"I was helping Ashwater by watching her kits..." Adderpaw growled looking away from her mentor.
"You were to meet with your father, and you need to help Featherwhisker." He snapped. Hawktail glared at the brown warrior. "Get these kits out of my way." He spat. "Then make yourself useful and hunt."
Hawktail licked Adderpaw's ear, "will you be okay?" He asked glancing at Thrushstripe.
She nodded and pressed her muzzle against his before turning around and following Thrushstripe out of camp. She hung her head as they neared a small clearing far from camp. "What are we doing here?" She looked around. "It's pretty far from camp...." Her voice trailed off as the brown cat stalked forward.
"Here nobody can hear you yowl. And you can't escape me." He growled leaping forward snapping at her neck. He grasped her fur in his teeth. "You know to much!" He spat biting her ear and tearing it.
"Why are you doing this!" She yowled flipping over and batting his stomach with her hind paws. She pushed him off and tried to run. Before she could Thrushstripe tackled her spitting and hissing. "Get off!" She screeched. He flattened his ears against his head and bit her scruff tossing her into a thorn bush. She turned her head to see him charging at her. She braced herself for the attack, but it never came. She looked up and saw Stonetail, Hawktail, and Ravenstar cornering him.
"What were you doing!" Ravenstar hissed at the cowering tom. Stonetail, who was flanking him, lashed out a paw and raked his side. He flinched and crouched down, spitting. "What!" He raked his claws across the brown warriors muzzle.
Hawktail slipped away and helped Adderpaw to her paws. She flicked her ear towards Thrushstripe. "He is trying to.. Kill...." She coughed up blood. "Clan." She coughed again. "Kill." She collapsed. "Him..." Her voice was soft as she fell into blackness....
>*<
When Addpaw woke up the sun was setting. She blinked awake and lifted her head. Hawktail was sitting at the end of the tunnel talking to Ravenstar. The leader nodded and padded away. She tilted her head to one side and tried to sit up. Cobwebs fell from her shoulder releasing blood. She collapsed into the nest with a thud. Hawktail turned her head and joy lit up his face. He bounded over and licked her ear to wrapped up in licking away the blood to speak. She flicked her ear and twined her tail with his as Tawnypaw half sighed half grunted as he put more cobwebs on her wound. "What happened?" She asked Hawktail looking up at him.
Hawktail lied, he lowered his head and licked her ear again. "Nothing to worry about. Go back to sleep." He settled next to her and started to clean her pelt. After a few heartbeats he got up and made sure she was sleeping before going a tail length away to talk to Featherwhisker. She pretended to sleep so she could hear what he was saying.
She could only hear some of the conversation. "..... Think he's dead!..... She told us.... Yes I'm sure!..... She needs a new.... Yes I know..... Ravenstar said its.... That's a good..... I told him to..... Deputy is a good...." And then she lifted her head and fake coughed.
The two toms whipped around and acted normal. "Who's dead? What do you know? What do I need? What did Ravenstar say? What's good? What did you tell him? And finally, why are you talking about deputy?" She asked taking a deep breath at the end. "Hmmm?" She tilted her head to one side as Hawktail began to speak.
"Well... Thrushstripe ran off to shadowclan... We were going to tell you he's dead. Ravenstar said Stonetail would be your mentor while he's training Dapplepaw. I told him it was a great idea. And Stonetail is the deputy so that covers that." Hawktail said quickly shutting his eyes tight afterwards.
