Murder in the Woods: A Warrior Cat Mafia

Round 2, Part 1

"I swear to StarClan, if Blizzardpaw doesn't come out here now, he'll be cleaning out nests for a moon!" Lynxtail grumbled, tail flicking with annoyance. The apprentice's claim that it was 'too cold' didn't excuse him from training. They lived in SnowClan, of course it was cold!

"I feel the same about Crowbelly. Doestep has been waiting forever for him to join the border patrol! She's just too nice to say anything," Darkblaze added, nodding firmly. Frankly, she thought that her brother cared more about stuffing himself than contributing to the clan. Thrushpaw, who normally didn't involve himself in such conversations, found himself wanting to join.

"His entire family is like that. Blizzardpaw keeps going after Sparrowpaw, even though she's told him time and again that she's not interested! Er, no offense, Darkblaze," Thrushpaw exclaimed, meekly lowering his head after his outburst. His mentor chuckled, looking at him with pride.

"None taken. I wholeheartedly agree. Why don't you go tell Blizzardpaw that he'll be cleaning out nests, while we start our training session?" she suggested. Thrushpaw nodded, quickly darting into the apprentices' den. Darkblaze watched him grow, glad that she had received a hardworking apprentice. She felt bad for Lynxtail.

"Hey, Darkblaze, look who's at the prey pile again. It appears that Kestrelstorm is tired of waiting for Crowbelly to join the patrol, too," Lynxtail whispered, nudging his friend and pointing to the two cats.

"This is supposed to be a dawn patrol, Crowbelly! Me, Doestep, Mosspaw, and Sparrowpaw have been waiting for you! But you're just here, grabbing prey that you haven't earned. You know, the rest of the mentors have been training Sparrowpaw together, since you never do! Now that Mosspaw is out of the nursery, I can take on an apprentice. We all think that Sparrowpaw should be transferred to me," Kestrelstorm spat, fuming. Her hackles were raised, and her tail was lashing from side to side. The rest of the clan murmured their agreement, including Sparrowpaw.

"Fine by me. I don't care what you think," the black and white tom retorted, turning back to the prey pile. As he grabbed a mouse, Kestrelstorm spun around and headed over to her new apprentice.

"He's obviously not coming. Four will be enough," she stated, looking towards Doestep. The brown tabby nodded, standing up. Mosspaw excitedly copied her, ready to go on his first patrol.

"Okay, everyone. Let's make this quick. We don't want to get back later than we normally would," she announced. The patrol left the camp, chatting amongst themselves.

"So, how's this going to work? Are you actually my mentor now? Is that okay?" Sparrowpaw asked Kestrelstorm, sounding excited. Crowbelly had only been assigned as her mentor out of necessity, and to give him a chance to prove himself. He had rarely trained her, so most of what she knew had come from Doestep training her up until Mosspaw's apprentice ceremony.

"It seems like it. He didn't challenge it or anything. Besides, it's not as if he actually trained you ever," Kestrelstorm replied, still irritated. She had reached her limit with Crowbelly at this point. The tom never did anything useful!

"Sometimes I think we've given him too many chances. But we've never exiled a cat before," Doestep added, as they stopped to mark the border. She generally tried to see the best in everyone, but she couldn't find any redeeming qualities in the tom.

"Blizzardpaw isn't any better. I continuously tell him to leave me alone, but he just won't lay off!" Sparrowpaw exclaimed, frustrated. She even snuck out back exits sometimes to avoid him. It was getting ridiculous.

"Owlfeather rarely contributes either. She's too concerned with her fur and how she looks," Mosspaw stated, bounding through the snow after the larger cats. He didn't really care about the topic, but he wanted to be included. Meanwhile, back at camp, the hunting patrol was about to leave.

Leafheart looked at the remaining cats, deciding who to take on patrol. Mistpaw, obviously. He was her apprentice, after all. "Alright, me, Mistpaw, Stormwhisker, and Hollysong. Foxwish, Larktuft, and Brightfall, you three can stay and guard the camp. You never know when FrostClan might decide to attack".

"Er, Leafheart? You didn't mention Crowbelly or Owlfeather," Mistpaw pointed out quietly. The she-cat shot a cold look at the pair, who were lounging under a tree. Crowbelly was eating the mouse from earlier, and Owlfeather was grooming herself.

"Yes, I'm well aware. Now come on, let's go," she mewed. The group of four left the camp, with Hollysong and Stormwhisker in the back. The ginger she-cat was happily talking to the grey tom, as he listened intently. Maybe that's why she liked him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One of the murderers crept up behind Owlfeather, near silent. They had disagreed with their partner on who to kill at first, but had eventually agreed on the self-centered she-cat. She would be an easy target, and wasn't that well liked in the clan anyways. They unsheathed their claws, digging them into the snow.

"Hey, Owlfeather. What are you doing?" the murderer asked, seeing that she was sitting there uselessly. The she-cat had never been polite or kind to anyone in the clan, including them. They would giver her one last chance to prove her worth.

"What does it matter to you?" she replied, a snarky tone surrounding the sentence as she turned around. The murderer hissed, then quickly slashed their claws across her throat. Blood soaked her white fur, as the murderer quickly ran away to avoid being caught. Owlfeather let out a screech of terror, as she collapsed to the ground.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The patrols returned at the same time, only to find Crowbelly, Foxwish, Larktuft, Brightfall, and Blizzardpaw standing around Owlfeather's body. The five cats looked up, eyes wide.

"I-I heard a screech, and I found her l-like this. I knew s-something was going to happen," Foxwish stuttered, shaking. Larktuft placed her tail on his shoulder comfortingly, hoping to get him to calm down. The whole clan knew that he had anxiety issues.

"It had to have been from inside the clan. Me, Larktuft, and Foxwish didn't see or hear anyone come in or leave," Brightfall mewed, shuffling her paws nervously. "That means one of us is a murderer".

"Well, it couldn't have been my patrol. No one left at any point," Doestep announced, tail twitching. A murderer, in their clan! She couldn't believe it. At least she knew that Kestrelstorm, Sparrowpaw, and Mosspaw hadn't done it.

"Same with mine. We all hunted together," Leafheart added, motioning to the hares laying at Hollysong and Stormwhisker's feet. "We had to drive them out. Mistpaw even had to go in a burrow".

"Me and Lynxtail trained Thrushpaw together. None of us left, either," Darkblaze mewed, as she turned to look at the five cats standing around Owlfeather's body. Her eyes narrowed, as she looked over them.

"So that means that it was either Brightfall, Larktuft, Foxwish, Crowbelly, or Blizzardpaw?" Lynxtail asked, catching on. "Where were you five, and what were you doing?"

"I was guarding the front entrance, Brightfall was guarding the back entrance, and Foxwish was guarding the dirtplace exit," Larktuft replied, pointing to each of the guards in turn. She looked back at the others, done with her statement.

"I was cleaning out the nests, like I was told to," Blizzardpaw told them, sniffling. He was just a few steps away from blubbering like a kit. "Just look, I was in the middle of the warriors' den when it happened". Hollysong ducked in, then came out a moment later.

"Yep, it's a real mess in there. All of the old moss is gathered into a corner," Hollysong confirmed. She looked at Crowbelly, tilting her head to the side. "What about you, Crowbelly?"

"I was eating," the fat tom replied, motioning to a half eaten mouse lying on the ground. Stormwhisker let out a huff, visibly annoyed.

"I think it was Crowbelly. Think about it. He had plenty of time to finish that mouse, unless he was busy doing something else! Besides, we all know that he and Owlfeather didn't actually love each other!" Kestrelstorm exclaimed, tail lashing angrily. "We should exile him!"

Murdered: Owlfeather
Healed: Hollysong
Accused: Crowbelly
Returned: No one
Revived: No one
Murderers Left: 2

Keep in mind that although at least one murderer was in the camp to kill Owlfeather, the other isn't necessarily part of the suspect pool. They could be any other cat.