Chapter Three:
OnyxClan

"Has anybody seen Bearstar or Owlcloud?"

"No, come to think of it, I haven't."

It was three days after the Gathering and the Clans were preparing for the coming drought Cherryfern and Reedstorm had predicted. No cat had seen OnyxClan's leader, Bearstar all day. According to the deputy, Eaglewhisker, they had gone out on a hunt together and their leader had said he'd be back before sundown. The sun had been setting for a while and daylight was nearly gone, there was still zero sightings of the dusty old tom.

"Wildpaw, Goldenpaw, and Frostpaw haven't shown up for their training today, either." A silvery brown tom announced as he approached the worried group of cats, his own eyes clouded with concern for Bearstar. All eyes turned to him as Eaglewhisker quickly darted off towards the highrock, deciding it was time to stop waiting around for the family to return. They had to find them, they could be severely injured and bleeding out. It was strange that none of the patrols had come across them during midday, but that didn't mean they weren't in the territory.

The young she-cat Eaglefeather called out to arrange search parties, keeping a few of the warriors at camp for the slightest chance Bearstar and his family would return while they were gone. Within a few minutes, three patrols had been sent out to hunt down their leader. Eaglewhisker led a patrol made up of two warriors and an apprentice, their fur was standing up and their bodies were tense and prepared to evade an attack. During the drought, prey was scarce, as well as water. It was possible a CascadeClanner or any other predator could go mad and try to harm them.

The smell of blood reached the cats' noses as well as the scent of death, faintly mixed with Bearstar's. Eaglewhisker started to imagine the worst scenario, the tom had been on his last life and the fact none of them had returned... Cherryfern's message saying she felt as though something horrible would occur soon ran through her head.

Eaglewhisker's guard dropped as she stepped through a thicket, following the smell to find...

"Oh StarClan..." A black she-cat whispered as she came to Eaglewhisker's side, followed by Alderpaw and Stonebriar. "This is the bad that Cherryfern spoke of," Crowfur turned her gaze to Eaglewhisker, "do you think it's an omen...? A really bad one?"

Laying in front of them was Bearstar and his family, his three sons off to the side in pools of their own blood, his mate sprawled across him as if she'd tried to stop the bleeding, and Bearstar himself on his belly with his dull, lifeless eyes just barely cracked open. His body was beaten and battered, proving the brave tom had put up a fight until his last few moments of life, but he also looked distraught and broken. Clearly he had seen his own sons slaughtered in front of him...

Eaglewhisker's eyes traveled to the apprentices and pain stabbed her in the heart. They would have been such great warriors... She thought as she hung her head, she heard the other patrols padded up behind them and small, heartwrenching gasps filled the area. "May they run the lush lands of StarClan..." Eaglewhisker breathed.

Eaglestar's eyes slowly opened as the memory faded away from her mind, their previous leader had passed away during a tough time for OnyxClan, leaving the young she-cat with a terrible burden. They had been forced to relocate soon after Bearstar's death when a sudden flood crashed through, and the strange part was that the Clans' medicine cats had received news about a drought. Instead, they faced the difficulty of escaping rushing water and rain. A few cats had begun to doubt Cherryfern, who was just as confused as the rest of the Clan.

"Eaglestar?" The she-cat lifted her head to see her deputy, a ginger tabby tom. "Rippleriver and his patrol just returned," ah yes, she'd arranged patrols earlier that morning as Lionfur had been in the medicine cat's den, "Alderbreeze informed me that Witheredstride's scent is stale. At least a few days old."

Witheredstride was Eaglestar's littermate, and he had been banished from the Clan for disloyalty. As much as it pained the golden she-cat, she made it clear that if he was ever to return, he would be killed. Relief washed through her when the realization she would not have her brother's blood on her claws struck her. "That is good news," Eaglestar responded with a small smile, "hopefully he found a nice place to stay. I do not wish death upon him."

The deputy nodded quietly and made to exit the den, but he was stopped by Eaglestar. He turned to look at her as she spoke, sitting up and stretching to wake her body. "How is Bluekit?" She

Lionfur smiled at the mention of the kit's name and he turned to face his leader, "He's doing great, he isn't coughing anymore and is almost back to his old self." Lionfur was quite fond of the young tom, and wished to take him on as an apprentice when the kit was old enough to be apprenticed.

Stonebriar often joked that his son seen Lionfur as a father more than himself.

"That's good," Eaglestar meowed as she exited her den, "I was afraid we would lose another kit." Lionfur's ears pinned back. During leafbare, Cedarmist had given birth to a single kit, a young tom-kit. Unfortunately, the kit had passed a few days after birth, leaving Cedarmist and Lionfur heartbroken. "Will you two try for another litter someday?"

The deputy's eyes stray towards his mate, who was speaking to another she-cat at the entrance of the warriors' den. "Whenever she's ready, yes." It'd only been a quarter-moon since the kit's passing. Cedarmist was still broken over her son's death, and Lionfur didn't want to pressure her. "She needs some time to grieve."

Eaglestar placed her tail across her friend's back comfortingly, "You both do." She gave a quick scan of camp before releasing a breath, the fresh-kill pile was nearly empty and prey was becoming scarce. One of their queens, Crowfur, had just given birth to a litter of kits a few days prior.

She wondered how Crowfur was going to care for her kits as prey became scarcer and scarcer. It was strange, it was newleaf and prey should be coming around more. "I would hate to overhunt our territory," Eaglestar mewed quietly, catching Lionfur's attention, "but we have two nursing queens in the nursery. Arrange a hunting patrol, Lionfur, I need to have a talk with Cherryfern."

Without waiting on Lionfur's reply, the she-cat turned and immediately started for the medicine cat's den. She greeted Blazepaw as the tom exited the den with a mouthful of dried leaves, "Morning, Blazepaw," the tom's response was a muffled greeting, "is Cherryfern inside?" The orange apprentice nodded and the leader entered through the leaf-covered entrance.