Disclaimer: In this chapter, I directly quote some lines from Tigerstar, while he's on the Bonehill. I forgot to mention this earlier in chapter 13, where I also quoted lines from Tigerstar, Boulder, Bone and Scourge. All the quoted lines come from 'The Darkest Hour'. ~ Capitaine Jaf

Chapter Fifteen

Among the Trees

We didn't leave right away. Half a moon passed before I found myself trailing after Fox as he walked along a large thunderpath that ran right between two of the forest territories. ShadowClan and ThunderClan. The thunderpath was the fastest way to the forest from the twolegplace, although the forest cats seemed not to use it. Silly, really. As long as a cat keeps a good lookout for monsters, thunderpaths are perfectly safe.

Fox veered off into the grass. I rushed forward a bit to walk by his side. "So, plan? Wander around until we're found?"

Fox nodded. "And be gentle, Shatter."

"Right…" I meowed under my breath. Cats were going to be attacking me, and I had to be gentle. I wasn't happy, but I knew Fox was right.

We didn't have to wander long. We were trying to be found, after all. The first cat we saw surprised me, however. It was the thin gray tom that we saw in the twolegplace with Tigerstar. At first I thought he might recognize us, but he didn't. He stared at us, wide eyed, but a moment later adjusted into a threatening position. I whipped my tail back and forth and hissed threateningly, telling him not to dare attack. Then three more cats emerged from the undergrowth. A small brown tom, a young dark gray tom, and a dark ginger she-cat. I made a show of standing down – didn't want to be too threatening, or they would never let us in.

The she-cat took a step forward, but the small brown tom lay his tail across her shoulders. "No, Russetfur." He meowed. Then he stepped forward. "Who are you?"

"Shatter," I bowed my head respectfully. "And my brother, Fox."

"They smell like the thunderpath," the young tom meowed.

"Yes, they do," the she-cat, Russetfur, agreed. "Well done, Ceadarpaw. Oakfur? What do we do with them?"

"What are you doing here?" the small tom asked. Russetfur flicked her ear in annoyance, so I assume she had been addressing him with her question.

"We have been traveling along the thunderpath," I explained. "We heard of powerful clans cats who lived in this area, and we were looking for them. We heard stories of the power of one particular clan…" I paused, and glanced at Fox as if I forgot the name.

"DarkClan?" he suggested. "Something like that…"

"No. ShadeClan, I think," I meowed.

Fox nodded, "Yes, that sounds-"

"ShadowClan?" Ceadarpaw asked. "That's us!"

"Shh," Russetfur flicked him with her tail.

I nodded eagerly. "Yes! That was it. ShadowClan! We heard about the strength and power of ShadowClan. Cunning, brave, strong. It sounded so amazing, we decided to travel in this direction, and hopefully find you."

The small tom regarded the two of us a little longer. "We'll take them to Tigerstar."

(***)

As Oakfur led us through the trees, Russetfur fell into step beside me. "Where do you and your brother come from?" she asked.

I glanced at Fox, who was a few paces ahead. We hadn't planned that much of a back story. Luckily, he flicked his ears at me, to show that he was listening to our supposed history. I drew from the truth.

"We were born in a monster graveyard," I explained. "Our parents were killed, and we were raised by and older tom named Bear. When we were older, we decided to leave the monster graveyard. Bear was sick, and he met a twoleg who was friendly to him. He felt that the twoleg could heal him, and so we left him there. It was hard, but we carried on traveling. Eventually, we came to a twolegplace and heard stories about the clans. Ever since then we've been traveling in this direction."

"How far away was the twolegplace?" Russetfur asked.

"About a moon and a half of constant traveling," I meowed. She didn't ask any more questions, so I asked, "And your story?"

"We just met, Shatter. I can't very well tell you that," she purred. "Besides, you may be an enemy."

I flicked her with my tail. "Coming pretty quietly for an enemy, aren't I?"

She purred again. Then the young cat sprang over to us and meowed, "We're almost there. Wait 'till you see where we live. You'll see that the stories are true."

"I've been looking forward to this for days," I meowed, and that was true.

(***)

Tigerstar didn't recognize us from the twolegplace, either. And since Fox and I didn't spend any time around the other BloodClan cats, we did not share their sent. He set a huge white tom with black paws on me, and when I had the cat pressed to the ground beneath me in less time than it took to take a breath, I knew I had grabbed the huge tabby's interest, and his approval. He didn't seem to care too much for Fox.

We gave our real names. I retold the tale I had given Russetfur. Fox added in a couple of details to make us sound better – a dog fight or two, an angry twoleg… Tigerstar was impressed. I could tell, though he tried to hide it. My praise helped, I loaded in praise for him and his clan, claiming to have heard it all in the stories that had lured us here. The tabby decided to give us a trial period, a couple days to prove our worth.

We passed.

(***)

"The she-cat likes you," Fox meowed.

"Hmm?" I wasn't paying any attention to him. I was crouched at the edge of the clearing. We were in a different territory, now. RiverClan's. I was watching Tigerstar, who was standing on top of a large pile of bones, called the Bonehill. It was revolting, to be honest. But we had to fake adoration and respect. At one side was Blackfoot, the cat who had tried to fight me, and a she-cat who I didn't know sat on the other side. She was spotted sort of like me, but her colours were almost the opposite. I knew she was supposed to be a leader of Tigerstar's clan, now named Tigerclan, but he clearly wasn't giving her any power.

"Russetfur. She likes you."

This time I heard him. I pricked up my ears. "Really?"

"Yes, really… you mousebrain," Fox sighed.

"Well… we haven't learned anything, Fox," I complained. "Think about it. Learn about how the clans are run? Tigerstar doesn't lead this like a clan, he leads it like an army."

"How can you tell? This is the only clan we know."

"I just have a feeling, Fox. I know that this isn't the way a clan works."

He shook his head and tried to draw my attention back to my admirer. "What are you going to do about Russetfur?"

"Why should I do anything?"

"We're going to attack this clan, Shatter. She's going to be killed."

"What can I do about that?" I meowed. "Besides, I don't feel the same way about her."

"I just think th-"

"Shh," I interrupted suddenly. I sat up to watch what was happening in the clearing. Three cats were being dragged into the clearing. All gray. An adult tom, severely weakened, and two young cats. I wondered what they had done to get into such trouble. But then again, one could flick his tail wrong and get into trouble around Tigerstar. The cat was a worse leader than Scourge. That much I had learned.

"Cats of TigerClan," Tigerstar meowed from his perch, "you all know the hardships that we have to face. The cold of leaf-bear threatens us. Twolegs threaten us. The other two Clans in the forest, who have not yet realized the wisdom of joining with TigerClan, are a threat to us. Surrounded as we are by enemies, we must be sure of the loyalty of our own warriors."

Fox and I exchanged a glance at that.

"There is no room in TigerClan for the halfhearted. No room for cats who might waver in battle, or worse still, turn on their own Clanmates. TigerClan will not tolerate traitors!"

Cats started to yowl in agreement. Fox and I stayed silent. "Especially we will not tolerate the abomination of half-Clan cats," Tigerstar meowed when the yowls stopped. "No loyal warrior would ever take a mate from another Clan, diluting the pure blood that our warrior ancestors decreed for us."

What was he saying? Pure blood? I almost purred in amusement. The cat who had recently let two rouges into his clan meowing about pure blood? And we weren't the first rouges, many of his precious ShadowClan cats had been at one point it time. That was something I had managed to learn.

"Bluestar and Graystripe of ThunderClan both flouted the warrior code when they took mates from RiverClan. The kits of such a union, like the ones you see in front of you now, can never be trusted."

"Filth!" Blackfoot yowled.

I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Fox, come on."

Fox glanced up at me in surprise. "We can't walk away from Tigerstar, Shatter. He'll notice, and he won't be happy."

I shrugged, and turned to stalk away. Fox sighed, got to his feet, and followed me. Tigerstar's voice faded as we drew further away.

"Half-Clan cats have been tolerated until now, but the time for tolerance has passed. There is no place in…"

Tigerstar didn't notice, of course he didn't.

(***)

Fox and I were laying side by side, eating some freshkill we had caught earlier, when Russetfur padded up and sat beside me.

"That was horrible…" she meowed quietly.

I glanced at Fox, who shrugged in reply to my unasked question. So, I decided to tell the she-cat. "We left."

"You left?" she meowed in surprise.

"Didn't know where he was heading with his whole "pure blood" thing, but I didn't like it. Fox and I are not pure blood."

"No, I suppose you're not," Russetfur agreed. "And neither are half of the cats from ShadowClan. Even Tigerstar, he was originally from ThunderClan."

That was new. I pricked my ears up. "Really? What happened?"

"I don't know."

I didn't press her. "So… are you pure blood?"

"No," she admitted after a moment. "No, I was a rouge, too." That was when she finally told me her story, and went she was done, she curled up against my side and went to sleep.