"Noooooooooooooo!"

Graystar scrambled to her paws, blinking fiercely. It took her a moment to recognize the walls of her own den, and then to realize why her ears were ringing and why her pelt was bristling with danger.

She slipped out of her den and into the camp clearing, noticing that it was barely dawn and that pale light was just barely starting to flesh out the world even as she stared at the scene in front of her.

Snowsong was exiting the warrior's den, moving awkwardly due to the large shape that she was dragging out with her - a cat, in fact. The reddish brown tabby pelt, long tail, and lifeless amber eyes identified it to be Pinestep.

Snowsong was wailing, a high keening noise full of raw, violent despair that tore at Graystar's heart as though claws were digging into her chest. A few more high-pitched cries joined Snowsong's as other warriors, woken by her screams, saw and realized what had happened.

Pinestep was dead.

Pinestep, who had always been so eager to take charge of a situation, who was always battle ready, who was clever and strong and loved.

Gone.

Graystar padded closer, unable to believe her eyes. How could this have happened? She approached until she was standing in front of the body. Snowsong had collapsed over him, wailing into her mate's dark russet fur, already cold.

Graystar felt as though the very earth had split apart underneath her, and she was plunging into the starless depths below. This was the second cat killed. She knew now that Ratflame had not been the murderer, or if he was, he was not the only one. How many more traitors were there, lurking among her clanmates, ready to take down her clan from the inside?

"Snowsong," Graystar murmured, her voice shaking. "I need to see what happened to him."

Snowsong didn't look up. She shook her head, her nose still buried in Pinestep's fur.

And then Dawnpetal was there. With gentle, encouraging words that Graystar couldn't hear, the medicine cat coaxed the distraught she-cat away from Pinestep's body.

A thin layer of blood coated the fur around Pinestep's neck, the dried crimson liquid barely discernable from the color of his pelt. It looked like someone had slit his throat while he slept. Pinestep probably hadn't even had the chance to defend himself.

Graystar's frame shuddered. She couldn't believe it, couldn't understand how one of her most senior warriors was now dead when yesterday he had been so absolutely full of life.

"Poor Pinestep," Rosepool whimpered, her sea-green eyes brimming with sadness.

"He will be missed," Crowtail said softly, head bowed.

Featherwing stepped forward, and with a brief glance at Graystar for permission, touched her nose to Pinestep's forehead. "May StarClan light your path, dear Pinestep," she whispered, but even though she spoke quietly, her words were easy to hear. "Though your light will shine over us from StarClan, we will miss it here, in our clan, brightening all of our lives."

A few cats shifted and murmured their appreciation of Featherwing's thoughtful words. Kestrelberry moved beside her to touch his nose to her shoulder. "Thank you, Featherwing," he murmured.

Snowsong sobbed, leaning into Dawnpetal's fur.

~†~

It was early afternoon when Graystar finally emerged from her den once more. She had spent the morning grieving, as well as going over everything she knew to try and figure out who would have killed Pinestep, and why. The results weren't very encouraging. As far as Graystar knew, Pinestep had been well-liked by nearly everyone, even if he did get under some pelts once in a while with his tendency to immediately take charge of a situation. She was no closer to an answer than she had been last night, when she had sentenced Ratflame to a life in exile.

But now she had a job to do. Someone had killed Pinestep. Graystar just had to find out who.

Outside, Morningrose the deputy seemed to be having a small rally meeting in the center of camp. She was surrounded by Palefern, Tinypaw, Blackpaw, Cascadefall, Smallcloud, Smokefern, and Honeyrose, all of whom were watching her appreciatively as she spoke.

"I know these are troubling times for our clan," Morningrose was saying, her tail swishing gently back and forth behind her, "but we will discover the traitors among us. And once we do, we will not let them kill again."

"Hear, hear," Cascadefall meowed. Palefern and Honeyrose were both nodding agreement.

As she spoke, Morningrose's gaze shifted so that she met everyone's eyes directly multiple times, but Graystar noticed that she seemed to be looking at Palefern more than the others.

"Now, until that happens, there are things everycat can do to protect themselves," the deputy continued. "Not go into the forest alone, for example. Everyone should be in groups of at least two to three, no matter what you're doing."

Smallcloud shuffled a little closer to Cascadefall.

"And be alert! We could all be taking shifts sleeping, so that what happened to Pinestep doesn't happen to anyone else. Have at least one cat watching over you if you're taking a nap."

"That's kinda creepy," Blackpaw said with a grimace.

"Creepier than being killed in your sleep by traitors?" Morningrose challenged. Blackpaw didn't seem to have anything to say to that.

"Question," Honeyrose interjected. "Even if you do get someone to watch over you while you take a nap, how do you know that they aren't a traitor, and you haven't just put your life in their paws?"

Morningrose frowned, and a flicker of worry passed over her green eyes, but it was quickly gone. "That's just something we'll have to risk," she decided.

"Yeah... We can't all be traitors, or else there would be no need for the murders," Smallcloud pointed out. "There hasn't been a full-on revolt yet, so we know that the innocents outnumber the traitors."

Smokefern nodded. "Well said."

Graystar met Morningrose's gaze and gave the blonde-furred she-cat a small smile. Her deputy was one of the few cats she truly trusted one hundred percent. Morningrose's eyes, however, were almost panicked when she met Graystar's. The deputy flicked one ear in a gesture that Graystar took to mean that they would have to talk later.

Graystar nodded and turned away to continue investigating.

She found Laurelgaze chatting with Echolight under a sycamore tree. "Poor Pinestep," Echolight was saying. "I can't believe he's gone."

Laurelgaze hummed sympathetically. "He was a strong warrior. Whoever killed him probably planned to get him quietly out of the way."

"Yes... Still, I can't..." Echolight trailed off, then stood up abruptly. "I need to get some air. Want to come hunting with me?"

Laurelgaze frowned and flicked her tail. "Not me, thanks. I... I don't think I'm up for it."

Echolight smiled in understanding. "That's alright. I'll find someone else." The brown tabby turned and padded swiftly away, pausing to talk to Rosepool and Featherwing, who were by the camp entrance. A moment later the three she-cats disappeared out of the camp entrance, evidently to go hunting.

Graystar, however, was watching Laurelgaze. The light gray warrior's golden eyes were shadowed with sadness as she watched Echolight leave. Grief for Pinestep? Or something else? Graystar wondered.

She moved on, deciding to go check on Snowsong to see how the widowed she-cat was coping. Graystar found her seated outside the medicine den, with Kestrelberry, Rainsong, and Dawnpetal clustered around her, speaking to her in low, kind voices, trying to reassure her that everything was alright.

"He's safe now, in StarClan," Rainsong pointed out. "He doesn't have to worry anymore."

"He might just be the luckiest of us," Kestrelberry added, somewhat boldly considering the circumstances. "He can sleep soundly."

Snowsong didn't seem to be reacting much to their words... In fact, her lids were low over eyes, as though she were about to fall asleep on her paws. Graystar wondered if Dawnpetal had given her poppy seeds for the emotional pain.

Then the leader noticed that someone was approaching her. She turned to see Whisperdrizzle padding towards her, evidently wanting to talk.

"Hello, Graystar," he greeted with a dip of his chin, and then he continued without waiting for a reply. His gaze strayed towards the group around Snowsong as he spoke, his words quiet but grave.

"To be frank, I'm suspicious. Pinestep's murder... Well, I think it was Kestrelberry." Whisperdrizzle took a deep breath, and rushed to back up his claim. "I know he doesn't seem like a killer. But I'm pretty sure he's had a crush on Snowsong for moons. With Mallowheart killed yesterday, this might just have been the perfect opportunity. And the fact that he's there now, comforting her..." Whisperdrizzle trailed off, his last words heavy with meaning.

"This is a very serious claim, Whisperdrizzle," Graystar responded, her eyes narrowed. She couldn't believe that Kestrelberry was a killer. "Are you certain?"

The tom ducked his head. "No. I have no proof. I just thought I should let you know."

Graystar relaxed slightly. She had asked everyone to approach her with any suspicions they had. Whisperdrizzle was just doing what she'd asked. "Thank you, Whisperdrizzle. I will definitely keep this in mind."

The warrior dipped his chin respectfully to her and walked off, leaving Graystar more troubled than ever.

Was Pinestep's death really the cause of a jealous tom? Graystar would never have believed Kestrelberry to be capable of such a thing, but then again, she'd never have believed any of her cats to be capable of such a thing, and yet here she was, with two murdered clanmates and no other leads to go on.

A moment later, there was a slight commotion as a patrol made up of Icespark, Snowstrike, Redpaw, and Shademask entered camp, all four of them carrying prey. Redpaw was struggling under the weight of a large rabbit. Icespark caught Graystar's eye and dropped her mice to speak as the others went to deposit their catches on the fresh-kill pile.

"No need to let any cats die of hunger," Icespark said, somewhat defensively, as though she wasn't sure what Graystar would think of a hunting patrol having gone out when there were murdered cats around.

Graystar shook her head. "No. You did well."

"Graystar, you should have seen Redpaw catch that rabbit," Snowstrike purred proudly as she padded up to them, her apprentice at her heels. "It didn't stand a chance. I mean, technically he could have done a better job stalking it beforehand, he kinda gave himself away when he stepped on those leaves, but he made up for it with his quick reaction."

Redpaw seemed slightly embarrassed being praised in front of the leader, but he kept his chest up bravely. Meanwhile, Snowstrike kept talking.

"We'll have to improve your stalking, right, Redpaw? Well, what matters is that you caught the rabbit. That's the important part. And it's obviously due to my superb teaching skills." The snow-white warrior gave him a smug smile.

Graystar couldn't tell if Snowstrike was actually that self-centered or she was just being sarcastic. She was pretty sure it was sarcasm, though. "...I see. You didn't see anything suspicious while you were out, did you? Anything that could point to Pinestep's killer?"

Icespark shook her head. "Not a thing. Sorry, Graystar."

"I wasn't expecting you to," Graystar admitted with a quiet sigh. "I suppose I should keep looking. Redpaw, perhaps Snowsong would appreciate that rabbit of yours."

Redpaw nodded with a smile. "I'll take it to her."

Graystar dipped her chin. "Thank you."

She turned away. Shademask had disappeared, but now something else had taken center stage in the camp clearing.

Echoleaf was facing off with Troutstripe, her blue-gray fur bristling as she glared at the large, muscular tom. "Then where were you when everyone was here mourning Pinestep?" she challenged, her tail lashing.

"I was fishing," Troutstripe answered evenly, and nudged the small trout at his paws for proof.

"No one fishes on their own all morning," Echoleaf hissed. "And you weren't at the meeting last night either, when Ratflame was exiled!"

"Again, I was fishing," Troutstripe growled. "It just so happens to be a favorite pastime of mine. I wasn't aware that the meeting was supposed to be at that time yesterday evening."

"That's not an excuse!" the furious she-cat yowled. "And even if that were true, why did you disappear this morning too?"

Troutstripe's eyes narrowed dangerously, but then he calmed down, evidently with some amount of effort. "Pinestep's death came as a shock to all of us," he rumbled. "I wanted some time alone to come to terms with it, and fishing helps clear my mind. So that's what I was doing."

Echoleaf shuddered and sank her claws into the ground, almost as if she was holding in a scream of frustration. "I don't believe you," she spat finally, and then turned and stalked away, fury radiating from her in waves.

"What was that about?" Viperpaw meowed, breaking the ensuing silence. It seemed like most of the clan had stopped to listen to the fight.

"Gee, I have no idea. Echoleaf wasn't clear at all," Snowstrike retorted, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Now that she mentions it, I didn't see Troutstripe at the meeting last night," Basilwisp commented. He was sitting with Leafsky, as usual, but seemed very interested in the argument that had just unfolded.

Troutstripe, still standing where he'd been while Echoleaf was confronting him, scowled. "I don't think I can be any more clear about where I was. But I'm not staying here if you're all going to make accusations against me for it." And with that he too walked off, pausing only to toss his fish on the prey heap before slipping into the warrior's den.

"I always knew there was something fishy about him," Leafsky boasted.

Basilwisp flicked his tail at her nose. "That sounds like something Rosepool would say."

"Silly she-cats," his tortoiseshell mate purred.

Gradually cats began chattering again as the shock of seeing their clanmates row wore off.

Tigersplash stood and padded towards the camp entrance, saying, "come on Echopaw, we're going training," and the black and white she-cat scampered after him.

Longclaw made her way towards the fresh-kill pile, and Graystar noticed that Featherpath and Smokeflash, who were already there choosing prey, immediately moved away as she approached. Featherpath hadn't even picked anything from the pile. This made Graystar frown. Were Ratflame's frenzied accusations causing warriors to be scared of their own clanmate? Longclaw didn't seem surprised that she was being avoided, but Graystar saw the shadow over her amber eyes. The leader watched as the long-clawed warrior snagged a fish - Troutstripe's earlier catch - from the pile and took it over to eat beside Lightdream. The large white tom didn't seem bothered at all, and started talking to Longclaw with a cheerful expression.

Runningstream was lying on her side in front of the warrior's den, watching the camp through half-lidded eyes. Despite looking like she was about to fall asleep, her amber eyes were alert and observant. Graystar decided to go talk to her.

"Hello, Runningstream," she greeted as she approached. The fluffy blue tabby she-cat shifted into a sitting position to face the leader properly. She didn't speak, just gave Graystar a sharp nod of acknowledgement.

"What are your thoughts about all of this, Runningstream?" Graystar queried. "I don't think I've heard you speak at all the last two days."

Runningstream flicked an ear. "I have no opinions, Graystar. I've been watching everyone, but I can't figure out who the killers are."

Graystar couldn't help asking a more direct question; the stress from the last two days was causing her to lose her tactfulness. "I see. So you've been watching everyone... If you were a traitor, how would you be acting?"

Although Runningstream's expression stayed neutral, the lash of her tail betrayed her anger at being accused, however indirectly. "I'm not a traitor, Graystar," she responded, struggling to keep her voice from being a hiss. "And I choose not to say anything more to you, if all you're going to do is twist my words to seem traitorous." With that the she-cat lied back down in the same spot, and continued to watch camp through narrowed eyes, but she was resolutely not looking at Graystar.

Somewhat troubled, the leader turned away. Was she the one pushing her clanmates away? Pulling the clan apart? Surely not. No, the traitors were the cause of this. Once they were gone, and Graystar could trust her warriors again, then and only then would everything be back to normal.

At least, that was what she told herself.

Iriswhisper and Dewpaw were in a clear, out-of-the-way spot, evidently working on stalking techniques. Graystar padded towards them.

"Hello, Graystar," Iriswhisper meowed brusquely, without even waiting to be questioned. "I thought we'd stay in camp today for training. You never know what dangers the woods hold for two cats alone right now. It's safer here out in the open."

Dewpaw straightened out of her hunting crouch and swished her tail. "I wasn't the one worried," she informed Graystar, and puffed her chest our bravely. "I'm positive that Iriswhisper and I could take on any cats that try to attack us."

Graystar shook her head. "No, Dewpaw, your mentor is right. We should be doing everything we can to stay safe right now."

Iriswhisper scuffed her paw against the ground impatiently. "Well, if you'll excuse us, Graystar, we really need to work on Dewpaw's stalking. Her footfalls are much too heavy."

"No, I've fixed it, look," Dewpaw commanded, and proceeded to stalk a few paces before pouncing on a fallen leaf.

"That's perfect, if you're hunting already-dead mice," Iriswhisper 'praised' with a roll of her eyes. "That was hardly better than your first one. You need to keep your weight more in your haunches."

Graystar left them to it. She was about to head back to her den to think a little while longer, when Morningrose bounded up to her, her long blonde fur bristling.

"Graystar. Palefern killed Pinestep," she said abruptly.

Graystar's ears flattened and her eyes widened. "What? How do you know?" she demanded.

Morningrose's tail was swishing back and forth anxiously. "I've been watching him all day. Since yesterday, actually, when I got suspicious. He didn't seem surprised at all when Pinestep was found dead this morning. He looked smug. And his paws were wet." She paused, then elaborated. "Not bloody, but wet, like he'd just washed them in the river. So I followed him out of camp. He met up with someone else, but I couldn't see who, because I was hiding. They were laughing about something, and then I must have brushed up against some bracken, because suddenly they both scattered."

Graystar's pulse quickened. "Morningrose, if this is true..."

"It is, Graystar, I swear it," the deputy insisted. "I know Palefern is a traitor."

"Well then," Graystar sighed. "I suppose that makes my job easier."

~★~★~ Comment your vote down below who you think is a traitor! The cat with the most votes will be exiled in the next chapter! ~★~★~