Spirit

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"Dear Spirits, what do we do?" Ivory fretted. "Why did I say that, I have no idea what we are doing. . ."

"Don't worry, your idea was great," Sand reassured.

"We wait for whatever the Singeless are going to do, then we attack Singe, easy as prey," Cloudburst explained briskly.

"It won't be that easy," the beige and ginger she-cat retorted.

"Not with that attitude it won't," the white Rogue muttered under her breath.

"What?"

Pawsteps came from outside their 'den' area. "Come on out, we need you to defeat her." The voice sounded peppy and young, so couldn't have been Feather or New Moon.

Cloudburst and Ivory walked out while Sand grudgingly followed.

"What's wrong?" Ivory asked him. "Aren't you supposed to be happy that we're fulfilling this so quickly?"

"Too quickly," the golden tom muttered. "It's suspicious."

The fluffy white she-cat paused. "Suspicious?" She looked at him. "Aren't you glad that Singe will die?"

"Well, yes, but—" The Singeless warrior interrupted him.

"Do you want to be late?"

~~~

"Greetings Singeless and. . . visitors," Feather called from the same area as the past night. "I have come to a conclusion about the plan."

The alley hummed with murmurs and conversations, then fell silent at their leader's raised tail.

"Our strongest fighters will be the ones distracting the Rogues while our three fight Singe."

"Shouldn't the strongest be leading the three, in case something happens?" It was the cat that led the three out.

"Are you implying yourself, Adder?" the leader asked, wrinkling her snout.

"Well you can't bring the blind rat with us!" the ginger tom retorted with a sneer. "He'll just slow us down, and he's too old to be fighting anyways."

"Not like you're trained any better," Cloudburst hissed under her breath. "Useless kit."

Ivory looked at the white Rogue, about to say something, but Adder snarled a response.

"What did you just say?"

"Useless kit," Cloudburst hissed louder. "You won't get a trickle of my blood on your pelt. . . Or anyone's blood but your own."

"Will you bet on that?" There was a sudden flurry of movement—like snow falling around a fire—as Adder leaped at Cloudburst, hissing and spitting.

"Stop them!" Sand yelped as a claw almost swiped his paws. "Being in a group means you have loyalty!"

But then again, weren't we told that Rogues were heartless and still tried to follow their instincts? Ivory thought grimly. I guess the Singeless aren't that dif—

Her thoughts were cut off by cats snarling and fighting. More cats.

"What are they doing?" she yelled over the hissing. "Why isn't Feather doing anything?"

"IVORY, LOOK OUT!"

Something slightly smaller than her leaped onto her back, digging its claws into her shoulders. She writhed and eventually threw it off. It was a cat; but not anyone she could recognise from the Singeless.

Then a thought struck her like a rock to the head as she backed away, trying to find safety. The group cats weren't fighting each other, they were fighting the Rogues—Singe's Rogues.

"Why are you doing this?" Feather's voice came through the clamoring of battling cats.

The only things Ivory could make out from Singe's hisses were, "Adder. The perfect distraction while I set up my own sabotage."

The other cats seemed to have noticed their leaders confronting each other and paused, guiding the noise into an eerie silence.

They were circling around each other, but not attacking.

"Do you really think I would be nice to you, only for your blood?" the gray and white she-cat asked.

What is she talking about?

"Isn't that what loyalty is about?" Feather retorted. "Protecting those close to you?"

"You aren't that close to me," Singe snarled. "You pushed yourself away when you could've been happy."

"With heartless, brainless slugs? I'd take my group over them anyways."

The gray spotted she-cat lunged towards the other leader, who dodged and held her neck towards the ground in one of her paws.

"Sister, I really don't want to kill you."