Broken Honor

Chapter 9

Viperstar let out a sigh. "As I was saying- actually, first, we're going to need to reassign some mentors..."

Rushpaw stared at her leader, her eyes wide. She could not believe Viperstar could speak so casually directly after exiling a cat. Her breathing became shallow and she looked down at her paws, trying to process what had just happened.

"Hm, Cliffpaw, your mentor was Autumnleaf, wasn't it? Why don't I give you to..." Viperstar's gaze searched the camp. "Addertail! You will mentor Cliffpaw." 

Addertail scowled in disgust. He glanced at his new apprentice, irritated. Cliffpaw met eyes with his mentor for a moment but then looked away nervously.

Rushpaw's claws instinctively slid out. She dug them into the ground, trying to hide her anger. Addertail was obviously offended that he had been given Cliffpaw as an apprentice. All because Cliffpaw was born a loner! 

"Rushpaw?"

Viperstar's voice distracted Rushpaw from her thoughts. She raised her head. 

"Y-yes?" she asked.

"Your new mentor will be Smokeblaze."

Rushpaw nodded slightly and looked down at the camp floor, not knowing what to think. How can Viperstar just move on and hardly acknowledge that she's just exiled a cat?

Smokeblaze, a gray tabby tom, padded over to her. 

"I want to know where you're at in your training," he explained. "You can spend the rest of the morning hunting, alright? Then I can see how much you caught."

Still distracted, Rushpaw simply nodded and trotted away, her mind a mess. Before she could escape into IvyClan territory once again, however, the dreaded sound of Viperstar's voice stopped her.

"I would like to make one thing clear. We are far from done investigating Ebonystar and Palecloud's deaths. We will find who is behind all this and we will make sure they get what they deserve. Furthermore, I am still fairly certain MossClan has something to do with it."

Slowly, Rushpaw turned around. Her heart began to race again. She knew what was coming, no matter how desperately she didn't want to believe it. No. Please. Don't say it, Viperstar.

But despite how much Rushpaw begged the world not to let it happen, it did. 

"It will take time, but eventually we will grow stronger, and MossClan will pay for their crimes," Viperstar continued. "For now, we must not bite off more than we can chew. In three days, we will attack a MossClan patrol, and go from there." The dark red she-cat lowered her voice and sharply whispered; "We will declare war on MossClan."

As the camp erupted into supporting cheers, Rushpaw couldn't handle it. She bolted into the forest. 

No! This can't be happening! Why did I choose to stay here? I should've left with Dapplewing and the others... What's wrong with me?

A lot of things, actually.

Rushpaw froze. Echoing in her ears was the sound of a young she-cat's voice, a voice she was unfamiliar with.

"Wh...what?" Rushpaw whispered, stunned.

You don't have to speak out loud, said the voice. I can hear all your thoughts, unfortunately. Yikes, you're a mess.

Who are you? Rushpaw demanded. For several moments there was no response. 

The question you should be asking is, who are you? 

"I know exactly who I am!" Rushpaw hissed, out loud again. 

I wouldn't be so sure about that. You really need help. 

"L-leave me alone!" 

Fine. Be that way. It's not my problem.

Rushpaw sat down against a tree, alone with her thoughts. After a long time, she made up her mind. "I need to get out of here. I need to track down Dapplewing and the other cats that left."

You've got that right! Finally, you're making an actual decision!

Rushpaw bit her tongue in frustration, still very confused about the mysterious voice. But she pushed it to the back of her mind. There were a lot of other details that she needed to work out.

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As the sun sunk below the trees and evening fell upon the forest, Rushpaw lingered around the camp rather than making her way into the apprentices den. Anxiety clouded her senses. Am I really going to pull this off? she wondered.

Yes, just get on with it already! the voice begged. It was clearly irritated, but why? Why did this voice care about what Rushpaw did?

I told you not to talk to me!  Rushpaw let out a soft growl. While she sat beside the camp border, not doing anything in particular, she noticed a brown-and-white pelt slipping into the apprentices den. 

Oh no! Cliffpaw! He's the entire reason I decided to stay here in the first place!

And that was a stupid choice, the strange she-cat reminded her. Oh, for the stars stake, don't change your mind now.

But what if the Clan turns on him for being born a loner? Who will protect him?

You need to chill. IvyClan is already so small, there's no way Viperstar is going to want to drive anybody else out. And if they really were going to throw him out, how could you protect him? You're barely nine moons old!

Rushpaw winced at that last comment. "How could you protect him?"  The voice was right. There was nothing she could do to help her friend if something bad did happen. Rushpaw closed her eyes and shoved her feelings away. She needed to forget about him. He would be fine. What was important was that she tracked down the runaway cats and joined them before it was too late. If I wait too long, then I might lose the possibility of finding them! Who knows how far away they are!

After what seemed like forever, the night sky had flooded over the trees, and the cats of IvyClan were settled in their nests. Except for Rushpaw, who was wide awake and ready to escape. 

Checking around the camp one last time to make sure that no cat was paying attention, she padded into the forest and cautiously left the camp.

As Rushpaw approached the border, she knew that she was about to enter something she wasn't prepared for. She drew in a deep breath and hesitated for a moment. I need to do this. I don't have a choice, Rushpaw reminded herself. Without another thought, she stepped over the IvyClan border and left everything she had ever known behind her.