There's been some talk going on about Sandstorm's kits…someone even wanted the kits to die! But, as they are Tigerstar's devil spawn…

I wonder if anyone could guess what will happen to the kits. I bet that if you think about you could get it right. But I won't give an obvious hint because I think you will all be shocked when you find out. *sneaky grin*

"I repeat myself yet again…where are they?"

"And I also repeat yet again," Longtail meowed, gritting his teeth. "I know nothing. Featherpaw escaped suddenly. None of us had any knowledge of it, seeing that we were all out being tortured at the time."

Tigerstar narrowed his amber eyes, and his neck fur was standing on its ends. Overall, he looked dangerous and ready to kill, and any other cat would have backed away or bowed down in submission.

But Longtail wasn't just any other cat. He had been Tigerstar's close ally before the sinister cat was exiled. He knew some of Tigerstar's deepest secrets. He had almost been inside the dark tabby's mind. He knew Tigerstar wasn't as strong as he seemed. Longtail was afraid of many things, but he held no fear of this TigerClan leader.

"What about Stormpaw?" Tigerclaw hissed. "He and Featherpaw were left in the den alone. He must have known."

"Stormpaw was recovering from unconsciousness when we found him. Featherpaw had knocked him out in her escape to prevent him from telling anyone. He is just as much affected by his sister's selfishness as we are." Longtail winced as he said this. He knew the truth; Stormpaw had confessed to them after the guards had left. He was sick with guilt, afraid that his sister was killed by a TigerClan patrol during her escape.

"I should have gone instead! It's all my fault!"

"No, it's not."

Tigerstar was shaking with fury. "You know," he threw out. "But you're not telling me."

Longtail said nothing and stood his ground.

Tigerstar decided to switch and use a sympathy argument. "Longtail, Longtail, Longtail. What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You used to be one of my strongest allies. I trusted you. I wanted to make you my deputy. Right now you could be in a position of power. Come on…tell me everything, and this could be yours…"

Longtail spat. "I know a lie when I hear one. You're pathetic, and you can count on my never joining you."

Tigerstar growled like the great beast he was named for. "You deserve every bolt of pain that will shoot through your body."

He leaped, claws outstretched. Strong muscles rippled under a smooth tabby coat glossy from three moons of eating RiverClan fish. Fangs showed under his lips, and as he landed on top of Longtail, preparing to rip, tear, and even kill this cat.

Stop…

Please…

Longtail gritted his teeth as Tigerstar nimbly sliced his hind leg and sticky, warm blood stained his fur.

Please…

Stop…

More slicing…more blood…

He finally had to scream and he felt enormous pressure put on his front paw to the point of where it seemed it would break. "STOP! PLEASE!"

Snap.

He yowled. Yowled to the world, putting every part of his pain into words. He yowled things his mother would be ashamed to hear him say, some choice phrases only the filthiest-mouthed warriors would speak.

Mudfur must have heard the foul language from the medicine den, because he raced inside Tigerstar's den, something he wasn't normally allowed to do.

His jaws dropped when he saw Longtail, bleeding and broken, still swearing on the ground. "Tigerstar…unless you're aiming to kill him, I would suggest you end this. Now."

Tigerstar pulled his lips back to show teeth. "And when were you given authorization to tell me what to do?"

Mudfur drew himself up to full height. "Since Firestar probably is plotting an attack on you right now."

Tigerstar unsheathed his claws. "Very well. Take this scum and do whatever you want with him. I don't care anymore."

As Longtail was dragged away, Tigerstar contemplated his situation. He never expected his reign as leader to go like this…three prisoners escaped, half his Guard trainees AWOL…Dark Forest help him, he was losing his touch…

Back to Featherpaw and a very emotional conversation between her, Firestar, and Tallstar

She was shaking. From the tips of her ears to the bottoms of her paws, Featherpaw was shaking. She was free. She was safe. She was in front of the great ThunderClan leader.

And she was scared. Scared that Tigerstar would come after her, or worse—hurt her brother, father, and friends. If they were killed, it would be all her fault.

After she had run into the ThunderClan patrol, Whitestorm had listened to her pleas and taken her straight to Firestar. In a remarkable coincidence, Tallstar happened to be visiting, and in the time it takes to catch a few rabbits, Featherpaw was seated in front of two leaders, hyperventilating and preparing to tell her story.

Calm down. They'll think you're weak.

No they won't. Tell them fast, though, so Stormpaw can be saved sooner.

But he can't just march in and demand them back. He'll have to gather an army.

By then, all your friends might be dead.

A frenzy of thoughts ran through her head, and it was a good ten minutes before she calmed down enough to say: "I'm—Featherpaw—Graystripe's—kit."

Firestar nodded reassuringly, his warm green eyes encouraging her. "Go on."

Featherpaw gulped and tried to slow down. "Tigerstar…" was the only word she got out.

"What about Tigerstar?" Tallstar growled.

"Well…you know all the cats that have been disappearing? Onewhisker, Cinderpelt, Longtail, Cloudtail, Sandstorm…"

Firestar's face hardened when she mentioned his mate's name, but flicked his tail, indicating that she should continue.

"Well…Tigerstar has them."

"What? No, that can't be. He has warriors missing as well." Tallstar shook his head, as if trying to convince himself.

"No!" Featherpaw wailed. "He's lying…trying to get the suspecting eye off of him! He has Stormpaw and Graystripe, Cloudtail and Longtail, Ravenpaw, Princess, Cinderpelt, Onewhisker, Mistyfoot and Stonefur, all of them! They're imprisoned in a fox den on RiverClan territory…"

"What about Sandstorm?" Firestar whispered.

Featherpaw looked at him, and saw the silent grieving. "She's gone. I heard some cats talking about her. I don't know where she is."

Firestar silently cursed.

"We'll find her," Tallstar told the distraught ginger leader. "In the meantime, we need to figure out how to get the others free."

Firestar shook his head. "No. We need to get rid of Tigerstar."

Once and for all.

Let's check on Amberleaf's little gang…

They were free. Free. No longer would they have to bow to Tigerstar's every command. No longer would they have to hurt cats needlessly. Free.

Amberleaf couldn't believe it.

Unfortunately, Snakeeyes and Jaggedwing didn't quite share her opinions.

The day after the escape she and Jaggedwing got into yet another argument.

"I can't believe you got us into this, Amberleaf!" Jaggedwing meowed exasperatedly. "Tigerstar will never accept us again!"

"I don't want Tigerstar's acceptance!" Amberleaf told him. "He's an evil cat…why would you want to stay with him?"

"I don't love the idea of torturing every cat we come across, but he has a good idea in merging all four Clans."

"He's full of fox dung!"

"You're full of fox dung!"

"Your mother's full of fox dung!"

"Be quiet!" Snakeeyes yelled. "You're both acting like kits!"

Amberleaf and Jaggedwing quieted instantly and exchanged awkward looks.

"It doesn't matter what we think of Tigerstar right now. Right now our lives are in danger…Destiny might still be looking for us, remember?"

All three of them shuddered at the mention of the twisted she-cat.

"Sandstorm and Sasha ran this way. Let's see if there's any way we can find them and try to get past the patrols into ThunderClan. I'm sure Firestar can help us." Snakeeyes sighed and shuffled her paws. "Let's go catch some—"

"Not another group of refugees!"

The three runaway Guard members turned around to see a black-striped tabby tom glaring at them, his fur on end. "First Sandstorm and Sasha, now—"

"Sandstorm?" Amberleaf questioned. "You know Sandstorm?"

"Hardly," the tom replied curtly. "Met her yesterday when she and her friend were running from Tigerstar. Pregnant, she is, with that maniac's kits."

"WHAT?" all three of them exclaimed.

Amberleaf recovered first. "That can't be. Tigerstar already has kits…They live in ThunderClan."

The tom rolled his eyes. "Unless you are very ignorant in the laws of nature, it is possible to father more than one litter of kits." His sigh turned to a growl. "Who are you?"

"We're just some loners—" Jaggedwing started to say, but he was interrupted by Snakeeyes.

"I don't want to lie," she said. "We were part of Tigerstar's guard—very unwillingly, I might add—but we escaped and are looking for someone to help us overthrow him. But right now we need shelter and to find Sandstorm and Sasha. Will you help us?"

The tom glared at them. "Well, I suppose I can trust you. I'm Hawkshadow. You might have heard of me. I led a mutiny against Tigerclaw in RiverClan about two moons back. My mate and I came here looking for peace, but it doesn't look like we're going to get that deal. Come with me."

Beckoning with his tail, he took them to the small den in the heart of the forest. Sandstorm saw them first.

Her jaw dropped. "You guys are alive…"

"Barely made it," Amberleaf meowed. "Tigerstar wanted our blood."

"Hawkshadow, these are the cats who saved me and Sasha's pelts," Sandstorm told him. "Remember, I was telling you about them?"

Hawkshadow nodded. "So they can be trusted?"

Sandstorm nodded. "Yes. Absolutely."

"Are you and Sasha all right?" Snakeeyes asked. "Tigerstar sent Exile and Violet after you."

Sandstorm purred. "We took a turn and lost them. Good thinking on Sasha's part. I think they were expecting us to head for ThunderClan territory, because that's where they headed."

Jaggedwing nodded. "Good…they rely on nose more than brain."

"Where's everyone else?" Hawkshadow asked Sandstorm.

"Skywing is giving Sasha and the kits a fishing lesson. She thought I should stay here because my kits are going to be born soon."

Hawkshadow nodded absentmindedly. "All right then. Might you help me set up some nests for our guests?"

Sandstorm nodded, and the five of them went off in search of nests.

OoOoOoO

Yes, I know it wasn't as good as it should have been. It was mostly a filler chapter, sorry. But I wanted to show you guys that I WILL update.

Next, Firestar has an argument with some StarClan cats, an escape attempt ends in disaster, and Sandstorm has her long-awaited kits.

Please review! I'm almost to 150 reviews! Thanks! You guys are AMAZING.

One last note—you might have noticed that there's a lot less torturing going on in the last two chapters I've posted. This story had started to become too much blood, guts, and gore without much of a storyline, and that wasn't the turn I wanted it to take. So I toned down the violence and decided to make the storyline more…plot-ful.

You know what? I think I'm going to answer some of those deeply personal questions.

What is the worst thing you have ever had to deal with? My cat stepped in a mud puddle and I had to give her a bath…scratch, scratch. Bleed, bleed. Ow, ow.

What is your deepest secret? I've always had a problem with overdoses…on chocolate. Talk about sugar highs. (: (But chocolate is just so good!)

Peace, Love, and Review!

~LenzieKat