadn't turned up for training for more than three moons now. He didn't care if she had kits, he'd have them too soon enough. It's not like she wasn't sleeping either, that would be impossible. Plus, Hazeltail frequently told him that she slept quite soundly, and that it was a wonder why she couldn't wake up here. It had always puzzled him. Hazeltail, on the other paw, had become very reliable. She was aggressive now, and snappy. It just goes to show what you can achieve in the Dark Forest.
"He told you to march! You mouse-brained fleabags! Stop standing around in your lazy good-for-nothing fur and get on with it!" Hazeltail yowled furiously.
It sure was admirable.
His Dark Forest Army began to march half-heartedly, which Hazeltail soon put a stop to.
"What are you? Useless? HE SAID MARCH!" She bellowed, causing every cat to march in rhythm to her.
"That's better." He meowed coolly. "Now return to your nests. We have a big day soon enough, so training sessions will now be cut short until the Revenge Day."
"Breezepelt," Hazeltail meowed, while winding around her night-mentor. "Will you tell me more about the Revenge Day?"
"Why?" Breezepelt meowed suspiciously, narrowing his eyes as if to look at the she-cat more thoroughly.
"I want to know more! I want to know when we will have our final revenge, how we will slice through our non-suspecting clanmate's fur, who will be on which patrol, and most of all, can I be on your patrol? I admire you, Breezepelt, I want to be with you forever. I want to rule the clans with you, I want to be your second in command." She bellowed, her voice carrying through the forest.
And at once, his claws sank in through her fur, ripping out paw fulls and spilling her blood onto the filthy floor. He swung his forepaws in the air, slicing his claws through her throat causing her to collapse onto the floor, chocking and gasping for breath.
"There is, and never will be a second in command!" He yowled into her ear, and she shrunk back painfully.
"Please don't kill me." She whimpered.
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it." He meowed sarcastically as he dug his claws in further, until the light escaped from her eyes, and she was gone.
Breezepelt stood up from her bloodied body, cleaning the blood from his paws and kicking dirt over her body in disgust. What a pitiful excuse for a cat! He thought to himself, as he padded away to be swallowed up by the shadows.
Cloversplash woke up with a start. Cats were yowling outside, but with all the new repairs done to the nursery, she couldn't tell what it was about. She left her nest to investigate, but as soon as she left the nursery, she wished she hadn't. Outside, was a body of a very mangled cat, who smelled of ThunderClan. She couldn't tell who, but it was bad. She, Sandbreeze and Willowfrost all left their kits with Brightcloud to go outside to get more information. They soon learned that the body belonged to Hazeltail, and that no cat knew how it happened. No other scent was on her, so it was impossible to tell who had done this.
Sandbreeze looked the most horrified out of all of them. Cloversplash and Willowfrost had to heard her back to the nursery, but before they did, she uttered a few very important words : "Why did you ever go to that dark place?"
Cloversplash and Willowfrost looked to each other, bewildered.
"Sandbreeze," Cloversplash whispered carefully, "do you know who did this?"
"Yes." She whispered back.
"You have to tell us. Now." Willowfrost meowed urgently.
"You already know. Breezepelt." Sandbreeze replied.
"How?" Cloversplash demanded.
"She trained in the Dark Forest too. She became very loyal to him, to the Place of No Stars. They were her clanmates. She chose them." She whispered in disgust.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Willowfrost asked soothingly.
"I was hoping she'd change her mind. Now her spirit will stay in the Dark Forest forever." Sandbreeze meowed, burrying her head into Cloversplash and Willowfrost's shoulders.
They where quiet for a whil, until Cloverspalsh broke the silence.
"We should tell Bramblestar."
"Not yet. He'll hate me. Throw me out." She meowed at once.
"No he won't." Cloversplash meowed to her friend. "First lets tell Brightcloud, then we'll go to Bramblestar together. He'll understand that you were tricked and you never meant to join him."
"Okay." She meowed quietly.
As briefly as they could, they told Brightcloud about the situation, then went for Bramblestar. On their way to his den, where he layed grieving, they spotted Hazeltail's brothers Mousewhisker and Berrynose with their mother, Daisy, quietly meowing words of recourse to each other. It was hard to ruin the moment by the accusation, but it had to be done.
"Bramblestar, do you have a minute? It's important." Cloversplash meowed through the entrance to his den. There was a murmur of acceptance, and the three guided Sandbreeze into the den.
"What is it? No bad news I hope? The kits okay?" He asked at once seeing all the queens together.
"No, the kits are fine, but there is another problem, and it's big." Willowfrost answered.
"The Dark Forest is rising, Bramblestar." Sandbreeze meowed quieter than her friends, but her voice rang out clearly.
"What? Who told you this? This is no time for games." He meowed seriously.
"Oh, I assure you, this isn't a game, it's serious." Brightcloud meowed.
"And no one had to tell us, I experienced it myself." Sandbreeze meowed.
"What do you mean?" Bramblestar meowed suspiciously.
"I used to go there. Breezepelt is the Dar Forest cat's leaders now, Hazeltail's too." She answered.
"Hazeltail?" He asked.
"Yes, she died there, I'm sure of it. I wasn't there, as StarClan as allowed me to visit their hunting grounds when I sleep, so that I can't go there while I'm nursing kits. But the marks on her neck are those of a evil cat." She replied.
"If I belive what you're telling me, why would he do that to her?" He asked.
"I don't know. He must have others in his army, so killing off one wouldn't be such a big deal." Sandbreeze meowed.
"Army?" Bramblestar asked.
"Yes. He's building up an army of clan cats to destroy us all. I never recognized many of them except Hazeltail, but there are many clan cats there, that's for sure. And I think he's recruited rogues too." She answered.
"I see, not much unlike the Great Battle." He murmured to himself, then finally adding, "You may go now, I need some time with my thoughts. Send Brackenfur and Jayfeather in though. I need some advice."
The four said fairewell and left for the nursery, not before taking some time to send the deputy and medicine cat to Bramblestar's den. When they entered the nursery, they were bombarded by the kits leaping on them from all angles. It would be a real horrific thing to start a war when there were so many kits in the nursery at the time, Cloversplash thought as she fell to the floor in a pile of kits. Looking beside her, she saw that her friends had fallen aswell, and they were struggling to get back on their paws.
"When all seems lost, seek the good." A voice that was not her own sounded in her head. Cloversplash didn't know what it meant, but she knew it would be important.
Poll: who should be picked off the story next-
Icecloud
Thornclaw
Foxleap
Silverpaw
(do not affect the story in any way)
Please review!