Applestar

Applestar had varying levels of emotion at her daughters' betrayal of her: first it was hurt, then it was anger, then it was sadness, then it was a mixture of anger and indifference, fueled with grief. They were her kits- shouldn't they want to stay? She had heard them running away, had known that they had seen, but she hadn't expected them to run to Sunpool. That was the sadness, grief portion. Then anger overtook: they'd left her, they'd betrayed her, they'd went to the cat she hated most. They had disowned themselves, in her eyes; there would be no coming back for them.

There was an upside to it, though: they went missing at the same time as Whiteswirl did. Applestar had his body hid beneath a bush near the border with Sunpool's group with Sunpool's fur, taken from her old next by Amberclaw, between his claws. Applestar knew that they wouldn't find the body for at least a day or two, and that gave her enough time to finish up training.

The plan was set: she would lead a patrol if nobody had found him by the end of the next day, identify the fur between Whiteswirl's claws as Sunpool's, and lead a battle patrol into Sunpool's camp with the rest of the Clans.

They would be eradicated.

Applestar whiled away the time until she would lead the patrol - sunset - by instructing cats on how they could improve. She had told the Clan to fight with claws unsheathed, barking out that Sunpool wasn't going to fight with sheathed claws when she attacked. Most of the Clan was surprised to hear that Sunpool would attack, and Applestar simply told them that she wouldn't have left if she hadn't had intentions to murder. Applestar was confident, however: she knew Sunpool didn't have nearly as many cats as she did, and no matter how much training she tried to work into her pack of rogues, there was no way she could beat CloudClan. She smirked to herself, thinking of it. A victory on the horizon felt so, so good.

-=-

Finally, dusk came, and Applestar leaped onto the Rock Pile. "All cats old enough to climb Sky Tree, gather beneath the Rock Pile for a Clan meeting!"

The cats of CloudClan gathered quickly; Applestar had started calling meetings almost daily, and they knew that she liked things to go fast. Wasting no time, Applestar meowed, "Whiteswirl and my four daughters still haven't been found. I want to lead a patrol out to find them. I will bring Greenflower, Amberclaw, Peonystorm, and Frostcloud. The rest of you, stay here and eat prey, talk, and relax. You have worked hard today. Dismissed." She leaped off the High Rock and padded over to the camp entrance, waiting for her patrol to join her. When all of the cats had gathered, she set out, marching directly through the territory.

"I want to check near the border with Sunpool," she called over her shoulder. "I don't think anyone's checked there, so I want to see."

The patrol dipped their heads, so Applestar turned around and continued. Every few heartbeats, she stopped and tasted the air, as if she didn't already know where she was going. Finally, when they were right next to the bush, she opened her mouth and froze theatrically. "I smell something."

Amberclaw, who was in on the act, quickly jumped to chime in, "I smell something too. It almost... it almost smells like... like death."

Applestar shot him a look; his acting skills were not up to scratch, but luckily, nobody seemed to have noticed. Frostcloud narrowed her eyes. "What could have died on our territory?"

"Let's follow it," Applestar whispered. "Stay behind me. Whatever killed whatever this is might still be around."

They slunk off, in a straight line, and Applestar lead them to the bush at the border. She stopped right next to it. "This is Sunpool's border..." she glanced around. "But the scent is definitely concentrated right here."

"It's gotta be right here," Greenflower murmured.

Amberclaw glanced around, then let out a shout. "Applestar! I see a body!"

Together, he and Applestar moved forward to the bush. Applestar turned her back to her Clanmates and tried to force her expression into that of grief and confusion. She was fairly sure she looked constipated, but she doubted anyone would notice. "No!" She yowled.

"What? Who is it?" Frostcloud asked. Peonystorm was hanging back, her mouth open in horror. Greenflower moved forward to help.

"It's... it's Whiteswirl!" Applestar announced.

"And look! Between his claws!" Amberclaw said, darting forward and plucking Sunpool's fur out from between Whiteswirl's claws. "This is Sunpool's fur. And he reeks of her, can't you smell it?"

Whiteswirl mainly smelled like the border and rot, but Applestar knew nobody would be able to tell. "She must have killed him," Applestar said, making her voice low and as grief-stricken as possible. "Sunpool killed Whiteswirl!"

Peonystorm let out a strangled cry and started forward, pressing her nose into her mate's fur. "No! Whiteswirl! I already lost all but Pidgeonpaw; I can't loose you, too!"

"Peonystorm," Applestar murmured, pressing her nose to Peonystorm's ear. "Peonystorm, please-"

"Sunpool," Peonystorm hissed suddenly, raising her head from her mate's cold, dead body. "Sunpool did this. Didn't she?" She fired at Applestar. Applestar nodded, wondering if Peonystorm was going to make her job easier than it needed to be.

"We have to take revenge!" Peonystorm snarled viciously, her expression hardening into that of an angry, grief-stricken cat. "We have to attack! Whiteswirl didn't deserve this. We need to kill Sunpool, for Whiteswirl!"

"Yes!" Amberclaw said. "We have to stop any future killings. Applestar, we must attack."

"I agree," Greenflower meowed quietly. "Whiteswirl... he was my mentor. He didn't deserve this; he was a good cat, I know. He should... he should have lived."

"What say you, Frostcloud?" Applestar asked of the white she-cat.

Frostcloud dipped her head, and when she lifted it back up, her expression was fierce and blazing. "I can't believe her. My sister trusted Sunpool- and now she's gone and killed one of her old Clanmates. Whiteswirl never did anything to her. Cinderstorm is a fool. We need... we need to take revenge."

"I agree," Applestar said, allowing for a slight pause to get every cat a little bit more angry. "Yes. We will... We will attack. Tonight. At dusk. Come on!" She called, turning to run back. "Tonight, we will have victory!"

oKAY SO GUESS WHAT EVERYTHING'S LIKE HEATING UP AND THERE'S ONLY A FEW MORE CHAPTERS LEFT AND SUDHFKRMELAHDN

We're getting really close to the end of the book and I'm half-sad and half-excited because I've been working on this for soooo long and I feel like I've really grown as a writer! Anyway I'm super excited to finish this, and I'm not going to be updating any of my other fics until I'm done with Dusk, so expect some more frequent updates!1!1!1! ;)))

Ily

~✨🐱✨ Rainfeather ✨🐱✨