Murder in the Woods: A Warrior Cat Mafia

Round 4, Part 3

Lionfrost let out a relieved sigh, as he was voted innocent by an extremely small margin. Half of the clan seemed to be angry about this outcome, while the other half were relieved. Only a few cats had voted guilty for Reedsplash, and they cast him wary glances as well.

With nothing else to do, and no way to stop the murderers except for exile, the cats split up and headed out for patrols. Despite the fact that he had just almost been exiled from the clan, Lionfrost led the border patrol out along the RockClan border. He took Cloudpaw, Sootpetal, and Rushstripe with him, and they headed along the rocky shore.

Nightrunner led the hunting patrol, taking with her Shellpaw, Reedsplash, and Beetlestream. The group headed along the bluffs, since Nightrunner didn't want to go back to the spot where Sandnose, her mate, had died just a day before.

Stripefur, meanwhile, was busy taking care of Splashpaw. Though StarClan had given her another life, the process had been messier than a leader's, and she was still feeling some of the ill effects of being poisoned.

Paleflight took Gullpaw, now her apprentice, out to go train. They hadn't figured out who to give Turtlepaw to, since the only other available older warrior was her mother. But they were working on it.

Gullpaw focused himself on the training, trying to not think about the death of his father. But it was hard. Sandnose had been the one who had found him, and had suggested to Nightrunner that they raised him. Sandnose had always been there, and now, he wasn't.

Suddenly, Gullpaw was distracted by a loud crack, and ran into the forest, away from Paleflight. Paleflight, who had just been about to show him a new move, was completely confused. Then there was a loud cry, and she ran into the pine trees.

The white she-cat slid to a stop when she saw the horrifying scene in front of her. Gullpaw stood above Turtlepaw's body, as blood streamed out from a wound on her neck. The small, tortoiseshell apprentice closed her eyes, and her breathing stopped.

"Gullpaw, what did you do?" Paleflight asked quietly, voice full of disappointment and shock. "How many cats have you killed? Is this your third? Or did you kill before this string?"

"I didn't do it!" he replied frantically, looking down at his blood soaked paws and Turtlepaw. Then he looked back up at Paleflight, eyes pleading. "Please, you have to believe me! I just found her like this!" Paleflight took another step towards him, and he made a mad dash for the border. She chased after him, and as she grew close enough, leapt and tackled him. They rolled across the brush, drawing the attention of the border patrol nearby.

"Paleflight, what is this? Tackling your apprentice?" Lionfrost asked, looking down at her with disapproval. Gullpaw struggled to get up, but she held him down.

"I found him standing over Turtlepaw's body, paws covered in blood as she died!" Paleflight answered frantically. Lionfrost turned to look at Gullpaw, a cold fury beginning to grow. He took Paleflight's place, growling lowly.

"You killed my daughter?" he asked quietly. Gullpaw shook his head, but Lionfrost didn't care. He motioned for Rushstripe to come join him, and the two cats forced Gullpaw off the ground. They began the walk back to camp, pinning the apprentice between them so he couldn't escape. Sootpetal padded after them, leaving Paleflight and Cloudpaw to retrieve Turtlepaw's body.

When the two cats arrived back at camp, they were greeted with another horrible sight. Reedsplash and Beetlestream had Nightrunner cornered against one of the camp walls, just like Lionfrost and Shellpaw had currently done with Gullpaw. Sootpetal and Rushstripe were carrying Morningfire's body.

"What happened?" Paleflight asked, looking at the chaos in the camp. Stripefur, who was walking past, stopped in front of her.

"Reedsplash and Beetlestream found Nightrunner standing over Morningfire's body. You already know about Gullpaw. We're voting now. You just have to start it," the tabby tom replied. Paleflight looked around at all of the angry, scared, and upset cats. Then she cleared her throat.

"Okay, everyone. Let's vote".

Murdered: Turtlepaw, Morningfire
Healed: Sootpetal
Accused: Gullpaw, Nightrunner
Revealed: No one
Revived: No one
Murderers Left: 2