Murder in the Woods: A Warrior Cat Mafia

Round 11, Part 2

Hazelpaw looked increasingly more angry as cats began accusing her- starting with Marshgaze, her own mentor. Out of all of her Clanmates, only four thought her not guilty- her mother, her brother, Coonfoot of all cats, and Palmpaw had called for her innocence. Even her own father had voted her guilty!

As the voting came to a close, the young she-cat's anger burst out like an erupting volcano. "You absolute idiots!" Hazelpaw snarled, her angry stare whipping back and forth from the cats who dared vote her guilty. "I'm your medicine cat apprentice. Do you know what that means? It means I heal cats, not hurt them!" The apprentice scoffed in disgust, before turning away in a huff. "I'm out of here. Anyone else who is exiled is welcome to join me, I won't turn anyone away based on mere suspicions." Hazelpaw hissed over her shoulder. As she left, her gaze whipped over to meet Marshgaze's horrified glance. The young cat held it for one moment, before she raced out of camp.

Eveningmist reached a paw out to her daughter as she raced by, but pulled it back reluctantly. Vinepaw and Spottedpaw stared in horror towards Alligatorpelt, who looked shocked out of ever wanting to nap again. Mangrovepaw quailed under Palmpaw's angry glare, who was understandably furious about her crush being exiled. Hibiscusblaze tried to pull her daughter away, but Palmpaw shoved her off with a hiss and raced up the banyan tree.

For the rest of the day, the Clan moved about as if in a daze. A good half of the Clan avoided Hibiscusblaze, as she had only not been exiled by a margin of two and most were still suspicious of her.

As night fell, the cats did not separate by ranks. Instead, they fell into family groups, fathers and mothers huddling around the last remains of their families, while siblings laid by the wayside, on the outskirts of those family units.

The two murderers met for their nightly gathering. Words were exchanged, and nests returned to. More killing was slated for the next day. Though, distrust was still in the air.

The next morning dawned with a slight apprehension in the air. The entire Clan seemed to be on it's toes, waiting for the murderers to strike once more. Though, as the sun passed it's zenith, and no killings had yet happened, the Clan began to relax a little.

Hibiscusblaze, however, was still isolated from the rest. Even her daughter refused to have no contact with her, outside of being dragged to Hibiscusblaze's nest at the end of the last day. As such, Hibiscusblaze sought solace in another cat who had problems with her kits- Wildstrike.

"Wildstrike, can I talk to you for a moment?" Hibiscusblaze asked, padding up to the brown tabby. "It's about Palmpaw, I just don't know what to do."

Wildstrike nodded sympathetically, rising to her paws. "Course, but only if I get to share my worries about Coonfoot. I swear, the nicer I am to him the angrier he gets. I don't understand it." The she-cat mused, with a sigh. "Besides, it might do good for us to talk about them. Help us try and become better parents." Wildstrike pointed out, with a faint smile. Hibiscusblaze nodded in agreement, flicking her tail towards the east. "Let's head off in that direction." The ginger tabby suggested, to which Wildstrike nodded. "Sounds good!"

Seeing the two she-cats would out of camp, the two murderers exchanged glances. They had picked out their targets beforehand, and had been waiting all day for both or either of them to leave, preferably alone. However, they would be able to kill two birds with one stone- or rather, two cats with one ambush.

As Hibiscusblaze and Wildstrike chatted, the two murderers stalked behind them. The pair of them split up in order to flank their targets, moving silently through the bushes. Then, as soon as they were out of earshot from camp, one murderer flicked their tail as a signal, and they both pounced out of the bushes with claws outstretched. Neither emitted a battle cry, the only indicator of their presence was the thud both cats made as they crashed into their separate targets. The two she-cats, stunned by the sudden attack, crashed into each other with a loud crack. The two murderers stepped back a bit, their muscles tensing in tandem, their eyes locked onto the necks of the she-cats.

Hibiscusblaze rose to her paws clumsily, while Wildstrike did the same. Both she-cats had a dull, dazed look in their eyes, as if they were not correctly interpreting what their eyes were seeing. However, before either could attack, the murderers tore out their throats, and fled.

As crimson gushed out of the two single mothers, they cast their eyes to StarClan and prayed their kits would be safe.

Palmpaw trotted around the camp, her movements increasingly becoming more and more frenetic. She hadn't seen Hibiscusblaze since last night, and despite her anger and suspicion towards her mother, the ginger apprentice was becoming more and more jittery. Mangrovepaw, noticing how her best friend was acting all strange, padded over. "Palmpaw, what's wrong?" The white she-cat asked, her mouth curling down into a frown. "Are you okay?"

Palmpaw shook her head. "I haven't seen Hibiscusblaze in a while. I'm starting to get worried." She confessed. Mangrovepaw's gaze turned horrified, and she padded forward to press her pelt against Palmpaw's, as a gesture of comfort. "Maybe she's out hunting alone to get away from everyone?" She asked, though even this excuse sounded hollow. Both young she-cats had immediately jumped to the worst possible solution, and now the only thing they could do was go find the others and tell them.

A search party was sent out, and the two she-cats found. Palmpaw sobbed by her mother's body, whilst Grassfall and Mangrovepaw stood vigil next to her, Grassfall's tail protectively draped across Palmpaw's back. Heronfeather stood opposite them, his normally happy expression now dismal, while his brother stood farther back. Marshgaze, head bowed, sat next to his sister's body, privately mourning. Coonfoot's expression was one of rage at seeing his family fractured in such a way.

Finally, the angry young tom could take it no longer. "Eveningmist and Ibissong did it!" He yowled. The cats all exchanged glances, shrugged- seeing no better option- and started to vote.

Murdered: Hibiscusblaze, Wildstrike
Healed: No one
Accused: Eveningmist, Ibissong
Revealed: Hazelpaw
Revived: No one
Murderers Left: 2