Thornpaw's Day Off

Mercury sat and watched him come back, she saw the look on his face and chocked back a sob. "We... I have to tell my father. Feel free to accompany me... but you may not make it home until tomorrow if you do." She meowed.

"I don't have a home." Thornpaw replied simply, he flicked his tail at her, indicating she should lead the way. He wanted her to maybe just stop and pull herself together, but not here, in this blood soaked alley.

Mercury nodded and turned around. She quickly leaped onto the roof again and led them through a twisting path of broken metal and scorched wood. It took them half the day to travel. They took the smallest least worn paths as the headed into the Rogue-Queens territory. "I am sorry for this winding path but we can not allow ourselves to be caught by the Queen." She gestured to an abandoned warehouse. "That is where the forces our gathered." She meowed

Thornpaw tried to remember the way as they traveled. But it was too much of a twisting maze. He came to a stop by her and nodded, he raised an eyebrow at her "You okay?" they both had been silent most of the way.

"Not really... But I'll manage." She meowed. She sighed and jumped off of the buildings roof and waited for Thornpaw to join her. "We will have to approach it slowly so we are not mistaken for a threat." The snowfall had cleared away by this time and glimmered in the waning light.

((I don't think she knows his name XD))

(( o.O ))

Thornpaw nodded and jumped down, following her.

(He never told her and she never asked, I just realised. XD)

Mercury lead the way, there was a hole in the wall and she stopped in front of it. "I am Mercury of the Talon and I asked for entry." She meowed. A calico she-cat poked her head out. she took a look at the two of them and nodded. Mercury looked at Thornpaw then jumped inside. It was instantly warmer. There where at least 15 cats, all of them moving around, talking in low voices.

((....He'll introduce himself to Raven then, and shell find out ))

Thornpaw followed her inside. He paused once inside to glance around at the cats. He assumed Mercury would take him to meet Ravenstrike.

(That's what I was thinking.)

"Don't be afraid to speak you mind. But be warned, these cats are proud." She whispered. She lead the way through towards the end of the warehouse, three cats where leaned over a group of rocks. Mercury knew they were representing the layout of the surrounding Alleys. She cleared our throat. The three cats looked up. One of them was Jester, another was a skinny ginger she-cat the last was a wiry dark cat with odd pale stripes. "Father I... Have some bad news...." She meowed. The dark cat sat up straighter. "What is it?" He asked.
"It's Bronze... the scouting party he was on was attacked.... He's dead father, they're all dead." She bit the insides of her cheeks to stop the tears.

(brb switching computers)

Thornpaw silently stood behind her, letting the father and daughter have their moment.

The dark cat padded forward and touched his nose to his daughters ear. "It was very brave of you to come here and tell me. I'll send some cats to take the bodies home. You go get some rest" He meowed, his accent was different from the other cats and there was a touch of the forest to it.
"Bu-"
"No buts Mercury, get some rest."
The silver she cat turned to Thornpaw and shrugged helplessly. (she'll hear his name.)
She padded away and was lead to rest by the calico she-cat that had let them in.

The dark cat turned to face Thornpaw. "I am Raven, leader of the Resistance. Who are you?" He asked.
(heh, his accent is Australian.)

(( lol, cool ))

Thornpaw glanced at the padding away from of Mercury, he was silently surprised they were father and daughter. "Thornpaw from Frostclan." He dipped his head in greeting then looked back up at Raven. "I've heard a lot about you." he added, with a flick of his tail. He was curious as to why Ravenstrike had changed his name, then again, he wasn't sure it was Ravenstrike. But what were the odds of there being another Raven who was among he Resistance.

Raven's ear perked with surprise. "You don't look like the kit of any one I knew... I'm assuming your a rogue they took in?" He meowed, he couldn't help asking the question. "What is a Clan cat doing in the Alleys?"
The two other cats went back to the rocks.

Thornpaw's ears flicked in annoyance at the words 'took in'. He nodded though, and said "My mentor Pheonixtalon gave me two days off from Chores. He told me to go explore..." He trailed off, and flicked his tail.

"Phoenixtalon eh? The biggest rogue hater in the clan. You must of done something good to earn two days off." He meowed. He closed his eyes. "This is not a place to go exploring kiddo. Don't they teach you that?" He asked

"Must have forgot to listen." Thornpaw said with a flick of his tail.

"Hmmm... Well now that your here how about we put you to good use? We are making our move on The Rogue-Queen tonight. Our cat on the inside say's she's recruiting a new Lieutenant so she will be busy trying to persuade this cat. We also know she is attending a tournament so she can not marshal her forces quick enough to strike back. We aim to taint one of her food supplies. We've got a couple of former kitty-pets who can carry the tainted rats without fear. We need cats to be their guards. They have to be quick, intelligent and fearless. Our source also say's that the Lieutenant who is on duty is on of her most viscous. A cousin too Razor so we know he's one sick kitty."

Thornpaw didn't know much about the rogue queen, or her tournaments, or her lieutenants, or Razor. But he got the gist of what Raven was saying. He nodded and said, "I could be a guard." He flicked his tail, he needed information though, about routes and more about the Rogue queen.

Raven seemed to know Thornpaw was thinking. "Mouse-trap, Jester, start gathering the cats and briefing them." He meowed. The two cats nodded and padded away. Raven padded up to the rocks. "This is the layout of the Alley's from here to our target." He meowed. "This line here" -he drew his claw through the dust.- "Is the most straight forward but hardest route. This is the way we want to go." -He drew a winding route through the alleys.- "The guards can't stay to close to the runner or they rick getting sick. We need cats on the roof and cats to run ahead. I'll be running ahead, you should join me there, Phoenixtalon would march in here himself to kill me if I left you alone."

"Pheonixtalon would never find this place." Thornpaw said, flicking his ears. He stared down at the rough map. Then glanced up at Raven "What does the rat poison do?" he asked.

"It is a plague. Most cats know better then to eat tainted rat but for some odd reason it can't be picked up in other prey. Place a tainted rat in the middle of other prey and you'll never know it's there. Any other season and cats can live through it with time and care. In winter is becomes unstoppable, the only cure is death." He meowed. "Kitty-pets are given something that makes them immune to it, they call it an immunization. It makes former kitty-pets the perfect runners for things like this."

Thornpaw grinned. "I hope you don't plan on sending all your cats to taint the food." An idea had slowly formed in his mind.

"Several cats are going ahead and waiting so they can engineer a... distraction for us." He meowed. He leaned forward. "What are you thinking." The tone was encouraging, showing Raven was willing to hear the young cat out.

Thornpaw frowned slightly, thinking it was maybe too early for what he had in mind. "How many cats do you have?" he asked.

"I have 6 cats already in the Alleys, so including them I have twenty one cats, all battle ready." Raven meowed.