LakeFeather's Fate

🌲Chapter One🌲

Golden eyes stood out amongst the tall grass of the IvyClan territory. The breeze came by in smooth gusts, just barely ruffling the dark fur of Lakefeather as she stalked her prey: a plump squirrel that sat a few tail lengths away. It seemed to be basking in the heat of the late afternoon. LakeFeather inched closer and opened her mouth to allow the squirrel's warm scent to reach the glands on the roof of her mouth. Her heartbeat quickened with anticipation and once close enough, LakeFeather leapt. Having practiced this countless times before, LakeFeather landed squarely on the lazy squirrel and finished it off quickly with a bite to the neck. Proud of what she had accomplished, LakeFeather left to gather the rest of her hunt with the squirrel hanging from her jaws. The she-cat had been out for quite some time, she had always enjoyed the peaceful serenity that came with hunting alone.

After gathering her kill, LakeFeather silently walked back to the dead tree her hunting patrol agreed to meet at. Upon her arrival, LakeFeather noticed that StormWhisker and BreezeFur were already waiting by the roots of the tree with their prey laying at their paws. Between the two of them, they had killed about three mice, two voles, a crow, and a small shrew. With Lakefeather's two squirrels and voles added, that made eleven new additions to the kill pile back at camp. LakeFeather blinked with pride at her two companions and set her prey down by her paws.

"Greetings," LakeFeather mewed politely, "You two have done very well with this hunt, I'm positive that Brownstar and Cloudshine will be pleased. Should we start heading back?" The cats before her puffed their chests out with pride. It wasn't often that Lakefeather spoke to them, or any cat for that matter, so to hear her compliment their skills meant they truly did well.

Stormwhisker, a grey tom with a crooked tail, nodded his head and picked up his prey. Breezefur, a brown tom with white paws, followed Stormwhisker's lead and did the same.  Lakefeather nodded her head and lifted her prey as well before beginning the walk back to camp. The sun was slowly beginning to set and Lakefeather was eager to get back to the warriors den for a much needed nap.

Cloudshine was waiting for them once they walked through the entrance of camp. There was a glimmer of worry shining within her dark eyes that made the fur on Lakefeathers spine rise. Dipping her head in greeting Lakefeather placed her prey down and twitched her ears.

"Cloudshine? Is everything alright?" Lakefeather meowed, making sure to keep her voice steady despite the growing anxiety she felt.

"I'm afraid not. FlamePelt has been killed by a Heatherclan warrior during a border skirmish. She hunts with Starclan, now. I'm sorry," Cloudshines voice shook with emotion. Flamepelt was an orange pelted senior warrior who had lived many moons with the clan. The she-cat was planning to retire to the elders den after the next gathering. Lakefeather didn't know what to say and stared at Cloudshine with a shocked expression. How could they have taken another life? The whole clan would suffer from this loss; Flamepelt was a well respected warrior who mentored many.

"Flamepelt is dead? How could this happen? It's against the warrior code to take the life of another cat!" Breezefur spoke up beside Lakefeather, startling her back into reality. His brown pelt bristled with unkempt rage and his claws dug into the soil beneath them. Lakefeather gently brushed her tail against his side in an attempt to calm him down. Cloudshine merely shook her head in response to his outburst, she understood where his anger came from.

"How is Brownstar taking it? He must be hurting." Lakefeather glanced towards the leader's den where a dark shadow paced back and forth. Brownstar had grown very close to Flamepelt over the last couple of moons and he thought of her as family. He already lost his parents to green cough last leafbare, Lakefeather was sure that poor Tom was suffering.