"Good morning, Worm your honor, The crown will plainly show The prisoner who now stands before you Was caught red-handed showing feelings, Showing feelings of an almost human nature. This will not do." - pink floyd's "the trial" from 1979's the wall
Somehow, Deadeye had always known that it would come to this. He had wanted to make things work with his new clan, but he had known from the get-go that this was unlikely to be a permanent arrangement. DuskClan was not known for its kindness nor its generosity, so the dark warrior had expected to pay duly for his rescue moons prior. Knowing that if it had not been for DuskClan's timely discovery of his mangled body, he surely would have bled out on the forest floor. And now, Deadeye's new clanmates were eager to remind him of this.
The dark tabby warrior had anticipated to pay for his salvation, but he had had no idea that he would become essentially a prisoner of DuskClan, despite having no political advantage to do so. Since Deadeye had been the one to challenge Lightningstar and the one to end his final life, he knew that he was not welcome back in SkyClan, even now that his former clanmates knew that he was alive. In life, Lightningstar had ruled with an iron claw, and though he had been disliked by many of their own clanmates, it was unprecedented for a warrior who had murdered their own leader to stay in their clan.
Deadeye had never wanted nor expected that his life would have come to this. All he ever wanted to do was serve his clan as best he could. But he had failed. He had murdered Lightningstar, and had fled SkyClan with his life barely in tact. But he could not stand by any longer and watch Lightningstar destroy the clan he loved so much. The leader had gone renegade, turning his back to the warrior code in favor of his own pursuits. He pushed for kits to be apprenticed younger and younger, and emphasized conquest. Lightningstar did not seem to care that the cost of expansion and war was at the expense of his own clanmates. Under Lightningstar's leadership, Deadeye had seen so many cats die, including his own apprentice, Rainpaw.
Rainpaw had died horribly and unnecessarily, and her death would not go unanswered for. Deadeye had owed her that much.
His days with his young and incorrigible apprentice felt like a lifetime ago already. Deadeye feared that Rainpaw was watching her mentor from StarClan, as she wouldn't have wanted this. But at the time, it was all Deadeye could think about. He had ruminated on his young (frankly, too young) apprentice's death, and how avoidable it had been. She nor the other apprentice that had died that day should not have been at that battle with MeadowClan. Not only had the apprentices been sent in to a warrior's fight, but they had been ordered to do so by a leader who knew that they were too young and inexperienced to hold their own in battle.
Rainpaw's death had been avoidable, but Lighhtningstar's had not been. From the moment Deadeye had gotten word of his apprentice's passing, he had become preoccupied with an unhealthy mix of grief and a desire for revenge that he felt justified in acting upon. Rainpaw's death was the final straw.
Deadeye wanted to leave it all behind him. Not because of any newfound loyalty for his new clan, but because it was simply too painful to look back. Stormclaw of SkyClan had perished alongside Lightningstar that day.
Although by all accounts, Deadeye had won his duel with Lightningstar, who in life had been renowned for his fighting ability, Deadeye no longer had the confidence he had had as a younger warrior. His injury and subsequent banishment from the clan of his birth had shaken him in a way that even the loss of his eye had not. Deadeye was a firm believer in the warrior code, and knowing that he had violated one of the core tenants of it disturbed him in ways he could not begin to fathom.
Loyalty and honor had, and still meant everything to Deadeye, and it gnawed at his soul that he was now known to be both a traitor and a murderer. In this regard, he supposed he belonged in DuskClan, then. DuskClan was known to take in outsiders of all walks of life, many being former rogues or loners who clearly held little regard for the importance of clan life. To many of the members of DuskClan, the warrior code was a mere suggestion, and not a way of life. DuskClan had long since lost its way, and was poorly regarded by the two other clans that shared the forest with them. It did not help that its current leader, Hollowstar, was seemingly going out of his way to destroy any good will that DuskClan had accrued under Cranestar's leadership.
Deadeye had never realized how much one depended on their sight until he had lost his eye. One of Lightningstar's first blows to land on him had been to his face, and the duel had nearly been over then and there. But Deadeye had done the unexpected and had gotten back up, launching himself with a fury he had not known possible. With blood dripping down the side of his face and his right eye vacant, Deadeye felt as though his warrior ancestors were on his side in that moment.
Despite his status as a seasoned warrior and a skilled fighter in his own right, Deadeye had never killed another cat before. He believed there was no honor in killing and got no pleasure from it. But any mercy that Deadeye may have otherwise shown to his leader were dashed the moment he had learned of Rainpaw's death. Their clanmates watched in abject horror as Deadeye flung himself on top of Lightningstar, the older tom weakly thrashing about as he went straight for his throat. Deadeye could feel his leader's life slowly leech out of him, his brilliant emerald eyes fading to a lifeless shade of green.
Deadeye escaped with his life, and not much else.
He had been found by a DuskClan patrol, having just narrowly escaped being chased down by his former clanmates. If he had not been found when he had, he surely would have bled out. Due to the severity of his injuries, he spent over a moon without leaving the medicine cat's cave. Hollowstar made it abundantly clear to Deadeye that he owed a great debt to not only DuskClan, but to Hollowstar personally. The debt weighed heavily on Deadeye's mind and his spirit, and his new clanmates did not make it any easier on him either. Upon his release from the medicine cat's den, Deadeye had been subsequently renamed, Stormpaw, though he had been a SkyClan warrior for many seasons. Hollowstar put him through the humiliation of an apprentice ceremony, relishing in seeing a once proud and strong warrior humbled so profoundly.
Ever since his apprentice ceremony, Stormpaw knew that his time in DuskClan came with an expiration date. Though Hollowstar had made it clear that Stormpaw was now a member of DuskClan (whether he liked it or not), the dark tabby warrior apprentice could see the writing on the wall, and knew that as soon as Hollowstar was no longer entertained by him, that he would be cast aside yet again. On some levels, Stormpaw wanted to make this work, and serve his new clan. Clanlife was all he knew, was all he had ever known. All he had ever wanted to do was serve his clan and to be a good warrior.
Stormpaw bided his time. He put up with the abuse from his new clanmates, feeling as though he deserved it. He spent the rare time he had to himself practicing his fighting skills, trying to recapture what he had lost when he lost his right eye. He was off kilter, uncomfortable with his footing now that he had this handicap. He was surprised when Hollowstar informed him that his trial was over, and he would be accepted into DuskClan as a full warrior.
He had expected the possibility of a new warrior name, but not the one he was given. Deadeye. In any other context, the dark tabby would have been angry to be named after his disability, which was something he was still profoundly self-conscious of. But knowing that taking on an often cruel sounding name was a DuskClan tradition, it was the first time that Deadeye felt that maybe, just maybe, he had finally been accepted as one of them.
"Do you have anything to say in your defense, Deadeye?" Hollowstar asked. The small tuxedo tom stared coldly down at Deadeye from his place beneath the Speaker's Stone, surrounded by his new clanmates. But what was there to say? In DuskClan, being accused of treason, proof or not, was a serious offense. Weeding out supposed sedition was a favorite pass time of Hollowstar's close associates. Deadeye had been accused of betraying DuskClan by being a SkyClan spy; and though this was not a knew sentiment amongst those in DuskClan who had opposed his entry in the first place. His accuser stood before him next to their leader on the Speaker's Stone, a glint of amusement in her eye. Deadeye opened his mouth in protest, but was quickly spoken over by his clanmates.
"I knew it! Once a SkyClan cat, always a SkyClan cat."
"It was a mistake to let him live!"
"Kill the traitor!"
This was nothing more than a kangaroo court, and they all knew it. There was no evidence because Deadeye was innocent. He made it a point to avoid the shared DuskClan and SkyClan border for this reason, but had been sneaking out into the forest to train on his own at night, wanting to avoid the judging and cruel eyes of his new clanmates. Now he saw that that would be his undoing.
"SILENCE!" Hollowstar bellowed, and like that, the clan camp was silent. The two toms exchanged a long glance at one another, and Deadeye wondered if he was about to be told he was going to be executed. It was not the first one that Hollowstar had ordered, and it likely would not be the last.
"Well, Deadeye," the leader of DuskClan said, "do you say anything in your own defense? Or are you so overcome with guilt that you have forgotten how to speak?" He was enjoying this a little too much. Deadeye steeled his gaze and narrowed his remaining eye. "I am innocent."
Outcry from DuskClan cats broke out, and Deadeye felt a sting of anxiety for the first time since had been brought before the Speaker's Stone. He refused to show that anxiety, though. DuskClan had taken so much from him, and now they sought to take the only thing he had left, which was his life.
"Mmm, is that so?" Hollowstar mused. "Then why were you seen at the SkyClan border, hmm? Am I supposed to believe that you were what, out for an evening stroll?" The smaller tom said with a bemused chuckle. The foxheart actually laughed. Deadeye glowered at the DuskClan leader, subconsciously unsheathing his claws and flexing them in the soft earth beneath him. If he was going to die, he would go down fighting.
I'll see you soon, Rainpaw. Deadeye thought to himself, and he closed his eye for a moment and exhaled, waiting for Hollowstar to give the order. He waited, and when the anticipated violence did not start, he opened his eye in surprise, Hollowstar's amusement once again gone from his face.
"Deadeye, it is clear that while DuskClan has opened its heart to you, you have not returned that kindness we have shown you. We have given you purpose and a new name, and yet, you lie to cover up your sedition. DuskClan does not abide disloyalty." Hollowstar said as he flicked his tail towards the camp entrance. "Deadeye, you are stripped of your rank as warrior, and hereby banished from DuskClan."
Deadeye blinked a moment, unsure if he had heard the small tuxedo tom correctly. Banished? He was not to be killed? Confused and angry murmurs broke out behind him, but Deadeye barely registered what was being said.
"Does anyone question my decision?" Hollowstar spat, and once again, DuskClan was suddenly and immediately silent. No one dared speak out against their leader, knowing what the small tom was capable of. Lightningstar may have ruled with an iron claw, but Hollowstar ruled DuskClan with fear. No one dared to voice their opinion if it went against Hollowstar, not even the closest of his associates.
The dark tabby tom stared at Hollowstar for a moment, frozen on the spot. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words would come out. Deadeye was being exiled for a second time, and there was not anything he could do about it. Hollowstar had decided he was no longer amused by Deadeye's situation, and decided that leaving him alive, as someone whom he knew cared so deeply about being a warrior was a more fitting punishment than killing him. The slight, crowfood eating grin that the small tuxedo tom wore on his face was all that Deadeye needed to know.
Deadeye refused to give him that satisfaction of showing any emotion whatsoever. He wouldn't let him, Lightningstar, or any of them win. |
