Post by fire on Apr 12, 2022 19:30:15 GMT -5
Author's Note: Repost of a story I made a while back. Would appreciate some feedback on it. I am considering continuing this; lemme know what you guys think!
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This story is the first part of a trilogy called United and Divided.
The events of this story take place before 'Rebirth of Tiger.'
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The night air crackled with tension and anxiety as cats from two once-rivaling Clans gathered in the ThunderClan camp. A slight breeze ruffled their fur as they began to settle down, waiting for their leaders to speak. The crowd muttered worried whispers of what was going to happen to each other, and wondering whether their leaders’ mission to negotiate peace had been a success, while others looked on solemnly. One black tom maneuvered around the cats expertly, trying not to bump into too many of them or step on anyone's paws. Eventually, he reached the front of the crowd, and was relieved when he saw two familiar cats. Padding up to them, they shifted a little out of the way to give him enough room to sit down.
Leafpelt, the white she-cat to his left, barely gave him a nod as he settled down, which made his fur bristle a little, even though he couldn't tell whether the nod had been given out of spite or because she was too distracted by the event that was about to transpire. Yarrowclaw, the brown tom, acknowledged him with a flick of his tail, but his gaze was focused on the tall rock that the leaders would use to address the Clans. Thorntail would've expected this behavior from Leafpelt, as their relationship had seen better days. He wasn’t in the mood for arguing about the tensions between the Clans, but part of him wanted to reconcile with Leafpelt and be near her. Sighing, he shifted his gaze to his best friend since apprenticeship, the cat he would've expected to give a greater reaction. Raising a brow at the russet tom's uncharacteristically focused and determined nature, he realized from the crowd's falling whispers that the meeting was about to start.
Jaggedstar spoke before he was seen. "This might've been inevitable to some of you," he said, slowly approaching the Clan. The shadows the moon cast on his pelt shrank as he walked further to the edge of the rock. His dark blue eyes were illuminated as he peered at the Clan cats. He paused for a moment, and with the silence, Thorntail heard a few excited whispers from some ShadowClan cats, their eyes beginning to glow with pride. Looking back up at the tall rock, he saw the reason for their animated nature.
Quailstar was seen before he had spoken. "And it might've been avoidable to others." A few cats yelled out at this, agreeing or disagreeing with what the two leaders said. Thorntail flicked his tail in agitation. The warriors had gathered to hear what Jaggedstar and Quailstar had to say, not to voice their opinions or stances on the topic. The clamoring grew to bickering quickly, the tension only rising as cats yowled at each other. "We've barely heard anything yet," Yarrowclaw muttered, echoing Thorntail's sentiments. Leafpelt said nothing, but gazed at the cats around with an air of annoyance.
"Silence!" yowled the deputies from both Clans, and the crowd quieted quickly. This could've been due to the fact that Nightwren, a black tom with red eyes, had a commanding voice that boomed over the other cats', or that Rainsong, a tortoiseshell with green eyes, barely raised hers, or that the cats wanted to hear what the leaders had to say, seeing as they anxiously flicked their tails while staring up at them, as if they'd realized how dire their situation was again. Thorntail assumed it was a bit of everything.
Jaggedstar nodded to Nightwren and Quailstar thanked Rainsong with a flick of his tail. "Whichever stance you took on this matter, it is here. This is our prelude to war."
Thorntail's pelt pricked as he heard the tone of Quailstar's voice. Flashing a glance to Yarrowclaw and Leafpelt, he saw they had similar expressions of shock on their faces. He brushed Leafpelt's fur with his tail, and she looked at him, calming down. Slightly surprised by this, he supposed even their quarrel could be put aside for the moment. After all, there was nothing to argue about now.
"What are you saying?" yowled a cat from the crowd. Thorntail looked around to try to spot where the voice had come from, spying Icewhisper, a fellow ThunderClan warrior.
"We're saying," said Jaggedstar, standing where everyone could see him, "that our mission to negotiate with Oakstar and the other Clans was a failure. In fact, our situation has... worsened."
"Worsened?!" yowled Leafpelt, startling Thorntail. She had been one of the cats to try to avoid the battle the cats had been talking about for moons, saying that all they needed to do was reason with Oakstar and the other Clans.
Violence will only lead to more violence.
Her voice rang loudly in his ears as he looked at the white she-cat.
Jaggedstar nodded solemnly, the dark brown tabby seeming at a loss for words for a moment. Quailstar stepped forward, first looking to Leafpelt and then to all the cats gathered. "Oakstar wasn't pleased with our unannounced arrival at his border. Already, we had started on the wrong foot.”
“We had a brief skirmish with their warriors,” said Jaggedstar, and in the moonlight Thorntail suddenly realized that a few cuts and bruises were scattered across the noble leaders’ pelts. “However, eventually they decided to let us into their camp, by appeasing to Oakstar’s sense of the warrior code.”
Thorntail snorted, and he heard a few other cats scoff in disbelief. Oakstar, the ruthless tyrant, having a sense of nobility? “Rest assured that we are telling the truth,” Quailstar said, with a hint of accusation in his tone, though Thorntail couldn’t tell whether it was directed at the warriors or at Jaggedstar. “When we got to their camp, we had tried the plan that we discussed with all of you. Arranging specific borders.” Reluctantly he added, “We even decided to give him a little more of the share, so that we could get him to fully back down.”
“That was our plan in the first place!” yowled a ShadowClan tom with a black-and-white pelt. Thorntail recognized him as Cloudfur, a warrior who seemed to be well-respected by his Clan, judging from their admiring eyes at his outspoken anger and their agreement over what he said.
The forest seemed to stand still as Jaggedstar turned to look at the indignant ShadowClan warrior. “We did what we had to,” he said darkly, his tone inviting no further conflict. He turned his attention to the Clan gathered below, whose pelts were bristling either in anger or anxious anticipation of what the ThunderClan leader was about to say next. “He agreed.”
A wave of whispers spread among the Clan cats. Thorntail muttered out loud, “Then how did we get here? What did he mean by ‘This is our prelude to war’? How did-” The black tom cut himself off, catching a glare that Leafpelt was throwing at him. Her eyes were filled with unspoken emotion, which made Thorntail’s pelt crawl. He assumed that their conflict was over now that Oakstar had been talked to. Or at least, it should be.
Opening his mouth to speak to her, before he could get a word out, Yarrowclaw cut him off. “I doubt that Oakstar actually agreed to this, no matter what amount of persuading Quailstar or Jaggedstar did.” The brown tom spoke as he stared up at the grim-looking leaders.
Yarrowclaw went on. “It’s obvious that Jaggedstar and Oakstar’s history might’ve played a factor into things. I doubt that he was successful, so Quailstar probably had to take over.” With a glance at Thorntail, the russet tom said, his yellow eyes glittering with amusement, “And we all know how persuasive ShadowClan can be.”
Thorntail returned the smile, knowing that Yarrowclaw was obviously talking about their days as brand-new warriors, when ties between ShadowClan and ThunderClan were still broken, and fights were regular. The newly appointed leader, Quailstar, had held a meeting with Jaggedstar, and their Clans had agreed to stop fighting and focus on any bigger threats to their Clans. ‘Looks like that time is now,’ thought Thorntail wryly.
“Wasn’t that long ago, only about a turn of the seasons when the fighting stopped, I think,” said the black tom, focusing back on Jaggedstar and Quailstar, who seemed to be getting more and more angry. Yet Thorntail could swear he saw a hint of nervousness and regret in their eyes, Jaggedstar’s especially. What wasn’t he telling them? Narrowing his eyes, he said, “Jaggedstar, what-”
Quailstar quickly interrupted, “The time for mincing words is over! Listen to what we have to say, or go blindly into battle!”
Quick as lightning, the Clans were quiet.
”Battle?” whispered Leafpelt. Thorntail winced at how heart-broken she seemed. He heard a few others echoing the same shock, but Quailstar went on before the crowd had a chance to get riled up again.
”Oakstar did agree, that much is true,” the mottled gray tom said. “But his agreement was short-lived.” Pausing, he glanced at Jaggedstar, who gave a tiny nod. “Oakstar demanded that the Clans still defer to him, making him the leader above all leaders. The Supreme Leader, was that his title, Jaggedstar?”
The dark brown tabby gave another slight nod, his dark blue eyes focused on something only he could see.
Thorntail gave a snort of disgust at the title. “How pretentious can you be?” he said to Yarrowclaw.
Yarrowclaw flicked his ear in response. Staring up at Quailstar, he muttered, “Why does he keep glancing at the moon?” Thorntail looked up, and, sure enough, the ShadowClan leader had his gaze trained on the moon, before looking down at the Clans. He did this every few seconds, his paws shifting on the tall rock.
Quailstar continued, disregarding Jaggedstar’s troubled mood. It seemed he was focused on getting this information out as quickly as possible. “Obviously, we disagreed with this. Quickly, he grew hostile and his warriors seemed on the verge of attacking us.”
Jaggedstar seemed to spring back to life at these words, his gaze snapping toward Quailstar and then the Clans. Quailstar took a step back, as if they’d already planned that the ThunderClan tom would be the one to say this. Padding forward, Jaggedstar said, “Oakstar said he was fed up with the hostilities. He has given us an ultimatum.” He took a deep breath before saying, “We must meet him at Fourtrees at moonhigh, in a battle that will decide what happens to the forest. Otherwise, he will hunt us down when we send out border patrols. He will steal our prey so that we can’t hunt as well as we would be able to usually. He will keep us here, prisoners in our own home.”
Outrage. It was an accurate word to describe what met the proclamation.
Thorntail yowled out, “There’s no way we’ll let that fox-heart do this!” His words were lost in the sea of hisses and yowls of exclamations. Most of the cats were saying the same thing, their pelts bristling and fluffed out, some of them looking twice their size. Yarrowclaw’s fur was standing straight up, and his tail lashed furiously. “How dare they…” Thorntail heard him mutter. The noise grew louder as cats began to furiously argue against Oakstar’s declaration of war. There was bickering among them, and Thorntail could spot a few cats who had their claws unsheathed, turning on their Clanmates. ‘This can’t be what’s supposed to happen. We have to unite, otherwise Oakstar will conquer us without the help of a battle!’
“QUIET!” yowled Thorntail, his voice seeming to reach to the tops of the trees. Leafpelt and Yarrowclaw, as well as most of the cats in the clearing, stopped their conversations or turned to look at him in surprise. The black tom had not been expecting to get this many cats’ attention, and sheepishly shifted his paws, before regaining his composure quickly and saying, “There’s a reason we’ve training for this.” He increased his voice as he went on, trying to make sure that all the cats heard him. He didn’t realize that he was talking as if he was their leader, or that he might’ve been offending Jaggedstar and Quailstar by commanding these cats to listen to him. Instead, he plunged on, determined to get out what he’d been wanting to say to his Clanmates all this time, what’d been going in his mind for a while.
“How the hell are we going to sit here, arguing amongst ourselves while our enemies are plotting to kill us?!” Beginning to embrace what he was doing, Thorntail padded forward a few steps before turning around to address the Clans. “This is why we trained! This is why we sparred! This is why we prepared! We’ve known that Oakstar was a threat to us for moons now! Some of us might not have agreed with this-” he couldn’t help but look at Leafpelt, who returned his gaze with an underable epxression, “but we’ve known that our Clans were in danger! Now that we’ve been presented with a battle, we can’t act like this is something unprecedented! We have to band together, or else we won’t make it to the battle!” Lashing his tail, he took a deep breath before saying, “We’ve come this far. We can’t lose now, not to RiverClan, not to WindClan, and certainly not to Oakstar! Who’s with me?”
Silence. A few furtive glances were made between the two leaders, who stood shell-shocked, and the bashful young tom who’d made the inspirational speech.
Yarrowclaw was the first to answer. “We’re with you! We’re with you!”
It began as a chant made by him, then Leafpelt adopted it, and in turn, it slowly spread to the rest of ThunderClan and even into ShadowClan. Before he knew it, most of the cats gathered were echoing Yarrowclaw’s words. “We’re with you! We’re with you!”
Thorntail’s eyes widened, amazed at the impact of the words he’d never meant to say. However, spurred on by the Clans’ approval, he said with a determined smile, “Yeah! We can take down any leader, even one like Oakstar, the greedy, selfish, power-hungr-”
“That’s enough.”
Jaggedstar didn’t need to yell. His voice boomed over the crowd and slowly but surely their cheering died down. Drawing himself up to his full height, his blue eyes found Thorntail, who gulped under the hardened stare of Jaggedstar. But then the leader’s gaze softened, and he said, “Well spoken, Thorntail. As I would expect from one of our Clan’s best warriors.”
Thorntail smiled back and said, “Thank you, Jaggedstar.” Dipping his head respectfully, he padded back over to Yarrowclaw and Leafpelt. The russet tom put his tail on Thorntail’s shoulder, saying, “You were great up there. Just what we needed to get our minds right.”
Thorntail laughed and said sheepishly, “Well, I just felt the need to-”
“No, really, you were great.” Thorntail’s eyes flashed over at the familiar voice, and was surprised to see Leafpelt smiling at him, her blue eyes shining with admiration.
The black tom returned her smile softly and said, “Thank you, Leafpelt. That means a lot.” Before he could say anymore, his attention was brought to the two leaders, who seemed to be finishing up a conversation that Thorntail was unaware of.
Clearing his throat, Quailstar said, “I assume it’s safe to say that we are united in our war against RiverClan and WindClan. With that being said, all of you have prepared wonderfully for this moment. Your skills are sharpened, your senses alert, your claws ready. We need your minds focused in our effort. This battle is one that has been anticipated by some for moons. Many of us may not make it out.” His tone grew solemn, and Thorntail could swear he saw the mottled gray tom’s eyes glistening.
Jaggedstar stepped forward to finish the ShadowClan leader’s speech. “However, the brave warriors of our Clans will fight like all of LionClan, and we will stick together, through thick and thin, to win this war against our opponents! No one will be able to take what’s ours!”
The crowd met these words with roars of approval and agreement, and for once, Thorntail was relieved to see that there was no more bickering or angry yelling. Instead, as he looked around at these cats, who were united in their movement to defeat Oakstar and his cats, he saw eyes filled with hope and determination, all of them knowing what they had to do.
As the crowd quieted down, Thorntail noticed once again that the leaders were looking to each other. Quailstar glanced at Jaggedstar and gave a brief nod. Jaggedstar nodded back and gazed down at the Clans. Thorntail shifted his paws a bit. Something about the depth of emotion in his eyes that the dark brown tabby hid so expertly, so that almost no cat with normal perception skills would be able to see it, unnerved the black tom. He wondered what was about to be said now, as he thought that the announcements were pretty much over. Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to have to wait long.
Jaggedstar spoke again. “Quailstar and I have decided to perform an alliance not seen in the forest for many generations.”
Murmurs greeted this news.
“It was performed by ThunderClan and WindClan before. However, since Oakstar is currently the leader of WindClan, and ShadowClan is our ally now, things will obviously have to change.”
Yarrowclaw turned to Thorntail. “Could he be talking about-”
“ThunderClan and ShadowClan will now take their allegiance a step further. ThunderClan and ShadowClan will now be known as LionClan, and we will fight as hard as we can to honor that name.”
Deafening sounds from the crowd threatened to burst Thorntail’s eardrums, but he soon joined in the cheering. He wouldn’t be surprised if Oakstar could hear them all the way from WindClan.
With one final glance at the moon Quailstar added, “It’s almost moonhigh. It is time for us to go into battle, LionClan. May StarClan light our path.”
Slowly, the cats began to file out of the ThunderClan camp, heading for Fourtrees, buzzing about the news of what had just happened and anticipation for what might be the greatest battle the forest had ever seen. Thorntail started at a steady trot next to Yarrowclaw and Leafpelt. It wasn’t long, however, before Yarrowclaw elbowed him sharply, with a smirk on his face as he glanced over at Leafpelt. Thorntail, shocked at first from the hit, then realized what his friend was trying to say. Nodding, he approached the white she-cat, as Yarrowclaw went on to talk to another warrior.
Thorntail spoke first. “I’m sorry for my dismissal of what you were trying to do to stop the battle.” He focused intently on his paws, as if they were the only thing in the world he could look at.
Leafpelt brushed her tail along his flank as she said, “There’s no need to apologize now. I was foolish to think that Oakstar could be stopped by words alone.” Her words were soothing to hear, but Thorntail looked up as her tone grew somber. “I just wished that there wouldn’t be any needless bloodshed. I might’ve gotten carried away with what I said… To you and to others…”
Thorntail stared at the beautiful she-cat for a second before regaining his ability to speak. He smiled softly and said, “I didn’t want it to happen any more than you did. Well… Maybe I am one to initiate a fight too quickly…” He heard a slight giggle at these words. “But I didn’t want any cat to get hurt or worse. It just seemed… unavoidable. Oakstar always struck me as a cat who would stop at nothing to get his way, and I doubt even Jaggedstar could’ve stopped him at this point.” His eyes travelled over to the night sky, twinkling with the warriors of StarClan. Thorntail hoped they were watching over LionClan.
“I wonder how they ever grew so far apart,” said Leafpelt wistfully, before returning to more serious matters. “But you’re right. I was too hopeful…”
Thorntail’s smile brightened as he reflected on Leafpelt’s normally kind and energetic nature. “We both weren’t acting as we should’ve. But just know that I will protect you tonight. We will both see this battle to its end.” He nuzzled Leafpelt as he said this, and could swear he heard a snicker from a certain russet tom.
Leafpelt and Thorntail both blushed slightly, but Leafpelt said, dropping her voice to a whisper, “And I will protect you as well.”
They both stared at each other for a while, before Thorntail looked up again at the night sky, and silently prayed that StarClan allow his Clanmates to live to see another day.
A few seconds later, in the blink of an eye, Thorntail saw a distant star shine brighter, enveloping the stars around it briefly, before going back to its usual size.
The black tom smiled at the star, before hearing the words, “We’re here!”, and watching as the star disappeared behind the four tall trees that were in the hollow.
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“And how confident are you in your warriors, Jaggedstar?”
Jaggedstar didn’t look at the questioning ShadowClan tom for a few seconds, before glancing at him and replying, “As confident as if I were the leader of LionClan.”
“You are the leader of LionClan.”
Jaggedstar couldn’t help but be surprised. “You, the great Quailstar, leader of ShadowClan, would defer that title to me?”
Quailstar let out a slight purr, his eyes dancing with laughter despite the tense atmosphere. “I’m no fool. I study all of the Clan leaders, and I can see how well you command your cats. You’re a more suitable leader than I am. However,” he said, his tone growing darker, but his eyes still betraying a bit of his light-heartedness from earlier, “I’d suggest you not tell the others I said that.”
Jaggedstar had gone back to being focused on the task ahead, so that Quailstar’s mockingly serious performance fell flat. “Got it,” he said dully, his mind seeming to be in an entirely different dimension.
But Quailstar wasn’t done. “And what was that about ‘appealing to Oakstar’s sense of the warrior code?’”, he said, his tail swishing as he said it. They were padding far ahead of the group, but even still, he lowered his voice to a whisper as he spoke. “What was it really about?”
“I told you already. It was a pact that Oakstar and I made when we were younger.” Jaggedstar said this with the beginnings of a growl.
“Yes, I’m well aware,” Quailstar responded. “You didn’t tell me what it was.”
Jaggedstar glanced at the mottled gray tom. “And I still won’t.”
Silence trickled down to the conversation until they were padding along for a couple minutes without speaking a word to each other. Quailstar was the first to initiate conversation again.
”I studied Oakstar as well.”
“Haven’t we all?” said the dark tabby sarcastically.
Quailstar dismissed this with a flick of his tail. “He’ll no doubt be ruthless in slaughtering our warriors. Let’s hope that our speech was enough to empower these cats.”
Jaggedstar’s eyes narrowed, focusing on Fourtrees as it began to come into view. “Don’t worry. The Clans will survive.”
“And if it comes down to it? You’ll kill him?”
Jaggedstar could feel the ShadowClan leader’s gaze boring into him. They’d talked about this many times over the past few moons, ever since the ThunderClan and ShadowClan alliance had started.
Taking a deep breath, he said, “I don’t care if he’s my brother anymore. If I have to in order to protect my cats and the Clans, I’ll kill him.”
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