The Tribe of Rotting Skulls (BOOK 1)

Chapter 2

Venom's P.O.V.

We gradually ran lightly to the edge of our territory where the river rolled by in a rush, down into the pit where Blizzard disappeared. "Now to get them here..." Skull murmured, looking at the crossing-stones. "Should we wait for a patrol to come over?" I asked, looking into Jagged Rocks territory, searching for movement. "It's about time they send a patrol here anyway, they shouldn't be long." Skull replied, sititng down in front of the river. I sighed quietly and sat down beside him, waiting for the patrol to stoll by.

Eventually, a patrol came by, and thank Glittering Stars, too, because I was just about to fall asleep. Lurker was the head of the patrol and they seemed surprised to see me and Skull waiting. "Lurker, where is Jagged? I must speak with him." He demanded, but Lurker didn't like being bossed around. "Who wants to know? I'm here. Speak to me." Lurker growled, stepping to the edge of the river. 

"Okay then; WindClan, RiverClan, ThunderClan and ShadowClan have taken our territory before you were even apprenticed, you know that. And I am sick of going to the border and having to stay away from the moor when it was ours to begin with." Skull explained, tail whipping. Lurker seemed interested already. "I'd like to unite The Tribe of Rotting Skulls with The Tribe of Jagged Rocks so we can destroy them and all they're puny, mouse-brained cats and take what is rightfully ours." 

I nodded as he finished and Lurker narrowed his eyes at both of us. He turned to a warrior and he ran off, disappearing into the territory I've never seen before. "We will see what Jagged thinks and if he approves then yes. If not, then obviously no." Lurker sneered, tail whipping in the cooling air as the sun began to set.

Silence ebbed around us and the only thing that filled my ears was the sound of the waterfall as it pounded into the river, sending it down to the pit. Finally, the cat came back with the strong orange and white leader. Skull and I dipped our heads to him and Lurker quietly talked to him, most likely explaining what we had explained.

He dipped his head and turned to Skull. "How do I know this isn't a trick?" Jagged asked, confident and curious. "No worries, we have nothing to hide. I just wanted to know if you guys wanted to join our raid." I meowed, looking Jagged straight in his eyes. "Yes, if I were you, I wouldn't back down. This could be the funnest thing you've ever witnessed." Skull pressed and the leader and deputy exchanged glances.

"Fun? You call killing fun?" A small she-cat growled, and I realized it was Star, a pretty dark tortoiseshell she-cat that was very small. 'Why are all small cats against being evil?' I saw in the corner of my eye Skull roll his eyes and I grunted. "I don't find it fun but it will be fun once we watch those fox-hearts run away like a kit running to its mother," I growled and Star's ears whipped back and she drew her lips back in a snarl.

"Calm down you two, no need to fight yet," Skull warned. I sat back down and waited for Jagged to say yes or no, if he was going to do it or not. He sighed and nodded twice. "I will announce this with my Tribe tonight. When did you plan on attacking?" Jagged asked, eyes hard to read. "Now, if thats okay." He looked at Lurker and they talked, saying things I didn't catch over the sound of the waterfall.

Jagged dipped his head, replying very straight forward, "Meet us at the boulders just as it gets dark. Bring every cat you can bring." Skull and I nodded, standing up. I dipped my head to them and Skull turned around. Lurker dipped his head, too and they were on they're way. I turned around and hurried to catch up with Skull.

I squeezed through the hole in the barrier we came through and my fur got stuck. I groaned, digging my claws into the ground and forcing my way through. The rough brambles tore at my skin and started tugging at my fur. "Oh come on," I sneered, backing out of the hole again and then running into it. I made it through, tripping on a branch and rolling into camp. 

I bumped harshly into a cat and I opened my eyes, my vision blurred and my stomach still spinning. Leopard gave me a strange look, backing away from me. My hind legs flopped onto the ground and I shook my head. "Some deputy you are," She mumbled, sitting beside Mini and Tricki. 'Act like a warrior, not a kit!' I mentally scolded myself, sitting under Skull. He sat above me and began announcing what was going on.

* * * * *  

We all stalked down into WindClan's territory and quietly put paw after paw onto the soft grounds. Even though it was unfamiliar territory, we got there fast. Our plan was to raid all the camps of there fresh-kill and herb stores, without being seen. But that was going to be hard. Skull and Jagged sent out the three smallest cats in all of the two tribes, that were warriors. Mini, Tricki and Egg stalked out and into the quiet camp. No cat was awake, 'Why wasn't there a cat on duty like normal?' Then I spotted him, but he was dozing off. I took matter into my own hands and stalked up to him, jumping at him and shutting his mouth. His eyes filled with shock then he tried to fight back but we had a lot more muscle then we thought. I unsheathed a claw and sliced down his stomach and waited until he stopped twitching to let go of him. His head fell limp on one side and I watched as the three small cats raided. Mini raided the fresh-kill, Egg raided the medicine and Tricki, where was she? Skull looked to be as confused as I was and he nodded for me to go and Falcon came with me.  

I stalked around the camp, but she was no where to be seen. Then I heard a little squeal and I ran into the nursery. She had a kit in her jaws, almost old enough to be an apprentice. The other was huddled up in the corner. Falcon stalked up to the kit and soothed him, grabbing his scruff and stalking out. I felt bad for the mother, not going to know what happened to her kits, but if I wanted to be a great cat then I had to be a killer.  

After they stalked out, I made sure the queen was still asleep and made my way out as well. We all nodded and we ran back up to our camps and dropped off our stuff and ran back down to the territory. We ran through WindClan's territory and into what looked to be ThunderClan. Skull and Jagged halted us and they checked if there was any guard. We all spotted an alarmed cat, he was looking around with pricked ears and he was standing up. After a few terrible heartbeats, he sat back down and kept looking around. "Now, Egg, this medicine cat is blind, I've heard much about him, so he will be easy," Jagged whispered into his ear. It was so quiet I barely heard it myself.  

Then he stalked off and Skull sent out Snake for the fresh-kill and Jagged sent out Deadly and Talon to get any kits they had. It didn't take long for them to come out with 2 kits. "There is two more and not to be judgmental or anything but one of those she-cats looked as if her eye was ripped out," he whispered. "Go back to the camp and bring the kits to our camp," Skull whispered, "the next batch will be for Jagged." Jagged nodded in approval an sent out Star and Stomp. They stalked into the nursery and backed out not long after.

That guard sucked! But he was alarmed, the scents and noises were alarming him and it surprised me that he hadn't seen us or at least checked it out. 'Coward,' I thought crossly and I did my duty. I padded up from behind him and slashed his back and then Dark padded over and shut the toms mouth while I slashed and kicked. He looked me straight in the eye and I realized who this cat was. I hadn't known him, only saw him. It was Lionblaze. He was so kind, I couldn't let him die, he might be a father to one of those kits! 'It doesn't matter anymore, the kits are yours and he would be better off dead now.' Killer growled into my ear. I shook my head, 'I can't be soft hearted! I'm a killer!' And Lionblaze flung me off with a grunt and slashed Dark's nose, turning to me and alarming the Clan. Every cat ran and I heard cats stirring and I slashed his muzzle and attacked his throat. I saw cats in shock and then the queens screamed. I shook my head and let go of the tom, darting out of the camp as fast as I could. I didn't look back, I only ran back up to the two Tribes who were dashing away. The ones with supplies ran up to the Tribes' camps while the rest of us changed corse to what looked to be ShadowClan. They were awake at night so it would be hard to get to them. We all panted and sat down for a few heartbeats.  

"That was close," I panted. "Did you kill him?" Lurker asked through pants. I shrugged, "I'm not sure, I didn't look back. I did grab his throat though." Skull nodded but said nothing. "We have to quiet down, we don't want to alarm this Clan do we?" Jagged whisper hissed. We nodded and once we stopped panting, we began to stalk into there camp as well. 

'This is the night stealers die.'