Chapter 68: Blackfoot's Awakening
Darkstripe seemed to have awoken some time during sunrise. It wasn't that he'd actually been asleep. He couldn't remember the previous night, a possible mercy. All he knew was that he was somewhere near the Shadowclan far border, stank of Tigerstar and Sasha, and his hindquarters hurt. He dared not think of a why. Regardless, he felt dirty, filthy, like whatever stuck to him was actively poisoning him. Anything would be an improvement to what he currently had. His eyes desperately searched for any way to remove the smells that threatened to reveal what had happened the previous night.
He found something, a shallow pond that stank of stagnation and swamp. He eagerly dived in, letting the foul-smelling water soak every inch of his pelt. It wasn't a super pleasant experience, but it was better than staying with those scents for even a heartbeat more. He pulled himself from the pond smelling the air with a smile. He didn't smell Tigerstar or Sasha. He only smelled the swamp. He stretched out and padded around a bit, not wanting to start on the task of removing the swamp scent. It was far better than he had been, but he knew it couldn't last. He had to dry himself before he caught a cold or worse.
Darkstripe went through the meticulous process of grooming himself. Usually, he cleaned himself in a cursory manner or left it up to others to bring him up to presentable, but not this day. He went through every part of his body in multiple passes. Sometimes the ghost of Tigerstar's or Sasha's scent bled through making him give an additional pass to the area. He cleaned and cleaned. He accidentally pulled patches of fur and licked until all his skin felt raw. Somehow, he still didn't feel clean enough, but the sun was already directly overhead. He'd spent far too long trying to solve his problem. He needed to head back. He already knew in the back of his mind that Tigerstar's scent had left him very early on in his grooming. It had been only his imagination dredging up his fears.
When Darkstripe made it back to camp, Tigerstar only looked at him briefly before continuing on. Blackfoot wasn't so unconcerned. He noticed how Darkstripe's pelt looked overgroomed and how he seemed to be subtly shaking.
"Where have you been? I had half a mind to go looking for you when you didn't show up at dawn."
Darkstripe didn't meet his eyes. He still hadn't processed what had happened the night before. In a hushed tone, he replied.
"I did something last night that I hope I never have to do again. It was so wrong. I just… felt so filthy. I couldn't stand it. I probably spent until sunhigh just trying to get the smell out. I… Can I be excused for the day?"
Blackfoot could tell. Something terrible had happened to this tom, but he didn't have the slightest clue what. Darkstripe hadn't been in Shadowclan long, but Blackfoot was already starting to see him somewhat as a brother. Darkstripe's speech on his clan being his family had changed a lot of his perspective towards the clan, so the least he could do was regard Darkstripe as family as well. Now he was coming to understand the drawbacks of such a view. Blackfoot himself was being pained by seeing someone he regarded as family in such a traumatized state. Darkstripe wasn't going to talk about it. He could only agree to give him the time he needed.
"Ok. You can have today off. Just… If you want to talk about it, I'm here. Go ahead and sleep in the medicine den. I'll make sure no one bothers you."
Darkstripe gave a soft nod, quite unlike his usually over expressive character. Blackfoot guided Darkstripe to the medicine den and gave Littlecloud and Runningnose a brief rundown of what he knew. They agreed to let Darkstripe shelter there for the day. As Blackfoot padded out, he knew he couldn't let the matter rest. What if that happened to one of his other warriors? What if Darkstripe was forced to do whatever had happened again? It left a foul taste in his mouth.
Blackfoot decided to investigate. Darkstripe's scent wasn't hard to pick up. A cat who was so freshly groomed had a strong scent of themselves. He followed the scent back leading him close to the edge of the territory. The scent seemed to stop at a location that stank deeply of pond scum, but that didn't deter Blackfoot. The fact that the scent stopped here hinted at Darkstripe at some previous point in time stank of that pond scum. That was easy to track back. Finally, he caught scents that were suspicious. There was some kind of twist of scents, one being Tigerstar, another being Darkstripe, and the third being an unknown. Something about the scents bothered him like they somehow reminded him of Newleaf.
He tracked the scents back, their origin becoming clearer with every paw step. Then he found it, a clearing bathed in those scents. Tigerstar, Darkstripe, and what could now only be identified as kittypet stank up the air. Blackfoot weas starting to get a clear picture of what happened. The scent of the air was lust. Tigerstar's scent and the kittypet's both heavily stank of lust, but curiously, Darkstripe's did not. With some effort, Blackfoot could make out the scent of stress in Darkstripe's lingering scent. With some investigation, Blackfoot found the remains of what appeared to be a bundle of herbs. He grabbed the bundle gently and made his way back to camp to question the medicine cats.
"That bundle is what we'd usually give to cats who have 'performance issues.' It isn't something to take lightly because that blend usually leaves a cat's memories fuzzy. It's a secretive blend that only the dealers and medicine cats know due to the potential to use it for unsavory acts. If Darkstripe took this, he either had it forced upon him or felt he needed it to do whatever he's shaken up about."
Blackfoot was making the associations in his mind. Tigerstar and Darkstripe took off somewhere alone towards sundown the previous day. Tigerstar returned alone stinking of toadstools, clearly having rolled in them. Meanwhile, Darkstripe had been left out there alone. Tigerstar appeared clearly smug and upbeat throughout the morning until Darkstripe arrived. Then there was the kittypet scent. It was clear that the kittypet was involved in what happened. Whether Darkstripe stated he had been willing or not, Darkstripe had been on the receiving end of an unwelcome sexual encounter involving Tigerstar and that kittypet.
Blackfoot's faith in Tigerstar had been shattered. What kind of leader could do that to one of their own warriors? "Brokenstar," was the reply that echoed in his mind. Blackfoot knew a queen who was the unwilling mother of Brokenstar's kits. Regardless, Tigerstar was the one with nine lives and the battle skills to match. He couldn't just be driven out like Brokenstar had been. There were too many faithful. Tigerstar was effective at making himself look the hero. Blackfoot resolved himself to stage a coup when he got the chance. He'd have to find cats of like mind and quietly reveal what kind of cat Tigerstar really was. He wouldn't let his family be the victims of another Brokenstar.