Chapter 1
Despite the warm new leaf sun that baked down on the rolling hills that marked the south border of Muleclan's territory, Redcinders felt shivers run down his spine that paired with his fur standing on end and an uneasy feeling whenever he spoke or even looked at his life long friend Mulepelt. They walked almost shoulder to shoulder together with the rest of their small patrol that swiftly trotted along the tall, messy wired fences searching for any sign of intruders or danger but, Redcinders couldn't help feeling like what they looked for was right in front of their own whiskers. He glanced over to his left once more at the small dark tabby with copper eyes they showed almost no emotions. Having known Mulepelt since they were young kits Redcinder knew how to read the expressionless face unlike most in the clan. There were only small signs that told Redcinders that his clan's deputy was up to something.
"Why do you look like you sat on a cactus ?"
A meow sounded in Redcinders' ear causing him to jump half way out of his skin.
"By the breath of Starclan! You can't just sneak up on a cat like that that, Timberfang!"
"What's got your tail in a knot? Put your claws away."
Redcinders looked down at his paws only then noticing that his sharp white claws had dug into the soft dirt where he stood. He looked around to see that Mulepelt had walked ahead of the two other cats finding something that caught his eye. Redcinders turned backed to Timberfang.
"Something isn't right with Mulepelt." He spoke in a soft hiss.
Timberfang's ears went back and he looked down at the ground looking as if he was thinking hard on what his reply was going to be.
"I noticed his behavior was off about a moon or 2 ago. I thought maybe it had to do with Sparrowpool losing her kits but then last moon I over heard him speaking to Lionleaf about some ancient warrior folklore of a clan far from here who once had a leader that lost all of his lives in one blow when a rouge slashed his belly. Not soon after Roosterstar was attacked by the coyote and his wounds caught that infection that took his 8th life."
"Do you think he was responsible for that?"
"I cannot say. I cannot believe that Mulepelt would betray his own leader just so he can become leader quicker. Nor do I want to. "
Timberfang's green eyes showed how he struggled with the thought of his honorable mentor becoming a heartless murderer. Redcinders could understand the feeling cause he also felt the pain from the thought that his closest friend who was like his own brother might have turned against them all. He just couldn't get past the feeling that maybe it was true especially now after what he had just heard.
"Let's keep going before he notices us missing."
Without looking to see if the cinnamon-silver tabby was gonna follow or not, Redcinders took off sprinting in the direction he had last seen Mulepelt. Something inside him began to panic and realized that today it was very important for him to keep an eye on his friend. Maybe they were both just reading into things but he was almost certain that he saw the look of a cat who was about to kill flash across Mulepelt's eyes earlier .
The border patrol continued without any interference and the three toms soon found themselves slipping through the entrance of camp and trotting to the fresh kill pile to enjoy breakfast with the rest of their clan. Redcinders shared a hare with his mate Sandflower, listening as she bragged about her hunt that morning but always allowing himself to keep at least half of his attention on the clan's deputy who had engaged in yet another conversation with the medicine cat, Lionleaf. He watched as the two spoke and then the deputy called the leader over into their little meeting.
Redcinders noticed the tension in the ginger and white shoulders of the Roosterstar as he approached the deputy. The interaction between the two toms was stiff and seemed to be forced on the leader's end. Their conversation was very brief but Recinders had noticed everything. Even the look of gloating that Mulepelt had as he trotted away, making it seem like he was going to speak with Dustwind only at the last minute to his coarse and slip out of camp as what he thought was unnoticed. Redcinders bunched his legs up beneath him ready to bound after him only to have his attention drawn away by the angry ginger she-cat that hovered over him.
"What is so interesting about my brother that you must run after him while your wife is in the middle of trying to have an important conversation about our future?"
The low growl and deathly look in her eyes was enough to make Redcinders fear for his life. He quickly relaxed back down and cleared his throat.
"Nothing my dearest. Please forgive me, my fiery flower. Nothing is more important than you whom I worship."
She glared some more but nodded to his groveling and laid back down.
"As I was saying, I really do think we should soon consider kits. I want to bring kits into the world while the clan is healthy and able to support more mouths. "
And just like that, even if for just a moment, Redcinders' attention had been completely drawn away from his worries about the deputy. In fact he seemed to have bigger thoughts and fears rising. He hadn't even thought about kits just yet but it sent a whole new panic into him now. And as the day went on that seemed to be all he worried about.
As night came Redcinders felt as if he life was back to the normalcy. He curled up tightly in his nest next to his mate who was licking the top of his head as he drifted off to sleep.
It is strange how one can wake up confused and feeling like they had just fallen asleep when if reality it had been sometime. This seemed to have happened to Redcinders because he was now awake and outside of the warrior's den he could see the moon higher than when he had last seen it. He felt like maybe he was still asleep and was just dreaming. But why was he dreaming about Mulepelt slipping out of the warrior's den with the look of a killer in his eyes? Unless, he wasn't dreaming.
Redcinders found himself slinking to the shadows of the camp wall while making his way towards the Black Bird’s Perch. He thought maybe he’d seen Mulepelt slip into the crack leading to the leader’s and medicine cat’s den. He hoped and prayed to Starclan that maybe his comrade just wasn’t feeling good and needed something from Lionleaf yet a feel deep in his gut told him he was very wrong. As he drew close to the entrance of the den his ears perked forward trying to make out the soft murmurs coming from within.
“So you’ve finally come?”
“You were expecting me?”
“It is funny how the world seems so peaceful right before you die. You will one day understand this feeling, Mulepelt.”
Redcinders’ pelt prickled as he realized whose voices were coming from the leader’s den. He was trying to wrap his mind around what he was hearing as he peered through the darkness into the moonlit den. Mulepelt stood with his back to the entrance of the den, his muscles tense and his ears pinned back while Roosterstar sat in front of him relaxed and his tail neatly laid across his paws. He was finally grasping what was going on and right as he was about to lunge forward and take down Mulepelt he noticed Roosterstar slowly shake his head. The clan’s leader had seen him and stopped him. But why?
“You will succeed for a period of time, but know that it is just a short period, a season. Your leadership will all but destroy this clan before purging the evil from our bloodlines.”
Mulepelt’s tail flicked back and forth showing his annoyance as he let out a hiss to Roosterstar’s words. The small warrior gathered his les underneath him ready to attack. Redcinders slunk back into the shadows and out of the den not being able to bear watching the wicked acts of his once friend, he tried to block out the sounds of Roosterstar’s last life leaving his body. In shock Redcinders turned and ran back to the warriors den, maybe he was originally right. Maybe this really was just a dream and all he had to do was wake up.
"Why do you look like you sat on a cactus ?"
A meow sounded in Redcinders' ear causing him to jump half way out of his skin.
"By the breath of Starclan! You can't just sneak up on a cat like that that, Timberfang!"
"What's got your tail in a knot? Put your claws away."
Redcinders looked down at his paws only then noticing that his sharp white claws had dug into the soft dirt where he stood. He looked around to see that Mulepelt had walked ahead of the two other cats finding something that caught his eye. Redcinders turned backed to Timberfang.
"Something isn't right with Mulepelt." He spoke in a soft hiss.
Timberfang's ears went back and he looked down at the ground looking as if he was thinking hard on what his reply was going to be.
"I noticed his behavior was off about a moon or 2 ago. I thought maybe it had to do with Sparrowpool losing her kits but then last moon I over heard him speaking to Lionleaf about some ancient warrior folklore of a clan far from here who once had a leader that lost all of his lives in one blow when a rouge slashed his belly. Not soon after Roosterstar was attacked by the coyote and his wounds caught that infection that took his 8th life."
"Do you think he was responsible for that?"
"I cannot say. I cannot believe that Mulepelt would betray his own leader just so he can become leader quicker. Nor do I want to. "
Timberfang's green eyes showed how he struggled with the thought of his honorable mentor becoming a heartless murderer. Redcinders could understand the feeling cause he also felt the pain from the thought that his closest friend who was like his own brother might have turned against them all. He just couldn't get past the feeling that maybe it was true especially now after what he had just heard.
"Let's keep going before he notices us missing."
Without looking to see if the cinnamon-silver tabby was gonna follow or not, Redcinders took off sprinting in the direction he had last seen Mulepelt. Something inside him began to panic and realized that today it was very important for him to keep an eye on his friend. Maybe they were both just reading into things but he was almost certain that he saw the look of a cat who was about to kill flash across Mulepelt's eyes earlier .
The border patrol continued without any interference and the three toms soon found themselves slipping through the entrance of camp and trotting to the fresh kill pile to enjoy breakfast with the rest of their clan. Redcinders shared a hare with his mate Sandflower, listening as she bragged about her hunt that morning but always allowing himself to keep at least half of his attention on the clan's deputy who had engaged in yet another conversation with the medicine cat, Lionleaf. He watched as the two spoke and then the deputy called the leader over into their little meeting.
Redcinders noticed the tension in the ginger and white shoulders of the Roosterstar as he approached the deputy. The interaction between the two toms was stiff and seemed to be forced on the leader's end. Their conversation was very brief but Recinders had noticed everything. Even the look of gloating that Mulepelt had as he trotted away, making it seem like he was going to speak with Dustwind only at the last minute to his coarse and slip out of camp as what he thought was unnoticed. Redcinders bunched his legs up beneath him ready to bound after him only to have his attention drawn away by the angry ginger she-cat that hovered over him.
"What is so interesting about my brother that you must run after him while your wife is in the middle of trying to have an important conversation about our future?"
The low growl and deathly look in her eyes was enough to make Redcinders fear for his life. He quickly relaxed back down and cleared his throat.
"Nothing my dearest. Please forgive me, my fiery flower. Nothing is more important than you whom I worship."
She glared some more but nodded to his groveling and laid back down.
"As I was saying, I really do think we should soon consider kits. I want to bring kits into the world while the clan is healthy and able to support more mouths. "
And just like that, even if for just a moment, Redcinders' attention had been completely drawn away from his worries about the deputy. In fact he seemed to have bigger thoughts and fears rising. He hadn't even thought about kits just yet but it sent a whole new panic into him now. And as the day went on that seemed to be all he worried about.
As night came Redcinders felt as if he life was back to the normalcy. He curled up tightly in his nest next to his mate who was licking the top of his head as he drifted off to sleep.
It is strange how one can wake up confused and feeling like they had just fallen asleep when if reality it had been sometime. This seemed to have happened to Redcinders because he was now awake and outside of the warrior's den he could see the moon higher than when he had last seen it. He felt like maybe he was still asleep and was just dreaming. But why was he dreaming about Mulepelt slipping out of the warrior's den with the look of a killer in his eyes? Unless, he wasn't dreaming.
Redcinders found himself slinking to the shadows of the camp wall while making his way towards the Black Bird’s Perch. He thought maybe he’d seen Mulepelt slip into the crack leading to the leader’s and medicine cat’s den. He hoped and prayed to Starclan that maybe his comrade just wasn’t feeling good and needed something from Lionleaf yet a feel deep in his gut told him he was very wrong. As he drew close to the entrance of the den his ears perked forward trying to make out the soft murmurs coming from within.
“So you’ve finally come?”
“You were expecting me?”
“It is funny how the world seems so peaceful right before you die. You will one day understand this feeling, Mulepelt.”
Redcinders’ pelt prickled as he realized whose voices were coming from the leader’s den. He was trying to wrap his mind around what he was hearing as he peered through the darkness into the moonlit den. Mulepelt stood with his back to the entrance of the den, his muscles tense and his ears pinned back while Roosterstar sat in front of him relaxed and his tail neatly laid across his paws. He was finally grasping what was going on and right as he was about to lunge forward and take down Mulepelt he noticed Roosterstar slowly shake his head. The clan’s leader had seen him and stopped him. But why?
“You will succeed for a period of time, but know that it is just a short period, a season. Your leadership will all but destroy this clan before purging the evil from our bloodlines.”
Mulepelt’s tail flicked back and forth showing his annoyance as he let out a hiss to Roosterstar’s words. The small warrior gathered his les underneath him ready to attack. Redcinders slunk back into the shadows and out of the den not being able to bear watching the wicked acts of his once friend, he tried to block out the sounds of Roosterstar’s last life leaving his body. In shock Redcinders turned and ran back to the warriors den, maybe he was originally right. Maybe this really was just a dream and all he had to do was wake up.