[Sleet]

Ratnight looked down at the crowd of cats, amused. Out of all of them, the sole speaker was a tiny kit. He saw cats whispering to one another, and many glances shot up at him, but the only cat brave enough to actually speak out was a kit. How sad. However, Rat decided to acknowledge the little mew. "You are correct," he began with a sinister purr. "leaders do have nine lives." He now spoke to the entire group. "Ashstar is still alive." Ratnight let the words ring out all over the clearing before continuing. "However," he lingered on the word. "he has chosen to step away from leadership, saying he is unable to lead a Clan anymore." The lie fluttered from his lips as easy as anything. His voice changed, deeper, more ominous. "We should be disgusted in him." He growled. "He left us in the time we needed him most." Ratnight stood up straighter, and meowed, "That is why I accepted the rank of leader; I swear I will do my best to rebuild this burned down Clan!" His voice climaxed, then dropped again as he spoke his next sentence. "Now, did you notice I didn't say 'I swear by StarClan?'" The leader purred. "That is another change that will be coming to this Clan. We will leave behind our 'warrior ancestors', no longer communicate with them." He paused, letting that sink in. "We have no need for them, we can easily move forward without them, even better, for that matter. We will be stronger acting on our own. I also will be following in the footsteps of the other three Clans, and taking on the name of Ratnight." He finished, and swept his gaze across his Clan. He hoped to get a positive reaction from them, but would easily deal with the portion who didn't agree with his new way of doing things. Well, he thoughts, his nostrils flaring, I'll deal with them one way or another.