ωαяяισя ¢αтѕ // Mintpool's Venom

Chapter 28

"Holly!"

Shock bristled through Mintpool at those words, making the gray tabby's pelt fluff up in surprise. Out of all of the names, she was definitely not expecting to hear that. In response, she choked out, "What?"

Yowls had echoed from the crowd, so loud and everything mixed together that it was undecipherable. Holly's eyes were speckled with shock and fear, pelt bristled as she tried to defend herself, but her voice was drowned out by the cries from the other cats.

"Silence!" Cobrastike yowled; instantly, every cat fell quiet. Mintpool felt as if her head was clouded. She was barely there, unable to acknowledge all that was going on, mind falling into a state of shock. "Ivy, please explain your reasoning behind this accusation."

Ivy lashed her tail. "Well, Holly has green eyes."

At those words, Mintpool snapped herself out of her surprise, pelt bristled in defense for her friend. "So do you! That's not a fair reason."

As the two she-cats locked in a glare, Cobrastrike flicked his tail, telling Ivy to continue.

"Well... I just know it's her!" Ivy finished, leaping off of the boulder she had been standing on, lashing her tail. "It is her! We must drive her out!"

"That's ridiculous!" Mintpool jumped atop the boulder, Holly coming right behind her. "Look, Holly was with Poison last night before Cobrastrike came back and called for a lockdown. She wasn't even outside of the camp!" Whipping around, the gray tabby's gaze searched for Poison within the crowd, locking her gaze with her. "Isn't that right, Poison?"

The black she-cat lifted her muzzle, green gaze sparkling defiantly, glaring directly at Mintpool. With a start, Mintpool realized how similar Poison looked compared to Mamba. The two were almost identical, both with silky black pelts of night and shining green eyes. Then, Poison dropped her head, nodding. "Yes. Holly was with me last night."

"There!" Mintpool's tail lashed triumphantly as she gazed at Ivy. "Holly isn't the attacker!"

"But she is kind of weird, isn't she?" A voice piped up from the crowd, but the gray tabby couldn't see who it was. "She's way too cheerful. Like she's hiding something."

"Yeah!" another voice agreed. "Like what's she so bubbly for?"

"No cat is this cheerful."

"She must be the attacker!"

Holly stiffened; although the two weren't touching, Mintpool could feel her friend freeze up from behind her. "Turns out being nice doesn't actually help you."

More and more voices rose in agreement to the ones accusing Holly. Mintpool was practically shaking with fury. How stupid were these cats? Complete fools. Holly had much more evidence in her not being the attacker than her being the culprit. Were they just accusing because they wanted to accuse a cat? This entire thing is mousebrained.

A smirk spread on Ivy's face as the voices turned into yowls. Yowls demanding Holly to be driven out. Yowls demanding her to be exiled. "My fellow cats, I promise you! Holly is the culprit!"

This was the last bit Mintpool's anger could handle. Everything that was happening was reminding her of her own exile. How her own Clanmates had willingly driven her out without testing more evidence.

The gray tabby jumped off the boulder, lashing her tail. "The only evidence you've got is that her eyes are green, for Spirit's sake! And, you seem too eager to accuse. Are you hiding something?" At this point, she was nose-to-nose with the Council Leader, trembling with fury.

Ivy pulled back, gazing at her calmly. But instead of addressing Mintpool, she turned to the now silent crowd. "My friends, can you believe that I, an innocent cat, in trying to help find and capture the culprit, is now being accused? I've done nothing. I've hid nothing. I'm only trying to help better this group! Now this..." She waved her tail towards Mintpool.

Looking at the cats, Mintpool realized that almost all of them were on Ivy's side. Not because of her acting - although that was certainly a big part of it - but mainly because they liked the brown tabby better than Holly. To them, Holly was nothing. A cat that could be replaced. They wouldn't miss her if they exiled her. And, exiling her would settle their mind, lessen their worry. It'd make them think that they'd caught the "culprit". But Ivy was much more than that. Ivy was one of their leaders - perhaps the cat that some cats wanted to be their leader. They'd be on her side always.

"This is ridiculous!" Mintpool hissed. Red flashed in her gaze. She was moments away from sinking her claws into Ivy's pelt - a battle she'd surely lose, but she didn't care.

Cobrastrike stepped up, waving his tail for silence. "Every cat, this is getting out of paw. Whether or not the attacker is one of us is still in question. What's the point of throwing around accusations, only dividing our group, when we have a huge battle coming up?" He jumped on top of the boulder; Holly leaped down. "I've heard all your arguments tonight, and they were all good-"

"What?" Mintpool's pelt bristled. "Ivy's argument was good? You can't possibly be taking her side for this!"

The tom blinked calmly at her. "I'm not taking Ivy's side. I'm simply stating that every cat can be doubted. And yes, that means Holly too," Cobrastrike meowed when Mintpool tried to interrupt. "For all you know, I could be the "attacker". I could've torn myself up on some thorn bushes and came back just to make chaos."

Mintpool blinked, finding that utterly weird. She wanted to cause chaos, too, but what was the point of causing it to her side? Only a truly terrible cat would do that.

Did she view the group she was part of as the "evil side"? No. They, to her, was only serving justice. They weren't the bad guys. No, the Clans were.

Apparently, her thoughts were shared by many of her fellow cats, for they chuckled amongst themselves at the thought.

"Every cat can be doubted," Cobrastrike continued. "I'm stating that nothing's set yet, and I want every cat to keep an open mind. There's no need to cause more chaos when unneeded." With that, he leaped off the boulder, finishing his speech.

But clearly, his speech had little effect on the cats, who were still glaring at Holly when he finished.

"Come on," Mintpool muttered softly, nudging her friend. "Let's go for a walk."

The golden tabby dipped her head, and the two headed out of the camp. Mintpool's head was clouded, full of thoughts. This, to her, was all just so stupid. Foolish. How could the cats be accusing Holly? And what had even led Ivy to that other than green eyes? It just didn't make sense! The brown she-cat's argument had zero points!

Head full of these thoughts, it was only when the two had gone deep into the forest did Mintpool realize that Mamba had not joined the conversation at all.

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Word Count // 1148

Not Edited

Hi everyone! Told you that a new chapter was coming soon! I do hope this was soon enough, although I'd have liked to get it out quicker! So... thoughts? Did you think that Ivy was going to accuse Holly? What do you think of the reasonings? Why was Ivy accusing Holly? Just the green eyes, or something else? And why do you think Mamba remained quiet? She was acting rather odd in the last chapter, no? Let me know your thoughts!!

The picture at the top is the boulder! A little weird, but I couldn't think of anything else. Anyway! I'm hoping to be more active & posting more!! Have a great day! Bye!