Warriors: Empire's End ~Book 5 Series 3~

Chapter 24

Shadeheart's POV:

Shadeheart watched from the river bank as Strike and Tyler struggled to fly Tiger and Maple over the river. The two brothers could barely hold the rogues in place as they clumsily hovered over the water. Shadeheart sighed to himself as he watched Strike deliberately drop further down so that Maple's legs were submerged in the water. The she cat's screech made Shadeheart flinch and Strike quickly pulled up and dove for the other side of the river, his game shortly coming to an end, otherwise he would've dropped the poor she cat. Tyler landed on solid ground a few heartbeats later, with Tiger hissing and spitting at Strike for trying to 'kill' his mate.

Shadeheart wondered what the point of this whole exercise was. It surely wasn't a trust activity, as Strike had suggested. Was it simply a game the two winged brothers had come up with? Or a way to try and scare the rogues into submission? Either way, it seemed to have angered Tiger and Maple even more.

"So what about me?" Shadeheart asked the two winged toms as they sat down on either side of the two rogues. Maple licked her drenched legs tentatively, her muzzle scrunched up in disgust while Tiger furiously glared at Strike.

"You can swim." Strike smirked mischievously at Shadeheart, his tail flicking excitedly as if he had just made the best joke in history.

Shadeheart let out a dull laugh in response to his uncle's attempt at comedy. "No thanks, I'd rather go home and leave you two to it. You're both capable enough at keeping these two at bay."

"Aw, are you not strong enough to swim across?" Strike mocked the black furred tom, his deep red eyes gleaming under the midday sunlight that sliced through the trees.

Shadeheart snorted but didn't reply, instead he silently turned his attention to Tiger who, taking the brothers' distraction to his advantage, was glancing around the surrounding clearing they were sitting in. His gaze scanned the area. He was clearly searching for an escape. Foolish rogue. Maple seemed smarter than her companion, but was still watching him curiously. Meanwhile, Strike and Tyler were completely oblivious to the silent scheming.

"Nothing to say?" Strike grinned, having won the conversation that Shadeheart hadn't even bothered to be a part of.

"Yeah sure. Now carry me across or I'm leaving." The black tom mewed distractedly, still watching as Tiger quietly sized up Tyler, who was the only obstacle in his path to freedom.

But suddenly it was Maple who was on the move. The red and black she cat streaked past her companion, shoving Tyler to the side with an amazing hidden strength, and proceeded to race for the nearest clump of bushes. Shadeheart was both shocked and amazed, and he found himself silently cheering on the brave rogue she cat. She was going to get herself killed, but her attempt at escape was impressive.

Strike let out a squawk of surprise and immediately gave chase on foot, his bright red wings spreading out on either side of him as he prepared to fly. Tyler, who was just recovering from the shove from Maple, was thrown back down onto the ground by Tiger. The tabby rogue quickly ran in the opposite direction to Maple, letting out a yowl as he enjoyed his escape.

Shadeheart felt like slamming his head on the ground. Tyler and Strike were complete mouse-brains. He was tempted to go back to camp and leave them to it; he had Bluesnow and his kits to look after. However, NoName would probably kill him if he did.

"Hey!" A cheery voice behind him made the black furred tom jump, and he spun around to see Flare sitting only a tail-length away, a large grin on her lips. "I saw what happened." As if in response, there was a loud screech of frustration from what sounded like Strike. Maple was proving harder to catch than he expected.

"And now I'm stuck here with nothing to do." Shadeheart grumbled, shaking his head tiredly. Flare laughed slightly in response. Shadeheart narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you doing here, you have your kits to care for."

"They'll be fine." The orange she cat sighed. "I just wanted to get out. Only for a short while."

Shadeheart dipped his head in agreement. "I suppose."

"Hey look, they got them." The winged she cat looked across the river with a grin. Shadeheart followed the Enforcer's gaze to see both Strike and Tyler dragging Maple and Tiger back to the clearing they had landed in. Maple seemed to be limping, and she held her paw up as if it were hurt. Had she tripped during her flee, or did Strike cause that? Either way, it would most likely help the rogue realise that there was no getting out of this situation. Whether she liked it or not, she was now a part of the Dark Forest.

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Time progressed quickly. Strike and Tyler had carried the two rogues back across the raging river to complete their 'training' with Shadeheart and Flare's assistance. It mostly involved keeping guard while the two brothers did most of the gruelling work.

"Did I say you could stop?" Strike yowled at Tiger as the tabby rogue started to grow tired after the endless circles they were made to run around the clearing. Maple remained quiet, but Shadeheart could see she was close to collapse.

Shadeheart wanted to speak up. What Strike and Tyler were doing was barbaric. There was no reason to force these two rogues to join the Dark Forest, and to put them through what was practically torture to do so. Since when did NoName do this? She had neber ordered this kind of behaviour before. Was she worrying about a rebellion again or did she simply want to enforce her command of these territories?

Either way, it was about time it stopped. Shadeheart had had enough of watching on the sidelines without doing a thing to help. But what can I do to help them? Do I try to reason with Strike? Or force him to stop? He wondered if his uncle would ever consider killing him if he didn't obey his orders. The fact that he didn't have a clear answer for that made him shiver.

It was when Maple finally stumbled to a low crouch, her breathing laboured, that Shadeheart stormed towards Strike, his eyes narrowed boldly. "That's enough. Let them rest."

Strike was taken aback by Shadeheart's order, and he stayed perfectly still in the centre of the clearing save for the slight shift of his red furred paws. "Excuse me?"

"There's no reason to do this to them. They didn't do anything wrong. And tiring them out will not make them loyal to us." Shadeheart continued, his heart feeling like an electric thunderstorm in his chest as he faced the red and black tom.

As Strike approached, Shadeheart realised for the first time in forever how big the winged tom really was. When he wanted to be, he was one of the most intimidating felines he had ever seen, and so was his brother. He heard a small gasp from Flare, who was quietly watching from behind Shadeheart. Tyler had moved in to witness the confrontation, his blue eyes gleaming with curiosity while he kept a close eye on Maple and Tiger. The two rogues had stopped to watch as well.

"You don't know the first thing about recruiting new warriors." Strike muttered to Shadeheart with a lash of his tail. "So I suggest you back off before something goes wrong and you get blamed for it."

Shadeheart refused to back down. "No way. I'm not going to sit back and watch you hurt these innocent rogues."

"They're rogues, they were hardly innocent." Strike scoffed. "We're doing twolegplace a favour by removing them from their home."

Maple finally raised her voice, her long fur bristling. "We never did anything wrong! We were just minding our own business until Spectrum plucked us from our home and brought us here."

Tyler sent Maple a warning glare but Strike was faster. The winged tom whirled away from Shadeheart and jumped in front of the black and red she cat. "Did I say you could speak?"

Shadeheart could see Strike's intent to harm the rogue she cat, and immediately launched himself inbetween them. "Stop this. Let's just go home."

"Not until you two understand that you don't give the orders here!" Strike bared his teeth and shoved Shadeheart to the ground, while his claws flew for Maple's face.

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