Warriors: Reign Of Shadows ~Series 2 Book 6~

Chapter 16

Flamefur's POV:

By the time they reached camp, Flamefur and Foxclaw were gagging from the overbearing scent of blood and dead.

Flamefur collapsed in the main clearing, panting from the long trek to camp. Within seconds, her clan mates were swarming them with questions flying around the clearing.

Nutwhisker pushed to the front of the crowd, gasping in shock when he saw Cheetahpelt's body. "What happened?"

"Cheetahpelt was killed." Flamefur growled, forcing down her grief and replacing it with a cool calm. "Slaughtered by one of NoName's warriors."

Nutwhisker stared at the mangled body, his green eyes side. "Oh no.."

There was a sudden growl from the leader's den and Stormstar stalked towards the crowd. "It was Nutwhisker!" He yowled. "He killed Cheetahpelt! He's on NoName's side!"

"No I'm not!" Nutwhisker hissed, his gaze wary as his eyes fixed on the black tom. "Stormstar please go back to your den."

"No! You can't keep me locked up in there! I am clan leader, I make the rules!" Stormstar snarled and pushed past Blizzardstorm and Trueheart so that he was nose-to-nose with the brown tabby medicine cat. "And I say you should be killed for your disloyalty to Lightclan!"

"I didn't kill anyone! I'm a loyal Lightclan medicine cat!" Hissed Nutwhisker, standing his ground before his leader.

Flamefur watched in surprise. If Nutwhisker didn't move away Stormstar was going to hurt him. Why was he being so foolish?

"I say Stormstar should step down as leader to allow someone else to take his place." Nutwhisker announced.

"Autumnpool's too much of a coward to take my place!" Stormstar growled, earning a low hiss from his deputy.

"I wasn't talking about Autumnpool." Nutwhisker replied, his green eyes flicking briefly to meet Flamefur's gaze. "There is someone elese who is more fit to be leader than any of you."

Stormstar followed Nutwhisker's gaze, and then scoffed. "No way, she is a Dark Forest sympathiser like you. I will not let Lightclan be ruled by the Dark Forest!"

The clan broke into hushed whispers and murmurs, their eyes wide and troubled as their medicine cat and leader glared at each other in silence.

Nutwhisker growled. "Stormstar, you must understand that we need to be strong. With you as our leader, we are weak."

"I am the rightful Lightclan leader!" Stormstar unsheathed his claws, flames igniting around his paws. Nutwhisker's tail lashed in anger but his eyes betrayed his fear.

Stormstar raised his paw and lashed out at Nutwhisker. The clan gasped in shock and Flamefur snapped to her paws to intervene but Stormstar's paw was stopped by a wall of blue mist appearing between the leader and medicine. The wall slowly moved, encasing Stormstar in an inescapable blue sphere. Through the partly blurred blue screen, Flamefur watched as Stormstar tried to burn a hole through the cage and bang against it, his yowls of outrage muffled greatly.

Zeye emerged from the clump of bushes at the edge of camp, only his ears angled towards the sphere to keep it up. The white furred tom glanced around the clan, his expression strangely calm. Flamefur heard cats whisper in hushed voices about his scar and she wondered if he hadn't heard- or he didn't care.

He turned to face Flamefur and she bit her lip as his blue gaze met her amber one. "Flamefur, I believe you should be Lightclan's new leader in Stormstar's place and I think the clan agree with me." He glanced at the gathered cats. A few of them gave slight nods in agreement. Stormstar was banging against the cage with angry yowls.

Flamefur shook her head, not ready for the sudden responsibility. "Uh... I-I don't know..." She mumbled.

"You have to." Zeye meowed.

"Can I think about it for a while?" She asked.

The white tom dipped his head. "You have half a moon." Then he blinked away, freeing Stormstar from his blue cage.

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