Book 4: Sol's Revenge & Whisper's Path

Sol

For a moment I wondered if Hailstar is on his last life. I'd just assumed since the moment I'd arrived in Cedarclan that the delirious leader was so old he had to be on his last life. But maybe he was not. Maybe he was so careful he hadn't lost many lives at all, he was avoiding death of old age by losing a life every once in awhile and Starclan would allow him to hang on a little longer.

The thought terrified me.

I couldn't wait much longer to become leader. Hailstar needed to die so I could drive out Gingerfern and take over. There needed to be chaos. But if Hailstar could keep hanging on it might ruin everything. What if I had to wait moons for his eventual death? Maybe even years!

I might need to speed things up myself. Killing the leader will be risky. The medicine cat, Featherfall, might be able to recognize signs of foul play. If I poisoned him there would be no external sign of attack, it might slip as old age that got him. Of course Starclan might warn the medicine cat too, then I'd have to get rid of her as well. But that would be entirely too suspicious. The medicine cat and the leader both perish shortly after two strangers show up to this clan?

Yeah that wouldn't end well.

Maybe I can decredit the medicine cat just as I have been doing with Gingerfern? The daughter of the clan leader, blinded by the pain of losing her father and feeling helpless that she could not save him, she thought she saw an omen from Starclan but really she was just grasping onto someone she could blame. That could work.

There was just one more knot in my plan. Whisper.

He had grown too fond of the deputy. She was the only one who reached out to him and they became fast friends. Perhaps something even more despite their age difference. If Whisper was more loyal to her than to me he could ruin everything. But what could I do about my brother?

The answer if nothing. I cannot do anything about my brother. To kill him would mean to kill that last thing on earth that cared about me. I would just have to trust that his loyalty to our blood would win him over.

This was what I thought about on the last day I was a welcome guest in Cedarclan. I thought about murdering the leader, driving away the deputy, and smearing the medicine cats name. I clung onto my dream of being leader on the possibility that Whisper would not betray me. That Whisper would join me. My hope was falsely put. He told that stupid she cat my plans. She told the clan. Anyone who had been loyal felt deceived and turned their backs on me.

I was the one who was driven out. Whisper's blue eyes on my back as I fled through the cedar forest, chants calling for my blood echoed behind me.

"Whisper," I growled out loud. Anger coursed through my body. "You are dead to me."

I found a rocky area with small caves created from large boulders pressed together. I wedged myself in between two such rocks and cursed myself for believing in my brother. I'd have to keep moving in the morning. No doubt patrols would search the territory to see if I'd really left. What was I going to do? I had invested so much in this clan I couldn't just start from scratch.

"Sol?" a meek voice murmured. At first I thought it was Whisper, come to finish me off. But the voice was too high pitched. Too young. I recognized it as an apprentices voice. Either Rainpaw or Jaypaw. I peeked my head out of my hiding place. Jaypaw. I could take care of this quivering lump of fur if he felt like being brave and chasing me away.

"Why have you followed me," I said coldly and revealed myself. Jaypaw gulped. I unsheathed me claws.

"I...I still believe in you," Jaypaw managed to get out. That took me by surprise. Was this little apprentice saying he still supported me after Whisper's revelation about my plot to overthrow the leader and deputy? What an interesting turn of events.