The Five Giants - Book 1

Chapter 17 - Maple

Moon has been acting very odd as of late. He hasn't been his normal, social self. He hasn't been reclusive, as that seems to be impossible for him, but his social presence seems restricted.

I don't know if this is something that I should be wary of, in case he's planning something, or he could just be getting older and more narcissistic than he already was. The former is incredibly more likely, as Moon is smart enough to know how much narcissism is too much narcissism.

He hasn't been volunteering for patrols, or gloating about who knows what.

This makes me very concerned. Moon wouldn't change lifestyles that easily. That means that he has to be planning something, likely that will cause someone to die.

Or, he's being quite the genius himself and he's just messing with my head. Who knows?

I continued digging into my mouse, which was starting to get a little cold from me not eating it. I made sure to keep an eye on Moon as he moved around the camp, watching him as he went over to Greytail and asked if there were a patrol he could go with.

Moon nodded in response to whatever Greytail's answer was, and turned to go back towards the fresh-kill pile. As he bent down to grab a piece of prey, he froze. Moon turned to me, his eyes wide, and then he snapped his head to look at the nursery.

I quickly looked in the same direction as Moon, intensifying my glare as I focused in on the nursery and whatever Moon was looking at.

What? I asked.

I heard something behind the nursery.

But what are you so panicked about?

Remember Frostkit?

Oh. Frostkit had mysteriously been killed overnight in Riverclan, or so I'd heard. It was announced at the last gathering, but I was surprised that Moon had remembered. What about it?

Lion told me that he heard a noise the day she was killed.

But there aren't any kits inside the nursery.

Which makes me worried that whoever is doing this isn't going for just kits.

Oh.

"Maplepelt? Are you alright? You're just staring at the nursery."

I shook my head and looked over to see Thrushheart settling down next to me. He drew a paw over his ear and then ruffled his fur, countering the breeze that was flowing through the air. I snuck a look back over at Moonpelt, who nodded and continued on his way.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about something." We sat in silence after that, enjoying the warm sun that was coming with new leaf and the breeze.

Our silence was interrupted by a clanmate. "Would you two care to join me on a hunting patrol?" Tigerpelt asked.

Thrushheart answered for us, because I still wasn't really paying attention. "We'd love to. Where are we headed?"

"I thought we could check towards the lake, and then move up to the Greenleaf Twolegplace. No one has been on that side of the territory in a few days, so prey should be running rather well. We can leave right now if you're ready."

Thrushheart looked over to me and asked, "Maplepelt? Would you be okay with leaving right now?"

Still partially focused on my amazing task of paying attention to the nursery, I distractedly replied, "Sure." My mind still drifting off into thought, I moved towards the tunnel out of camp. Thrushheart stayed at my side, while Tigerpelt moved out ahead of us to lead us towards the Twolegplace.