Murder in the Woods: A Warrior Cat Mafia

Round 3, Part 5

"Innocent. By two votes," Raio growled. The portion of the tribe who had voted guilty glared menacingly at Preto, who refused to meet their eyes.

"Fine. You want him here, you sleep next to him," Machupo spat at the jaguars who had voted innocent. Then he turned on his paw and padded away, Raio following him.

"I agree. Look, Preto, you may or may not be guilty. But I can't go to sleep knowing that your paw is by my throat," Nindiri told him, slightly apologetic. Preto looked after her with hurt eyes, as she padded away.

"We'll be sleeping in the hunter's den. It's going to be used as the den for the cats who don't trust you, now," Masaya announced coldly.

"Me, Xingo, and Kapok will be in the cub den. You won't be going near them," Tankani hissed to him. She nudged the cubs into the small den, still glaring.

"I'll be in my den, if any of you need me," Manchado mewed calmly, although he pointedly ignored Preto. He padded away as well.

"We support you Preto, really, we do. But I'd feel more comfortable in the elder den with Rugido," Nuvem told him uncomfortably. Preto nodded sadly, as Nuvem and Rugido left as well. He looked sadly at the rest, who returned his look grimly.

"Come on, Preto. You can come sleep in the fighter den with us," Maderas mewed comfortingly. He placed his tail on the older male's shoulder, and led the way to the den. As Preto settled down, surrounded by Javari, Maderas, Macaco, and Chuva, he felt more alone than ever.

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

Maderas awoke in a dark jungle, and immediately knew where he was. No, it couldn't be him. He was too young, and his siblings -

"I'm sorry, Maderas. Really, I am. But you have to understand, you have so much potential. The potential to save the tribe, in fact. You would have become a warchief, maybe even a chieftain. But we can't let that happen," Ramo mewed apologetically, as he strode out of the trees.

"Ramo, please, you taught me. You can't do this, not to me. I have Nindiri, and my family, you can't -" Maderas pleaded, choking down a sob at the end.

"I know, Maderas. You should have confessed your feelings to your best friend when you had the chance. Maybe the Tribe of Endless Hunting will let you visit her in her dreams," Ramo replied. He flicked his tail as a signal, and the shadow cat came out.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?!" Maderas cried, backing up as the shadow cat crept closer. Then his paw hit a root, and he tumbled to the ground.

"Because I can," the shadow cat hissed. With a clean swipe, they cut through Maderas' throat with their claws, and watched him fade into stars.

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

"Nindiri, there's something I have to tell you. You might want to sit down for this," Macaco mewed, pitying the other female. She new how close Nindiri and Maderas were. "I'm sorry, but Maderas was murdered last night".

"What? No, it couldn't be him! They had been targeting the senior warriors, not - not Maderas!" she cried. When Macaco didn't say anything else, Nindiri pushed past her into the den. Loud, heart-wrenching sobs could be heard, until the female finally came out.

"Nindiri, are you okay?" Chuva asked, worried. The normally kind, empathetic female now had a cold, hard look on her face. It seemed that Maderas' death had wiped all of her trust from her.

"No. We need to find this murderer, and destroy them," she hissed, tail lashing furiously. Manchado nodded, although he looked worried at Nindiri's response.

"Yes, we know. The next cat to have been accused is Nuvem," he announced. The leader looked apologetically at the elder, but she didn't argue with his statement. "We will now vote".

Murdered: Maderas
Healed: Preto
Accused: Nuvem
Revealed: No one
Returned: No one
Murderers Left: 1