Spirit

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ivory had seen Singe and a few other cats enter the Feather-Lifter camp, and quietly followed them up to Hawthorn.

"I don't see the point in this," one of the Rogues—a gray tabby she-cat with white flecks across her tail—grumbled. "We're giving up already?"

"Silence, Riverstone," Singe hissed.

Riverstone's ears perked up, and she kept quiet.

"We're not giving up. We're just. . . forming alliances for later."

Comes the unity of groups, followers, and foes, Ivory realised. They're allying!

"LIAR!" Hawthorn's voice roared, startling the beige and ginger she-cat.

"We're no liars," Riverstone's voice hissed in retort. "We need an alliance."

"Why do you need us now?"

"The Singeless' leader is dead," Singe answered.

"And we saw your Ivory in the Loud-Place," another voice mused. "Possibly she'd done it."

"I have no business with Rogues," Hawthorn growled. "Now if you'll go along your way—" He was cut off by a loud hiss.

"You will help us," Singe snarled. "You will do as we say, whether you like it, or not."

There was a clamor of hisses and retorts before Singe, Riverstone, and the other cat left.

Ivory let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. The sight of a golden tom almost led her to shout at him. He wasted the chance to find useful information; she bet that he didn't even notice she was gone. Catching the wise glint in his green eyes, she stopped.

"What are you so smug about?" she challenged.

"I found something useful," Robin replied, smirking like a leader.

"More useful than knowing that the Rogues tried to ally with us?" the beige and ginger tabby retorted halfly under her breath. "What did you find?"

"I found out that Singe doesn't have to die."

Ivory caught her breath. "So Cloudburst was right?"

Robin tilted his head at her. "Cloudburst said something?"

"Are you blind?" the she-cat hissed. "She's gone, isn't she? She was the one who killed Feather! She said that Feather deserved to die, and that she was going to become a villain; whatever that means. . ."

"Exactly," Robin said.

"Exactly what? You can't agree with her!"

"Last time I checked, I was my own cat." He paused. "And besides, Cloudburst was the only truth teller we had, and you somehow drove her away instead of listening to her."

"You cannot listen to a MURDERER!" Ivory shrieked.

"Then by your insipid logic, I shouldn't listen to you," the golden and brown tom retorted.

"I haven't killed anyone!"

"Not yet."

"I NEVER KILLED AND I NEVER WILL!" the tabby she-cat snarled after Robin as he walked off. She thought for a moment, then added, "AND I WILL STAND BY MY WORD UNTIL THE DAY I DIE!"

Robin paused in his steps and replied, "Good luck with that," with his back still turned to her.

~~~

"This is it, traitor!" Ivory lifted up a paw towards Cloudburst, claws unsheathed. "I'll teach you to kill an innocent cat!"

Something flashed from the corner of her eye. She paused, then found a Spirit in front of her.

"Ivory! IVORY!" That couldn't've been the Spirit; she looked like Feather.

When she shot awake, the she-cat found a golden tom with brown paws staring back at her.

"Rob—"

"We need to go," Robin hissed. "Moon is telling Hawthorn that somebody is trying to take over the Rogues."

"Who?" Ivory's curiosity almost seemed to have burned with confusion. ". . . Cloudburst?"

Robin bristled. "How do you know?"

"I just guessed—"

"Nevermind that, we need to face her." The golden tom's tail flicked as a signal for Ivory, who reluctantly followed him to the Loud-Place.

As she glanced towards the meeting place for the Rogues, the beige and ginger she-cat noticed Cloudburst and Singe circling each other, though she could not make out what they were saying.

"We need to stop them, don't we?" Ivory asked, looking up at her friend.

"Let them fight. Even if Singe doesn't have to die, it would be better if she was gone."

"What if Singe kills Cloudburst?"

"It's her own fault then."