Yay these are coming up faster!
Warriors belongs to the Erin Hunters
~~~
"Listen to me!" Duskfang yelled.
He was in the camp all the warriors and queens keeping their distance from him, the body of the deputy was next to high stone, and Adderstripe was in the clearing as well, in the circle but a good distance away from Duskfang.
"Murderer."
"Traitor."
"Rogue born."
These words were traveling through the group of cats like forest fire.
Duskfang looked at the top of high stone where the leader Thymestar was sitting. She was staring down at the body of her old deputy; he couldn't see her eyes.
Overhead, clouds were rumbling; they were in for a storm.
Duskfang glanced at the corner of his eye to see Willowleaf. She was looking up at him with horror, betrayal, and tears in her eyes. Next to her, his friend Eagleflight was comforting her and was looking at Duskfang with anger and confusion in his sharp brown eyes.
He looked away. Even he couldn't believe that he had killed Warscar.
But he wasn't the traitor, it was Warscar and Adderstripe who were the traitors.
He looked around. Every cat was looking at him with mistrust and hatred in their eyes. Could he really blame them though? He looked at his paws that had the blood of the dead deputy on them.
But he would tell them the truth as soon as he could get a word in.
"Silence!" the leader's call rang out through the camp and hushed the chatting cats. Thymestar looked down at Adderstripe. "What happened? Why did Duskfang kill Warscar?" her voice was filled with shock and sorrow and it seemed distance from her place on high stone.
"I can answer myself Thymestar. Warscar was…"
"I was not talking to you." Thymestar's voice was cold and sharp.
Adderstripe looked at Duskfang with wary eyes. "Thank you Thymestar." He looked back at the leader. "Warscar and I were going hunting together, and we were ambushed by Duskfang. He said he was sick of Warscar and said stuff like, "It's all your fault that it took so long for me to become a warrior." And some other stuff. He attacked Warscar and threw me away to a tree trunk, and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, Duskfang was killing the deputy and next thing I knew Willowleaf was there and we were brought to camp."
"Liar!" Duskfang protested, he looked into the leader's blue eyes. "Warscar and Adderstripe were planning to kill you, Thymestar! They're the reason you've been losing so many lives recently, Warscar wanted to become leader before Redfern talked you into…"
"Shut up!" Thymestar's cold voice stopped him. "Warscar would never do that, unlike you, rogue." She spat.
Duskfang felt hurt course through him, Rogue, rogue…rogue… rogue…
"Thymestar!" Duskfang recognized the voice of Redfern. "Let him talk!"
"No! I'm done listening to you when this cat is involved. It's because of you he's here anyway!" she rebuked the medicine cat.
Redfern's brown eyes widened.
Thymestar looked back at Duskfang pure fury driving her every word. "Now for you, from this day on you will no longer be a part of NightClan."
Duskfang blinked. "What?"
"You are exiled!" Thymestar yelled the last word out so that it filled the entire camp. "If you are ever found on NightClan territory again, my warriors have my permission to kill you."
Duskfang eyes widened and a look of desperation and shock went through him as he realized what the she-cat had just said.
"No!" Redfern yelled "You can't!" Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to make her way to Duskfang. Thymestar make a quick signal and the two warriors, Lionfang and Burntfur, blocked her. "You can't do this Thymestar! You can't - " the tears where streaming down her face as her gaze bore at Duskfang.
Duskfang was looking at the grass. He was no longer a Clan cat now; he was truly a rogue. His claws dug into ground, he knew what would happen after this. They would try to forget about him try to push him out of their minds and act as if he never existed. Well he wouldn't let them; he looked up at the high stone and leaped.
His black claws left four long scars across the stone. This was his last act of defiance his last mark on the Clan.
Thymestar had jumped back in shock and then looked down at Duskfang with horror in her face.
"You know well that if I had been aiming for you I wouldn't have missed." His voice was short and cold.
"Get out." Thymestar spat.
Duskfang glanced at Redfern her eyes where streaming with tears and Duskfang could feel some tears start to form but he pushed them back. He would be strong for her, she was the closest thing he had to a mother and he wouldn't cry in front of her.
Duskfang turned around and began to walk out he walked close to Adderstripe and whispered to him. "Know this Adderstripe, the truth will find you one day, and I hope then that you will be a better cat than Warscar was." He walked off letting Adderstripe's fur rise and his eyes look around horrified.
Duskfang glanced around and all of his old Clanmates looked back at him. Did they really believe Adderstripe's story?
He looked at Eagleflight, they had been raised as littermates, and they had trained together. Eagleflight scowled at him "Get out rogue." he hissed. And suddenly the rest of his old Clanmates followed his example.
"Rogue!"
"Rogue!"
"Rogue!"
"Rogue!"
"Rogue!"
"Stop it!" Redfern's voice rang out.
Duskfang ran and ran. He didn't know when that first drop of rain fell down. Maybe the same time his tears did, but next thing he knew rain was pouring down in sheets. It was a mixture of water, hail and snow, as if his mother was trying to reach him, tell him not to leave, to prove Adderstripe guilty, anything.
He didn't know where he was going only the feelings that where spinning around inside of him seemed to register. Hurt, anger, confusion, and betrayal.
Suddenly the ground seemed to disappear and underneath him was nothing but air he came crashing down to the earth rolling over and over until solid ground finally found him.
Duskfang looked around his sight ruined by the rain. He was too weak to get up and unconsciousness was taking him. He suddenly spotted a large black figure that moved closer and closer and when it was finally over him everything went black.
Thymestar stared after Duskfang as he disappeared from sight. She looked down at the body of Warscar and felt like her heart was torn out. She felt some rebellious tears coming in but she shook them away. She could feel the cold rain as it slid down her fur. She picked up her head and looked down at her Clan. There was a ceremony that needed to be done before she could go.
"I say these words before the body of Warscar so that his spirit may hear and approve my choice. Lionfang will be the new deputy of NightClan."
Lionfang blinked in surprise but walked in front of Highstone and bowed his head. "I accept."
The Clan erupted into a chorus and they started to chant the new deputy's name.
"Lionfang, Lionfang, Lionfang!"
After the celebration the cats went into their dens getting out of the cold rain as it came down harder and harder. Warscar's body was taken into shelter among trees so the cats could sit vigil without drowning. Thymestar jumped down the rock and noticed that Redfern still hadn't moved and was sitting against the hard rain staring at the entrance. Her normally bright and sharp eyes where dim and far away.
Thymestar walked to her. "Redfern, I need you to prepare Warscar for his burial."
Redfern didn't move the only movement she made was a twitch of her wet ear.
"Redfern? I need you to - "
"I heard you Thymestar." Redfern's voice was hushed and hard to hear through the pounding rain.
"Then shouldn't you be getting the herbs for his burial?"
"I never said I would prepare him."
"What?" Thymestar's voice was shocked.
"Why should I do that for a traitor?" Redfern's voice was heated with hate.
Thymestar's eyes widened in shock and she took a step back. "Warscar isn't a traitor!"
Redfern turned to Thymestar and narrowed her eyes to slits, "I choose to believe Duskfang over Adderstripe."
"What? Warscar would never do that! He was a good cat, not a murderer!" Thymestar protested.
"Of course he was." The medicine cat said sarcastically. "Open your eyes, Thymestar! Warscar wasn't a good cat, he was bloodthirsty and unstable! He didn't love anybody, he didn't love you!"
Thymestar snarled "Shut up! He was not!"
"Of course not, because your Warscar was perfect, nothing he did was wrong. It didn't matter that he was so happy when he killed outsiders, or that he seemed to enjoy licking the blood that fell on his claws. No, he was just perfect!"
"You will not speak to your leader that way!"
"A leader that does not judge fairly is what you are! You didn't even let Duskfang speak!" Redfern yelled
Thymestar blinked "I know you thought of Duskfang as your own but there's no need to do this. You need to accept that he did what he did."
"I did not say he didn't kill Warscar, I just said that you weren't judging him fairly."
Thymestar felt like she might finally be getting a hold of the situation. "Your love for Duskfang is the same as the love a mother has for a kit. But you need to face the…"
Redfern was looking down and shaking her head. "No, my feelings for Duskfang are no where near that strong. If they were, I would forget all my loyalties to NightClan and go with him. I saw what a true mother would do for her kit when Duskfang's mother died bringing him here. Compared to that I am nothing," Redfern turned around and began to walk away. "But I wouldn't expect you to understand that either."
Thymestar looked at the medicine cat as she passed Willowleaf who Eagleflight was trying to coax out of the rain.
"Do you believe what Adderstripe said?" Redfern asked. Her silent approach had shocked Willowleaf.
"umm… Yes…" Willowleaf stuttered "I guess…"
Redfern looked down sadly. "And I had such high hopes for you two…" She turned away from the crying she-cat and headed for the medicine cat den, head down and tears streaming from her eyes.
Longest chapter yet.
Oh and when Redfern is talking about Thymestar not understanding the love a mother has a for her kit she was referring to the fact that Thymestar can't have kits.