It's the dreaded Chapter 4... I really don't like the number four. I'm sad now.
Chapter 4
Sunsting swiped out with both paws at the same time, claws out, and they fell upon the throats of their victims. I didn't see how exactly it happened, but within a few heartbeats, it was over. Both leader and soon-to-be-leader fell upon the floor, the life bleeding out of them.
One single blow, and that was it; all ten lives, gone.
"We need to completely remake the clans!" Sunsting yowled. "This is not what we should have to live through!" Her voice was loud and clear, echoing through the packed clearing. "These two were traitors to their own kind."
My blood felt frozen as her words hit my ears. But my sister wasn't done yet. "We should..." she hesitated for a moment. "We should unite under one common ruler! But if it had been Blizzardmoon... he... he's a murderer. It's just..."
Sunsting stood up taller. "I am powerful enough to take the position," she insisted. Some of the cats in the crowd- mostly from DawnClan- began muttering about how she was just a new warrior, but still others looked up at her in admiration. None of them seemed to care that she had just murdered two cats herself.
One DuskClan warrior- the rogues seemed to have slunk off somewhere while we weren't looking- stepped up behind Sunsting's back, looking into the crowd expectantly. "So? Should we vote?"
"This is madness- when have we ever promoted a new warrior to leadership?" a cat that I didn't recognize muttered. But Robingaze's and Streamfang's eyes were shining with pride- this was all they could have hoped for. Two bad leaders gone, their daughter as director of both two clans. Unless...
I shook off the unless. "I am powerful and I have a good sense of duty," Sunsting bragged, padding back and forth. She glared at Foxstar and Ferretroar, her eyes narrowed. "These two... should go as well."
Stunned silence filled the clearing, making it seem more crowded than ever. "These two," she accused, "have done exactly what those two-" she gestured toward the still bodies of Mousestar and Blizzardmoon- "have done. They have murdered and lied to their own clans."
Try as I might, I couldn't help but be moved, at least a little, by Sunsting's speech. "Unless there are any objections..."
"We object," Ferretroar growled, her tail swishing back and forth dangerously. "It's not fair to just go around slicing the throats of anyone you don't like. That's not how the clans are meant to live."
Robingaze stepped forward. "Oh, really?" He circled the DuskClan deputy slowly, raising his head a little so that he saw eye-to-eye with him. "Sunsting has a greater destiny than you will ever have in your own pitiful nine lives," he snarled. "I won't let anyone dwindle her flames!"
Ferretroar narrowed her eyes. "I see. So you are a fool after all." She stopped pacing, and instead sat down, tail curled neatly over her paws. "Then finish it."
Briefly, in that single moment, I remembered a story that the elders used to tell, about a she-cat named Sandy and how she had proposed to sacrifice her own life to save her three newborn kits from several rogues. When she refused to defend herself, the leader of the rogues had ordered his minions to stop.
Somehow, I had hoped it would happen.
I closed my eyes when it happened. I waited for the slice of silver claws through the air, the screech of pain as a throat was torn open. I waited and I waited and I waited. Just when I thought it wouldn't come...
It did.
It was a silent kill. I opened my eyes, expecting to see something dramatic, like Robingaze's claws hovering, unsure, just above Ferretroar's throat or something. But she was on the ground, and still. Not moving. Foxstar stood a few paces back, staring at his dead deputy's body.
One whole existence, all lost in one brutal blow.
"Run away and never come back, or you'll be next," Robingaze growled. The DuskClan leader didn't need to be told twice. Spinning on his haunches, he spun around to the camp entrance and began trotting out, past the scowling crowds who still parted for him, and out to the pitch-black forest.
Sunsting looked triumphant, her bright ginger fur fluffed out. "Then we should unite! DawnClan and DuskClan together!" she exclaimed, hardly even looking down at the three dead bodies below her. "There will be order in the forest once more!"
NOT THE END EITHER
This is a short chapter to make up for the really long last two chapters.