Warriors: The Compromise, #1 [DISCONTINUED]

CHAPTER 3

     "So, there is one last rogue?" he grumbled to the small apprentice. The little mottled grey tom nodded quickly. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. Tell Eucalyptus that I thank her for her message. You may continue your duties."

Once the apprentice left, he found himself thinking for a while. He huffed, deep in thought. Once he found a short solution, he decided he'd call his most trustworthy warriors, and his deputy.

"Ebonyheart, Ryeleap, Owlflight, Larchbright, please meet me outside at Running Streams." he roared across the camp, hearing an eery silence after his call.

Once the camp resumed back to their duties, he padded out of the grassy clearing to the stream where he addressed his warriors to meet.

Eventually, the four warriors appeared before him, quietly passing glances and mutters along the way. "Thank you for coming," he huffed, flicking his tail.

"So, is there something you'd like to talk about, Stormstar?" Larchbright asked, her left ear twitching to the sound of nearby scurrying prey.

"Yes... according to the queen who has joined us in our camp, Smallheart, there is one last rogue from the group we had to evict."

Ebonyheart hissed quietly, his eyes narrowing. The three other warriors followed Ebonyheart's actions, but less noticeably.

Owlflight looked at Stormstar, "So you want us to go find the cat?" He looked back at the tom who spoke, huffing. "Well, yes... although, I'd like Ebonyheart to guard the camp."

The jet black tom's jaw dropped, his pupils small. "Stormstar, you are worth more than me. If this rogue survived, he was obviously a leader or co-leader of that group, and he is dangerous! I can't risk you losing a life."

Stormstar growled, his eyes sharp. "Ebonyheart, I have ordered you to defend the camp; the rogue is strong and is living, yes, and it will be easier to get it done with than losing my warriors' lives."

The warriors winced at his bark to the deputy, looking at their paws. "Ryeleap, did you want to say something?" he asked the young warrior, who seemed to be squirming, or was irritated by something.

"O-Oh, yes, I did... so, if we're going to hunt down a bloodthirsty, dangerous rogue leader, shouldn't we have more warriors than this? We're your normal group, and we might need more warriors..."

Stormstar then blinked, realizing that. Although he picked his four best warriors to defeat the rogue, there would obviously be some trouble without a few more. Then again, he had his six last lives to share, so that was plus six cats to the group.

He then shook his head, "I have the rest of my lives to spare. We'll have a big group, if you could imagine the rest of my lives as several StarClan cats. Let's go— we'll have nine warriors by our side."

The dark grey tom's face was smug, then flicking his tail to address his warriors to come with him.

The forest was quiet. The small chirping of a mockingjay quietly piped in the background, although the rest remained silent. As a blow of a soft breeze passed along, each warriors' fur pricked with a shiver. Snow crunched underneath each of their paws, as they trudged quietly through the territory as they reached out to recognize the old musky scent of the deceased rogue band.

"Do you smell anything stronger yet, Owlflight?" Larchbright asked the tom quietly as they padded through the snowy forest. "No, not quite yet... the smell is still weak."

Larchbright nodded, sighing, looking at her ginger paws. Her ginger fur was vibrant against the snow, the other to brown toned toms and the dark grey leader fitting much better than her.

In a sudden, Ryeleap's eyes widened. "I smell them, Stormstar! This way!" he ran into the northeast, quick against the crunchy snow. Each cat followed quickly behind, smelling the scent getting stronger as it wafted slowly to their scent glands.