Chapter 4: In the Presence of Others
After a largely uneventful morning which did involve crossing a thunderpath, the patrol finally spotted some cats near some sleeping twolegs. Darkstripe whispered to the patrol.
"That must me them. I see Onewhisker among them."
Suddenly the twolegs startled awake and started wailing something. The Windclan cats scattered in one direction. Graystripe and Fireheart were about to bolt after them when Darkstripe and Longtail caught them by their scruffs.
"Wait a minute mousebrains. See how that twoleg is holding something?"
Fireheart quietly nodded.
"They are really good at throwing things from their weird paws. Give them a bit to settle down and I'll show you how to get past them without a fight."
Quietly the patrol waited. Soon the twolegs sat themselves back in their seats and set down their objects.
"Now follow me. Walk quickly. If we run, we'll spook them again. They'll ignore us if we walk. You can run if they try to grab you."
It was almost a Starclan miracle how little the twolegs cared as the patrol padded past them. They only gave the cats odd looks. After getting out of eyesight of the twolegs, Darkstripe spoke again.
"Windclan went somewhere this way. You two are better trackers than I, so get to it."
Soon the group followed the scent trail to a tunnel. Longtail stopped the patrol before stepping forward alone. Windclan spun to face the unknown intruders and were forming up battle lines before Tallstar pushed his way to the front.
"We were expecting Shadowclan. What brings Thunderclan this far out."
Longtail smoothly replied, "the clans have agreed that Windclan must return to their territory."
"We cannot as long as Brokenstar remains the leader of Shadowclan."
Darkstripe padded forward next. His usual cocky air was seemingly nonexistent as he held himself with a careful poise almost like a clan deputy.
"Shadowclan has exiled Brokenstar and his followers and Nightpelt has taken leadership after his removal."
"Nightpelt has always been an honorable warrior."
Fireheart moved next trying to copy Darkstripe's approach but keeping his head a bit to dipped.
"We need to hurry if you're to return. Riverclan and Shadowclan have begasn hunting in your territory."
The Windclan cats bristled at that before Graystripe lurched forward to line up with the rest of the patrol.
"They aren't very good rabbit hunters. I bet they went home with empty bellies."
Windclan settled quickly with some chuckles being heard from the group. Longtail spoke again.
"Are your cats fit for travel?"
"We have a queen whose kit is too young to walk," responded Deadfoot.
"Then we'll have to take turns carrying it," responded Tallstar.
"Would you allow us to accompany you back?" Fireheart asked tactfully.
Tallstar recognized the implications of the question and carefully agreed. Fireheart could swear for a second a tiny look of pride appeared on Darkstripe's face before he turned to help lead Windclan back.
Fireheart made his way to Darkstripe and quietly asked, "what was that? You weren't anything like yourself back there."
Dark coolly responded, "There is a saying among experienced warriors. They say we must bear two faces. One to use with those you trust, and one to face enemies. I disagree. I believe we must bear many faces. One for friends. One for allies. One for loved ones. One for those you must defeat. And one for those who you must kill. When in the presence of rival clans in a diplomatic setting, insults cannot be tolerated. It reflects badly on Thunderclan. I may call them rabbitlegs if we were to face on a border, but anything I say now could effect our clan's future relations. We must be models of Thunderclan for the duration of the mission and respect rules and codes perfectly to reflect that."
Fireheart found himself pondering what faces he bore now that he was a warrior. What lengths must a warrior go for their clan? Fireheart tried to don a face to match the seriousness of what was to come. Eventually the group was at a thunderpath requiring everyone to cross.
"We'll cross in groups."
Darkstripe was one of the first to cross so he could keep a lookout. His tail twitched rhythmically with his anxiety rising. When Fireheart began his crossing with the elders, Darkstripe yelled, "Hurry up. I can feel one coming!"
Fireheart barely managed to get across with the elder after a desperate dive with a whisker length to spare. His heart felt like it was beating out of his chest.
"You almost died to save Windclan. We will not forget this debt."
Fireheart felt his pride soar a bit before he noticed Darkstripe. Darkstripe was perfectly except for his tail twitching at a regular rhythm. Longtail must have noticed too as he made his way over and muttered something in Darkstripe's ear. Suddenly Darkstripe's trance was over, but he was breathing like he just sprinted across the whole Windclan territory. It settled quickly, but he saw fiery anger in Darkstripe's eyes. Darkstripe almost dragged Fireheart away from the travelling cats with his façade near utterly destroyed.
"You utter mousebrain! It may have brave for you to save that elder, but you hold a responsibility to keep yourself alive! A loss of an elder would be tragic, but a loss of a warrior escorting a weakened clan would be much worse!"
Darkstripe batted Fireheart in the face with a sheathed paw. A look of relief and faintly sadness appeared of the dark tabby.
"Just… Don't do that again. I'm glad you're alive and not…" Darkstripe shuddered. "Smeared across the thunderpath."
Fireheart stood frozen again. It was beginning to become a habit around Darkstripe at this point. Had Tigerclaw's faithful truly been worried about him of all cats? That anger wasn't the same as when Darkstripe reprimanded him before.
Soon nightfall was approaching. Windclan would need to rest and there was only one good place to stop, but that would mean Darkstripe would find out Ravenpaw wasn't quite as dead as Fireheart had led him to believe. Fireheart glanced at Graystripe and realized the cat held the same worries as him. Their tail twitched with unease.