That night, Viperpaw was lying just inside the apprentice den, staring outside at the camp clearing. There was no way she could sneak out now-- three guards were posted in camp, one under the Highrock, one just outside the warrior's den, and another at the camp entrance.
Where was Blackpaw? The agreement had been two days. He should be back by now.
Unless... Viperpaw felt chilled to her very bones. What if he actually had been killed? What if that blundering fool had run into the traitors, and, and...
Viperpaw shook her head. No. The plan had worked, as successfully as it could have. Graystar's announcement had made almost everyone react with grief or shock. If the traitors had killed Blackpaw, then surely some cats wouldn't have looked surprised.
Then again, Smokefern and Featherpath had looked like they'd known about it, but Viperpaw couldn't believe that they were suspicious.
Anyways. Viperpaw mentally scolded herself for thinking in circles. They'd seen expressions of surprise and confusion from multiple cats, especially Shademask and Crowtail, so that was who Viperpaw suspected now. Meaning the plan had worked successfully. Which also meant that Blackpaw should be back by now.
Viperpaw flicked her tail, her gaze still fixed on the camp entrance. She was so intent on watching for movement there that wasn't coming from Runningstream, who was on guard and sitting just out of sight, that she didn't notice Redpaw walking up behind her until his tail-tip touched her shoulder.
"Where's Blackpaw?" Viperpaw grumbled without looking up at her fellow apprentice.
"I'm worried about him too," Redpaw confessed, sitting down beside her. "Knowing Blackpaw... All sorts of things could have gone wrong."
Viperpaw scowled fiercely. "I'm not worried," she told Redpaw. "I don't care about Blackpaw. But it doesn't help us any if that flea-brain really did get killed."
Redpaw just snorted. "You don't fool anyone, you know," he muttered.
Their voices woke Tinypaw, who sat up with a huge yawn and blinked blearily over at the pair. "Are you talking about Blackpaw?" she murmured drowsily. "Don't worry about him. He probably just fell asleep in his hiding spot and forgot about coming back."
"Did he ever actually tell anyone where he was hiding?" Redpaw asked curiously.
Viperpaw and Tinypaw both shook their heads.
Redpaw stared at his paws for a few moments, then through the den's exit at the camp entrance. Finally he made a decision. "I'm going to look for him."
Tinypaw eyes went round. She was fully awake now. "No way. You can't go alone, it's dangerous. Besides," she continued, "you can't get out past the guard."
"Sure he can," Dewpaw mewed. Everyone looked down in surprise at the mackerel tabby she-cat, who was still curled up as though fast asleep, but with one yellow eye open.
"Really? How?" Viperpaw asked scathingly. She clearly didn't believe the other she-cat.
Dewpaw took her time standing up and stretching, infuriating everyone as they waited for her answer, and then she ambled over to the back wall of the den. She snagged some of the branches with her claws and lifted them, revealing an open gap in the wall that led directly to the forest outside camp.
Tinypaw was stunned. "How did you know about that?" she demanded, moving closer to investigate the clever little escape route.
"I made it," Dewpaw answered humbly. "After the first cats started dying, I thought it would be useful to have a way in and out of camp." She shrugged. "No one noticed a few missing branches."
"I thought it was more drafty in here than usual lately," Viperpaw grumbled.
Redpaw was ecstatic about the hidden exit. "This is perfect," he told Dewpaw. "I'm going to go find Blackpaw now." He hesitated, then said, "anyone coming with me?"
Dewpaw yawned and shook her head. "I think you're wasting your time, to be honest. Blackpaw will come back eventually. I'm going back to sleep." And with that she returned to her nest, curling up and letting her tail drift in front of her nose.
"It's too dangerous," Tinypaw repeated stubbornly. "I'm not going just to get myself killed by traitors."
"There aren't any out there. The guards would have raised an alarm if anyone tried to leave camp," protested Redpaw.
Tinypaw just looked pointedly at the gap in the den wall that Dewpaw had revealed to them.
Redpaw growled and swished his tail. "Fine. Viperpaw?" he asked, turning to brown she-cat.
"No," she refused coldly. "Blackpaw can stay hidden for all I care."
Redpaw stared her down, feeling frustrated that Viperpaw couldn't just drop her rude, uncaring facade and admit that she had feelings for once. But Viperpaw simply turned away, lying back down to stare out the den's real entrance again.
Redpaw glanced over at Echopaw, but the white she-cat was fast asleep; so he took a deep breath and squeezed through the secret exit alone.
Once in the forest, Redpaw took a few moments to get his bearings. He wasn't far from the camp entrance, hidden from Runningstream only by the wall of branches and brambles that curled around to surround the camp. Choosing a direction at random, Redpaw started walking, keeping all his senses alert for any sign of his missing denmate.
The woods were spooky at night. Shadows and pools of moonlight patterned the forest floor, throwing the edges of fallen leaves and blades of grass into sharp definition, while obscuring some of the roots and stones that silently threatened to trip up unwary paws. Branches creaked overhead, leaves rustling from the silent breeze, and the regular noises of small animals and insects sounded much louder than they did in the daytime. Redpaw couldn't help a shiver of fear running through him at the thought of traitors following from the shadows, but he ignored it, puffing out his chest to make himself feel braver.
He didn't want to draw attention to himself, but he also had to find Blackpaw; so he called out his best friend's name a few times, hoping for an answering mew. But there was no response.
After a while of fruitless searching, Redpaw dared to call louder, his voice echoing through the trees. He thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he whirled around with claws unsheathed, but when he looked, there was nothing there.
Some minutes later he reached the edge of a steep drop that resembled the edge of a cliff. The rocky sides led down to a valley dominated by a dry riverbed. The valley marked one of the clan's territory borders.
"Blackpaw?" Redpaw called. His voice was swept out over the cliff, but again, there was no answering cry.
Redpaw hummed thoughtfully to himself. Perhaps Blackpaw had left the territory altogether, and that was why none of the search patrols could find his scent. If so, he might as well check the dry riverbed at the bottom of the cliff for any traces of him.
The reddish brown apprentice walked along the cliff edge, searching for a safe spot to climb down, when he realized that some of the stones beside him were splotched with dried blood.
His blood roared in his ears and his heart thudded dangerously before his reason could take over. Of course, this was where Smallcloud had injured himself by skidding down the rocks. That was Smallcloud's blood. Not Blackpaw's.
Not Blackpaw's. Redpaw had to repeat that to himself a few times before his pulse would calm down.
He took two more steps, then paused once more. There was movement in his peripheral vision again, but this time he didn't have time to turn and look before an explosive force hit him and knocked him sideways.
For a heartbeat, he felt suspended in the air... and then he was falling down, down, down, his vision spiralling into blackness as his body plummeted, pain searing through the apprentice like fire as his body finally hit the rocks below with the sickening sound of snapping bones.
And then all was dark.
~†~
Morningrose sat up in nest, blinking the sleep from her eyes as she gazed around the den. The sun was already filtering through the branches of the warrior's den, dappling the pelts of the sleeping cats around her with gray and gold. The deputy frowned. She'd slept in this morning-- usually she was one of the first cats to wake up. She did a quick headcount of the cats still in the den, noticing Basilwisp and Leafsky curled up together in one nest and Echolight sprawled out on her back, her limbs and tail going in all directions. As she watched she saw Lightdream rouse only to push one of Echolight's paws away from the edge of his nest before falling back asleep. Echolight barely twitched. There was also Snowstrike, snoring loudly, and Icespark, who was curled up as small as felinely possible in a little ball. Featherwing and Shademask were both sleeping like rocks, with not even their tail-tips twitching. Morningrose got the impression that even a pack of giant dogs tearing into the den wouldn't wake them. In the back of the den, Rosepool was awake and sitting up, slowly grooming her light brown pelt with meticulous strokes.
The rest of the nests were empty. Rosepool looked up when she realized Morningrose had awoken, and flicked her tail to say "good morning." Morningrose smiled brightly and returned the gesture. She couldn't help but notice that Rosepool's sea-green eyes were dull and half-lidded underneath. Was she still having sleep issues? Morningrose wondered as she exited the den.
Outside, Tigersplash was sitting stonily next to the den entrance as a guard, and when he saw the deputy walk out a flicker of hope showed in his copper eyes before he carefully recontrolled his expression.
Morningrose stared at him in shock. She remembered assigning him to that position before retiring to her nest the day before. "Tigersplash... Have you been on guard all night?"
Tigersplash nodded, but swished his tail dismissively as if he didn't mind sitting up all night. "Of course. No one came to change the rotation, so we stayed on watch."
Morningrose's eyes widened. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten to order a change in the guard! Poor Tigersplash! And Runningstream and Crowtail too...
"I'm so sorry," the deputy apologized. "You can go rest now. I'll get someone to take over for you."
Tigersplash dipped his head respectfully and turned away to go into the den, but he paused before entering. "By the way, no one left the den last night," he reported, and then went inside, his tail drooping with exhaustion as soon as he thought Morningrose wasn't watching anymore.
The report didn't reassure the deputy as much as Tigersplash had meant it to. She couldn't believe that the traitors had given up, or that Whisperdrizzle had been the last one willing to kill. Even if no one had left the den... Morningrose was terrified that not everyone had survived the night.
Crowtail was crouched at the base of the Highrock, fighting to keep their eyes open. The black and white feline quickly sat up when they saw Morningrose approaching.
"Thank you for staying on guard all night," Morningrose told them. "Did you see anything happen?"
Crowtail shook their head. "Nothing," they replied quietly and simply.
Morningrose let herself relax a little bit. "Thank you," she said again. "You can go get some sleep now."
Crowtail nodded and stood, taking a few moments to yawn and stretch out their muscles before retreating to the warrior's den.
Morningrose watched them disappear inside it before turning to find other cats to take over the watch. Rainsong, Honeyrose, and Echoleaf were lying in a loose circle, just finishing a shared meal and chatting together. Perfect, Morningrose thought.
"I don't care what Graystar says, I don't see how Whisperdrizzle could have possibly killed Snowsong," Rainsong was saying as Morningrose approached unnoticed.
"I agree! Did he give her poisoned prey? No. That was Kestrelberry," Echoleaf said with a scoff after swallowing her last bite of breakfast.
"Someone would have seen Whisperdrizzle if he'd touched the prey," Honeyrose stated reasonably. "I was in the camp when it happened. Whisperdrizzle never left his guard spot. Kestrelberry was the first one to reach the freshkill pile after the hunting patrol got back, and he took the squirrel straight to Snowsong."
Morningrose cleared her throat, causing all three she-cats to turn and look at her in surprise. "I know why you think that, but you weren't there when Whisperdrizzle was being questioned. I was," the deputy told them. "His answers were completely suspicious and evasive. You would have said he was guilty too, if you'd heard him."
Honeyrose's tail-tip twitched with frustration. "But he didn't touch the prey."
"It wasn't just Snowsong. Blackpaw was killed too," Morningrose reminded her. "Whisperdrizzle was probably working with someone else."
"Then who put deathberries in the squirrel?" Honeyrose challenged, her yellow eyes narrowing.
Morningrose felt the fur along the back of her neck prickle. It sounded like Honeyrose was challenging her authority, and Morningrose didn't have any good answers for her. "Look," the blonde she-cat meowed. "Graystar's decision was final, and there's nothing we can do about it now. Besides, that's not what I came to talk to you about."
"Then what is it, Morningrose?" Rainsong asked, sounding glad to change the subject.
"I need new cats on guard," the deputy answered. "Are you three willing to take over?"
"Of course!" Rainsong agreed.
"Sure, I don't mind," Echoleaf purred. "I dibs the Highrock post, though."
"I'll go by the warrior's den," Honeyrose announced, swiftly running a paw along her whiskers to clean them before rising to her paws and padding off to take her post.
"I guess that puts me at the camp entrance," Rainsong observed, not unhappily.
"Excellent, thanks," Morningrose purred. She was pleased that it had been so easy to find replacements for the guards. "I'll come with you, I need to talk to Runningstream."
They walked side by side towards the camp entrance, where Runningstream was sitting silently with her fluffy tail wrapped around her paws and her glimmering amber gaze lost in the forest. She was the only who didn't seem to be tired despite spending the whole night on watch. Morningrose purposefully scuffed a paw against the ground so that the warrior would know they were approaching, but Runningstream already seemed to have noticed them. She turned her head to stare directly at Morningrose.
"Good morning, Runningstream," Rainsong mewed kindly.
"Morning," Runningstream replied to the warrior with the smallest dip of her chin towards her.
"How was the watch? Did you see anything suspicious?" Morningrose queried.
Runningstream shook her head, then hesitated, as though uncertain what all to say. "I thought I saw something moving outside camp last night, so I left my post to go look at it, but it was just a robin."
Morningrose twitched her whiskers. If robins were the only creatures moving last night, then maybe the clan really had all survived the night.
She was just about to suggest to Runningstream that she had permission to go back to her nest and sleep when the blue tabby's head snapped sideways, staring out into the forest. Morningrose followed the warrior's gaze and was shocked to see a familiar black shape with muddy brown paws and green eyes strolling out confidently from the cover of the trees.
Blackpaw.
Morningrose gasped. But Blackpaw was dead! Graystar had declared it herself... None of the search patrols had found a trace... How, then, was the young tom standing here in front of her happy and healthy and perfectly safe?
Blackpaw grinned cheekily. "Miss me?" he purred, his whiskers twitching in amusement.
Rainsong bounded over to stand in front of him and looked over the apprentice, looking for any sign of an injury or other explanation as to how he had suddenly come back from the dead. "Look at you!" The she-cat cried. "You're whole!"
"Of course I am," Blackpaw said with a roll of his eyes. "I wasn't in any danger. I didn't even see the tail of a traitor."
Rainsong was infuriated. "We thought you were dead!" she yelled at the young tom. "Do you have any idea how much grief you've caused your clan? Graystar had to announce your death in front of everyone!"
Blackpaw flattened his ears, shrinking away from the she-cat's fury. "That was the plan," he muttered when Rainsong paused to take a breath.
"The plan?!" Rainsong shrieked. "You planned this?"
Morningrose darted forward and touched her tail-tip to the grey she-cat's shoulder. "Rainsong, relax," she soothed. "I'll handle this."
Rainsong lashed her tail but stepped back, letting the deputy take over. She went to sit beside Runningstream, who was watching the whole scene with wide eyes.
Rainsong's yelling, however, had attracted a lot of attention, and the cats in the clearing were starting to notice Blackpaw's presence. A scream from behind her made Morningrose whirl around only to see Tinypaw barreling towards the newly returned apprentice. The ginger she-cat crashed into the black tom and sent them both sprawling to the ground, but Tinypaw leapt to her feet and started talking as though she hadn't even noticed.
"Blackpaw! We were so worried, Viperpaw thought you were coming back last night and then you didn't and we thought maybe you had actually died and then... wait, where's Redpaw?" Tinypaw chattered.
"Redpaw?" Blackpaw echoed, his expression blank.
"He went to look for you last night!"
A crease appeared between Blackpaw's eyes. "I never saw him," he told Tinypaw.
Tinypaw's eyes went wide.
Morningrose decided that this would be a good time to interrupt. "Alright, hold up a minute," she told the apprentices. "Blackpaw, we all thought you had been killed by the traitors. Where were you?" she demanded.
"It was my plan," meowed Blackpaw, puffing his chest out proudly. "I thought if we could make everyone think I was dead, then the traitors' reactions would give them away. Because obviously they didn't kill me," he explained.
"And it worked," Dewpaw broke in. She had just walked up from behind Morningrose. "We think Shademask and Crowtail are both traitors." She paused to smile at Blackpaw. "Well done, flea-brain."
Tinypaw, suddenly furious, whirled on Dewpaw. "You're the flea-brain!" she hissed vehemently. "Redpaw isn't here!"
Dewpaw blinked. "What do you mean he isn't here?"
"I mean he isn't back yet!" Tinypaw yowled.
"Where's Redpaw?" Morningrose demanded.
"He snuck out of camp last night to go find Blackpaw!" Tinypaw wailed. "And Blackpaw came back but Redpaw didn't!"
"Do you think something happened to him?" Dewpaw mewed, sounding concerned.
Tinypaw sounded as though she were on the verge of tears when she replied, "It must've! Otherwise he would be here right now!"
Morningrose quickly took back control over the situation. "I'll take out a search patrol for him," she announced. Her gaze scanned the cats gathered around the group. She quickly skipped over Runningstream and Rainsong, and gestured with her tail towards Smokeflash, Iriswhisper, and Lightdream (the latter must have been woken up by all the commotion). "You three are coming with me. And you," she continued, turning towards the apprentices, "are to stay in camp no matter what. Do you understand me?"
Tinypaw, Dewpaw, and Blackpaw all nodded mutely.
"Good. Blackpaw, go find Graystar and tell her you're alive. Let's go." The deputy then sprinted out of camp. Iriswhisper, Lightdream, and Smokeflash followed right by her tail.
Blackpaw watched them go with a mounting sense of dread. If Redpaw had really gone to look for him and not come back... There was a chance that the traitors got to him first. Blackpaw shivered, trying not to think about it.
Dewpaw touched her tail-tip to his shoulder, trying to reassure him. "Don't worry. Morningrose will find him," she mewed, trying and failing to smile. Then she quickly changed the subject. "Come on. Let's go find Graystar."
"I'm coming too," Tinypaw decided, leaping forward to walk at Blackpaw's side.
The three apprentices went to Graystar's den together, ignoring the whispers from onlooking cats as they passed. Almost all of them were talking about Blackpaw's sudden reappearance. He tried to listen in without obviously watching them, but with little success.
Featherpath was just exiting the medicine cat's den when she saw Blackpaw walking past, and the warrior jumped back with a screech of alarm. "A ghost!" she yelled, and turned tail and ran right back into Dawnpetal's den.
Blackpaw couldn't help snickering at the skittish she-cat's reaction. How silly -- he obviously wasn't a ghost. A ghost would be rampaging the camp, trying to get revenge for his death, not walking docilely to the leader's den, Blackpaw thought.
They let Dewpaw go in Graystar's den first, so as not to shock her too much by seeing a supposedly dead cat first thing after waking up. Blackpaw and Tinypaw waited outside as Dewpaw explained to the leader what was going on.
"So where were you hiding?" Tinypaw asked him while they were waiting.
"I left the territory," Blackpaw said proudly. "I walked in the river to hide my scent and followed it all the way past the border."
Only a few moments later Dewpaw came back out with Graystar close behind her. The leader's eyes widened when she saw Blackpaw, despite having been forewarned, but she quickly recovered and licked the top of the young tom's head. "I'm glad you're safe," the leader purred. "I can only hope that Redpaw is too."
Blackpaw nodded silently. He was much more worried than he let on. Redpaw was his best friend in the whole world. Blackpaw didn't know what he would do if Redpaw was gone forever.
Graystar excused herself to go find Dawnpetal, the medicine cat, leaving the three apprentices alone.
Blackpaw gazed around the camp. Was it just him, or were there less cats in the camp than there should be? Runningstream was crossing the clearing to enter the warrior's den, looking tired. Featherpath emerged from the medicine den with Smallcloud right behind her, but the little tom was limping from a wicked-looking wound on his flank. Kestrelberry was sitting alone in the corner of camp, his shoulders hunched and his head bowed.
"What happened while I was gone?" Blackpaw wondered aloud.
"Lots," Dewpaw replied grimly. "Snowsong was poisoned yesterday. Someone put deathberries in her prey."
Blackpaw gaped at her. "Snowsong's dead?" he asked in a quavering voice. The motherly she-cat had always been sweet to him and the other apprentices when they kits. "But... Who?"
"Whisperdrizzle was exiled for it," Tinypaw said, "but a lot of cats think it was Kestrelberry."
"He gave Snowsong the poisoned squirrel," Dewpaw explained, "but apparently Whisperdrizzle was really evasive under questioning and Kestrelberry wasn't."
Blackpaw shook his head. "I can't believe Snowsong is dead."
"Me neither," Tinypaw murmured.
"Before that, Longclaw was killed. At night, by a lot of cats it looked like, but only Laurelgaze got kicked out of the clan," Dewpaw added.
Blackpaw frowned and flicked his tail towards Smallcloud, who was now choosing prey from the freshkill pile to share with Featherpath. "What happened to him?"
"Fell down the cliff slope," Tinypaw answered with a snort. "It wasn't any traitor's fault though, just his own clumsiness."
As Blackpaw watched, Featherpath made Smallcloud give her the prey so she could check it for deathberries.
The apprentices lapsed into silence, looking out over the camp. The clan was four cats short what it had two days ago. How long would it be before there were no cats left?
~†~
In the medicine den, Smallcloud and Featherpath had just left when Graystar entered, softly calling out Dawnpetal's name. The medicine cat looked up from where she was busy sorting through a pile of herbs.
"What all can be done for him?" Graystar asked.
Dawnpetal's gaze fell back to her paws. She knew that Graystar was referring to Smallcloud's wound. "Not much more than what I've already done," she admitted reluctantly. "I put a healing poultice on his leg, and gave him some herbs against pain and infection, but..." she trailed off before continuing a moment later, "well, he might have a limp for a while. And scar tissue from that big of a wound, even though it was shallow, might not disappear."
Despite Dawnpetal's fretting, Graystar felt relieved. "A limp and some scarring can be dealt with. I'm just glad that Smallcloud will be fine."
"Oh. Yes. He'll be fine," Dawnpetal agreed.
Graystar hesitated, then brought up a new topic. "Blackpaw has returned."
"Yes, so I heard from Featherpath," the medicine cat said with amusement in her meow. Featherpath had skittered into the den panicking about ghosts in the camp. "Is he well?"
"He is," Graystar reassured her, "but apparently Redpaw went looking for him last night and hasn't come back. He may be injured." She didn't mention that 'injured' was the least she was afraid of.
Dawnpetal frowned and nodded. "I'll get some herbs together if that's the case," she told the leader.
"Thank you," Graystar meowed, and with a quick dip of her head she turned and walked out of the den.
In the clearing she saw Echoleaf stationed at the base of the Highrock on guard, and Kestrelberry sitting alone in the corner, looking miserable. Smokefern was eating alone and casting sympathetic glances over at the golden tom, but Kestrelberry didn't see them, because he was staring at his paws. Viperpaw and Echopaw were crossing the camp to join Blackpaw, Tinypaw, and Dewpaw, and the apprentices all laughed as Viperpaw muttered something derogatory but brushed against Blackpaw's cheek anyway.
Rosepool was sitting and chatting with Featherwing and Echolight. Graystar heard Echolight talking about how she hoped Redpaw would turn up safe, and Featherwing and Rosepool both meowed their agreement.
Smallcloud and Featherpath were lying together, sharing a rabbit. Smallcloud's leg was stretched out at a weird angle, and Featherpath was cringing every other bite as though she expected her food to be poisoned.
Basilwisp and Leafsky walked out of the warrior's den side by side, their tails twined together. Basilwisp purred something into his mate's ear that made her burst out laughing. They sat down together and started grooming each other's pelts.
Snowstrike and Icespark were in the middle of camp, simply standing around as though waiting for something. "Redpaw is my apprentice," Snowstrike was saying. "If Morningrose's patrol doesn't get here soon, I'm going out to look for him myself!"
It was at that moment that Morningrose, Smokeflash, and Iriswhisper appeared at the camp entrance. Iriswhisper was carrying a limp and broken reddish brown shape that made Graystar's heart plummet.
"Redpaw is dead," Morningrose declared.
~
★~ Comment your vote down below who you think is a traitor! The cat with the most votes will be exiled in the next chapter! ~★~