Shadows in the Mountains #1: Blazing Dawn

Chapter Five

Dawn returned from her moonlit stroll, which would have been romanic if she hadn't been sharing it with the mouse-brain Swiftpaw. She wanted Ivory, she yearned for him, but the sight that greeted her in camp was anything but welcoming.

Iberian, blood on his claws as he swiped them at Ivory's throat.

"NO!" Dawn screamed, she leapt onto the battlefield and deflected the blow, her own claws staining red with Iberian's blood. Her brow became slick with sweat. What had she done? She'd disobeyed the rules of the tournament.

Ivory's eyes stared up at her, cold and unyielding.

"I was going to win that match, Dawn, and now you've ruined it for me," he breathed. "And did you honestly think I loved you, and I would still love you after you ruined my chance to become deputy?"

Dawn's voice shook. "Is that all it's ever been? You knew you couldn't beat me, so you made me not want to fight you. You were a trickster and a fraud. Amber was right!"

"You should have listened to her," Ivory whispered, his voice hollow. He looked up with a challenge in his eyes. "Iberian, finish me!"

Iberian stared down at him. "I cannot," the deputy replied evenly. "Dawn has disturbed the combat and I must let Maroon punish her before I do anything else."

"Punish me?" Dawn asked, confused. There was a punishment? Well, she had broken the rules. No interference was allowed unless it was Maroon, Iberian, or Arietta. Speaking of which, Dawn heard a searing cry of pain and Arietta doubled over, a pained expression in her eyes.

"She's kitting," Maroon said, a heartless expression in his eyes. "Mellow, Descant, tend to her." Arietta cried out a few more times, wailing for Maroon as Mellow and Descant ushered her away, but the tom had no concern in his eyes for his mate, only looking on with disappointment at Dawn.

"I thought you had potential," he said disapprovingly. "It was a minor setback when you dropped out so as not to fight Ivory, but everyone meets love sometimes. It should not be so great that you disobey the rules of the battle tournament, however. Dawn, I'm going to strip you of you past title. And that's not all. Iberian, what is the punishment for stepping in during a fight-to-the-kill match?"

"I believe it's exile," Iberian meowed, his eyes glittering.

"You can't exile me! I've lived here all my life. The Outsiders are my family! This is my home!" Dawn protested, her eyes wild with terror. "Maroon, Iberian, please! Aren't I great at fighting? I can beat foxes! And I'm a pretty good hunter too!"

Maroon cocked his head. "What say you, Ivory? Do you love her enough to vouch for her stay?"

Dawn growled as Ivory smirked. "I don't love her," the silver tom meowed casually. "Dawn lives in a fantasy and we shouldn't encourage that now, should we. No, I don't want her to stay." 

"Then," said Maroon to Dawn, "you must leave."

The orange she-cat hissed at Ivory. "I loved you and you betrayed my trust. If I see you again, I will kill you."

"Empty threat," Ivory taunted. "Where are you going to go? Be a kittypet?"

"I know a friend," Dawn replied easily. "Amber, perhaps you'd like to join me."

Amber's eyes were wild with terror. "Oh... Oh no, I'm so sorry, Dawn, but I can't. Fire doesn't want to leave."

"You've lost me too, Amber," Dawn meowed. "Dusk is dead and so is Eve. Where I'm going, I'm not going to die, but you'll never see me again and if we do, we'll be enemies."

"I know where you're going. They don't accept rogues!" Amber protested.

"The Outsiders accepted you. DawnClan will accept me," Dawn meowed.

"But... Fire loved me! That's the only reason they allowed..." Amber trailed off.

Dawn smirked. "Well, it so happens a pesky little tom in that Clan has a crush on me."

***

But with every step she took away from the Outsiders' camp, Dawn began to lose confidence in her shiny new plan. What if DawnClan wouldn't accept her, and Swiftpaw wasn't actually interested? She also felt like she was slightly evil, making use of his feelings like that.

She paused at the forest borderline as she could smell scent markings. She'd never gone this far to meet Swiftpaw before.

She sighed and stopped. "Maybe there's no point," she mused. Her life as an Outsider had been meaningless. All she had ever done was cling on to her position as Reigning champion. Fury engulfed her. Ivory had played with her feelings so he could become Reigning Champion, and he'd never cared about her. But now she was going to play with Swiftpaw's feelings, too. She was no better.

Her life was pointless, really. She lay down beside the border and waited pointlessly to die.