Warriors: Crow's Carrion

Chapter Seven

"Do you know why you're here?"

     Ospreypaw sat at the river's shore, watching the waves froth at the sand as the current raged downstream. They didn't dream often, but whenever they did, their mind loved to take them to this spot. The treebridge wasn't far away from them here, and across the river they could see patches of land that clearly marked both BlazeClan and NightClan territories. They could even see the ring of trees and shrubbery that hid the Gathering Stones from sight—though they hadn't been to a Gathering before, they often wondered what it was like.

     "Osprey."

     A familiar voice called their name, so faint that they almost mistook it for the wind. Ospreypaw looked around but couldn't see anyone, nor could they detect a hidden presence.

     "Osprey."

     The voice came again, louder this time. Somehow, it echoed across the noisy river, effectively hiding the source. A warm breeze followed the sound, carrying with it the dry scent of BlazeClan cats. Ospreypaw narrowed their eyes and peered at the opposite shoreline. If they looked hard enough, they thought they could see some cat's fur poking from behind a tree.

     "Osprey!" Splashpaw's urgent voice tore Ospreypaw from their dream. Their brother shook them furiously with his paw until they cracked one eye open. "Something's happening, come on!"

     Within an instant Ospreypaw was on their feet. They ignored the disorienting vertigo from getting up so quickly and raced out of the den after their brother. Fear-scent rolled off of Splashpaw in waves, and they felt almost scared to know what had happened while they slept. The air in the camp was thick with negative energy; Ospreypaw couldn't tell if it was anger, more fear-scent, or a mixture of the two. Another scent hid beneath that—a sharp one that made their fur stand on end.

     Almost everybody was already present in the clearing. Darkshadow paced back and forth, lashing his tail and scoring the ground with his claws. Runningblaze stood a few pawsteps away from him with Currentpaw crouched at their side. Lilypetal and Webheart both blocked the view of a few other cats, but they soon moved to reveal who they'd been fussing over.

     Mudbreath had deep wounds on his flank and his chest heaved with each breath. Though blood coated his light brown pelt and dripped onto the sandy floor, he still reassured his kits as they hovered around him. Crabpaw and Daceclaw were with him, their pelts darkened by blood. Ospreypaw started forward as worry for their brother spiked, but with another glance they saw he wasn't seriously hurt and breathed a sigh of relief. Daceclaw, however, sported gashes similar to Mudbreath's wounds. Eelmask was the only other cat with bloodied fur, and fresh claw-marks littered her muzzle.

     "They've been purposefully sending cats to further aggravate the situation," Eelmask said, trying to flatten her fluffy fur. "Ashenpeak and Finchcall were both there, and I'm certain I saw Rainberry and Rookshade too."

     "I just saw Silvermist scolding those younger cats yesterday," Darkshadow growled loudly as he paced. "Ashenpeak, Finchcall, and Rainberry were with her. Convenient that they were in the skirmish today."

     "Finchcall was trying to taunt me about Waspcatcher not being there to protect me," Daceclaw spoke up with a hiss. "I don't understand how it led to this—we got along great when my father and Cricketfern brought her to visit."

     Perched on the Daystones, Eveningshell shuffled her paws uneasily. Her gaze darted between the injured cats before landing expectantly on Ripplestar. The leader's tail bushed up and her ears flattened as she listened to the reports of the warriors.