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| - "You're going to lead your faction to victory." More like a bloody victory. Shard was seriously hating the idea of being in a Spy Army already. What was the whole point of a bloody victory and a Tribe of vicious cats? Snarl had made Shard a special position. All her siblings, even her foster ones, were told to follow her orders. Since the death of Ash, their mother, Lash, the usually fierce one, deicided to give his loyalty to her. Snarl told Shard to guard the prisoners. He said, "There is no need of fighting if we have rebels in our tribe. I hope that you will put your training in good use." Who knows what that was supposed to mean. Shard had said, "Yes, sir. I will." She had waited until he left, then turned to her new faction. "All right. We are here today to guard the Prisoner Palace. We set out right now!" The rest of the faction, including some other cats, nodded and set out. Her faction was made of Lash of Heart, Heart of Love, Slip and Fall, Fern Stalks, Pathway to Frozen Star, and last of all, the new member, Mystery of the Falling Feather. To Shard, they were Lash, Heart, Slip, Fern, Star, and Mystery. No one but the tribe leader used their official name. Or at least, Shard didn't, well most of the time she didn't. If she was giving out strict orders, she would use their full name. "Star, Mystery, you will guard the old prisoners. Fern, Lash, you will guard the entire palace. Heart, you could join them. Slip and I will guard the new prisoners. Let's go." Together, they marched forward to their assigned spots. Shard felt strange. Tornclaw didn't seem dangerous at all. He didn't even seemed to be a threat! But Ash had doubted him, so Shard assumed that she should too. No, it wasn't just because of Ash that she doubted Tornclaw's loyalty. it was becuase of Snarl, that Shard had to act this way. All the punishments, everything. It was all Snarl's choices. But it still felt wrong to do this to innocent cats. As she walked toward the two Clan cats, she heard murmuring. As soon as stepped into earshot, they both shut their mouth. Tornclaw lowered his eyes, and shuffled to the back of the cell. Roanfur glared at her defiantly, but didn't lower her gaze. Shard held her gaze bravely, but she felt like she didn't deserve to order Roanfur around. Roanfur sneered and flicked her tail. She didn't bow down like the other Clan cats, and she looked like she was going to rebel soon. Shard mewed, "If you are planning a rebellion, you might as well give up now. There is no way you stand a chance against our army, and we will tear any threat down." Shard glanced at Roanfur, who stared back furiously. Roanfur opened her mouth, "Oh, and how are you going to stop us? Tie out tails together? What can you do, puppet? That's all you are to Snarl. So why are you determined to stop us?" Shard met her gaze equally, "I am not stopping you, but I will not help. It is none of my business if you are to rebel. I still care nothing for Snarl." Roanfur sneered, "I don't care. If you won't help us, then you deserve no mercy. If I meet you in battle, I will tear you down. Not like you have the courage to fight me." Her words had a mysterious omen to it. Shard turned away, unable to fight Roanfur anymore. As she paddd away, she was aware of Tornclaw's sorrowful gaze searing her pelt. ~ Now they were back in Snarl's camp, and they were being assigned a new mission. Shard was to steal a precious kit from SnowClan. The kit was supposed to be black, and looked like a tiger. They believed his name was Tigerkit. Shard, didn't want to do this, but she wasn't going to defy Snarl. She would do her mission. She suddenly remembered Roanfur's sneering, "You're just a puppet. You're a coward, and we will show no mercy on you." Of couse, Roanfur was bound to lead a rebellion. If so, Shard hoped they did it while they were on this mission. Shard flicked her tail, "Faction, let's head out." As they entered SnowClan territory, Shard felt a gust of wind. She sniffed the air. There was SnowClan scent! That meant fighting. The SnowClan patrol came thundering down the hill. In the lead, was Blizzardstar, the Clan leader. "It's you again. You filthy Tribe cats. What do you want now?" "We want everything you have." Shard snarled, but she felt a twinge of pain and regret as she glared at Blizzardstar, "Faction, forward!" Together, her faction charged forward. "SnowClan, attack!" The two side clashed together, but Shard could see that they were winning. Blizzardstar seemed weak and didn't seem to be able to fight hard. The rest of the Clan looked bedraggled and tired. This Clan was too easy. Shard let out a shriek, and leaped onto Blizzardstar. She snarled, "Give us a kit named 'Tigerkit', and we'll let you go." Blizzardstar growled, "Never! Attack!" Neither side moved. Shard stood above Blizzardstar, her claws right over Blizzardstar's neck. "If you don't surrender, then we shall take it by force!" Blizzardstar refused, "No, we shall not surrender!" "Fine then. Here is our response." Shard let her claws rest on Blizzardstar's throat before whispering, "You should have make a better choice." Then she closed her eyes and let her claws slice across Blizzardstar's neck. SnowClan stood there, defeated and tired as they watched their leader lose his last life. "Round them up, we shall lead them back as prisoners. Lash of Heart, go to their camp and complete the mission. Let's go." Shard gritted her teeth slightly, but she tried not to think about what they were doing. The warriors fought back hard. Shard changed her mind, "Faction, tear them apart! We don't need prisoners from these mites!" Together, they tossed the SnowClan's warriors into the dust, leaving them bloody and dead. Shard felt strange. She had lead her faction into a bloody frenzy, and ended up killing many cats. Was this her destiny? It had to be. They soon found Lash being chased by the last warriors. Just like last time, Shard led her faction into killing them all. Soon, there was nothing left of SnowClan. ~ Shard was tired, and her faction needed rest. But they needed to get back to their Tribe to report. They had prey to hand over to Snarl, and of course Tigerkit. He would be proud of their report. Star, who was still her mentor, said, "I know you are the leader, but we really need to hurry. We are in StoneClan territory, and they are the fiercest warriors in all of the Clans." "Yes we are. And you are trespassing." Shard flinched. She turned slowly and found StoneClan warriors facing them, blocking their escape. Shard thought franticly, We don't have the strength to fight anymore. StarClan, save us! Star stepped forward bravely. "We shall not surender to StoneClan rule!" Shard bowed her to Star. Respecting her response. She thought, I can't fight. We'll be demolished! But if we don't fight, then our honor will be wounded. What should I do? Shard flicked her tail, signaling to her soldiers. They tensed, ready to fight. But she could feel their despair. They knew they would lose this fight without help. But if they didn't fight, their honor would be ruined. Lash growled, trying to intimidate the enemy. Then Heart leaped into the air, making the StoneClan warriors look up. While they were distracted, her faction fell silently onto the StoneClan warriors. They yowled with shock, and tried to fight back. Shard thought, I hope I didn't just lead my faction to their death. Her sister, Fern tried hard to fight back. She was small and lost her mentor to another battle. Her new mentor, Mystery was trying hard to protect her. But two StoneClan cats knocked Mystery of the Falling Feather away, and landed hard blows on Fern. She fell soundlessly to the floor. Shard screamed, and flew forward. In her rage, she ripped the StoneClan warriors into pieces. They stared into her eyes, but all they would see was cold rage. The gray she-cat could just feel fur and claws under her paws and she lashed out, her eyes seeing plain red. She let out another scream and turned to kick the next warrior away. She grabbed the nearest cat and dug her claws in. The she-cat let out a fierce wail, but Shard shook her violently and dropped her. Breathing hard, Shard lunged forward, but Star held her back, "Calm down, Shard of Ice!" Even though Shard was technically a higher rank than Star, her mentor still had the authority to keep her down. Shard lowered her head and the rest of the StoneClan cats scurried away. "Think about what you've just done today, Shard." Then her mentor turned and padded back to Mystery's side. Mystery knelt beside Fern, desprately murmuring, but it was too late. Fern was gone. Shard stared at her sister, feeling everything she had known die. Snarl's right. Everything should be about revenge and killing, if we didn't hold back like that, Fern would be alive. Shard stared wordlessly as Mystery lifted Fern's body gently and they turned to walk back to the camp.
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