Warriors: Shadows Incoming ~Series 2 Book 5~

Chapter 15

Silvershy's POV:

When Silvershy returned to camp, the sharp and bitter smell of blood filled her lungs and her heart rate picked up dramatically in speed.

The silver she cat burst through the entrance tunnel, skidding to a hault when her gaze settled on the dead body of a cat lying in the centre of camp. His fur was relatively unstained, showing Silvershy exactly who it was who had been murdered. "Eagleflight!" She wailed, rushing to her mate's side.

She darted around his body to look at his face and froze, tears starting to fall from her cheeks, as her eyes fell to a gaping whole in the brown tom's chest. Still-wet blood stained this side of him, soaking the ground. Next to him lay his severed heart, dark red blood surrounding the organ.

The camp was empty- no one had yet seen Eagleflight except for her.

"Like my present?" His cold voice whispered in her ear.

Silvershy didn't look at Strike as she replied. "You killed him. You're a cold-hearted murderer."

"Yes to both." Strike chuckled lightly and he stepped closer to Eagleflight, trailing his blood-stained paw over the fallen warrior's flank. "Would you like to hear how I killed him?"

"No." Silvershy swallowed down her sob, trying not to sound weak in front of the Dark Forest tom.

He spoke anyway. "I cornered him against a tree not far from camp and plunged my wing's claw straight into his chest-"

"Stop it!" Silvershy hissed, flattening her ears. "Shut up!"

He smirked. "-Then I tore open his chest and hooked out his-"

"If you say one more word I will kill you!" Silvershy threatened, no longer trying to hold back the tears.

"-heart." Strike finished, grinning at her as he stepped back over Eagleflight's body and advanced on her. She held her ground, glaring right at him as his muzzle stopped barely a whisker-length away. "This is the punishment you deserve for messing with my brother." He breathed, eyes gleaming with joy as Silvershy screwed her eyes shut with a sob. "I'm sure we'll meet again soon enough..." And he was gone again.

Silvershy fell into a crouch, her head lowered as she let out a low wail of grief and anguish. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of blue eyes watching from the bushes with anger- not directed at her but rather at his red and black furred brother who had just left.

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Flamefur's POV:

When Flamefur returned to discover Eagleflight'a body in camp- Silvershy mourning by the tom's side- she stopped dead. The patrol she had joined rushed to Eagleflight and Flamefur stayed by the camp entrance, her gaze scanning the outskirts of camp. She saw no signs of the killer, but she had a fairly good guess that it was a Dark Forest cat.

Stormstar was sitting at his den entrance calmly, his gaze settled firmly on the dead warrior in the centre of the main clearing. Flamefur padded up to him. After their return just after moonhigh the leader, deputy and warrior had chosen not to utter a single word of what had happened. When the clan asked, Stormstar simply replied that he had gone out to have some alone time. The clan knew how Stormstar still wasn't fully right in his mind, so they accepted his lie.

"Who do you think it was?" Stormstar asked when Flamefur reached his side. "Magiclan? Or the Dark Forest?"

"The Dark Forest. I don't believe Magiclan cats would've been able to sneak in and kill Eagleflight in this way." Flamefur replied softly, not looking at the blood-stained scene.

"You know the Dark Forest; any cats you think might have done this?" Stormstar asked, a glint in his eyes asking her whether it was Metalclaw.

"No, it wasn't him. He's not like that." Flamefur let out a faint hiss at how the Lightclan leader assumed Metalclaw would commit such an act.

"Then who was it?" Stormstar growled, tail lashing. "I want answers!"

"Ask Silvershy! She was here first." Flamefur gestured toward the grieving she cat by Eagleflight's body and stalked away from Stormstar. Mouse-brain. She muttered insults under her breath as she headed in the direction of the nursery to check on her kits.

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