"What's with all the commotion?" Petalstone asked. When she came back to the ShadowClan camp, cats stayed silent, gathering around the leader's den. Their eyes were red when they looked at the she-cat. What happened while I was gone?
As she padded over to the leader's den, she saw it.
A ginger tabby was sprawled at the entrance of the den, his fur smoothed, his normally wise yellow eyes lifeless. He seemed to have leaves in his mouth, but they were half chewed. Petalstone stopped. She bent down, her sight going hazy as tears begun to form on her face, washing away the blood from the scratches she received.
"Embersun! Why did you leave me?" she wailed. It's all my fault! The black and white she-cat buried her face in his fur, making crimson smudges in it, memories starting to rush to her.
She was night patrolling across the RiverClan border, watching for any cats that were going to attack them from the stream.
"No invaders right now," her denmate, Featherwave reported. The patrol nodded and began to hunt. Petalstone parted her jaws, scenting for any prey around her. She found a shrew digging at the grass near the riverbank. Dropping into a hunter's crouch, she leaped towards it, but she landed on the ground abruptly, scaring off the creature. Growling softly, she went to find something else. Her vision set on a thrush, she crawled towards it until she was a mouse-length away, then she pounced. She crushed its spine quickly, panting afterwards.
Another one of her clanmates, Mossfoot walked up to her. "Tired already? We have barely hunted!"
Petalnose huffed and got up. "Well sorry, Mossfoot. Not everyone can be like you."
"But you usually don't get this tired this fast," the brown tabby noted. With an amused twitch of her whiskers, she added, "Could you possibly be expecting Quillbreeze's kits?" Petalnose flushed at her clanmate's remark.
"I mean, we aren't that close," Petalnose retorted feebly. Snakefang, a cat who had also been on the patrol, snorted.
"Yeah, sure. And hedgehogs fly," he tease. Petalnose looked at her stomach. Was it actually that obvious? Why didn't I know?
"You're having kits?" That voice made the entire patrol fluff out their pelts in fear. A splash made them look at the river, causing them to see three RiverClan cats slide out of it, droplets soaking the ground below them.
"Too bad we'll rip out your kits before they're even born," one of them snarled. The patrol slid their claws out, slithering towards the ShadowClan cats.
Mossfoot launched herself at one of the RiverClan cats, an apprentice, Petalnose guessed. The apprentice was barreled into the river, splashing the brown tabby with their fall. A tom growled and ran towards Snakefang, clawing his muzzle. Snakefang hissed at him, kicking at his attacker's belly.
The she-cat on the patrol aimed to strike the queen, but Featherwave dug her claws into the grey RiverClanner, making her yowl in pain. Petalnose charged for the cat, giving her a slash down her throat. The grey she-cat looked down, eyes widening as she saw her blood on the ShadowClanner's paw. In a final fit of fury, she tore herself away from Featherwave and scratched Petalnose's cheek. Petalnose shrieked and whipped around to bite the she-cat's neck.
"RiverClan! Retreat!" the tom yowled. Only him and the apprentice running, they didn't look back at the corpse of their clanmate.
"ShadowClan sends their regards!" Mossfoot spat to them. Turning to the patrol, she panted. "Let's go home and inform Stormstar about this."
Her thoughts returned to the present. Looking at the body again, her tears started to dry up the more she thought about the situation. Her focus now on the brown and white pelt of her leader, she sat up.
"What happened to my father?" she asked, trembling a bit from the event.
Stormstar gazed at the body before sighing wistfully. "He had a bellyache when your patrol went out. Treethorn just found out about it, but it was too late."
The queen scanned the body, especially his teeth. There was a faint red skin lodged between his teeth. As the pieces started to click together, the black and white cat leaned over to the elder's ear, as if he could still hear his daughter. "It's RiverClan's fault," the she-cat whispered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw cats approaching her.
Turning back to the crowd, she shakily stood up. Fury darkening her gaze, she stamped one paw on the ground. "My father was poisoned." Collective gasps shattered the stillness of the clearing, although she continued. "We'll make RiverClan pay for this! We'll tear out their insides and make them beg for mercy. And they'll never get it!"
Cats nodded grimly before they cheered for her. Petalnose stared at the starry sky above her. We'll make them pay for this, Embersun. And your grandkits will help make that happen.
