[TB] LEOPARDSTAR'S LIE -- Chapter 1 (Patreon)

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“Why?”

It was dark in Bluestar’s den, sunlight streaming in through the small, slivery cracks in the tightly woven reed dome. The sleek blue-gray she-cat did not answer Leopardstar, choosing instead to circle her moss-lined nest before settling down, tucking her paws beneath her before meeting Leopardstar’s eye with her impassive blue gaze.

Leopardstar hated that.

“Why, Bluestar?” she demanded again, taking a step forward. “Why did you have Brambleclaw killed? You promised that this alliance would be for the safety of our Clans!”

“He was disobedient,” Bluestar answered simply. “What else do you do with a disobedient warrior?”

Disobedient? Brambleclaw? The strong tabby warrior, Leopardstar’s own deputy, hadn’t been disobedient in the slightest. Leopardstar narrowed her eyes at Bluestar, who was still looking on as if this were the most banal, boring conversation she had ever participated in. Brambleclaw was the most honorable warrior I knew, and you had him slaughtered like prey!

Grief tore at Leopardstar’s heart. How could Bluestar be so cold, so callous, about something that had happened not a few moments ago? Brambleclaw’s body wasn’t even cold yet! Leopardstar’s mouth went dry.

“This goes against everything our alliance was founded upon,” Leopardstar hissed gravely. She drew herself up, raising her chin. “Bluestar, I-”

“Don’t lie to yourself,” Bluestar meowed swiftly, breaking into Leopardstar’s argument before it could even be made. “You knew what forming this alliance meant, Leopardstar. Power and strength and safety come at a cost – we cannot afford dissent of any kind in the world we wish to create for our Clan, even if it comes from those closest to us.”

Bluestar’s eyes were cold, but Leopardstar thought she saw a spark of sympathy there. Perhaps that was her imagination, her own longing to see any emotion on Bluestar’s face.

The blue-gray she-cat raised her chin and offered, “All is going according to my plan, Leopardstar. Once WindClan and ThunderClan join us, there won’t be any need for such displays. It is their resistance to change that killed Brambleclaw. Seeing his ThunderClan kin defying our will made him and the other half-Clan cats a risk, when they should have been LionClan’s strongest advocates.”

Leopardstar swallowed, her words tangling in her throat. She lowered her muzzle, falling to her haunches. I made this nest, she thought glumly. Brambleclaw’s body, bloodied and beaten, flashed in her mind. I must lie in it, even if all of RiverClan despises me for it.

Brambleclaw’s eyes were burned into her memory, as he stared up from the bottom of the Bonehill demanding answers for why Leopardstar was allowing him to be tried in such a barbaric way. Sadly, Leopardstar realized now that he was right – she was not the leader she had been when she had taken Crookedstar’s place. Before she had known what was really happening, she had been sucked into Bluestar’s trap, and now she couldn’t see a way out.

Bluestar seemed done with the topic. “How are things progressing with Darkstripe?”

Leopardstar felt a coil of nausea burn in her belly. Her mind was still on Brambleclaw, but Bluestar had tossed him aside like an old bone to be added to the Bonehill. Thinking of Darkstripe on top of all this only made that sick feeling more intense.

“I can’t stand him,” Leopardstar stated simply. “He’s barely a warrior – more like a worm. He has no agency, no mind of his own, and I want nothing to do with him.”

Bluestar’s eyes hardened. Leopardstar saw her claws flexing in the moss, and felt her own heart beating in her ears. Darkstripe was Bluestar’s most loyal follower, but even she had to acknowledge just how useless he was!

“For the sake of LionClan, you two must become close,” Bluestar decided. Her voice was low and serious, her gaze chilling Leopardstar like ice in leaf-bare. “Some cats still think as if RiverClan and ShadowClan are separate. They need a proper example that borders will mean nothing in my forest, in my LionClan. Am I understood?”

Leopardstar stiffened. The icy coldness of Bluestar's tone seemed to cut right through all of Leopardstar’s willpower. Brambleclaw is dead, she thought, because she wanted him to die.

If I disobey her… what will happen to me?

An acidic taste rose in the back of her throat as Brambleclaw’s words played again in her mind: “Leopardstar… I have no idea who you are anymore.”

She wasn’t sure she knew who she was now, either.

“You are understood,” Leopardstar answered quietly, dipping her head. What can I do? she thought as she turned her back on Bluestar.

Leopardstar padded out of the den and into what had been the RiverClan camp – now it belonged to LionClan. Three old willows sheltered the little clearing from the sight, with walls of reed and packed mud strong and secure from invaders that strayed too close.

What had once been a pristine and clean clearing was now clustered with cats from both ShadowClan and RiverClan, their haphazard comings and goings making a mess of the camp. The fresh-kill pile was too full, piled high with prey that no cat would manage to eat, and the woven reed dens were bursting from too many cats. Already there were plans to properly separate the old and sick from the healthy and strong, and Leopardstar suspected the former would only be tolerated for so long.

Leopardstar glanced at the Clan Root, where generations of RiverClan leaders had made their announcements, marked by the claws of RiverClan’s greatest over uncountable seasons. Now it was from the Bonehill near the river that Bluestar passed her judgments. Would the Clan Root ever see use again? Right now, Leopardstar felt she had no right to climb it, not even to look out at her Clanmates.

She spotted the RiverClan cats by their muddied paws. They buried Brambleclaw, Leopardstar thought, her chest tightening. They did it without me.

One of the warriors, Mosspelt, dared to meet her eye. The tortoiseshell she-cat’s eyes narrowed with hostility before she whipped back to talk with Ripplecloud in hushed tones.

Leopardstar’s heart ached. I didn’t know! She wanted to wail. Leopardstar dug her claws into the soft earth below her, hoping that it might keep her from losing her grip on the world. I did this for all of us, can’t you see?

She thought of Tawnypelt, her old friend, buried beneath the world in the old rabbit warrens, guarded by Bluestar’s most staunch supporters. Silverstream and her half-Clan kits, Featherpaw and Stormpaw, cowered there with her. Would any of them understand the choice she had to make? RiverClan had struggled with seasons of starvation – change had to be made! There had to be a better way to live!

Conflict churned Leopardstar’s belly. She had been warned by StarClan that being a leader meant making difficult choices for the good of her Clan…

They had never warned her how much it might cost.

———————————————————-

“RiverClan, rally!” Leoaprdstar screeched at the top of her lungs. “Drive them back!”

Whether or not RiverClan was willing to rally behind her, Leopardstar was comforted by the fact that they were at least behind the idea of keeping BloodClan from driving them out, that they were still RiverClan in their hearts.

She dove into the fray after her warriors, their yowls of “RiverClan! RiverClan!” lightening her spirits and tingling her paws. Like a wave, they crashed into the forces of BloodClan, rogues from Twolegplace that Bluestar had so foolishly thought she could share her vision with. In the end, that vision had killed her, and nearly pulled LionClan to pieces.

Now, the four Clans were battling as one for the fate of their forest, shedding their blood at Fourtrees to drive back Scorch and his BloodClan. The ginger rogue had struck down all nine of Bluestar’s lives with one blow and drove her evil away forever… and now it was his turn.

She found herself fighting alone – Leopardstar wasn’t surprised. She tackled the first rogue to cross her path, wrapping her forelegs around their neck and bringing them to the earth. She sank her teeth into the flesh behind their ear, tasting fur and blood. They kicked and screeched until Leopardstar let them go, clawing their flanks for good measure.

Leopardstar turned and found herself facing another BloodClan attacker, a small tabby. Heart pounding in her ears, feeling more alive than ever before, Leopardstar threw herself at the tabby, claws flashing.

The tabby ducked, and Leopardstar realized that they were aiming to gut her as Scorch had. Leopardstar twisted, moving her soft belly away from the tabby’s wickedly reinforced claws. She felt the dog’s teeth dig into the fur on her spine, but thankfully they did little more than scratch as Leopardstar landed on all fours again.

She pounced, slamming into the tabby’s side. Leopardstar sank her teeth into their spine, curling her body underneath their belly to kick at their soft fur. The tabby writhed, screeching. Leopardstar hooked her hind claws into the tabby’s belly fur and thrust outward, pushing the tabby away. They looked at her, wild-eyed and scared, before fleeing.

Leopardstar got back to her paws, panting. Now wasn’t the time for clean fighting, not when BloodClan already had so many advantages over the forest Clans.

She didn’t have much time to catch her breath – there was a powerful cry over the howling and screeching of battle, one that Leopardstar recognized. Wrenwhisker!

Fourtrees was as tangled as the undergrowth in ThunderClan territory, groups of yowling, clawing cats like the brambles and ferns that crowded the forest floor. Leopardstar put on speed, bounding through thickets of fighting.

Leopardstar ducked beneath Tallstar as the WindClan leader dove onto a BloodClan cat that was attacking one of his young warriors. In the corner of her eye, Leopardstar spotted Mistypaw and Stormpaw leading a crowd of Clan apprentices against three BloodClan warriors. Brightheart and Swiftfoot of ThunderClan were confusing two more BloodClan rogues as their mate, Cloudtail, pounced them from behind. Russetfur and Blackfoot were diving into the fray together, their pelts speckled with blood.

We’re fighting together, Leopardstar thought, forcing herself to look ahead. We can do this!

Wrenwhisker was cowering beneath a massive white BloodClan cat, his body covered in scratches and bites. The white tom reared back up, aiming to strike Wrenwhisker again – but Leopardstar crashed into his back legs, sending them both tumbling into a ring of ferns that edged the clearing around Fourtrees.

Leopardstar got to her paws, but not in time – the white tom slammed into her, knocking the breath from her body. She felt his claws sinking into her side, his weight pressing down like a boulder. Too quickly, his teeth sank into her throat and she floundered in the darkness swimming in her vision.

———————————————————-

It was like drowning.

Leopardstar struggled in the blackness, trying to claw and fight her way to the surface. Her lungs felt like they might burst as she strove to reach the bright pinprick of light just ahead – but she broke through, her head breaching the surface of the water to meet the night sky.

StarClan, she thought, eyes wide. Water streamed down her forehead. I’m in StarClan!

She floundered, but found that, suddenly, the bed of the river had risen to meet her paws. Limbs trembling, she forced herself to stand. Leopardstar looked around at the starry world and spotted the shoreline. She waded her way through the star-speckled water and towards the soft, warm sand of the shore.

Leopardstar flopped down and sighed. I lost a life, she realized. And it happened so quickly!

“Rise, Leopardstar,” meowed a voice.

Leopardstar raised her head. A pretty ginger-and-white she-cat was there, and she smiled softly down at Leopardstar.

“Mother…” Leopardstar breathed. “Brightsky!”

Brightsky lowered her muzzle and brushed her nose against Leopardstar’s. Leopardstar pushed herself up, longing to drink in her long-lost mother’s sweet scent. Brightsky had died in her kitting, leaving Mudfur and RiverClan to raise Leopardstar. The first time she had ever seen her mother had been at the Moonstone, when Leopardstar had received her nine lives and leader’s name.

“RiverClan needs you,” Brightsky murmured. “Go, and bring them together again – but beware, my daughter: A lie is a poison that never fades…”

Brightsky was gone when Leopardstar was standing on all four paws, before Leopardstar could ask what she had meant. The starry world was sucked away, and Leopardstar felt herself being thrust back to life; pulled back to the living world as if she were being born again. Leopardstar closed her eyes against the sucking feeling, wondering if clinging to the world that she was leaving behind would tear out her claws.

———————————————————-

Leopardstar opened her eyes and gasped for air, sucking in a fern frond instead. She coughed, gagging on the leaf for a moment before she had the strength to spit it out. Her throat felt raw, but undamaged, and strength was slowly filling her limbs again.

That’s what losing a life is like? She thought. Oh, StarClan, it’s awful!

A screech brought her back to reality. Leopardstar shot up, panic flaring in her chest. She was still in the battle! She thought of the white BloodClan rogue and wondered if he had left her for dead or worse – what if he had taken more than one life from her? How would she know?

“Leopardstar!”

Leopardstar saw Tawnypelt crashing through the forest, breathless. The tortoiseshell she-cat was covered in fresh wounds, though none of them were fatal. Her eyes were wide with worry, and then relief as she saw Leopardstar’s state.

“I thought you’d died!” Tawnypelt admitted breathlessly.

“I did,” Leopardstar pointed out thinly. “But I’m back, now.”

Tawnypelt swallowed, stiffening. Leopardstar didn’t blame her – the idea of cats coming back from the dead was alien no matter how many times one witnessed it. Leopardstar had seen Crookedstar lose his last three lives and it had never gotten easier.

“Where is Wrenwhisker?” Leopardstar asked, recalling why she had died in the first place. Had Wrenwhisker been taken away? How long had she been out of the fight for?

Tawnypelt glanced back to Fourtrees. “Morningflower and I found you both in time to drive off that white rogue. Wrenwhisker…”

Leopardstar didn’t miss the tremble in Tawnypelt’s voice. Wrenwhisker was one of Tawnypelt’s kits, from her first and only litter – she had nearly lost them all to starvation and the flooding river. Seeing them wounded in battle, after all they had survived… Leopardstar felt a twinge in her belly. She could only imagine.

“I’ll take him to the medicine cats,” Leopardstar promised.

Tawnypelt flashed her a glance, and Leopardstar flinched at the doubt there. She has every right to be angry… Brambleclaw was her brother, and I only watched as he was murdered! How can she trust a single word I say?

“Now isn’t the time!” Leopardstar snapped, bristling. “Wrenwhisker is dying, Tawnypelt – I was too much a coward to save Brambleclaw, but I will do everything in my power to save my warriors!”

“Do you mean it?” Tawnypelt asked, her voice serious.

Leopardstar’s heart was beating in her ears. “I thought I could control Bluestar,” she admitted. “I thought… I thought that LionClan was for the best, that it would end seasons of pointless conflict and starvation – but I was wrong. I knew the cost and I did it anyway, and I was wrong, Tawnypelt. I will spend all my lives to make sure it never happens again.”

Regardless of whether or not Tawnypelt was listening, Leopardstar pushed past her and back into the open clearing of Fourtrees. Morningflower, a WindClan queen, was standing guard over him – she moved as Leopardstar approached. She rushed to Wrenwhisker’s body and took his scruff in her jaws, hoisting him up as gently as she could.

Leopardstar didn’t have time to worry about being caught by more BloodClan warriors – she began to slowly drag Wrenwhisker towards the thicket of brambles and ferns where the medicine cats were hiding. They’ll fix him, she thought. She had to ignore how stiff the smoky black warrior was in her jaws. They will!

The weight lifted. Leopardstar blinked, shocked, as she saw Tawnypelt at Wrenwhisker’s other end, lifting his haunches in her jaws. The tortoiseshell she-cat’s eyes sparkled, and she twitched an ear, as if she were telling Leopardstar to get on with it.

Leopardstar felt warm inside. For the first time in many seasons, she felt as if she hadn’t lost a thing – even as the fate of the forest was being decided around her.

I meant every word, she thought determinedly.

I will do everything in my power to keep RiverClan safe.

Everything.