Ooh! So now Darkfire is mates with the Clan deputy who misinterpreted a very serious sign, Lightwave is on a quest for revenge, and Tangletalon has discovered the true evils of Eaglepaw. What will happen next?
Characters in or mentioned in Chapter 4
ShadowClan
Darkfire
Blackberrypaw
Nightsky
RiverClan
Icestar
Frostflower
Troublestripe
Lightwave
WindClan
Tangletalon
Eaglepaw
Scarpaw
Windvoice
Breezewhisper
Twolegplace
Skull
StarClan
Snakeroot
The next day at dawn, Darkfire took her apprentice on a training session. Blackberrypaw didn't slow at all or lag behind. She was eager to learn how to fight.
Darkfire found a quiet, peaceful area of the pine forest where the ground was sandy and soft.
"Let's begin," Darkfire purred. She fell down into a crouch and lashed out at the bushes, hooking a mouse on her claws and yanking it back. She gave thanks to StarClan and then buried it.
Blackberrypaw lunged forward at a sparrow chirping in the ferns just a few pawsteps away. She yowled with frustration and irritation at the escaping prey, as it fluttered not even a mouselength away from her paws.
Darkfire purred encouragement.
"You just need to be a bit quieter," she instructed her sorrowful apprentice.
Blackberrypaw sat down, her black fur gleaming in the scarce light.
"Why did he have to die, Darkfire?" she sobbed.
Darkfire padded over and rested her tail comfortingly on Blackberrypaw's back.
She knew that her apprentice was speaking of her former mentor, Snakeroot. He was a loyal, fierce ShadowClan warrior who would be remembered best for sacrificing his life to save his apprentice when a rouge attacked the camp.
"What was his name?" Darkfire asked. "The rouge?"
"The filth from Twolegplace who's as worthless as a kittypet?" Blackberrypaw's eyes narrowed as she lashed her tail.
"Skull," she informed Darkfire, and then raced off into the forest.
When Lightwave arrived at camp, she saw Frostflower and Icestar sharing hushed words in a corner of the clearing.
"Hey Lightwave," Troublestripe called. "Where did you wander off to all day? I almost worried there would be nobody to wake me tomorrow."
Lightwave said nothing and picked up a piece of fresh-kill to sit by highrock and eat.
"Cats of RiverClan!" Icestar suddenly yowled. Lightwave looked up from her meal to see her leader and deputy standing side by side. "I can no longer stand to be a Clan cat. The life of a rouge," he meowed, " is better suited for me. I pass leadership of RiverClan to Frostflower."
"Cats of RiverClan," she mewed, her eyes gleaming. "Darkfire of ShadowClan must die!"
Darkfire, Lightwave thought. Isn't that Nightsky's mate? What threat does she pose to RiverClan as a whole?
Lightwave shook the questions from her head. Through all the mystery, one thing she was sure of: So I'll listen to Frostflower, she thought. I'll gain revenge and prove my loyalty to RiverClan once more at the same time. I'll catch two mice with one slash.
Her eyes narrowed as she ran off into the woods.
I'll kill Darkfire.
"Scarpaw!" Breezewhisper called. "Come over here!"
Tangletalon saw Windvoice, the Clan's deputy, standing beside the noble warrior Breezewhisper and Eaglepaw. A shudder rippled down the elder's spine when she saw the evil apprentice.
The black tom flattened his ears as he ran up to his mentor.
"Yes, Breezewhisper?" Scarpaw asked.
"Windvoice thought you and Eaglepaw could train together."
"Me and E-eaglepaw?" Scarpaw stammered. "Alone?"
"We'll be watching," Windvoice assured them sternly. "We want to see what you can already do, and then teach you what you still need to know in the moons to come."
Tangletalon followed in curiosity, keeping quiet and well hidden among the moorland.