Shadowstripe's Treachery

Chapter 24

There was much celebration in the Place of No Stars that night. Shadowstripe had finally done it. He had finally gotten his much wanted revenge. He purred in satisfaction as he pondered the past events that had taken place in the real world. Once he had returned to the dark forest after witnessing his sister's death, he no longer felt bad about it. In fact, he felt satisfaction over any other emotion.

I did it.... I finally did it... I won. He padded triumphantly through the forest, until he heard his name being called once more.

"Shadowstripe!"

He knew who was calling him this time and he rushed up to greet his acquaintance. "Nightstorm!" He purred.

"Congratulations, mousebrain, you finally did it." She meowed, nodding her head in praise.

"I couldn't have done it without your expertise in dreams and visions." He replied with a smile. For the first time in ages he was finally happy about something.

She smiled, flicking her tail. "It beats doing nothing all the time. It was a lot of fun, actually."

"Hey wait a minute.... where's Gorsepelt? I need to thank her, too." He mewed.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh I think the last time I saw her she was trying to kill Hawkcry."

He narrowed his eyes, "Hawkcry?"

"Don't ask... let's just say that she'll be a while." She sighed.

"Oh... ok..." there was an awkward pause.

"Well, Shadowstripe, I'm proud of you." Nightstorm picked up the conversation. "You really took my training to heart."

"Wait.... you were the mysterious cat that trained me that one time?!" He gasped.

"Yes! Who did you think it was?" She spat.

"Well I just thought..."

"Anyways, you have a talent of finding the weakness in someone and exposing it, and I'm taking full credit for that. Your welcome!" She purred, nodding with a prideful gleam in her eyes.

"But why didn't you visit me anymore?" He asked.

"Because I knew you could figure it out the rest of the way. Well, I mean you died, but you still got your revenge. You're a lot like me if you think about it." She pointed out.

He then noticed for the first time the long scars across her throat that she had kept hidden for all this time. "So you died like I did?"

"Yeah, you could say that." She growled flatly, the gleam in her eyes fading away.

"Well..." he flicked his ear with unease, "I'd better get going now. My work is finally done here, I can now have some peace of mind."

"Not so fast frog brain!" He heard a scratchy voice behind him.

"Gorsepelt?" He turned around.

"You're not done yet." She hissed.

"What are you talking about?" He growled, "All of my family is dead except for my mother, so-"

"And your mother will die very soon from grief of your sister." She meowed with a curt nod.

He opened his jaws, his eyes filling with hurt and jealousy since his mother wasn't the least bit moved by his death. He narrowed his eyes in anger, "Then what's your point?" He hissed through gritted teeth.

"You are forgetting your one remaining family member..." she mewed, displaying a wide grin.

"What are you talking about?" Then he suddenly remembered. "Fox dung! I completely forgot about that little bratty dung faced-"

"Yes we know. Fernkit." She growled.

"No.... I won't rest until all of her, or my family is done for!" He growled, baring his teeth. The satisfaction that he had felt moments ago had melted away into a burning desire for more revenge.

"Well, I don't know if that's possible since Fernkit will die after she has-"

"That's it!" His eyes brightened when an idea came to him. "I may not be able to kill off every single member of my family, but I have a better idea. I can haunt a cat from each generation until they end up like Larkstar and go totally insane! And once her last family member dies, I will finally be at peace."

"You piece of dung!" She spat, clawing his face. "You interrupt me one more time and I'll- wait a minute. Are you seriously going to go through the trouble of haunting cats generation after generation just to get revenge?"

He flinched, "Uh yes..."

"Well that's great! Good for you, dung face." She nodded.

He didn't know if he should take that as a compliment or not. "Yeah, and I will need both of your help."

Nightstorm had been sitting quietly in the back, but she came up to him. "Shadowstripe, this is a big job. I will be willing to help you only if you agree to help me."

"Umm okay. What help do you need?" He asked.

"I want to get revenge as well, but on the whole of IceClan. Will you join all of the dark forest cats who have already agreed to help try and bring IceClan to its demise?" She asked.

Shadowstripe looked down at the ground, and then back up at Nightstorm and gave her a firm nod. "I will."

"Good." She smiled in satisfaction.

"Gorsepelt?" He asked.

The speckled brown she cat flicked her ear. "Fine." She growled, "But I still don't like you."

"Thanks!" He mewed with a triumphant smile. "I will start visiting Fernkit tomorrow."

As Shadowstripe padded into the mist that night, the long quest to obtain revenge had begun.

((Yayy one more chapter left after this!!! :DDD almost there, guys...))