Not much to say here, but enjoy!
Mudpool's Path- Chapter 10
"What's happening to them?!" Tigerstripe shrieked.
"I tried to tell you!" Hawkwing meowed. "It's deathberry juice! Some cat filled this rabbit to the brim with deathberries!"
"Who would have done such a thing?" Mudpool fretted.
Icestar pushed them out of the way. "Nevermind who did it," he hissed. "We need to help them! Sandfur, find some yarrow! Maybe it'll take the deathberries out of their system!"
Sandfur burst out of the medicine den. "I don't have any!" he yowled. "I never thought we'd need any yarrow, so... I never got any."
Icestar turned on him, his fur bristling. "What kind of medicine cat are you?!" he snarled. "Find some immediately! And hurry!"
Sandfur nodded, and as he ran out of the camp, he meowed over his shoulder, "Try taking the deathberries out of their mouth first! It might help!"
"Someone hold down their legs!" Tigerstripe commanded. "It'll help us get the deathberries out!"
Dawnshadow and Icestar did as she instructed, and Tigerstripe and Mudpool bent over the writhing cats.
"Calm down!" Mudpool begged Blacktail. "Please just calm down!"
"He isn't going to calm down if you aren't going to do the same!" Hawkwing snapped. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"R-Right, I just have to calm down..." Mudpool tried to steady her breathing, then she remembered Blacktail. She turned to him, prying open his mouth with one paw and removing the deathberries with the other.
Blacktail sputtered. "I can't feel my legs... everything's going dark..." he moaned, his jaws parted to reveal red-stained teeth.
"Stay with us Blacktail!" Mudpool meowed. "You can still make it!"
"Tell Sandfur I'm proud he made it this far..." Blacktail whimpered, then gave an enormous shudder before his body fell still, and his eyes went blank.
Mudpool turned her head to see Tigerstripe forcing her paws down on Weaselfang's chest, in an effort to make him cough up the berries.
"It's too late... My body is going numb..." Weaselfang rasped, then fell silent.
Mudpool took a step back. Blacktail and Weaselfang's jaws were parted in silent screams, their eyes still wide open and staring at nothing.
"Why... who would want to kill a warrior and an elder...?" Mudpool mewed.
Rockpool padded up beside her, and stared at her with a questionable gaze in her eyes. "You were upset that Weaselfang and Maplefrost told Dapplepaw and Fernpaw about being rogues..."
"You were also the one who offered to bring Weaselfang and Blacktail something from the fresh-kill pile," Hawkwing added.
Mudpool stared at them in astonishment. "You don't think I did this, do you?!"
Hawkwing and Rockpool stared at the ground, shifting their paws, and Tigerstripe pretended to be fixated on a leaf.
Rainspots padded over to them. "Of course she wouldn't want to kill them," she assured. "For one thing she's a part of the prophecy. Are we going to put that aside just because we suspect she killed two cats, even when we have no proof?"
Hawkwing shrugged. "You're right, Rainspots. Sorry Mudpool."
Rockpool and Tigerstripe echoed Hawkwing's apology.
But Rainspots continued. "With that being said, we don't know who did this. Furthermore, this could prove there's still a murderer out there."
Mudpool's eyes widened. "But wasn't that fox the murderer? Didn't we kill it?"
Rainspots focused her amber gaze on her. "Maybe we killed the wrong suspect. It may be a cat."
Tigerstripe looked up from her leaf. "What kind of sick, twisted cat would want to do something like this?"
"Maybe Rockpool and I were right when we said it could've been a rogue," Hawkwing mentioned. "It can't be sickness, since we just witnessed Weaselfang and Blacktail's deaths."
Just then, Sandfur emerged through the entrance tunnel, with a mouthful of yarrow in his jaws. "How are Blacktail and Weaselfang doing?" he demanded.
Mudpool bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Sandfur. They died while you were out. Blacktail's last wish was for me to tell you how proud he was."
Sandfur's tail drooped, and he padded slowly into the medicine den.
"I guess he's the full-time medicine cat now," Rainspots mewed.
"Poor guy," Tigerstripe murmured. "He won't be the same now that Blacktail's dead."
The five of them held their heads down, mourning for the lives they had lost. Mudpool's head snapped back up, a determined look in her eyes. "We need to find the murderer, and fast. If we don't we'll lose more cats."
Hawkwing stared at her. "What do you have in mind?" she asked. "We can't just go back in time and figure out who the murderer is! Nothing works that way!"
"I have a plan," Mudpool replied. "But it involves sitting at the borders of each Clan and waiting for a patrol or some other cat we know come by."
"That's kind of risky," Rainspots mentioned, twitching her tail. "I like it."
"I can go to the BreezeClan border," Tigerstripe offered. "I'm acquainted with Featherheart well enough, I can ask her how Loudheart and Ashpaw died."
"That sounds like a good idea," Mudpool meowed. "Hawkwing and Rockpool can go to the ShadeClan border, and Rainspots and I can go to MistClan."
"Sounds like a plan," Hawkwing mewed. "But what about our Clan? We can't just leave them alone. What will they think of us, leaving the camp when there's hunting and patrolling to be done?"
"I can stall them here," Rainspots offered. "You can go to MistClan on your own, can't you, Mudpool?"
"Sure," Mudpool replied, slightly annoyed that Rainspots would do something like this at the last second. "Just keep them from figuring out where we went."
Rainspots nodded, and as they went out through the entrance tunnel, she meowed, "May StarClan help you all!"
~o~o~o~o~
Mudpool sat beneath a bush on the LeafClan side of the border. She felt as though she would doze off at any time, but she kept reminding herself that she needed to keep an eye out for any MistClan cats.
Peering around the bush, she spotted Mossnose and Ravensky padding along their side of the border. Mudpool sprang out and faced the two of them.
"Mudpool!" Mossnose exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
Ravensky licked Mossnose's ear. "It's okay, Mossnose. She probably wants to talk to you. I'll be waiting back at camp for you, okay?"
Mossnose pressed her nose against his. "Okay. I won't be long, I promise."
As Ravensky padded away, Mudpool padded up to her, twitching her tail in amusement. "What's going on with you two? Are you mates now or something?"
Mossnose sat down and curled her tail over her front paws, a smug look on her face. "I don't see you with a mate, so that must mean there isn't a cat that cares for you like Ravensky does for me."
Mudpool narrowed her eyes. When did she suddenly go through such a huge change? She's never been like this to me before!
Mossnose yawned. "Are we going to sit here all day, chattering like elders, or what do you want? Ravensky's waiting for me back at camp."
Mudpool was reminded of her task. "How did Boulderstep and Sunfur die?"
"Why is it any of your business?"
"It just is," Mudpool growled. "Blacktail and Weaselfang just died."
"How tragic," Mossnose meowed, with what Mudpool hoped was sincere sadness in her voice, then turned back to her. "If you really must know, Boulderstep was pushed into the river and sliced his throat on a rock, and Sunfur had his eyes clawed out and throat torn near your border."
Mudpool cocked her head. "Why would they both die near our border?"
Mossnose shrugged. "Maybe some cat in your Clan killed them?"
Mudpool lashed her tail. "Not one cat in my Clan is a traitor, if that's what you're implying."
Mossnose purred. "I'm only kidding, lighten up. To be honest I don't know why all these cats are dying all of a sudden."
Mudpool sighed. "Thanks anyway."
"Glad I could help," Mossnose meowed, turning back towards her camp.
Padding back through the forest, Mudpool spotted a thrush in the trees. She licked her lips, climbing the tree quietly and carefully, being careful not to disturb it. Perching herself on the branch the thrush was on, she lunged for it, killing it with a swift bite to the throat.
She climbed back down the tree, carrying her thrush, and made her way back to camp. Dapplepaw and Fernpaw were leaving just as she returned. She waved in a friendly way with her tail, but the two of them simply turned their heads away from her. Mudpool sighed and let her tail droop.
They really are never going to speak to me again.
Mudpool saw that Hawkwing, Rockpool and Tigerstripe had returned, and they were gathered in front of the warriors' den.
Mudpool padded over to them. "What did you find out?" she asked, dropping her thrush.
Rockpool bent down to eat the thrush, but Hawkwing cuffed her around the ear before answering. "Like Flamestar said at the Gathering, Wildstorm died of a sickness. There wasn't much else we could find out, but we know that Flamestar lost a life."
"How did you figure that out? No sane cat ever mentions how many lives a leader has left."
"We heard Sweetberry talking with another ShadeClan cat," Rockpool replied. "Some cat came into his den in the middle of the night and wounded him pretty badly. Apparently he only has three lives left now."
"Weird..." Mudpool turned to Tigerstripe. "What about you, Tigerstripe? What did you figure out?"
The ginger tabby looked up. "Featherheart said that Ashpaw and Loudheart died from a rockfall. Loudheart's body couldn't be found in the rubble, so they didn't even have a proper burial."
"No matter how far they dug?" Mudpool asked. "That's just plain creepy. I found out from Mossnose that Boulderstep was pushed into the river and Sunfur had his eyes and throat clawed out."
Rainspots shook her head. "Why are cats being killed like this? It's understandable to be killed in battle, but deathberries? Pushing cats into rivers? What's going on here?"
"I hope we find out soon," Mudpool mewed. "This just keeps getting stranger and stranger every time it happens."
"Well, we need to find out now," Hawkwing meowed. "And fast! I don't know how much more of this stress I can take..."
"We'll find them!" Rainspots assured. "We just need to look at the evidence."
"Well, all we know is that this murderer particularly enjoys resorting to violent methods of killing their victims," Tigerstripe meowed.
"They're also not limiting themselves to any Clan," Rockpool added. "The Clans probably did something to this murderer that they clearly did not like..."
"We aren't getting anywhere with this information!" Hawkwing hissed. "The only thing we do know is that this cat is completely insane!"
Mudpool sighed. "I guess you're right. We'll only find out when we can, and for the time being, we just have to wait."
~o~o~o~o~
Mudpool pressed her nose against Blacktail's pelt, moving onto Weaselfang. "I'll miss you both," she murmured. "I promise I'll look for you in the skies."
She stepped back, watching as other cats paid their respects. Birchkit stared at the body of his dead father. Mudpool pressed her nose to the top of Birchkit's head.
"Don't worry," she murmured. "He'll be watching you from StarClan."
Birchkit sighed. "I wanted him to see me become a warrior. Why did he have to die now?"
"StarClan works in mysterious ways," Mudpool meowed. "This is an example of one of those ways."
Birchkit looked up. "You'll be my mentor next moon, won't you? You're really smart, and I want a smart mentor."
Mudpool purred. "We'll just have to wait and see, Birchkit."
She sat down beside Birchkit, as he began to tell her about his day, and how he chased a butterfly out of the nursery into the elders' den.
"Come on, Birchkit," Featherflight urged. "Go to the nursery. Birdwing's waiting for you."
"Can't I stay out here with you?" Birchkit begged. "I'm old enough aren't I?"
Featherflight stared at him. "No. It'll be leaf-fall soon, and I don't want you to catch a cold. Now go to Birdwing."
Birchkit groaned, and bounded back to the nursery.
Mudpool purred. The same feeling of what it would be like to have kits came back, and she didn't try to bat it away this time. Looking around her, she saw Maplefrost padding over to Morninglight, touching noses with each other and padding into the warriors den together, their pelts almost touching.
Or I could just leave the mate stuff to everyone else.
She padded into the den after them, settling herself into her nest beside Silverclaw and Snowstorm.
"So where were you today?" Snowstorm asked. "You never even spend time with us anymore! We wanted to go hunting with you today."
"Yeah! We had to go hunting by ourselves!" Silverclaw meowed. "You spend so much time with Hawkwing, Rockpool, Rainspots and Tigerstripe, it almost seems as though we aren't good enough for you!"
"Sorry, I just wanted to go hunting alone today," Mudpool meowed, knowing it wasn't the truth. If Snowstorm and Silverclaw asked her to go with them, she would've done it.
Snowstorm rolled her eyes. "Just remember there are more cats in the Clan than them, like us."
Mudpool groaned. "I'll remember."
She closed her eyes slowly, letting sleep take her over.
If I have to put aside my own kin for the prophecy, to save the forest from whatever is threatening it, I'll do it, because if I can put them aside, I won't have to constantly worry about them getting hurt.
~o~o~o~o~
A tom was running through the forest, which reeked of Clan scent. He felt proud of himself, being able to kill two cats in one day.
He halted at the base of a rock. In front of him sat a dark cat, their amber eyes glinting eerily in the shadows.
"Leader, I did it," he panted. "Two more are gone."
"Perfect," the cat meowed, their voice equally as dark. "Soon, the Clans won't stand a chance against us. They'll soon regret what they did to me many seasons ago."
The tom bowed his head, a purr rising in his throat. "When will we make our move?"
"I decide when we make the first move, mouse-brain!" the cat snapped. "If you try anything now, I'll rip your heart out! Do you want the same fate as the other cats who have disobeyed me?"
The tom looked around him, at the sight of the unmoving corpses that were once his allies, their mouths parted in soundless wails, their eye sockets covered in dried blood. "Of course not, Leader."
"Then hurry up," the cat growled. "My patience is running out. Soon, the time will come when we unleash our wrath among the Clans."
The tom nodded, turning and sprinting back into the forest. The cat leaned back and purred to itself.
I'll soon exact my revenge on the Clans. When that happens, I'll be able to rule over the whole forest.
Once again: Reviews. They are my life source XD
Of course, I'm not going to be a jerk and hold my chapters back because of lack of feedback.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
