Warriors: Stormspot's Grief

Ch.14

(Cat above is Ashshade)

Dark gray clouds rolled across the sky, low rumblings of thunder signaling the oncoming rain. The wind was soft and caused the leaves and flowers to gently dance against its touch.

Stormspot padded alongside Frostflower with Larkwatcher in the lead and Brackenear bringing up the rear. He glanced at his clanmates and noticed their eyes dart back and forth as if they were expecting to be attacked.

As the patrol slipped through the forest, Larkwatcher's ear suddenly perked up. The rest of the patrol followed his lead, listening for what the tortoiseshell tom had heard. Off in the distance, faint cat yowls amd another stange call could be heard.

"What in StarClan's name is that?" Frostflower inquired.

As if to answer her question, Ashshade burst through a nearby bush, panting heavily. The black tom's fur was unkept, and his right shoulder had a small gash in it.

"Ashshade! What happened?" Brackenear asked.

"Foxes!" Ashshade answered."They attack our patrol. I was sent to get help."

"Lead us to them." Larkwatcher ordered.

Ashshade nodded and lead the patrol back through the bush he had emerged from. As Stormspot raced beside Frostflower, his mind was puzzled about the current situation. There had been not fox sightings in their territory for several moons. Why were there suddenly some now?

After several moments, Ashshade came to a abrupt stop. "Where are they?"

Stormspot looked around. There were no foxes in sight. Just Branchpelt, Lightflame, and Blackstripe.

"We chased them off." Branchpelt meowed.

"Is everyone okay?" Frostflower asked.

"Yes." Lightflame replied. "Those foxes put up quite a fight."

"How many were there?" Larkwatcher asked.

"Two." Blackstripe growled. "They're gone now. Let's head back to camp."

Stormspot's pelt prickled as he watched the dark tabby. He noticed that Blackstripe had been sitting a little less than a fox-length away from the patrol and had been silently mumbling to himself. Who or what ruffled his fur?

Larkwatcher flicked his tail and lead both patrols back to camp. Stormspot brought up the rear when suddenly his paws stumbled over something. He turned to see what had tripped him. It was a half-eaten peirce of prey. He looked around and noticed several other peices of half-eaten prey scatted around the forest.

"Larkwatcher." He called. " Look. There's prey everywhere."

The patrol stopped and looked around, noticing that Stormspot was right. After several moments of searching, they had made a decent pile of half-eaten prey that was starting to rot.

Ashshade bent down and sniffed one of the pieces. "They smell like they were caught days ago." He bent down one more time. "There's another scent of them. Shadowclan."

"Do you think ShadowClan left these pieces around to attract the foxes?" Lightflame asked.

Branchpelt's hackles rose. "Sounds like something Wolfstar would order his warriors to do."

A low growl rumbled in Larkwatcher's throat. "Come on. Let's bury this crowfood then report to Fallowstar." He instructed.

The patrols nodded and began to bury the pieces of prey. Once they had finished, they made thier way back to camp in a sickening silence. When they slipped through the thorn tunnel, most of the patrol had dispersed. Stormspot was about to head inside the warriors' den when Larkwatcher stopped him.

"Come with me." He meowed. "You found those pieces of prey."

Stormspot nodded and followed Larkwatcher to Fallowstar's den, an uneasiness rippling through his pelt. When the reach the opening under the Highledge, Larkwatcher stopped.

"Fallowstar, We're here to report our patrol." He called.

"Come in." Came the reply.

Larkwatcher and Stormspot padded in. Fallowstar was in his nest, facing them. The two warriors sat across from their leader and both wrapped their tails around their paws.

"How was the patrol?" Fallowstar asked.

"Branchpelt's patrol was attack by foxes." Larkwatcher replied.

Fallowstar's eyes narrowed as if he thought the tortoiseshell warrior was lying. Larkwatcher turned to Stormspot, acknowledging him to share his part.

Stormspot nervously cleared his throat. "I found some pieces of half-eaten prey scattered in the forest around the area where they were attack. Ashshade said they smelled like they had been caught days ago and-" he paused, know his leader would not be pleased at the next part. "they had ShadowClan scent on them."

Fallowstar lowerd his head and let our a low growl that made Stormspot shake underneath his pelt. He had never seen his leader this furious. Fallowstar ran his claw over the dirt floor of his den.

"Why can't that cat attack another clan?" Larkwatcher growled.

"A leopard doesn't change its spots." Fallowstar meowed. "Wolfstar has not hatred towards Driftstar or Runningstar. Just me."  He sprawled himself in his nest and wrapped his tail around himself. "You two can go."

Larkwatcher and Stormspot dipped their heads respectfully, then slipped back out of the den. Stormspot padded into the warriors' den and curled up in his nest. He had assumed his theory on Wolfstar and Fallowstar's rivalry to be true. But he still had no idea why the two leaders shared a burning hatred for each other.

He buried his nose in his paws. Whatever the reason was, an innocent warrior life was taken and another was now half blind because of it.

Whatever it is...it needs to stop.

A/N:
The pic looks bad cause it's originally a pic of Brightheart and them I recolored black so that's why it looks splotchy on the outline.
The original is not mine. The original piece of Brightheart was beautiful. I can't draw very well.