"Palefern killed Pinestep. I've been watching him all day. He didn't seem surprised at all when Pinestep was found dead this morning. He looked smug. And his paws were wet. Not bloody, but wet, like he'd just washed them in the river. I followed him out of camp. He met up with someone else, but I couldn't see who, because I was hiding. They were laughing about something... suddenly they both scattered.
"I know Palefern is a traitor."
If Morningrose believed it, that was good enough for Graystar. She bounded over to the Highrock and leapt onto it.
"Let all who are old enough to catch their own prey gather here for a clan meeting!" Graystar yowled. Immediately, cats began to group underneath where she stood, murmuring to each other and watching their leader with round eyes. She could catch a few of the whispers.
"Is someone else being exiled?"
"Did she find the traitors?"
Graystar waved her tail for silence, and it fell immediately. "Warriors and apprentices," she began, "I have found the identity of Pinestep's killer."
Multiple cats gasped.
"Palefern," Graystar growled, her gaze swinging towards the white and black tom, "you were discovered washing your paws of blood in the river after Pinestep's murder and collaborating with another unknown traitor. What do you have to say in your defense?"
Palefern's expression was stony. "I didn't do it," he responded.
"My eyewitness says otherwise," Graystar countered.
Palefern's amber eyes flicked over to where Morningrose was sitting with her chin raised boldly and her tail curled around her paws. "I should have known you were watching me," he hissed at her under his breath, and then he lifted his gaze to Graystar's once again. "I didn't do it," he repeated stubbornly.
Graystar's tail lashed. "Palefern, you are now exiled from this clan. If you ever return, you do so under the pain of death. Leave. Now."
"You can't make me leave," Palefern growled, "when I didn't do it!"
Graystar signaled with her tail; at the gesture, the five cats closest to Palefern stood abruptly and faced him with claws unsheathed and teeth bared.
Palefern immediately took a step back. "Okay, okay," the patched tom meowed, finally surrendering. His amber met those of each of the cats facing him. Cascadefall, Echoleaf, Tigersplash, Snowstrike, and Shademask. "I can't take on the whole clan, I get it," he said aloud, then looked at Graystar with hostile side-eyes. "But you're making a mistake."
The tom eventually turned and started padded away, cats parting to let him through. Palefern walked through the camp exit without even looking back.
Palefern was a traitor.
6 traitors left.
Thank you to everyone who voted last chapter! Day 3 will be coming out soon!