1Spark snarled with annoyance at Riversong. The gray queen shrugged. "You have to be faster next time," she meowed, "Keep up the good work, Spark. You almost got it." The warrior dangled the toy mouse on a string lazily from her paw.
"Can't you let me get it just once?" Spark begged, "I want to know what it feels like to catch something in your claws!"
Riversong shook her head. "Just keep trying, Spark. I wish we had tools like this for training our apprentices back in DuskClan." No more did a pang of sorrow strike Riversong's heart at the mention of her old Clan. She didn't flinch as she had before. "We had to find live prey for them to practice with. And if it went wrong...we'd have to wait for the prey to settle back down again."
Spark nodded and kept her eyes focused on the ragged toy before her. Riversong snaked it along on its string. Spark padded carefully forward. Just as Riversong was about to yank it back, Spark pounced. Riversong was about to tell her to try again until she saw that Spark had leapt ahead of the "mouse." The yellow she-cat sunk her fangs into it. "There you have it," Riversong meowed.
"Fanks," Spark muttered, "Now how dw'I get if fing offa mf fngs?"
"Sorry?"
Spark spat out the toy. "Never mind," she said. Riversong shrugged.
"Come on," the warrior meowed, "We're going out into the forest and trying it out on real prey. Just remember all the stalking techniques I taught you."
"Rabbits hear you. Mice feel you," Spark recited, "Keep the weight on your hind paws when going for a mouse. Watch where they're going if you're stalking a rabbit. Stay downwind at all times."
"Good on you," Riversong praised, "Let's see how much of that you can put into practice. Remember, the first prey you kill is no one's but your own." Spark nodded.
"If I kill anything at all," she mewed to herself. She and Riversong had been training for the past week. Riversong was a tough trainer, but a good one. The mouse drill had been something she was intent on drilling into Spark's memory. 'Just because you're a warrior doesn't mean you should never act like an apprentice again,' she would often say, meaning that sometimes, even the best cats need a little training under a mentor.
Riversong was pleased with Spark. The yellow queen proved to be very teachable and very retentive of hunting techniques. Spark asked questions about how she could improve, reminding Riversong strongly of Foxpelt's apprentice, Moonpaw. Unlike Moonpaw, Spark was hard-hearted at times and very sarcastic. All in all, Riversong enjoyed her company immensely.
The bluish-gray queen stopped in her tracks. She sniffed the air, opening her mouth slightly. The warm scent of mouse reached her. Her mouth watered slightly. Spark looked back, her eyes shouting I know how to do mice best!
Spark gathered herself into a crouch and slunk towards the scent. Riversong slipped up into the branches of a tree to watch. She could see the grayish-brown fur of the mouse. It was nibbling a seed. She nodded. It's distracted, she thought, This is gonna be easy!
Spark crept closer and closer. She shifted her weight back onto her haunches as Riversong had instructed her to do so many times. Finally, she gauged the distance and sprung. Just as she leapt, so did another shape. Riversong gasped as a second she-cat, this one a dirty-looking yellowish white, lunged, slamming into Spark. The mouse, who had wised up and decided that any place with two hungry cats that were just dying to snarf him down was not the place he wanted to be, fled squeaking.
The white cat sat up dazedly, shaking her head a few times. She bared her blackening fangs in a snarl. "Spark," she hissed, "What are you doing here?"
"H-hunting, Bone Marrow," Spark whispered, looking down at her paws. Bone Marrow paused, then gave a low growl.
"Tell your friend she can come out of the tree now," Bone Marrow spat. Riversong shrugged and leapt down from her perch.
"You scented me?" she asked cooly.
"Scented you?" Bone Marrow meowed scornfully, "Spark, tell this mouse-brained fool who I am!"
Spark's fur was bristling uneasily. She obviously didn't want to be anywhere near this Bone Marrow character. "Bone Marrow is..." she whispered, her gaze never shifting from her paws, "Bone Marrow is...is..." Spark gave a wordless yowl of terror and fled.
Riversong stared at Bone Marrow. The scrawny she-cat's ribs poked out from her filthy fur, but her amber eyes were sharp and alive. Bone Marrow opened her mouth again. Riversong retched silently. Bone Marrow's breath was terrible! "Well, seeing as what sparse wits Spark has have deserted her, allow me to introduce myself. I am called Bone Marrow. I lead the Alliance of Destroyers. No cat stands in our way." She thrust her face into Riversong's. "No cat," she hissed, the stench leaking out and blasting Riversong's nose, "Because I see all. I hear all. I smell all. I know all."
Riversong reeled backwards. She gasped for clean air. Bone Marrow snorted and disappeared into the bushed. It took a few minutes for the young warrior's head to clear. Bone Marrow, eh? she thought, Ugh. More like Bone Decay! Great StarClan!
That night, Riversong sat talking with Pyre. Spark was curled into a shivering ball of fur and refused to say anything to anyone. The black he-cat seemed more willing to acknowledge his fear of Bone Marrow than his mate. "It's true, Riversong," he meowed, "Bone Marrow does see everything. That's why everyone's afraid of her."
"No one sees all except StarClan," Riversong muttered. Pyre pricked his ears and gazed questioningly at her. "Nothing. Tell me more about this 'Alliance of Destroyers' Bone Marrow leads."
"The AoDs are a group of extreme alley cats. They're huge, bigger than any cat should be. Nothing stands in their way. Not even the Twolegs." Riversong noticed Pyre and his family had adopted some of the warrior cats' terms. "As long as Bone Marrow is there to lead them, you're not safe."
"So you mean to say that if someone killed Bone Marrow, the AoD would fall apart?" Riversong asked. Pyre gave a hiss of fear and looked wildly into the shadows.
"I can't believe I'm saying this aloud, but...yes. That's exactly it, Riversong. The AoD needs Bone Marrow like you and I need food." Pyre took a deep breath. "In fact, it's the AoD that's keeping my family and me here."
Riversong's ears pricked. She leaned forward. "What do you mean, Pyre?"
"Back when Spark and I first met, we were part of the AoDs. There are only two rules in that group: first is that you obey only Bone Marrow; second is that if you decide to leave, you will stay where Bone Marrow tells you to and nowhere else. Spark and I enjoyed the order that having a single leader came with, but after a while, we decided we should find other things in life. When we made that decision, we were two of the most elite of Bone Marrow's warriors."
Pyre took a deep breath. He seemed to think this was not what he wanted to say, but he pressed onwards. "Bone Marrow wasn't pleased that we were leaving the AoD, but she allowed us to leave. 'But,' she said, 'You must live only where I choose. And from this day on, if we catch you out of that land, we will kill you.' Spark and I said we were fine with that. She and her fighters led us here. 'We can't live here!' I shouted, 'No cat can live here! It's impossible!' 'Well, maybe you should have thought twice before you left the Alliance of Destroyers,' she replied, 'I say you will live here from now on and nowhere else.' She laughed and walked away."
Riversong found herself pressing against Pyre's lanky black body comfortingly. Now she knew why Pyre had been so harsh. He had needed something to vent his old anger on. "What would you say to me if I told you I would kill Bone Marrow?" she asked
"I'd say you were a total lunatic and that chances were very good she'd be the one killing you," Pyre replied, "But, I'd then go on to ask how you planned to do it."
"An honor-match," Riversong meowed slowly, "An honorable duel between two honorable cats."
"Bone Marrow isn't what I'd call honorable..."
"Let me explain. I'd challenge her to a duel between the two of us. If I won, she would give up her position as leader of the Alliance of Destroyers and allow you to leave this StarClan-forsaken place."
Pyre shook his head slowly, awestruck. "You're a brave, brave she-cat, Riversong," he admitted, "Either that or very, very stupid. But, if you feel strongly about this, who am I to stop you?"
Later on, Riversong told Sunpaw her plans. The reddish tomcat was shocked at his mentor's testing of strength, but he submitted. Riversong didn't sleep that night. Instead, she gazed up into the stars of Silverpelt. Have I done the right thing? was all she could think of to ask Foxpelt.