There was a heavy silence penetrating camp, one that could not be broken. Shellfall watched as the RiverClan cats sat down, licking ashes and cinders off their pelts while several others went to Starlingfern's to be treated for burns. He couldn't help but glance at Runningflame, who sat with his shoulders straight, being admonished by Dapplestar.
"Did you attack any cats in the battle, Runningflame?" Dapplestar hissed at him.
"In good conscience, I could not attack the innocents." Runningflame's voice was hard. "I fought the cats who attacked me."
"You fool. You complete, utter fool." Spit flew from Dapplestar's mouth as she snarled at the ginger-and-white tabby. "You are the lowest of the low. You are no longer welcome to sit at my side while I rule the Clans. Your status is nothing anymore. You will be treated just as a new warrior would be. If you ever dare to step out of line again, I will treat you as the traitor you are."
"Yes, Dapplestar." Runningflame lowered his head.
"Now get out of my sight." Dapplestar bared her teeth as Runningflame trotted away from her. Shellfall caught his green gaze but could say nothing. The battle at WindClan had been fierce. They had resisted the RiverClan cats, but no cat could fight against the forces of nature, and eventually had succumbed to the flames. Dapplestar had claimed WindClan territory for her own.
But that's what she had to do. In order for Dapplestar to rule the Clans, she needed to take them by force. Scorchstar would have never complied in allowing Dapplestar to take control of his Clan. Dapplestar had been faced with a hard choice and was forced to make it. If Runningflame really had a cat he cared for in WindClan, he would have been breaking the code. Perhaps it was best that Runningflame was stripped of his status as a Divine Warrior.
Shellfall spotted Shimmerwing in the center of camp, looking as if the world had ended. Shellfall padded over to her, brushing his pelt against hers, saying nothing. Don't you understand that Dapplestar has to do things that are cruel to bring peace? he wanted to ask her. But it was no longer up to Shellfall to try to talk some sense into Shimmerwing. Shimmerwing had to figure it out on her own. Shellfall knew his words would run on empty ears.
"Dapplestar." Starlingfern's voice called her leader from the medicine den.
"What is it?" Dapplestar asked, padding over to the black she-cat who stood at the entrance of the bramble thicket. The medicine cat's green eyes were clouded with worry, and Dapplestar curled her lip.
"StarClan is not pleased with the burning of WindClan," Starlingfern told her, lifting her head to stare her leader in the eye. "Neither are they pleased with the burning of ShadowClan."
A heavy silence fell upon camp. Shellfall's breath hitched in his throat. Starlingfern told Dapplestar to her face that her methods were wrong? Did Starlingfern want to die? The medicine cat and the leader stared at each other, with Starlingfern's fur bristling and Dapplestar's green eyes blazing. Finally, the silence was broken.
"Is that so?" Dapplestar inquired. A loud chuckle escaped the large tortoiseshell's lips. "You think I plan on ruling the Clans by listening to the idle words of StarClan?"
"Well, you did declare yourself to become a god for them," Starlingfern argued feebly.
Dapplestar focused her green glare on Starlingfern. "Oh?" she chuckled. "The cats have no need to rely on StarClan anymore. I am the god they can go to in their times of hardship. If StarClan dares to take that away from them, I will teach them a lesson they will never forget."
"What…?" Starlingfern's green eyes widened.
"Out of the way." Dapplestar pushed Starlingfern aside and entered her den. Starlingfern turned on her heel, her jaws wide, about to protest. Inside Starlingfern's den, Shellfall could hear loud shuffling, shattering, and hissing. Shimmerwing watched the den with wide blue eyes. Finally, Dapplestar emerged from the den, holding a bundle of herbs in her mouth.
She dropped the herbs to the ground, smirking. "If StarClan thinks it can tell me what to do, then I will play that game, as well. Come, Starlingfern." Dapplestar's eyes glowed.
"Where…?" Starlingfern asked, her voice cracked.
"To the Moonpool." Dapplestar smirked. "Shellfall, Shimmerwing, Rippleheart, I need you to come as well. Oh, and you, Runningflame." The tortoiseshell swung her head to stare at Runningflame. "Let me show you what happens to cats who think they can defy me, whether they are WindClan warriors or the gods from StarClan themselves."
"Wha…" Shimmerwing stepped back, her tawny tail twitching back and forth.
"We're going!" Dapplestar picked up the herbs in her mouth and darted away from camp. Starlingfern, utterly bewildered, shook her head and got to her paws, following her. Shellfall, stunned by the turn of events, bounded after the two cats. Shimmerwing, Rippleheart, and Runningflame joined them as the warriors chased after Dapplestar.
"What the hell is going on?" Runningflame demanded. "First, she wants nothing more to do with me, now she wants me coming with her to whatever the hell she's doing?"
Rippleheart shook his head. "I have no idea what she plans to do this time," he confessed.
Shimmerwing clenched her teeth. "Oh, Dapplestar," she whispered, her voice thick with grief. "What are you doing?"
"She has the most power in the Clans," Shellfall argued. "If she wants to make a statement to StarClan, she has every right to."
Rippleheart glanced at Shellfall. "That makes sense."
Runningflame's ginger-and-white fur bristled as they followed Dapplestar, leading the Clan cats across the marshland territory without slowing down. When they crossed the faint WindClan border – technically their territory now – Shellfall couldn't ignore the scent of death and smoke from the moorland. He studied the burnt grassland, realizing that this would not be habitable for any cat for quite some. As he stretched his gaze further, he could make out limp bodies lining the rises. Cats who haven't been picked up.
The dappled gray tom focused his gaze on the trek they were making. Dapplestar crossed the hills and bounded through the grassland until she reached the carving stream that marked the path towards the Moonpool. Shellfall remembered traveling here when Dapplestar had declared to StarClan that she willed to become a god. Why were they here again? What was Dapplestar planning? Dapplestar's pace never slowed as she followed the stream, moving as if she was a cat possessed.
Still holding the herbs in her mouth, Dapplestar reached the mouth of the stream and looked into the hollow that held the crystal waters of the Moonpool. Starlingfern stood at her side, utterly flummoxed. Dapplestar plunged into the hollow, and the rest of the cats followed her. Shellfall landed on the ground, watching the steep cliff where water poured out of and landing into the Moonpool. Dapplestar dropped the herbs to the ground.
"Come!" Dapplestar called out. When the RiverClan cats gathered around her, hesitation flickering in their eyes, Dapplestar began to talk. "Arrow from FierceClan showed me how to make a potent mixture that is destined to bring destruction to any cat who consumes it."
Arrow. The name made Shellfall shudder. Arrow was Cactusclaw's brother and one of the most feared cats in FierceClan, known to the Clans for his skill with poison.
"No so-called god is going to tell me what to do," Dapplestar went on, her green eyes glowing. "If StarClan wants to whine about my methods, I will silence them to show them how powerful I am."
"Dapplestar, don't!" Starlingfern cried out, racing over to stop Dapplestar.
"Silence!" Dapplestar snapped at her, shoving her back. The big calico picked up the herbs in her jaws and unwrapped the leaf holding them together. Among the herbs were several odd colored seeds, bristling leaves, weeds, and sap. "Arrow devised a concoction that, once delivered in a body of water, can make it evaporate. I always wanted to test it out. Let's see if it works."
Before any cat could stop her, Dapplestar pushed the herbs into the reflective blue pool. As the plants fell into the water, a loud roar began to bubble on the water's surface. Shellfall flinched as a massive explosion rippled through the holy water, the force of the impact making him stagger. The explosion sent sound waves through the air, and the RiverClan cats fell back. Dapplestar did not move, her green eyes focused on the exploding waters. The Moonpool water began to evaporate, and the stream above that fed it water started to dry down. Shellfall finally dared to look at the Moonpool. The water that had once rippled in the bed was gone. There were no more stars, no more crystal waves.
Dapplestar smirked and let out a roar of amused laughter. She turned to the warriors who were watching her. "Worship me. Die for your crime of defying the Lord of Hell and repent in the afterlife. There are none before me, and there will be none after me. I am the Demon Queen of the four Clans, Dapplestar! And I am the cat chosen to unite the realm!"
Shimmerwing's breath caught in her chest as she stared at her leader, the horror written all over her face. Runningflame's ginger-and-white ears flattened back, his claws unsheathed. Rippleheart stared at his paws, saying nothing. Starlingfern's gaze returned to the Moonpool, her jaw gaping, dread in her green eyes.
Dapplestar… Shellfall's body trembled, for the first time in his life, feeling frightened of his leader. Dapplestar turned and looked back at the non-existent pool, and Shellfall couldn't miss the hard determination in her green eyes, as if she really believed what she was doing was right. Finally, Shellfall let out a shaky breath. If these are the lengths you must go to for unifying the Clans, then, this is what you must do. If the gods are stopping you from expanding your unification, then you must silence them.
