CHAPTER 36

Dappledshade awoke to a cooler dawn than she could remember in a long time, cool enough the air felt fresh when it hit her face. The autumn change was coming. Shaking herself off as she exited the warriors den, she could see the clan gathering to farewell Sorrelwind before the elders carried her to burial. Each cat went to her and pressed their nose to the top of her head, saying their last words of farewell if they wished, then moved to sit lining the way to the camp entrance. The elders would carry her down the row of cats, each bowing their head as she passed by, a final salute of honour for their deputy. In theory, Icestar should lead the way. Dappledshade couldn't see him around yet.

The young warrior decided to take her turn to offer her final goodbye to Sorrelwind, falling into the line behind Rimuleaf. When it was her turn the pale fur was cold to the touch, the smell of the flowers that had been laid about her strong in Dappledshade's nose. She had no final words to offer aloud to her deputy, only a silent promise that change would come as a result of her death. Her father had already said his last goodbye after staying up for the final vigil with his old friend, and was waiting for the escort out of camp. Dappledshade went up to sit beside him, brushing against his pelt to offer him some comfort as she did so. He looked at her for a moment, blue eyes filled with tired sorrow. He rested his muzzle atop her head, like he had when she was a kit. "I'll miss her." Thrushwing said softly. All his anger from the night before was gone.

"I know." She replied, absently watching the cats come to pay their last respects one after another. "How's Cavepaw?" She was sure someone had come and told him how his son was doing.

"Alive. Longfang said that's a promising sign." Thrushwing sighed. "He's made it through the hardest part now, provided he doesn't get an infection."

"That's good." Dappledshade murmured, blinking a long slow blink as she allowed herself to relax, just a little. Shadefeather was the last to pay her respects to Sorrelwind, having come out of the herbalist's den just for the brief ceremony. She led Surgingpaw and Falconpaw to sit beside the rest of her family, Sedgetuft tucking himself in next to Dappledshade with a quick flick of his tail against her shoulder.

Hailstorm and Chiveclaw were standing next to Sorrelwind's body, now the rest of the clan was lined up to the camp entrance for her final walk of honour. The exchanged a look, then glanced up towards Icestar's den, where Waspsting's tail was seen flicking with a mild agitation in the entryway. It seemed he had gone up to try and rouse his brother for the ceremony. Icestar was supposed to lead the way. He had already neglected to sit a final vigil with his mate and deputy, surely he would not dishonour and neglect her further by ignoring his duty?

Waspsting's tail started flicking more erratically, and then with a scrape of claw against stone, her turned, walking to the end of the High Stone and addressing the clan, his voice growing louder to talk over the eruption of worried murmurs as he made his announcement. "Icestar is not feeling well. I will lead Sorrelwind's final walk on his behalf." Dappledshade was sure part of him was loving being up there, addressing the clan like a leader. The other part was obviously annoyed at the inconvenience of being made to do something.

Waspsting made his way down from the ledge, and padded over to Sorrelwind's body, touching his nose to her head as all the others in the clan had done. This was the signal for the elders to pick her up, bearing her body between them. Hailstorm was still strong despite his age, and was clearly carrying the bulk of her weight compared to the scrawny Chiveclaw. Waspsting led the way, his steps stiff and deliberate, his tail low, his head bowed in the traditional position of mourning. As they passed by, each member of the clan sitting in the row also bowed their heads. When they made their way by Dappledshade's family, she heard Thrushwing say a final farewell to his friend under his breath, intermingling with the hummed dirge the elders and Waspsting had thrumming in their throats.

At the end of the row of clan cats was the elite guard; Dappledshade was absent from their ranks since she was technically still demoted. Instead of remaining sitting and bowing their heads, they stood tall, their heads high, their tails flicking erect as Sorrelwind was taken by, while barking out a "May Starclan light your path!" as she was taken through the gorse tunnel. From there, she would be carried on to the burial grounds, where all the Gorseclan cats before her had been laid to rest. A forbidden ground where no cat could hunt. No cat aside from a leader (and now a deputy) would see it until they became elders. When Icestar had taken her on her first explorations of clan territory as a new apprentice, he had told her hopefully she would never find herself there before she was old.

As soon as they were gone from sight, the ceremony was over, and the cats broke out of line. Clan life would now continue on. However, with Icestar missing in action, and Waspsting gone for the time being, there was nobody to give orders. The elites spoke among themselves, and it appeared Weedfur would take the lead, organising cats. Dappledshade decided she would leave to hunt without being told. She needed to think about what was next.

"Sedgetuft." She called softly to her brother, who turned with a questioning look. "Go hunting with me?" He blinked at her; she rarely asked for company when hunting, far preferring no distractions.

"Uh, sure." He agreed amicably with a shrug, though as they made their way out of camp, her leading the way, Dappledshade was sure she could feel him staring at her. She led him all the way westward until they were close to the Fernclan border. The river ran just on the other side of a stand of manuka and kanuka scrub, close enough they could hear it trickling. Hopefully some rain would come soon, and it would start to rush again. Having it this low was a problem for many reasons, including making it very easy for Fernclan to cross and attack them.

Deciding this was far enough, Dappledshade stopped and turned, watching Sedgetuft's eyes narrow at her as she did so. "I need your help." She said, keeping her voice low, just in case. Though they should be far enough away to be safe.

"You're planning to do something reckless." He replied. So he had already gotten suspicious after all.

"Yeah. Icestar needs to be removed from power, before he drags us all down with him." Her blunt admittance had his expression turn to more than a mild horrified look. Just saying that could get her exiled for treason. Or worse.

"I had a feeling it was something like that." He sounded aghast. "Dappledshade, Icestar will kill you. It's too risky."

"Not with the right plan."

"Dappledshade, surely you realise you aren't actually claw proof." He nodded his head towards her newly torn ear.

She scoffed at the pointed tom. "I'm not going to just charge into his den and attack him."

"Is that a jab at my expense?" A familiar voice called out from behind them. Rowanfall emerged from the stand of manuka, his bushy red tail sweeping behind him, whiskers quivering with a certain excitement.

"A bit." Dappledshade smirked at him. "I had a feeling you might be lurking around here somewhere."

He shrugged, padding around them. "I visit regularly, just to keep tabs." His scent hit her nose as he came around upwind; he was hard to tell apart from any other Fernclan cat now. "As for a plan to take down Icestar, I have an idea. I've had a lot of time to think about it." Oh yes, she could see him having been brooding ever since his exile. He had sworn revenge, and that was something she knew a cat like Rowanfall would take seriously.

"So what is this great plan of yours?"

"I'm sorry, are we going to just casually accept Rowanfall being right there?!" Sedgetuft looked between them with wide eyes. "Have you seen him here before?"

They both ignored him, and Rowanfall lifted his head high and arrogant as he began to explain his plan. He was obviously proud of it. "I'll challenge Icestar one-on-one, under the old laws, he can't refuse me… And then I'll kill him."

Dappledshade threw her head back as she laughed, then fixed him with a haughty eye, taking in his soured expression. "Right back to that old chestnut?! Rowanfall come on, it was cute when you were a kit tugging on big toms tails wanting to fight, but now…"

"I'm serious!" The red tom stamped his foot for emphasis. "Just because it's not done anymore doesn't mean it has no power! Gorseclan still has an unspoken respect for the old law, Icestar refuses a challenge, he loses his power over most of them. He'll be seen as a coward, and Gorseclan can't abide by a coward leading them. And he knows that."

Dappledshade rolled her eyes. "Okay, say you actually get close enough, and he actually accepts… You think you can just kill him that easily?"

"He kicked your tail right out of the clan last time you fought, if you recall." Sedgetuft added helpfully.

"I recall." Rowanfall growled slowly, the memory clearly still a sore point for him. "I've been practising with the large, powerful warriors of Fernclan, like Earthshatter." The Fernclan deputy was certainly a good stand-in for Icestar, Dappledshade would give Rowanfall that. "I've been getting better at fighting them every day. Icestar won't be prepared for the surprises I have for him…"

"And do you intend to kill Icestar nine times over?" Dappledshade sounded like she was scoffing, but she was dead serious. "I know for a fact he's never lost a life."

"Once he's down once, it should be simple enough." Rowanfall hissed ominously. It made Dappledshade recall what happened to Dewstar. While she was reviving, she was helpless. Starclan's gift was failiable. It was a weakness in the incredible power of their nine lives… They counted on the morals of their opponent to leave them be, or for their clanmates to protect them… Dewstar had not been in that position. Perhaps there were even limits to what was able to be healed. She had heard a story of a Tussockclan leader generations ago being hit on the thunderpath, losing all seven of their remaining lives at once.

She didn't think Rowanfall was up to doing what Icestar did to Dewstar, even with his driven desire for revenge; certainly not nine times in a row. She didn't think many cats would be. She shook her head. "Regardless, you can't just waltz into camp and challenge him. The rest of the clan would take you down before you made it to the entrance."

"You couldn't sneak in either, the clan is on super high alert expecting an attack…" Sedgetuft added nervously, all this talk of murder clearly making him uncomfortable.

"He needs to be cornered first." Dappleshade agreed, lowering her head and moving closer to the tom. "Perhaps we bring in a few other cats, very carefully, to help us."

He looked her up and down with narrowed eyes. "So a full on coup instead of assassination?"

"I don't want Waspsting to become leader, do you?"

"I'm sorry, what-?!"

"Oh right, you don't know…" Sedgetuft trailed off. "Sorrelwind is dead." Rowanfall looked shocked.

Dappledshade shook her head, her tail lashing. It was hard to keep her temper. "Icestar took us on a braindead raid of Flaxclan, it was a total disaster… Cavepaw is badly hurt too."

"Cave…paw?"

"Icestar made them all apprentices early." Sedgetuft answered, his normally jovial voice taking on a hint of a growl. "I tried to protect them, but it was chaos… When the rogues didn't turn up as planned, it threw everything off."

"Oh, I bet Icestar was happy about that." Rowanfall said darkly.

"He killed the leader; Creek, and sent them scurrying back to Tussockclan land to await instruction, but he's not come out of his den since, not even to farewell Sorrelwind. Waspsting said he was feeling sick this morning, but…" Dappledshade wasn't so sure about that.

Rowanfall took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. It was a lot of news to process about his old clan. "Is my mother okay?"

"She's fine, so is Kauribark." Dappledshade replied, noting that he didn't ask about his father.

He looked a little relieved. "What a mess… I can see why you've decided to act."

"Something has to be done. For Gorseclan and everyone else. I have a few cats in mind that might help…"

"And what are you going to do if you ask the wrong cat, or are caught?"

"Die, probably." Sedgetuft laughed nervously.

"Perhaps we can run like you did."

Rowanfall flattened his ears at Dappledshade's comment, but apparently chose to ignore it. "I might be able to convince Flaxclan to send a patrol to help too. It's for their benefit as well if Icestar is overthrown, and Flamestar is a reasonable cat…"

"Alright, we better go catch something and hurry back to camp." Dappledshade looked over her shoulder. "We can meet back here tomorrow, and see what happens… We will have to move quickly."

"If Icestar doesn't stay in that funk, he'll want to act right away." Sedgetuft's tail tip twitched anxiously at the thought. "He'll want to go back to Flaxclan."

And kill them all after what happened, Dappledshade was sure.