"I'll lead the hunting patrol this time," Hollystar meowed as Nightfall was organizing patrols. It had been almost a moon since Tigerstripe joined the clan, and he was fitting in nicely with the other cats-mostly Fireblossom.
Treeheart let out a low hiss of annoyance, "Is something wrong Treeheart?" Nightfall asked.
Treeheart jumped a little, "Oh, nothing."
Nightfall turned to Hollystar, "Those two-" he flicked his tail to Treeheart and Oaktail "-thought it was a good idea hunting near the waterfall."
"That's far away," she meowed, "and we don't usually get too much prey there."
"That's what I said, but Treeheart keeps insisting we should."
"Then I guess I'll take them there-Treeheart, Oaktail! let's go."
They walked in silence most of the way there, Treeheart must have been thinking about something important because he almost walked into a tree twice and he tripped once.
"Are you okay?" Oaktail asked him, "You've been acting weird all day."
"I'm just planning my ambush..." his voice trailed away as if he said something he wasn't supposed to.
"Ambush?" Hollystar meowed.
"Oh, uh... I found a fox den around here somewhere," he meowed quickly.
"I don't smell any foxes."
"It's around here somewhere. Let's look around."
She still wasn't convinced, but Hollystar started searching. Was this a trick? She realized that she had gone too far away from the others so she started walking back. As she did, she heard a screech. She started running and when she got there, she saw Oaktail laying unmoving on the ground with blood all over his fur. Treeheart was standing above him, but Hollystar couldn't read his expression.
"What happened?"she demanded as she ran over to her son.
"I-I don't know. When I heard the screch, I ran back here as fast as I could."
"We need to get him back to camp!"
"It's no use. He's dead."
"He's not dead!" she insisted, "Snowstorm and Dawnpaw will be able to help him."
"Then you take him back! I'm going to hunt!" he stormed off. Hollystar was shocked by the anger in his voice. It almost sounded like... hatred. She shook her head, whatever it was, she didn't have time to think about it. She lifted Oaktail on her back and ran back to camp as fast as she could, she was surprized how fast she got there.
"Snowstorm!" she called.
A few moments later, Snowstorm appeared at the entrance to her den, "What happened?"
"I don't know," she admitted as she brought Oaktail to the medicine cat's den.
She couldn't think straight so she went to her den, she wanted to stay with her son, but she didn't want to look at the wounds. The next thing she knew, Nightfall was laying beside her, licking her ruffled fur.
"Snowstorm says he'll be fine after a few days of rest," he meowed.
She let out a sigh of relief, "Does she know what caused this?"
"Oaktail hasn't woken up yet so she doesn't know exactly what happened, but the scratches and teeth marks are from another cat."
"Can I go and see him?"
He nodded, "I'm sure Snowstorm won't mind."
When she got to the medicine cat's den, she saw Dawnpaw licking her brother's head. She stopped when she saw Hollystar, "He'll be okay."
"Can I see him?"
She nodded and started to walk out and as she passed, she whispered to Hollystar, "I won't let him die."
"I know you won't."
As she went over to Oaktail, his eyes opened slowly. He looked at Hollystar for a few moments, "It was Treeheart."
"What do you mean?" she mewed softly, but those words took all his energy away and he fell asleep again. She sat beside him and started grooming his fur. Did he mean Treeheart was the one who tried to kill him?
