Criminal Claws [UnitedWarriors]

Day 3

Cascadefall parted his jaws and took a deep breath in, letting the forest scents bathe his tongue. His nose twitched. A faint, heavy scent lingered in the air, smelling unmistakably of mouse. The russet brown warrior licked his lips in anticipation. Soon enough the prey would be in his claws.

He detected the little rodent scurrying over a tree root and through the grass, pausing every few heartbeats to root around for seeds. Cascadefall sank into a low crouch, his tail-tip twitching eagerly. He shifted his silently weight from paw to paw. Any moment now, the mouse would be within his reach --

and then something exploded out of the undergrowth, sending Cascadefall leaping backwards with his fur bristling and the mouse running for cover. It was Smallcloud, and the short white tom's blue eyes were filled with panic, and had his ears not been folded, they would have been flattened against his head.

"Cascadefall! The traitors! They tried to-- I just--" Smallcloud stammered, fear making his words incoherent. He shook his head to clear it and began again. "I got jumped on. I only barely got away, but I'm sure they're after me... I didn't see who it was..."

Cascadefall's yellow eyes widened and he felt his heart pound. This was his chance to catch the traitors red-pawed, save the clan, and become a hero. He didn't hesitate.

"Don't worry, Smallcloud, I'll take them on," the strong-willed warrior meowed, and after one quick, reassuring smile at his friend he bounded off in the direction Smallcloud had come. He wasn't even afraid.

Cascadefall hadn't gone far when he became aware of cats around him. He whirled to face the closest one, his teeth bared bravely as he recognized the scent. But he'd only just met the traitor's eyes when a weight slammed into him from behind, forcing him to the ground. Cascadefall spat out his mouthful of dirt and glared up.

The last thing he saw was a clawed paw coming straight down for him before pain exploded in his head and his vision crumpled to black.

~~~

Graystar was standing outside the medicine den, speaking in low tones with Dawnpetal (Snowsong was still heavily dosed on poppy seeds, and sleeping the day away), when a patrol made up of Lightdream, Smokeflash, Blackpaw, and Shademask entered camp. Graystar immediately excused herself to Dawnpetal and ran over to confront them.

"Well? Where were you?" she demanded of the four newcomers. Graystar had become slightly paranoid of late, worrying constantly about where all of her warriors were and if anyone was in danger. These four had left camp without being cleared for a patrol by Morningrose, and had caused Graystar to panick all morning.

"Patrolling the borders," Shademask answered casually, completely oblivious to Graystar's concern.

"There's no sign of either Ratflame or Palefern," Smokefern added. "It looks like they've left our territory for good, Graystar."

Graystar felt a pang of sadness for the two warriors that the clan had lost, but quickly remembered that she had been convinced that both of the exiled toms were traitors. She sighed. "Thank you for checking. But next time, please clear the patrol with Morningrose before leaving camp."

Lightdream just smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry about us, Graystar," he said confidently. "No one would dare attack four cats at once, and we made sure to stay together."

Shademask looked surprised. "Are you still worried about traitors, Graystar? You shouldn't be. Palefern was exiled, right? So the clan should be safe now."

"I seriously doubt that Ratflame and Palefern were the only ones," Smokeflash countered quickly.

"But they'd stop attacking cats, right?" Blackpaw asked. "Because two of them already got banished! If I were a traitor, I wouldn't want that to happen to me, so I would stop."