Chapter 17: The Plan
Ravenpaw began his tale after pausing to gather his nerves.
"Mousefur, Tigerclaw, Redtail, and I were patrolling the Riverclan border. Recently, the tensions were rising between between the two clans. Riverclan was fixated on reclaiming Sunning Rocks. Oakheart, Mudfur, Stonefur, and another two cats who were mentor and apprentice ambushed us. We were outnumbered, but Tigerclaw's fierceness evened the odds a bit. I fought the apprentice. Redtail called for a duel between himself and Oakheart. I was still distracted with my fight when I heard part of Sunning Rocks collapse. I heard some cat call that Oakheart was dead. I think Redtail killed him."
I interjected before Ravenpaw could continue. "You think or you know? Unless you actually saw Redtail kill Oakheart, you should cut that thought from the story. You need to keep it strictly factual if we ever need to present it to Bluestar."
Ravenpaw seemed frozen after I'd critiqued his recounting of the events, so I pushed him with a, "continue."
"Anyways. Redtail came out of his fight bloody, but he wasn't limping or anything, so it was likely just superficial wounds. I was going to come out and greet him, but I noticed Tigerclaw stalking him. Before I could react, he pounced on Redtail and bit out his throat. I couldn't move or speak besides letting out a little squeak. Then my terror overcame me and I ran back to camp trying to let them know. You know the rest… So what do we do?"
Murder? I'd half suspected it, but how could we use the story and what happened to our advantage? Now Tigerclaw's recounting of the battle had some major holes. How could we exacerbate or cover them up if needed? In all honesty, I guessed Tigerclaw was responsible for Redtail's death, but my initial assumption had been that he just watched him bleed out or something along those lines. Now I knew Tigerclaw would do anything to achieve his goals. He was a very dangerous asset that I'd need to carefully manage.
It took me a minute to weave together a plot to both protect Ravenpaw and leave us an out should we find Tigerclaw proves too much of a threat.
"I have an idea, but it depends on your capability of lying." I mewed slowly.
"Lying?" Questioned Ravenpaw.
"You see, we can make Tigerclaw not see you as a threat. It all depends on how well you can sell an act. There is a certain event that can occur when a cat is put under enough stress and trauma in a small length of time. In essence, the cat forgets what caused the trauma to prevent themselves from reliving it. You can have Spottedleaf confirm it is a thing. Cats who had that happen to them don't remember the trauma as a memory, but their body instinctively does. For you, that would be skittishness towards Tigerclaw. What I want you to do is convince Tigerclaw to take you to Spottedleaf because you realized your memory of the battle is foggy. Your job would be to convince Tigerclaw that you can't remember anything about the battle besides it being fierce, Redtail died, and something scared you. That is all you remember. Tigerclaw may be a manipulator and influential, but from what I've noticed so far, he tends to go for easy answers. You not remembering takes you completely off his radar."
Sometimes I forget that I use terminology that cats wouldn't understand because Ravenpaw tilted his head at the term radar. I sighed somewhat exasperated. "Basically, you wouldn't something he'd pay attention to. A radar is a twoleg thing that can in essence sense monsters."
Clarity shined in Ravenpaw's eyes as he understood what I meant.
"Do… Do you really think that would work? Tigerclaw wouldn't notice? And what about justice for Redtail?" Ravenpaw replied nervously.
"Tigerclaw has already gotten a suspicion that I'm looking for something on him. I've heard about the Gatherings where clans meet up. I'll make some suspicious inquiries into the nature of Oakheart's death and Riverclan's perspective. That'll be my cover story. That'll draw his attention to me over you. I doubt he'd have a grudge with me for trying to get an edge on him because he still believes we are the same. Meanwhile, you'd have to give trustworthy cats around camp most of the story. Don't explicitly say Tigerclaw killed Redtail, but if you give out the information Oakheart died first, suddenly a lot of attention would be drawn to Tigerclaw. Depending on if he reforms or not, we can either cover up the story by saying Tigerclaw mistold it because he had to mercy kill Redtail, or we just tell the tale with Riverclan witnesses to get him punished."
Ravenpaw paused to let my words sink in. My plan was both brilliant and malicious. The only thing holding it back was how much I could trust Ravenpaw and his ability to act.
"You've thought this out." Ravenpaw stated with a measure of concern.
"Not really. I just really work well with the materials I'm given. I mean, I already had the idea of the you lying thing, but everything else I just came up with." I mewed in a matter of fact tone.
"You… are a scary cat." Mewed Ravenpaw. He didn't seem quite as disturbed by my scheming as I thought he would.
"I think it's my best quality." I replied in a half serious and half joking tone.
"I… I think I'll take you up on it. Lying shouldn't be too hard right?" Ravenpaw asked seemingly to try and make a joke.
"No. As you are, you couldn't sell a regular lie to save your life, but this one, any stuttering and nervousness will only sell your lie better. Just a heads up, Spottedleaf may mention something about the knock to your head after you fell off the high rock. Just nod your head so she thinks it's right. Let them fill in the blanks. They'll come up with answers for your missing memory more realistic than anything you could come up with, and they'll fight to justify it. It's a classic manipulation tool." I mewed with a slight enthusiasm at revealing aspects of what I do.
"Why are you telling me this?" Ravenpaw asked honestly.
"Why… I don't really know why. Maybe it's that you're the first cat I've revealed my whole personality to. Maybe it's how you intrigue me. Maybe I see you as a usable asset, or maybe I just have been wanting to talk. I'll let you come to your own conclusions." I stated almost as if I was ranting to the sky.
Ravenpaw seemed to be examining me for a moment before speaking again. "I think you're just lonely. You have your friend, but he doesn't see all of you. You've been restraining yourself for him. If you ever need to or want to talk, just let me know I'll make time."
I tilted my head as if to say, is that seriously the conclusion you drew, before replying, "Your serious? Ok. Don't say I didn't warn you. I'll seek you out to give you updates on what's going on."
With that I turned away, but I couldn't help questioning myself. Why did I just agree to give Ravenpaw updates? I already got what I needed. Why did I reveal so much? Why did I just reveal everything so easily? What was wrong with me? I thought back to those small moments of courage Ravenpaw demonstrated to me, those small acts of bravery in what most cats deemed a coward. Ravenpaw was by no means a coward to me. He was intelligent and knew a threat when he saw one. Why do I remember his face so clearly? That face filled with fear, but those eyes that were filled with resolve to do something about it. They were… They just… They were beautifully like something digging through the edges of my memory. Something old, older than my oldest recollection and primal. They reminded me of someone from long, long ago, someone I think even in my deepest depths of unfeeling, cold, psychopathy, I valued dearly. Why does my past keep haunting me and how long will it stay buried but dig it's nails into my new life? Reincarnation was not a new beginning, not for me.