Tigerclaw
Tigerclaw was starting to form a system out of his delegating. He tried to join a good amount of the patrols he assigned, and he also tried to help with some of the fortifications that were being formed around the camp. But he also allowed himself decent portions of rest; and he tried to have some time with Darkstripe, Longtail, and especially Goldenflower, whenever they were off duty.
But right now, none of that mattered very much. All of Princess's talk about exploiting systems was buzzing through Tigerclaw's head like bees in the spring, and that left little room for thinking about everyday Clan life. Could Bluestar be one of those Code breakers? Or is it all just a lie? Maybe the Code breakers don't even exist!
Tigerclaw sat down at the entrance to the camp, his head still full of these strange thoughts. As he tried to make heads or tails of them, he looked out over the ThunderClan camp.
Brindleface was just squeezing out of the nursery with three kits in tow. Tigerclaw nodded to her as they passed, and Brindleface nodded back.
Over by the apprentices' den, Whitestorm called for Sandpaw, and the pale ginger apprentice raced of the den just in time to follow the mid-morning patrol as it bounded out of camp.
Tigerclaw caught a flash of bright ginger in the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Fireheart padding across camp. The young warrior's green eyes looked distant, as though he was deep in thought. As Tigerclaw watched, the fiery coated cat padded up to Graystripe, exchanged a few words with his friend, and then bounded out of camp.
Huh. Odd. Tigerclaw wondered where Fireheart was going. He was tempted to follow the younger warrior to see where he went, but he knew it was more important for him to stay in camp. He did have duties, after all, and Bluestar might need him. I won't lose my loyalty to my leader, no matter what a rogue says. So the dark tabby turned away, promising himself that he would talk to Fireheart about it later.
There was a flash of blue-grey next to him, and then Bluestar was standing there, also watching the Clan.
"Greetings, Tigerclaw," she mewed. Tigerclaw responded by dipping his head and flicking his tail. Bluestar nodded back, but an action in the camp caught her eye and she turned that way, flicking her ears. "That's odd."
"What?" Tigerclaw asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Graystripe. He's leaving to train with Brackenpaw and Cinderpaw. Where's Fireheart?"
"I saw him leaving camp just a bit ago," Tigerclaw meowed, narrowing his eyes further. "He must have convinced Graystripe to take both apprentices for the day. Only he would try that."
"Tigerclaw," Bluestar snapped, her voice turning sharp. "Watch yourself. You have no reason to speak or think ill of Fireheart. I'm sure he has a good reason to leave Cinderpaw behind this morning."
"I apologize, Bluestar," Tigerclaw mewed back, dipping his head again. Then he lifted the tip of his tail. "I'll go ask Graystripe about what Fireheart intended to do." The dark warrior stood and trotted over to where the gray tom was trying―and apparently failing―to keep both apprentices under control.
"Graystripe?"
Graystripe started and looked up, his yellow eyes wide.
"T-Tigerclaw? What do you want?"
"Where did Fireheart go?" Tigerclaw asked, gesturing at the camp entrance with his tail. "Did he tell you?"
"H-he said―said he wanted to check out something he saw, you know, yesterday. Might've been dangerous. He left Cinderpaw with me."
Tigerclaw hid a purr. Graystripe was obviously ill-prepared to handle a rambunctious apprentice like Cinderpaw.
"I can see that, Graystripe," Tigerclaw said. He paused, by the gray warrior said nothing, so Tigerclaw added final thought. "If you find out anything more about where Fireheart went, please tell me."
Graystripe gave a terse nod. "I will, Tigerclaw."
Tigerclaw nodded to him and then trotted back over to Bluestar.
"Well?" the leader inquired as he sat down again. Tigerclaw shrugged his shoulders.
"Graystripe said Fireheart was going to check out something he saw yesterday with Cinderpaw. He didn't know what it was, just that Fireheart thought it might be dangerous and left Cinderpaw with him." More likely he just didn't want Cinderpaw getting in the way, Tigerclaw added mentally, though he refrained from speaking these words. He knew Bluestar would rebuke him again if he did.
"Hmm." Bluestar turned away again. There was a moody look in her blue eyes, and Tigerclaw could tell that she had some heavy subjects on her mind. He decided to take some initiative.
"Er… would it be alright if I took a patrol down to the lakeside?"
"Who's available?" Bluestar asked in return. Tigerclaw quickly ran through his ever-changing mental list of warriors in camp.
"Willowpelt and Runningwind," he answered. Bluestar nodded.
"Take them, then. The lake border could use some patrolling."
"Right. We'll be back soon." Tigerclaw nodded to his leader again and strode away, calling out for the two younger warriors as he went. Within a few minutes, the three cats were bounding out of camp and heading south toward the lakeside.
Tigerclaw didn't slow down as they raced through the forest. After about five minutes, the patrol reached the area where the lake lapped up against ThunderClan territory and began their trek along it.
Tigerclaw opened his mouth and breathed the crisp morning air deeply. He could smell the scents of many pieces of prey; behind him, Willowpelt was just beginning to stalk a mouse.
"Willowpelt!" Tigerclaw called, scaring away the mouse. "Come on; you can hunt further on."
"Okay," Willowpelt called back, straightening up and trotting forward as Tigerclaw and Runningwind continued.
The patrol kept going. Every few feet Tigerclaw would stop and scent the air; but all he could smell were the earthy scents of ThunderClan territory. Unfortunately, this did not last. The patrol was halfway to the ShadowClan border when Tigerclaw smelled it.
RiverClan! The ThunderClan deputy dashed forward. The salty, fish-tinged smell of RiverClan cats was faint, but there. The cat―or cats―hadn't meant to mark anything on ThunderClan territory, he could tell that much. But still, the scent was there, rubbed off on a clump of ferns. What's RiverClan doing on the far side of the lake?
"Tigerclaw?" Willowpelt called, trotting up beside him. "What's wrong? Why did we stop?"
"There's RiverClan scent here," Tigerclaw answered urgently. Willowpelt's eyes went wide and she immediately sniffed at the fern. After a moment she nodded.
"You're right. RiverClan scent, and it's way past the three-tail-length border where they should have stopped if they were travelling around the lake for some reason or another." Willowpelt paused contemplatively. "What should we do now?"
"You and Runningwind can finish the patrol on your own, right?" Tigerclaw mewed. Willowpelt nodded.
"Yes."
"Then do that. Come straight back to camp once you hit the ShadowClan border. I'll go and alert Bluestar."
"Got it."
With a nod to Willowpelt, Tigerclaw bounded away in the direction of the ThunderClan camp.
Fury at RiverClan's trespassing fueled Tigerclaw and he reached the camp in just a few minutes. He sprang past the camp boundary and skidded into the center of camp, breathing hard.
Bluestar trotted toward him, apparently sensing the urgency of the situation.
"Tigerclaw? What's wrong? Where are Willowpelt and Runningwind?"
The last question was eagerly echoed by Patchpelt, Willowpelt's older brother, and Mousefur, Runningwind's sister.
"Runningwind and Willowpelt are fine," Tigerclaw answered. "They're finishing up the lakeside patrol. I just came back to deliver some news."
"What news?" Bluestar asked, as the crowd of cats around them dissipated.
"There's RiverClan scent near the lakeside," Tigerclaw explained. Bluestar narrowed her eyes.
"How close is it to the lake? You know that medicine cats are allowed to travel where they need to, so long as they stay within three tail-lengths of the lake."
Tigerclaw shook his head impatiently.
"It's far past that, Bluestar. The scent is at least five tail-lengths from the lake, if not more. This RiverClan cat was clearly trespassing."
Bluestar now wore a grim expression on her face.
"I see. I will bring this up with Crookedstar at the next Gathering, but until then, all we can do is re-set our scent markers and patrol that area more frequently." The blue-grey leader turned her head towards the apprentices' den. "Mistpaw! Could you bring a message to Runningwind and Willowpelt for me?"
As Bluestar explained the message to Mistpaw, Tigerclaw let his thoughts drift back to the area where the RiverClan scent had been discovered. There's something wrong here, he thought, narrowing his eyes slightly. RiverClan lives on the other side of the lake. The only reason they would be on our territory would be if they need to talk to us… but… Tigerclaw shook his head. Things weren't adding up. And Bluestar… If I were leader, I would be shocked that there was RiverClan scent where there shouldn't be any. She acts like she knew this was coming. Tigerclaw shook his head again. No, that's impossible. It's just part of what makes Bluestar. She's calm in a crisis. She always has been.
"What are you doing, Tigerclaw, fighting with yourself?"
Tigerclaw whirled to find Goldenflower watching him with an amused look on her face. Tigerclaw forced out a purr.
"Where'd you come from? Weren't you on a hunting patrol?"
"We just got back. It's a good day for prey."
"That's… good."
Even with the delight of Goldenflower being back from patrol, Tigerclaw was still half-focused on this incident with RiverClan.
Things just aren't adding up…