Fireheart

So Princess has a son. Wonderful. Fireheart watched the young, blindingly white cat eating alone, ignoring the suspicious looks the other apprentices were shooting at him. He had taken Cloudpaw on as his own apprentice. Just in case his incomplete mentorship with Cinderpaw was causing gossip. For the first time in a while, he was aware of things like that. The dream cat had knocked some sense into him. He couldn't let his guard down. He couldn't get lazy. It was time to take control. The Clans were his to control. He just had to be careful.

The first problem, obviously, was to take care of ThunderClan. Longtail, Darkstripe, and Goldenflower were no doubt planning some sort of revenge. They knew Tigerclaw too well to believe that he was, in fact, a traitor. Longtail was young. He could be intimidated. Darkstripe could be dealt with in the same way that Tigerclaw had been. Goldenflower… She was the puzzle. Everycat saw her as a model queen, gentle, caring, and kind. If he portrayed her as a traitor… That would be pushing his luck. He would lose face, if only for being the cat who ruined her reputation. Banishing her was out of the question. It would cause a mass rebellion.

Maybe it was time to have a talk with them. He began to pad towards where the warriors were eating, reviewing a conversation in his head. Maybe I should cut to the chase. They might respect that. But that would make me look guilty. How about I just dance around the subject, and drop a few hints? No. They'll accuse me in seconds. Darkstripe's too smart to be tricked like that. Then his green eyes narrowed in wicked pleasure. He would talk to Longtail alone. He was too hotheaded to rebut any arguments effectively, and then anything said to Darkstripe and Goldenflower would be second hand. It was a perfect plan! It feels good to be accomplishing stuff again.

Fireheart found Longtail eating alone. Luckily, neither Darkstripe nor Goldenflower were within view. This was the perfect time to strike. Verbally of course.

He sat down beside the pale warrior, "Good day, Longtail. I assume the border patrol went well?"

Longtail glared at him, "It went fine. Now get lost."

"That's not a very nice way to talk to your deputy. What seems to be the problem?"

Longtail glanced around, as if worried that some cat was sneaking up on him, "You know full well what the problem is," he hissed, "You banished an innocent cat."

"I wouldn't call him innocent. Didn't you hear what he did? I told all of you."

"Those were lies," Longtail hissed back, "Tigerclaw would never do anything like that."

"Every other cat seemed to believe it," Fireheart replied.

"Well I don't!" Longtail paused and took a few deep breaths.

"Maybe you're the only cat that can't see sense," Fireheart mewed soothingly, "Maybe Tigerclaw had you fooled all along. Don't attach yourself to a traitor like that. Don't be a mousebrain."

Longtail's glare softened as he appeared to ponder Fireheart's mews. He looked like he was having second thoughts about allying with Tigerclaw. This was good. Very good.

Finally Longtail mewed, "Why are you so worried about me seeing the truth? Are you scared we'll find out what's really going on?"

"Of course not," Fireheart meowed, "I don't want you to throw your life away over a cat like that. Do you truly think that you will be able to advance through the ranks of the Clan if everycat sees you plotting villainy?"

Longtail's blue eyes flashed with surprise, "What? Everycat sees us like that?"

"Of course! You didn't know? They wouldn't tell you, obviously, but quite a few cats have come to me and Bluestar asking about you."

"They know about Goldenflower too? And Darkstripe?"

Fireheart shrugged, "Apparently so. I would stop before things… escalate. The Clan could tear itself apart. Could you talk some sense into them?"

Longtail's scarred ear twitched as he considered.

The he mewed, "Fine. I'll talk to them. For the good of the Clan."

"Of course."

Longtail padded away, leaving the bones of his fresh kill lying in the dust of the camp. Fireheart's gaze shifted up to the rim of the ravine, where the sunlight was trickling through the bushes. This would all be his soon. There was no cat that could stand in his way now.

There was still the problem of Silverstream and Graystripe, however. That could prove to be a problem. Especially when he met with the Codeless cats in a few days. And then there was that strange scent in the forest. A scent akin to blood.

The closer he came to victory, the more problems that arose.

So the chapter is now fixed. Anyway, you can check out my blog from the link in my profile. I don't know if it's live or not, but you can always copy paste it to your search bar. Thanks for reading!