Chapter 16: Duskspirit's task
It had been fourteen sunrises since Beaverclaw had come into camp with Nightwing and Harestar. Nightwing left camp the day after Harestar decided Beaverclaw's wound would keep her in the camp. Duskspirit admitted that the wound was almost done healing, but Flamepaw and Kestrelflight were hesitant to let her go back to Riverclan. He sighed it would make his job of finding out Bramblestar's murder easier, if she didn't keep bugging him about it. Apparently Blizzardsnow told her as well that Bramblestar had been brutally murdered. He found nothing at the scene of the crime, no fur, no scent, just a mangled body in vines. He didn't even have a list of suspect's who would want to kill Bramblestar. He talked to Swiftwind about it and she mewed that she had no clue who would hate Bramblestar other than the cat's who are against changing the warrior code, that is. Swiftwind did promise though that she would try and see if she could find a cat who really hated Bramblestar for suggesting changing the code. A mew broke his thoughts, "Earth to Duskspirit. Earth to Duskspirit," He turned his neck to his left and not to his surprise Moleclaw is there sitting next to him.
"Hello Moleclaw, how's the prey running?" Moleclaw snorted, "It would be well if you didn't go into your thoughts and missed the rabbit I chased towards you, mouse brain," Hot with embarrassment he apologized, "Sorry Moleclaw, just a lot's happened in the past moon and I was thinking about it," Moleclaw's eyes narrowed, "Then save your thinking for when we are not trying to feed a hungry clan in leaf-bare.," Duskspirit butted his head into Moleclaw's side, "Okay," he mewed playfully, "I will not think when I am hunting prey," Moleclaw cocked her head at his tone, but mewed nothing else. Duskspirit went about the moorland with Moleclaw trying to find prey. They spotted a shrew and Duskspirit just dashed after it, scaring the shrew when he came a little bit closer. He ran after it catching up to the small furry creature, he hooked it in his claws and gave it a swift killing bite. He purred with satisfaction. Moleclaw though looked annoyed at his little stunt. 'For Starclans sake I did what what she told me to do,' he thought as Moleclaw scolded , "Duskspirit you to do not just dash after prey like that! You could have lost it! Did you forget what we were taught when we were apprentices or what?" Duskspirit mewed cockily, "I did what you told me to do," Moleclaw tipped her head in confusion. He sighed, "You told me not to think when hunting, so I didn't think," Moleclaw glared at him and he gulped. "I meant not to think about the things that have happened this past moon and to focus on hunting you bird brain!"
Duskspirit let out a burst of laughter, "I only did it to tease you. Lighten up, besides, I caught the shrew so it does not matter what I did to catch it. It only matters if I missed it," Moleclaw turned around and stalked off fuming. 'Whelp, I made her mad. She should learn to loosen up a little even if we have a battle that's coming in seven sunrises from now. I hope every cat is ready,' thought Duskspirit as he searched for more prey on the moorland. He spotted a skinny rabbit hopping through the snow, searching for food. Its tiny head looked around for predators but found none. The rabbit began to scrape at the earth it's little fluffy tail waving in excitement. He got his muscles ready to run when he heard a hawk cry. He looked up, the hawk is bigger and looks fatter than the rabbit. He decided to go for the hawk. He waited, then the hawk dove for the rabbit. Duskspirit ran and jumped onto the hawk. It squawked in surprise, and flapped its wing in frustration, as Duskspirit pinned it to the ground. He swiftly killed it. He picked the hawk up with his jaws, his eyes glancing around to see if the rabbit was still near him.
Duskspirit headed back to where he buried his shrew. He picked it up with his hawk and walked back towards camp. He could feel the air tingle with excitement. He wondered what was happening. Harestar leaped onto tallrock, yowling, "All cats that can catch their own prey gather at the tallrock for a clan meeting," Almost every cat appeared at the foot of tallrock instantally. It was like they were waiting for it to happen.
"Beaverclaw's wound is fully healed, Flamepaw and Puddleshine will escort her back to Riverclan. The full moon gathering is almost here. If any cat has any more suggestions on how to change the warrior code let me know and I will get a mental list ready," A few cat's yowled in excitement, while others glared at Harestar. Duskspirit padded over to Swiftwind, giving his tail a flick. Swiftwind's pale green eyes noticed and she quickly mewed goodbye to Sanddust.
"What is it?" asked Swiftwind, her green eyes calculating everything. "I just want to talk to you. Why don't we hunt, that way we have more privacy. Shrewtail and Moleclaw can come too. That way it's less suspicious," Swiftwind nodded, and bounded off to see if Moleclaw is still in camp.
He spotted Shrewtail eating a rabbit, Duskspirit walked over, "Want to come hunting?" He then added in a whisper, "Swiftwind is coming with us, and might give us some more information about the rebellion happening soon," Shrewtail nodded eagerly, his mud brown eyes shining with excitement. They joined up with Moleclaw and Swiftwind, but before they could go Rabbitpaw whined, "Shrewtail! Can I go with you? Please? I promise to be good, I'll do anything you tell me to do while we hunt," "No Rabbitpaw, today you have to care for the elder's, which means doing their bedding, cleaning their fur of ticks and hunting for them. Stay here," Rabbitpaw's tail dropped in disappointment, though he didn't argue and went straight to the elders den.
Shrewtail mewed, "Sorry about that," "No problem," mewed Moleclaw, "All apprentices want to do the fun stuff before doing what they deem as the yucky, gross stuff," Swiftwind nodded in agreement. Duskspirit signaled them to follow him with a flick of his tail. The group left the camp and padded through the snow covered moorland.
Duskspirit led them to the border they shared with Thunderclan, he sat down two tree lengths into the forest area that is before the border of the stream. The rest of the group followed suit and sat down in a little circle. "Swiftwind?" asked Shrewtail, "Is there any more information you can give us concerning the rebellion?" Swiftwind cocked her head looking thoughtful, then shook her head. "The plan is the same, practice our battle moves and attack the day of the full moon gathering. Though I think every cat in the rebellion will be on the island," "How!?" Moleclaw asked. "They wait a few rabbit hops for the chosen cat's to go to the gathering and then they head towards the island and fight the cat's there," "But isn't that problematic? I mean why wait for the chosen cat's when they can send a few to be chosen for the gathering?" asked Duskspirit. "No, they want it to be a fair fight, so they let cat's who aren't in the rebellion go to the gathering," Shrewtail flicked his tail, "Why would they want it to be a fair fight? If they want to win why not outnumber the cats that are going to the gathering?" "Because they want to give the cats that choose to change the code a chance to defend themselves from their attack and that they can prove that they have enough strength to beat them and force the code to stay the same," Moleclaw cocked her head, and then nodded in agreement, "It makes sense, they want an equal fight because it would be unfair to let the cats who want the code to change have a meager defense at what they believe to be the right way to fo forward,"
Shrewtail flicked his ears, while Duskspirit cocked his head and thought for a heartbeat. Then he nodded his head as he finally understood why the rebel cats were going to do by letting cats who want the code to change go to the gathering, and then wait for several heartbeats before they go to the island to attack them. Swifwind stood up and fluffed up her fur, "If we are done here, I suggest we split up and go hunt for the clan. After all they're expecting us to have some prey when we get back to camp," Shrewtail, Moleclaw and him nodded in agreement. Duskspirit padded away and went deeper into the forest area. Stopping, he smelled the air, a water vole scent made his mouth water. 'The clan must be fed first!' he thought as his belly rumbled. Duskspirit carefully walked towards the scent. It led him to the river where the Thunderclan and Windclan scent markers are. He spotted the water vole scraping the earth, probably looking for snow buried nuts or grass stalks. Duskspirit stalked it, trying very hard to not let his paws step on any crunchy leaves or sticks hidden beneath the snow.
As he edged closer to it, he heard a snapping sound, the water vole looked up. He held his breath as the tiny, scrawny water vole scanned the area, thankfully it didn't notice him as it resumed it's search. He breathed a silent thanks to Starclan and pounced on the vole. It let out a terrified squeak as he bit it. The water vole fell limp in his mouth. The taste of the water vole in his mouth made his belly growl with hunger even more. Duskspirit tried to get hunger out of his mind by focusing on how he and the others could win the battle that would take place soon. He trudged through the snow, trying to go as fast as he could back to camp. He hadn't eaten anything since this morning and the vole in his mouth is distracting him from thinking straight.
The closer he walked to camp the stronger his urge to eat, Duskspirit picked up his pace. He reached the camp within a few rabbit hops. He dropped his vole onto the pile and took a rabbit. He tried to remain composed but ended up eating it in swift, rapid bites. Hunger still clawed at his belly, but it wasn't as painful as before. Leaf-bare is still hitting the clan hard, even though it's only been one moon since it began.
He began to wash himself, when Moleclaw sat beside him. "Any luck with hunting?" "Nope, all I managed to catch was a vole," Duskspirit replied. Moleclaw flicked her ears, "Leaf-bare has only just begun and already we're facing scrawny prey," He nodded, "Yea, I know what you mean. But leaf-bare has always hit our clan hard. Out on the open moorland food is much scarcer for prey than in the thick woodland," Moleclaw looked at him, her green gaze questioning his statement. He rolled his eyes, how could Moleclaw not understand. The only prey on the moorland is rabbits and birds, while the forest has mice, squirrels, shrews, and voles, just to name a few. Moleclaw noticed his eye roll and stalked off, anger coming off her in waves. Moleclaw doesn't understand me and does at the same time. Honestly she was a complete rabbit brain sometimes.
He sighed, he wasn't getting anywhere by complaining about other things than thinking about Bramblestar's death. Blizzardsnow has faith in him, but he is afraid that he will fail his trust. The one thing he noticed that was odd was the rocks, a splatter of blood lay on one, but in the wrong angle. It was as almost some cat pushed the rock that way to make cats not notice the blood stained rock. But what did it mean? It wasn't like their were pawprints to pinpoint where the murder came from and there was no scent trail. He lashed his tail in frustration. He hoped that Starclan could reveal this almost impossible murder. But with the way they are behaving Duskspirit suspects that Starclan is going to make him figure it out on his own. Duskspirit headed into the warrior's den. Moleclaw was nowhere to be seen inside,so he chose a nest and curled up. Letting his imagtiojn run wild with how the murder of Bramblestar happened.
