RainClan's Fate; The Apprentice's Destiny | Warrior Cats Fanfiction

~Chapter 7~

Moonfire hurried after Whitepelt and Foxheart. The pale brown she-cat Willowheart was not far behind. She caught sight of Tigerpelt's patrol, consisting of Thistlestorm and Flamepaw, race past her and in the direction of the sandy hollow. Burntstar's patrol was just catching up to them.

"Stay safe," Burntstar whispered to Moonfire as he ran past. Barkstripe, Patchfoot and Silkpaw was in hot pursuit.

Moonfire didn't get a chance to reply as Burntstar led his patrol towards the FeatherClan border. She wished for her mate to stay safe as well.

"Whitepelt!" Foxheart yowled from behind Moonfire "Stop! Look at this!"

Moonfire skidded to a stop and padded over to Foxheart. Willowheart and Whitepelt joined her, and Foxheart nosed the ground below them.

"See — there's paw prints!" she exclaimed. "Maybe if we follower them we'll find the murder."

"But Burntstar said to head to Shadow Caves," Moonfire pointed out. "We can't disobey him. Maybe there will be more clues there."

Whitepelt didn't seem to hear. He sniffed the paw prints and immediately his hackles raised. Moonfire felt her pelt prickle.

"EmberClan," the white tom hissed. Moonfire narrowed her eyes and looked around. She didn't catch any sign of an EmberClan warrior, but her eyes followed the prints into a clump of bracken.

"So they've decided to kill another one of our Clan members," Willowheart hissed. "Those mouse-brains."

Moonfire nodded in agreement. She remembered the brown tabby warrior Sparrowflight — he would be RainClan's deputy if not for that EmberClan warrior Kestreltail.

"We should get Wolfstrike," Foxheart suggested. "I'm sure she'll enjoy hunting down her mate's killer."

"We can't be sure that it was Kestreltail who killed Rippledawn," Moonfire pointed out. "I don't even know why Burntstar is going to all this trouble to find her murderer."

"Maybe he doesn't want EmberClan to get away with murder again," Whitepelt suggested. "Come on, we should follow the tracks, to matter what Burntstar says."

Moonfire nodded when suddenly a tortoiseshell pelt appeared in her vision. She looked up and saw her daughter Amberpaw hurrying towards her, Stormpaw not far behind.

"What are you doing here?" Moonfire hissed. Amberpaw stopped and Stormpaw crashed into her. "It's far to dangerous."

Especially for you, she added silently with a glance at Amberpaw. Her daughter had always been smaller than her sisters, and less strong. Besides, she was a medicine cat apprentice. She wasn't trained to fight.

"Don't worry, we're fine," Stormpaw meowed calmly. She shook her dusty pelt and sat down beside Amberpaw. "Plus we think know who killed Rippledawn."

"Who?" Whitepelt meowed with sudden interest. "We already know it was an EmberClan warrior, if that's what you mean."

"No," Amberpaw replied. She sat down with her tail curled over her paws. "We've got three suspects. We also found white fur between Rippledawn's claws, by the way. There's Foxpelt, who's a white she-cat, but she has ginger tabby patches. There's also Icetail, who is a white she-cat, but she's a black-and-white cat."

"And then there's Whitefall," Stormpaw added. "He's a pure white tom, so we think it's most likely to be him."

"Hang on," Foxheart meowed. "Don't forget Cloudfire. He's an elder, but he's only just retired. He could still kill a cat, I'm sure."

Willowheart looked unsure. "I don't think it would be old Cloudfire. Last I saw him, he was complaining about all his bones aching!"

"True," Foxheart admitted. "Okay. Good job, you too."