Chapter Thirty-Two: Longfang's Vision
Lionpaw jumped up, feeling like he'd been smashed in the face with a ton of rock. Something clunked into place, and he realized it instantly, the simple, clever brilliance of it all: Longfang had murdered Pebbleheart in the hopes that Snowstar would send out a patrol to find him, leaving the Clan empty of most its warriors. And his plan had worked excellently.
Bluefur was pounding toward them instantly, eyes alight with fire, as Grasstail, Foxsong, Rainheart, and Ivytail all jumped into place by the apprentices. They made a small, pitiful line against the huge warriors facing them. Amberpaw let out a terrified cry as Lionpaw moved away from her to join the ranks of what was left of LightningClan.
"Why are you here?" Bluefur snarled.
Longfang looked at her, appearing somewhat bored. "I'm here to finish what I started, of course," he answered, as if this was astoundingly clear. "Now, where is dear Snowstar?"
Bluefur gazed at him, eyes steely.
Looking as if all his wishes had been granted, Longfang's jaws parted in a laugh as he looked around. "He led the patrol, didn't he? Oh, bless him. I'll have to thank him when he arrives to find his beloved mate slaughtered. He made this a great deal easier," he purred, advancing on Bluefur.
"You killed Pebbleheart!" Bluefur howled in rage at him. "You murdered an innocent lion, just to trick Snowstar into leaving!"
Lionpaw felt horror drop like a stone in his chest as a malicious grin spread over Longfang's face. "Innocent?" he repeated, eyes dancing. "My dear Bluefur... Pebbleheart was the farthest from innocent one could possibly get. In fact, if you would like to blame someone for all of the... dreadful things... happening to LightningClan recently- why, you could blame Pebbleheart."
Bluefur froze, looking like she hadn't expected this. "What- what do you mean?" she asked falteringly, caught off-guard for a moment.
Longfang's icy eyes traveled over the remaining LightningClan warriors, and came to a stop at Lionpaw. His lip curled. "You mean to say," he said to Bluefur, "that Lionpaw has not shared the lovely story with all of you?"
"NO!" Lionpaw bellowed, spitting in fury as he made a move to attack Longfang. But one of the burly strangers behind Longfang moved first, and caught Lionpaw, pinning him down easily.
"Who are your friends, Longfang?" Grasstail asked nervously, whiskers twitching as they were slowly surrounded by the huge cats. They appeared shaggy and dirty, and were main of pure muscle, though they looked like they hadn't had a decent meal in weeks. Lionpaw did not recognize any of them, but the fact that, under the coat of dirt that layered all of them, some of the cats had pelts like a DarkClan warrior and some had stripes like a WaterClan warrior, he knew they must be the rogues scented on DarkClan's territory, and that Longfang must have been rounding them up for moons now.
Longfang turned to stare coldly at Grasstail. "My friends," he answered brusquely, "are my followers, and it does not matter to you who they are. What does matter, however, is the fact that they will gladly beat you to death by the slightest twitch of my tail if I wish it to be so." He spoke quietly and briskly, as if they were discussing the recent going-ons at a Gathering, and not depicting a scene of death for Grasstail.
Grasstail stared at him, startled, and seemed to shrink a bit into the ground.
"You disgust me," Longfang spoke, voice cracking with the layers of ice placed upon it. "This is what LightningClan calls warriors nowadays? Snowstar may be a great leader, but he rules incorrectly. Allowing vermin like half-Clan cubs to live," he said softly, narrowing his eyes on Brightpaw's bristling form, "and letting traitors go quite unpunished." He was staring at Blackscar unblinkingly, who was huddled by the dead body of Pebbleheart. Longfang allowed his eyes to pause briefly on Pebbleheart's crumpled form before turning back to Bluefur.
"These are the warriors Snowstar is trusting to become LightningClan's future. It is against everything I've learned in the Code. Had I gone on to become leader... I would have cleaned this place up. I would have made us pure, and the most powerful Clan. We would be stuff of legends," he whispered longingly, each word dropping greedily as his hungry eyes swept over them.
"Sometimes... the Code isn't about how it's written... but about how it's interpreted," Frostpaw said quietly. She hadn't spoken at all since Longfang had broken into the camp, and now his cold eyes peered at her darkly.
"Smart words, for an apprentice," he replied, and he could have been a mentor, praising his apprentice after a flourishing hunt. "And that is also why I am here. You see... when I thought of coming here today, I envisioned attacking. With the force I have, you could all be dead or, at least, mortally wounded. But I have changed my mind. I want to let you see my vision."
Lionpaw listened, feeling caution tingle in his stomach. Whatever Longfang had to say next, would be no good.
"I am going to change the future. Starting small, but growing quickly, I will find warriors that will make up a new Clan, marking a new time. With time, and whatever measure must be enforced, I will go one to rule... everything we know," Longfang murmured, closing his eyes and seeming to taste the words on his tongue, and a sickening shudder rippled down his spine. Lionpaw knew the true depth of his obsession with power then. Never had he seen anyone so determined to own, to control, everything.
"There will be death, and those who do not join me... will face death, sooner or later. If you see the beauty of my future, however, I can promise you fortune, and a lifetime of power. We will rule together, as one great Clan. Think about it. There will be no wars when the four Clans are made into one. There will be peace, and time to flourish. That is the world I imagine."
Lionpaw shivered. Empty words. He could see how Longfang's promise of forming a single Clan would eliminate wars and fights would be arousing to some warriors. Warriors who truly wanted harmony would fall for Longfang's words, but here, he knew it was impossible. Longfang knew as well as he that as soon as you joined him, you were sentenced to a life of hell. If the Clans became a single Clan, it would destroy everything StarClan and the leaders work for.
Lionpaw would never join him.
"So what do you think?" Longfang whispered, staring greedily at them. "I come here to offer protection, and peace. Join me, and the world opens up to you. I can use your strengths... each of you are strong and talented in ways I can use. However... if you do refuse me... you will be utterly alone. Pebbleheart was given the choice to join me," he snarled, words burning like angry fire now. "And she chose wrong."
This came as a shock to Lionpaw. But of course... it all added up. Pebbleheart had gone out alone, and Longfang had found her as he strode by the DarkClan border, tried to talk her into joining him. Perhaps he had said the exact same words, offered protection and peace.
Pebbleheart had died standing up to Longfang. In her last moments, her mind had been clear, and she knew exactly what she had to do.
He pushed himself out of the burly stranger's grip, as strange joy rising in his throat. Lionpaw stood up, and thrust his face close to Longfang's. "We will never join you," he hissed.
Longfang's eyes narrowed to slits at being talked to like that. "It's your death," he said carelessly. "Personally, I'm glad. I'd prefer you dead than working with me."
"Don't you dare talk to my brother that way!" Cricketpaw snarled.
"Get off our land, you murderer!" Brightpaw furiously spat.
Longfang stared at Brightpaw in clear disgust. "Don't dare talk to me, you half-blood rat."
"Call him that one more time!" Lionpaw and Frostpaw burst out, overwhelmed with anger.
"Stop it!" Bluefur cried, jumping between her apprentices and her ex-deputy. Nose-to-nose with Longfang, they stared each other down for a long, painful moment, before at last, Bluefur spoke. "Following you into peace would be following the devil into hell. I think I speak for everyone here when I say we want nothing to do with you, or your future." Her head was lifted high, and if Bluefur had any fear of speaking so boldly to a killer, than she carefully hid it. Lionpaw felt a strong burst of pride towards his mother.
Looking unfazed, Longfang held her gaze coldly for a moment longer, before stepping back very carefully. "Very well," he said, voice empty of emotion. "We do not see eye-to-eye on things, after all."
"Indeed," Bluefur retorted.
There was a brief silence, broken only by the angry snorts and spits coming from behind Longfang as his followers, clearly ordered to hold their tongues, looked furious at their leader being talked to like that by a lioness. Their eyes gleamed with loathing as they eyed the LightningClan warriors.
However, there came a small, very small, noise from Lionpaw's right. His head twisted to see Grasstail staring at Longfang as though he'd never seen him before. Despite all the months of living in LightningClan, there were two or three lions Lionpaw had never gotten to know very well, and Grasstail was one of them. Easily described as mousy and mediocre, he was one of those lions who didn't stand out among the others, unlike lions like Curlclaw and Bluefur, who were very well-known. And as Lionpaw stared at the dusty little lion and his averted eyes, he suddenly got a very hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Yes, Grasstail?" Longfang growled softly.
Grasstail slowly stood up, and stared at Longfang, then back at his Clanmates. "I... I believe Longfang," he said, so quietly, Lionpaw could barely hear him.
Bluefur's eyes were fixed on him. Behind them, Foxsong, Rainheart, and Ivytail all watched Grasstail with mounting apprehension.
"Go on," Longfang said from behind his curling smile.
Grasstail swallowed hard. "If all the Clans became one... there would be no wars, and there would finally be peace. Isn't that what we all want?"
"No," Ivytail roughly broke out. "You're scared, aren't you, Grasstail? You think Longfang will protect you like your mother protected you as a kit?" She sounded disgusted. Grasstail flinched, but stared at her, eyes dark and swirling.
"Ivytail, please..." Foxsong murmured, and then turned to look at Grasstail. "I understand how you feel. I am a mother... I see wars, and think of my kits growing up and going out to fight. I hate it," she added, gazing at Frostpaw thoughtfully. Lionpaw remembered with a jolt that she was Frostpaw's and Rowanpaw's mother. Rowanpaw had gone off to join the hunt, and he wondered if she'd felt sad, watching her son go off to face danger. "And I would give anything to truly have one Clan, where there are no wars, and there is just peace."
"Then why not join them?" Grasstail asked, looking brighter now that he had support.
Foxsong gazed at him with gentle remorse. "Because you know as well as I do that it's impossible. The Clans were not meant to be ruled under one lion; StarClan made things like this for a reason."
Grasstail stared at her as if he didn't want to believe his ears, and turned to look at Longfang. "I believe you," he said unshakably. "I- I want to join you."
Foxsong's shoulders slumped, and Frostpaw's ears lay flat on her head. Bluefur stepped forward quickly. "How could you?" she asked Grasstail angrily. "LightningClan is your home. You're making a mistake, you coward!"
"LightningClan was never truly my home," Grasstail answered her, looking sad, but determined, as he turned away from them and joined the ranks of the burly strangers. He looked very small compared to them. Longfang bowed his head to the newcomer and turned to leer at Bluefur.
"He won't be the last," he sneered. "Now, I'm sorry it had to end like this... but I gave you an offer I shall only make once." With that, he turned away without a second glance at the lions he once called friends and family. He came to a stop by Grasstail's side, and there was a silence for a moment as his gleaming, cold eyes seemed to calculate something. And then, he spoke.
"Kill them."
Like hounds finally released from their leashes by masters, the eight muscled rogues reared and jumped in excitement as they lunged at Bluefur and the others. Things began happening very fast. Suddenly, the silent camp was erupt in roars and pounding feet as the blood began screaming in Lionpaw's ears.
He scrambled backward as the shadows rounded on them. Mind racing, he frantically thought back to his training sessions with Snowstar, to when he had fought Longfang himself. He had to survive this. This wasn't how it ended. Desperately he lunged out, claws unsheathed, and listened to the angry screams of his Clanmates as they began struggling against the brutes. But the battle was lost before it even started; their forces were pitifully weak compared to Longfang's.
And, curiously, Longfang did not fight. He did not lift a claw. He gave them a final, toothy sneer before getting up, and disappearing. Grasstail looked horrified as he watched his Clanmates being attacked, and as soon as the rogues jumped, he got up and took a step toward them. As Lionpaw angrily struggled, he called out to the lion. They needed all the help they could get.
"Grasstail! Grasstail, help us!" he cried over the roars of the struggle splitting around them.
Grasstail shivered, and slowly, backed away. He was afraid, and didn't want to die at the paws of the rogues. In his eyes, the battle was lost, and he didn't want to face death.
Without turning back, the little lion scrambled backwards, and raced away into the thicket, disappearing with an explosion of leaves and thorns, probably running after Longfang.
He had left them to die.
Feeling unimaginable fury hiss over him, Lionpaw began fighting. He knew it was pointless, that they would all be dead before Snowstar and the patrol returned, but he refused to go down a coward. He saw everyone fighting- Foxsong trapped under a thick panther, Rainheart and Ivytail taking on a snarling, dirt-slicked tiger, and Bluefur's teeth sinking into the neck of a scarred rogue, too chock-full of dirt and grime to know what kind of cat he was.
Even the apprentices, including Amberpaw, had rounded together and were fighting a heavy tiger with one eye missing. They fought with heart, and as Lionpaw kicked away at the dark brute above him, he felt sad pride crash over him. They were warriors, truly, all of them. And they would go down fighting for LightningClan.
He couldn't imagine a better way to die.
"Say goodbye, you scaly toad," the monster fighting Lionpaw grumbled in a low, scratchy voice. He pinned Lionpaw down and rose a pair of gleaming claws, prepared to bring them down and slash his throat. Lionpaw closed his eyes, breathing hard, as his body fell limp. It was done.
Strangely, the agony of claws across his throat never came. Lionpaw opened his eyes quickly, and was shocked to see Blackscar, with a strange fire in his eyes, leaping at the brute who had attacked Lionpaw. He was transformed, and looked totally different from the skinny loner Lionpaw had always known; in fact, he reminded Lionpaw of... Snowstar, as he fought.
"Don't-touch-my-brother's-son!" Blackscar roared between ripping and clawing at the monster's thick fur. Lionpaw scrambled away and watched. Blackscar had taken the huge rogue by surprise, and no matter how big his bravery was, he was still small compared to this invader. The rogue grabbed Blackscar around the throat and swung him down, snarling and spitting as his shadow fell across Blackscar.
"No!" To Lionpaw's shock, it was Bluefur who saved Blackscar, as she flitted across the camp, littered with blood and fur, a fiery blue streak finally landing in front of the snorting cat before her. Her shoulder fur was torn and her nose was bleeding, but her eyes snarled, daring the monster to attack again.
The whole struggle, which had taken only several heartbeats, was suddenly ended when a single, ear-splitting roar echoed across the jungle.
Everyone stopped fighting, and stared at the camp entrance.
Lionpaw's heart soared. "Snowstar!" he cried.
Sure enough, there was a stampede of paws, and an explosion as Snowstar streaked into the camp. His huge, snowy frame was like a ghost as he hurtled at the intruders. Lionpaw had never seen him look so angry as he let out a battle cry, leaping powerfully across the ground. Behind came streamed in the warriors... Redflower, Dustmane, Shiverpelt, Emberfoot, Rowanpaw... and all the others. They all looked furious when they saw the eight rogues, and hissed, leaping at them.
Overwhelmed by the fresh wave of uncountable warriors, the eight rogues began backing up, and looking around frantically. It was the first time they'd noticed that Longfang had abandoned them. Eyes narrowed, they snarled and plunged away into the jungle, with several warriors on their tails.
"Follow them out of our land, Curlclaw!" Snowstar bellowed after them as Curlclaw took the lead after the rogues. They stampeded away, crashing through the jungle, until their frustrated roars faded, and the camp was strangely silent. Everyone looked around, panting heavily, staring at the destruction made.
Snowstar went over to Bluefur, touching his nose to hers. "Oh Bluefur... I'm so sorry... I was a fool," he said quietly, claws sheathing and unsheathing into the dirt under his huge paws. "I realized the trick as soon as I found the spot Pebbleheart was... murdered. I smelled rogues, and Longfang..."
"Yes," Bluefur said grimly. "As it turns out, your son was right to believe it was a trick, except it was more than that... a trap within a trick."
"What do you mean?" Snowstar asked sharply.
Bluefur gazed at the warriors now nearing them, looking curious. She sighed wearily. "He came here to talk. He has plans... greater than we've ever seen... to combine the Clans, and he asked us to join him."
"That's mad," Snowstar murmured, looking around, clearly distracted. "But is everyone okay?"
"Yes." Bluefur caught Lionpaw's eye. "Minor injuries."
"Wait... where's Grasstail? I believe I left him here, right?" Bluefur flinched when Snowstar mentioned the traitor. "Bluefur? Where is he?" Dread came into his tired old eyes. "Did Longfang kill him?"
"No... worse." Lionpaw stalked over to join his parents, and he looked Snowstar in the eye. "When Longfang offered protection and peace if we joined him, Grasstail believed him."
Shock fell over the Clan. They instantly understood what had become of their Clanmate.
"He joined Longfang?" Snowstar whispered.
"And, according to Longfang, Grasstail is not the last to join him," Lionpaw muttered.
The Clan broke off into disturbed mutters. They looked around from tired, bloodshot eyes, and ears were flat with disbelief. The first sign of weakness had arrived: one of their own had crossed over and joined Longfang.
"He will wish he'd never done that," Snowstar sighed, blue eyes overwhelmingly sad. Lionpaw stared at his mentor, and felt a strange stab of anger. How dare he show sadness, show weakness, at a time like this? He'd grown used to seeing Snowstar as the one who'd always fix a situation, the one lion who made no mistakes. But his trust in the leader's judgment was fading. Snowstar had left the Clan and fallen for Longfang's trap; and now, they were all injured, and one of their warriors was gone. How much loss would LightningClan be able to withstand before collapsing?
"It's your fault this has happened!" Lionpaw shouted suddenly, all his pent-up confusion, loss, and anger being mashed up and thrown at his father like sharp rocks. "If you had just listened to me, Longfang wouldn't have attacked, and Grasstail would still be here! But no, I'm just a stupid apprentice. Nobody listens to us!"
Everyone was quite shocked to see Lionpaw go off on the leader like that. In any normal situation, Snowstar would have angrily confronted Lionpaw for his rude behavior, and punished him severely. In fact, Lionpaw was dying for punishment. He wanted something to be angry about, to take his fury out on. But instead of doing any of those things... Snowstar did the worst of all.
He bowed his head, and merely listened, as if Lionpaw were the leader, and he the apprentice.
"I know, son," he murmured. "I was a fool. I keep making mistakes. I am not the leader I wanted to be."
Lionpaw stared at Snowstar through wide, disbelieving eyes. Snowstar was giving up. First, they lost Firerunner, all those moons ago. Then Longfang betrayed them. Pebbleheart was murdered, and now... Grasstail had left them. Warriors were disappearing, and Snowstar blamed himself for all of them.
Worst of all, Lionpaw himself blamed Snowstar for all of them.
Saying nothing, Lionpaw whipped around, and raced away, into the thick jungle. He ignored the stricken cries of Frostpaw and Bluefur as they tried to call him back. He ignored the fact that
Longfang was out there, and could easily find him and finish him off in the darkness. In fact, he wished for death.
So Lionpaw kept running, knowing that maybe, just maybe, if he ran far enough, he would forget why he was running, forget everything. And that was what Lionpaw wanted most.