Breezepaw glared at the entrance to the camp, flicking his tail back in forth. Featherpaw glanced at him and sighed, swallowing the chunk of bird she was eating.
"Would you stop that?" She meowed annoyingly.
Breezepaw blinked and turned his head away from the entrance to look at his sister.
"Huh?"
"They'll be back soon. Just finish eating." She nudged Breezepaw's untouched hare over to him.
"Not like you've eaten much anyway..." Featherpaw huffed.
Breezepaw sighed, taking a small bite, blood dripping from his lips.
"Aren't you curious about why both of our mentors, Falconstar, and the medicine cats are meeting at the moon stone for some secret meeting with the rest of the clan leaders?" He asked quickly.
Featherpaw sighed. "Your overthinking things. So what he took our mentors? He said he needed protection. Which is reasonable since it wasn't that long ago that there was the battle between dark and light."
Breezepaw gazed at his sister in shock.
"Where did you hear that?" He asked.
"Hear what?"
"The battle between dark and light?"
"What do you mean, Breezepaw? Every one knows."
"Yes, but..."
"Breezepaw! Featherpaw!" A light brown kit padded up to them, his tail in the air.
"Oh hey, Sprucekit." Featherpaw purred.
Sprucekit began to ramble on about how him and Duskcloud played moss ball. Breezepaw turned away from them and blinked in surprise as Falconstar and the group padded into camp.
Waspclaw and Quietwave turned their heads, seeming to be staring at him. It took him a second for him to realize that they were really staring at Featherpaw.
~
The next morning went by quickly. No cat seemed to be talking about the mysterious meeting the night before.
Breezepaw decided to distract himself by tagging along on a border patrol with Ivyclaw, Nightwind, Lightberry, and his father, Smokeface.
The five cats padded along the Shadowclan border, the only sound being Nightwind and Lightberry quietly murmuring to each other.
Smokeface padded beside Breezepaw and nudged him lightly.
"We haven't spoken in awhile I feel like." The gray tom meowed.
"Really? Well I've been busy training I guess." Breezepaw responded.
"How is that going by the way? You're training?"
"Good I think." Breezepaw glared at his paws. "But Featherpaw seems to be doing great."
Smokeface blinked and shook his head with a purr.
"Ah, classic sibling rivalry."
Breezepaw glanced up at the tom in surprise.
"Were not rivals! It's just... even Waspclaw thinks she's doing much better than I am."
Smokeface purred in amusement.
"Waspclaw is just harsh on every apprentice he teaches. It's his method I guess."
It was silent for a few moments before the tom spoke again.
"Just don't let that ruin your relationship with Featherpaw. You're kin."
Breezepaw nodded, gazing at his paws. Yet as he remembered the way Waspclaw scorned him for being worse than Featherpaw, he unsheathed his claws, hissing under his breath.
Suddenly, Ivyclaw, who was padding in the lead, stopped abruptly, her tail in the air.
"Ivyclaw?" Nightwind whispered. "What is it?"
It was quiet for a few moments. The only sound being a few tweets from the trees.
"Do you smell that?" Ivyclaw hissed.
Lightberry padded forward, sniffing the air. "Its not a scent from any of the clans." She huffed.
Smokeface padded forward as well, Breezepaw following him. All of the cats sniffing the air.
Breezepaw wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Smells weird, that's for sure." He mumbled.
"Its rouge scent." Ivyclaw hissed. "What are they doing so far away from the barn?"
"The barn?" Breezepaw meowed in confusion.
"Awhile ago, a group of rouges strayed into Windclan territory, seeking shelter." Smokeface meowed. "It was leaf bare at the time and the clan leader before Falconstar, Mintystar, decided to search for shelter for the rouges. They found a barn and made an agreement that as long as the rouges stayed out of clan territory, the clan cats wouldn't start any trouble with them."
"You finished with your history lesson?" Ivyclaw hissed, glaring at Smokeface.
"Obviously they broke the deal." Nightwind huffed. "We should inform Falconstar."
"This scent seems off..." Lightberry whispered.
"What do you mean?" Smokeface meowed.
"Like its..." Lightberry's eyes widened. "Cat blood. It smells like cat blood."
Breezepaw's eyes narrowed and he sniffed the air.
She's right...
He sniffed deeply, turning his head towards a nearby tree near the Shadowclan border.
"Smokeface..." He murmered. "Look."
The cats turned, Ivyclaw padding closer to the tree. Along the rough bark, was a long smear of dark red blood.
~
Breezepaw leaped over a large boulder with intense speed he never knew he had. The rest of the group decided to quickly get to the barn, Lightberry insisting that something was very wrong. Ivyclaw sent Breezepaw to run back to camp to inform Falconstar.
Breezepaw swerved around another boulder, nearing the tunnel into camp. He sprinted through it, looking around desperately before spotting Falconstar sitting below the Tallrock, speaking with Fishpounce.
"Falconstar!" Breezepaw huffed as he reached the leader and the elder.
"Breezepaw?" The dark brown tom meowed confusedly.
"We must head to the barn immediately! Something is wrong."
"What-
"Please! Just trust me."
It was quiet for a moment. Falconstar staring at the apprentice intently.
"Very well." He finally said. "Fishpounce. Inform the clan of my absence. I will return shortly."
Fishpounce nodded, equally confused, before Falconstar nodded to Breezepaw.
"Lets go."
The large brown tom leaped towards the entrance, Breezepaw sprinting after him. The two cats sprinted across the moor, Breezepaw bounding suddenly ahead of the leader. He slowed down in surprise, keeping a steady pace with Falconstar, who stared back at him confusedly.
The two cats reached the barn in no time, Breezepaw reaching a stop. Falconstar huffed in exhaustion yet Breezepaw still seemed full of energy. The leader walked past the apprentice towards the entrance, gazing at him weirdly.
They entered the abandoned building to be intercepted by Ivyclaw.
"Falconstar! Thank goodness your here..." She glanced at Breezepaw before sighing shakily.
"You need to see this..." She meowed, turning and leading them towards a large stack of hay. The cats padded behind it only to see Nightwind and Lightberry standing over some sort of pile. Smokeface was standing nearby, his claws digging into the wooden floor. He turned and padded to Breezepaw.
"Maybe you should leave, Breezepaw..." he murmured.
"What? No I-
Breezepaw started before trailing off.
Falconstar hissed in horror as he realized what the pile was, and shook his head in shock. Breezepaw blinked and nudged past his father.
The pile was a pile of cats. Dead cats. There must be at least three of them, but their limbs twisted around each other in awkward angles. Whoever, or whatever, did this to them, broke every single one of their legs.
Breezepaw's throat filled with bile, and he swallowed it down. The corpses eyes seemed to be staring at nothing, and blood dripped from their mouths.
"Whoever did this..." Lightberry turned to Falconstar. "Is a monster." She whimpered slightly.
Falconstar padded closer to the pile, touching his nose lightly to one of the victims nose.
"Whoever did this wanted to send a message." Ivyclaw hissed. "And Falconstar..."
The leader turned to his deputy, sadness in his gaze.
"I believe the message is obvious." The she-cat continued.
"We're next."