Chapter 15: Confess Your Thoughts
After all the chaos of the past days, Fireheart decided to take some time to think. So much had happened so quickly. Whitecough had swept through the camp. He'd reconnected with his sister. Cinderpaw had been hit by a monster. Darkstripe was confusing him more than usual. He felt he needed to settle these thoughts.
No one was at fault for the Whitecough. It was purely chance. Fireheart brushed that thought away as he continued. Princess is so different. She used to be so sweet, but the way she speaks now always feels like she's trying to wrap me around her paws. It isn't malicious. Its just unfamiliar. I guess I've changed as well. Maybe its for the better. She's protected and smart. I'll have to thank Darkstripe for the reunion.
There was that thought again. Darkstripe. Whatever Fireheart did, Darkstripe seemed to be there. His paws always moving things. A Mystery that just wouldn't leave him alone. The more Fireheart pondered it the more he realized maybe he didn't want Darkstripe to stop. He was a strange font of knowledge, but he was a fool in what others saw as common knowledge. Fireheart wasn't even sure Darkstripe pissing off cats was intentional or if that was just the way Darkstripe played. Maybe Darkstripe was learning too. He acted differently when assuring Fireheart. The old Darkstripe used to just be a silent or vocal judge. Fireheart was unsure if he'd ever understand the cat.
Shaking his head Fireheart moved on to the last thought. Cinderpaw was struck on the thunderpath while she was out looking for Tigerclaw. Fireheart's thoughts stopped for a moment. Tigerclaw? Where was he when Cinderpaw got hit. He was positive he'd seen him on the way back to camp from that horrible accident, but they hadn't said anything. Then a thought struck him. Was it an accident? Replaying the events in his head he realized that something didn't add up. There was no Shadowclan scent at the location of the accident. If Bluestar had been hit... That was it. Bluestar! If Bluestar had investigated like Tigerclaw wanted, she'd likely have been hit instead. A monster can tear a cat in half. Even extra lives might not save a cat from that. Tigerclaw's goal must have been to get Bluestar killed in an 'accident' and become the leader of Thunderclan, but fate conspired against the cat. Bluestar had been too sick to leave and even Tigerclaw's victim had only been injured instead of killed. Fireheart needed to tell someone.
Darkstripe was settling himself down for rest when Fireheart began prodding him.
"What do you want?" Darkstripe whined tiredly.
"You told me to share my concerns, so I am. Come on."
Begrudgingly Darkstripe followed Fireheart into the camp center.
"So, are you going to tell me or what?"
"I think Tigerclaw caused the accident on the thunderpath." Fireheart blurted.
Darkstripe was astonished.
"Slow down. Why don't you take me through your thoughts. Maybe I can ease them. Why do you think Tigerclaw would do that to Cinderpaw?"
Fireheart's fur smoothed. At least Darkstripe hadn't blown him off like Bluestar had when he'd told her about Redtail.
"First, Cinderpaw wasn't his target. Tigerclaw wanted Bluestar to come to the border to investigate a Shadow Clan scent on the border."
Darkstripe nodded and said, "Yes. It is a bit odd he'd ask for Bluestar. She trusts him enough to take his word for it."
Fireheart continued. "Bluestar was stuck in camp due to the Whitecough outbreak and I couldn't go since I had to pick up herbs from Queen. There was too much going on. I wanted to leave it. Tigerclaw would come back on his own anyways. Then my apprentice rushed out thinking she'd let Tigerclaw know. I didn't stop her. There were other things more important. If I'd have known…"
Darkstripe touched Fireheart lightly.
"Focus. You can think about that later. You couldn't have stopped her if you'd tried. I would know. I was the one who wanted to torture you with her."
Fireheart let out a huff that was a mixture of sadness and amused.
"Anyway, Cinderpaw was struck by a monster while tracking Tigerclaw's scent."
Interest showed on the dark tom's face. "So at one point that day Tigerclaw was on the thunderpath."
"When I had arrived, I grabbed Cinderpaw as fast as possible. While leaving the scene I thought I saw Tigerclaw. He entered camp behind me. From what I've discussed with Cinderpaw, she scented no Shadowclan when she'd been tracking Tigerclaw."
Darkstripe had tried to remember the day. The wind was blowing from the direction of Riverclan. The border scents from Shadowclan could not have drifted onto Thunderclan territory.
"That makes sense since the wind was blowing towards Shadowclan.:
"Except it doesn't. Tigerclaw called for Bluestar since he scented Shadowclan on our territory, but Cinderpaw tracked him from camp and didn't smell any Shadowclan."
It made too much sense and too little at the same time. Darkstripe froze with that odd rhythmic tail ticking he did. Fireheart noticed and was unnerved. Darkstripe was like that for more than a few heartbeats he stopped.
This was too much for Darkstripe to deal with. The logic part of his brain said it made sense. Tigerclaw was always ambitious and would do anything to get an edge. The emotional part couldn't believe it. It would mean Tigerclaw betrayed him, his clan, the code, everything! He trusted Tigerclaw. There was too little for the shackles Darkstripe perceived as trust to unbind themselves from the cat that had been his mentor. Darkstripe realized he'd never find an answer, so he decided to not think about it. He'd let some other cat deal with it.
"I don't think I'm the right cat to talk about this. I trust Tigerclaw. This just hurts to think about. I don't want to believe it. Maybe talk to Whitestorm, Bluestar, or some other cat. Maybe Yellowfang. She's an outsider, so she might see things in a different way."
For some reason it hurt that Darkstripe didn't believe him. Fireheart watched the dark warrior pad back into the warriors' den. Darkstripe's walk wasn't his usual uniform. It was disjointed and not his usual rhythm. Darkstripe's tail still flicked in that odd pattern that meant he has thinking. Fireheart noticed. Maybe Darkstripe had believed him more than he thought.
Darkstripe could barely sleep that night. The thoughts of what Fireheart revealed to him wouldn't go away. He tried ignoring them, denying them, relenting to them. Nothing worked. They were relentless. He was too conflicted. He finally managed to suppress them into a dull echo. It was almost as quiet as he'd say the whispers of his sister were, but little did Darkstripe know the echoes would grow louder with time, and as more changed, they'd tear at his mind.