[IC] Warriors: Trial of Shadows

[Marlowe]

"If there's one thing to be grateful for, it's that. I don't remember the last time the Clans have been against one another, even if we've had our fair share of shady leadership," Dew-whisker agreed with Dawnwing, sharing her appreciation for the sounds of joy behind them. "Though, we must be wary of what's to come. Medicine cats can and should be close to one another, but warriors..." she dropped her voice to a murmur. "They may one day be each other's opponents on the battlefield."

Tigershine snorted. "You've always been such an optimistic cat, Dew-whisker."

Blackmoon felt his paw go straight through a muddy ditch. The foul semi-liquid reached up to the middle of his leg, but he was able to compose himself and keep walking before anyone could notice what had happened. He really had to pay more attention to where he was going. "DuskClan territory's up ahead. Best to cut the chatter down a little," he told the group of noisy cats. Even though ThornClan didn't share a border with the cave-dwelling Clan, he didn't like the way that they looked at the other Clans during Gatherings. It was like they didn't trust them, or if they were insignificant insects.

"Great. That means I can get back to BirchClan sooner," Braveleap sniggered at Hailshine. "I feel like I'm going to leave my paws behind in all of this mud."

[PrankFox]

Dawnwing nodded in agreement. "With the way things are now this peace may not last as long as we hope, but there is always a chance of these friendships persisting and perhaps preventing conflict." She shook her head fondly at Tigershine's comment. He had a point, but the realistic view was one that was always needed.

The question Hawkpaw had been about to ask Frostpaw died on her tongue with Blackmoon's order. She glanced at the other apprentice, a bit nervous, and she could see the young tom clamming up again at the mention of the DuskClan. He'd actually seemed to be warming up a little bit to her too. Though, he'd said the DuskClan cats freaked him out a bit, but were they really so bad? Everyone else was getting along so well, so why should they be any different? She knew they lived in tunnels underground, which was admittedly a bit strange, but that didn't make them bad right?

The silver she-cat grinned at Braveleap, "We'd have to pick them up on the way back, no time to wait for stragglers." Hailshine picked up a paw and shook it a bit, but none of the mud really came off. "This is a bit much, even for me."

As the voices of the group dropped closer to a whisper Hawkpaw picked up the pace, as much as she could with her smaller stature in the thick mud, to get closer to Blackmoon with Frostpaw following shortly behind her. "If DuskClan is where the Moonbrook is shouldn't they be expecting us?" She asked towards her mentor. There were rules about attacking medicine cats on their journey to commune with StarClan right? They wouldn't try to hurt them.

[Marlowe]

Blackmoon heard a scoff from Braveleap before the chatter died down, just like he asked. DuskClan had always been strange territory to him. Secretive and cunning, they chose to spend their days underground rather than stretched out in the sun or under the stars of the night sky. He wondered if their eyesight was poor, similar to other cave-dwelling creatures. From what Willowcloud told him, they did hunt out in the open and only lounged around in the caverns. It seemed like no matter what DuskClan cats told them, they'd always be a mystery to the other Clans.

He felt Hawkpaw approach and ducked his head to meet her gaze. "Foxstar's a moody cat. It's wise to avoid doing anything that might ruffle her fur. That includes talking too loud, or too much." His words were firm in an attempt to make sure that Hawkpaw knew to take their approach seriously. He didn't really know what to expect every half-moon he came, and he was certain that the other medicine cats didn't, either.

The group remained quiet as they walked and the muddy territory turned to smooth grass and stone under their paws. Pine trees arched over their heads, and the shadows cast by the half-moon were darker in the wood. Blackmoon blinked to adjust his vision, his tail sweeping to the side to make sure that Hawkpaw stayed close. He heard Dew-whisker murmur for Frostpaw to stay close as well. It wasn't like any DuskClan cats were going to leap out at them, but it was dark there, and whatever that was killing innocent cats could very well be lurking in the dark, watching them...

"There's the entrance to the DuskClan camp," Tigershine grumbled. "Looks like Willowcloud and Lavenderpaw are waiting for us at the mouth to the cave, thank StarClan."

[PrankFox]

Hawkpaw could tell that Blackmoon and a couple of the other warriors seemed to become a little more tense and nervous as they stepped mercifully out of mud and onto stone and grass. She let out a tiny sigh of relief at the familiar feeling under her paws. It would take ages to get the dirt out of her sand colored fur. She felt even worse for Frostpaw; his pelt was fluffy and white.

She met her mentor's serious blue gaze and nodded firmly. "Okay. I'll be quiet and no more questions until we're on our way out." She wanted to show him that she could follow his instructions and curb her curious nature. The last thing she wanted to do was be a nuisance to the leader of another clan. That would be a terrible way to start, or end, her first half-moon gathering.

Blackmoon's tail almost startled her as her vision adjusted but she moved in closer to him, enough that she could feel his fur brush against hers every so often, but not enough to get under his paws. Frostpaw was already standing close to Dew-whisker; looking like he was almost trying to disappear into the she-cat's shadow as he walked with his fur fluffed with nerves. Without the dim light of the moon it made it difficult to see and the small shafts of light that crept through cast odd, spiky shadows on the ground around them. It felt almost sinister in the quiet and she didn't like it.

At Tigershine's soft words she squinted towards what, at first glance, appeared to be an area of the forests shrouded in even deeper shadow that Hawkpaw quickly realized was the mouth of a tunnel. Two cats waited for them: a brown and white tabby, who she assumed was Willowcloud based on size, and a smaller gray and white she-cat, that must be Lavenderpaw.

"Glad to see everyone made it here safely." Willowcloud greeted them as they approached. Her green eyes were steady and calm as they swept over the group, pausing for a moment on Hawkpaw before continuing on. "It's almost time. Come." She flicked her tail at them before turning and vanishing into the darkness of the tunnel behind her.

[Marlowe]

Blackmoon did not greet the two DuskClan medicine cats with words. Instead, they only received a dip of his narrow head in greeting. He heard a few vocals from the cats behind him, but nothing overly boisterous or cheery. Either they were more quiet over respect for coming close to sacred grounds, or they knew that they had to respect the fact that they were treading into the heart of DuskClan. Even Lavenderpaw gave Frostpaw and Hawkpaw a narrow-eyed glare, though she said nothing before she trotted after her mentor. Silently, the other Clan cats followed them deeper into the caverns.

A dense smell of cat reached Blackmoon's nose, though there was no sight of any cats prowling through the sandy tunnels or lounging upon the rocks. DuskClan's cats were most likely tucked into the crevices within the walls, sleeping and walking in their dreams. It was only then did he start to feel weary; no matter how many times he had completed this journey, it tired him all the same. He made sure that Hawkpaw and the rest were still near him as they turned many corners and crannies. Before long, the two DuskClan cats led them down a narrow tunnel that sloped downwards.

It was pitch black. He was sure that Willowcloud and Lavenderpaw couldn't even see, though from what he could tell the path was a straight decline with no entrances to other tunnels. The path was narrow, only about the width of two cats of average build. Luckily for them, the corridor widened up again before long, and Blackmoon could feel the night wind lick along his whiskers. Moonlight bloomed forth from a stony room in front of them.

Moonlight filtered in from wide holes in the ceiling, making the smooth stone around them turn like silver. A bright brook cut through the cave, which usually ran crystal clear... if it wasn't for the cat that was splayed right in the middle of it. Blackmoon's eyes widened at the sight of the unmoving figure, taking a step forward as he felt fear bubble up in his chest.

"Russetfern!" Braveleap yowled in horror. The pale tom ran right past them and straight towards the body, Tigershine glued to his heels.

For a moment, Blackmoon found himself rooted to the sandy floors. From his spot at the mouth of the cavern, he could see that the Moonbrook had become tinged red with blood that stemmed from the broken body of the reddish-colored tom. Sucking in a breath, he shook himself from his daze, and pelted after the rest of the frightened and bewildered cats.

"What's happened?!" Blackmoon cried.

Braveleap sobbed as he nudged the tom's fur, but said nothing. Tigershine turned to face him, his eyes solemn. "It's Russetfern... one of our newest warriors. Braveleap was his mentor..." he murmured. "He's been missing since this morning, but we never expected to find him here..."

Dew-whisker was already observing the body. "One bite to the back of the neck was all it took." She pointed a paw at the nasty gash that marred the corpse. "And just look at his body... his attacker probably killed him and threw him in here."

"Nooo," Braveleap moaned out, collapsing into the brook next to Russetfern. "He's not dead, he's going to be alright-- just ask Dawnwing--!"

[PrankFox]

What's her problem? Hawkpaw wondered as she saw the narrowed eyes of Lavenderpaw in her direction. She didn't have to be friendly, but she could at least not make it so obvious that she didn't like them. She saw Frostpaw press himself closer to Dew-whisker; seemingly hoping that he could vanish into the speckled gray fur of his mentor. She felt bad for the nervous young tom. Clearly he didn't do great around other cats and hostility wasn't going to make that any better.

She followed after Blackmoon and the rest of their party as they disappeared into the tunnels. She already started to feel nervous as they lost sight of the little bit of sky that they could see through the pines and those nerves only increased at the unfamiliar smells that swirled around the tunnels. How the DuskClan cats could live like this she could never guess, and it didn't seem like they were interested in chatting about it either. She stuck close to Blackmoon as her paws slipped a bit on the sandy floor of the decline they were following. The medicine cats made this journey every moon? It must get tiring after a while knowing that the place to speak with StarClan was in a deep, dark hole. Not that she'd let that stop her from fulfilling her duties to the best of her ability. She didn't want to let Blackmoon or her clanmates down.

As they entered a room where they could once again see the sky she felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop a bit as she looked up into the bright light of the half-moon and the stones around it that looked like they were made of the stars themselves. It was beautiful.

She was so distracted looking up that she didn't even notice anything was wrong until she heard Braveleap cry out. Her head snapped towards the Moonbrook and she recoiled in horror at the still, matted body that floated in the water. She wanted to follow Blackmoon, and the others, to see what had happened but she couldn't get her paws to move from where they'd rooted themselves to the floor of the cavern. She looked to her left and saw that Frostpaw had pressed himself down onto the stone, ears flat against his head and fur fluffed up as if he could ward off the panic that suddenly filled the room.

Addertongue and Hailshine rushed past after Braveleap. The bravado that the sandy colored tom had possessed when they first met drained away as he stared in shock between the body of Russetfern and his grieving clanmate. Hailshine stepped next to Braveleap pressing her side against his offering what little comfort she could as Dawnwing stepped gingerly into the stream.

The small calico pressed her nose gently into Russetfern's sodden fur and felt no warmth or breath. As Dew-whisker had said, all it took was the one bite and he was gone. She let out a mournful sigh before looking towards Braveleap, "I'm sorry Braveleap, there's nothing I can do for him, it's been too long." She looked up towards the sky, hoping that StarClan was still watching, "He was a courageous and kind warrior and BirchClan will mourn terribly for his loss.

Hawkpaw could see Willowcloud standing nearby looking just as confused and stricken by this as the rest of them, but before the medicine cat could say anything Shadeclaw whirled towards her from where he'd been standing near the back of the room. "What's the meaning of this?!" His teeth were bared and green eyes flared with anger as his tail lashed wildly behind him, "Is this some kind of sick way of admitting DuskClan has been responsible for these murders this whole time?! Of declaring war between clans?!"

[Marlowe]

Dawnwing's words only forced out more sobs from deep in Braveleap's chest. Even though the tom was from another Clan, Blackmoon deeply felt for him. It hurt him when his own mentor passed away, but how would he feel if someone hurt Hawkpaw or one of the other apprentices in his Clan? He shuffled his paws awkwardly, not sure whether to assist in calming the warrior down, make sure that Hawkpaw was alright, or continue to look over the body. He turned to Shadeclaw, eyes widening at his words. There was no way that DuskClan could do such a thing, right?

Lavenderpaw suddenly hissed at the ThornClan. "Shut your mouth!" the small medicine cat yowled. "We haven't done anything!"

Lightningnose growled. "Who else would have dumped the body here?!" the normally quiet MistClan warrior growled back.

"You must be hare-brained if you think we'd kill a warrior and throw his body into the Moonbrook! Unlike you other Clans, we have tact!"

"What is going on here?!" A new voice sounded from the entrance to the cavern.

Blackmoon turned around to see that Foxstar had approached them, flanked by three or four warriors. Her ginger fur was somewhat ragged and her eyes were bright and irritated. It seemed like their yowling had woken up half the Clan.

Stonefoot pressed up against her brother, her fur standing up on end. "You DuskClan foxhearts killed an innocent BirchClan warrior!"

[PrankFox]

The emotions filling the cavern were near stifling as accusations were thrown between clans. Hawkpaw looked nervously at each of the cats; many of them looked like they were ready to jump at each other's throats at any second. They couldn't do that right? Not here by the Moonbrook. Then again, someone already had, her eyes briefly trained back on the body of Russetfern floating limply in the reddish water.

Dawnwing moved to touch her nose against one of Braveleap's ears. "Let's get him out of the water. We will carry him home so the clan can sit vigil," she meowed softly before giving a nod to Addertongue who gently gripped the back of Russetfern's neck, grimacing at the blood matted in the fur, and pulled him from the Moonbrook onto the silvered stones.

Hawkpaw didn't feel comfortable enough to move closer to the grieving clanmates, but her heart ached for the kind tom. Instead she stepped towards Frostpaw and brushed her pelt with his hoping to offer some support. She could feel the smaller cat trembling faintly as he stared wide eyed at the arguing cats. If it came to a fight she doubted any of the medicine cats had much training, she herself had none. She looked up through the break in the ceiling hoping for some sign from StarClan that this should cease, but there was nothing.

"Peace Lavenderpaw." Willowcloud's striped tail flicked the apprentice in the side. "There is no need for insults." Though her voice was fairly steady there was still a note of fear in her eyes as they looked between the rear of the cavern and the sloping tunnel that lead out of the cave.

Shadeclaw opened his mouth to retort when Foxstar's voice echoed into the cavern. He nodded in agreement with his sister as she pressed up next to him. "What do you have to say about this?" His voice was no longer raised but eyes were still narrowed with barely contained rage as he gestured with his tail towards the back of the cavern.

[Marlowe]

The fur along his back began to rise, and he forced himself to flatten it before it was too noticeable. Foxstar's amber eyes glowed angrily from the mouth of the cave at Shadeclaw's and Stonefoot's words, her dark tail lashing once. "We have no part in this murder. While it's sad that this poor warrior was slaughtered so viciously, DuskClan cats don't go around killing others without reason to," her voice was cool and level-headed despite the fire in her eyes. "ThornClan seems to be fairly quick in laying the blame on someone else other than them. Not surprising."

"Hush," Blackmoon hissed towards the siblings, very much irritated. Instead of trying to solve the problem, they were only making things worse. They had to choose their words carefully here. "Foxstar, I'm sorry for those two. BirchClan is our neighboring Clan, and they've seen Russetfern grow up. They only act out due to the pain that they feel."

"There's no other explanation," Braveleap croaked out. His shuddering form stood tall near the stained Moonbrook, his tail sticking out straight above him as he bared his teeth at the DuskClan leader. "Russetfern's body is on your territory! How dare you for not taking the blame for it!"

It seemed like no matter how much anyone tried to comfort the tom, his rage continued to flare. Blackmoon glanced back at the DuskClan cats, who looked furious at the accusations. "How dare me? How dare me?" Foxstar's voice held a tinge of venom. "You come onto my territory to blame us for the death of your warrior! You have some nerve!"

[PrankFox]

It was more difficult to keep quiet than Hawkpaw expected it to be, especially when Foxstar leveled an insult at ThornClan. What right did she have to make judgements when the body was in DuskClan territory and not theirs. She kept her mouth shut however when Blackmoon snapped at Shadeclaw and Stonefoot, the former who had been just about to growl a response to Foxstar's words.

She saw no trace of the kind and friendly tom that had spoken to her on their journey here. Braveleap looked like he was ready to leap at DuskClan's leader at a moments notice. She hoped he didn't, that would only lead to more bloodshed and that was the last thing that anyone needed or wanted. She couldn't imagine the pain he must be in. She thought about losing Blackmoon or one of the other apprentices that had practically become siblings to her. It was a terrible feeling and it wasn't even something that had happened.

Dawnwing stepped up next to Blackmoon, giving Braveleap a sharp, but not unkind look. She dipped her head respectfully towards Foxstar. "If I may, I believe the true intention of this conversation is being clouded by anger and grief. Braveleap was Russetfern's mentor, he'd only just recently become a warrior before he went missing early this morning." Hopefully Foxstar could understand where the tom was coming from. "Is it possible one of your clan may have seen something? I do not wish to accuse anyone, simply find out what could have happened to him since it is unlikely his body could've been brought here completely unseen."

Hopefully what Dawnwing said would be enough to stop a fight from breaking out, but Hawkpaw still stuck close to Frostpaw. If something did happen she just hoped she could get the white tom to safety since he was practically frozen to the floor. Who else could they blame really? The body was deep in DuskClan territory and they had no other way of determining who might be responsible unless someone had seen it and said nothing.

[Marlowe]

A very long, thick silenced passed between the two groups of cats. Blackmoon watched with apprehension as the DuskClan cats' muscles bunched together as if they were prepared to attack. His eyes flicked over to his apprentice, seeing that she was near the puffy white form of Frostpaw. Dew-whisker hovered above them, her ears flattened against her head as she glared at the cluster of cats near the entrance. Were this the moments before a fight? Should he prepare to fight as well?

"Whiteshadow, Darkwhisker," Foxstar's mew shattered the tense silence. "Escort these cats to the camp's entrance. There will be no meeting with StarClan tonight, if that wasn't obvious enough."

Blackmoon shuffled close to Dew-whisker and the two other apprentices as the two DuskClan cats stepped forward. A slender white tom glanced over at Willowcloud and Lavenderpaw with a strange, stressed look before he turned to the rest of them. "Let's get going, then." he told them in a firm but quiet meow.

[PrankFox]

Hawkpaw didn't think her muscles had ever been this tense in her entire life, not even during her apprentice ceremony when Blackmoon got named as her mentor. Excited nerves maybe but never this much fear. She glanced up at the form of Dew-Whisker who stood above her and Frostpaw ready to defend them if it came down to it. She didn't want them to and they were wildly outnumbered by the DuskClan cats since they were so nearby their camp. She didn't want anyone to get hurt on her account.

At Foxstar's words she felt her entire body relax. Despite them not getting to meet with StarClan, not that she really wanted to after all that had happened, she was more than happy to co back home and bury herself in the moss of her nest and try to get the image of Russetfern's still body out of her mind. She saw the white tom look over at his medicine cat and saw the faintest frown and cross Willowcloud's face before she turned away and herded her own apprentice out of room and up the tunnel. As this happened Addertongue gently lifted Russetfern's body and helped to position it between himself and Braveleap so that they could carry him home.

She helped Frostpaw get his feet under him as they all began to follow after who she assumed was Whiteshadow. She stuck close to Blackmoon's side and once they'd all entered the sloping tunnel she saw a long legged black tom step in behind them so that they were pinned in between the two DuskClan warriors.

"Why did StarClan let this happen?" She heard the soft mutter from Frostpaw, said to no one in particular, and she didn't have an answer for him.

[Marlowe]

He released a long-held breath as soon as the cats started to move for the entrance. There would be no fighting today. Thank StarClan, Blackmoon turned his gaze up towards the half-moon that shone through the holes in the ceiling. It remained unobscured, even as Frostpaw murmured those dark words to Dew-whisker.

"I don't know," he heard the MistClan cat whisper to her apprentice. "I don't know..."

Blackmoon absentmindedly gathered Hawkpaw close to him as they made their way through DuskClan's caverns. Now, he could see cats poking their noses and heads out of the crevices in the walls, their eyes gleaming at them from the darkness of their coves. There were a variety of emotions he could see on their faces. Worry, fear, distrust, contempt, hate... they really didn't know what happened. All that they knew was that there were these cats with a body trudging through their territory. Would Foxstar tell them the truth of what happened..?

The previously jovial group of cats were dead silent as they marched back into MistClan camp. Dew-whisker shared a few brief words of comfort with Dawnwing and Tigershine before she and her apprentice disappeared into the reeds that marred their territory. When they made it back into BirchClan territory, Dawnwing and Tigershine, along with Addertongue and Braveleap, shared little to no words as well. Yet, they shared a similar worried and angered glint in their eye, along with unasked questions: what would happen next? Was DuskClan actually at fault? Were they lying?

Blackmoon didn't want talking among their small group, even as they re-entered their camp. As the early morning light touched the top of distant mountain peaks, Stonefoot and Shadeclaw split off from the main group and returned to the warrior's den to rest. He desperately wanted to speak with Emberstar and tell him what happened before he found out on his own terms, but... his muscles and bones ached a terrible amount, and he felt weighed down with grief. His stomach knotted as he glanced up at the fading stars. How he desperately wanted there to be an answer written among the lightening sky... but there was none, and the stars glinted back down at him, as if they teased him for wanting something so trivial.

"Let's get to our nests. Nothing's going to be solved if we're both exhausted," Blackmoon told his apprentice without looking at her. He limped past her and up the little slope leading to their den, lurched towards his side of the cavern, and collapsed into his nest in a tired heap. Sleep took him within moments.

[PrankFox]

A loud yowl woke Wolfheart from a very comfortable slumber. He blinked amber eyes open to see that many of the other warriors in the den were also stirring with mumbles of confusion. It was still dark out with only the faintest bit of the morning sun beginning it's slow crawl across the sky. He stood and shook the bits of moss clinging to his dark tabby pelt before stepping towards the entrance of the warriors den and nearly slammed directly into Swiftflight. The silver tabby had a wide look of distress and panic in her eyes. "What's going on?" his voice was gruff, but not unkind.

"Dawnwing and her group are back from Moonbrook," Swiftflight said in a rush. "They found Russetfern. He's been murdered." The she-cat's voice broke at the end of her sentence.

The other warriors in the den who were still waking up began to cry out in shock and horror; pushing themselves onto their feet. Wolfheart forced his own paws to move, brushing past Swiftflight and into camp. "Wake Jaystar, immediately." Swiftflight darted off towards their leaders den with a speed that fit her name well.

At the center of camp he could see their medicine cats as well as Braveleap and Addertongue, the two that Jaystar had sent with them as protection. Resting on the ground in the center of them was the limp and matted body of one of their youngest warriors. Braveleap's apprentice as well, he could only imagine how grief stricken the tom must be and he felt a mixture of rage and sorrow beginning to well up as he padded towards them. "What happened? Where did you find him?" he directed his questions mostly towards the medicine cats.

Dawnwing responded quietly, "We don't know what happened. When we all got to the Moonbrook his body was floating in it." She shook her head, still trying to grasp the situation, "DuskClan said they knew nothing about it."

He sat down and shook his head. No way that was true.

[Marlowe]

Ashenpaw woke up with a start.

The morning should have been quiet. She hadn't been planning on going on dawn patrol, and so she had expected a deep and comfortable sleep until her mentor decided to wake her up. What she didn't expect was to wake up to yowls coming from the camp clearing. Her eyes still blurry with sleep, she leapt to her paws and glanced around at the rather empty apprentice den. Her sister, Stoatpaw, was still curled in her nest. "Wh-what's going on?!" she mewed out in a panic. Despite the fact that Ashenpaw and her siblings were going to be warriors soon, she desperately hoped that another Clan hadn't come and attacked them. She didn't really like fighting, and besides, weren't they supposed to be at peace?

Stoatpaw simply shrugged and closed her eyes once again. "How should I know? Let the warriors handle it."

Ashenpaw couldn't help but glare at her as Stoatpaw readjusted herself in her nest and let out a loud yawn. Fine. If her sister wasn't going to go out there and figure out what was happening, then she would! The gray she-cat darted out of the apprentice's den, shaking out the leaves from her fur, before her sights rested on the gathering of cats in the middle of camp. Slowly and carefully, she padded over, attempting to look between the cluster of cats as she approached.

"Foxstar swore that DuskClan hasn't done anything. Who are we to say that they're the ones that killed Russetfern?" She heard Tigershine's mew over the sobs and growls of the other cats.

Ashenpaw felt her paws freeze to the ground. Russetfern was dead?

Braveleap's voice came next. "And what other explanation is there?" the tom roared above the voices. "All the Clans in the valley know how DuskClan is like. They can't be held to their word. They killed Russetfern, and lied to us in our faces about it!"

"But--"

"Braveleap is right." Jaystar, their leader, prowled towards their group. Ashenpaw caught sight of a dangerous fire in his eyes, one that made her fur stand on end. "DuskClan is responsible for poor Russetfern's death. And for the death of all of those we have lost in these past moons. Isn't it obvious?" he turned to look at everyone in the circle with a deep snarl. "They are the ones that have been killing these poor cats."

[PrankFox]

It just didn't seem possible. The clans had been at peace for almost as long as Wolfheart had been deputy. Why would DuskClan so suddenly decide to begin murdering their clanmates when they had done nothing? His tail lashed angrily at Tigershine's words. All they had to go on was apparently the word of Foxstar and as far as he knew she'd never particularly liked any of the clans aside from her own. If any of the leaders would be the ones to start a war it would be her. Even Emberstar, arrogant as he was, would never put his clan in danger for any but the best reasons.

Yowls of agreement started from the crowd as Jaystar's words and Wolfheart turned to face him. "We can't let them just get away with this. They kill one of our own, leave his body to be found in the Moonbrook, and then have the audacity to say that they had nothing to do with it." Amber eyes narrowed, "They need to pay for what they've done." The other clans would have to be in agreement as well. Based on what Dawnwing said all of the cats who went saw the aftermath. There was no way that the ThornClan and MistClan medicine cats wouldn't warn their leaders about what DuskClan was doing. With all three clans together they could force Foxstar to admit her guilt.

"Why's there so much yelling?" a slender, blurry eyed tortoiseshell stepped up behind Ashenpaw, confusion obvious on her face. Squirrelpaw glanced at her sister, "Everyone seems angry."

[Marlowe]

Tension showed itself in the form of bristled fur and bared fangs. Jaystar and Wolfheart stood tall next to one another, speaking words of war. Ashenpaw's ears flattened against her head. What Tigershine said was true. How could they prove that DuskClan killed Russetfern? She jumped a little when Squirrelpaw suddenly appeared next to her. "Russetfern's dead. The medicine cat patrol from last night found him in the Moonbrook," she whispered to her sister. "Jaystar and Wolfheart say that Foxstar has to pay."

"I don't think you realize that what you're about to do is start a war." Tigershine's voice was uncharacteristically low and stormy. "If you choose to get your bee-brained revenge, then so be it. Medicine cats don't have a say in the ways of war. But realize you will be spilling the innocent blood."

Jaystar hissed. "Innocent blood has already been spilled, Tigershine. The proof rests at your paws!"

"I don't want there to be a war..." Ashenpaw murmured more to herself than to Squirrelpaw.

"Hey, so..." Stoatpaw had followed Squirrelpaw out of the apprentice den, "do ya think that Jaystar will make us warriors, now? So there's more warriors in BirchClan, and all."

[PrankFox]

"What?" Squirrelpaw's voice was strained as she craned her head around the larger cats to see Russetfern's body resting inside the circle of her clanmates. "That's crazy," she shook her head, "They can't be serious, it's just the shock of it right now. Once the tensions die down they'll realize war is a bad idea, right?"

"It's been more than just Russetfern," Wolfheart growled, "Other cats have been murdered and the longer we wait the more innocents that die." He looked to Jaystar, "The other clans wouldn't stand for this either. I know for a fact that Emberstar wouldn't." If they got ThornClan on their side as well then there was a chance that they could catch DuskClan unawares. The main concern would be trying to fight them in those narrow tunnels. They'd have to find a way to lure them out into the open where there was a better chance of victory.

Finchwing pushed herself to her feet from where she was sitting next to Russetfern's body, "If we attack DuskClan without giving them a chance to defend themselves then we're no better than the fleabags who did this. We could at least wait until the next Gathering and speak of it then, or just ask them to turn over whoever is responsible rather than attacking blindly."

"If we wait that long there's a chance someone else will be killed!" Wolfheart shot back at the brown furred warrior who bristled in response. She couldn't be serious. How could she be so willing to let DuskClan get away with this? Russetfern was a warrior just like her, younger than her, and she was willing to let his murderer go unpunished. His tail lashed and his eyes narrowed at the she-cat.

Squirrelpaw brushed her pelt against Ashenpaw, "Me neither, but I don't want anyone else to be murdered in cold blood either." Her head swiveled around as Stoatpaw approached and bristled slightly at her sibling's words. "Russetfern was just murdered, maybe have some respect for once," she turned her back, "Besides we don't know if we're going to be fighting anyways."

[Marlowe]

"I really don't know..." Ashenpaw felt Squirrelpaw's fur brush up against her, but her eyes were focused on the argument in front of the three sisters. Her tail slowly lashed from side to side, her eyes widening as she saw that Finchwing stepped up to confront Wolfheart and Jaystar. Her mentor was against all of this too, then. Were there other BirchClan cats that didn't want to fight DuskClan?

"I'm just as willing to serve DuskClan some due justice as well," rumbled Badgerthorn. "But isn't it difficult to attack DuskClan? We have a whole other territory between us and them, and I'm not sure Silverstar will like it if we send a whole battle patrol across the marshes."

Jaystar whirled his head to face the black and white tom. "That's why we gain their alliance. Silverstar will surely take our side if we explain our plan. And if not, we turn to Emberstar, and it'll be two Clans against two."

"No!" The yowl left her before she could even hold it back. The cats that had arranged themselves in a circle turned to look at her. "Jaystar, we can't do this. So many cats will die!"

"Control your apprentice, Finchwing," Jaystar's voice became several tones lower as he glared darkly at the brown she-cat. His eyes remained on her for a few moments before he turned to the rest of the Clan. "Before we do anything, we must bury Russetfern. But don't weep too many tears for him. Instead, stay strong. We will avenge him soon enough."

[PrankFox]

A low growl pulled itself from Wolfheart's chest as the arguing continued amongst his clanmates. They would need everyone on their side if they were to win against DuskClan in a fight, and even more so if Silverstar declined to join them. They needed to be united in this or even more lives would be lost. There needed to be no hesitation if he was going to protect his clanmates and make sure that something like what happened to Russetfern didn't happen again.

Both Badgerthorn and Jaystar made their points, both of which were viable. His eyes flicked across his clanmates, looking for hesitance or reluctance to take the fight to Duskclan. His eyes landed on their medicine cat who looked mostly resigned to it all, but all she needed to do was make sure that they were in fighting shape. Like Tigershine said, they had no say in war. However, many of the others including Addertongue and Cinderfang had a fire burning in their eyes. That was what they needed.

His head turned with the others at Ashenpaw's outburst and his eyes narrowed. "Don't question your leader Ashenpaw. He's doing what will keep us all safe in the future."

Finchwing's ears flattened to her head as she pushed through the crowd of cats to where Ashenpaw stood with the other apprentices. "Keep quiet! This doesn't concern you." She snapped towards her apprentice. Her eyes flicked towards Jaystar as he looked away, and her voice quieted after, "I don't like this any more than you do, but if Jaystar decides we fight then we must fulfill our duty to our clan. There are others who don't see the need for senseless violence, but there is too much hate right now for many of them to see clearly."

"Should I prepare regular patrols for the morning or do you wish to send one to MistClan?" Wolfheart directed the question towards Jaystar as Pale-eye, along with a few other warriors, lifted and carried Russetfern's body from the camp for a proper burial.