Warriors of the Sea: Lyrical: Silent Song

Silence is a sound, or lack of, that is sometimes relaxing, other times enjoyed, and oftentimes feared.

In my experience, silence means fear.

Ah, my apologies- I have yet to introduce myself. I am Ravenpaw, formerly of ThunderClan, but now I roam the stars with my kin and friends.

Silence is mostly what I remember from my short time with my Clan. Let me give you some backstory. Please, this way.

Here, touch your nose to the pool. Don't worry, I'm not going to push you in. There we go. Now, please watch closely.

A scrawny, small black tomcat cowers in the cover of a bush, flat against the ground. His ears are flattened, and his eyes huge as he watches a horrible scene unfold in front of him. The dash of white of his chest seems to flutter with his rapid breaths and pounding heart, which he is sure will give him away, but the scent of blood from his wounds would be more likely.

Before him, a calico tom with a plumy red tail trots briskly through the undergrowth, his pelt ragged with the scars and blood of the recent battle. The calico tom, Redtail, deputy of ThunderClan is anxious and angry, but overall concerned for his Clanmates, whom he had sent ahead of him.

He should have been concerned about the Clanmate behind him.

Tigerclaw's broad, dark shape is hidden in the foliage of the forest, with the exception of his deep amber eyes focused on the ThunderClan deputy. He is as quiet as a snowing winter's night, his pawsteps light, and his fur brushing under the dense undergrowth so that it sounds like the wind rustling the bushes.

Ravenpaw, a few fox-lengths away from both his mentor and deputy, almost takes a breath to warn Redtail, but he is frozen in fear and horror as Tigerclaw leaps.

Redtail yowls out a strangled cry as Tigerclaw buries his claws into the tom's back and lands with a thud. "Get off me, you RiverClan scum-!" The calico starts, only to cut himself off when he glimpses unmistakably, even with his face half-smothered in the ground, the broad shape of Tigerclaw.

Tigerclaw lets out a low chuckle, more like a growl than anything, then snarls something that makes Redtail scrabble, trying to escape the huge tom.

Redtail takes a gulp of air, ready to cry out, but Tigerclaw silences him forever as Ravenpaw's eyes are locked to the scene of the crime.

I'm sure you picked up on this, but so many things went wrong that day.

I was silent when I should have called for help.

Tigerclaw's intentions were not known in the slightest, because he was silent.

Redtail died because he stayed silent for too long, and so did I.

And then I made it worse by not telling anyone about his death, until Graypaw and Firepaw came along. But how could I have known Tigerclaws ultimate intentions? I couldn't. I know that now, but at the time I was too guilt-ridden and terrified to think of anything except that his death was my fault, and that I could be next.

While many cats keep secrets that are hidden deep and dark, it is often easy to identify such a cat. Maybe they're overly defensive or offensive, maybe they just get irritated.

The most terrifying thing about Tigerclaw was that nobody saw him coming or even suspected that he was plotting anything.

It makes you wonder what other cats hide.