Broken Honor

Chapter 3

A sudden jolt of pain and shock flashed in Rushpaw's chest. She stumbled back and let out a screech. Because there were so many warriors searching every bit of the territory, it didn't take long for the scream to alert several warriors.

"Rushpaw!" called Elmleaf. The lean brown warrior dashed into the burrow, followed by Diamondfrost and Smokeblaze. 

Elmleaf slid into the burrow and collapsed at the sight of the body. She got up and stared.

"P-pale...cloud?" Elmleaf's voice came out in a quiet, shaky, mew that Rushpaw had not heard her speak in before. The brown she-cat buried her nose in the dead deputy's fur.

Diamondfrost came forward silently  and slowly turned the body over, inspecting it, probably to see what had killed him. She shrunk back when she saw a deep bloody wound revealed on his left side.

Smokeblaze's eyes widened and he flattened his ears. "Why?" he growled. "Who did this? What did Palecloud do to deserve this?"

Rushpaw exchanged glances with Smokeblaze and Diamondfrost, but said nothing, unable to process this discovery.

After several quiet moments of nothing but Elmleaf's quiet sobbing, Diamondfrost spoke the question that was on all of their minds: "Does this mean...that Ebonystar is...dead...too?"

"NO! Not my mother!" Elmleaf hissed at Diamondfrost. Rushpaw had only ever known her mentor as a calm, chill, cat. This wasn't a side of her that had ever been shown before.

As the shock wore off, they carried the body back to IvyClan camp, all sad, afraid, and confused. Elmleaf was the most grief-stricken of them all. Ebonystar was her mother, and Palecloud was her uncle, who had cared for her like the father she never had. Although Elmleaf had denied it harshly, they were all aware that this tragic news made it clear that the chances of Ebonystar still being alive were slim.

Iceshard padded out of the medicine den. The silver she-cat stepped closer to Palecloud's body. Her body tensed and she froze, staring wide-eyed at the dead deputy. Iceshard shut her eyes and sniffed mournfully. He eyes were watery when she re-opened them. 

"We can't ignore it. Ebonystar has very likely suffered the same fate. But I won't declare her dead until we find a body. Where...where was Palecloud found?" she lifted her head and looked around at the cats of IvyClan.

Smokeblaze raised his voice. "Rushpaw stumbled into an abandoned fox den somewhere near the MossClan border. Palecloud was in the corner. He was obviously killed by a warrior's blow, but I don't think he was killed in the fox den. I think his killer hid his body in the fox den expecting nobody would find it, or perhaps, they wanted to give us as little evidence as possible by not even letting us know where he was actually killed."

Iceshard nodded. "Was there any blood on the ground of the fox den? Blood that would have dripped off of his wounds if he was killed there?"

Eyes drifted over to Rushpaw. She shivered and meowed shakily, "N-no." 

The medicine cat blinked, and then looked back down at the body. She placed a paw over the deputy's fur. "It's a little damp," she announced, and then meowed more quietly, "Yes, the killer couldn't have killed him in the fox den, they must have  just hidden his body there. Because they seem to have carried him to the stream to wash off their own scent from his body. If...if Ebonystar is dead, she's probably hidden in a secluded area too. She may be in another Clan's territory, even."

Silence followed. Rushpaw gazed around the camp. She found Cliffpaw, sitting by himself and looking terrified. Rushpaw slowly stepped over to him and sat beside him in an attempt to comfort the young apprentice. 

Frostedfang broke the silence. "MossClan must have been involved!" he called out, getting to his feet. "The fox den was somewhere near the MossClan border, wasn't it?" Other cats turned to face him, some agreeing.

Iceshard looked upset. "Almost every part of our territory is close to some border," she said, a little louder. "Even if one MossClan warrior was responsible, we can't blame the whole Clan. I don't think we should jump to conclusions. No MossClan cat would really want to kill Ebonystar or Palecloud."

Viperfang walked slowly over to where the shaking medicine cat stood. 

"You never know," she hissed.