And were back :D the chapter's short, but still a chapter.
"Reasons." Raven said.
"What reasons?" Nightsong asked.
"You don't need to know. My parents won't mind, and I don't want to go back." Raven looked desperate.
"Can we take in another rogue kit?" Pouncestream asked. " We already have too much warriors, and too much kits. And it's leaf bare. I don't think we could take him in."
"He could get Greencough. He might not make it to new leaf." Piped in Stormstrike.
"New leaf isn't far off." Owlstar said. "But it's not like rogue kits can enter whenever they want to."
"What if we don't take him in?" Bounceclaw said. "Where would he go?"
"With his parents?" Nightsong suggested.
"I can't go back!" Raven said. Although he looked like his world was about to end, he stayed calm. Owlstar narrowed his eyes, and his ears twitched the slightest bit.
"Nightsong, I think you should leave. You have dawn patrol tomorrow." Owlstar said. When Nightsong sent him a look, he twitched his ears again. Nightsong got the hint, and stood up. As she walked over to the entrance, Owlstar whispered so that no one heard him except Nightsong, "Follow Raven's scent trail. See if he has family, or if he has somewhere to go. And then rest, you really do have dawn patrol."
Nightsong nodded her head, and padded out of the medicine den. She broke out into a run when she left the entrance, Raven's scent was strong and clear. Sometime during her little expedition, it started to snow. When she saw the twolegplace, she slowed down. Instead of a nest, Raven's scent led her to a small alley way, which made Nightsong's fur bristle. It wasn't that the alley way was covered in shadows, or that she felt watched.
The scent of blood was very strong.
It took some searching, but she finally found a den. And almost immediately, she wished she hadn't. She saw four cats, two about the size of Raven. One was gray, it's green eyes still open. The other was a ginger. The biggest cat was white, and the smaller one was gray. What horrified Nightsong was that all their throats were slit open. If Raven lived here, there was no way he would return.
This must be why he said is parents won't mind, Nightsong thought. Quickly, she ran out of the den, and took a deep breath. The scent of blood was almost suffocating in the den.
She took a moment to regain her breath. It was past Moonhigh, and if she was going on the dawn patrol she'd better get moving. She started of running, and had to slow down to a jog as she neared the camp. Her lungs felt like they would explode, and branches had tore through her fur. Her breath came in short and shallow, and she took a moment to catch breath before she strolled through the entrance.
"Nightsong?" She swerved her head to find Swanfeather. The medicine cat had some herbs in her mouth, which she spit out. The moonlight turned her white fur into silver. "Why are you so winded? And your pelt torn?"
Nightsong was about to respond, but remembering the kittings she asked, "How did the kittings go?"
"Ivypelt died." Swanfeather said. Although her voice was expressionless, Nightsong suspected that she was more upset than she sounded like. "Only one of her kits survived."
"And Lightningtail…that kit won't have parents." Nightsong said. "And the second kitting?"
"Silvermoon's fine. She has three fine, healthy kits. She'll have to take in Ivypelt's." Swanfeather said. "You still haven't answered my questions. What happened to you?"
"Branches." Nightsong said. She padded over to the medicine den, and Swanfeather promptly followed. She found Pouncestream curled up with Birchkit, Petalkit, Shadekit, and the little brown kit, Whitekit, named after his white paw. The other kits must've come later in the evening.
Raven was curled up in a moss bed, not to far away. Nightsong saw no point in waking him up, nor did she see Owlstar, so she padded out of the medicine den, and went inside the warriors' den. She circled her nest, and almost at once she fell asleep.
She woke up the next morning to something prodding her on her side. She half opened an eye to see Hawkstrike, her old friend.
"You have to wake up!" She whispered. "Dawn patrol." With a grunt Nightsong stood up and stretched.
"Who's leading it?" Nightsong asked.
"You are." Hawkstrike answered.
"Why can't you lead it?" Nightsong mumbled, padding out of the den.
"Because I'm not lieder- leader, I mean leader." Hawkstrike was always mispronouncing things.
"Neither am i. Owlstar is." Nightsong said.
"No, you're leader of the patrol." She said.
"Who else is going?" Nightsong asked, now fully awake.
"Lightbreeze and Cherrypaw." (A/n, I'm making her an apprentice, I hope that's okay). When she spoke her name, Cherrypaw, a light ginger she-cat came running over. She slowed down as she neared them, and stopped next to Hawkstrike. She greeted them with a friendly nod.
"Where's Lightbreeze?" Nightsong asked.
"Right here!" A white she-cat with ginger patches padded up. "So, where are we going?"
"Nightsong's the leader." Hawkstrike said, looking at Nightsong.
"Umm…we could check the border near ShadowClan." Nightsong suggested.
"The sunhigh patrol yesterday already did." Lightbreeze said.
"Okay. How about Sunningrocks?" Nightsong said.
"I guess we could." Hawkstrike said. "When do you think Owlstar is going to take Sunningrocks back?"
"Hopefully soon." Lightbreeze answered.
"Hopefully he waits until our warriors are strong enough. Leafbare has been hard." Cherrypaw added.
"True." Nightsong said, heading to the entrance. The rest of the patrol followed shortly. Somewhere several tree-lengths away from Sunningrocks, Cherrypaw suddenly stopped. She tipped her head to aside, her dark blue eyes wide with alarm.
"Do you smell that?" She said quietly. She pointed towards the rising sun. "It's coming from over there."
Nightsong opened her mouth to let the forest scents in. She smelled the usual scents, and mouse, but a faint but unmistakable scent caught her attention. The wind was coming from the direction that Cherrypaw was pointing at. She was about to announce what she scented, but Lightbreeze beat her to it.
"Blood." Her voice was grave.
"We have to check were it comes from." Nightsong had decided. "Come on." Without waiting for the rest, she took off, and Cherrypaw, Hawkstrike, and Lightbreeze followed. The scent led them to the sandy hollow, and Nightsong thought she heard fighting. When she neared the hollow, she stood at the entrance. She found her old mentor, Tinderfoot, and another smaller black cat. The two were locked in battle. Nightsong wanted to interfere, but fear of hitting her old mentor stopped her.
When Tinderfoot pushed upwards with his hind legs, pushing the black cat off of him, Nightsong darted across the hollow and pinned the cat. When she finally got a good look at the cat, she found herself staring into the green eyes of Shadowflower.
"What are you doing here?" Nightsong hissed quietly. Shadowflower had a deep cut above her right eye, and several chunks of her fur were missing along her flank.
"I was doing something, when that piece of fox-dung-" Nightsong assumed she was talking about Tinderfoot, "attacked me!"
"Nightsong!" Hawkstrike's alarmed mew distracted Nightsong, and she turned to face her, and Shadowflower took advantage. She managed to wiggle free of Nightsong grasp. Before Nightsong could do anything, Shadowflower ran off. Lightbreeze ran after her, with anger Nightsong hasn't seen before. She looked over at Hawkstrike, and spotted the source of blood.
Before her, her gray fur bloody, laid the body of Mistfall, a crimson red pool around her.
"Is that black cat the one who kills all of our warriors?" Hawkstrike asked.
"That would explain the black fur between their claws." Tinderfoot said.
"We should report this." Nightsong said.
"It's not like were just going to leave her here." Tinderfoot said. "But where did Lightbreeze go off to? She followed the black cat, probably intending on killing her for killing Flamepelt."
"If a random cat killed your brother, you would probably be upset too." Nightsong said. "Owlstar will have to pick a new deputy."
"He already lost Creamfur, and now Mistfall." Hawkstrike said. "The next deputy better not die."
"He's not going to be happy." Cherrypaw added quietly.
"Let's just take Mistfall." Nightsong sighed. Tinderfoot carefully picked up Mistfall, and started to the entrance of the sandy hollow. Nightsong and the others followed him.