"Hey, Riverstone!" Riverstone's glance travelled to the ginger tabby tom on the other side of the border.
"We have no business with Rogues," the gray she-cat retorted, imitating what Hawthorn had said to them. "You chose to die."
"But I survived, didn't I?" he replied.
"I don't like you," Riverstone said as her eyes followed the tom's pace.
"It's not like I can't Hawthorn about your. . . lack of interest in toms?"
"He wouldn't care, Ash." She flicked her tail. "And besides, I need to sleep. Already done with my nightly patrol."
"You don't like group life?" Ash said. "Why won't you come back? We have a new leader. It's almost like Singe came back to life."
"Singe?" Riverstone perked up.
~~~
"Hawthorn?" Riverstone asked from outside the leader's den.
"What is it?"
The gray she-cat stepped inside of the den. "Ash—a Rogue that I used to know—told me that they have a new leader and 'it's almost like Singe came back to life'. Does it mean anything?"
The scarred tom's eyes widened. "It means they are going to take the Rogues back. Singe acted like you all were her property, so she'll need to take her property back."
The groups now knew that the corruptness of the Rogues wasn't from themselves but from their leader. If another Singe were to come back so soon, who knows what they would do to the groups to take the former Rogues back, if at all?
"Don't worry, we'll protect you. That's a leader's job; to protect his group," Hawthorn reassured.
"I don't think we can be protected from her," Riverstone replied, staring down at her paws. "If Singe can come back as an entirely new cat, there's probably a reason why her name is Singe."
"What?"
She looked up. "She can only be singed, not burned. She'll keep rising until the groups fall. I think the only way to keep her from coming back is to destroy what's left of the Rogues." She stared into the leader's bright orange eyes. "But that might mean everything can go downhill."
"How do you know this?" Hawthorn asked weakly.
"Instincts; I just do."
YOU ARE READING
Spirit
Fantasy"TO FULFILL THE DESIRE OF A NEW AGE. . ." Ivory didn't know what was coming for her. The Claw-Bearers didn't expect an ambush from the Rogues, sending them into Seasons and Seasons of war. The she-cat who started it all saved her life, and she was q...
