This chapter is a lil shorter but we were struggling to come up with ideas for this scene, so that's why it isn't as long as some of our other parts.

Rootstar waited patiently for Snowpetal to finish asking each cat for their decided vote, shifting her paws uncomfortably as Shiverhawk glared up at her. After a few minutes, the brown tabby finally approached her leader, murmuring the results to her once more. She nodded gratefully, stepping forward.

"Despite a close number of votes, Shiverhawk has been voted innocent. She will remain in TundraClan," the ginger cat meowed, as frustrated conversation broke out within the crowd.

"Really? We're going to vote a cat like her innocent? I don't trust her!" Deershade complained, as many cats meowed their agreement.

"And? Cats didn't trust Fogwhisper, we exiled her and look what happened, the murders have continued. What if she was innocent? We must follow a fair vote of the Clan," Thistlehaze argued, and the camp fell silent.

Rootstar nodded.

"Thank you, Thistlehaze. I agree. Shiverhawk stays here, end of discussion. Clan dismissed."

—------------------------

"Rootstar, Rootstar!"

The Clan turned to look as a panicked Icewatcher raced into camp with his brother looking frustrated behind him, the leader walking up to him in confusion.

"Icewatcher? What's the matter?" she questioned.

"A SolarClan group is coming this way, I think they might be planning to attack camp, they definitely weren't looking for permission. I didn't think we could take them on alone so I came back for help," Icewatcher informed her as Lynxstorm huffed quietly, "I could've taken them on..."

Before Rootstar could respond, a group of cats stormed through the TundraClan entrance, TundraClan warriors leaping to their paws as their leader snarled.

"Sunnystar? What is the meaning of this?" Rootstar spat, unsheathing her claws as both sides glared at each other.

"Don't act so surprised, prey thieves. Nectardust informed me that he saw one of your warriors taking prey from our side of the border last night like it was their own," he growled. "That is an arrogance that must be punished."

"I thought TundraClan had more warriors than this at the last gathering... And where is Glacierstar?" Peachpaw whispered from among the SolarClan cats, his mentor silencing him with a flick of their tail. As the leaders argued, Thistlehaze directed Everest and the kits into the safety of the nursery, Icewatcher and Lynxstorm gathering in front of the den protectively.

"I don't know what you mean-" Rootstar tried, before Sunnystar cut her off.

"Ah, so you're liars as well! The time for discussion is over, prey thieves, I won't have my Clan insulted like this. SolarClan, attack!" the leader screeched.

TundraClan barely had time to react as the SolarClan group leapt forward in a flurry of movement, Darkwind and Snowpetal being targeted first as they were knocked to the ground.

Darkwind snarled as he unsheathed his claws, rolling to the right and leaping up to land a strike across the orange tabby's face, wincing as they retaliated with a swipe against his side.

"No TundraClan cat would take SolarClan prey," Darkwind yowled, ducking under another attack and sending the cat falling to the ground with a powerful kick. "We hunt in the river, not your hills."

"I have nothing to say to a TundraClan liar," Dawnshadow spat, Darkwind groaning in annoyance as he landed one more swipe against her vulnerable belly, the she-cat hissing in pain as she was left helpless on the grass, the black tom sprinting to fight off more cats gathering by the back of the Clan.

After a while of fighting, another TundraClan cat ran up to his side, panting.

"Darkwind, you have to come with me now! I was fighting another cat in the forest when I noticed more SolarClan cats coming from the opposite end of our territory, it's an ambush!" they exclaimed.

"What?! We should get help-" he began, before they cut him off.
"No, just us. We're strong enough together, and the rest of them should stay here to fight off the main threat," they protested, as Darkwind hesitated, before nodding.

"Alright, I trust your judgement..."

With that, the two cats fled into the forest together, trying to avoid the sight of the attacking SolarClan cats.

—-----------------------

Darkwind followed the cat as they ran towards the other border together. They entered the forest side-by-side, the cat turning to look at them as they ran. "They're a bit further ahead, I think there were five of them," they meowed, Darkwind nodded, preserving his breath.

"I hope they're still over by the river, it should be easier to chase them off. SolarClan cats don't do well with swimming," the cat pointed out. "Yeah, that would be helpful," Darkwind agreed. "We'd just push them into the river and that's that," they continued.

The black tom could see the trees thinning out; they had nearly reached the end of the woods. As they burst from the trees, he blinked to adjust to the brighter light, slowing down just a little bit. By the time his vision cleared his Clanmate was already halfway down the short stretch of snow between the forest and the river.

"There's no cat there," he meowed to them after a little burst of speed, surprising himself by not tripping over his paws. "I noticed, we'll have to sniff around if we can pick up a scent, see where they went," they growled. Darkwind nodded, lowering his head until it almost touched the ice.

"Can you check closer to the water?" The cat asked, "I'll continue over here," they offered. The black tom meowed in agreement and headed over to right next to the fast flowing river. The ice had gotten thinner the closer it got to Newleaf, making the water flow faster than it did at the beginning of Leafbare.

The other cat looked as if they were about to turn around and leap at him, but stopped and frowned as they heard a loud crack.

Darkwind felt the crack beneath his paws, glancing down to see the ice break apart. "Darkwind! Watch out!" His Clanmate called from the shore. But it was too late, the ice splintered and the black tom plunged into the icy river. He opened his eyes to darkness all around him, feeling the water pull at his fur.

He swam back up to the surface, seeing he had already drifted a bit downstream. The cat he had come here with was keeping pace with him on the bank, but seemed to make no move to help him. Darkwind could barely see them above the splashing of the water. His paws got caught in each other and not for the first time he cursed his clumsiness, being sucked back under the surface.

The river flowed even faster here, making a turn right before he'd leave Clan territories. Darkwind half swam, half tumbled back to the surface, only to crash into a branch right as he got his head above water. His eyesight faded and then he felt nothing.

The cat keeping pace with him saw their Clanmate go back under, jumping into the river to try to drag his unmoving body out, their strong paws churning as they struggled against the current. They grabbed his body in their jaws as he drifted past, quickly turning around to swim back to shore.

They placed Darkwind down on the snowy ground, then sat next to him as his breathing weakened, the icy cold river water lowering his body temperature at a drastic pace. Eventually, the black tom stopped breathing, and they sighed, before meowing, "I wasn't going to have you killed in this way, a strong warrior like you deserves a good battle. What a waste. Such a skilled cat, but you could never move past your own clumsiness. Goodbye, Darkwind."

—------------------------

A shriek filled the air as two cats found yet another Clanmate, dead.

The quick pitter-patter of paws as Darkwind's body was dragged back to camp, the SolarClan cats having left in their defeat.

The Clan stared, hollow-eyed, as another vigil was prepared.

—------------------------

"Darkwind was found dead by the river," Rootstar began as the Clan watched from below. "Does any cat know what could have happened to him?" She continued. Shiverhawk snorted. "It seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? SolarClan must have taunted him to follow them, then pushed him into the river," the she-cat meowed, licking a wound on her shoulder.

"However, no tufts of fur were found between his claws, and I assume he would have struggled and managed to pull some fur out before he was drowned," Snowpetal replied, the deputy looking a bit uncomfortable to go against her mate as she stared sadly at Darkwind's body.

"I saw him running away from the battle with another cat, though I couldn't figure out who. I think it's likely they were chasing after SolarClan cats," Icewatcher commented, the tom flicking his tail in the direction he saw them run. Rootstar nodded, "Foxdawn, take a few cats with you and see if you can figure anything out," the calico she-cat nodded, quickly rounding up the least injured cats from the battle and heading out.

Some time had passed when the patrol returned, every cat still in the clearing, anxious about news. Foxdawn entered the camp, Sleetpaw and Birdpaw following, Deershade bringing up the rear. Birdpaw dropped something in the middle of camp, Rootstar jumped down to look at it.

A few tufts of black fur laid on the ground in front of her. "How do we know these aren't Darkwind's?" She asked. "We found more tufts of black on the other side, longer and fluffier. Those must have come from Darkwind," Foxdawn explained.

—------------------------

"You all heard what Foxdawn's patrol found. It would seem the killer has, at least for a small part, black fur. And besides, there were no SolarClan scents in the area, the only explanation is that he must've been attacked by one of our own cats...perhaps they used the battle as a distraction," Rootstar murmured.

Breezepaw pushed her nose into her mentor's frosty fur, listening as a cat in the crowd called out.

"I accuse...!"

—------------------------

Attacked: Darkwind

Healed: Foxdawn (incorrect)

Accused: ...? Accuser, check PMs

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I'm going to start writing lists for these clues in future rounds as to make it clear which cats have certain features, as in some of the images it can be hard to tell.

Visual clue revealed - Black tufts found in regard to the killer's appearance
Cats matching this clue in allegiance order:

Deershade, Cedarcloud, Snowpetal, Owlstride, Everest (black stripes in the back of the image, difficult to see), Foxdawn, Gustpaw, Sleetpaw, Flypaw.

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