Hello, I decided to make this chapter from a point of view other than Icepaw's… Thank you to reviewers. I feel sorry for my characters…
I'm sorry if one or two of my cats break the genetics of cat appearances.
She hissed for what felt like the millionth time in the past few days. Of course, she was glad of the turn of events, she knew she had just been a pawn in their carefully plotted plan, but in a way the plan itself had set her free and back to her former glory. The shadow of the past years still silently trailed her, she knew, which was perhaps the reason why she refused to claim her old name, but it kindled the ember of rage within her until a clear plot had practically set itself upon her path.
She strode confidently through the city, only stopping to hunt once. She didn't pay much attention to her surroundings, barely noticing the shift between flowering gardens, homely two-leg dens, and bleak, towering grey buildings. She ignored her scraped paws, instead hardly registering each passing monster-or car, before leaping across the glittering grey paths like she would a shallow stream.
When all the warm colours of the outer twoleg-place had shifted into cold grey and mirroring glass, she became aware of the uneasy feeling of many stares scorching her fur, but apart for the occasion gleam of claws or flash of eyes, nothing seemed intent on attacking her. She felt a surge of hatred at the reminder that nobody saw her as a threat, and thus, she did not put much consideration into the fact that perhaps she did look threatening. After all, she knew that she was much taller than many of the cats she had seen, she could still easily count each of the cats that had loomed over her. Not only that, but her bristling fur likely made her look even stronger, that combined with the healing scars of her recent scuffles might as well had been enough to hide her useless and twisted paw, which in no way hindered her any longer, but as formerly mentioned, the resentment consuming her hid these facts from her.
She knew that it was not she who was wrong, it was those fox-hearts from where she came from that had brought her vengeance down upon themselves. She had, of course, once loved their ways enough to discard her old way of life as rogue, but then…. She hissed again. The proud apprentice of the leader had been much too easily been left and treated like mouse-bile over a simple rule. Of course, yet again she did not know the whole story as to how this had happened, but she also knew that no explanation could possibly excuse the mistreatment of many cats, and she let that knowledge satisfy her quest for explanation. She was in the right, and she let that information fuel her anger.
For a quarter-moon, she traveled on this way, with blood roaring in her ears and the constant replaying and improvement of her calculations. She did not care if Starclan's precious clans were destroyed; Starclan obviously had as much judgement as a hungry fox these days and she was sure that the Dark Forest cats would celebrate with glee, but she did not care about them either. Her own plans would surely have repercussions but all she cared about was revenge.
When she finally saw a three story building looming ahead of her, covered in moss and ivy, with broken windows and crumbling walls, she suddenly felt the dizzying rage that had taken over her for so long melt away into the eerie peacefulness of the surrounding area, and she carefully wrapped her tail around her paws. She saw a flash of icy blue-grey eyes, then waited a moment as a single yowl echoed through her ears and a huge brown tabby tom, almost twice her height, slowly padded over to where she was sitting. His eyes blazed, and she knew that she could not afford one wrong move, especially when she knew that there were enough cats in that house to form three clans.
The tabby, who she knew was leader, was followed by a grey she-cat, whose fur looked like it was fading into a web of white fur, a golden tom with blue eyes, a black tom with yellow eyes, and a small calico she-cat with orange eyes. Behind them cats were gathering around the crumbling ivy-covered stone walls, and she could see the blink or eyes where there should have been glass but instead were only shards.
She did not speak, instead politely nodding her head towards the chief; whose name she knew was Fury. He flicked his tail in return, while the others watched in stony silence; only the ones out of earshot were whispering amongst themselves, but they mostly shared a few things in common, curiosity and wariness.
"Why are you here," Fury snapped impatiently.
"Would I be mistaken to say you hold a grudge against the forest cats?" she answered his question with a question. At these words his eyes narrowed, and she knew she had to thread even more carefully.
"You mean cats like you, Shadow," he growled.
"My name is no longer Shadow," she mewed, "And I am no longer one of them," she spat the last word disdainfully.
"And why should we help you when you know fair well that it would jeopardize our rule over this territory?" The brown tom retorted, and she knew he was testing her ability to choose the right words.
"Because I know when you were intending to go against them once your power was more stable, and I can help you, I know more about them than you'd think." She said those words with bitter honesty; she had gotten plenty of time to gather information.
Fury bristled at the mention of his unsteady hold over the group of cats, and she quickly added, "They are also unstable. They have made some foolish mistakes, and two of their leaders died recently."
She knew Fury had already made his decision, but he most likely wanted to make sure she knew that this was all in his power.
"And why is that?" he asked, and she saw a flicker of doubt in his gaze.
"They were worthless, not worth being worshiped by other cats," she mewed simply, and she knew that Fury had understood what she implied about her crimes.
The leader's eyes gleamed for a moment before he ordered, "Fang, Crow, Copper, escort her to my den."
So Web was the second in command now, she noted.
"Unless you want me to refer to you as Shadow, you better find yourself another name, clan cat." He spat, before stalking off to what she could only assume was his den.
She glanced at her calico fur, noting the strange red shade her fur was taking under the setting sun's light.
They'll call me Scarlet.
Lunaly was trying to evade the house-full of cats. She could not leave completely, but she could at least go outside, where the last chills of winter were retreating and blossoms had bloomed into new greenery. She was not exactly expecting to see a cat within Fury's territory, but it came as no surprise when she turned to see a cat standing on the road before the house. She blinked, then shook her head. For a moment the newcomer's fur had looked blood-red, like an ominous omen, but upon closer look it was obvious that it was just a very dark calico. It didn't help that Lunaly had never had the best eyesight and everything more than four tail-lengths ahead of her was slightly blurred.
For a moment she hesitated, wildly glancing around to see if there was any cat in proximity. When she saw nothing, she chose to retreat behind the broken stone wall the barricaded most of the house's front yard. For a moment she sat there, heart pounding, immediately regretting her decision; it was crucial that no cat here saw her as a traitor, but she honestly didn't care much what happened to most of the rogue group.
She berated herself for the billionth time since she had denied her chance to escape. Of course she could have left with Saphyr, but she had been too much of a coward. She was not sure she was even brave enough at the moment, and she felt a pang at the thought of the littermate she hadn't seen in moons; she wasn't even sure if the blue-grey she-cat was alive. She wasn't sure she could ever escape now; Fury had increased his vigilance ever since Saphyr had escaped, not that just Saphyr had raised his guard, but more that Lunaly's sister had used the commotion of ten fleeing cats to make her own escape.
Looking back, it was a miracle that any of them had made it out alive, especially considering that if there was one thing that Fury hated, it was definitely betrayal. Which was exactly why Lunaly was probably still not brave enough to leave even now, and also why she had concealed her white fur as best a she could behind a curtain of ivy when she had not immediately yowled alarm as soon as she spotted the intruder. Fury had been clear about that; his judgement was not one of a normal cat when it came to betrayal and even the he smallest offense could be the cause of any cat's death within seconds. Not only that but seemed to have eyes everywhere, a fact that had caused many conspiracy theories. Even then there was no way she wanted to be the one finding the passerby; it would only draw attention to herself and that was even more dangerous.
Her heartbeat was finally becoming regular once more when an eerie howl rang across the clear sky, feeling like it was icily hanging in the air for a moment before fading away as thundering paw-steps echoed onto the pavement as nearly the whole group gathered. It was probably unnecessary, of course, but the cats like passersby to know that they were outnumbered, whether or not they had brought along a group of their own.
She flinched, knowing that there was a possibility that her fate had been sealed from the moment her icy gaze met the calico's furious one. If the newcomer somehow reported having seen her… She just had to hope that the small chance of it never came to reality. Seeing that cats were approaching her improvised hideout, she quickly dashed into open ground and curled her tail around her paws, struggling to keep her fur lying flat before anyone saw her looking suspicious. It was likely that she had been safe behind the glossy ivy leaves anyway, but her white pelt wasn't exactly easy to conceal, her grey tabby tail-tip being the only part of her fur that blended into the stony colours of her residence.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she saw Fury's interaction with the she-cat. He had brought Crow, Fang, Copper, and Web with him, and he seemed to be enjoying reminding her that he was the one who held control over his rogue group. The cat, however, looked unfazed, her stance peaceful when moments before her rage had looked so strong that Lunaly had almost felt it herself. She could only feel a flicker of relief that Fury was not as tyrannical as other leaders had been, only for it to be overcome by a sense of foreboding; there were endless possibilities as to how he could be overthrown or how he could become a worse cat than he already was. As a matter of fact, she though bitterly, she was quite sure that her brother was planning on how to gain his trust at the moment, and she knew that if Fang had the chance to seize power he wouldn't hesitate. She nearly cursed out loud at the thought of her brother, the one who she did not truly consider a littermate, only to take one look at the gathered cats and quickly shut her mouth. Speaking badly of one of the most respected cat in the hierarchy was not recommended here.
Seeing that even more cats were approaching, she sprang onto the stone wall next to her. It wasn't like the others, barely two badger-lengths it looked as though it was simply made of leftover bricks that had never gotten the chance to be used. A few rock fragments fell to the ground, three fox-tails below, and she silently thanked the ivy for the hold it kept onto the rest of the bricks. Even with good hearing, she struggled to pick up more than tiny snippets of the conversation between fury and the rogue, which was probably one of the reasons why no other cat had taken her current perch as their own before she got there. Most of the words that she heard revolved around 'clan cats', 'Shadow', and 'help'.
Curiosity was gnawing at her when she saw Fury nod in the distance, then the calico staring thoughtfully at her pelt, Crow and Copper waiting patiently while Fang lashed his tail; most likely in annoyance. Even without being able to listen to their conversation she wished she could have seen any flicker of emotion in their eyes, but from this distance she wasn't even able to distinguish the colour of them. Had she been anywhere else she might have considered eavesdropping, but at the moment she preferred to use her patience instead of risking her life. Annoyance soon replaced her curiosity; after all if Fury wanted to lie to his cats he was fully capable of it, and there was a large chance she would never truly know what the calico had to tell.
Even if the very small possibility of her being deemed guilty never did come true; which was what Lunaly was trying to let herself believe, as rationally there were so many different conclusions this day could have that it was nearly impossible to immediately predict anything. She forced herself to ignore her reoccurring fear, and instead padded over to where cats were already gathering, before the entrance to the basement, which was the floor that Fury had claimed for himself. She perched herself somewhat at the top of a lightning-struck bush that she thought may once have been a holly plant.
She hoped the meeting was meaningless, but to was hard to believe when the air seemed to be charged with crackling tension.
Moments later Fury slowly padded onto the lawn, springing onto a stack of hay to address the gathered cats, "May all cats old enough to be loyal gather here or suffer the consequence." He yowled, and had Lunaly been a newcomer she would have been surprised by how loudly he could yowl.
The rest of the meeting went by as he spoke to the cats with carefully chosen words, ones that were meant to manipulate them into following him, but Lunaly simply held back a flurry of insults. She might have wanted to ignored him, but sometimes listening could allow her to gather useful information, especially from her enemies. Even then, she wasn't exactly paying complete notice to all his lies. However she immediately snapped back to full attention when she heard the last phrase of his speech, "Soon, my cats, we will declare war on the clans!"
It took a moment longer than Lunaly would have liked to regain her composure.
These are the appearances of the cats that were mentioned in this chapter:
Scarlet: Calico she-cat with dark green eyes.
Fury: Huge brown tabby tom with amber eyes (Maine Coon)
Lunaly: White she-cat with grey tabby tail-tip and blue-grey eyes.
Saphyr: Blue-grey she-cat with grey tabby tail-tip and blue-grey eyes (Nearly identical to Lunaly).
Fang: Golden tabby tom with blue eyes.
Web: Grey she-cat with a web-like white pattern on her fur that expands with time (Happens to some cats), and blue eyes.
Crow: Black tom with yellow eyes.
Copper: Calico she-cat with orangish copper coloured eyes.
Cayenne: Redish-brown she-cat with green eyes.
Wire: Dark grey she cat with yellow eyes.
Rat: Cream-coloured tom with darker muzzle, ear-tips, tail-tip, and paws and blue eyes (Siamese cat)
Strike: Ginger tom with amber eyes.
Hope you all have a nice day.
QOTD: Which P.O.V so far do you prefer?
Please review,
-Key