CHAPTER 31

Arriving back in camp after another long walk home, Dappledshade immediately broke off before the entrance. "Where are you going?" Blackbird called after her.

"I need to blow off some steam." She replied over her shoulder, pausing only for a moment. "I'm going hunting."

"Aren't you tired?"

"Yep." Her simple answer did not stop her from stalking off into the darkness. Her limbs ached from the long walk to and from the Gathering, but she knew there was no way she would be able to settle down into her nest right now. Between her body being ready for a fight back there and then all that adrenaline not being needed, to her racing thoughts, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep.

She had no particular direction in mind, and found herself not really looking for signs of things scurrying in the grass as her tired paws took her where they may. She found herself heading towards the Fernclan border, probably on instinct. She was "hunting" and that was an area with a good amount of prey.

Coming across a puddle of water from the short burst of rain they had the other day (welcome after such a long period of drought), Dappledshade licked her lips and crouched down to lap at the cool water, suddenly realising how thirsty she had been.

As she sat back up, the young warrior stared at the reflection of herself and the stars in the clear night sky in the water with a deep sigh. How had things ended up like this? She loved a good fight and all, and she was loyal to her clan, but this desire for complete destruction and control of the other clans? It felt… wrong. Certainly against the warrior code. But Icestar was insistent it was Starclan's will.

"Is this really what you want?" She asked the reflected stars quietly, knowing her ancestors would never actually answer her. They spoke to leaders and herbalists, if at all. She had seen Dewstar revive in front of her; Starclan's gifts might be real, they might exist, and she might respect the code and the old stories, but that didn't mean Dappledshade had any real faith in Starclan. Maybe if they would actually answer back for once…

When she was a kit, she had thought Starclan was the coolest sounding thing ever, after hearing stories from the elders. She'd tried to talk to them every night as she settled down into her nest for a while, but of course they had never visited her in her dreams. Why would they? After a while, she settled into the more typical Gorseclan attitude regarding their mystic ancestors. Their ancestors were to be respected, sure. The code was to be followed. But Starclan itself held no real sway over her thoughts after that.

With a frustrated hiss she swatted at the calm surface of the puddle, sending up a spray of water. What was she doing?! Even if they did care, and Icestar was actually wrong, some dead cats in Silverpelt were no help to them here on the ground.

"Getting angry at the water? Still can't control yourself?" A familiar voice from behind her made her jump, and before she had the chance to place it, the soft breeze changed and a scent she recognised hit her nose.

"Rowanfall!" She spat as she whirled around. The red tom padded out into sight from the rough undergrowth with narrowed eyes and some new scars. His scent was still recognisable as him, but she also could detect the mossy notes of Fernclan on him. So it was true that he had been hanging around them after all.

The two stood tensely about three cat-lengths apart. Dappledshade was unsure what to do. The orders around Rowanfall were clear; he was to be treated as worse than even the average enemy. Killed on sight. He looked ready to run or fight at a moment's notice; he clearly could see she was weighing up what to do.

Eh, screw Icestar.

"So you did join the flower-sniffers after all." She settled on jeering at him instead, feeling a nostalgic feeling when his ears flattened with that same old defensive expression on his face.

"I did what I had to, same as you would." Rowanfall replied evasively, head still low and muscles still tense. "You're the one who betrayed me and got me kicked out."

Now it was her turn to feel defensive. "Like Icestar wouldn't have kicked you out anyway; you attacked him! You're lucky he didn't kill you."

"Are you going to attack me or not?"

"I'm not interested in a fight right now, if I'm honest." She shrugged. "I'm too tired. Are you going to attack me?"

Rowanfall let out a small hollow bark of laughter. "No. If I was going to, I would have done it while you were drinking and I was downwind." Yes, she would have done that in his paws too.

"Care to explain why you're on our side of the border?"

"No." His simple answer nearly made her laugh, for the ridiculousness of the whole situation. She was too tired. "How's Ringkit?" He changed the subject.

"Doing well, growing big." She scanned his expression, trying to pick out his reason for talking to her like this, when he could have just moved on undetected. "Do you still think he's not a rogue's kit?"

"I still think exactly what I said after I confronted Icestar. He killed Kowhaifall to cover up what he did, because she knew. He's working with the rogues."

"I know he is." She muttered. She could still not believe Icestar would kill Kowhaifall though. Sure, the way he had attacked Dewstar had been brutal… but there was justification that could be made there. She was their enemy, by doing so he had gotten the entire clan to surrender without further bloodshed. Dewstar had the lives to spare… But there was no way he'd kill one of his own warriors in cold blood like that. Not the kind, talented, well-liked Kowhaifall, who was going to have kits. He wouldn't.

It was just an accident.

"Oh is that out in the open now, is it? He sent those goons after me after my exile, you know. Chased me all over the mountains for days. They nearly killed me." He indicated the healing scars marking his deep ginger fur with a flick of his tail. "That's how I ended up with Fernclan. They found me a heaping mess after I barely got away and patched me up." She was interested in the longer version of that short story, but now wasn't the time.

"I think they stole Ringkit from somewhere else." Her admission made his brows lift, and he let out a mockingly impressed sound in his throat. She leered at him, but continued anyway. "Flaxclan, probably. They were attacked by the rogues not long before that."

"Congratulations, you're finally catching on. You're where I was months ago."

"I won't believe Icestar killed Kowhaifall-"

"He did-!"

"But it still doesn't explain the dead queen, or the other cats." She huffed at his smug face, getting more annoyed by the second. She always hated admitting he was right about anything, even something small.

"I don't know about that either." Rowanfall admitted reluctantly. "But if his relationship with the rogues is out in the open now, it might come out." Dappledshade realised that she could ask Venompaw about it. She wasn't going to offer Rowanfall that tidbit of information though. He was technically still an enemy, she couldn't just blab about everything going on in Gorseclan camp.

Speaking of which. "It'll be dawn soon, you should go." She glanced skyward. "If someone else sees you, they'll tear you apart."

"Aww, you care."

"Shut up. I just don't really feel like having to scrape your ugly pelt up off the ground to throw in a burial pit." She looked him over. "You should really just leave clan territory altogether, you know. Icestar is on the warpath now you're with Fernclan."

"Icestar should watch his own back." Rowanfall scoffed. "He thinks he's invincible, but he's not." He flexed his claws in the dirt. "I've been practising." As he turned to walk away, he hesitated, and looked back at her with a long stare. She was about to pointedly ask what he wanted, but then he spoke again. "You also act invincible. You really need to stop defending him, and quickly, if you know what's good for you."

Her expression and mood soured further. Having an outside presence tell her what her own traitorous thoughts were already thinking was vexing. "Is that a threat? We know an attack on our camp is coming soon. Just how much are you helping Fernclan with that?" She accused, putting things back on her former clanmate.

"I don't really care about them. I just want to get rid of Icestar no matter what." Rowanfall's blunt response, tone flowing with an undercurrent of a vengeful aggression, surprised her.

"Well, good luck with that." Came her sarcastic response. Rowanfall wasn't a bad fighter; indeed he had an uncanny knack for avoiding blows from opponents, but that didn't mean he could beat Icestar. The leader was larger, stronger, more experienced and most importantly, had his full nine lives to contend with.

Dappledshade waited until long after Rowanfall's bushy tail had vanished before she headed back to camp. She needed to make sure the freshness of their scents did not overlap in case someone came through here later. It needed to smell like she had missed him. She would report finding his scent to Sorrelwind when she got back…

Dragging her paws back home, the exhaustion from the long night finally kicking in, the young warrior cursed to herself halfway back when she realised she needed to bring some prey with her. She had said she was going hunting after all. It would look odd if she came back with nothing at all.

What felt like several dragged out hours later, she pushed through the gorse tunnel with a thrush and a chaffinch in her mouth. It wasn't an impressive showing, but it was something to add to the pile.

Sorrelwind was already up after what would have been a short nap, getting ready for the dawn patrol. She noticed Dappledshade dropping the birds on the pile, and caught her eye. "How was the hunt?" She asked lightly after beckoning her over.

"Meagre. I was really too tired, I think. But I needed to clear my head after all that tension at the Gathering."

Luckily, the deputy did not scold her, instead, she nodded with understanding in her expression. "Of course. I had you on the dawn patrol, but I'll take Sedgetuft instead and let you get some sleep. Icestar wants you fresh and fighting fit. We'll need you for the battles to come."

Dappledshade dipped her head with respect and acknowledgement, grateful for the chance to get a long sleep. "Oh, I did scent Rowanfall out there again." She remembered to mention it, so it didn't look suspicious. "I looked for him, but it seemed I just missed him. He was on his own though, no Fernclan cats that I could detect."

Sorrelwind's large ears flipped backwards slightly with displeasure. "So he's back to crossing our borders, huh? Icestar's worried about him using inside knowledge to lead a raid on our camp… I'll check thoroughly for him on the dawn patrol. Thank you Dappledshade. Go get some rest."

Gladly, she thought, hoping for no interruptions from Stoatberry.