(Book 1) Warriors: Separations - Six Stars

Chapter 13

After a few moments of silence, she stood up and dipped her head. Skystar flicked his tail. "I'll send Hawkwing and Finsplash to escort you out of our territory." he mewed dismissively. Whiteclaw nodded with understanding, and sat waiting for her escorts.

Skystar turned around to walk to the Tall Rock. He made his way to the Tall Rock, then hopped up on it.

"Let all cats old enough to run the moor gather around the Tall Rock for a clan meeting!" he yowled to his clan. Cats began shuffling out of their dens, looking up at Skystar. Once he was sure that everyone was settled down, he started.

"You all know that Speckledstones has been made my new deputy, due to suspicions that Whiteclaw attempted to kill me and Emberheart." he flicked his tail toward Speckledstones. The clan murmured in uneasiness at what Skystar was bringing up. Skystar continued, "Well, Whiteclaw has recently admitted to attempting to murder me and Emberheart." he mewed remorsefully.

The clan almost immediately broke into quiet murmurs of apprehension and fear. Skystar waited for the talking to die down before he continued. "So, as a punishment for such treason, I have decided to exile Whiteclaw." he told them.

He watched as his clan erupted into yowls of agreement and protests, cats defending his decision and objecting to it.

"Whiteclaw was a good deputy, surely she didn't do it!"

"How could Whiteclaw do such a thing?!"

"Why should Speckledstones take her place?! Whiteclaw doesn't deserve this!"

Skystar sighed. He knew that his decision to exile Whiteclaw wouldn't be met with good reception, however much he tried to sugarcoat the entire situation.

Noonfeather stood up, anger blazing in her eyes. "I'm not going to believe that Whiteclaw is guilty of such a heinous crime until she admits it in front of the clan!" she yelled at Skystar. Skystar sighed. He looked at Whiteclaw pleadingly. Even though what Whiteclaw did was unforgivable, he didn't want the former deputy to have to embarrass herself so thoroughly before leaving Windclan with a bitter taste in her mouth.

Whiteclaw looked back at Skystar, accepting of the punishment she'd received. She padded up to the base of the Tall Rock and leaped upon it. Skystar felt awkward to have to share a seat with the former deputy that tried to murder Skystar and Emberheart, however he let her keep her spot rather than pushing her off.

Whiteclaw let her voice ring out around the camp as she announced her news. "It is true. I planted deathberry seeds in a vole that was supposed to go to Skystar." she mewed. There was no shame in her voice, or remorse in her eyes. She looked confident and almost proud to be up on the Tall Rock, telling the entirety of Windclan about the attempted murder of Skystar. The clan was silent for a moment, every cat staring up at Whiteclaw in disbelief. Whiteclaw took the opportunity to continue speaking. "However," she said with a menacingly joyful glance at Dawnpelt, "Dawnpelt here told me to bring it to Emberheart." Skystar watched with sympathy as the clan turned to look at Dawnpelt. Dawnpelt herself was in utter shock about the news, her eyes widened with distress. Noonfeather faced Dawnpelt angrily. "How could you?!" Noonfeather gasped. Dawnpelt returned Noonfeather's glare, her own eyes reflecting Noonfeather's own horror for a moment. Dawnpelt just sighed. "How was I supposed to know?" she mewed sadly. Crowsong put his tail on Noonfeather's shoulder and stared at the old she-cat for a moment, a pleading look in his eyes. "Noonfeather, Dawnpelt just thought she was doing the right thing. She didn't know that there were deathberries in it." Crowsong told her. Noonfeather hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say. She then straightened herself up, her gaze calming down. However, there was still some edge to her tone as she said, "Whatever." Crowsong smiled and sat next to Dawnpelt as the meeting continued. Noonfeather scooched farther away from the other two elders though.

Whiteclaw nodded. "Well, there you go." she mewed. "I tried to murder Skystar, and almost murdered Emberheart on accident." Skystar shuddered at how nonchalant she was being about the whole thing. Even Speckledstones seemed somewhat disturbed at how calm Whiteclaw was about almost killing two cats, his tail lashing nervously and his ears pinned as he looked up at the former deputy.

Skystar nudged Whiteclaw off the Tall Rock next to Speckledstones, he didn't want to sit next to her any longer than he needed to.

"Speckledstones, you can decide which cats will escort Whiteclaw to the barn in exile." he mewed to his deputy. Speckledstones nodded. Skystar looked back at his clan. He saw his own bewilderment and worry for Whiteclaw reflected in their eyes, but he relaxed and spoke the words to end the meeting.

"Clan dismissed." he meowed.

Speckledstones sat for a second, looking thoughtfully at the ground. He then looked up again and called out names for cats to escort Whiteclaw out of Windclan. "Deadfang, Finsplash, and Nettleclaw." he mewed. The three warriors walked up to Speckledstones, ready to take Whiteclaw into exile. They bunched around her, creating a semi-circle around Whiteclaw, Deadfang to her left, Nettleclaw to her right, and Finsplash behind her.

Skystar watched sadly after Whiteclaw as the warriors escorted her out of camp, never to enter Windclan again. He saw Whiteclaw flash an angry glare at Skystar, and for a second, their eyes locked. Skystar felt as though she was threatening him somehow, but he broke eye contact and looked back at Windclan, trying to escape her gaze. He heard Finsplash ushering her out of the camp in a hurry, as though he as well felt uncomfortable being around the she-cat after all that she'd done.

Skystar walked over to the base of the Tall Rock and grabbed himself a mouse. He sat down next to the Tall Rock in a comfy patch of grass, and slowly ate his mouse. The whole situation left tension in the air, as if they were expecting something to pop out at them from the shadows. Skystar felt uncomfortable just sitting there, he wanted to do something to get mind off of it.

Skystar got up, arching his back in a long stretch and parting his jaws for a yawn. He shook his fur of any dust he may have collected, and began padding out of camp. He spotted Noonfeather and Dawnpelt discussing something over in the elder's den, Crowsong just watching the two she-cats bicker. I hope they're just talking about some gossip... he thought sadly. The two elders were always close, but everyone seemed wary of Dawnpelt after what Whiteclaw said. Crowsong was an amazing friend to Dawnpelt though, Skystar was glad that the two were so close.

Skystar padded out of camp, relieved to finally be out of that tense environment. He walked around Windclan's territory for a while, just admiring the nice scents of the moor and the crunch of leaf-fall leaves and grass beneath his paws. He spotted Nettleclaw, Finsplash, and Deadfang all coming from the direction of the barn. He walked up to them. The patrol caught sight of Skystar, and they seemed surprised at first that Skystar was out of camp, then walked up to him and dipped their heads in greeting. Skystar nodded at them. "How was sending Whiteclaw to the barn?" he asked the three. They all looked at each other uncomfortably for a few awkward moments, however Deadfang was the first to speak. "She didn't talk at all. She didn't even make eye contact with any of us, not even when we dropped her off at the barn..." he mewed, and it looked like he was holding back a shudder. Skystar nodded. "She's mysterious."

Nettleclaw looked like she was about to say something, but kept her mouth shut for some reason. Skystar looked at her. "Are you alright?" he asked her. Nettleclaw looked up, surprised for a moment, then sighed. "Um... I scented two familiar cats on our territory... I couldn't find them though. They had Windclan scent, and I think it was..." she trailed off awkwardly, as if she didn't want to uncover who it had been. Skystar nudged her. "You can tell me who it is, it's fine." he reassured her. Nettleclaw straightened up and hesitantly began speaking.

"The two cats were... Speckledstones and Emberheart."