If You Want Peace: Chapter 2

Cedarheart nodded gratefully towards Morningpaw. It had all came rushing out once she had started. She couldn’t talk to anyone about it. She didn't think any of her friends shared her feelings, at least not as strong as her own. She heard the yowl of the Windclan tom, she had seen him at a gathering. She wasn’t sure of his name. She dipped her head. He seemed pretty cool. He had also laughed at her joke, which she had thought was pretty funny. She looked around, her faith growing. If they had gathered this many cats, without the plagued ones, they could definitely take down the evil Righetous Few! Of course, there could be more of them, but these cats weren’t dead. She wasn’t sure how they could battle the ancestors, but instead of killing, they could possibly cast them away from the clans. All the warrior knew was that they were strong.

Maplepaw had come to this secret Gathering, of sorts, because she hated what the Righteous Few were doing.  She hated the fact that the Righteous Few thought that they could come and kill cats, some of which had done nothing wrong!  She knew that if they wanted to truly be free, they would have to make the Righteous Few leave, whether through death or banishment.  These cats were not truly StarClan, but cats who belonged in the Dark Forest!  She knew that the most likely end of the Righteous Few would be by death through battle, for they were much too proud to just leave. 

She listened as some cats spoke up about how much they hated the Righteous Few.  Maplepaw thought about joining in the venting session but decided against it.  They were not here to yell about the supposed 'StarClan' cats, but to come up with a plan of action.  She, personally thought that it would be a good idea to make sure that actual StarClan would stand by them, maybe even help fight them if necessary. Instead of suggesting this though, she kept listening to see if this would actually go somewhere.  

If all they did was shout about how angry they were at the Righteous Few without actually seeking action, they were bigger cowards than the Righteous Few!  She didn't say this, for fear that she might get kicked out.  She really did want to be here, to help rid the forest of the Few, but she thought that they were going about it the wrong way.  In the end, though, it didn't matter to her as long as they could make them leave, one way or another.

Briarthorn padded into fourtrees. The moment he had heard that there were secret anti-righteous few group meeting, he had wanted in. He wasn't getting left out of this action! If he ever saw Galestar again, he would attack her without hesitation and without mercy! She had no right to take Finchstar's lives from him! He had only ever wanted to serve his clan. He had more honor, and was more "righteous" than all of the righteous few combined! Briarthorn took a deep breath as he sat down next to his half siblings, Clovertwist and Goldengale. As Morningpaw gave her speech, then Cedarheart chimed in he couldn't have agreed more. His green eyes burned with an intense light as he stood up, turning to face the bulk of the gathered cats. "I have no doubt that the righteous few are behind this. They want to scare us into submission, killing our leaders, chasing them away, sending their plagues, but they don't frighten me! Your right, Morningpaw. We are not the mice, they are! Hiding behind the title of StarClan, saying that this is their will. But I don't believe them! If this was the will of StarClan, don't you think they would send the more recent leaders to convince us? Ones we had actually known, not these old, faded, cats that nobody has heard of before?! THEY ARE FALSE!" As Briarthorn spoke, his voice became louder, filled with more emotion until he was practically yowling. "I don't care what they say they will do to us! I will fight them until my last breath, weather we eradicate them, or they eradicate us! And I think I know which one will come first." He looked at the group of gathered cats, a smile coming to his face. "We are many, they are few. And our ranks will only grow! In trying to force us into submission, they only fuel the fire of rebellion!"

WindClan had always been the home of dramatic speeches, Morningpaw reflected with a firm nod to Briarthorn- and she was glad to see she wasn't the only one in her Clan with a talent for standing up and yowling loudly about what she believed in. And what Briarthorn believed in- well, Morningpaw wished she didn't agree, but... she did. Everything her Clanmate said was true; the Righteous Few must be fought, and they must be evicted from the forest, by force if need be. And he wasn't the only one who thought so, either- so no matter how much she tried to convince herself their shared foe could be talked down... perhaps they were right. Perhaps all this time, they had simply been screaming to the stars- the cold, unlistening stars above that had not once relented in their assault on the Clans- and perhaps the only solution was to fight. And if every cat here was willing to take that risk... Morningpaw took a few slow, measured steps towards the Great Rock- and then, crouching down low, jumped atop it once more, turning to face the cats before her. Things needed to change, and change would not come about without momentum. And if there was one thing this revolution had, it was momentum.

"We stand upon the precipice of change," she yowled, her voice loud and clear across the clearing, hard and unwavering as she spoke. "And we have two choices. We can do nothing- we can sit, and cower, and wait for the Righteous Few to claim their next victim, to strike us down with claw and tooth and coward's curse. We can hide. We can defend ourselves, but when they come for us- and come they will- we will still bleed, and we will still die, until they have had their fill. Make no mistake, we are the prey, and we face predators more fierce than any fox. We can share in our struggle, and watch and mourn as our Clanmates die, as our freedom is stripped away and as these tyrants laugh in their starry dens, safe from our wrath. This is the first choice- we can suffer. And I won't lie, we will suffer regardless- this fate is inevitable, because our foes do not offer a guiding paw of wisdom like the StarClan we know, but a killing bite of murderous intent. They want to see the river run red with our blood as punishment for our so-called sins. They want us to die, and to suffer in anguish and torment as we do, and they will not stop simply because we object."

A moment passed, and Morningpaw looked up at the moon shining down from above, raising a paw to it as if to touch it. "Or," she called out, slamming her paw into the rock, her now-unsheathed claws making a loud 'tink' as they impacted the stone, "We can drive them back. We can match them, tooth for tooth and claw for claw, pushing them back and stepping forward until we shove them off the cliff they have forced us onto- it is not us who must adapt, but them, for it is not them that breathe, that live, that love, but us. We are warriors! And they may call themselves Righteous, but they are afraid- they cower in their stars, out of our reach, hurting us with sickness because they know we will fight. We are lionhearted, and this is our moment of truth. We will not fail- we will not falter. We will not give a single step to the enemy. We will bring the sky itself crashing down upon them if need be- and yes, we will suffer, and yes, we will bleed. But we will bleed for peace, and we will bleed for love, and the blood of our martyrs will water the meadows of the forest. And is it not better to die for something, than to live for nothing?"

"So when they come for us at the Gathering, when they step down from the stars to gloat and bring their bloody teeth into the flesh of our loved ones? We step up, and we deliver our ultimatum- they will take their own advice and return to whence they came, or they will suffer as we have. We do not hide like mice; we fight like lions. We fight like warriors, for warriors are who we are! Think, for a moment- what do you want from life? If you want to live free, be ready to fight for that freedom. If you want to breathe without the claws of tyrants pressed against our necks, then be prepared to fight for each breath you take. And if, like me- you want peace? Well." Morningpaw fixed her gaze on the congregation of cats, her speech reaching its crescendo, her eyes as bright and fierce as her spirit. A deep breath, a firm nod, a piercing stare to each and every cat before her- and she called out, as firm and resolute as the Great Rock upon which she stood,

"As long as there is breathe in my bones, a sun in the sky, and love in my heart. I will fight."

The small voice declared, standing up from where she sat in the back, moonlight shining on her cream fur. She took a few determined steps forward, head down. A fox-length from the Great Rock, she looked up, blue flames in her eyes. "If I may, Morningpaw?" She mewed, before bunching her muscles up, taking a powerful leap into the air. For a moment, it felt she was flying. Then she landed beside her fellow apprentice, and turned to face the crowd.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, relaxed, and then opened her eyes, beginning her speech. "As many of you know, I am Softpaw, the medicine cat apprentice of WindClan. I am an advocate of the stars-- that is, the true stars. StarClan have heard our cries! The Righteous Few will not succeed! As long as I am living, I must believe that there is a hope. I have watched innocent cats die, cats taken from us entirely too soon. Dacedream, a ThunderClan warrior. But much more than that; a sister, a daughter, a friend, a Clanmate, a mentor, a mother. What sin did she commit, you may ask? She followed her heart and her father, which both led her to the trees, in which she protected until her very last breath, dying because she was loyal to the vow in which she took. Finchstar, WindClan's leader. He was a mate, a father, a hero, an idol, a consult, a friend, a counselor, a mentor, a leader, and most of all, he was dedicated to love. He sought love in every corner of this world, sought love in every cat. He saw the good that radiated in every cat, when no others could. He guided WindClan through pain, misery, and sorrow, when the stars were nowhere to be seen. He was born in another time of 'righteousness', a ruthless self-acclaimed prophet named Lichenmask. Lives were lost, and in the end, the true StarClan struck down the very cat the false stars had sent. Finchstar grew up in a time oh-so like this one, where fear was in every cat's heart. Cats betrayed their own, and they died for it. Good cats were lost for lies. Yet even in that time of fear, Finchstar found love and goodness. He knew of the imperfections of StarClan, and it made him better because of it. The fault he found with StarClan? Love. They opposed him for love. He was a messenger of it, a martyr, and they slaughtered him mercilessly. Our plees did nothing to stop them."

"And even now, they infect our Clanmates, for they are not deemed perfect in the eyes of the stars. They want to strike us down with fear and sickness? Will you back down?"
"NO!" Her brother yowled.
"Will we be forced into submission?"
"NO!"
"Will we allow our Clanmates to suffer mercilessly?"
"NO!"
"Will we stand up against them, for the right things, for love and for peace, for the things that are oh-so important to us? Will we fight back and rebel? Will we rise, stronger than before?"
"YES!"

With each sentence, her voice grew stronger, until she was screeching to the stars. "They want us to blindly choose loyalty, yet loyalty to the Clan you weren't born in has infected cats, and even killed others. Loyalty to what is right is what killed Finchstar. They want us to follow the Code, yet they break it! They want perfection, and perfection they will get. They will get our perfect rebellion, unity in our cause, to evict them from our forest, and chase them back to where they belong. WindClan will stand against the Righteous Few. I have faith that at least ThunderClan will follow, as they are affected as bad as we. Mossbloom, do you agree? Ravenmist, Mothglow, will ShadowClan stand strong with us? Sagelight, will SkyClan join us in this fight? Nightwolf, Willowpaw, Streampaw, you are young to ask of this, but would Ivystar and Stormbringer join WindClan in our overthrowing of the stars? The time to act is now, and with all five Clans standing as one, we will not fall."

"Together, we will stand strong. As my brave leader Finchstar once proclaimed, the forest has a new queen; a fair and just ruler, sympathizing with all, withholding mercy from none; and her name is love. Together we can stand strong. Why should we fight each other, when we share a common enemy? The very second the Wrongteous Few thought of this they committed treason against the forest, going against every other cat, living and dead. They dare call us foolish, but I beg to differ! Perhaps it is careless to go against divine ghosts. Maybe it is crazy that a couple apprentices organized this. And probably is dumb to so openly spread our cause. But if we don't, who will? If our friends, our Clanmates, our kin, die because we did nothing, are we really better than them. An honorable death; that's how I wish to die. To go out protecting the things, values, cats, I care about. They've lived their lives. It's time we live ours. They've made their choices. And they'll die to regret them. So let us make our choice. Each one of us here is here for a reason. And at the very core of our hearts, we know this is wrong. They must be stopped. It is no longer a question of 'do or not do', but a question of 'when'. Believe me, they will not stop until we are all dead."

"I call this courage, strength, bravery. Every cat here; elder, kit, apprentice, queen, all show more honor than all those self-proclaimed heroes. This is our forest, and I won't watch it die. We planted our roots deep, but some have found a pool of deathberries, and if those roots aren't pulled up, the entire tree will cease to exist. He will die a slow, painful death, writhing in agony the entire time. We are the tree, we must free ourselves before we crumble in pain. Will you fight like lions, or hide like newborn mice?"

"I am not asking for a war. I am asking for these so-called Righteous Few- or the Wrongteous Few, as Cedarheart put it,- to leave us be. By the will of love, and the powers of our true ancestors, we will get through this."

"WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN!"