Alone #4: The Dynasty of Truth

Chapter 9

A few days passed of arduous and hard training. Autumn and Ravenflight left at dawn every morning and returned at dusk. Strike turned out to be a good teacher; stern and strict but encouraging and smart.

Strike had told them a bit more about himself. He had been born as a single kit, and his mother had trained him to fight and hunt. But his mother had died of old age. Strike had been a miracle. He wasn't supposed to be born.

Alone and helpless, Strike met a rogue and befriended him. The rogue had taught him how to be silent and deadly. When the rogue had been reckless, running into a Twoleg monster, Strike had used his skills to slip away into the darkness. No cat could catch him. He was elusive, strong and powerful. A true assassin.

Now, Autumn and Ravenflight were following in his pawsteps, keeping his legacy going. They were skilled now, able to stalk their victims without making a single sound. Today would be the last training session before they would assassinate for real.

Strike met them in the forest, leaping out of a tree soundlessly, his paws barely touching the ground before he broke into a run. Ravenflight raced after him, careful to keep her paws light and steady. With a glimmer of pride and joy, she realized she was silent too. A brown blur sped past her. Autumn.

Purring in delight, Ravenflight chased Autumn and Strike until they stopped in a clearing dappled with light. The trees provided cover, but the ground was illuminated by the glow of the rising sun, turning the clearing orange-gold. A leaf landed on Strike's nose and he shook it off, eyes dark and deadly like usual.

"We're going to learn about killing today," Strike announced.

Ravenflight tucked her paws in, ready to listen to his lecture. Autumn settled down beside her, ears pricked and eyes bright.

"Killing isn't fun. It's bad. I only kill if I must. But Dark must be stopped," Strike told them. "There are three ways to kill that I use. The first way to kill is the neck kill. You must wound their neck so severely that they cannot survive. The neck is one of the vulnerable places on a cat. You can snap their neck to make it quick. I usually do, so that my victim doesn't have to suffer."

"Is it silent though?" Ravenflight questioned.

"Good question!" Strike praised. "A small crack and it's over. Any other questions?"

"No," Autumn replied, Ravenflight shaking her head.

"The second way, and the most painful way, is to give them so many wounds that their body doesn't have enough blood. This is the least effective, as they could still escape. I don't suggest this way. It's dishonourable." Strike explained.

"Got it," Autumn dipped her head. "I wouldn't do that anyways."

"Me neither," Ravenflight agreed.

While Autumn had been short with Ravenflight when they first met, their training with Strike had bonded them. They both knew that they were on the same side.

"The third way," Strike began, his voice low, "is to use a weapon. I got this idea from Twolegs when I saw them cutting down some trees."

Strike reached into a pouch that he carried on his right foreleg. It was clearly Twoleg made and Ravenflight shrank back upon seeing it, hissing, although Autumn wasn't bothered.

Strike pulled out a silver, thin block. Ravenflight squinted to see. One side of it looked pointy and sharp, while the other looked blunt. She noticed that Strike was careful to hold the blunt side in his jaws.

"Thish ish a Fooleg weathon," Strike mumbled while holding it, his words messed up. He spat the silver thing out before speaking again. "Immobilize your victim. Make sure can't move or call for help. Then simply put the weapon on neck or belly and slit their fur. It will cut them and they'll die pretty quick."

Ravenflight padded over to it, pawing it. She jumped back as pain flashed through her.

"You touched the pointy side," Strike shook his head. "Don't do that again. Luckily, you'll only have a minor paw injury. I won't teach you how to use these weapons. They're too dangerous."

Thank StarClan. Ravenflight gently licked her paw, cleaning it. "Thank you, Strike, for the training. We are going to go now."

"Wait," Strike interrupted. "I'm going to join you."

Autumn's eyes widened and Ravenflight purred. Their odds seemed a lot more plausible now.

---

The three of them crept through the shadowy forest, Strike leading. Ravenflight's ears twitched as she heard Dark.

"Those stupid fools!" Dark was lashing his tail.

Strike motioned to the trees, Ravenflight understanding immediately. They climbed up the trees swiftly, leaning down on the branches so that their weight wouldn't be too heavy. Strike had taught them to climb and fall down onto the ground a couple of days ago.

On the ground, Dark scowled, pacing around. Ruthless lay on a rock, letting the sun warm her pelt. Blue was practicing her battle moves against a black she-cat with green eyes. They were fighting with claws unsheathed. Ravenflight stored the information in her head. It would be useful later. She knew it.

"Now," Strike hissed.

He had gone over the plan several times before they had begun their mission. Strike had drilled it into their heads, telling them that the plan was important. They had a backup plan too. You never know when you'll need it.

Ravenflight, Autumn and Strike split up, leaping onto separate trees. Ravenflight stealthily crept along her branch. She was right above Dark now.

Ravenflight glanced up to see Autumn staring at her. Strike slammed his tail down as the signal and he dropped down, interrupting Blue's practice. He spoke smoothly, his claws unsheathed. Ravenflight couldn't hear him, but she knew it was her turn.

Ravenflight landed on the ground softly and leapt at Ruthless, knocking the black she-cat off the rock. They tussled around until Ravenflight found the upper hand. She was much stronger now and she swept her teeth over Ruthless' neck.

Dimly, Ravenflight was aware of Autumn battling Dark. She risked a glance to see Dark throw Autumn a few fox-lengths away. But the light brown she-cat just got up and continued fighting.

Pain pierced her belly and Ravenflight realized Ruthless had used her lapse of attention to her advantage. Ravenflight growled, knowing the time for stealth was over. She ran away from Ruthless and hit Dark, helping Autumn with the black tom.

"You!" Dark gasped, finally realizing what had happened. He snarled in frustration and Ravenflight gripped onto his pelt, her claws scratching at his neck.

Dark went limp and Ravenflight blinked. Had she succeeded?

Ravenflight eased her grip until she heard Strike's yowl. "No!"

Ravenflight realized it had been a trick.

"RevengeClan, to me!" Dark yowled.

Cats melted out of the shadows. Their plan had backfired on them so fast.

"Plan B!" Strike caterwauled.

Ravenflight sprinted towards the nearest tree, aware of Autumn and Strike doing the same. She shimmied up the tree and dropped down on to the next tree until she was huddled next to Autumn.

"We failed," Autumn sighed, lowering her head.

"We failed," Ravenflight agreed.