[ Back to Snowdapple!]

      " It's cool that you two are together now!" Snowdapple stated to Thunderheart and Bearclaw. Snowdapple had stayed out a bit longer when Thunderheart and Bearclaw had gone back to camp.

     " I guess so, but it's surprising on how the clan already knows about it," Bearclaw pointed out.

    " You know how fast news spreads through the clan," Thunderheart reminded the she-cat.

     " He's right Bearclaw," Snowdapple agreed." Some cat probably heard us talking about what happened and told their friends or the elders,"

      " Hey, Snowdapple," Bearclaw mewed.

     " What?" Snowdapple replied.

     " You've been spending a lot of time out by the lake, is there something your not telling me?" Bearclaw asked her light grey friend.

      " No, I've just been taking time to think to myself about things," Snowdapple answered the amber eyed warrior.

     " About what?" Thunderheart questioned.

     " I don't know, things I guess," Snowdapple replied. The white dappled she-cat thought before looking back behind her as she felt another cat looking at her only to find a grey head quickly disappear into the medicine cat's den. The very light grey  warrior tilted her head for a heartbeat then turned her head back to her friends.

      " Again?" Bearclaw asked. Bearclaw was the only other cat who knew about some cat watching Snowdapple besides Snowdapple.

     " Every now and again I feel as if some cat is staring at me," Snowdapple explained to Thunderheart as she noticed his confused gaze. 

      " Bramblecloud's dead!" Windfur almost yowled as he raced into the camp, Brightheart and Cloudtail behind him with Bramblecloud on their backs. 

       " What happened?" Bramblestar asked as he came out of his den. As Bramblestar spoke, Bramblecloud's mate, Cherrywhisker, came padded out of the nursery almost immediately when she heard the news.

      " We don't know, we found his body out in the forest," Windfur confirmed.

      Not again! First Pinepaw and now Bramblecloud! Snowdapple thought. The green eyed she-cat stared at Bramblecloud's dead body as Brightheart and Cloudtail set his body in the middle of the clearing. As Brightheart and Cloudtail took a few paw steps back from Bramblecloud's body, Cherrywhisker padded up next to her mate's body. The she-cat's eyes were wide with shock and grief as Daisy [ Daisy is the cat who stayed in the nursery to help with kits, right?"] came to help comfort the grieving queen.

     " I feel bad for Cherrywhisker," Snowdapple admitted. 

     " Yea, I would be upset also," Thunderheart agreed.

     " Do you have any idea what killed him?" Bramblestar continued.

     " No, we didn't recognise the scent," Cloudtail responded to the clan leader.

     " Can you show me where at?" Bramblestar asked. The Thunderclan leader followed the three cats out of camp when they gave him a nod.

       " Oh no, not again," Bearclaw whispered. 

      " First Pinepaw now Bramblecloud," Bearclaw pointed out.

     " I know," Snowdapple replied.

      " Snowdapple!" Skypaw meowed as she approached the light grey she-cat.

      " What is it Skypaw?" Snowdapple asked, looking up from the squirrel she was eating.

      " We're running out of some herbs so could you come and gather some more with me?" Skypaw asked the warrior.

     " Yea, just let me finish up this squirrel first," Snowdapple answered the medicine cat apprentice. The light grey warrior quickly finished up the squirrel. Once she was done the green eyed she-cat and the light blue-grey she-cat padded through the thorn tunnel.

      Bearclaw padded over to Snowdapple and Skypaw as the two she-cats padded back into the camp with several different types of herbs." Snowdapple! We need to talk," Bearclaw mewed.

      " What about?" Snowdapple meowed once she had set down the herbs before adding to Skypaw." Do you want me to help you take these back to the medicine cat's den?" 

     " No, I can do it," Skypaw answered the warrior.

      " About the prophecy!" Bearclaw's meow was barely more than a whisper.

     " Ok," Snowdapple responded before following Bearclaw back out of camp.

     " We should try and find out what killed Pinepaw and Bramblecloud," Bearclaw stated. The brown-gold she-cat and the very light grey she-cat padded into the same clearing that Pinepaw was killed in, Bramblecloud's fading scent filled the clearing along with another unfamiliar scent.

      " What kind of creature do you think left this scent?" Snowdapple questioned.

      " Only Starclan knows," Bearclaw responded, padding over to Snowdapple.

     " We should probably be careful," Snowdapple said." We don't know where this creature's den is."

     " True," Bearclaw responded.

       " Are you sure we should be doing this? We don't even know anything about this creature!" Snowdapple stated.

      " You're right, but let's at least get a look at the creature," Bearclaw meowed.

      " Fine," Snowdapple quietly followed the scent trail with Bearclaw right beside her. As the two warriors padded past the border into unclaimed territory the unknown scent grew stronger. Bearclaw and Snowdapple poked their heads around a tree to see a stocky and muscular animal with short legs, broad and rounded head, small eyes and short rounded ears." What is that thing?" 

      " I don't know," Bearclaw meowed." But we should probably get back to camp before it smells our scent."

      " Yea, let's go," Snowdapple quietly responded before they silently headed back to camp.

      " What were you two doing past the border?" a mew from behind kinda made Snowdapple jump.

      " Jayfeather! You nearly scared me out of my fur!" Snowdapple replied turning to face the blind medicine cat. 

     " Nothing," Bearclaw answered Jayfeather's question.

     " You too were trying to find out what killed Bramblecloud and Pinepaw weren't you?" Jayfeather questioned.

      " How did you know?" Bearclaw asked the gray tom.

     " I just assumed, seeing how the way you two came from also has the same scent as the creature that killed Bramblecloud and Pinepaw," Jayfeather explained. 

      " Well then," Snowdapple mewed.

       " Let's get back to camp," Bearclaw meowed. The three cats padded back to camp, stopping from now and then so Jayfeather could quickly get some more herbs.