Chapter 11
"Stop dithering!"
I jerked my head around just in time to see Dewocean sliding out of the leader's den. She smiled at Shadefang as he passed, a vole in his jaws, but her bright expression slipped away as she turned her gaze back to me. Instead, it was replaced with a smug grin.
"Did you patrol the border, dear? Attack any trespassers?" She ran her tail along my spine, then ran an unsheathed claw along my side, grazing the long scratch she'd given me for my disobedience when our training together had first begun.
She scowled as she saw the lack of blood on my paws.
"Come with me," she growled, gesturing to our den. "Let's talk...in private. Or rather, I talk and you listen." Her whiskers twitched with amusement.
I hesitated for several moments, wondering if there was any way I could get out of this, but one piercing look from Dewocean brought me back to the moment a moon and a half ago, where she'd met up with me...and Flowerpaw's corpse.
At that moment, I'd finally realised that she was the cat who had attacked my mother all those moons ago. The dreaded shadowed cat who had tried to kill me. She was ruthless, but she was the only cat I had. The only cat who loved me now.
I don't think I could ever forget padding out of that cave in her shadow, claws stained red with Flowerpaw's blood, shoulders hunched. Usually cats only highlight the most intense bits of action or drama when they tell a story. They rarely say what comes after. I had the same feeling I'd had after the accident and the death of my mother. Every cat moved on, but I was stuck trying to deal with all that had happened.
I vaguely recall that the tunnel collapsed. The next thing I remember was seeing Ripplepaw and Littlepaw staring at me, eyes round as I padded into camp, my claws still dark with blood. Their tails had been entwined. That should have been a sign of what my littermate was about to do next.
Then Dewocean had leaped up to address the clan. She'd told me smugly on the way back that she wouldn't tell my clanmates the truth about what had happened to Flowerpaw so long as I was obedient to her.
That meeting had changed everything.
Firstly, Aquastar had collapsed before it even started. Not exactly a good sign. Ever since then, he had been confined to his den, with Dewocean looking after him like a hawk. In a lot of ways, she had become ShoreClan's leader.
Then, Dewocean had revealed to every cat that Flowerpaw had been killed at the gathering. She'd said that it had been done by CaveClan and GladeClan warriors, but I'd seen the way cats had eyed my bloody paws, especially Strikepaw. Their suspicion towards me had made Dewocean smile.
Next, she'd announced that she was changing around a couple ranks for the clan cats. Bubbleburst had been made a 'regular' clan member. Ripplepaw had risen and vehemently declared that she was going to be a Bottom Feeder, and Dewocean had more than happily obliged.
Then she'd mentioned that we were preparing for war.
Following the meeting was the time where everything truly changed for me, though.
"Ferretpaw!" Dewocean snarled. "Come here."
Then, I was knocked out of my panicked thoughts and back into the real world. Tail lowered, I padded towards the den Ripplepaw and the rest of the Bottom Feeder's had recently constructed for the two of us, and padded inside.
The nest was rather small, only being able to fit six or so cats. Overhead were tightly woven spiky reeds, and vines blocked the entrance. In one corner of the sandy-floored den, there was a luxurious nest, completely dry moss with soft, fluffy stuff and adorned with brightly coloured flowers.
Then, there was the spiky thorn enclosure. There was no nest in it, but it was evident that a cat slept there. A small flap was exposed, allowing a cat to slip through, then for another to lock it from the outside.
Dewocean was idly picking at the remains of a fish, the pure white bones rattling together as she ran her paw along it.
"Go." She didn't look up.
I stared down at the ground, not meeting her gaze as I slunk towards my nest, feeling ashamed for how low I'd gone. I tried to remember the time when I had been brave, rebellious, fearless, but all that seemed to be stamped out of me. Now I only had Dewocean.
I slipped into the cage, ignoring the pangs of hunger that rippled along my sides. I think I'd gotten smaller in the past moon. Or perhaps just scrawnier. Either way, it made me faster, which meant it was easier to strike the throat of an enemy. It also meant that as I got into the den, fewer thorns snagged my pelt.
As I padded in, Dewocean casually got up, arched her back in a yawn, then shut the flap, making sure to latch the door so that I couldn't get out.
"You know Ferretpaw," she meowed with a smile as she settled in her nest, still watching me with her heartless amber eyes. "It's so very nice to have a companion. It's even better that it's the daughter of a cat I knew so well."
I growled, flexing my claws in and out, yearning to unleash my fury on some cat. Dewocean only chuckled as she watched my eyes flash blue fire.
"You know, Ferretpaw, if you're a good little apprentice and kill at least one other warrior for me, we could make you better..." she winked. "...accommodations."
"Yeah right," I retorted sharply. "Like I'm gonna help you start a war that will kill tons of innocent cats."
Dewocean rolled her eyes. I saw them glitter with amusement. "Oh, like you're one to talk about killing innocents, dear."
My fury suddenly exploded. I lunged for where Dewocean was, clawing at the thorns which encircled me, not even caring as they lashed against my pelt. It was suddenly as though I had the strength of the ferret that I'd had when attacking Flowerpaw. My paws were changing colour, all my attention had fixed on her throat. Dewocean just laughed, voice bright and high pitched.
"Oh this is simply so fun. I love being in control of the world! Foxdung to all those stupid toms and other cats. Who needs them when I have a super-charged apprentice at my command?"
I snarled, but I could feel my energy ebbing. The power had come to me a couple times before because of Dewcoean's goading, and each time it had gradually fizzled out too. It was almost as though it was a fire without anything else to burn up.
"A-ahem-"
I jerked my head, suddenly realising that there was another cat at the entrance to the den. I could just make out black paws from behind the vines which screened the entrance to the den.
"Yes?" Dewocean shot me a glare before adding. "Do come in, Bubbleburst and...Shadefang is it?"
I watched as the two toms slipped through the den, but before I could register what was going on, I felt a sharp pain in my forepaws. Looking down, I realised that they were clumps of fur had been torn out, and I was bleeding from several scratches. Thankfully, it looked shallow, and I turned back to the toms. I'd had much worse.
Shadefang was staring at me with horrified green eyes, but he quickly tried to hide his concern. Bubbleburst remained calm, although I noticed that my mentor's-former mentor? Dewocean's sort of been my mentor lately- tail was twitching in agitation.
I recalled that both tom's had relations to Dewocean, Shadefang being her former apprentice and Bubbleburst being her son. What sort of cat would she have mated with and who would have mated with her?
"Yes, what?" Dewocean eyed her unsheathed claws, seeming uninterested. "Be quick about it boys, I'm tired."
Shadefang dipped his head low, but it was Bubbleburst who replied, the tom's eyes flashing with fury akin to how I had felt recently.
"Aquastar has lost a life."
Was that delight I saw flash across Dewocean's expression? She quickly hid it with a curt nod to Bubbleburst.
"Alright. I knew that all that stress was getting to him. Poor dear."
Shadefang's eyes flashed. "If you'll excuse my rudeness," the dark grey warrior growled softly, "Aquastar needs some help. Leaving him to rot isn't the sort of thing he needs. Look, when I was an apprentice, I got super stressed too, so I get it. What I needed were some thyme from Silvershine and conversations with the other warriors."
Dewocean rolled her eyes. "Hah!" she muttered. "Aquastar is a big strong tom. They don't get that way. I thought all ShoreClan toms were strong, but maybe you are the exception, Shadefear."
Sudden fury flashed across Shadefang's expression. I realised that the tom, usually so composed, was quivering. He sucked in a breath, then turned to face Dewocean, eyes oddly calm.
"So that's it?" He meowed quietly, holding the deputy's gaze. "I'm not good enough for you?"
Dewocean yawned. "In this state, boy, you aren't being productive. I thought I taught you productivity as an apprentice. I taught you your place."
"You taught me how to be miserable!" Shadefang meowed hoarsely. "I never felt like I was good enough, I felt like I may as well just sink to the bottom of the sea."
"I suppose it's a good thing you didn't?" Dewocean seemed to be asking the question to Shadefang as though she was genuinely curious of the answer.
"It's only because I found friends and you left my life that I survived," Shadefang meowed. He turned to me, almost as though he wanted to say this more to me than to Dewocean. I realised that his eyes were glittering with emotion.
"Drizzlemist and Streamfeather were both such relaxed cats. They made me see more than just work, but even then," Shadefang's tail quivered as he shifted his glare back to Dewocean. "Even then, it wasn't until I took some time away from the clan and met some loners that I truly escaped."
Dewocean's smile dimmed. "It's a pity that you are such a bad warrior." Then, she chuckled, eyeing her long claws. "Can't have disobedience, now can we? I guess you know that you are in need of a rank change too, darling. Something that will fit that rank scent of fear."
For a moment, I thought the silence would last forever. Bubbleburst was staring off in the distance in shock as though he wasn't sure which cat to be more alarmed by. Me, the apprentice who he had watched go savage, Dewoean, who was smiling as she prepared to demote one of ShoreClan's loyalist warriors, or Shadefang, who was speaking out against the deputy.
At last, Bubbleburst turned to Shadefang. "Drop it," he muttered under his breath. "Just kill some CaveClan warriors at the next battle, and that'll make up for this behaviour in my mother's eyes. Surely you don't actually want to be a Bottom Feeder, those slimy, feral slugs."
I was partially in agreement with the fierce black and white tom. Dewocean loved it when cats worked to progress her plans for conquest. I could scarcely remember the amount of times she'd purred at me after the Flowerpaw incident.
"Maybe I should just leave," Shadefang growled, working his claws into the sandy floor of the den. "I've seen the rogues on our border, and they seem pretty happy with their lives. Maybe I should join them, after all, it seems ShoreClan might be more feral that they are."
I tried not to wince as I stared down at my blood-stained paws. He's not wrong...Dewocean's been working every cat to the bone, and it really brings out the worst in all of us.
"No, no, no!" Dewocean finally got to her paws.
She padded over to me, unlatched my cage, then went over to Shadefang. He took a step back, tail flicking uneasily. Looking uncomfortable, Bubbleburst moved so that the exit to the den was blocked, and no cats could funnel in...or out.
As I slipped out of my nest, slinking to the shadows of the den, I watched Dewocean curl her tail across Shadefang's spine. The dark grey tom's eyes were focussed on me. He looked deeply afraid. Of me...or of what Dewocean is doing to us?
"You're not leaving ShoreClan, Shadefang," Dewocean sneered. "If there's one thing you are, it's a good fighter. Like Ferretpaw and Frogstream, I can't simply let fighters...out of my vines, if you know what I mean."
Bubbleburst was looking at his mother as though he was desperately trying to come up with some rational reason for why Dewocean was acting so savagely. No, Ferretpaw, the words slipped into my mind from what the cream she-cat had told me time and time again. You're the savage one, dear, and I'm the only one that's keeping you from going crazy.
"So I'm going to be a Bottom Feeder?" Shadefang rasped. He was frozen in fear as Dewocean weaved around him, like a snake coiling its body around prey. "F-fine, then! At least it's better than being a warrior for your ranks."
"Yes, of course, Shadefang." Dewocean suddenly jerked her gaze towards me. She purred. "Come here, Ferretpaw. It's time I revealed something to you, my pet."
I realised that without even thinking, my paws made their way towards Dewocean. The cream she-cat's gaze watched my progress until I was right behind her. Then, she turned back to Shadefang.
"Don't take me for a mouse brain, Shadefang," Dewocean growled, her voice eerily low. "There's far more that I want than just taking over two loser clans." Then, her voice turned sickly sweet. "So Ferretpaw, you, and a few others, are going to get that thing for me, and then, I will have control over the entire ocean."