Thundering Darkness

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Darkthunder! Darkthunder! Yay, Darkthunder!"

Darkpaw stared blankly, impassively ahead as Mightystar touched her forehead, thus ending the warrior ceremony. She was sitting on the high ledge as the cats below acclaimed her by her new name. A name she didn't like, or want to accept. It's official! I'm now a traitor. Hooray me.

As Darkpaw, now Darkthunder, stood, watching the crows of warriors gradually disbursing, she saw Thornpaw and Batpaw. The two littermates were glowering up at her, a fire in their eyes. Darkthunder still didn't know if she fully trusted them. The three cats had been friends once, brought together against Pebblepaw, but now, everything was different.

Mightystar gave her a cut nod. "Welcome, new Swift-Runner. Enjoy your promotion day."

With that, the clan leader turned back to her den, and Darkthunder leaped off the highledge. A few warriors came to greet her, but most looked at her distrustfully. I don't trust any of you either.

Boulderpaw grinned one of his massive goofy grins. "So epic! I wish I was a warrior, but, well, I'm not quite as cool and awesome as you are yet."

He nudged her shoulder as Darkthunder rolled her eyes and padded away. When she was younger, Darkthunder thought that all ThunderClan cats were carrionplace stinking pieces of mousedung, but now she thought differently, at least for a few of them. Smokeblaze, Mossypaws, and Boulderpaw are actually pretty good cats.

Maybe that was just because she was a naughty cat too now; she wasn't sure. Darkthunder pushed her way past the milling group of cats to reach her two Tinypelts, Batpaw and Thornpaw. For the past quarter moon, she had tried talking to them, but they only spoke in sharp retorts of quick snaps of words. All she knew was that things in RiverClan were getting worse, and cats were angry and afraid.

"You know, there are cats who think that things of the highest value come from power and dominance," Thornpaw meowed, to seemingly no cat in particular. "There are others who say that the richest thing in life is having lots of freshkill. And there are those who find happiness in their clan and kin."

Darkthunder padded over to the two cats and flicked her tail. "Come with me." She had a lot she wanted to say to the two cats, out of the earshot of her clanmates.

Reluctantly, Thornpaw and Batpaw padded after Darkthunder out of camp, eyes narrowed with interest. They had been friends so recently, and now they were almost enemies. Whatever. They just need to hear me out.

Throughout the past quarter moon, Darkthunder had been thinking about her actions. It wasn't exactly like a cat changed overnight. She had always loathed Pebblepaw, but as Darkthunder had drifted off to sleep, two questions had hit her. Would I do it all over again? Try and kill Pebblepaw? The second was. If loyalty is bound in trust, and I trust no cat, then who am I supposed to support now? Who am I supposed to care for?

Darkthunder had unconsciously let anger and spite seap into her because of the cats she surrounded herself with. Firbush, Earthstar, and now Mightystar had all told her to let the fury in, let it define her values. She was the point of living in a world shaped by others, reacting to what they told her she should be. But, who am I really? Darkthunder wished she knew. The world was certainly a complicated place.

Darkthunder led Thornpaw and Batpaw to a sheltered clearing. It was just outside ThunderClan territory; she didn't want any cat eavesdropping on their conversation. She flicked her tail, and the three cats sat down beside a clump of bracken.

Batpaw flicked his tail over the ground, ears twitching uneasily. "You want something from us?" he queried. "StarClan, who are you really, Darkthunder?"