Dwindling Shadow [openness]

He'd never expected at all to find himself here again, and sure as StarClan under such horrifying circumstances. The last time he had been here, he had brought his entire clan, seeking refuge from the cats who had driven them out of their home. This time, he was being held a lone prisoner by the cats who had driven them out of their home. Irony was a strange thing. With a groan, he glanced around the camp, half-wishing and expecting a familiar calico she-cat to appear out of nowhere and approach him, but he knew it'd simply never happen.

Sagewhisker didn't plan on staying here long, near looking around at every moment for means to an escape. On their trip to RiverClan's camp alone, they had to drag him the entire way - not to mention his attempt to jump into the river (as he'd much rather die than being held captive by Reedstar). The tom sighed, resting his head in his paws. If the sickness wouldn't take him soon, then starvation would; as he was already hungry and refused to touch any prey that RiverClan might have offered. He just wanted to go home.

Even as an enemy warrior, MidnightPaw felt pity for the half-starved cat. He might be disobeying his father, but right now he felt more compelled to help the prisoner. He grabbed a fish and went over to the cat. "Here... You look hungry..."

The elder narrowed his eyes at the apprentice, considering spitting at her and scaring her away - he'd much rather be left alone. She looked hardly older than a kit, though, and probably had little idea what was going on. "My clan and I haven't had a meal in moons that wasn't poisoness crowfood." He snapped back at her, pausing to cough into his paws and take another shaky breath and glaring up at her. "Keep it. I don't need your pity." His stomach snarled and pained in protest at the scent of the food, but he clenched his teeth and bore with it.

"Midnightpaw," a level voice sounded from behind the apprentice. Reedstar stood there with his emotions and intentions hidden behind an iron mask. His son had a gentle heart. A hundred moons ago Reedstar had known a warrior driven by compassion and mercy, but some cat killed him long ago. "Go and play with your sister. Sagewhisker and I have to talk. In confidence." He padded past and loomed over the old leader imposingly. Sagewhisker made a sorry sight these days; the tom had once been so proud and so arrogant, but now in his old age and failing health he seemed just tired and done. He had never been a big cat, but he seemed even smaller now. Frail. I could snap him like a twig.  Reedstar had half the mind to do so and be done with it, but Sagewhisker knew. No other hostages had come home with them. If the kits weren't dead already, they were already claimed by the other Clans, or worse, on the run with the remnants of ShadowClan.

"You would be wise to accept our hospitality." Reedstar mewed, mossy green eyes flicking to the untouched fish. The old fool had already tried it once. Was he running from the past, maybe? Or was he still just too prideful to let himself be held captive? There was still some of that old fire left in him. Most with that flame didn't get to live to his age. All the leaders of his youth dead, except for him. How could that come to pass? Reedstar's voice suddenly dropped to an icier tone. "You would not want to die so far from home."

ooc: MidnightPaw is a tom

IC: "A-Alright, Dad. I'll go see if I can find SkyPaw." He padded away, sometimes glancing at the ShadowClan cat.

ooc;; i totally just noticed this was posted in.
bic;;

Sagewhisker's gaze slit more-so at the sight of the approaching RiverClan leader, a foul taste of bile rising out of his mouth in a matter of heartbeats. If he weren't so weak, the elder would've attacked him then and there. After all, this was the cat who had driven them out of their home and had killed his old friend in cold blood. Sagewhisker himself was many things, but a murderer was not one of them - at least when it came to other clan cats. He wondered if Froststar had ever known that she had chosen such a cruel deputy to succeed her. Curiously, he watched the small exchange between the leader and the apprentice. Reedstar was the father of this 'Midnightpaw'? He wonder what she-cat alive would mother any children of his.

"It's true. It wouldn't be as fortunate of a death as others I know. I'm old and tired, though. I can practically see StarClan themselves coming for me with each passing night." The old tabby rasped back, his emerald eyes faintly glowing. "As far as I'd imagined, I never saw myself leaving the forest as prisoner of RiverClan, of all things." He let out a chuckle, smirking to himself. StarClan's will and whims would always be strange to him, he supposed. "But It'd be far more honorable to meet my ancestors as I am now, wouldn't you say?" The words pained him greatly, but after everything that had happened, he couldn't imagine Reedstar simply letting him walk home like nothing had happened. He wondered why they hadn't just killed him back at the camp. Sagewhisker glared up at Reedstar. What could he possibly want?

MidnightPaw couldn't help overhearing it. He stayed silently in the shadows, looking at the two talking to each other.

"Honorable," Reedstar repeated flatly. He could have laughed. What had Sagewhisker ever known of honor? Sagewhisker who had been the first to pounce on SkyClan's territory, the same Sagewhisker who had forsaken the code to sully their leader. It was hard to contain the growl rising in his throat. His claws slid in and out, in and out, in and out. "I'd say it'd be more honorable to confess your sins as StarClan approaches." Reedstar leaned in close, and his voice was hardly louder than a whisper. "I know about the kits."

The elder watched the younger tom with little amusement, the repeated retracting of the RiverClan leader's paws. He gave the slightest smirk, expecting that he could love to sink his claws into his own pelt, and that it would be done before the day was through. Sagewhisker wasn't afraid of that, though. It wouldn't take much to send him into death. Perhaps he would go quickly, like Gingerheart had - or, at least how he thought she had.
He shot the fish-face a suspicious look at his next words, though, feeling his body run cold as ice as the poisonous whispers reached his ear. How could he possibly know about them? Froststar had done everything in her power to keep the kits a secret. Sagewhisker tried to stay calm, though it was admittedly hard in his condition, and the fur on the back of his neck rose uncomfortably. "I don't know what you're talking about." He lied, hissing through his teeth and swatting Reedstar back with a clawed paw.

The satisfaction of watching his smug smirk curdle and die only lasted a moment. Reedstar flinched as the claws swiped across his face and pulled back. Blood welled up from his cheek in three clear cuts.

He suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the elder by the scruff and hurling him across the sandy clearing, fury bubbling up in his chest. Codebreaker, Reedstar thought, remembering Froststar's broken body on the Thunderpath and the wailing of two kits rising above the pouring rain. Foxheart. "Don't try and play the fool with me," he said, padding up and standing over him. Sagewhisker may be old and feeble, but Reedstar would make sure he would not die until he heard him speak their names. "Save yourself some pain and confess now, or I swear by all of StarClan every cat in every Clan will know your shame. Confess."

"What are you doing, Reedstar?" the all-familiar, raspy voice of Cinderfur question as she padded out of the dark corner of the nursery where she was away from the other queens and kits. She had been getting over her bad sickness, but she still wasn't looking very good. She had lost weight and her fur hadn't been taken care of for a while, so she looked like she had been sleeping in brambles, but she was gaining energy to get up and walk for a small length of time before she had to lie back down. It just so happened that when she got up for her usual energy-testing walk that she found Reedstar standing over Sagewhisker. Cinderfur couldn't really understand it. She had heard about what happened to Shadowclan, but she was ultimately confused as to why Reedstar would take such an old and weak hostage. If the stories of Shadowclan had been true, they wouldn't think about coming back for the elder. They'd leave him to die without blinking an eye. So why bring back someone so... well, useless? After letting out a heavy cough, the she-cat sat down outside of the nursery and took a short glance around to find Midnightpaw not too far from her before she turned back to Reedstar curiously.

Sagewhisker let out a groan as he toppled over into the sand, coughing into a small cloud of dust and spitting the sand off his tongue. He heard the call of a nearby queen, but it was forgotten to him near as soon as he noticed it. The tabby instead glared up defiantly at the RiverClan leader. Was this some kind of cruel, sick joke? If the tom already knew his dire secret, then why try and force it out of him? He already known what him and Froststar had done and hat happened to the kits. "I've already confessed my sins once to another," He snarled back, "And you tore her throat out and left her to rot." It was a dire wish of his that he could find the strength to repay the damage done to Gingerheart twice-fold on Reedstar, but he knew it could never happen. "Why should I tell you anything?" He spat.

Sins? Gingerheart? Kits? What are they talking about? MidnightPaw sighed, he looked over to his mother, her fur was horribly messy. He padded over to her. "Mom? Are you sure you're alright? Do you want me to fetch you some fresh-kill?" he asked, and looked at ReedStar, he noticed the scratch on his nose. "Uhh... Should I fetch the medicine cat?"

Reedstar planted a paw on the elder's throat, deaf to the voices of his mate and kit. Even though the sky above them shone a pale blue, he could still hear the rain and see her body lying broken on the Thunderpath. "I want to hear you say their names." Whatever Gingerheart had known didn't matter now. There was no chance of her spreading Sagewhisker's secrets with her throat torn out. "Both of them. Do they know who they are?"

MidnightPaw didn't know what to do. One part of him wanted to stop his father, but another part of him wanted to listen to his father. He stepped forward cautiously, looking the two of them with worried eyes.