CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
RETURN TO THE CLANS
"A Clan leader is not a Clan leader without her nine lives!"
"There's no way out here to get nine lives because there's no Moonpool!"
"Maybe it's time for a change. Maybe this is the end of ShadowClan leadership as we know it."
The Clan was clamoring in the hollow two weeks after Blackshade's return to the ShadowClan. The issue about Redwind receiving her name and nine lives had been a swelling one, and almost everyone was agitated about all of it. It had finally come to a boil.
"No." That was Scorchfur. "The way of the Clans must go on."
"Face it, old timer: there's only one Clan still here!" Adderpaw, defiant as always. "Maybe we should stop dictating our 'traditions' on what the old Clans that chased you out liked and start worrying about what would benefit us."
Scorchfur's eyes blazed. "Insolent kit!" he yowled.
"Enough!" Redwind sprang to her paws, her fur bristling with enough intensity to shut them up. "Alright, so I'll admit nothing like this has ever happened before. Leaders have always had the Moonpool before, but times have changed."
"Yeah, so maybe we should change with it!" That was Skyheart, the outspoken daughter of Tawnypelt and Rowanstar. "The only way for Redwind to receive her nine lives would be to sneak back in Clan territory to take a quick trip to the Moonpool. Which I doubt they'd let you do!"
"You don't have a right to decide that, kit," Owlclaw spat. "We left the Moonpool behind long before you were born!"
Blackshade could stand the pandemonium no longer. "Alright, knock it off!" He lashed his tail and the cats began to fall silent. He was beginning to like his place in ShadowClan as deputy; cats had almost fearful respect to him. Part of it was due to his size and strength, he knew, but part of it was because not many of them knew very much about him, just that Redwind trusted him wholeheartedly. "Instead of turning the same useless ideas over and over again, why don't we get some new ones floating around? How about something like: we return to the lake and fight for our place there?"
His statement was met with mixed reactions.
"Well, we've all wanted to go back for some time," Owlclaw began dryly, "but obviously, it'd be three Clans to one. We'd definitely perish if they attacked."
"Who's to say that? Who's to say they even would attack? Don't you think that the truth about Reedstar would be revealed by now? Do you really think the Clans would stand for that kind of tyranny? You know, like they didn't with Tigerstar?"
There were a couple of gasps. It had been many generations ago, but Tigerstar was a name known – and still feared – by everyone who had grown up in a nursery. For Blackshade to compare Reedstar to Tigerstar was a huge deal.
"You're suggesting we go back and demand back our land, then?" Oakwing asked tentatively.
"Exactly." Blackshade glanced at Redwind to see her reaction. He was surprised to see she looked hesitant.
"It's not even our land," Skyheart scoffed. "I was born here, and so was half the Clan."
Blackshade leaped down from the rock he was on and stalked over in front of her. The black she-cat regarded him warily as he thrust his face close to hers. "Do you call yourself a ShadowClan cat or not?"
"Of course." Skyheart's reply was almost a spit.
"You have ShadowClan blood running in your veins. You can stalk quietly. You can see well at night. You have a taste for toads and lizards. You adapt quickly. Your ancestors were born on ShadowClan lake territory, which is where you and the rest of us belong," Blackshade continued.
Turning, he paced over in front of Redwind. "Well? What do you think?"
The uncertainty swam in her green eyes for a moment longer. She pushed herself to her paws and meowed, "I think we need to formulate a plan for going back to the lake. Blackshade's right; we can't cower in fear here for the rest of our lives and go crawling back to the other Clans for permission to use the Moonpool every time a leader dies."
Hope blossomed in Blackshade at her words. He was beginning to get through to her! He turned to the rest of the Clanmates. They still looked uncertain.
Pricklepaw – newly named Prickleclaw – stepped forward and added, "I think it's a good idea – to go back, I mean. The Gathering is tomorrow night, and the sacred truce is no fighting on the Gathering night. While all the Clans have gathered on the island, Redwind, Blackshade and I can cross the tree bridge and try to reason. The rest of you can wait on the shore on the opposite side, in case we have to make a quick getaway. But, if we come up with the right words, we shouldn't have to do that."
Heads nodded in the crowd, but some still looked doubtful.
"We should take a vote," Redwind meowed. "Everyone who wants to go back to the lake, go over by the medicine den. Everyone who wants to stay here, go over by Tawnypelt's den."
Blackshade made straight for the medicine den, sure to make his point clear that he was ready to go home. Surely this is what he had come back for, to return home home, right? Prickleclaw followed him quickly. Mudfoot, Ivytail, and Oakwing joined him.
Skyheart and Adderpaw stalked over to Tawnypelt's den and regarded the rest of the Clan with rigid gazes. Fallowclaw and Morningpaw followed. Blackshade knew it was because they were scared. To his surprise, Pineclaw and Sunwing followed their sister.
Scorchfur, Shrewfoot, and Owlclaw made their way to stand next to the medicine den. It was no surprise the senior warriors wanted to go home. Tawnypelt hovered between the two before joining the medicine den side, her tail sweeping low to the ground in thought.
Jaypaw and Duskpaw followed their mother to the lake side, and Spottedpaw did too, setting his jaw. That outnumbered the stayers by five, not including Redwind, who was going to remain neutral on the vote.
"That settles it," she meowed. "We will no longer cower in fear outside of Clan boundaries. Tomorrow, we find the Clans, and settle this once and for all. We are ShadowClan, the most powerful Clan in the forest! And we will not tolerate this skulking any longer. We will ask politely – once. If we are not granted rights to our land, we will fight for it!"
The cheering rose up; the six cats on the staying side either scowled or watched with wide eyes. But the remaining eleven raised their voices in a battle cry that didn't die away.
Like ShadowClan, Blackshade thought. ShadowClan didn't die away. And now we're on our way home at last.
Several pairs of eyes gleamed in the dark along the sandy shoreline as Blackshade, Redwind, and Prickleclaw crouched at the head of the band of cats, eyes fixed on the crowd gathered on the island. Blackshade could barely believe they were back on Clan territory. He kept breathing in the smells of WindClan, RiverClan, and ThunderClan. They were a little unpleasant, but familiar all the same. They had come directly through old ShadowClan territory and looped around the lake the way they had moons and moons ago when they'd still lived here. The young cats were inquisitive – even Adderpaw! – of the new territory, but all Blackshade could think about was how good it was to be back.
"I don't know if this will work." Redwind's voice was barely audible in his ear. "They hated us, Blackshade. Do you remember?"
"Of course I do." Blackshade replied in the same tone. "Everything will be fine."
With one glance back at their waiting Clan, the three cats rose from their place on the shore and filed across the tree bridge quickly and silently, Redwind first, then Prickleclaw, then Blackshade, bringing up the rear. The Clans did not take any notice of them; their eyes were trained on the three leaders up in the Great Oak – Blackshade had figured he would never see it again – which were still too far away to see their faces clearly.
It was Bramblestar speaking, his voice a low rumble. Blackshade could hear him talking about mundane things – chasing off a fox, a litter of kits being born, a new warrior. Before he could pause for breath, Redwind's shoulders rose and fell with a breath. "Cats of all Clans!" she yowled.
A ripple of surprise passed through the crowd. Heads turned, eyes darted wide at the three of them. Spines began to arch, fur began to bristle, hackles began to raise.
"Intruders!" hissed a WindClan tom.
"Rogues!" added a RiverClan she-cat.
"Drive them off!" yowled a ThunderClan apprentice.
"Wait, no! Remember the truce!" That was a light brown tabby she-cat, up in the tree.
Blackshade could have clawed that RiverClan she-cat that called them rogues. Have you forgotten the scent of ShadowClan this easily? I'd claw your nose off if this weren't the night of the full moon, mange-brain!
"Cats of all Clans," Redwind repeated, as if trying to get her bearings. "We are indeed neither rogues nor intruders. My name is Redwind. This is my deputy, Blackshade, and my medicine cat, Prickleclaw." She acknowledged each of them, flanking her, with a flick of her tail. "We were just apprentices when you chased out our Clan, and we've retreated to a territory north of the great lake where you'd never find us. But we have come back, out of our drive that StarClan willed four Clans to be in the forest, not three. The pine forest between ThunderClan and RiverClan belongs to us, and any cat that says otherwise will feel the claws of the first ShadowClan cat that reaches him."
The news rang around the hollow until an awkward silence laced between the cats. There was no whispering, or murmuring. Even the rambunctious apprentices were stunned to silence. Blackshade darted a glance at Redwind out of the corner of his eye to see if she was feeling the awkwardness, too, but she held the other cats' gazes with a fiery glare of her own. She had meant every word she said, and Blackshade braced himself for an upcoming fight. Maybe not tonight, out of the Clans' respect for StarClan's full moon rule, but soon.
"Redwind." A voice spoke from atop the Great Tree. Eyes began to tear themselves away from Redwind to look at a scarred brown she-cat who stood on a thick branch lower than the other two leaders, Bramblestar and a gray cat Blackshade didn't recognize. "My name is Rushstar, leader of RiverClan."
Redwind's tail bristled. "You were Reedstar's deputy, yes?"
"I was." Rushstar dipped her head sideways as if embarrassed. "The truth about Reedstar and his ruthless dictatorship came out during an all-out war during leaf-bare. I realized it after he attempted to blind me for speaking out of turn–" Blackshade's gaze raked her scarred face, and he realized that one of her eyes was still and sightless while the other moved "–and while I was healing in the medicine den, I realized I needed to ally the less loyal followers of Reedstar to the other Clans and take him down. StarClan has taken his life from him, and there's no doubt he lurks in the Dark Forest. I can never right the wrongs our Clan has done to you, but I can say that RiverClan will gladly accept its neighbors without resistance, and that we promise six moons of peace as you settle back into your new home."
Blackshade felt Redwind look at him slightly, as if surprised.
"I agree with Rushstar," Bramblestar meowed, although he sounded a little reluctant. Perhaps he had used ShadowClan's hunting grounds for his own Clan. Blackshade felt a flash of anger but tried pushing it away at the dark tabby's words. "Reedstar's tyranny is over. StarClan meant for four Clans to live together, just as the four seasons work together in harmony. The six-moon era of peace will extend to ThunderClan as well."
The gray cat who sat above Bramblestar flicked his tail. "I was merely a warrior myself when ShadowClan was driven from its home, and I agree with the other leaders. ShadowClan must return to its place at the lake. WindClan does not share a border with ShadowClan, but the six moons of peace with ShadowClan's neighbors will be extended to us, as all Clans are affected by ShadowClan's return. Tonight, when my Clan returns home, I will alert the ones who have stayed behind of your return. Redwind, I wish you best of luck as leader of ShadowClan, and if you wish to visit the Moonpool and receive your nine lives tonight, my deputy Leaftail will be happy to escort you to the edge of WindClan territory so you will not be mistaken as intruders and harmed by my night patrols."
"Squirrelflight, too, can go along," Bramblestar meowed.
"Thank you." Redwind sounded humbled.
"Welcome, ShadowClan! Welcome, Redstar!" That was Rushstar, raising her voice in a chant that the rest of the leaders – and eventually, the rest of the Clans – took up as well.
Redwind visibly relaxed next to Blackshade; he felt the tense muscles in her shoulders loosen against his side as she breathed out a deep sigh of relief. He gave her an amused nudge that caught her attention. "I told you everything would be fine," he muttered.
Scoffing playfully, Redwind glanced across the tree bridge and gave the waiting warriors a nod of her head. The older warriors of other Clans began to charge forward to meet their old friends; a few wails of sorrow rose as the news of Ferretclaw's, Snowbird's, and Tigerheart's passing, as well as the separation with the rest of the Clan, such as Toadfoot and Applefur and Pinefur, and all the rest.
As the Clans mingled once again like they had for years upon years, Squirrelflight and Leaftail made their way through the crowd, nodding respectful hellos to Blackshade as a fellow deputy, before Redwind and Prickleclaw led the way off of the tree bridge.
"Wait!" Blackshade called after, and the cats turned. "Who's going to announce what's happened since we've left?"
"You are, mouse-brain!" Redwind's voice was cheerful, her eyes were full of hope. She gave him a joyous wave of her tail before bounding across the tree bridge in pursuit of Prickleclaw and the other two deputies.
A surge of pride washed over Blackshade. He was deputy, so that meant it was his responsibility to- wait. He hadn't been with the Clan for moons, how could he possibly report to the other Clans what had happened?
But Mudfoot was at his side in an instant, pressing him through the crowd and nudging him with his shoulder when he slowed, muttering the entire way, "I've got you covered… don't worry about a thing… we'll figure this out…" By the time they got to the base of the tree, heads were turning toward them. Blackshade had been introduced as their deputy; now they were turning to him since Redwind was gone.
"Blackshade is unable to report ShadowClan's news since he was separated from the rest of the Clan for most of our departure," Mudfoot mewed smoothly to the leaders, who paused to listen. "If Blackshade does not mind, I will give the full report just this once."
A wave of relief flooded over Blackshade, and he nodded to Mudfoot.
"Come with me and fill in details I miss," Mudfoot muttered to him as they began to ascend the tree together.
Bramblestar called for silence as Blackshade awkwardly followed the medicine cat to a branch across from Rushstar, and the two turned to face the watching eyes. The effect was dizzying but also satisfying: to hold the attention of so many cats? It felt oddly familiar, and yet it was a whole new feeling. His veins buzzed with adrenaline as Mudfoot began to recount the tale of everything that had happened since ShadowClan had left the lake…
A/N: WHO'S READY TO SEE REDWIND'S LEADERSHIP CEREMONY? REVIEW TO FIND OUT!