Chapter 25

Moonbreeze yawned, feeling the cool breeze that was uncharacteristic of greenleaf. She quite enjoyed windy days such as these, the heat from the pulsating sun was beginning to grow quite unbearable. Most cats opted to lounge in the shade of bamboo stalks surrounding the camp.

Waspshade was panting, even in the cool shade from the inside of his den. Moonbreeze felt bad for him, especially considering his thick golden fur. She stepped close to him, standing just outside of the den. "How are you holding up in this heat?" She asked politely.

"Quite literally dying." Waspshade growled. His patience was nearly completely gone. Moonbreeze couldn't blame him. The insanity of his mentor, prophetic dreams constantly bombarding him, reading omens from StarClan, and worst of all, being forced to sit in the heat of greenleaf.

"Well, I'm due to go on the sunhigh patrol. Would you like me to get you some water from the forest pond?"

"If it's not dried up." He muttered, eyes half-closed.

Moonbreeze purred in amusement. "I'll take that as a yes." She turned around to see Stonedust standing at the entrance of the camp with Softcloud and Smokestorm ready to patrol. Likely a hunting patrol, despite nobody wanting to eat in such hot weather.

He looked up at her with his honey-colored eyes glinting like gold in the pale sunlight. He gave a weak smile and shut them again, likely to attempt to sleep.

Moonbreeze turned around and trotted to the waiting patrol.

Smokestorm was panting from his thick, fluffy black fur absorbing all of the heat. Softcloud chuckled sympathetically at the tom.

Stonedust pointed his tail toward the forest. "We're going to be patrolling and hunting in two seperate patrols. Smokestorm and Softcloud, you two should try the hunting near the Starstones. Moonbreeze and I are going to be patrolling the MortalClan border."

"Sounds good." agreed Smokestorm, still panting. "Meet back here at sunset?"

"Yes." Stonedust meowed curtly. "Let's split up."

The cats left the camp and Moonbreeze found herself walking with Stonedust on her own. Her heart was pounding in fear of what he was planning to do. Was he going to ream her out for being a pathetic excuse for a warrior? Would her tell her that her only salvation of being a cat was to head in to the nursery?

Her second guess wasn't too far off.

Stonedust gave a smirk before he stopped walking altogether. Moonbreeze sensed this and stopped as well, but didn't turn around to see him. "Why did we stop?" She quietly asked.

She scented a heavy and salty scent coming from him. She realized with a spike of fear what he was going to try and do. Moonbreeze felt the stare he held into the back of her skull, sinking into her like ice-cold claws.

"Remember what I said when we were training once? That you'd only be useful as a queen forever bearing litters for her Clan?"

Moonbreeze stood terrifyingly still. With a sick notion, she had a feeling she knew where this was going. She swallowed hard and slowly nodded. With that nod, she suddenly felt a heavy weight on her back and a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Moonbreeze screamed to attempt to get some help. She felt him attempt to position his hindquarters on top of her, but she she-cat continued to thrash around and try to throw him off.

"Don't bother screaming," he mewed quietly in her ear with a thick and heavy breath, "no one is going to hear you. I brought us to a secluded and remote place." He clenched down harder onto her scruff, causing blood to drip. Moonbreeze screamed again in pain, wondering when it was going to happen. Was this how kits were made? Was this what she was curiously asking herself for the past several moons?

"Please…" she whimpered quietly, "let me go…"

"The only use you have lies in being a queen." He hissed, ringing in her ears. "You will be my mate, and you will bear my kits."

"I don't want to!" She screamed, her throat beginning to grow sore.

"Oh? Then who else in the Clan is going to be your mate? Iceflank is too old, and Smokestorm has his heart set on Brookfrost. And Waspshade?" he laughed and pinned her down with an incredible strength, "He's a medicine cat! He can't have a mate!"

Moonbreeze felt tears spilling out of her eyes, "Y-You're Gullstar's brother!" She gasped painfully, feeling the blood continue to drip down her neck. "She's already a grandmother! You're just as old as her!"

"I'm her younger brother from another litter, idiot." He growled as he bit her neck once more, causing one more yowl. "Now stay still and make this easy for me, darling."

She prayed to StarClan that help would come, or at least it would be over soon. Moonbreeze stopped struggling, and she felt him situate himself on top of her. It was about to begin when the weight was lifted.

Moonbreeze gasped and turned around to see a giant, golden tabby tom fighting Stonedust. She was quick to shrink back and watch the fight unfold. The golden tom twisted and turned to bite toward Stonedust's throat, and he succeeded.

Stonedust yowled and thrashed about as the golden tom bit down harder, causing Stonedust's breathing to become ragged and panicky. He got slower over time, the golden cat's eyes blazed in fury, and Moonbreeze scented HavenClan on him. It took her a moment in her adrenaline clouded mind that this tom was Waspshade.

Then Stonedust stopped breathing entirely. Blood was beginning to pool out of his throat and around him on the greenleaf grass, staining it from green to a deep and bloody crimson. Waspshade backed off, panting. He glanced up at Moonbreeze, who was obviously terrified.

"Moonbreeze…"

"You killed him!" She screamed in terror. "You just murdered the deputy!"

Waspshade's golden eyes widened and his paws began to shiver in a realization of what he has done. The sun was barely hanging over the horizon, the bloody colors of sunset starting to bathe Waspshade's fur.

"Why…" she asked quietly, the initial shock of murder fading away, "Why are you out here?"

"You were taking a long time to fetch that water," he admitted, "So I went to do it myself. I caught your scent with Stonedust and I knew that something was wrong. So I followed it and found him trying… to…" he flinched away. "I just… murdered him." He suddenly straightened himself. "But… I think he deserved it."

"Y-Yeah…" she swallowed hard. "H-He did…"

"We have to cover this up." Waspshade whispered. He blinked as he began to think. Moonbreeze stared at him, still in shock from the whole ordeal. Finally, the medicine cat said, "What if… MortalClan did this?"

"M-MortalClan?"

"Y-Yeah…" he paced around Stonedust's body. He suddenly sat down. "We are at war with them… if we can blame it on them…" he traced his paw in the grass, the soft breeze blowing unsettlingly. The once hot sun now felt cold.

Moonbreeze stared at Stonedust and then suddenly felt a surge of resentment. He didn't even deserve a proper burial. The only cats who knew of Stonedust's true nature was her, Waspshade, and Iceflank. By them, they would not be missed. She slowly nodded. "Let's do it." With a strong resolve, she bit down into his scruff and began to drag him with Waspshade helping her. The cats dragged him closer to the border.

"We need to cover him in MortalClan scent, otherwise they'll be able to scent us." Waspshade pointed out. "Wait here while I go grab something from their side."

Moonbreeze did as told and sat there, quietly panicking. She was worried they'd be caught while performing their disposal.

Waspshade came back quickly with weeds and mushrooms in his jaws. He began to rub the plants on Stonedust, not taking much for him to smell like MortalClan was all over him.

He panted and set down the plants. "I'll dispose these off the cliff. You go back to camp. Act shocked and tell them what happened."

"What do I say?"

"Say that a patrol attacked and killed Stonedust."

Moonbreeze wanted to hurl her guts out at the idea of lying, but if it meant covering up their crime, then it was something they had to do. She nodded and began to sprint back to camp. She was exhausted by the time she came back. Cats in the camp looked at her funny.

"Moonbreeze? Where's Stonedust?" Iceflank asked curiously.

"He's…" she swallowed hard and attempted to choke out words as though she was having a hard time saying it, "Stonedust was killed! He's dead!"

"Dead!?" Gullstar screeched. She bounded over to the warrior, blue eyes wide in terror. "What happened? Where is he?"

"MortalClan…" Moonbreeze muttered.

"Why aren't you hurt?" Brookfrost asked, sitting from the edge of the nursery.

Moonbreeze swallowed again and laid back her ears. "I… he told me to leave before the patrol could get me as well… but I watched from the bushes. I watched them… I watched them murder Stonedust before my very eyes. He fought till the very end though… like…" she wanted to throw up at saying kind things about the most disgusting tom she has ever had the displeasure of meeting in her entire life, "like a true warrior."

"Moonbreeze, you have suffered enough." Gullstar mewed sympathetically. "I'm going to take a patrol to the border and find his body." She narrowed her eyes. "MortalClan is going to pay with their lives for killing my brother." She stood tall. "Iceflank, Minnowfin, let's go."

As Moonbreeze watched them go through the entrance, she stood still, shaking. Other cats began to approach her, telling her their condolences. It wasn't much longer until Waspshade entered the camp smelling of brine as though he was at the cliffs, but everyone was in too much of a panic to say anything to him.

Moonbreeze and Waspshade simply exchanged a look that concluded the crime they have committed. Barely out of apprenticeship and they were already murderers.