Chapter 8

Suspicion

(Sun-high)

Wildclaw and Fangfur walked back into their new camp after the others had. Shinningwater and Dappleheart had found some cobwebs and were pressing them onto the cat's wounds.

Dappleheart walked over to the two toms. "Anything serious?"

She asked her eyes wide with worry. With no herbs right now they couldn't afford to get serious injuries.

"No."

Wildclaw meowed and Fangfur shook his head. Dappleheart nodded and took a wad of sticky cobwebs and pressed them onto Wildclaw's shoulder, were long claw marks bore down it.

Wildclaw watched as Lightningstar walked over to Pepper, Heather, Flash, and Copper and he dipped his head to them. He watched as Heather looked away almost….guiltily.

Wildclaw's eyes narrowed and he noticed that Fangfur had caught the same thing. The gray tabby tom flicked his tail, summoning Wildclaw over towards the edge of the camp. Wildclaw noted that while they were gone the construction of some dens had started. They were probably the nursery and elder's dens.

"Get a few others that you trust and go to the Weeping Willow Tree."

Wildclaw didn't ask any questions and he made his way over to Thornpelt. "Thornpelt, find Spottedpelt and tell her to go with you to the Weeping Willow Tree." Thornpelt looked puzzled.

"Why? Is something wrong?" His amber eyes narrowed in worry. "Possibly. Just bring her. You know where it is."

He headed off and found Bristlefur.

"Bristlefur, come with me."

He meowed and the ruff brown tom followed without a word. Bristlefur was a good friend of his, and he trusted him with his life. The two toms made their way to the Weeping Willow unnoticed. Wildclaw pushed his way through the thick vine-like things that hung down to the ground and saw that Thornpelt and Spottedpelt were already there. Fangfur sat close by with his mate Mistcloud. Fangfur began.

"Something is weird about Pepper and his friends. I know that I'm not the only one who feels that way."

He looked at Wildclaw and he nodded agreement.

"Think about it. Would a large group of cats so quickly welcome a huge group of stranger cats?There are already the Shadow Stalkers in this two-leg place plus kittypets."

Everyone was silent until Bristlefur answered, "No. Not without a good reason, they wouldn't."

"I think that we should keep our eyes open around these cats and keep this to ourselves. We don't want our clanmates to be talking together openly about it. Someone could be listening in."

The others nodded agreement and stood up.

"Let's get back before someone notices that we're gone."

Spottedpelt meowed and the six cats walked out from under the great tree to come face-to-face with Pepper with an Earthclan patrol.

"I wondered where you all ran off too. Lightningstar asked for me to come with this hunting patrol to make sure everything stays ok."

Wildclaw nodded. "We were just checking out this tree. We wanted to make sure that the fox burrow was empty."

That was somewhat the truth; after all there was a burrow with the stale scent of fox surrounding it.

Pepper twitched his ear.

"With a queen?" He asked, recognizing Mistcloud.

Mistcloud stepped forward. "That's right, Pepper. You know how she-cats with kits are. If someone tells them that the fox is gone, they have to make sure and see it with their own eyes."

Pepper grinned and nodded.

"They all are like that, aren't they?"

He chuckled lightly before looking at the cats behind him; Whiskertail, Silvermoon, and Mouselegs.

"We'd better be off then. There's prey to catch!"

He flicked his tail and headed down the sloped ground with the patrol following. Thornpelt snorted.

"He does seem a little easy-going, doesn't he?"

Wildclaw nodded agreement.

"Come on, let's get back to camp."

He turned and headed up the slope, back towards the camp. When they arrived they were immediately sent onto duties. Spottedpelt, Wildclaw, Stonepaw, Greypaw, and Whitepaw were chosen to collect moss for the dens. The nursery and elder's dens were nearly complete. The nursery didn't take long to build. There was a fallen log near the back wall of the camp that would be a suitable place for a den. The den was deep and had plenty of room for the kits and their mothers. Longears and Eagleclaw were patching up a few small holes with twigs and leaves. One end of the log was pressed against the two-leg wall, so the only work that had to be done there was putting a few leaves in the cracks.

Wildclaw looked at his mate and the apprentices.

"Alright, let's go. I think I know a decent spot where some moss might be."

He turned and ran out of the camp and he led everyone to the group of boulders. "This will be a good landmark, so it should have a name."

Spottedpelt commented.

"How about Skystone?" Greypaw meowed, her bright yellow eyes looking hopeful.

She jumped on top of them and looked around.

"They're stones, and it feels like you can touch the sky!"

Wildclaw climbed up until he stood next to her. A surprisingly strong wind tugged at their fur. The ground here was elevated greatly. It was probably the tallest point of The Hill.

"I think the name suits it nicely. I'll suggest it to Lightningstar when we get back."

He and Greypaw climbed carefully down from the massive boulders.

"Here's some moss!"

Stonepaw meowed happily and he began to carefully rip the moss up from the ground using his claws. When he was done there was hardly any dirt on it and some of the roots were left so it would grow make soon.

"Nice job, Stonepaw." He praised and the young tom beamed at him.

Wildclaw went over to a thick patch of moss and expertly pulled the moss up. He repeated this until he thought he couldn't carry any more. He saw that the others were nearly done so he bent down to pick up his big bundle.

"I don't think we can carry any more." He meowed and picked it up.

The others did the same and they all stood there for a moment, admiring the view. One-by-one they walked away from Skystone and back towards camp….

The moss gathering patrol walked back into the camp and headed over to the now done nursery and he dropped his bundle and looked at the apprentices.

"Greypaw, with your bundle, mine, and Spottedpelt's it should be enough for the nursery. Stonepaw, Whitepaw, you can bring yours over to the elder's den, even if it's not finished yet."

The two brothers nodded and headed away while the other three padded into the warm nursery. With the three of them they quickly formed two large nests for the two queens and a few smaller nests for the kits.

"I'll go get Mistcloud and Squirrelfur. The kits are probably exhausted." Spottedpelt meowed and hurried out of the den.

Greypaw looked up at Wildclaw and meowed, "Can I go now?"

"Yea, sure."

Greypaw turned and trotted out of the den just as Squirrelfur and Mistcloud arrived with their kits.

"Thank you for the moss."

Squirrelfur meowed to Wildclaw, who nodded in return. Bluekit, Volekit, and Ashkit settled down by their mother, Mistcloud, while Breezekit and Swiftkit by Squirrelfur.

"But I'm not…tired…." Ashkit grumbled but plopped onto one of the new nests and was instantly asleep.

Wildclaw grinned and quietly walked out. He noticed that Longears and Eagleclaw had constructed a block for in front of the entrance. Thick vines hung down the entrance and Wildclaw saw that they were stuck under pieces of bark to hold them in place. Smart.

Wildclaw thought and padded towards the fresh-kill pile. His stomach growled viciously as he only saw two mice on the pile. His heart soared as he saw the hunting patrol, with Pepper, come in. Whiskertail was holding a big pigeon in his mouth, Silvermoon two mice, and Mouselegs a squirrel. Pepper was also holding a finch in his mouth. The prey was dropped on the pile and Wildclaw looked at Lightningstar, who was close by. The lean black tom nodded to him to eat and he chose the finch. He would share it with someone. He looked around and saw Flamefur sitting alone. He walked over to the orange tom and dropped the finch near him.

"Want to share?"

He knew that Flamefur hadn't eaten since Wildclaw had, either.

The deputy nodded and bent forward, taking a big bite of it and pushing it towards Wildclaw. Wildclaw took a bit the same size and pushed it back with his paw. This continued until all that was left of the plump bird was a small trace of grey feathers.

"Thanks." Flamefur meowed and walked over to the entrance of the camp to send some more patrols out and organize the day.

Wildclaw saw that the elders den had been finished and that the construction of the warrior's den had begun.

Shinningwater and Dappleheart stood in front of a small squared off section of the stone two-leg wall.

"I wonder what it was for." Dappleheart meowed and Shinningwater shrugged.

Wildclaw walked over to them and looked it.

"It looks like those things that some of the two-legs have on the side of their dens. (A chimney)"

It wasn't high and as he looked up he saw that it was covered by something. He stepped into the square area and yowled in surprise as his front paws suddenly touched air. He tumbled forwards until he hit the ground again. He opened his eyes and looked behind him and stood up.

"Wildclaw!"

He heard Dappleheart shriek and he poked his out of the hole in the ground.

"I'm alright. I guess those leaves and branches hid it from view. It goes back a ways, so I'm going to check it out."

"I'll come too." Shinningwater meowed and disappeared in the hole in the ground.

With Wildclaw in the front, they walked forward a foxlength until it opened up. Light streamed through cracks on the ceiling so they were able to see it clearly. The area wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It was at least a foxlength (1 yard) wide and two and a half foxlengths long.

"This is perfect for a medicine cat den!" Shinningwater meowed excitedly.

By now most of the cats were around the outside of the entrance and Lightningstar, Flamefur, and Dappleheart walked in and looked around.

"It looks like this is now your den, Shinningwater." Lightningstar meowed with a smile.