Warriors: Rising Tide

Chapter 2: Sagelight

I wonder if Foxhop is done with Petalpaw's assessment? I thought as we traveled up along our Skyclan border. Sadly, Pineclaw was leading the patrol so every stop was him thinking Skyclan had crossed the border here. We actually had stopped again because of his ego.

"See! I am telling you they are crossing our border!" Pineclaw hissed. He was sniffing a bush on the border between our clans. Tanglestripe rolled his eyes at Pineclaws attempt at stirring trouble. I held back my giggle at the sight of the frustrated senior warrior.

"Can you please stop? We have a job to do"

"Yeah, yeah, but we should report this to Wishstar!" Pineclaw sounded like a kit asking for attention. He even puffed out his cheeks in frustration making himself look more childish.

Yeah, report your stupidity. I wanted to retort but held my tongue.

"Pineclaw, it's on the border" Tanglestripe grumbled, "Besides, it is faint. Skyclan doesn't have the Warriors to do constant patrols so can we just continue?"

"It-well...it smelled fresh to me... big old grump-look like a badger..." Pineclaw muttered in defeat as we began walking along the path again. It's a small patrol but mostly because Skyclan is our greatest ally, even after the Rushfire incident. Me, the most social cat in Thunderclan, was stuck with quite (but very respectful depending on who you are) Tanglestripe and battle hungry Pineclaw. Neither really liked talking. In Pineclaw's case talking is all about the gossip and the backstabbing.

Ugh... this patrol seems to be never ending... the air of sun high was warm and it was very comfortable today. The light glowing through the canopy was beautiful as it danced on the forest floor. Tanglestripe sniffed some bushes and sighed. Nothing out of normal now, even if the border is faint. Tanglestripe flicked his striped tail as he stared up into the tree branches. He seemed to also be admiring the green-lead beauty.

"It's nice out today" Tanglestripe commented.

"Yeah! It is a great day to have fun!" I smiled. Tanglestripe gave me a weak smile and nodded. Pineclaw rolled his eyes and grumbled inaudible words. Sigh, at least I am trying! Up ahead I heard something moving through some bushes on the Skyclan side of the border. Must be a Skyclan patrol. Oh! Maybe it's my friend Lagoontail! Tanglestripe sniffed the air and quickly gave a sigh of relief.

"It's Skyclan" he announced. Just as he said that a small group of three cats came out. Sorrelfall led a group only consisting of Patchfur and Hawkflight. I smiled at immediately and Sorrelfall smiled back.

"Hi Sorrelfall!"

"Hey guys!" He purred. Both patrols stopped and faced eachother. "How is everything in Thunderclan?"

"A whole lot of kits" Tanglestripe informed. I laughed a little as brown tabby has been on a lot of hunting patrols.

"And enjoying the sun!" I smile big.

"That's great" Patchfur said calmly. "How is Puddlesplash?"

"He is fine!" Pineclaw hissed, he than began glaring at me and Tanglestripe. "We have to finish up"

"Calm yourself Pineclaw" Tanglestripe ordered. Pineclaw lashed his tail in anger and then began continuing ahead, still mumbling.

"Big grump" I said with a laugh. I looked at Hawkflight and tried to bring a smile upon his face. But the tom avoided our gaze. Is he still mad about Rushfire? Rushfire didn't look a whole lot like Hawkflight other than them
being both red tabby's, but even then they were different shades. I puffed my checks out in indignation at his coldness.

"How is Rushfire?" Patchfur asked. "He and Puddlesplash weren't at the last gathering"

"He is great! Him and Puddlesplash have-" As I spoke Hawkflight pinned his ears back and began walking away. Everyone stopped and watched the tabby tom leave. Patchfur's joyful facade fell for a second as she glared at him. Sorrelfall looked sad for a second before turning to us with a weak smile.

"We should get on with our Patrol"

"Same, we should really catch up with Pineclaw before he does anything stupid" Tanglestripe bowed a little. Sorrelfall bowed back the same and followed after Hawkflight with Patchfur dragging her paws. She shot me a sympathetic glance before turning away.

"Say hi to the lovebirds for me! And tell Rushfire don't do anything stupid too!"

"I will!" I called after her. As I followed the older tabby my smile faltered. "Sigh, I didn't think Hawkflight would still be upset" I mumbled.

"His own kit left to be with another cat in a different clan, I would feel the same way too if Skyleaf did that. You would have no clear idea of how your own blood is doing. Though it could be just is hateful bitter self" Tanglestripe gave old wisdom.

If I had kits, I would want them to be happy... I sighed aloud.

"Have you met Minnowkit yet?" Tanglestripe asked awhile after we went up the border. I was a little startled and cocked my head out of confusion.

"Not fully, since Luckywish has a weak immune system Coldheart doesn't want anyone near the kits till he knows if the three of them inherited it"

"I was talking to Darkcloud and it seems Minnowkit and maybe Jaggedkit might have it. Since they already have colds" Tanglestripe tried to disguise his worry.

"Oh?" Poor Luckywish and Darkcloud. Foxhop was telling me about how worried his littermate was about it.

"I am worried about them, it's green-leaf but if the kits are sick then what if Luckywish does too"

"Well, your old apprentice is just as stubborn as his dad, I bet his kits inherited it too and all three will be fine" I smiled in an attempt to comfort.

"Heh, yeah..." Tanglestripe seemed off. Maybe it's all this death talk. I didn't push the older tom and looked around. I realized this was more enjoyable than I thought, which felt wrong. "Wait, shouldn't we have caught up with Pineclaw by now?"

"Yeah, maybe he went back to camp already" Tanglestripe sniffed some plants and began marking again. We walked a bit, unconcerned by the lack of Pineclaw. That was, until something wrong hit our noses.

"Is-is that blood I smell" I stutter a little, taking in more sniffs of the warm day. It is!

"It smells fresh too," Tanglestripe growled. We looked around but could not find the source of the blood. The scent was strong, sending uncomfortable memories of battles with Windclan to flicker in my head.

I hope Pineclaw is okay...no I bet he is! He is an amazing fighter! I went over to a very thick fern and shifted its branches around with my paw to see underneath it. Nothing there to see but light shadows and the stem of the big fern. I let the bushes go and sighed. "Maybe it's some wounded animal?" I sounded to Tanglestripe who was looking up some branches of a close oak.

"Maybe..." he looked around skeptically. "The scent seems stronger over in that tiny clearing" he pointed with his tail to where I am guessing an area beyond the juniper bushes. As I trotted over to the dark green bushes the smell was like a hitting into a wall of bloody fragrants.

"Ack" I crinkled my nose. "Did a Fox die?"

"I hope not, it will lure-" Tanglestripe stopped mid-sentence after he moved the bushes. In the small stoney clearing on a flat rock was the body of a golden and black tom. Not just any tom, but Pineclaw. Blood stained the rock and it dribbled down the side like a small red creek. His belly and face faced away from us, which I was happy about as I didn't want to see his cold blank eyes.

"Oh Starclan..." I felt guilt and pity fill my mind and body. "What are we gonna tell Dawndrop and her kits?" Flutterkit and Sycamorekit will grow up without a dad, and he never got to see Petalpaw and Copperpaws warrior ceremony! Tanglestripe searched around Pineclaws body and immediate hissed and put is ears back. I approached cautiously as I watched the tabby toms dark orange eyes fill will fury and questions.

"This wasn't any wild animal, it was a cat! There is cat fur between his claws!"

"What? Bu-but who would kill Pineclaw?"

"Some cat with red fur..."