Murder in the Woods: A Warrior Cat Mafia

Round 4, Part 6

Shellpaw led Lionfrost and Reedsplash down to the cave, where all of the others were waiting. Thankfully, they didn't ask questions. They numbly followed all of her directions, and only showed emotion when they entered the cave.

"Sootpetal?" Lionfrost asked, seeing his mate in the cave. She turned around, and they happily went to meet each other. Reedsplash saw Emberstrike and immediately went over to talk to her. The two cat went to a corner of the cave, and talked quietly so no one could hear.

"Shellpaw, can you stay? Please?" Gullpaw pleaded, as she went to leave. He looked desperate, and lonely. "There are two murderers up there, Shellpaw. They're probably killing the other two remaining cats as we speak". Shellpaw's eyes widened, and she let out a cry.

"Paleflight! She's up there!" the she-cat told him frantically. Shellpaw dashed through the tunnel and up the cliffside. With a curse, Gullpaw followed her.

Shellpaw didn't bother to push aside the bush concealing the exit, and instead leapt over it. She sprinted to camp, and skidded to a stop when she reached the exit and saw something horrifying. Paleflight lay dead on the ground, as Redfoot and Dawnshine held Beetlestream still to seal the final blow.

"You murderers!" she growled, and ran into the camp. She tackled the two elders, and with the element of surprise, was able to get them off of Beetlestream. The injured tom weakly stood up. Shellpaw flicked her tail towards the exit. "Go, Beetlestream! Gullpaw, take him home!" Beetlestream looked hesitant, but Gullpaw grabbed the tom and dragged him out of the camp.

"Shellpaw, come on!" Gullpaw shouted, after directing Beetlestream towards the cliffside. Shellpaw turned towards him, and was about to run off, but was stopped by Redfoot's claws going through her throat. Gullpaw let out a wail of despair, as the red tom dropped Shellpaw's body to the ground. Then the two murderers advanced towards him, and he ran as fast as he could towards the cliffs.

"Gullpaw, where's -" Beetlestream asked, but was cut off by Gullpaw frantically ordering him to follow. The two cats leapt over the bush, and disappeared just as Redfoot and Dawnshine exited the trees.

"Where are those two?" Dawnshine asked, angrily whipping her tail back and forth. Redfoot shrugged, and turned towards the BluffClan border.

"It doesn't matter. Let's go see if BluffClan and RockClan will give us some cats to revive OceanClan," he replied. Gullpaw and Beetlestream looked at each other, then slunk back down the cliff and into the cave.

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

Many moons later, Beetlestream overheard the news that Redfoot and Dawnshine had died. The new OceanClan had believed every word the two elders had said, and treated them like heroes. Well, the old OceanClan was now CaveClan, and they would have something to say at the next Gathering.

Nightrunner was now Nightstar, leader of CaveClan. Lionfrost was her deputy. Lionfrost and Sootpetal had had three more kits, two grey toms, Galepaw and Goosepaw, and a tortoiseshell she-cat, Morningpaw. Reedsplash and Emberstrike had had two kits together, one black tom named Thornkit and one brown tabby she-cat named Stripekit. The group had also rescued one of the new OceanClan cats, who was about the same age as Gullpaw, now Gullflight. Gullflight and Sandfire had become close after Sandfire had fallen from the cliffs, and he had rescued her. She had been told all about Redfoot and Dawnshine's actions, which made her angry at the new OceanClan. She had even renounced her former name, Firepaw, in favor of Sandfire, to honor the first cat that was murdered.

Beetlestream, however, had been the most affected by the deaths of Dawnshine and Redfoot. When they had attacked him, one of them had scratched his left eye. Before, he had already had bad eyesight, but the scratch had made him completely blind in that eye. It had even given him a scar crossing over it. Because of this, he had been forced to become the medicine cat for his own safety. He didn't mind, and he was a pretty good medicine cat, but sometimes he wondered about what could've been. So when he had heard about the deaths of his attackers, he had sobbed with relief.