Pure - A Warriors Murder Mystery

Chapter Three

This takes place at the end of the day, so the gathering is going to happen and all that jazz, but not yet, so this is about an hour before I guess.

Beechfur padded along the lakeshore, searching for precious herbs. Leaf-fall was just around the corner, and he knew Mothwing had to be prepared.

"Where are you, watermint?" he murmured to himself, his eyes flickering along the banks of the river.

He would've preferred anything to the drab task of collecting herbs, but it was what he had been tasked with doing, so he would do it well.

The sun was starting to set, growing close to touching the horizon. It really was beautiful, reflecting into the lake, colors spreading, and a gorgeous view of the sky could be seen over the moor.

Beechfur scanned the lakeshore, eyes flickering over the rocky shore and the few plants taking root and trying to spread there. Then, he spotted it. A few stalks of watermint growing up out of the earth. He hurried towards them, relieved.

Carefully, as to not damage the plants, he nipped their stalks, grasping them in his mouth, and stood up straight again.

"Beechfur... Beechfur..." a voice whispered. Was it just his imagination, or simply the wind whistling through the reeds?

No, there it was again, the voice.

"Hello?"

"Hello... traitor!" the voice hissed.

"Who's there?" Beechfur called.

"You know what you did, don't deny it! And now you'll pay!"

"Who are you? What did I do?" There was a bit of panic creeping into Beechfur's voice now.

"Do I need to rehash it? Must I remind you... of your kits!"

"W-what?"

How does this cat know about... that...

"Does the name Gorsetail ring a bell?"

"W-who told you about that? Sh-she means nothing to me anymore, I s-swear... We ended things..."

"Don't lie to me! You met at the border yesterday!"

"H-how do you..."

"The forest isn't pure... not yet..."

"What are you talking about?"

"But I'll make it pure... one cat at a time..."

"Um, what?"

"Let you be an example for others, a reminder...

"Of what happens when you don't follow the code!"

Beechfur backed away from the land, feeling the lake at his paws. There was no escape. If he turned his back now, whoever it was would show themself and... well, he didn't know what would happen then. Would he die like the others? The ones he heard about earlier today? Panic gnawed at Beechfur. He couldn't die! He had a life to live, after all. He was still young, with a future ahead of him!

A sudden flash appeared in his peripheral vision, a cat flying at him, claws unsheathed. Before he could even react, his throat was slashed. The cat calmly stalked past him, rinsing blood off of the single paw that had been dirtied. A smirk was on the cat's lips. "The clans will be pure again," was the only thing they meowed before padding away.

Beechfur watched as the cat padded along the shore, slowly disappearing, without even the slightest sense of urgency carrying them away.

Beechfur knew who it was, he recognized that face, but what was the name? Fighting through a world of pain, he tried to puzzle it out.

A sudden bout of dizziness knocked Beechfur off his feet. He could feel the lake on his back. How refreshing... he just wanted to let himself drift away to the rythym of the waves...

No, Beechfur, you can't! He reprimanded himself. You have to stay awake long enough for someone to find you! You're the only one who can keep more cats from dying!

Beechfur fought back the thick, inky blackness at the edges of his vision, knowing it was lying out of sight, waiting to come and take him, but he couldn't just let himself die! For Gorsetail... he thought. That horrible cat'll go after Gorsetail next...

Beechfur's eyes widened. There was a patrol! Nobody had to die anymore. They just had to get to him fast enough.

The patrol saw him, and he could hear their anxious mews as they recognized the cat dying on the beach.

"R-Rippletail..." Beechfur choked out, recognizing the approaching cats.

Beechfur and Rippletail had been apprentices together, and he was the closest thing Beechfur had to a friend.

"Beechfur, what happened?" Rippletail asked, eyes widening as he assessed the damage. "You're going to be okay," he murmured. "Mallowpaw, go fetch help."

Mallowpaw ran, as fast as her slightly shorter legs could take her. Beechfur could tell Mallowpaw knew things looked bleak for him, but she trusted her mentor, clinging to the tiny bit of hope Rippletail seemed to portray.

"It's okay," Beechfur murmured. "I know I'm going to die. I-I-" He began hacking and coughing, and a drop of blood trickled from the side of his mouth, slowly edging towards the ground.

"I want you to know that you were a great friend, even when I wasn't always there for you. I spent too much time elsewhere and not enough time realizing that I had something right in front of me." Beechfur began coughing away again, and a big glob of blood spilled out of his mouth, onto the rocky shore.

"I don't have much time left, so I should put an end to this. The murderer... the cat who did this to me... was..."

The darkness was edging Beechfur's vision now, and everything was growing blurry. Was that... his mother, coming towards him?

"It was..."

Beechfur's throat was closing, his breath catching in his mouth, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't force the words out. His body shook with hacking coughs, and more blood dripped out onto the ground.

"It'll be alright," Rippletail murmured.

His voice was soothing, and Beechfur took a moment, listening to the world. The wind and the waves and the birds in the trees, his friend's breathing and his own. Cat's voices, fast approaching, further in RiverClan territory. But they wouldn't make it. Beechfur's time was running out. He was being pulled away, too fast, too soon.

"The kil-" Coughs cut through Beechfur's sentence. It was too painful, and the world was swimming around him in dizzying ways.

He could hear his mother calling to him, a chorus of voices welcoming him, and it was as if the sky was singing a great chorus in welcome.

His last ounce of breath left him with a sigh. He was out of time.

I'm sorry, Rippletail. I love you more than you know. And you as well, Gorsetail. May I live on in our kits. And I'm sorry to anyone who dies because of me. I wasn't quick enough... I wasn't strong enough... I wasn't good enough...

I'm sorry...

I'm so, so sorry...