Traitor // A Warriors Mafia Minigame

Round Five, Scene Four

"Emberwhisper, you've received the majority of the votes. You may no longer be a part of our Clan, for you've been deemed a traitor," Meadowstar meowed. Her voice was quaking slightly; it was clear that she hadn't gotten over her Clanmates' harsh comments.

Emberstripe gasped, frozen in shock. "I haven't done anything traitorous... I swear I'm innocent!"

Prickleblaze snarled, her eyes narrowed into angry slits. "So accusing me of murder is innocence?"

Her meow turned quiet as Emberwhisper's. "She probably killed him in the forest right when she found him." She curled her lip, disgusted.

"She may be right..." Frogfoot said slowly. He glanced guiltily at Emberwhisper. "That did happen. It's possible that you were trying to shift blame."

Frostcloud and Meadowstar were looking at Meadowstar, waiting for her next order. Meadowstar didn't seem to notice, her eyes trained on nothing, but after a while she flicked her tail, giving the order to exile Emberwhisper.

Instantly, the warriors fell upon Emberwhisper. He barely fought back, but yowled desperately, "I'm innocent, I promise! I'm not a murderer!" Eventually, after the Clan of cats pushing relentlessly against him, he turned tail and ran off, never to be seen again.

Meadowstar gazed at the point where he'd run away, a sliver of regret in her eyes. "Pray to StarClan he was the murderer. If not him, then who?"

***

It was the middle of the night. Meadowstar, alone in her den, lay awake, listening to her warriors snore. Barely controlled anxiety still ran in her head. Did her warriors really think that she wasn't fit to be leader?

She raised and shook herself. Maybe she needed some time alone to think. She was willing to step down if her warriors wanted another leader. If they hated her leadership anyway, what point was there to stay leader?

Silently, she slipped out of her den and into the dense forest. She looked around to make sure that no cat was following her, then dashed off.

She stopped only when he reached the heart of the forest, where she sat down, staying still. She needed time to think, to make a choice.

A cat's whisper startled her from her thoughts. "Meadowstar, what a surprise! Well, actually, I was expecting you. You're stepping down, aren't you?"

"Who are you? Actually, I do in fact know who you are," Meadowstar retorted, mocking the voice. "And what you may be here to do."

"Oh really? The your vote would mean a great deal to your warriors," the voice snarled. "Why don't you run along and expose me now?"

"Do you really think I have the heart to choose to exile a warrior?"

The cat considered this. "So you choose to die instead." The cat shook their head. "Such a coward. You can't even contribute to your own Clan. I might as well kill you now."

Meadowstar looked up, catching the eye of the warrior whom she was talking to. "Do it."

"You're serious."

"I'm on my last life anyway. Kill me if you want. You're right; I should've told everyone when I could. Let the Clan have a better leader. You would be doing the Clan a favor."

The cat went silent. For a split second, Meadowstar thought they had backed down. But before she could register it, they leapt out of the tree silently, right onto Meadowstar's back. Her legs gave way under the sudden weight, and she fell limp on the ground.

***

"What happened? Who could've done this?" Buzzardmist stared at the broken body of his leader, eyes widened with fear.

"I don't know. She was in the heart of the forest, already dead, when Splashpelt and Kestrelface noticed that she was gone," Prickleblaze said.

Spiderpool sniffed the body cautiously. "No sign of blood. Is it possible that she... killed herself? This couldn't have been the murderer; they probably would've drawn blood."

"It doesn't matter what happened to Meadowstar!" Stoatnose snapped. Every cat turned to look at him, startled. Stoatnose rarely raised his voice. "Meadowstar is dead. We must bury her and grieve for her later. But right now, we must appoint a new leader. Meadowstar would have wanted the best for the Clan." His voice, though ragged with grief, sounded brave and authoritative.

Splashpelt stepped forward. "He's right. I may not have approved of Meadowstar's leadership recently, but we must do what is best for our Clan."

"There's just one problem." Breezewing looked at Stoatnose questioningly. "How do we choose? Who will leave our Clan?"

Frostcloud gazed at her Clanmates. "We'll choose one ourselves. Let's hold kind of a vote, but not for banishing a cat. We'll vote for a cat and whoever has the most support will be our new leader. Is this okay?"

The warriors murmured assent to Frostcloud's plan. She nodded and said, "Then we'd better choose quickly and wisely. The Clan must not stay leaderless for long."

Who will be the Clan's new leader? Note that they will not be available as a target for the killer, since they will have nine lives, and their vote will count as two voted. You also cannot vote for yourself.