Woo! Chapter two! Enjoy. Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors!
Spadeheart fidgeted nervously next to the fresh-kill pile. Ashscatter Leaned over and whispered something in his ear, before picking a fat rabbit out of the pile. After some consideration, the bi-colored tom selected a sparrow from the pile. Together, the brothers padded toward Bleachstars den, where Drakefeather was waiting for them. "Bout time," He grunted, moving out of the way to allow them to pass.
Spadeheart and Ashscatter had been appointed to bring food to Bleachstar and his prisoner. Neither of them liked it, but they weren't mouse-brained enough to refuse a direct order. The brothers had been proud Hailclanners since before Bleachstars rule, as had most warriors, but they still didn't approve of his ways. They had been appalled when Bleach had brought a young Rainclan apprentice to the camp in the dead of night, and appointed guards at the entrance to his den. They discovered later that the poor thing was to become Bleachstars mate when she was old enough.
Since she wasn't allowed to leave Bleachstars den, either Ashscatter or Spadeheart was always in the den while Bleachstar was away. It was their responsibility to clean up and take general care of her. They'd discovered that the apprentices name was Articpaw, and that she was none other then Quickstars daughter. Articpaw was hesitant around the brothers at first, and had begged them to take her home, but after a few visits, and after they'd convinced her that they'd all die if they defied Bleachstar, Articpaw had warmed up to the two of them.
They padded in silence through the short tunnel that lead to Bleachstars den, stopping short when the big white tom came into sight. A short distance behind him, a small white she-cat was curled up and watched them silently. Spadeheart had sworn to Ashscatter when they first saw Bleachstar that he must be part lynx or something, their ears barley came to the bottom of his jaws! The large white tom stood up to his full height and addressed the two warriors. "Spadeheart, Ashscatter." His greeting was always the same, and they took it as a go-ahead to give their respective cats the food they brought.
Spadeheart, as always, walked around Bleachstar and dropped the sparrow in front of Articpaw, who smiled briefly up at him. Ashscatter carefully walked up to Bleachstar and placed the fat rabbit before him with utmost care. Bleachstar appeared pleased, and immediately went to devouring his meal the second Ashscatter was out of his way. Articpaw ate much slower, almost dainty about the way she pulled out the feathers and nibbled on the sparrow. Spadeheart went to stand by Ashscatter against the wall of the den.
They waited patiently for both cats to finish their meals. Spadeheart once again felt a rush of sympathy for Articpaw. She was so small! And she wasn't going to get much bigger by the looks of her. 9 Moons old, and barely half Bleachstars size. Bleachstar was too big and too rough to claim Articpaw as a mate, she'd be miserable and in pain throughout her entire life. She already had a few scars on her pelt when from when she'd tried to dash from the den, but Bleachstar hadn't tried anything kit-related with her as of yet.
Once Bleachstar was done with the rabbit, and only bits of fur and bones remained, Ashscatter moved forward to clear the remains. There was a store of banana leaves in the corner of the den that Ashscatter piled the waste on and proceeded to drag out of the den.
"Spadeheart," Bleachstar spoke once Ashscatter was gone, much to Spadehearts surprise. Bleachstar never spoke to him.
"Yes sir?" Spadeheart filled his voice with respect for his leader, and Bleachstar seemed pleased with that.
"Have there been any reports of Rainclan activity on our borders?" he asked, turning to study Articpaw while she ate.
"No sir." Spadeheart said, "They've been very quite recently." He thought that would please Bleachstar, but it brought a frown instead.
"We have the daughter of the Rainclan leader, why are they being quite?" That irritated him, and Bleachstars irritance was never a good thing.
"It's possible their planning something to get Articpaw back, maybe they don't want to alarm us before they put their plans into action?" His words worked, Bleachstar grinned.
"They won't get you back, you realize that?" He spoke to Articpaw, who continued to eat as if she hadn't heard him. He seemed pleased with himself. "Spadeheart, I want you to spread the word once you've finished your duties. Any Rainclan cat found on our territory is to be killed immediately. No questions, no exceptions." Articpaw looked up at his, he amber eyes widening. She'd heard that.
Spadeheart read on her face that she wasn't hungry anymore, so he moved to grab a banana leaf, and to remove the remainder of her meal. She made no move to stop him and Bleachstar only grinned as he watched her. Spadeheart dragged her meal from the den, not looking up at Articpaw as he did so. He met Ashscatter where they usually dumped the remains of the two cats meals.
"Bleachstar wants any Rainclan cat on our territory to be killed on the spot." He said simply. Ashscatter only nodded. He seemed troubled by something. Spadeheart looked up, "What?" They had always been able to tell when something was wrong with the other.
Ashscatters silvery gray head swung around to make sure they were alone. "Coalfoot and Turtlefall went to see about a rouge on the south border." Spadehearts head cocked to the side. The south border was the border they shared with Rainclan, what was a rouge doing over there? Ashscatter seemed to read his thoughts "Wolftail thought it might have something to do with Articpaw, so he sent them to bring him back." Spadeheart was glad he hadn't given Bleachstars orders a little earlier.
Cobalt walked between two cats that had identified themselves only as Hailclan cats. His plan was going well, so far. He had told them that he had an interest in Bleachstar, who he had heard of from a loner that passed through Mistclan territory about two moons ago. The cats had agreed to take him back to camp so he could meet Bleachstar, laughing to themselves that Bleachstar would most likely kill him, regardless of why he was here.
"Allright, we're here" Turtlefall grunted, crawling through the opening to the camp. Cobalt followed silently, marveling at how stupid these cats were. He emerged into the camp, looking around with mild interest. Several cats must have scented him, because the clearing was filling with cats of many ages.
A big brown tom standing by the opening to a den turned and vanished inside it, emerging moments later with a huge white tom. Bleachstar looked at Cobalt, his expression unreadable. When he spoke, it was to the two warriors that had brought him. "Coalfoot, Turtlefall, why have you brought this rouge here?" His brown eyes narrowed as he studied Cobalt.
"Said he was interested in Hailclan" Coalfoot said, loud enough for the whole clan to hear. "Said he wanted to join ever since he heard about us from some loner." Cobalt registered that Coalfoot wasn't the brightest cat there ever was, and that tricking him later wouldn't be so hard.
Bleachstar studied Cobalt more closely, walking in a circle around him. "So you want to join, huh?" He spoke skeptically. Cobalt couldn't really blame him for his skepticism; he was a very wiry cat. It came from eating crowfood when he was hungry. Cobalt just didn't hunt when there was better things to do. Bleachstar stopped in front of him, looking down at the diluted tortoiseshell. "what's your name?"
Cobalt lied smoothly, "M' names Blue. Mum called me that for my eyes." He smirked slightly. "She doesn't call anyone anything these days." He made it sound like he killed his own mother, because it was said that Bleachstar had killed his entire family, minus his two brothers, who had eluded him. Cobalt didn't think it'd be good if Bleachstar recognized him as Cobalt, since he'd assume that Quickstar had sent him. So he'd invented Blue shortly after he'd spoken with the Rainclan leader.
Bleachstar continued to scrutinize him, any cat could claim to kill their family, but doing so was something else entirely. And, in truth, Cobalt hadn't really killed his mother. But the less Bleachstar knew, the better.
The white tom nodded, turning to go and sit near Drakefeather. "If you really want to join, then prove it." He turned to a large Russian blue that stood slightly behind Cobalt. "Shadefur," the tom nodded as he spoke his name, and Cobalt turned to see him. Shadefur crouched and sprung, missing Cobalt by inches.
Cobalt knew what Bleachstar wanted, he wanted him to prove that he could kill. He was in for a disappointment if he thought Cobalt wouldn't do it.
Before Shadefur could leap again, Cobalt dived on top of him, grabbing his throat in his jaws. Shadefur tried to yowl out in fury, only to be choked off as Cobalt began the art of suffocation that he had learned from a loner once. Shadefur struggled beneath him, strongly at first, but it didn't take long for his spasms t become weak. Bleachstar stood to his paws quickly, watching with interest as 'Blue' proceeded to murder Shadefur without so much as breaking skin. He had been in the mood for bloodshed, but this was interesting to him. Silently killing your opponent without any blood to indicate there was even a fight? Nice.
Shadefurs struggles eventually stopped, and Bleachstar walked over to inspect Cobalts work. Shadefur was dead, that much was obvious, but Bleachstar didn't at all seemed perturbed by this. In fact, he grinned satisfaction. The cats around him exchanged nervous looks. The older warriors didn't want another killer in their midst, but they wouldn't go against Bleachstars orders.
"Very well," He spoke finally, "You may join us. Spadeheart! Ashscatter!" He yowled. The brothers walked to the pair, looking down meekly. Spadehearts eyes were glued to Shadefurs lifeless body. Shadefur had been bloodthirsty, like Bleachstar, and had bossed them around like everyone else, but Spadeheart wasn't comfortable with killing him. "Ashscatter, take Shadefur out and bury him." Ever since Bleachstar took over, only very few cats received a vigil anymore. If you wanted to stay with a dead cat all night, you could go sit by there grave. "Spadeheart, Blue will be your responsibility from now on." His tone ended the topic, and Bleachstar turned to go back to his den.
Spadeheart studied Blue with cautious eyes, but led him to the warriors den nonetheless.
Cobalt didn't sleep at all that night, he wasn't planning to. He waited until about midnight, when he heard the steady breathing of many sleeping cats, to raise and start toward the exit of the den. Unfortunately, when he rose to his paws, his tail flicked out and hit Spadehearts ear. The black-and-white tom started awake, staring at Cobalt in the near-darkness. "Blue? Why are you up so early?" Not good….
Cobalts silence brought a hard edge to Spadehearts gaze. The bi-colored tom pushed himself slowly to his paws, not breaking eye contact with Cobalt, who was thinking fast. "I had a bad dream." Cobalt invented quickly, praying that Spadeheart would believe him. Apparently he didn't.
Spadeheart looked him over for a second. "Why are you really here, Blue?" He didn't believe that he just wanted to join Hailclan, there was something wrong about all of this.
The diluted tortie was silent for a minute. He had seen Spadehearts face when he saw Shadefurs body, and he didn't think this tom was anything like Bleachstar. "I was sent here, to be honest," he whispered so quietly that Spadeheart had to strain his ears to listen. "I'll say more when we're outside the den." Spadeheart studied him suspiciously, before following him out of the den, fur bristling the entire time, and a yowl already building in his throat.
Cobalt turned the second they were out of the warriors den. "To be blunt, my name is Cobalt. I'm just a regular rouge, who happens to take jobs from any one who want me to do something for them. And it so happens that Quickstar sent me to retrieve his daughter from Bleachstar." He watched Spadehearts cautious features change to stunned in an instant. "And you," He said pointedly, "Will tell me where she is, and keep quite about this whole thing, or else you won't tell anyone anything ever again."
Spadeheart understood his threat, and would have gladly pointed him in Articpaws direction, but he knew what waited for him if he did. Bleachstar had entrusted 'Blue' to him, and if both Cobalt and Aticpaw ended up missing, Bleachstar would kill him and Ashscatter without a second thought. And anyway, if Cobalt woke up Bleachstar, they'd die anyway.
"If I agree to help you, you have to get me and my brother out of here." Spadeheart knew that Ashscatter would go along with this, he disapproved of Bleachstars ways as much as Spadeheart did.
Cobalt nodded. This job was shaping up to be incredibly easy! He briefly wondered how long his good luck would last, and at what point fate was going to turn around and kick him in the tail.