This chapter is way shorter than the others...
Sandfur burst through the camp entrance. She took a breath, thinking of what to say to the leader, and calmly walked towards the leader's den. She heard small talk among her clanmates and felt relaxed now that she was home. She came to the entrance of the leader's den but a guard stopped her. Sandfur scowled. "Really? Can I not see her?" she asked.
The guard shrugged but kept his place. Snakefang popped out of the entrance and laid eyes upon Sandfur. "What business do you have here?" Snakefang meowed to her.
"Nothing that concerns you," replied Sandfur.
"Oh, I think it does," shot back Snakefang, "What is the problem exactly?"
Yellowstar sat contemplating something uninteresting and unimportant in her den. She heard a rustle behind her. Snakefang came through the entrance. He was the deputy, a cream-colored strong tom with deep brown eyes and teeth as sharp as a snake.
"Yellowstar, we have a problem!" cried Snakefang.
Sandfur pushed past Snakefang. He looked surprised but didn't protest, instead of glaring at Sandfur. Sandfur didn't seem to notice, simply walking past without any hesitation.
"Sandfur? Why are you here?" asked Yellowstar.
"Mother, uh, sorry Snakefang," answered Sandfur, "Me and… Whiteheart, and Nightstorm, we ran into a CaveClan patrol. They had lost a cat, Lakeheart, and we followed the trail with them-"
"What? You could've been ambushed," Yellowstar yelled at Sandfur with a hint of anger in her voice, "That could have been an invasion!"
"Okay… Well… It wasn't." replied Sandfur.
Yellowstar frowned.
"We followed the trail into the tunnels," continued Sandfur, "NOT THAT FAR MIND YOU, and we found… the body… of Lakeheart."
Yellowstar seemed stunned by this news. She was frozen for a split second, before processing it. "You found the body of… Lakeheart? What happened?"
"That's the thing," meowed Sandfur, "we don't know, not yet. There are many details to it."
"Well," Yellowstar was thinking, "can you confirm one thing. Was it an accident, or, murder?"
Yellowstar had seemed to hesitate at the last word. Sandfur replied, "I can't say, it was either an accident, murder, or... murder by a bear."
Yellowstar widened her eyes. "BEAR?"
Sandfur realized how shocking that detail was. "Yes…"
Yellowstar calmly collected herself and looked to be thoughtful for a moment. "Clearly you are invested in this, Sandfur. I want you to lead a patrol down there, gather as much evidence as you can, interview suspects, whatever you have to do. Figure it out." said Yellowstar.
Sandfur's heart nearly leaped with excitement but she kept herself collected. "I will do that straight away."
As Sandfur turned to leave, Yellowstar muttered one last thing. "Sandfur, whatever it takes, this was an accident, okay? This could lead to war with CaveClan if you determine it to be murder but there is a culprit on their side."
Sandfur gulped and headed out of the den, Snakefang still glaring at her.
The sun shone down through the trees overhead and fell onto Nightstorm's dark pelt. He was on a walk through the forest. Sandfur had gone to some meeting with Yellowstar, and Nightstorm was too distracted by the chaotic noises of the camp. He needed some thinking. Out of a bush to his side a cat pounced on him, Nightstorm being instantly knocked to the ground. He panicked for a second before realizing it was just Mintbreeze. She had a light gray pelt with dark gray splotches and frost blue eyes. "What, did I scare you?" she asked playfully.
Nightstorm hesitated. "Actually, yeah," he replied.
"Ha! You're too easy to scare," meowed Mintbreeze, "Wait, what're you doing out here?"
"I should ask you the same question."
"Oh, I just followed you out of camp, y'know-"
Nightstorm felt defensive all of a sudden. "Did somebody ask you to watch me?"
"No, no, dear StarClan Nightstorm, I would never do what Yellowstar or any of her followers ask me. I'm honestly surprised you didn't trust me with that."
Nightstorm looked down this time. "I- I had a… weird day. I thought maybe they were paranoid of me."
Mintbreeze tilted her head. "Weird day? In what way?"
"Uh, you will hear it back at camp," stated Nightstorm.
"Oh please," sighed Mintbreeze, "really, what was it?"
"We… my patrol and a CaveClan patrol, we found something," replied Nightstorm reluctantly, "But, I really don't want to get into the details."
"Why not?"
Nightstorm sighed and stared at Mintbreeze, who finally got the idea. "Fine, I'll hear it back at camp I guess," she muttered.
Nightstorm entered the FireClan camp with Mintbreeze. At this point Sandfur would probably be done, so he wouldn't have to deal with the chaotic nature of the camp and focus on conversation with her. He winced as he heard the chattering of his clanmates, and he felt constant stares at him. He hurried around the camp to look for Sandfur. He noticed some of the clanmates were now gathered around the clan meeting area. He never felt safe at camp, always being antagonized and given looks by his clanmates. He preferred to relax with Sandfur or Mintbreeze, or to take a walk and hunt. He saw a golden pelt pop out of the leader's den. Yellowstar.
Nightstorm noticed Lighthaze in the crowd. She was also one of Yellowstar's daughters, this time with a haze pelt and green eyes. She looked bored as always. There was probably some gossip around camp that would interest her more than a clan meeting. "May all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather round' for a clan meeting."
More and more of the clanmates gathered around. Nightstorm glanced towards the crowd but didn't see Sandfur. He felt a slight twinge of panic and the rumbling of his clanmates growing louder, which only made it worse.
"A terrible tragedy has happened to CaveClan," echoed Yellowstar, "They lost a warrior, Lakeheart."
The crowd was mostly silent, wondering whether they should be at all concerned about this seemingly insignificant matter.
Yellowstar continued. "We found her body on a trail that led into our territory. It was in the caves, and-"
Yellowstar had been cut off by a cat from the crowd, Firepelt. He was a flame orange tom with amber eyes. "What? What was a CaveClan cat doing in our territory?"
The crowd began rumbling at this. Yellowstar ignored it and spoke. "The cause of death, or the culprit, hasn't been determined yet. Sandfur, Whiteheart and Nightstorm were all investigating it and looking for clues. But, we think so far, it was… a bear."
The assembled group of cats all turned to Nightstorm. Nightstorm winced and looked away, trying to ignore the cats staring at him.
Yellowstar noticed this and instantly brought up her next point. "The leader of the investigation will be Sandfur."
Nightstorm gasped as Sandfur's dusty pelt appeared next to Yellowstar on the rock. The crowd was a mix of cheering, murmuring, and protest.
It's surprising how conflicted the warriors are in FireClan.
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