Blood of an Innocent

 BLOOD OF AN INNOCENT

Episode Two, Season Five, of Rise.

Enjoy <3

Blood of an Innocent
The next day, the groups are decided. Aleric says he’d rather stay back at camp, since there’s no point in both him and Presidia going. Karina votes to stay behind as well. Nightshadow makes her promise to watch over Shadeflower, who’s been recovering in the past few days that we’ve been chasing down Terran and Karina and Vicky.

Karina just shrugs it off, saying Shadeflower will be all right.

Calypso wanted to come with us, but Aleric insists that she stays back. “You’ll be a burden to Presidia.”

“What do you mean?” She bristles, “I’m going to protect her.”

“You can do that here, instead of getting killed yourself out there,” Aleric commands, pushing her back down, “The groups have already been decided anyway. Bryce is taking Nightshadow, Feathershine, Applepaw, and Terran along with Presidia.”

“The apprentice gets to go!”

“Yes,” Aleric says patiently, “Get over it.”

Calypso pouts but Presidia is the one who nudges her. “Hey, it’ll be okay. Bryce will make sure everything goes right.”

“You’re about to get captured by the Blood Army,” Calypso says in disbelief. “It’s not going to go right! If I go along--”

“You’ll get captured too,” Aleric cuts in, his eyes hard. “You’ll do better here.”

Applepaw looks a little offended that Calypso was doubting her skill on the field but she lets it go. I’m itching to go already. “Come on, let’s set out.”

Calypso stares after us but I ignore her. She’ll get her turn on the field next time. For now, we had to figure out where the Blood Army base is and then we’ll break Presidia out.

Oh, did I mention killing the High Committee members too? No biggie. Suddenly I do wish Aleric was coming along with us.

It doesn’t take us long to weave our way through Viper territory to get to the Twolegplace. I breathe in the all too familiar smoky scent of the Twolegplace. I gag slightly.

“I can’t ever get used to this,” Feathershine coughs. I remember the last time we were here.

This makes me remember Terran’s story about Aleric, how they first met him. I feel slightly nostalgic, though I don’t know why.

Applepaw keeps her disgust hidden. She just wrinkles her nose and keeps going, much like how Karina had. I admire her bravery.

Terran brushes against me. “You think this plan will work?”

“Why not?” I say easily, “We’ll find the main compound and destroy it. Or get Aleric and let him cause mayhem or something.”

“Aleric once said he knew where all the High Committee members were,” Terran reminds me, “Why are we on this mission now?”

It’s a good question. I stop walking for a moment, pondering over it. “I don’t know,” I shake my head ruefully, “Aleric’s the one who came up with this plan. Maybe he thinks this will be easier.”

“Anything for Aleric is easy,” Terran sighs, “We really should have encouraged him to come along.”

Presidia glances back at us. “Aleric was bluffing when he said he knew where the High Committee members are. Nobody knows where they are. I know them, but it’s not like I stalk them. I never knew where Aleric lived either. It was as if we only existed when we were meeting together.”

“I knew where you live,” I point out.

“That was where Calypso lived,” Presidia admits, “I moved a lot to conceal my location from others. At least from those who knew who I really was.”

I let out a frustrated sigh and start walking again. “I really hate it when Aleric acts like a know-it-all.”

“Your choice for trusting him,” Presidia grunts. “Though I’m a fool myself for agreeing to this plan. I should have let Aleric do this.”

But we don’t get far into the Twolegplace when we’re intercepted by a single she-cat. I start in surprise; we’re not supposed to be seen with Presidia so we can follow the enemy patrol in secret.

Except it’s one she-cat, and she doesn’t look like she’s trying to capture us.

“Presidia.”

“Ginger--!” Presidia blinks a few times, “Why are you here?”

“I came to warn you off,” Ginger flattens her ears, “You left once. You shouldn’t be back.”

“Who is this?” I ask as calmly as I can. Every nerve in my body is screaming Run!

“This is Ginger,” Presidia says, not stating the obvious at all, “she’s…a friend of mine.” The hesitation doesn’t reassure me at all but I let it pass.

“Okay…and?”

Ginger gazes at me coolly. “I know who you are. You’re Bryce. You went from being a faceless nobody to some rebellion’s mascot.”

“Me?” I stare at her in disbelief, “You’re bluffing, right?”

“Nope,” Ginger shakes her head, “I would know; I’m part of the rebellion.”

Figures. If we aren’t being taken to the Blood Army, we must be facing someone who doesn’t support their ideals. I’m a bit more interested in the rebellion now but that’s not our main concern.

Presidia frowns at Ginger. “Why are you warning us off?”

“The High Committee desperately wants revenge on you and Aleric, Presidia. More so with Aleric than you because of his high status but they’ll gladly settle with you first. You can’t come back anymore, Presidia, not until we rid the Blood Army of its evil.”

“We’re here to do that,” Nightshadow interrupts, “we have this whole plan thing going on.”

“And I’m here to tell you it won’t work,” Ginger informs, “If you bring Aleric, maybe. I assume you guys have him.”

“More or less.” I agree.

“Why Aleric?” Feathershine is confused, “Why isn’t Presidia the better option? Either way we’ll get it done.”

“Aleric can fight for you in ways that Presidia cannot,” Ginger talks like Presidia isn’t even there, “trust me. You must return to your camp at once. If you come back again, I won’t be able to save you.” Her eyes glitter with fear, “Also, Presidia, don’t trust all the High Committee members.”

“I know that already,” Presidia says impatiently, “That’s why we’re setting out to kill them.”

“If you’re trying to kill them,” Ginger shakes her head, “you shouldn’t be starting here.”

She turns and disappears. Presidia stares after her and I try to make sense of the she-cat’s words. “We shouldn’t start here?” I repeat, “What’s that supposed to mean? All the Blood Army members are here, minus Aleric and Presidia.”

But Ginger’s words have convinced us to turn back. Even Applepaw agrees, although I know she wanted to get some revenge for her brother’s death. Another day.

When we get back, there’s no time to think about Ginger or anything she told us. We have more urgent matters to take care of, it seems.

Presidia let out a scream and rushes forward. I stand there dumbly, unable to comprehend the situation.

~

Karina curled her tail tight around herself. Aleric was calmly grooming himself, not paying attention to her at all. She felt strangely nervous for once, a feeling she almost never got.

“Why are you so calm?” She finally blurted out.

Aleric looked up from his grooming. “Should I be nervous?”

“Yes!”

“Why?”

Karina lashed her tail, “I don’t know!” She let out a huff, “I just feel way too nervous right now.”

“You’re just worrying about your brother,” Aleric dismissed, “I have nobody to worry about. None of them are my friends, after all.”

Karina eyed the brown tom curiously. He was smaller than Terran, so about the same size as her. He was still bigger than Bryce though—that she-cat was tiny.

When Karina didn’t say anything, Aleric went back to his grooming. He was so calm. Karina couldn’t stand it. Watching him made her even more nervous.

“You’re making me nervous,” she told him.

“I make a lot of cats nervous,” this time Aleric didn’t even look up, “I kill cats, remember?”

The dark gray she-cat winced. Way to lighten up the mood. “It’s a hard detail to forget.” She shrugged.

Aleric continued to lick his fur. “I know. That’s why you shouldn’t be stating the obvious. Of course I’m making you nervous. I can kill you whenever I want.”

That was not why he was making her nervous but that added to her worry. She was alone with him right now, as Calypso was off sulking and Shadeflower was with Flameshadow. He could just kill her and be done with it.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Aleric added, looking up, “in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t,” Karina lied.

“Good.”

“Would it hurt you if I said I thought you were going to kill me?” Karina tipped her head curiously at the other tom.

“No, but it would make me wonder if that’s how I come off as: a murderer.” Aleric began to lick his tail. She didn’t know why, but seeing him do the actions of a normal cat made her feel weird.

“You are a murderer,” she pointed out, “your first impression wasn’t exactly amazing.”

Aleric looked up. “What did I seem like to you when you first met me?” This seems to intrigue him, as if he wanted to know exactly how Karina felt.

She shifted on her paws. “I don’t know. I felt angry because you were using my brother to threaten us, but at the same time I was a little afraid of you. You had so much power in your paws it was scary. That’s why it really surprised me when you saved me.”

Aleric’s eyes showed a bit of emotion: wonder. “You were scared of me?”

Why is that the important detail here? “Of course I was,” Karina snorted, “You could have killed all of us that day without a second thought.”

“I could have,” Aleric agreed, “but I didn’t think you were scared of me. You scared me.”

“What?” Karina stared at him, “You? The almighty murderer?”

“Ack, that title really sucks,” Aleric winced, “I used to think it was fine because you know, that was my job, but now it’s just a thorn in my paw.”

“Sucks to suck.” Karina flicked an ear, “Anyway, back to the topic. How did I scare you? You had to be the freakiest cat there.”

The brown tom gave a helpless shrug. “There was so much defiance in your stance, in your eyes. The fury gave me shivers. You were passionate about saving your brother and in that moment, I felt as though I could have lost to you.” There’s something else Aleric wanted to say but he stopped.

Karina thought about that for a few moments. She felt calmer now that they were talking. Aleric was like a normal cat, just with a few, um, mistakes.

“Here’s a fun fact: my first impression of you was that you were beautiful.”

That flustered her. She turned a bit red and Aleric let out a laugh. It sounds so genuine for once. Aleric had never let out so much emotion before. He watched her expression with amusement.

“I like your toughness,” his eyes softened, “even in the face of danger you weren’t going to go down without a fight. I bet you if I attacked Terran you would have attacked me until you got what you wanted.”

“You can bet your sorry tail I would have.”

“I like my tail,” Aleric pretended to look hurt.

Karina giggled. “I like it too,” she admitted, “it goes well with the rest of your body. I mean, it’s the same color and it matches your pelt.”

Aleric laughed again. Karina couldn’t help but smile. This felt so natural, so normal. It was as if she was joking with Terran or…just a tom.

For now, she cast the thought of Aleric being a former Blood Army member out of her mind. She could just enjoy this moment now without worry.

~

“Calypso,” I whisper, staring at the gray she-cat. Presidia is crouched over her body, sobbing her name.

Terran is shocked. “How did this happen?”

“Only one explanation,” Nightshadow says grimly, “we’re right next to the Blood Army border. Someone from the Blood Army killed her.”

The End.