When she woke, Shadowblaze found herself in a den, surrounded by the other loyal cats. The moment her eyes opened one of the cats called into the den, "Fernshine! She woke up!" Shadowblaze flinched, she already knew that Fernshine would be very, very angry with her. Fernshine appeared out of the den and strode towards Shadowblaze, fury in her eyes, she marched right up to Shadowblaze and yowled, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? WERE YOU TRYING TO GET KILLED?" she paused and then lowered her voice, still half shouting, "Remember now that it's not just your life at stake, theirs is too." Shadowblaze blinked up at the medicine cat and replied, "I know but," "It's not your instinct to sit by the side and let the events play out, is it?" Shadowblaze nodded and Fernshine let out an exasperated sigh, "At least try to be slightly more careful." Shadowblaze nodded again and then heaved herself onto her paws and walked towards the middle of the den.
Everycat stared at her as she stood and raised her voice, "I would understand if any of you, any at all want to go out there and join the traitors, I wouldn't blame you, right now it looks like they have the upper hand. So, does anyone want to leave?" not a single cat stood or even sowed the slightest sign that they were going to leave, Shadowblaze continued, "I have something to confess, I have some unusual characteristics, I was born outside this clan and I have the blood of two very powerful groups in me the ROMC and the Legion. This is why I have those strange powers that I used when trying to attack my imprisoners." she hesitated for a moment then forged on, "I'm also expecting kits." the clan was silent for a moment but then they began to cheer, "Congratulation!" they called, Shadowblaze smiled but shook her head, "That wasn't really what I meant, now that I'm expecting kits and I still haven't had a full apprentice, I'm not sure if you want me as your deputy anymore." the cats looked at each other and then after they discussed with each other Birdsong stood up, "Shadowblaze, we don't see you as the deputy anymore," Shadowblaze's heart dropped, she knew that they wouldn't want an expecting she-cat who still hadn't managed to mentor an apprentice as their deputy, "We see you as the leader, it's your right to become leader after the old leader died, maybe you didn't see this coming so soon but it is your duty to lead this clan now, or what's left of this clan. So, will you lead us?"
Shadowblaze stared at the mass of cats in front of her, they weren't kicking her out, they were actually raising her to a higher rank, she was surprised that when she answered her voice didn't wobble and shake, instead it came out strong and clear, "Yes, I accept, I will be your leader." the cats began to cheer. The moment was ruined however when Wrenwing stuck her head in an yowled, "Shut up!" the clan ignored her and if possible, began to call out even louder. Shadowblaze looked at Wrenwing and back at the clan and decided to keep the clan out of trouble, she lifted her tail and motioned for silence. Immediately the clan went silent and Wrenwing snorted slightly and took her head out of the den. Shadowblaze turned back towards the clan and said, "Now we have to make an escape plan." she looked at the cats and something took over her, an overwhelming sense that she needed to protect them all, it might've been the fact that her own kits were inside her or something totally different, but whatever it was, it filled Shadowblaze and she lifted her head and called out orders with a newfound confidence. "First off, are they supplying us with food and water?" apparently the cats had chosen Birdsong as their speaker as she was the one who answered, "They give us three pieces of prey per day, one at dawn one at sunhigh and one at sunset. As for water there's a puddle near the back." Shadowblaze nodded thoughtfully, "Birdsong?" "Yes?" "Would you like to be deputy?" Birdsong let out a sharp gasp, "Are you serious?!" "Yes." "Of course! I mean, yes, yes I'll be deputy." the clan once again cheered, this time for Birdsong.
"Ok, so we need more food, I'm assuming that they haven't changed the layout of the camp." several cats nodded, "and I'm assuming that since Wrenwing looked quite well fed that the prey pile is full We need that prey to get our strength up." she turned towards the apprentices and asked, "Who is the smallest among you?" after a quick debate and size measuring the apprentices nudged a small brown tabby whose name was Dirtpaw. Shadowblaze nodded at him and called, "I need another small apprentice to go with him." this time it was much quicker and the apprentices chose Daisypaw, Dirtpaw's sister. "Are you two willing to slip out into the camp and snatch as much prey as you can?" the apprentices nodded and then Shadowblaze directed them to a small hole in the side of the den, where the two wormed out to go steal the prey.
Meanwhile Shadowblaze turned back to her clan and called out, "We have things to do, while the apprentices are getting the prey we have to set up a place to put the prey so the traitors won't find it and it won't go bad. I was thinking that we could make a hole in the corner of the den and cover it with moss." the cats murmured amongst themselves before nodding in agreement. Birdsong immediately took charge, forming patrols to dig and patrols to carry away and hide the dirt. Shadowblaze followed the cats to the back of the den and began to dig a tunnel. It was for the cats to make dirt, not to escape, Shadowblaze knew that this part of the camp wall came up to the edge of the chasm, a deep canyon that used to have a river which had long dried up. Falling into it mean certain death. She finished the tunnel and emerged from it, sweat mixing with the dirt on her pelt. Birdsong looked up from her work when she saw Shadowblaze slip out of the tunnel, she padded over to Shadowblaze and looked at her, a question in her eyes, "Is that an escape tunnel?" Shadowblaze shook her head, "I wish, it's just a place for us to make dirt, the Chasm is that way." Birdsong nodded and opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly a swell of noise erupted from the front of the den and a voice called, "The apprentices are back!" Shadowblaze turned and saw the two youngsters squeezing back in from the hole, each carrying a piece of prey, as Shadowblaze watched they dropped off the prey and ducked back out to retrieve the rest. When they had finished bringing in all the prey there were five pieces in all. Shadowblaze quickly looked around and took in how man cats she had, six warriors, four apprentices, two medicine cats, three elders, and a queen and another queen with two kits. She padded to the center of the den and called out, "Warriors, share with one or two other cats, apprentices share a piece, medicine cats do the same as the warriors, elders share and queens share the rabbit." as soon as she finished speaking the clan burst into activity, the warriors split into two groups and took two pieces of prey, the apprentices grabbed a piece and then took the rabbit and another piece of prey to the queens and elders. Shadowblaze settled down in one of the old nests that still littered the floor and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of her clan, if she didn't open her eyes it almost sounded like nothing had changed.
Suddenly a paw poked her shoulder and a voice called, "Hey, Shadowblaze! Come share with us!" she opened her eyes and found Foxpaw standing above her and Fernshine sitting behind him, a mouse sitting at her paws. At the sight of the mouse her stomach let out snarl but she shook her head and meowed, "I'm not hungry, you go ahead and share with Fernshine." she expected Foxaw to just nod and go away but instead he called to Fernshine, "She didn't agree." Fernshine shook her head and padded over to Shadowblaze, the mouse in her jaws. She dropped the mouse in front of Shadowblaze and threatened, "You can either share with us or I can send you over to the queens and you can eat with them. Which do you prefer?" Shadowblaze literally shook at the thought of having to go and eat with the queens, not that she didn't like them, it was just that she wasn't sure how the clan would take it. She let out a sigh and took a small bite from the mouse and then passed it back to Fernshine, saying, "There, I ate something. Are you happy now?" Fernshine shook her head and said, "Eat another bite." Shadowblaze reluctantly gave in and took another small bite. Fernshine nodded her approval and then passed the mouse to Foxpaw who took a bite and then passed the rest of the mouse to Fernshine who finished it off. When everycat had finished eating Shadowblaze stood and called, "Get your rest tonight, tomorrow at dawn we're gonna get out of here." the clan cheered and then began to find a place to sleep. Shadowblaze found a spot in the corner of the camp and laid there with her eyes closed, waiting for the clan to fall asleep.
When the sound of snoring filled the den Shadowblaze sat up and let the façade of confidence melt, she looked up at a tiny sliver of the night sky from a gap in the den's roof and whispered, "I don't know what I'm doing. Starclan, help me get these cats out and to another clan safely." she sat there for quite a while thinking. Then suddenly as if Starclan themselves had placed the idea in her mind. She grinned, this was how Starclan had answered her prayer. Shadowblaze quickly stood and crept past the other cats ando out of the den she almost stepped on Wrenwing's tail as she crept out into the clearing. As she straightened up she turned around and glanced at Wrenwing, she was snoring loudly while sitting up, Shadowblaze guessed that she was supposed to stay awake and guard the loyal clan cats but had fallen asleep. Acting like that shadows that she had been named for Shadowblaze stealthily made her way to the medicine cat's clearing, thankfully it was empty. She grabbed a few leaf packets of herbs and went off to drug the traitors and their allies. The first den she entered was the old warrior's den, it was still full of cats, but these weren't clan cats, these were the horrid Gloomforest cats. Shadowblaze wrinkled up her nose a the stench that she had begun to associate with the Gloomforest cats and began to pry open the jaws of the cat closest her. When she managed to pry open the jaws she took a small heap of poppy seeds out and dropped them in the back of the cat's throat then she shut the cat's mouth and began to stroke its throat, the cat's swallowing reflex kicked in and it swallowed in its sleep. Shadowblaze stood back and waited a few moments for the herbs to start working, when she felt like the herbs had taken affect she kicked the sleeping cat hard. The cat didn't even twitch. Shadowblaze grinned, the plan was working.
Shadowblaze emerged from the last den, covering in sweat, scraps of moss and poppy seeds. She yawned, but decided that it was worth it, she would give up a night of sleep for a chance to drug the traitors any day. Shadowblaze cast a glance at the sky and decided that it was time to get the clan up and move out to one of the other clans, probably Windclan first. She poked her head into the den and called, "Wake up! It's time to go!" the cats slowly started to wake as Shadowblaze stood there impatiently, waiting for them to wake up. She called again, "Hey! Hurry up! We're leaving!" this got the cats moving, they scrambled to go through their morning routines and then gathered around Shadowblaze. When everycat was gathered Shadowblaze announced, "We are leaving now, this place was our home for generation, and I would fight for it to my last breath, but there aren't enough of us. I'm not going to lead you all into a massacre." the cats around her murmured in agreement and Shadowblaze turned around and began to exit the den. She signaled for the rest of the clan to follow and they did, hesitantly. When they stood in the clearing Shadowblaze's cats looked around in surprise and Birdsong came up to her and voiced the question that everycat had probably been thinking, "Shadowblaze, this is strange, where are all the cats?" Shadowblaze grinned, "I may or may not have been up all night drugging them with poppy seeds." Birdsong snorted, "I like that way you think." Shadowblaze called out, "You don't have to be quiet, the traitors are on poppy seeds, but we should get out of here quickly, I don't know how long the poppy seeds will last." a murmur of agreement went through the group and as one the group turned towards the exit and began to walk out of the camp. As she walked out of the camp Shadowblaze turned around and took one last look at the place where she had lived since the day of the fox attack. Fernshine had dropped back and called to Shadowblaze, "Shadowblaze! Hurry up!" she looked up and called back, "Don't wait for me!" Fernshine nodded and rejoined the group. Shadowblaze turned back to the camp and went around the outside until she found a small partly hidden clearing. She went in and was met with a bunch of mounds, she went over to two mound that looked identical, except for the fact that one of them was a lot smaller than the other one. Shadowblaze signed as she sat in front of the two mounds, "Mom, Storm, I'm leaving, and I don't know if I'll ever come back. This is gonna be the last time I'm going to be able to visit you guys here." she spotted a clump of flowers growing at the edge of the clearing and grabbed three flowers, she left one on her mother's grave and one on Storm's. Then she took the last flower and went to the newest grave and laid the last flower down, whispering, " Goodbye Birch." She then turned and went out of the clearing, not looking back once.
"Where were you?" Fernshine immediately asked when Shadowblaze caught up with the clan. She didn't say anything but the look on her face must have told Fernshine everything because her expression softened and she nodded, "I understand." Shadowblaze nodded back and went off to find Birdsong. As she walked she shook off the last scraps of sadness that ad been clinging to her. "Birdsong!" she called as she saw the familiar calico pelt of her deputy. Birdsong turned around and when she saw Shadowblaze she began to walk over to her, "We're almost at Cave, should we stop there for a rest?" Shadowblaze nodded, the Cave was where the clans gathered every moon to share news, it would also be a great place to take a break. "We're going to rest for a while when we get to the Cave!" Shadowblaze announced, a small cheer rose from the clump of apprentices that had been complaining about their poor paws. Shadowblaze snorted, she'd walked twice as far without complaining about her paws, actually her paws hadn't hurt, strange. "I can see the cave!" some cat shouted from ahead. Shadowblaze began to race forward, she reached the front of the group and looked towards the Cave, "Wait." she said, "Something's moving in the Cave." the clan began to grow uneasy and quiet murmurs began to spread, "I'll go with my invisibility and see what's over there, then I'll come back and tell you." Shadowblaze announced. "Someone should go with you, what if whatever's there is going to hurt you?" Fernshine protested, "I'll be fine Fernshine. Also when did you become such a mother?" Fernshine twitched, "Since I didn't protect your brother enough." she stepped closer to Shadowblaze and murmured, "You didn't know this but when your brother was recovering from the fox attack that brought you to Thunderclan he told me that if he ever died to protect his sister, and now that he's dead I'm going to try to keep you safe." Shadowblaze sighed, "I'm still going to go, but I'll be careful, promise." Fernshine muttered unhappily but still nodded, allowing Shadowblaze to go.
Shadowblaze stepped away from the group and then turned her invisibility on, and her speed for good measure. She raced over to the cave and then slowed down, peeking into the entrance and observing what was happening inside. The first thing that hit her was the heavy smell of all the clans but Thunderclan. As she watched three cats appeared on the ledge that the leaders addressed the clans from one opened his mouth and called, "We have come to a decision, since we can no longer return to our homes we are going to try to go to Thunderclan and ask for shelter, then when we are stronger we will return and drive out the traitors and Gloomforest!" the gathered clans cheered. Shadowblaze's heart dropped, this meant that the other clans had been driven out too, they had nowhere to go. She hated to break the brief hope that the other clans were clinging to but she also couldn't have then walking into the Thunderclan camp and getting wiped out. So she dropped the powers and walked into the Cave calling, "You can't go to Thunderclan, we have been driven out too."
The cats whipped around and looked at Shadowblaze in surprise, she ignored their curious stares and went up to the Leader's ledge and began to speak with the cats up there, she soon realized that none of the three of them were the leaders of the clans, "Are all of you the deputies?" she questioned, they looked at each other and Marshheart of Shadowclan spoke up, "Yes, all of the leaders were killed by the rebels." Shadowblaze nodded, "I'm going to go back and get Thunderclan." they nodded and said, "We'll try to think of somewhere where we can go." Shadowblaze hurried back to the clan and found that they were right outside the cave, "I told you to stay back! What if it had been full of Gloomforest cats?!" she scolded Birdsong, "Sorry, Shadowblaze but I had to, the cats were getting antsy and I wanted to start moving." Shadowblaze sighed, "Well you may as well come in, the other clans are in there, they've been driven out too." Shadowblaze turned around and flicked her tail, signalling for the clan to follow her. They went into the cave and the cats let out meows of surprise when they saw the other clans. Swiftfur of Windclan and Smoothstone of Riverclan met them in the center of the Cave and Smoothstone meowed, "Shadowblaze, do you have a place for us to stay?" Shadowblaze paused and then nodded, "There's a place where you can go but I can't go with you. We can leave tomorrow, but tonight the deputies should receive their nine lives." she turned to Birdsong, "You will receive the lives instead of me, since I won't be going with you." Birdsong nodded and Shadowblaze watched as her old deputy left with the other deputies to recieve their lives. "Starclan watch over you Birdsong." Shadowblaze whispered.
"They're back!" some cat yowled, Shadowblaze scrambled up and darted to the entrance to stand with the rest of the cats as they watched the newly named leaders enter the Cave. A cheer arose from the cats as they cheered for all four leaders, "Marshstar! Swiftstar! Smoothstar! Birdstar! Marshstar! Swiftstar! Smoothstar! Birdstar! Marshstar! Swiftstar! Smoothstar! Birdstar!" Shadowblaze cheered along with the rest of the cats. When the cheering died down Shadowblaze made her way over to Birdstar and called, "Congratulations! You'll be a great leader!" Birdstar smiled nervously and whispered, "Why didn't you decide to be leader? I'm not sure I can do this." Shadowblaze grinned, "You'll do fine, plus, I can't because I can't go with you to the ROMC, I was banished from there because I have more than one power." Birdstar nodded as if she understood but Shadowblaze could see a flicker of confusion lingering in the leader's face. Just then the other leaders called to Birdsong, "Come on, we have to discuss what we're going to do now. Shadowblaze come with us." Shadowblaze followed them and told them how to get to the ROMC exactly, "They'll be suspicious at first but if you tell them that you were driven out by the Gloom Forest I think they'll be eager to help." she finished. The leaders nodded and then Birdsong stood and said, "I say we leave at dawn, so we should go get some rest now." everyone nodded and the group split, each to find their own sleeping spot. Shadowblaze paused next to Birdstar, "See? You're doing great. You're gonna be an amazing leader." Birdstar smiled, "I think you're right."
Shadowblaze woke to the sound of cats moving around her she stood and saw that the clans were already beginning to leave. As she watched them wake and huddle in groups, ready to leave, Shadowblaze felt a pang in her heart, these were the cats that she had practically grew up around, now they were leaving, and she wasn't going with them. She was startled out of her thoughts when a leader yowled across the Cave, "We're leaving!" moments after that the clans began to move, following the leaders to the ROMC to find shelter. Shadowblaze stood at the entrance of the Cave and watched the figures of the cats until they became small dots on the horizon. Only when she could no longer see them did Shadowblaze turn away and begin to walk back to the area where she had been born.
Shadowblaze grunted as she hauled a clump of brambles into a hole in the old barrier of the clearing that had been her birthplace. For the last moon and a half she had been fixing the barrier in preparation of the birth of her own kits. It was almost back to perfection except for a few holes. Over the last moon the fact that Shadowblaze was expecting kits became fairly obvious, if she'd still been part of Thunderclan Fernshine would've confined her to the nursery already, but since she was on her own she had to keep going. Shadowblaze sighed, she looked up at the sky and say that the sun had reached its peak, "Sunhigh, I should go hunt." Shadowblaze thought. She carefully placed the last piece of barrier and then turned towards the forest. She padded onto one of the trails that she had remade during her time here, soon she head the sound of something walking through the forest. Her senses had been dulled by the squirming creature in her stomach and she didn't comprehend the noise as a possible danger until it was too late. The footstep sped up and a dark shape crashed through the forest. Shadowblaze looked up as the great beast crashed through a dead tree and sent splinters of bark flying everywhere. She stared at the creature with fear in her eyes and prepared to fight. The badger reared up and as it came back down it swiped at Shadowblaze, she tried to move but she was unaccustomed to fighting in her condition. All she could do was stare at the badger and await her death.
A/N i am extremly sorry for not updating but i have come to a decision, i'm going to update every friday from now on. if i miss an update or post late it'll be because i ran out of time or had something come up. I'll try my best to update on time. If you've been reading this since I first started publishing, thank you so much. shout out to the people who followed/faved/reviewed it means a lot to me, so thank you. -Viper