Tainted Prey [Open]

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] The way the underbrush thrashed around, any cat would think a giant kit was hopping through all of ShadowClan. Wolfclaw had forgotten the purpose of his being away from camp entirely. He'd chased this frog all the way from the thunderpath and now he was... Wait. Where was he, exactly? The thought of being lost was pushed from his mind when he landed in another puddle. Soft ground and lots of water? Still in ShadowClan. The warrior laughed inwardly as he made another move toward the frog, which jumped on que.By this time, Wolfclaw could anticipate where it would go next and could bat it away from escape and still continue the chase. He'd even started humming to himself while he jumped around the marshes. The thought of having his ears chewed off if he'd been caught acting in such a kit-like manner hadn't crossed his mind. Why would it? He loved that risk. Eventually, the frog tried a new way to escape. Wrong choice. Wolfclaw missed it with his paw, but caught it with his fangs before it could jump again. The only problem was that the frog had one last laugh. The cat's nose caught a rock and the warrior yowled in pain, raising his head as blood started to pour from his nostrils. Tears welled up in his eyes and he sat down to rub his muzzle with his paw. Nothing was broken, but all the blood in his nose would certainly affect his hunting for the rest of the day. Wolfclaw growled to himself, mainly at his stupidity, and bent down to retrieve his kill. Before he clamped his jaws around the dead frog, something caught his eye. He froze and looked forward. The blood in his nose stopped him from realizing how close he was to the carrion place. The tabby's expression darkened as he raised his head to glare at it. The reek of the crow-food was blocked, but that didn't stop him from imagining it from the site of the maggot-infested place. The tom looked down at his kill and tilted his head. Had there been any runoff from the carrion place in the marshes around here? If so, the prey would be tainted and unfit to eat. However, looking back at the disease-ridden place, he figured that, being almost a whole tree-length from it, there really shouldn't be anything to worry about. He sighed to himself. This was a question for a medicine cat, but bringing the questionable kill into the camp was not practical. If his nose wasn't blocked, he could probably scent if there was anything clinging to it, but that option was out. What a dilemma... word count: 442 audience: Any comments: None

[tenacious]

Carrionplace was forbidden. F-o-r-b-i-d-d-e-n. Don't go there. Ever. No touchy, no looky, no smelly. The young cat had heard of the diseases that had once spread through ShadowClan; of course, it could just be a yarn to scare kits. Besides, the fact that Carrionplace was forbidden made Stagpaw want to go there even more. Forbidden places generally proved funner then places his elders would allow him to go. Which was why the stocky tom found himself creeping closer to Carrionplace; the scents swimming in the air dive bombed his nose, causing the tom to let out a small hiss of disgust. It smelt horrible!

But maybe that was just how it was supposed to smell- like RiverClan and ThunderClan. They smelt bad, but Stagpaw would be greately disturbed if all the Clans smelt familiar. Imagine all the trouble that could come from that! The apprentice's whiskers twitched, but only for a moment, as a shadow soon passed over his face. Before him was the body of a rat, its beady black eyes glazed over. Flies buzzed around the dead creature- crowfood.

Stagpaw quickly stepped back, flicking an ear, "That...is nasty," the tom whispered before turning, running the way he had come. He had caught nothing; if he went back to camp without any cat noticing he wuoldn't get in trouble either. Stagpaw's mind did not bother to wonder about the germs his paws had gathered from getting so close to crowfood, from wandering in Carrionplace.

No, his mind was now more focused on the fact that he had just ran into another cat.

Stagpaw bounced back, landing ungraciously on his rump. "W-wolfclaw," he stammered by means of a greeting as he looked up at the warrior.

Mousedung.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] Wolfclaw's ear twitched at the sound of rustling grass and muffled words. His eyes drifted to the direction of the sound and he shook his head in surprise when he saw a young apprentice far too close to the carrionplace. Before he could call out to him, the younger tom thought better of what he was doing and turned around. Wolfclaw smiled to himself and debated on wether or not to pretend like he didn't see him. The choice was taken when the gray-brown kit landed on his rump in shock from seeing the warrior. "S-stagpaw!" Wolfclaw stammered mockingly toward the apprentice, a friendly grin on his face, "Bit far from camp, aren't we?" Before he heard the young cat's answer, Wolfclaw felt a drop of blood trail from his nose. He crossed his eyes to examine what he could see. The fur on his muzzle was ruffled and the skin was red, but there was no crook to show that it was busted in any way, so all the warrior could do was lick his paw and swipe it over his muzzle, making the fur lie flat and getting the blood off his lip. Wolfclaw growled and stared down at the dead frog he had been hunting. It was then that the warrior got an idea. He'd listen to whatever explanation the young tom came up with, then he'd silence him with a flick of his ear. "You know what the carrionplace smells like now. Do me a favor and tell me if you can scent anything on this frog here. I'll say I took you hunting or something when we get back to camp." word count: 272 audience: Stagpaw comments: None

[tenacious]

Stagpaw stood as Wolfclaw offered forth a mocking greeting, though the apprentice didn’t mind. He had fallen on his rump, stammering like a fool; if any other apprentice had done it, Stagpaw would certainly laugh at them. Of course, his luck would have him slipping on some ice somewhere. The apprentice shuffled his paws on the ground awkwardly before speaking, “Yeah. I got bored of the meeting, though, I wanted to go have some fun.”

He watched as Wolfclaw attempted to examine his nose and Stagpaw frowned, wondering what had happened to the ShadowClan warrior before he had come along. It wasn’t like there was much to give a cat a bloody nose, after all. He sniffed, as if blood was running down his face at the moment. Stagpaw sighed before looking back at the tom’s eyes, instead of his nose, but before he could speak, Wolfclaw was talking. A light frown took place on the tom’s muzzle. It was a deal and a good one, at that. Stagpaw had no intentions of Willowstar yelling at him and Duskfrost always was surly and not necessarily a cat Stagpaw would choose to hang out around often. Besides, he’d probably have enough to deal with when he got back to camp, seeing as Willowstar had just dropped some very important news on her Clan.

He flicked an ear, “Good deal. I’ll do it,” he grinned before leaning towards the frog and sniffing. It smelt. Like frog. But there was no scent to suggest anything was wrong with the amphibian and Stagpaw leaned back, “I don’t smell anything but frog on it,” he reported with a light shrug.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] “Yeah. I got bored of the meeting, though, I wanted to go have some fun.” Wolfclaw's ears perked at the statement. Meeting? Oh joy. Missing it would not put him on his leaders' good graces. Perhaps he'd skip that prank he was going to pull on Duskfrost today. That'd make up for it. The warrior leaned down to watch his apprentice take a few sniffs of the frog. If anything, he wanted to make sure he got a good wiff of it. He'd probably end up taking it to the elders if it turned out that the young tom couldn't find anything wrong with it. If it did end up being tainted, at least they could dispense of an old cat. “I don’t smell anything but frog on it,” he reported with a light shrug. "Good. We'll take it back to camp, then. Keep your nose out for trouble." With that, Wolfclaw picked up the frog and waved his tail for the young cat to follow him. At the very least, the apprentice would get some lessons in this little escapade, even if he couldn't instruct him on the matter. He'd be able to start his training in the morning. Maybe a border patrol. "What did Willowstar say at the meeting?" the warrior asked after situating his grasp on the fresh-kill to where he could speak. No doubt it was something violent. He didn't understand why ShadowClan and RiverClan could just split the moor down the middle. Then again, the RiverClan cats had always been greedy for land, always bothering ThunderClan for those rocks on the other side of the river. What were they called? Sunningstones? Whatever. RiverClan thrived on fish. They didn't need the prey on ThunderClan's side of the river. ShadowClan, however, could do with a hot meal once in a while. Wolfclaw had been tempted more than once to try rabbit instead of going after these cold frogs and lizards. word count: 316 audience: Stagpaw comments: None

[tenacious]

Stagpaw watched Wolfclaw for a moment before padding after his mentor, jaws slightly parted as he walked. The other cat had said to keep his nose out for trouble after all. The tom didn’t want a bloody, bruised snout, though, so he stuck to keeping his jaws parted just a bit. It helped. He was pulled from his thoughts by Wolfclaw questioning what Willowstar had mentioned at the meeting. Small claws dug into the ground as Stagpaw walked and he growled lightly, though it sounded more like a grumble.

He quickly sheathed his claws. “We’re going to attack ThunderClan,” Stagpaw mewed bluntly, feeling a bit more at ease as they began to put the stench of rats behind them. He hated rats. Hated them. But he couldn’t bring himself to kill them, or face a live one; Stagpaw wasn’t one to admit his…fears. Yes, he supposed that would technically be a fear. Anyway, he wasn’t one to admit it, and part of the reason he had wandered to Carrionplace was to face a live rat head on.

And survive.

Part of the reason, though. A very small part.

The apprentice watched Wolfclaw carefully, wondering what his reaction would be to Willowstar’s plan.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] “We’re going to attack ThunderClan.” Wolfclaw stopped briefly in his tracks, his claws seeming to reach toward Willowstar on their own. The warrior took a deep breath and rolled his eyes, retracting his claws as he tried to keep himself from racing into camp and beating some sense into his leader. "And how... How did our glorious leader come to this absurd conclusion?" His voice was dripping with annoyance. He was at the last gathering. He had heard from Elkstar's own mouth that ThunderClan would remain neutral on the matter. RiverClan was the one going after the moor. Shouldn't their offensive maneuvers be directed at those water-loving cats? What was the point of attacking ThunderClan? The only logical explanation Wolfclaw could see was that taking up a truce with RiverClan would result in being able to drive ThunderClan out of the forest. Then Rookstar and Willowstar could dived the forest between them and rule all four territories evenly. No doubt, however, that as soon as there were more ShadowClan warriors than RiverClan, Willowstar would attack the rest of the cats in the forest so the entire area would be engulfed in shadow. This was completely hypothetical, of course. But it didn't mean it was unlikely. After stumbling on a branch of bracken, Wolfclaw decided it was best to keep his eyes on the ground before him. As much respect as he had for his leader, he did have a hard time with her decisions sometimes. He wouldn't mind her constant need for battle so much if she would start making more sense. word count: 256 audience: Stagpaw comments: None

[tenacious]

Stagpaw had to come to a quick halt to avoid running into Wolfclaw; the tom certainly didn’t seem pleased with Willowstar’s decision. That made him happy in a funny sense of the word. His tone was full of annoyance as he questioned how Willowstar had reached this conclusion; naturally, Stagpaw didn’t know much, but he’d tell what he could.

“ThunderClan backed out of the challenge. We will not fight for stringy rabbits, for the land of those ‘cowards’,” his tone was slightly sarcastic. No, he did not agree with backing out of a battle, but ThunderClan wasn’t cowardly. Just dumb. There was quite a difference and any cat that failed to recognize that was dumb as well.

A shiver rolled down Stagpaw’s spine as he padded after Wolfclaw, thinking about the battle between ThunderClan and ShadowClan. When would Willowstar attack? Or would she never be able to? He had fleeting visions of sleek-furred warriors racing into their territory; so long as Rookstar thought ShadowClan was still in for the moor, there was a good chance he would send his warriors in to fight. To fight a battle Willowstar wanted no part of.

He clenched his teeth to suppress a hiss. Maybe if he was older, he would talk to his leader, but Stagpaw didn’t want to look like some arrogant apprentice and get his ears clawed off. No, for now, he’d keep his opinions to himself.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] Wolfclaw could see Willowstar's logic now. His expression turned from annoyed to reflective. Yes, it was quite stupid of ThunderClan not to fight for every pawstep of territory they could manage, but wasn't it up to StarClan to punish them for being such pacifists? Besides, fighting for ThunderClan territory would only drive them into the moor and make RiverClan attack them- wait... "Oh, that's brilliant," Wolfclaw said as he shook his head in awe of his leader, "Willowstar is mad as a fox in a fit, but she's brilliant." If he understood her motives correctly, and he prayed to StarClan that he was right, then Willowstar was the smartest cat alive. If not, well it still might work out the way he thought it would anyway. "Using ThunderClan to fight RiverClan. That's amazing. Crazy, but it might work." Wolfclaw sped his pace up to a brisk trot. If the meeting was still going on, he wanted to catch the end of it. At least then, Duskfrost couldn't be mad at him for missing the entire thing. Most of all, he wanted to be able to voice his opinions or suggestions... or just snide comments on the matter. Stagpaw would just be along for the ride. He'd get to watch his mentor be hissed at by the whole of ShadowClan. That happened more than once at almost every meeting. He'd hate to break the streak. "What else was said?" Now the warrior was eager to hear what he'd missed. It wouldn't be long until they were back in camp and Wolfclaw wanted to be up to date as much as possible before he interrupted with some stupid remark, which really wouldn't surprise any cat anyway. word count: 278 audience: Stagpaw comments: None

[tenacious]

Stagpaw’s eyes widened and then narrowed, followed by a frown, for Wolfclaw seemed to be taking to the idea of attacking ThunderClan. Was every cat mad? Attacking ThunderClan would do nothing for them! He lashed his tail as he continued on, forcing himself not to start muttering mutinously. His frown grew deeper as his mentor continued on; how could attacking ThunderClan be using them to fight RiverClan? Elkstar had already taken a pacifist stance on the moor. Attacking her would make her defend her own territory, not go after the moor. It’d leave RiverClan free to put up scent marks while the other two Clans were distracted- no leader would be fool enough to fight two battles at once.

He simply couldn’t put it together.

“Not much; some cats disagree, some cats agree. Mainly some stating their opinions or grumbling to themselves.”

Stagpaw decided to leave out Willowstar’s angry little outburst. Espiecally since he had barely paid attention to it, too irritated by the dilemma he faced. Stagpaw was opinionated and not afraid to disobey orders; he liked that in himself and in other cats. He certainly would refuse to fight ThunderClan if the battle didn’t mean possible lives put on the line. Disobedient he was, perhaps, but Stagpaw was no coward. He’d never leave his Clanmates to die, living with guilty thoughts for the rest of his existence.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] “Not much; some cats disagree, some cats agree. Mainly some stating their opinions or grumbling to themselves.” "Sounds like a normal meeting, then," Wolfclaw mused. The warrior looked back on his apprentice, studying his expression. It was clear even by his tone that he didn't completely agree with his leader. It was a good thing that they hadn't gotten in any battle training. Otherwise, he probably would soon be sent to battle. They couldn't put it off forever, though. "I'm not saying I agree with her. But it is a clever idea. No cat wants to fight RiverClan. They're heavily built. But if we take enough ThunderClan territory, they'll be forced to fight RiverClan for prey in the moor. ThunderClan are used to fighting RiverClan for Sunningstones, or whatever it's called. When one beats the other, we can fight a very beat-up clan for control of the moor. And we'll win. It could work. Willowstar is crazy, but it could work." This whole speech wasn't to sway Stagpaw's opinion, even though it's probably be taken that way. Wolfclaw was about to lose his kill, so he clamped up and adjusted his old on the frog once again before he continued speaking. However, he thought about his next words carefully. He didn't want to upset his new apprentice and it seemed that he was already peeved about the meeting. Wolfclaw crossed his eyes and looked at his nose as a blast of cold made his fur stand up in surprise. A white dot quickly melted and turned to water. The tom looked up at the overcast sky. Prey would be scurrying back to their dens now that it was snowing. He was happy he got some hunting in while he had the chance. Maybe they should stop and dig up the rest of his fresh-kill. No one would be upset that they had missed the meeting now. word count: 311 audience: Stagpaw comments: None

[tenacious]

Yes, a normal meeting. It was rare for the entire Clan to agree on something; though, perhaps if it happened more often, they’d have an easier life. Easy lives are for filthy kittypets, Stagpaw thought to himself, growling only in his mind. He could sense Wolfclaw studying his expression; the tom didn’t care that much, though. When you were an apprentice, eyes always seemed to be on you.

His ears perked as Wolfclaw spoke once more; the words sounded like they were trying to persuade Stagpaw. There may be a chance that ThunderClan would attack RiverClan. But the fact still remained that RiverClan would be fresh. Elkstar would be a fool to attack them and, if she did, she would be likely to lose without the aquatic cats doing much work. He shrugged to show he had heard, but Stagpaw did not speak. He was opinionated, but he didn’t like to pick arguments, especially when there was nothing he could change.

Willowstar had made up her mind; Stagpaw figured only StarClan itself could convince the ShadowClan leader to change it once more. He just hoped the battle proved to be worth it.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] His apprentice's lack of voice was troubling the warrior. With an attitude like that, he'd grow to be one of the clan's least popular toms. Then again, he wasn't one to speak on that subject. Wolfclaw himself wasn't exactly your average ShadowClan cat. He wasn't well liked... by his targets, or by those who had a personal problem with him. That made at least eighty percent of the clan. Yes, Wolfclaw was very peculiar. Why should his apprentice be any different? "So... Was your trip to carrionplace as fun as you thought it'd be?" the tom asked as he flicked his tail over the apprentice's ear. It didn't take much for Wolfclaw to get the hint that a certain subject was either over or dropped. There would be another time to talk about it. Perhaps when the young cat was more keen to share his thoughts on the matter. Hopefully, that would be before they were sent to attack ThunderClan. "No trouble with rats, I trust? You don't look like you're hurt." He'd be able to scent an infected rat bite a territory away. However, with a bloody nose, it was impossible for him to tell wether he was injured or not. Usually the rats at carriornplace were too ill to make a big cut on even an apprentice. He heard from the other clans at gatherings that the ones near the barn on the way to highstones were worse than any they'd ever encountered. He even heard that once a leader lost a life there, but it was very, very long ago. word count: 259 audience: Stagpaw comments: None

[tenacious]

Stagpaw was glad the subject was being changed; he did not wish to press it further and end up saying something that would have him cleaning dens for moons. He flicked his tail, the usual fun loving nature returning to the tom, as quickly as it had fled, “As fun as getting stuck in a pile of fox dung,” he chuckled lightly, nose wrinkling at the thought.

At the mentioning of rats, Stagpaw’s eyes flashed with a strange mixture of fear and anger. Bah! The little rodents shouldn’t scare him so much, but when you really looked at them, they weren’t that little. More…big. And their beady black eyes reminded Stagpaw of the shadows, which he secretly had issues with. But no cat knew that…right? “I met a rat. But it was dead. So, no, not really,” the ShadowClan apprentice replied, his mind flashing back to the dead creature, to its stench.

“How’d you get a bloody nose?” He wondered out loud suddenly, flicking his tail towards Wolfclaw’s nose and twitching an ear. He was quite curious, now, as to how the warrior had gained himself such an injury.

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[atrb=border,0,true][bg=black] “As fun as getting stuck in a pile of fox dung.” Wolfclaw picked his head up and gave a hearty laugh. A long time ago, he'd heard one of the elders actually did that when he was a kit. He could not, for the life of him, remember who it had been or how he'd come to get into such a predicament, but that's what he'd heard. He had to stop himself from laughing for fear of dropping the frog, but he kept purring to show his amusement with the little tom's statement. “I met a rat. But it was dead. So, no, not really." "Good, good. Might want to wash your paws in a stream, though, if you were that close. No need for an apprentice to get sick." “How’d you get a bloody nose?” Wolfclaw purred. Stagpaw was a curious young cat, but he could see why he'd be concerned for the warrior who he was taking lessons from. He was supposed to be setting an example, for StarClan's sake! "Got in a fight with a rock," the warrior answered, a chuckle erupting from his throat at his own joke. "Missed him with a paw,"[/b] he said, crossing his eyes as a motion toward the frog in his jaws, "He landed near a rock. Fangs caught him, nose caught the rock. Nose lost." Wolfclaw grinned and looked at his apprentice with mock-sadness in his eyes. "You ever lose to a rock? It's embarrassing!" Yes, Wolfclaw was far from the most mature cat in ShadowClan. But someone had to have the job. word count: 254 audience: Stagpaw comments: None