Silent Shadows: Book Two - The River of Secrets

II

Daytime sunk into an array of magnificent colours, the sun riding the wings of dusk into a sea of orange that enchanted the horizon and painted the heavens a gradient of azure into gold. Moonlight had begun its nocturnal awakening, arising to pierce night's cyclical darkness once again. 

She sat by a tranquil lake, in a place somewhat distant from where she was assigned to be at this hour. Troubled memories had lured her to wander, and brought her out to these lakeshores in the wilderness.

The BlazeClan deputy gazed silently into the water, feeling as if she was staring through a veil shielding another world. A ripple came to sway her reflection every few moments, and her internal turmoil slashed her heart to the water's rhythm. 

Images of pain, images of death.

Images of fire.

"Daisyfoot?"

"Huh?" she gasped, the voice bringing her out from her torturous trance. She threw her eyes back, catching sight of a beautiful chocolate molly. Her appearance made her realize that this cat might not be here for the reason she'd believed. "Shadestar? What do you need me for?"

"Come back to camp, please! We need you there," Shadestar requested. Daisyfoot sighed, unsure of why the AstralClan leader of all cats needed her right now. Memories crept back up her spine as her mind suddenly pieced together a theory. She furiously shook it off, wishing to only focus on her current situation.

"It's about...what happened a moon ago," Shadestar answered, with the truth of what she meant immediately striking Daisyfoot. "The massacre."

"Oh, yeah, that." Words slipped away from her tongue without her control, as if some foreign soul had come to occupy her body while her mind was pulled beneath guilt's surface. "Why do you need me now, though?"

Shadestar lowered her head, releasing a sigh of frustration. "Just come on to BlazeClan camp, please."

-

"Know it was you too, you monsters." Spit sizzled from the molly's tongue, her gaze level to Pebblestar's. With the orange splashed among the atmosphere, and with Shadestar's titanium expression of rage, it appeared as though the she-cat was ablaze.

"Are you serious?" Pebblestar laughed, wearing a mask of incomprehension. "They were just an army of rogues, lookin' for some blood to spill."

However, his mask was translucent to the AstralClan leader. "Of course you did," she spat in a mocking tone. "Of course the Clan you'd been attempting to target for moons just suddenly got all its members exterminated by some random rogues. My, my, how foolish I've been!"

"So, you think the fifty warriors in my Clan could just kill another crew of the same size? Are you stupid?" Pebblestar's soul was fighting not to let his mask slip, as he kept his expression woven in false incomprehension. However, it still did not deceive Shadestar, who bolted toward him in empowering fury.

"You monster!" She spat it into his face, her soul ablaze with wild fury. Her claws were immediately released from their sheathes, unearthed and fit to pierce the heart of the monster who stood before her. "Think I just assumed it was impossible to have cats from outside your Clan working for you!?"

"Oh, so now you're going to kill me simply because you suspected me of doing something awful? How stupid, just as I'd expect of you," he scoffed, before chuckling. 

Seeing Pebblestar's attempt at deception brought a storm of emotion within her soul. She was instantly doused beneath the surface of her mind and drowned in memories. Of the time she believed this tom was her soulmate, too foolish to acknowledge the revelation of what a monster he was. Through the window of her trance, she was shocked by the site of that tom suddenly rushing towards the AstralClan leader, his claws unearthed.

Shadestar's claws sliced the earth as she stepped back, abruptly raising her head to see Pebblestar bolting towards her like a feral predator. In one moment, a flood of thoughts spelled out the utter doom of her situation. The space he had driven her into was narrow and bleak, restricting her from simply dodging her attack. In just another second, she'd likely be laying slaughtered at the murky corner of this campsite. I'm going to die...

Her impending doom was suddenly shattered when claws latched onto Pebblestar's spine. The tom's movement was stopped by the sudden course of pain, as the elegant white molly leapt off of his back and landed gracefully between him and Shadestar. At the sight, it was as if an angel had soared from the heavens to rescue her. However, the she-cat was quick to know that despite her looks, this she-cat was anything but an 'angel'.

"You want to get to her, you'll have to go through me," Daisyfoot hissed. Pebblestar didn't move, simply concealing his claws again in shock from seeing his lover seemingly turn on him like this. The deputy turned around to face Shadestar, releasing a sigh of hesitation before speaking.

"We did it," she finally spoke.

Shadestar gaped, baffled by the she-cat's admittance, while Pebblestar's expression shifted to pure shock.

"We were the ones who destroyed NightClan," she continued. "Pebblestar recruited several mercenaries to fight for him, so he could achieve his goal of exterminating the Clan. And I...took part in assisting him with it." Daisyfoot's head dropped, overwhelmed by guilt's power. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was a fool"

Pebblestar backed away. Even though he knew it would affect him negatively, he could not bring himself to hurt the she-cat who he believed was his lover. Shadestar, finding herself unable to be grateful for a deed from a killer, bolted forth and dashed past the BlazeClan leader and deputy. Terror still clung to her spirit as she eluded BlazeClan's campsite and dashed in the direction of her Clan's territory. Chances were, this monster would not stop with NightClan. 

He was bound to bring more destruction.

"What the hell was that?" Pebblestar hissed to Daisyfoot in a panicked rage as she stood beside him. "Don't you know how much damage this will cause? Why did you decide to spill it out like that, you damn fool!?"

Daisyfoot sighed. With a storm of fury in her soul, she stepped forth, standing in front of Pebblestar. "I'm no longer your ally," she hissed. "Or your lover."

"What?" Pebblestar paused, feeling as if his chest had been pierced unexpectedly. Daisyfoot turned away, instead directing her eyes towards the campsite's exit. 

"Goodbye," she simply spoke, before dashing away from the tom she'd once called a lover.