Graystripe pads heavily back to the Thunderpath. The scents of Tigerclaw and the rogues still linger in the air, but he hears no other noises expect birdsong and the whisper of the leaves in the breeze.
Staring across the Thunderpath he notices Whitethroat's body has been untouched and a prickle of guilt stabs him. If he hadn't chased the black and white warrior he wouldn't have been killed at the paws of a monster.
Knowing he couldn't leave the warrior's body to be battered by monsters, he creeps carefully on the hard black stone, but no monsters are in sight or roaring or causing the stone to vibrate.
Carefully he drags Whitethroat's body, hoping his fellow clanmates would find him and give the warrior a proper burial. Looking up at the darkening sky, he knows Whitethroat is among the stars now, able to rest in peace and be free of sickness, disease and hunger.
Graystripe enters the moonlit Thunderclan camp, Runningwind's body is at the center of the clearing. The warrior looks peaceful, stretched out as if he's asleep. Bluestar is pacing around the warrior's body, her broad gray head swinging from side to side. She's clearly distressed about this loss. And Runningwind was a fine warrior. He should have lived to be an elder.
The rest of the clan is gathered in the shadows at the edge of the clearing. Clearly distressed as well, as the air is thick of it. The cats weave silently amongst each other, each cat glancing at Bluestar for a decision to be made as their leader paces back and forth muttering under her breath. Worry creeps in his pelt for Bluestar as she could spiral downward and not come back as Tigerclaw has once again attacked his clanmates.
Bluestar isn't even controlling her grief with the silent dignity she showed during Redtail and Lionheart's deaths many moons ago. Grief twists his heart, they've lost so many cats because of Tigerclaw.
He feels all his clanmates' eyes are on him as he approaches Bluestar. A stab of alarm pieces through him when their eyes connect, and Bluestar shows unfiltered feat, shock and confusion.
"They say Tigerclaw did this," she rasps.
"It could have been one of his rogues."
"How many were there?"
In the heat of the battle he couldn't tell, or exactly count their numbers, so he settles with admitting, "I don't know. Many."
Bluestar begins to shake her head, but Graystripe knows she needs to be told everything so they can deal adequately with the threat Tigerclaw possesses, whether she wants to know or not. Or if she can handle it or not, he mutters in his head.
"Tigerclaw swore vengeance on Thunderclan," he reports, "He told me he's going to kill our warriors one by one."
Behind him the clan explodes into horrified yowling. Graystripe lets them wail and focuses on Bluestar's reaction. He feels his heart begin to flutter like a trapped bird as he prays to Starclan to give their leader strength to cope with the situation at hand, their warriors need to know that Thunderclan is strong, despite the threat they face at the paws of Tigerclaw because their leader and deputy are strong.
Gradually the clan falls silent, waiting for Bluestar to speak. An owl screeches in the distance as it dives through the trees.
Bluestar lifts up her head, "It's only me he wants to kill," Her voice so quiet he could barely hear her words. "For the sake of the Clan…."
"No!" Graystripe yowls, cutting her off. She can't seriously be thinking of giving herself up to that foxheart? "He wants vengeance on all of us, not just you!"
Her head drops and she growls, ""Such vicious betrayal! How could I not have seen his treachery when he lived among us? What a fool I've been!" She shakes her head, eyes closed, "What a mouse brained fool."
His paws tremble, Bluestar seems to torture herself by taking responsibility for all of Tigerclaw's wickedness. With a sickening jolt, he realizes he's gonna have to lead at this moment.
"We must guard the camp day and night, I wouldn't put it past that foxheart to try and hurt all of us when we seem defenseless. Longtail you will guard the camp until moonhigh. Frostfur you will take over then."
The two cats nod, though Longtail's eyes have a hint of confusion and surprise in them. Though Graystripe is not sure why, he trusts the striped warrior now that they have become friends while mentoring their apprentices together. He bends his head over Runningwind's body. "Mousefur and Brackenfur can bury Runningwind at dawn. Bluestar will sit vigil with him till then."
Glancing at his leader, she is staring blankly at the ground, and he hopes she heard him.
"I'll join her." states Whitestorm and he blinks gratefully at the white warrior as he moves through the crowd of cats and sits beside Bluestar.
One by one the clan pads forward to pay respects to their lost friend. Willowpelt slips from the nursery and touches the dead warrior gently with her muzzle, whispering her sorrowful farewell. Goldenflower follows her and signals her and his kits to stay back. They peer curiously to where Runnigwind's body is behind their mother, and he can't help but smile at their innocence and curiosity. Goldenflower gently licks Runnigwind's cheek and then pads back to the nursery with four kits stumbling after her.
Stepping forward, he leans over Runningwind, sorrowful that he couldn't have prevented his death because of the warning Fireheart had given him. He licks the warriors dull pelt and murmurs softly, "I will avenge your death."
Backing away he sees a figure step forward from the shadow of the Highrock. It's Darkstripe. Graystripe watches his eyes flick from Runningwind to Bluestar and back, burning, not with fear or grief, but with a brooding thoughtfulness.
Unsettled, he pads away to the one place he could find comfort. Pushing through the fens of the Medicine den, his bites and scratches start to sting uncomfortably.
Thornpaw sits in the well-trampled grass clearing. Cinderpelt and Yellowfang crouch beside him while he holds up a paw for them to examine. Cinderpelt peels a wad of cobwebs away from the pad, making Thornpaw grimace. "
It's still bleeding," the apprentice medicine cat reports. "It should have stopped by now," rasps Yellowfang. "We need to dry this wound before infection creeps in." Cinderpelt's eyes narrow. "We have those horsetail stems I gathered yesterday. What if we drip some sap onto the cobwebs before we bind them onto the paw? That might stop the bleeding."
Yellowfang lets out a rumbling purr. "Good thinking." The old medicine cat turns at once and hurry's toward her den while Cinderpelt presses on Thornpaw's wound with her paw. Only then did she notice him standing in the tunnel entrance. "Graystripe!" she mews, her blue eyes showing her concern. "Are you okay?"
"Just a few scratches and a bite or two," he replies, padding forward to join them.
"I heard that it was rogue cats who attacked us," meows Thornpaw, twisting his head to look up at Graystripe. "And that Tigerclaw was with them. Is it true?"
"It's true," he tells the apprentice gravely. Cinderpelt glances at Graystripe, then shakes the ginger apprentice's paw. "Here, press on this." "Me?" mews Thornpaw in surprise.
"It's your paw! Hurry up, or you'll have to change your name to Nopaw!"
Thornpaw lifts his paw higher and clamps his jaws carefully around the wound.
"Bluestar should never have let Tigerclaw leave the Clan," Cinderpelt mews quietly to Graystripe. "She should have killed him while she had the chance."
He shakes his head. "She would never have killed him in cold blood. You know that." Cinderpelt didn't argue. "Why has he come back now? And how could he kill a warrior he once fought beside?"
"He told me he is going to kill as many of us as he can," He meows darkly. Thornpaw lets out a muffled mew, and Cinderpelt's whiskers quivered with shock. "But why?" asks the young medicine cat. Graystripe feels his eyes cloud with anger.
"Because ThunderClan didn't give him what he wanted."
"What did he want?"
"To be leader," He answers simply.
"Well, he'll never get to be a leader this way. He's hardly going to make himself popular with the Clan if he starts attacking our patrols like this." Doubt flickers through Graystripe at Cinderpelt's confident words. Bluestar is so weak right now. Who else has the strength to replace her if she…He winces. He knows the Clan's deep fear of the massive tom and his rogue cats. They might prefer to accept Tigerclaw as their leader rather than allow ThunderClan to be destroyed fighting him.
"Do you really believe that?" he presses. The noise of Yellowfang's pawsteps as she returns from her den startled them, and all three cats turn around.
A wad of cobwebs dangle from the old medicine cat's jaws. She drops them beside Cinderpelt and meows, "Believe what?"
"That Tigerclaw will never become Clan leader," Cinderpelt explains. Yellowfang's eyes darkened and she didn't speak for several long heartbeats. "I think Tigerclaw has the strength of ambition to become whatever he wants to be," she meows at last.