Warriors: 9 Lives of TERROR

Black as the night, black as scorched bark. Black as the venom in my heart.

Chapter Seventeen 

It had been five days after the raid on ShadowClan. Bloodkit, Marshkit, and Fiercekit were fitting in nicely. It was night, the air cool and breezy. The moon was shining brightly in the cloudless sky. Froststar was running towards WindClan territory. Every once and awhile he paused to listen, but every time he only heard crickets and the occasional owl. Moonlight danced across his fur as he broke from the cover of the trees, gazing out at the moor. Whatever he did, he could not get caught. It took him longer then he'd like to find a rabbit, but when he spotted it he caught it. His pounce was perfect, biting into the flesh on the rabbit's neck. After all, he did not miss.

However, he didn't bite hard enough to draw blood. Instead he cracked its neck, then dragged it over to a border marker, drenching the rabbit in WindClan scent. He then ripped out a chunk of flesh, gulping down the juicy meat. He then dragged it farther into ThunderClan territory, leaving it under a bush. After, he sprinted back to ThunderClan camp just as cats began to wake up.

******

"I'm going to lead the dawn patrol today," Froststar told Coldrose. He sounded a bit out of breath for some reason.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" she demanded. It seemed as long as she was on his side, he didn't care how he talked to her. So far. She planned to stretch him to his limits. Froststar shrugged his powerful shoulders.

"I don't know. Whatever a deputy does," he snorted, walking away and calling out names. Coldrose glanced down at the ground, and stiffened. There was a speck of blood on the ground. That's when she realized Froststar's breath had smelled strongly of rabbit. "We're going to patrol the WindClan border first," Froststar was saying to his patrol. Then it clicked. Oh no. She pawed the ground frantically. I have to go after them! Taking a deep breath to clear her head, she trotted over to Poppyfeather. The russet-colored she-cat wasn't very bright (which was probably why Froststar chose to bring her to his side by planting ideas in her empty head) and hopefully wouldn't ask any questions.

"Poppyfeather, can you watch the camp real quick? I have to make dirt," she said. Poppyfeather was watching a feather drift through the air. She snapped to attention at Coldrose's voice.

"Absolutely," she said, head bobbing up and down. Coldrose then casually padded over to the dirt place tunnel, but the moment she was out of sight she scrambled through it and sprinted after Froststar's patrol. It didn't take her long to catch up to the patrol. She didn't approach it, though. She instead trailed behind them, hoping no one would pick up her scent. Her anxiety  began to rise as the WindClan border came into sight. That's when she realized Froststar had picked cats who weren't sure about his leadership, with only three of his close followers. What does he have planned?

"Let's mark the border," Froststar said. "Go ahead Honeyflower," he said. The honey colored she-cat padded over to a scent marker.

"I smell WindClan," Fernclaw said. Mossypelt snorted.

"Of course you do! We're on the WindClan border."

"I smell it too.... inside our territory," Pigeonwing growled. Froststar nodded.

"Let's investigate." He knows! Coldrose slipped farther back into the ferns that were hiding her. She heard a gasp from Froststar. "Look what I found!" He pulled a rabbit drenched in WindClan scent out from under a bush. He put that there! She knew it.

"See, I was right," Fernclaw snorted.

"Hasn't WindClan caused enough trouble?" Mossypelt growled.

"Prey-stealers!" Pebbleleap hissed.

"There motive is a mystery, though. I wonder if it has anything to do with what Splashstar did," Froststar murmured.

"WindClan must be angry at us over Sedgetail," Pigeonwing said.

"You're probably correct, Pigeonwing. I wouldn't have thought of that," Froststar said. Pigeonwing seemed to glow with pride. Flea-brain! He's putting words right into your mouth!

"But why? I would have thought they wouldn't want to cause anymore trouble," Honeyflower wondered.

"Maybe they want to send us a message," Cherrynose growled. "Maybe they think they shouldn't be sorry anymore." Froststar's eyes flicked to Cherrynose, shining. Oh no! Cherrynose was one of the cats who didn't like Froststar. He's winning her over, and knows it. That was the whole point of this!

"I guess you're right," Honeyflower said a bit hesitantly. Then her eyes hardened. "If one of their clan members was a murderer, I shouldn't be surprised by this."

Mouse-brains! Coldrose wanted to yowl. This wasn't WindClan! This was Froststar! But she knew she couldn't. She knew she had to stay where she was, forever keeping the mask on her face. She would have to observe for the shadows, the terrible knowledge of who Froststar truly was weighing down upon her with such force she would one day collapse. She hoped that her mask of being a Froststar supporter would never peel away, but every minute she felt it flaking away like a drying leaf, first so slowly you wouldn't notice your leaf was crumbling until it was too late to save it and by the time you got back to camp with it it was nothing but a twig. And that's what would happen to her if she didn't tell someone, didn't confide in someone, or face down Froststar which she knew was not an option.

She needed to be there, be there to listen to Froststar's plans and hopefully be able to save a cat's life. For now, all she could do was wait for fate to decide itself.