STONETOOTH
The entire Clan was stirring from the commotion, the shouts and bloody cries that made her hackles stick on end. Stonetooth stalked out from the warrior's den with ears pricked as Rowanstar let up a loud, ringing cry as he bounded up the Hollow Ash.
They all listened with unshaken attention as Rowanstar unraveled the murderous conspiracy out for them, Rosestar's loyalists still seeking their new leader's death, even now.
Foxhearts!
She hated them, the way they walked together, the way they all seemed to share some private joke the rest of the Clan wasn't in on. One of them, or all of them, had killed her former mentor. Squirreltail, who was never afraid to stand up to Rosestar.
Splitears and Rooktuft had already fled; the medicine cats were nowhere to be seen.
The warriors clustered tight around Rowanstar as he leaped from the Ash, down among the Clan, shaking his head.
"A shadow hangs over me as long as Rosestar is here," Rowanstar growled, gaze sweeping around. "Don't I have any friends, any friends, who can get rid of this living fear?"
Stonetooth could have sworn he looked at her then, just as he said it, gaze lingering. She steeled her heart, unsheathing her claws.
I can be that friend, Rowanstar.
She'd never had a leader to believe in until now. Stormstar was just an old nursery tale for her.
They chased Splitears and Rooktuft as far as Tumblestone. Rooktuft held off three warriors at the foot of the rocks, hissing and spitting and yowling curses, but one misstep, her paw slipping through a gap in the rockpile, and Nightbird had his opportunity.
The dark warrior lunged at her, pinning her writhing against the stones, until sheets of red washed down. From where she laid, she never got back up.
Splitears, at the top of the tallest rockpile, fought like a rabid badger. He flung Owlswoop down from the heights with a short yelp of surprise, the warrior slow to get back to his legs, and dazed Boulderstep with a slap over the head. The big warrior went reeling back down, almost losing his balance.
But with three, four more pairs of jaws clipping at him, they eventually tore at him from every angle, like hounds around a fox. Longscar grabbed his tail, Nightbird a hind leg, even as Splitears clawed and spat and howled in pain, stretching him from nose to tail as Stonetooth finally sank her teeth into his throat, feeling the warm blood pump and wash over her tongue.
True to her word.
Her first time killing another cat. They paid the price for straying outside the code, and lost the code's protections.
When they made it back to camp, dragging their mangled fresh-kill with them, it was almost moonhigh. The elders began their solemn duty of grooming the cats' pelts, laying them in beds of watermint and rosemary, but no cats came forward to share tongues with the deceased.
It'd be easier to just leave them for crowfood, Stonetooth thought. A warrior's burial is too good for them.
Rowanstar perched on the Hollow Ash, his eyes two half-slit golden orbs.
It truly was moonhigh when they heard it, a high pathetic wail through the trees, followed by the rustle of underbrush. Another wail, another short burst of dragging, a low, elongated 'mrrow' of despair.
A few more minutes of that, and Nettlepaw was dragging Murkpool in by the scruff, his teeth full of loose skin and fur as Murkpool dragged his claws through the earth, going limp at the legs.
Finally, the apprentice could spit him out, letting the senior medicine cat drop to the ground. "Here," Nettlepaw said between heavy breaths, "is Murkpool, alive, to answer your justice. Old codger got almost all the way to MireClan territory."
From at the edge of the clearing, Shrikepaw's eyes were two golden moons, gleaming with apprehension.
"Murkpool," Rowanstar said, "this is your doom…"
The medicine cat only answered with a whimper.
"You will help give Shrikepaw their full name and rites as a medicine cat. Then you'll retire to the elder's den for the rest of your days," Rowanstar said. "You have saved too many LeafClan lives, and brought too many LeafClan kits into the world, for me to hold my own life as more valuable. I only ask you to live in peace."
Murkpool went light-headed and slumped to the ground, his apprentice rushing from across camp to check on him as the rest of the Clan dispersed.
Stonetooth lingered over the bodies, claws sheathing and unsheathing, kneading at the grass. She stole a hard, discrete glance at Rowanstar as he leapt down from the tree, speaking to a warrior here and another there, before disappearing back into the Hollow Ash with his head low.
'Don't I have any friends, any friends, who can get rid of this living fear?'
Another figure lingered near the bodies besides the elders, deep in their silent vigil. A once pretty queen with a true warrior's battle scars across her face. When their eyes met, she could read the keen intent within.
Stonetooth rose to pad closer. The words she wanted to say formed in her mind, but didn't dare leave her throat.
"Does this satisfy you?" Longscar mewed. "They died, but it doesn't do much good for Squirreltail now."
"No," Stonetooth answered hesitatingly. "It won't put breath back into his lungs, or blood back in his wounds. But his spirit should be satisfied—"
"If only we had his real killers," Longscar finished for her, blunt as a rock.
Stonetooth twitched her whiskers. Then they had the same mind. She wanted Squirreltail and all the other injustices avenged, just like her.
"Didn't you mark what Rowanstar said today?" she mewed in low tones, settling down beside her. "He said, Rosestar was the shadow that hung over him."
"He did," Longscar said, "and it's very true."
"'Don't I have any friend who can rid me of this fear?'" Stonetooth repeated. "And when he said it, he looked at us. Looked at me."
"I remember." Longscar met her gaze now, steady as a charging boar.
"Let me ask you this," Stonetooth said, leaning into the queen's ear. "Are you brave enough to be Rowanstar's friend?"
The full moon shone fair, leering over the treetops, calling every cat from every Clan to Clawtower. MireClan from their bogs and MeadowClan from across the river, and HillClan from the rolling moors blanketed in heather. Stonetooth lingered behind as Rowanstar gathered up his warriors for his first Gathering on the Greenstone.
A sacred night of bloodless peace. A single cloud didn't lour in the sky.
When Rowanstar returned, LeafClan would finally be safe.
Longscar and Stonetooth watched them go, until the camp was almost dead quiet. Only a handful of cats old enough to catch their own prey remained to guard camp—even most of the queens and elders had gone.
They moved together toward the medicine cat's den, where a small brown tabby she-cat flicked her ears lazily at them, her eyes green slits.
"How's the prey running?" Sparrowflight asked with a tone that said, 'What in StarClan's name do you want?' "Get a thorn in your pad? Or were you just hoping to stick your face in Shrikepaw's old catmint? I'm playing guard, not medicine cat, so I can't help you there."
"We want some time alone with our former leader," Stonetooth said matter-of-factly. "Just a few moments."
Sparrowflight flicked her tail back and forth, slitted green eyes flicking between the young warrior and the senior queen.
"That, I don't think I can allow," Sparrowflight said after a few moments. "Rowanstar has commanded the contrary."
"We come on Rowanstar's orders," Stonetooth insisted, claws digging into the earth. She already felt her blood up. "I'll relieve you for sentry duty, and you go take a long moonhigh stroll around camp. Catch some fresh-kill. Take a nap."
Sparrowflight just stared back at her, unblinking.
"Yes, Rowanstar's orders," the tabby repeated pointedly, not moving. "Does Rowanstar know he gave those orders? He didn't communicate them to me."
"He'll know you disobeyed," Stonetooth warned her with a low growl. "This is of dire importance to him. Perhaps you'd like to take it up with him yourself when he returns?"
After a tortured pause, Sparrowflight stood up with a long stretch. "Fine, okay," she mewed languidly. "Then I'll say you, Stonetooth, came to relieve me for sentry duty. You can stay where I'm sitting for the rest of the night then, and nothing that happens on your watch is any of my concern."
Her eyes seemed to say a thousand more words, and Stonetooth thought some unspoken understanding passed between them, but the tabby was soon padding off toward the bramble tunnel.
They waited until the warrior was out of sight before they both entered, ducking under the shadow of the low-hanging rowan tree.
The sharp scent and floral notes of herbs tickled her nose. Rosestar was curled up among the rowan roots, craning his head at the new visitors.
"My faithful clanmates," Rosestar managed by way of greeting, with barely any sarcasm, but just enough that they knew he wasn't being sincere. "To what do I owe the pleasure? You haven't brought me a nice, fresh mouse, have you?"
Longscar stalked around the rowan, paws darting into the leaf bundles where Murkpool and Shrikepaw had stored their herbs. She sent chips of alder bark, puffs of bright-eye, burdock roots and poppy seeds scattering across the den floor as she began rooting through the herbs.
"I don't think Shrikepaw will have to appreciate re-organizing those," Rosestar mewed, tail lashing back and forth. "From what I hear, he has to do it by himself now."
Stonetooth could see how his neck fur stood on end, disturbed despite his lazy words.
She hooked them out by the paw now, a cluster of red berries, and flung them in front of Rosestar's paws. He stood, looking down his nose at them.
Deathberries.
They could kill any cat within minutes.
"Eat them," Longscar hissed. "It's an easier death than you deserve."
Rosestar rolled them around under his paws, still not looking up. Shoulders slumped, whiskers drooping, tail limp on the earth—she'd never seen their one-time leader so ground into dust. A ghost of himself. It was fitting to see all that pride fade away with his rank, leaving him bare and clear what he was…
Just another cat. Weak, friendless, unloved, and all alone now, not belonging to LeafClan or any Clan.
Rosestar raised his head, and in an instant, the expression changed. Fire lit up in his eyes, his teeth bared back in a snarl, fur bushing out.
"Foxes take you, and you, and Rowanstar, and all the rest!" he roared. "If you want these nine lives, come and take them!"
He batted the berries with his paws, sending them flying up into Longscar's face. She flinched back, and that one moment was all Rosestar needed, furious blows striking her left and right across the head, driving her back to the edge of the den.
Stonetooth flung herself at him now, claws outstretched. But he seemed to let himself fall with her weight, rolling, and after one dizzying lurch, it was Rosestar on top of her. Claws raked her face, slashed at her soft underbelly, tore at her fur, blood washing down and stinging her eyes.
Something threw the weight of her attacker off, as Stonetooth blinked vision back into her eyes, clambering to her paws. Longscar and Rosestar tumbled in a flurry of claws and teeth now. He managed to fling her against the tree, and then thrust his paw hard into her throat, dashing the queen's head against the trunk. Once, twice, three times, until she slumped over in a daze.
Stonetooth yowled as Rosestar sunk his teeth into Longscar's throat, whipping savagely back and forth until her head hung limply, crookedly down, eyes glassy and lifeless.
Another set of quick pawsteps rushed toward the den, Sparrowflight sticking her head back in.
"All the stars," the tabby hissed. "What have you two done now?!"
"Come and fill another grave!" Rosestar challenged, his eyes almost maniacal now, scarlet dripping from his teeth. "You've come for death, haven't you? Then try it!"
Stonetooth and Sparrowflight dashed in together, like beetle's pincers. Rosestar stepped deftly back, and then pressed himself low, as if to dart beneath her legs.
She twisted, almost tripping over herself, but he moved with her. His claws hooked into her fur, dragging her to the ground and spilling into the dust. Sparrowflight came up from behind Rosestar, sinking her teeth into her scruff to drag him away from the young warrior, and in an almost comical display he went up on his hind legs, Sparrowflight's teeth still clenched around his mane.
Tipping back, weight against her, she released his scruff as he went rolling back over her and flattening the smaller warrior to the dirt.
Rosestar was quick to find his paws, circling Stonetooth now with bared fangs and an arched back. Sparrowflight didn't rise, eyes unfocused, looking only half-conscious.
She was fighting for her life now as Rosestar flung himself at her, scrabbling at her with hind paws and sending bolts of pain up her spine. With strength born from desperation, she surged up and flung him off, and by now Sparrowflight was back on her paws, clutching onto the pale golden tom's haunches.
Held in place, she had her chance now, but he still wrestled with her, trading powerful boxes as she finally grabbed him by the neck.
The killing bite… it wasn't there, her teeth couldn't find purchase, but she could still shake, and shake, and shake, as if to snap his neck. All while Sparrowflight held him, she twisted him back, and finally Rosestar felt limp to the ground.
His eyes wide, as if glazed open in amazement, mouth parted.
The two living LeafClan cats filled the den with heavy pants, Sparrowflight glaring thorns into her eyes.
"What a mess you've made," Sparrowflight muttered. "Remember, I had nothing to do with this—"
Rosestar twitched. A gasp, as he sucked in air. And then the dead cat was living again, full of fury as ever, splotched with blood as he surged to his paws and grabbed at Sparrowflight with a yowl. She gave a surprised shriek as he heaved her with fresh strength against the rowan tree, and this time she went slumping fully unconscious against its trunk.
"Stonetooth," Rosestar gargled, blood spilling from his throat even as he spoke. "Endless hunting grounds call for me. What waits for you? Briars and thorns and endless wandering."
She grabbed him again, properly this time, and sunk down her teeth until the life-blood welled up. All the while, he swiped, and batted, and clawed at her, raking her with pain. A heartbeat of silence, dead, truly stone cold dead, only for him to spring back into life, full of new fire.
But now she knew not to let go. She held, and held, and clenched until she thought she might chew through his throat. There was no counting how many lives. If he had all nine, it felt like nine thousand. Stonetooth kept her teeth in his throat until long, long after Rosestar finally quit his movements.
When she finally released him, it was with a sob, collapsing onto her haunches. Longscar laid dead beside their former leader, their dark blood pooling together on the floor of the medicine den.
There was no wave of triumph, no sweet relief of revenge. She only felt the hot, sticky blood on her muzzle, the iron on her tongue, salt in her eyes.