Thundering Darkness

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Darkpaw stared toward the entrance of ThunderClan camp, a vigilant expression on her face. Beside her stood a massive dark brown tom with a scowl on his face that reminded her so much of her mentor Firbush. And that's a perfectly awful thing! Darkpaw thought Firbush must have been a ThunderClan cat in another life. It would explain his general attitude. Darkpaw let out an enormous yawn.

"And what do you think you're doing?" The tom hissed shortly.

"What I think you mean is great job, traitor Darkpaw," Darkpaw meowed tartly. "I'm standing guard in front of your foxdunged territory looking for any sort of disloyalty from your own cats."

The tom nudged her sharply. "Mightystar may have let you out of the hostage den, but that doesn't mean you of all cats can bully me. I'm not just an Elite, but the deputy of ThunderClan."

The hostage den... That remark made Darkpaw's ice turn cold, as she thought of watching Pebblepaw stumble listlessly toward the hostage's den and certain doom. Oddly, her bloodlust towards Pebblepaw had vanished almost entirely, and the thought of having at least one RiverClan cat in this strange land was comforting. StarClan, who am I and what do I stand for now?

As Darkpaw surveyed the camp, she wished desperately for some form of direction, some cat other than Mightystar telling her right from wrong. I don't know who I am anymore? Her obsession in harming Pebblepaw for Nightpaw's death was fulfilled and Darkpaw was left with an odd feeling of emptiness. I'm not a good cat, but I'm not evil. Is there an in between, or will I inevitably fall on the evil side of the fence?

"So... about this Elite," Darkpaw meowed casually. "What is it?"

If she was going to stay in ThunderClan, she may as well get to know how their cat society worked. The brown tom, Eagletalon, stiffened. In Darkpaw's opinion, he wasn't very smart. He was pure muscle, with no brain in him at all.

"The Elite is the group of cats that are the most respected in the clan. In it is the head of each sect, for example Swiftclaw, head of the Swift-Runners. Then, there's the leader and deputy of course, and a few other senior, well respected warriors."

Darkpaw wasn't impressed. "So you took the senior warriors and called them the 'Elite' instead because ThunderClan is so very imaginative and unique."

The Eagletalon glowered at her. Darkpaw found it amusing how just about half the clan were very big, and very angry cats. She turned back to survey the clan, her mind flitting back to her recent meeting with Mightystar.

"You're all settled in now?" the clan leader had asked, not meeting the eyes of Darkpaw, when Darkpaw had been summoned to her den.

"Yeah."

Mightystar had spoken in her high pitched voice, "You know, Darkpaw, I've been wondering if there are any of your fellow clanmates that are completely loyal to you, who would enjoy being on the winner's side of this battle."

Darkpaw had hesitated, "the fellow apprentices of RiverClan once saw me as their leader. Maybe they could come?"

"Perhaps." Mightystar purred. "I could use a few more Tinypelts. They could be yours to train and guide. I feel like I've known you for ages, Darkpaw. You remind me of myself when I was young. You are dism..."

Darkpaw was instantly shot out of her doze by a rough shove from the clan deputy. "Are you up for the border patrol, apprentice?" he sneered. "Or do you just want to laze around in the sun like a worthless kittypet. Maybe you can help us steal those RiverClan apprentices, they all hide in holes, afraid of the big scary ThunderClan."