Maggottail still haven't appeared. It had been pretty long.

Manglethorn was close to completely healing, and he could now travel around the camp freely without reopening any wounds. Yarrowtail have been trying day and night, and Manglethorn liked the yellow tom's determination.

On this sunny day, he walked around camp. Bloomheart was chatting with Pinetail, while Petalshine was out in the morning patrol with Seedpelt and Thrushtalon. Frecklewish was munching a mouse by the side of the camp, and Manglethorn nodded to her as he walked past. But then he remembered that she was blind, and she couldn't see him. He sighed.

Manglethorn already knew where to head as he walked past a few more cats. The scent of warm milk and brambles filled up his nose as he closed in toward the nursery. Before he came to the warm den his three kits were already jumping up to meet him. He could hardly suppress his mrrow of amusement as the three kits barreled all over him, squealing in excitement.

"Manglethorn!" Mistlekit exclaimed. "Look what we found!"

The little white kit whisked her tail and led her father towards the edge of the camp, and the two other kits were squealing in excitement. Manglethorn followed his kit, laughing as the the other two circled his legs playfully, and nodded at Applewing when she looked out from the nursery. His mate's eyes were full of love, and he returned her loving gaze.

Soon Mistlekit stopped by an object. "It was stinky," Forestkit wrinkled his nose as he swerved around Mistlekit and lowered his head. "But it looks cool!"

Manglethorn bent down to check the object. He quickly winced when he recognized the object. "It's crow-food!" He meowed. The object was a piece of half-eaten mouse, with all its fur ripped from its skin. "Mistlekit, you brought home an abandoned piece of fresh-kill!" "Really?" Mintkit asked, sniffing the mouse. "That's crow-food?"

"We have to get it out before Oakstar comes and sees it," Manglethorn ordered. "We don't want the whole camp stinking of rotten mouse." I can't believe my kits found this! He wondered where they managed to find things like this. He hoped crows and vultures didn't follow them to camp and seek more kits for prey.

"Aww," Mistlekit's tail drooped. "It looked cool!" She looked at Manglethorn with big green eyes.

"It's not cool," Manglethorn scolded. "You might get sick if you poke your nose inside too much, and then you would need stay in the stinky medicine den with Yarrowtail for a moon." They needed to know that it's wrong to carry crow-food to the Clan and attract other predators.

At that last statement the three kits quickly dumped the mouse outside, and Manglethorn helped them throw the mouse far away, digging a hole to hide it. "Now, get back to Applewing," he told them. "It's time to wash your pelts for a moment before some cat finds out about it."

The three kits scrambled back into the nursery, murmuring to each other in shocked but excited voices.

—.—

It was a beautiful morning. The first sign of thick snow was coming; fat clouds gathered around the sun, but the sun blazed through them and its warm rays reached the camp. A small snowflake glinting on each tiny edge of its branches landed on Manglethorn's ear, and he shook it off with a small flick of his ear. The snowflake landed on the floor and melted into a tiny droplet. It seeped into the frosty grass and into the earth.

"Yarrowtail," Oakstar meowed by the leader's den. His eyes were dull and his fur was a mess. "I needed to see you for private business."

"StarClan?" Yarrowtail asked. Manglethorn perked his ears to listen. Oakstar shook his head slightly, glanced at Manglethorn, and then at Yarrowtail again. "Come, please."

Manglethorn felt a thread of suspicion and waited until Oakstar wasn't facing him. Frosty breeze stirred his fur. If they weren't talking about StarClan, Manglethorn should be there too. After all, he was the deputy, and he had to be involved with everything related to the leader except StarClan. Some of his Clanmates glanced at him as he ducked behind boulders and bushes while Yarrowtail and Oakstar went into the leader's den, their voices low.

He padded slowly towards the leader's den and stood outside. He settled next to a patch of dry grass a few fox-lengths from the den so he could listen carefully without being found. What was Oakstar going to say

He was definitely going to listen.

"I am getting old," Oakstar begun. Manglethorn agreed, because from the raspy edge of the brown-furred leader's voice, he knew his age was starting to betray him. "My life wouldn't continue much longer." Yarrowtail nodded, concern in his eyes. "Manglethorn would make a good leader," Yarrowtail commented. "If there would be a cat to succeed you, Manglethorn would be the perfect choice."

Manglethorn felt warmed from the ear tip to the tail tip, but the next sentence ruined the feeling.

"Which was what I was about to say," Oakstar meowed. "I don't know if I should trust Manglethorn."

"What? He was your deputy!" Yarrowtail protested, his yellow fur prickling. "If you don't trust him, why did you appoint him deputy in the first place?" Oakstar stared at his paws, his eyes shining with regret and uncertainty. "He was strong and determined," he admitted. "And works hard for his Clan." "Yeah, and what's troubling you with that?" Yarrowtail asked. "He sacrificed a lot for the Clan. And the way he cares for Applewing and his kits showed his loyalty to those he cared for."

Oakstar sighed. "The vision," he said. "The mangled thorn was killing the oak. That could mean my own deputy could've killed me."

What... why would I kill you? Manglethorn thought, desperation clawing his heart. He tried to stop himself for leaping into the den and meowing out that he was innocent and never thought about killing his leader. He searched his mind for Maggottail's help for a split second, but Maggottail's presence was long gone.

Yarrowtail nodded again. "What I was about to tell you," Oakstar continued. "Was that I actually don't trust him at all."

Manglethorn nearly gagged at the words. He stilled himself and tried to keep his fur flat. What did he do to Oakstar? He served his Clan loyally and did nothing wrong! You killed cats, a small voice spoke in Manglethorn's head. He swatted the voice away and continued listening to Oakstar, ears swerved forward intendedly.

"Lately he have been acting very suspiciously," said the leader. "'I'm off catching prey,' 'Oakstar, I was only catching prey with my patrol and I fell into mud,' 'Oakstar, could I go out for a walk for a moment?' 'I am going to the dirtplace for a while. May I excuse myself from this patrol?' And then he wouldn't come back for half a day, and he says that he was just having a walk and calming down. If anything, it was really getting suspicious. When he became deputy he seemed to be rarely…there. In the camp. Sometimes I had to do his duties because he was gone, and he sometimes comes back with weird scents all over his pelt, or even strange new wounds. I'm not mouse-brained, and I knew he was definitely doing something while he was gone."

Yarrowtail stared at Oakstar, as if he didn't believe anything his leader just said.

"And I couldn't trust him at all," Oakstar blurted. "I started wondering if I made the right choice for a deputy. Sometimes I seem to see my death when I look at Manglethorn, and I grow uncomfortable. I see blood on his claws and a sneer etched across his face, with red liquid on his fangs, which were bared at me and me only. Sometimes I even thought about getting rid of him."

Manglethorn's jaw dropped.

"If he was about to kill me, then...what was the use of him?"

Manglethorn couldn't listen much longer. His neck fur was bristling, and he fought extremely hard to keep still. His tail lashed furiously and thumped on the ground.

"Don't say that," Yarrowtail meowed quickly at Oakstar. "Manglethorn was a loyal warrior. He worked so much for ThunderClan for so many moons. How could you say that he wasn't loyal? Even if he did seem suspicious sometimes, he still helped the Clan through the hardest times. He —" "Look, Yarrowtail. What I was talking about...I am starting to wonder about him. His acts are suspicious, and since my life was coming to an end, he might as well killed me any sooner."

Manglethorn stood up and walked away. He had enough. Nettlebreeze let out a way as he stormed through camp. Memories soared through his mind. In the WindClan-ThunderClan battle many moons ago, Oakstar had told him to attack the nursery. That was clearly against the warrior code, and Manglethorn started realizing Oakstar's real intentions upon doing that. Nobody ever attacks the nursery, and those that did are clearly destined to die. And later Oakstar have been running towards Manglethorn with three cats chasing him, then he led the cats towards Manglethorn and ran...

He was trying to kill me.

The realization nearly hurt Manglethorn. He looked at the ground, gaze suddenly distant as more and more hallucinations filled up his head. He was making me do the most dangerous job of all. He attracted cats to me but he didn't know I would survive. If Oakstar haven't been telling him to attack the nursery, Grasswhisker might've still been alive, and Laurelleaf wouldn't be so angry at Manglethorn when he was first carrying him from the fighting cats. Oakstar have also been always looking at Laurelleaf with suspicion in his eyes in Gatherings, and he rarely praised Manglethorn when he worked hard for the Clan. Manglethorn never thought about killing Oakstar, but then Oakstar had so many thoughts about getting rid of Manglethorn when he barely did anything wrong. His missions were his and never had anything to do with Oakstar; what mattered was that he didn't hurt Oakstar upon doing them, and what right does he have to accuse Manglethorn of killing him when he tried to get rid of him in the first place? Fury blazed through all of Manglethorn's veins at the thought.

I—what did I ever do to him? Maggottail, have I ever done anything to him throughout my life?

Like before, no response.

Oakstar never wanted me in ThunderClan.

He suddenly begun to understand the vision of the mangled thorn that killed Oakstar.

His instincts screamed at him to stop, but rage was burning so deeply in his heart already that he felt like fire would shoot out of his veins any time he stood longer in his spot despite the chilling weather of leaf-bare.

Oh, yes. I don't know I actually would be the one killing him. He stood up, hissing. He wanted me dead. Then I don't want him alive, either.