Warriors: Loyalty Dwindles (COMPLETE)

Chapter 6

  A Half-moon passed since Adderpaw had joined WindClan. Greenleaf was slowly transitioning into Leaf-fall; the sun losing the fiery heat it had once brought upon everything and everyone. And the prey had dwindled significantly as there became less water on the moor. 

 Adderpaw had agreed to go on a sundown border patrol with Jaytuft, Hollypaw, Badgerfur and Palespeck. His muzzle was lowered to the ground in case he noticed anything different about the scents. 

He turned his head to glance down at the nearly empty creek, a spike of worry struck his chest. It was a long walk to the main river. If the Clan desperately needed water they'd have a difficult time carrying it back to camp even if they found moss.

"Pick up the pace Adderpaw!" Hollypaw called back to him, snapping Adderpaw out of his paranoid thoughts. 

He trotted closer to the group, enjoying the feeling of cold earth beneath his paws.

 Much more pleasant than burning them on hot stones during training! Adderpaw thought back to the day Robinpaw had challenged him to spar on the sun-heated rocks with him. First one to jump off had to clean out the elders den. 

Adderpaw had lost. Silveroak had to soothe his paw pads after it, while Robinpaw simply brushed off the pain. 

And he made it his sole mission to gloat for days after that too. Annoying furball. 

Suddenly, a thick rotting stench filled his nostrils and Adderpaw clenched his jaw tightly to keep himself from gagging. 

"What in Starclan's name is that? It smells worse than Dirtplace!" Hollypaw meowed in complaint and batted her paw against her nose to cover it up. Adderpaw looked at the three warriors ahead of him, expecting them to answer, but there was only complete silence.

 Palespeck exchanged glances with everyone and she stepped towards a thicket of heather bushes near the ShadowClan border. Adderpaw felt a wave of dread wash over his entire body and he followed his deputy.

The golden spotted she-cat gasped in horror when she drew the bushes back with her paw. Adderpaw peeked in and instantly regretted it when his eyes set on the corpse of a WindClan warrior. Ice seemed to flow in his veins as he stood there frozen with shock; and his stomach bile was threatening to jump out of his throat. 

"Thrushspirit?!" Badgerfur yowled, grief shaking her voice. She pushed through Palespeck and carefully dragged the tom's body out from the bushes, setting him down as she buried her face against his matted brown-gray fur. And a wail of sorrow erupted from her when Palespeck joined her side and brushed her tail over Badgerfur's flank. 

I've never seen Badgerfur like this before. She's usually so cold and distant from everyone else. She really did love Thrushspirit, I think they even planned on having kits. 

The stench from Thrushspirit's body was hard to ignore, but he took the time to examine the warrior. His fur bristled at his discovery and he turned to Hollypaw, "There's no wounds. How exactly did he die if he wasn't killed?" 

Adderpaw was too caught up in his own shock previously to see Hollypaw's reaction to the situation. Her whole body was quivering and her claws slid in and out of the grass below her paws. His eyes quickly softened and he whispered to her, "Hollypaw..it's okay-"

"How is any of this okay to you Adderpaw? We just found one of our warriors dead. Near ShadowClan border" Hollypaw shakily growled in response. 

"But that's what I'm trying to tell you, there's no visible wounds on him. So he couldn't have been killed on purpose right?" 

"ShadowClan may be snake-hearted brutes but they're clever" Badgerfur spoke up in a hiss and glared over at ShadowClan territory, "If they killed Thrushspirit I'll make sure they pay dearly for it!" 

"Perhaps you rabbit-eaters could give us a proper explanation before you make the mistake of attacking us?"  a new voice joined in. Adderpaw whipped around and came face to face with a broad shouldered blue-gray tom. 

A ShadowClan warrior! Defend your ground Adderpaw, this is your chance to prove you're useful. 

"Well perhaps you should take a step back into your own territory first" he spat back and pinned his ears back against his head threateningly. The blue-gray tom stared at him for a moment before mrowing in amusement. 

"WindClan is sending their apprentices to scare off ShadowClan warriors? How adorable" regardless of his tone, he stepped back into his territory and moved his gaze to Thrushspirit's body, "Now will someone explain what happened?" 

"One of you ShadowClan pieces of crowfood killed my mate that's what happened!" Badgerfur snarled and started to storm towards the ShadowClan warrior. Palespeck leaped in front of her and carefully pushed her chest back with a paw. 

"Badgerfur, enough of this. We aren't sure if it was ShadowClan. Like Adderpaw said, Thrushspirit doesn't have any open wounds on him. We need proof before we accuse anyone" 

Palespeck always being the voice of reason in WindClan. She'll make a great leader one day.

Two more ShadowClan cats emerged from the shelter of the pine trees to join the other tom. A pale brown and silver she-cat and a dark blue-gray tom with a scarred pelt. The older tom was the first to speak up, his amber eyes were narrowed. 

"Why is WindClan so close to our borders Thistlejaw? What are you waiting for? Run them off!" he yowled angrily. 

"Aspenshade. We're not trying to be hostile here, we were out patrolling our borders and we came across a corpse of one of our fellow warriors. Some silence and respect would be appreciated at this time" Palespeck calmly explained and helped Jaytuft pick up Thrushspirit's body. 

"Let's go back to camp, everyone" 

Adderpaw nodded and took one last look at Thistlejaw, the blue-gray warrior looked far less threatening now. His head was lowered and he looked as if he wanted to run and hide for the rest of the night.

Reminds me of a frightened scolded kit. Aspenshade looks like he could be his father too.

He padded away quickly from the border to check to see if Hollypaw's nerves had toned down from their conversation before Thistlejaw had shown up, but he was only greeted by eerie quietness. The whole moor seemed to know of Thrushspirit's death; he couldn't hear any chirping crickets or birds settling in trees to go to sleep for the night. 

The feeling of dread still hung over Adderpaw like a looming shadow. The sight of Thrushspirit's stiff corpse with round glassy eyes didn't help either. 

Something isn't right about any of this. How did he die? Why did he die so far away from camp when he wasn't injured? StarClan help us figure this out...