"Roseglade!" Dapplebird's wail pierced the camp, and the birds fled with the last of that morning's sun. Inside the sun-touched clearing, where the was air just cold enough to chill the bones of even the fiercest warriors, the whole clan turned from their rest and towards a sound so high, so sad, that at once everyone assumed the worst.

They were right.

Falconpaw got up from her messy den besides Magnoliaheart, long ears twitching with confusion, and walked through the camp. The warriors were flooding in and out of the den like bugs around a carcass, and their expressions made Falconpaw shiver. Quite a few were glaring at her, which was unsurprising given her reputation, but this morning, Falconpaw was not in the mood to return the gesture with one of her trademark contemptuous sneers. Instead, she weaved her limber form through the crowd of warriors and bent down near the front, to where Dapplebird pushed at the still body of Roseglade.

The breath had gone from the old warrior's stomach, and she lay in a disconcerting position on her side, limp and lifeless. Her daughter shook her body like a piece of prey, burying her head against the stomach, but she did not stir. "Roseglade," sobbed Dapplebird, the strength needed to cry out again abandoning her. "She- she's d-dead..."

"She couldn't have been old enough to die naturally." murmured Falconpaw.

"Let me through." A wizened voice sounded through the den, and everyone stepped aside so that Magnoliaheart could approach the body. Owlstar followed not far behind, all of her fur on end. All of the warriors shied away from the leader, whose full fury was so strong that it overwhelmed even the growing stench of death.

Magnoliaheart strode about the body, clearing a wide arc as even Dapplebird moved back. She touched the joints, the throat, and the stomach, prodded the corpse over to the side, and took a deep whiff of the scent. Her nose rose towards the mouth of the she-cat, and with a sharp glare, Magnoliaheart cracked open the she-cat's mouth. Sickly saliva dripped from Roseglade's mouth. "Hmm..." Magnoliaheart probed the back of the she-cat's mouth and pulled out a shard of berry. "There must've been several of these in here. This is more than a lethal dose for a cat of her size- if anything, it's overkill."

"Several of what, Magnoliaheart?" prodded Owlstar, rage beneath the faltering facade of patience in her mew.

As if the whole ordeal was terribly obvious, Magnoliaheart responded, "Deathberries. Someone must've stuffed them into the prey."

For a second, the clan stood still, and then with a furious cry, Dapplebird lunged at Falconpaw. "You snotty little murderer!"

Falconpaw ducked into the fray of cats, her nose twitching with scents overwhelmed with sorrow and anger both. It was impossible to tell who was friend or foe, so she skitted around all of them and dove out into the clearing. Panting, she saw several warriors turn and a few more struggle to hold Dapplebird down. "Please, Dapplebird, be rational..." Lioncall said, holding the writhing copper she-cat down with one paw, though his gaze fell squarely on Falconpaw.

The apprentice, who was shaking in the center of the clearing, yowled, "I didn't do it!"

"She has a history." Howlclaw muttered.

"We're not jumping to conclusions here." Owlstar said, her voice sharp. The others backed down, once more, cowering beneath her gaze, and never before had Falconpaw been so happy to see the she-cat.

Adderpaw came bounding out of the apprentice den and leapt in front of his sister. "Please, you can't hurt her! She'd never do anything like that on purpose- she's a good cat!"

"There will be no punishment for an innocent cat," Owlstar told the poor, quivering apprentice, swinging her head to her warriors, "and you've yet to prove that Falconpaw is guilty. She has poor habits, that much is true, but I refuse to believe that this cat, chosen by our ancestors, would take the life of another member of our clan for a petty prank."

"Then what do you propose?" asked Clayfoot. "Huh?"

Blazefury, who was close to the exit, was shuddering like a leaf seconds from being torn from its tree.

"I have an idea," pronounced Foxcatcher, coolly. "Blazefury and I will check the Bend together. Weren't there scents there earlier? Do we know if a ShallowClan cat could have planted the poisoned prey in our territory, and one of our warriors could have picked it up?"

Jackaltooth screeched, "This is not the time for you to sneak off with your hare-hearted mate, Foxcatcher! Doesn't clan loyalty mean anything to you?"

Falconpaw looked to her own brother, who was still panting in front of her, his stomach rising and falling and his tail lashing with it. She had never seen him so defiant in all of her short (and potentially soon to end) life.

"Take a warrior with you and go." Owlstar said, "To ensure you keep on task. Jackaltooth, I don't like what you're implying about my deputy or his mate. The two of them have been nothing but a credit to this clan."

Lemonshine bounded forwards, "I'll come." She was serious, odd from the perky she-cat, but there was still so much energy in every movement. She practically lead the pair out of camp, and that left Owlstar, the two apprentices, and a den of terrified and confused warriors. Dapplebird was weeping beneath Lioncall's grip, and the others looked infuriated as he did.

"It's going to be okay." Adderpaw reassured her. "We'll find out who did it. We'll-"

"Alderpaw, get out of here. You have work to do. All warriors, we'll take patrol line ups from yesterday, save for Dapplebird, Lioncall, and the three who just went out. I want everyone back to work this instant, do I make myself clear?"

A few warriors returned to the den, presumably to say goodbye to their departed friend, but most went on to their duties. They took their sweet time, and Falconpaw could feel the sharpness of their teeth at her neck and their eyes on her back. She could hear her names in their gossip, and the tension that held over the camp, like a thick cover of smoke, was unbearable. Falconpaw felt like the flame, red and blushing, and at any moment someone was bound to snuff her out.

"Kit," Owlstar grumbled.

"Don't call me kit." hissed Falconpaw. "You said it yourself. I'm a medicine cat."

"I don't care what you call yourself, I'm calling you a kit, because that's what you act like. You seem to be shocked that your own poor conduct has lead to any kind of consequence and I can still see the shadow of that awful, smug sneer on your face." Owlstar retorted, and wit a swish of her tail said, "You've made dangerous enemies in this clan." The leader lowered herself to enter the warrior's den and was gone.

Falconpaw said nothing more, suppressing a stream of insults that would likely worsen her already precarious position. Some of the other warriors, done with their mourning, filtered out of the den. She caught Gorsepaw's self-righteous gaze out of the corner of her eye as he passed by with his mentor. While she didn't want to dignify the snake-hearted fox of an apprentice with a response, nor with the response of her claws, she shot him a look of absolute loathing as he passed.

Her mentor came out afterwards, the calico she-cat sadly shaking her head and muttering to herself.

"Should I-" Falconpaw asked as Magnoliaheart passed by.

"Go to the medicine den. Resort the herbs." Magnoliaheart said.

With a huff, Falconpaw stalked off to the tiny, sweet-scented den. It was so overwhelming and crowded and Falconpaw could almost taste it at the top of her mouth- blood. It wasn't her. It wasn't her fault. She slashed aside Magnoliaheart's herbs, letting out a cry of fury. She hadn't done a thing wrong. All her jokes had been that- jokes- and now everyone was turning on her. She'd show them. If she was going to hurt anyone, she'd scour her claws down their faces herself, not sprinkle prey with deathberries like a coward. A coward! Whoever did this, she'd rip them up, and then everyone who hated her next. She'd-

Falconpaw descended onto her den, desolate, and watched the ceiling. The rotting tree held the same smell of death as the body had, and now she couldn't get it out of her head.

She hadn't even known Roseglade.

"Why would Falconpaw kill anyone?" asked a voice outside of her den. Falconpaw crawled towards the entrance, and saw her brothers standing there, talking in hushed tones. She stuck her head back inside, but kept an ear tilted towards the front of the den.

"We... don't know-" Adderpaw corrected himself, "She wouldn't. This is all a big misunderstanding. It has to be, right, Falconpaw?" He peeked inside.

Falconpaw's fur stood on end, but she did her best to keep her expression completely lifeless. "Right."

Adderpaw's ears flattened. "You're not making this easy."

"I didn't do it. Easy." Falconpaw complained.

"I told you a million times this would come back to bite you and what'd you say? What did you say?" asked Adderpaw.

"Dunno." Falconpaw turned away from her brothers, staring at the rotting ceiling again. She thought she could make out a few maggots. Magnoliaheart was going to have to check that out. They might even have to move... how terrible. Maybe they could leave the camp and never return. Now that would be a tragedy.

"Falconpaw, are you taking this seriously? Do you know what they do to traitors? They will throw you in the river to die, and when your body washes up on the shore, rejected from the stars above, no one's going to be there to so much as mourn you." Adderpaw continued.

Falconpaw let out a convincing 'tsk' and mewed, "Tough luck. Good thing I'm not going to die then, because one, I'm not guilty, and two, they'd have to catch me to kill me. Now, get out of my den. I have to clean the medicine den up."

"Weren't the herbs all organized earlier?" asked Geckopaw, and Falconpaw's back fur bristled like mad.

"Get out of here." Falconpaw repeated, more firmly this time.

Adderpaw gave her a disparaging look. "We're sorry for being concerned about you, then."

Her brothers left, if hesitantly, and Falconpaw threw herself back into her work. With a low growl, she rummaged through the plants, placing everything she'd torn to shreds back into its proper position. The activity was remedial, but also dreadfully boring. She wondered, somewhat sadly, if she'd ever get to treat a live patient again. The posibility was not looking good.

She was unsure of how long it had been when Magnoliaheart entered and looked through the herbs herself. "Good job. You almost managed to get them to where as tidy as they were this morning."

"I didn't- What are you talking about-" Falconpaw sputtered, but her mentor's disappointed mumblings quickly silenced her.

"We found our evidence." Falconpaw and Magnoliaheart both ducked out of the den at the sound of Blazefury's voice. "Cats of RyeClan, we have reason to suspect it wasn't Falconpaw who killed Roseglade." Blazefury entered the camp, head held high. There was still fear in the tom's eyes, like the fear of a cornered animal, but Foxcatcher by his side more than made up for him in confidence.

The two toms, tails entwined, were accompanied by Lemonshine, who sprung forth like a hare into camp. "Great stars above and river below, it was ShallowClan!"

"Impossible." Owlstar said.

"You're kidding." Jackaltooth groaned. She and two of her patrols were already back in camp, but other cats would soon be coming, and the news spread like a ripple throughout the clearing.

"Why, would you rather have one of our own be the murderer?" Owlstar snapped at the she-cat.

"No, of course not. Still, what's your evidence, you three?" Jackaltooth asked.

"ShallowClan scent, all along the border of the clan." announced Blazefury, proudly.

"The scent that cuts off?" asked Dapplebird.

"The scent that cuts off near a river. Do you think a ShallowClan cat would go into our territory and perform such a daring, dreadful stealth mission without first masking their scent?" asked Clayfoot.

"True, but we have no proof that a ShallowClan cat killed that prey and left it for our warriors to find. We don't even know what motive ShallowClan would have for such a murder." argued Skycrest.

"No proof?" Owlstar asked, turning to her warriors as they filled the camp. "No proof?

Why are we being so reluctant, here? We have plenty of proof. aven't we had ShallowClan scent on the border several times this moon? Haven't we all known that they were up to something? Look, they've struck like a viper to the heart of our camp, poisoning our prey and turning our own clanmates against each other. Why would we ever believe one of our own has turned against us when it's painfully obvious that ShallowClan has grown bored of peace? They're not worth a hair off a rat's pelt, stars help me, and this forsaken river will run red with their blood by the end of this moon!"

Several, but not all of the warriors echoed her cheer. Many were silent, and a few more looked reproachful, but Falconpaw let out a sigh of relief. She had been forgiven, at least in some capacity, and these cats would soon learn to respect her again. They had to.

With a twitch of her ears, Owlstar said, "Let any noble warrior of my clan join me in mourning our friend and welcoming the dawn of this great and terrible war we are about to embark on."

Who wouldn't join her?

Several of the more eager supporters followed her at once, including Blazefury, Lioncall, and his kits, and Dapplebird, with reluctance, followed. Slowly, the clan ebbed away, though not all the warriors seemed so convinced.

I shouldn't be expecting so much from an already lucky break, though Falconpaw.

"You got let off easy." Gorsepaw warned Falconpaw. The gray tom glared into her very soul, and it was all the she-cat could to do remind herself that she hadn't commited the actrocity.

Matching his bravado, she responded, "Justice prevailed."

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Gorsepaw said, looking towards the others. "Wait to see how many cats die in this war we based off rumors and your pitiful pleadings of innocence. Tell me then what you think of justice."

(A/N: Wow I wonder where that ShallowClan scent came from. It's not like there were two apprentices conveniently wandering across the territory at that time or anything. :V 

There will likely be another update this week since I'm updating every day (free week benefits) but then it'll be back to Sunday updates. Stick around and post who you think committed the crime in the comments below. I'm really curious to see who can solve half this book's mysteries before the reveals come.

And there are reveals.

A lot of them.)