Tigerstar's Goals

Chapter 4

The sun was shining into Tigerstar's eyes as he awoke. He had been so tired from keeping vigil for Bluestar and the journey to the Moonstone and back that he had slept in until around sunhigh.

Standing up and stretching, he pricked his ears as he saw a squirrel lying in the entrance of the den. Heading towards it, he gulped it down and licked the juice off his whiskers. Then, he brushed through the lichen and into the clearing of the camp.

Cats were busying around the clearing, sharing tongues or eating prey. It was a nice sunny day, and the fresh-kill pile was already nicely stocked. 

As Tigerstar began washing himself, Darkstripe made his way towards him from the warriors' den. 

He dipped his head as he approached. "Tigerstar."

Tigerstar stopped mid-lick. "Good morning, Darkstripe." He meowed in greeting. "Have the patrols been sent out?"

He nodded. "I sent the dawn patrol to check out the ShadowClan border and it was all clear, same for RiverClan."

"Good." Tigerstar nodded. "Can't show we're weak after the rogue attack, it'll be sooner or later that Crookedstar starts blabbing to all of the Clans about the fight."

As he stared around the clearing, he noticed Fireheart coming out of the elders' den, dragging a load of wet moss with him. An apprentice task. 

Tigerstar faced Darkstripe. "Please tell me you made him do that." 

Darkstripe had scorn in his eyes. "Of course. I told him all of the apprentices were out hunting so Fireheart had to look after the elders."

Tigerstar purred, trying his hardest to not twitch his whiskers. He watched Cinderpaw emerge from the medicine den and limp over to talk to Fireheart. 

Fireheart dropped his moss, listening curiously.

"Get a move on, kittypet!" Darkstripe jeered, yelling across the clearing. "You don't have all day!"

Fireheart shot him a glare before snatching up the moss again and heading out of the clearing. Cinderpaw frowned as she stared after him before limping over to the two cats.

"Why is Fireheart doing an apprentice task?" She meowed, staring at Darkstripe. "He's a warrior."

Darkstripe shrugged. "All the apprentices are out hunting."

"Because you ordered them to, you could have left one."

Tigerstar stood up. "Then that would be favouritism." He meowed quietly. "If Darkstripe left one behind, it would show that he didn't really like them."

Cinderpaw shuffled her paws. "That's mouse-brained," she finally meowed.

"Really?" Tigerstar stood in front of the apprentice until he was nose to nose with her. "I think you're the mouse-brained one defending a cat who was the cause of your injury."

She flinched and stepped back. "That's not true." Though her mew was shaky, as though she wasn't sure.

"Really?" Tigerstar sighed. He turned to his deputy. "Darkstripe, what do you think?"

Darkstripe frowned as though deep in thought. "Well, it all seems to add up." He meowed, narrowing his eyes. "Fireheart was your mentor, but he was too soft to tell you what to do, if he had been a true warrior, he might have been able to keep you away from the Thunderpath."

Cinderpaw was trembling at this point, her blue eyes wide with anguish. "That's not true!" she wailed. "Fireheart was upset when he found me, I heard him!"

"But it still happened." Tigerstar leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "If Bluestar had given you a proper mentor, you would be a warrior, like Brackenfur."