As the patrol arrived home they were greeted by Brackenstar, the Clan leader. Brackenstar had been leader longer than he or any cat he knew could remember with the exception of Applefern or the Elders.
"Anything to report?" Brackenstar asked.
"Nothing as usual, Windclan is still keeping to their side of the boundary and I'm waiting for the Skyclan patrol to get back." The Deputy said, shuffling their tail around. Applefern was still a somewhat young cat, and she still had enough energy to be a bit impatient at times.
"I like hearing that peace prevails another day, how did the apprentices do?" Brackenstar asked, eyeing the 3 who went on the patrol with the Warriors.
"They kept up well and didn't slow us down." Dapplefur muttered.
Applefern shot him a glance that made Dapplefurn look very nervous.
"Yes, Dapplefur is right. They kept up well and even offered to help catch prey, right Dapplefur?" She asked with a stern mew, shooting an ice cold gaze at Dapplefur.
"Yes, Applefern." Dapplefur said quickly
"That's good to hear." Brackenstar said, his gaze swept across the patrol and he stood up.
"Well, I await the other patrol's report, in the meantime rest while the hunting patrol does its job." Brackenstar said as he padded away to his den.
"You heard him, everyone get some rest and grab something to eat…Prey has been plentiful lately." Applefern said as she padded away to the fresh kill pile.
He also made his way to the pile, as the other cats picked out their own meal he simply sat and rested, truth be told that walk took a lot out of him.
Even though he was 7 Moons old along with Dawnpaw, they had to wait the extra moon to become warriors since the large amount of kits in the Nursery made it so many warriors didn't have time to Mentor Apprentices and manage their other duties, and so they had to wait until Honeyhearts kits became warriors, which luckily was only a moon.
Dawnpaw was much more energetic and active than he was, and while she went on long patrols asking for more he was a bit more laid back and took it slowly.
Once the warriors at the Fresh kill pile had left he got up, sunbeams in the tree's illuminated his near-pure white fur as he grabbed a small Mouse, making sure not to take too much as he found a nice cozy spot under a tree.
He quickly munched down the Mouse and licked his lips when he was Finished. He sat upright on his paws, listening to the sounds of the forest. He could hear the Chatter in the warriors den, what sounded like Mouseclaw and Brightfur having another argument about who was the better hunter. It was kind of reassuring actually to hear Warriors having kit-like arguments and rivalries, It made them feel closer to the younger cats in a way…
He shook his head, shaking off a fly. He tried to snap at it but it got away, slipping just out of the way of his teeth.
He hated flies.
He walked over to the apprentices den, lowering his head as he entered. The Majority of the apprentices were there, Dawnpaw was having a Conversation with her Brother Viperpaw, Graypaw was laying down and Juniperpaw was doing the same.
He curled up in his nest and let time fly by, as the Sun began to descend on the horizon there was a commotion outside. Frostpaw quickly got up to inspect it, as did Dawnpaw and Graypaw. When they emerged they immediately noticed Applefern, Flamewing and Brackenstar having a discussion.
"I wonder what they are talking about." Dawnpaw asked
Suddenly, Applefern padded towards Frostpaw and spoke.
"Frostpaw, your father Cedarclaw was on that patrol on the skyclan border, did he say anything at all earlier?" Applefern asked him.
"We hardly talk and I haven't spoken with him for a week, is something wrong?" Frostpaw asked.
"We haven't heard from the Patrol since it left earlier and I'm getting Concerned." Applefern said as she walked towards Brackenstar.
"It's been too long, I'm asking permission to lead a patrol to return them." Applefern told Brackenstar.
"You Don't need my permission for that." Brackenstar said, Applefern nodded her thanks and walked towards the Warriors Den.
"I'll go with you for good Measure." Flamewing said.
"I was going to ask you to go on the Patrol anyway, I'll be getting Whitepelt and Featherfur too since they have excellent tracking skills." Applefern said as she stared at Flametail.
"Alright." Flametail meowed.
"Featherfur, Whitepelt, you are needed on an emergency patrol duty." Applefern said as she walked into the den.
The 2 she cats padded out of the Den and quickly joined the 2 Senior warriors, and Frostpaw watched as they quickly exited camp and took a turn out of sight as they went towards the Skyclan Border.
"You're Dad is fine, I'm sure of it." Said Dawnpaw as she padded up to him.
"Yes, Cedarclaw is a strong warrior." Said Brackenstar to the apprentices, "One that I even would have considered as Deputy, He will be fine." The Leader told them.
Dapplefur shot them a glance and walked over to the 3 cats.
"They are right, even if something happened I'm sure Cedarclaw got out of it alive." Dapplefur said, which was surprising to him since Dapplefur hated apprentices.
"Thanks…" He said he wasn't as worried as the Other Cats made him out to be but Concern was in his Mind still.
As the other cats now walked away from him to go about their business, He did the same. Finding a nice spot near a tree on the outskirts of camp he curled up, laying there a few minutes before realizing it was getting dark outside as the sun descended towards the Horizon.
With a Yawn he began to walk towards the Apprentices den, and when he reached there he found it empty. His brother Shrewpaw was probably out training with his own mentor Sparkclaw, and he had the den to himself…for now.
He curled up in his nest and let sleep slowly overtake him…
He awoke to commotion outside the Den, he looked outside as Cats gathered near the camp entrance. He was curious about what was going on and got up and joined them.
As he got closer he began to decipher the words they were saying and his heart quickly sank.
"Imagine the scene…"
"All of them? Dead?"
"I can't imagine it at all!"
When he got to the front of the group he immediately saw Applefern and the warriors who accompanied her on the search, and he noticed they were all shocked.
Brackenstar stepped through the crowd, quickly reaching the 4 cats on the patrol.
"Applefern, report." Brackenstar meowed.
"It…It was a battle, No, a Massacre." Applefern shuddered, "We got there when it was too late, the battle had ended and the Skyclan cats had scattered….No one from the Patrol survived."
Meows of Rage went up from the Thunderclan cats, immediate calls for revenge against the clan who had just violated moons of peace and taken so many warriors from them with no justification.
But to frostpaw it was much more simple.
His Father was dead.
Authors note: I'm not good at Angst but I'll be giving it a shot next Chapter I guess.