───────────────────────────────────────Northstar takes Shark for a walk around the camp. She stays silent for a long while until they reach the cliff of a small mound. She sits down and observes the territory. “Do you know why I made you Heir?”, she asks and Shark has to admit he hadn’t thought about it until now. He was just happy to have kept his position. Why did she do it? He stood behind her, thinking. He slowly walked forward and sat to her right side and sheepishly looked at her face. “Because Whetley asked you to and you can’t say no to her?” Her expression remained still. “No. Well, that was part of the reason. But when Whetley suggested it, I realized it was an excellent idea. Do you know why?” Shark opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He felt like it was a test of some sort and it made him nervous, he couldn’t think. Was he going to fail and get demoted to a knight after all?! “Uhhmmm…” Northstar cut him off before he could think of something. “You’re ruthless. Will do anything to achieve your goals. You’re not afraid to do what’s necessary for the good of the clan.” She looked at him for the first time. “I need someone like that on my side.” Shark felt a bit of pain and anger and it apparently showed on his face because North raised an eyebrow and waited for him to speak. “Well… if you need someone like me, then why do you want to make Whetley your successor?” He shrugged and his voice became a little high pitched, he felt like he might have gone out of line. “You know, it just doesn’t make sense, I mean, Whetley’s like the opposite of me, but it’s your choice and I respect it, haha.” He observed her, awaiting her reaction. She returned to watching the landscape. “You’re not wrong. However, just because Whetley’s not like you or I, doesn’t mean she won’t be a splendid leader. I expect great things from her. I know that under her watch this clan will prosper. She will accomplish things differently than I would, but they will be great things. I know it.” Shark watched her, wondering what she meant by that and why she was so sure about the future. She stayed quiet for a while and then gave him a sudden, sharp look. “All that aside, I don’t mean to retire any time soon and as long as the clan is in my care I will do things my way. I will prepare this clan for her to take over. I plan to do a fair share of great things as well, but the road to achieve them won’t be pretty. I will spill blood and crush bones if I have to. And that’s why I need you. I can’t tell these things to Whetley. She wouldn’t understand. I’m fine with her doing things through peace and love, but I won’t hesitate over anything.” Shark leaned back away from her. He could have sworn he saw a red gleam of passion in her eyes. Or perhaps evil. It scared him a little, but excited him even more. “So, can I count on you to do the right thing when you’re needed and keep it away from Whetley?” Shark needed only a second to decide. He straightened up and nodded fervently. Northstar smiled. “I thought so. Make sure you know, great things await you as well in this clan. Your future has never looked brighter.”
“You’re joking, right?” Sion stepped nervously from one paw to another. “Umm, well, I don’t think demon summoning is within the repertuar of a demon hunter. ”I, uhm, I’m like, against it, you know.” Vie glared at him unamused. “Didn’t your mother say that your blood attracts demons? I could use that during my ritual, y’know.” Sion sighed. “I really don’t want to do it.” Vie stood up and walked up close to him. She was much shorter, but still managed to look down on him. “Look kid, I give you a choice.” “Kid?” “Either you help me and you’re there to slay it or whatever or I do it alone and I never help you with anything ever again.” Chocolaterain, who stayed quiet until now smiled encouragingly to Sion. “Come on, it’ll be fun!” Sion’s shoulders drooped. “Fine…” The three gather and Vie does her ritual. It requires fire, herbs, strange symbols drawn in sand on the ground and shaped out of small stones and a lot of waiting around. The weather is perfect for it. The sun had set, the sky is cloudy and a storm approaches from a distance. Despite all of that, the ritual seems to have failed. Once it’s over, no demon shows up. Nothing happens. Especially in the nursery, where Wildfire soundly sleeps.
Vie gets the idea that a demon might have appeared somewhere else within the clan, just like it did last time. She and Chocoalate drag Sionpaw with them and go around interrogating cats. Sion is feeling miserable. This was all supposed to be a mystery.
When a new knight joins the clan, Whetley decides to take her under her wing. She notices that Swanflight is bright and ready to earn her keep, but doesn’t do much socialising and looks a little lost. Whetley takes her for a walk around the clan, showing her all of the important places. At one point their stroll gets interrupted by a small, hairless and tailless cat. “Are ya a demon?!” Swan seems taken aback. “Excuse me?” “She’s not a demon, she’s Swanflight, our new knight.” Vie doesn’t seem satisfied. “That doesn’t answer it, lady! Sion, sniff her!” She tugs Sion by the scruff of the neck and pulls him closer to Swan with strength surprising for such a small cat. Sion blushes, as Whetley and Swan look at him in surprise. “I don’t think that will be necessary!” “Not feeling any demon vibes from her, ay?” “Nope, none at all, I’m not feeling anything from anywhere!” Vie sighs with disappointment. Unsuccessful, she returns to her nook where she would be sad, but she doesn’t like being sad, so she’s angry instead. Cards attempts to teach her something new. “Dude, can’t you see I’m busy?!” Give me some space, man!“. Cards is unsuccessful.
Straight after giving birth, Fishsticks does not rest, but runs to meet her brother. She’s miserable. She’s crying and pleading for advice. Woodkid can tell her only one thing, words he had lived by his whole life. “Run. Run for your life.” But she does not. She was never like him. Always a fighter. They spend the night talking until she falls asleep cuddled up next to him. In the morning they set out with the plan they devised. Fish tells Northstar that Rainstorm deserves to be officially punished for the crime of killing her sister. In the opinion of the two, this was the best option to get rid of him, without having to fight him and getting even more cats unnecessarily injured. Woodkid holds her paw to support her. However, North does not respond they wished. She announces that Rainstorm only followed her order of executing the traitor that stole from the clan and did the right thing by killing Foghorn. However, rumours of Fishsticks working with enemy rogues to kill a head knight of the clan have reached her ears. Not to mention, strange and inexplicable deaths have been happening around Fish. North decides that Fish, like her sister, is a traitor and deserves death. Rainstorm shall be the one to execute her.
“No!” Woodkid steps in front of Fishsticks. “Run!” Fish’s eyes, full of fear, start towards her. She starts to run.
She thinks about Foghorn. The little kit who was always a mommy’s girl and cried whenever Fish played with her a little too rough. Yet, she was brave when it mattered. Fog gave her life to protect the one she loved. Fish gave in to fear and killed her beloved.
She thinks about Woodkid. An even bigger crybaby than Fog. Kid avoided all difficult situations and instinctively ran at the first sight of danger. But today he shielded her with his own body and tried to protect her, proving, that he was much more brave than she was. Fish failed to protect anyone.
She thinks about their mother. Joyful and caring. Troutcreek took them away from their old clan to provide a better future for them. She died, patrolling with her apprentice, teaching the young generation to be the best they could be. Fish killed her page.
Has she been wrong about everything her whole life? Fishsticks always thought that she was the brave, intelligent and responsible one in the family, even when she was just an adolescent. Yet, life had shown that her siblings were much better than her in pretty much everything. How could this happen? Where did she go wrong? And why did she only realize it now, when it was too late to change anything, too late to repent for what she’d done.
All of that raced through her head as she raced, not knowing where, but she felt Rainstorm quickly catching up to her. Soon her life would be over. He caught her and pinned her to the ground and she started crying.
“I’m sorry”, he said, backing away from her. “I’m sorry about your sister. You should run. You’re not bad, you just need to…” he stopped for a moment and there was a hint of something strange in his eyes. Sadness or perhaps loneliness. “You need to get away from me. Forget everything. Start anew. Run!”
When she heard Rain yell, her brother’s words resonated within her. “Run. Run for your life.”
Her paws moved from the ground and started to carry her towards the raising morning sun before she could make a conscious decision, before she could consider the consequences of her actions. She didn’t fight. She fled.
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