[KARAZHAL]

Birdtalon did not begrudge Smokestar her choice in Gathering attendants. He had little interest in going, and he had a feeling he'd hear plenty from the others once they returned. Instead, the solid gray tom focused on keeping the camp running as smoothly as possible while all of their leadership was away. The full moon indicated peacetime, a truce between all Clans, but the same could not be said for the valley's other inhabitants. Badgers and coyotes hunted at night. It would also be a good time to fill up the fresh-kill pile on nocturnal prey.

He called around the camp to see who would be interested in taking up nighttime patrol and three cats answered the call: Crimsonshadow, Vipertail, and Paintedpaw, an apprentice whose mentor was at the Gathering. Birdtalon gave them all a rundown on where they'd be going, but Crimsonshadow curtly cut him off. The older warrior bent back his ears. "I don't need some young know-it-all telling me about my own territory. Get a grip, Birdtalon. This isn't my first patrol," the cocky tom sneered.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Birdtalon let out a little sigh and shifted on his paws. "Ooookay," he replied as the orange tom strode past him and in the direction of the scrublands. Birdtalon looked to Vipertail and Paintedpaw. "Stay on guard," he continued as if Crimsonshadow hadn't interrupted. "Let me know if you hear any strange noises and walk slow." His emerald eyes settled on the apprentice, the youngest of the trio and the least experienced, as he explained the reasoning for all this. "Some of the clan's enemies are active at night, and if we can get the jump on them before they establish their dens or prey domain, we can drive them out. Any questions?"

Vipertail shook his head and moved ahead to follow Crimsonshadow. The moonlight illuminated the sparse leaf-less shrubs and pockmarks all across the sandy dirt where prey and vipers loved to hide. StoneClan territory looked like a waste but Birdtalon found it rather beautiful lit up by the moon like this.

NIGHTTIME PATROL
birdtalon (KARAZHAL)
crimsonshadow (NPC)
vipertail (NPC)
paintedpaw (Ghost the Undead Goddess)

[Ghost the Undead Goddess]

Paintedpaw

9 Moons - Stoneclan Apprentice

---

The multicolored feline was more than willing to stay behind while the others parted ways from Stoneclan's camp to slowly make their way towards the Gathering with Smokestar now at the helm. She had attended the Greenleaf one the last time around, though found she did not enjoy the multitude of cats from every clan squished within one place. The river of unfamiliar and sharp scents was a near sensory overload for the pessimistic apprentice.

Though, her optimistic brother seemed to have the time of his life that night despite his still healing injuries from his run-in with a hawk not too long after earning his apprenticeship.

The darkness of the night was comforting, like a blanket as the tortoiseshell kept to herself near the apprentice den, she had always preferred it to the intense brightness of daytime. She often found herself thinking how she would much rather patrol and hunt under the shimmer of the moon, but Stoneclan wasn't nocturnal like Nightclan was. That didn't stop the young apprentice from enjoying small amounts of time during the quiet, calming nights.

Ears flickered at the sound of a cat calling out to others, dilute green gaze shifting from the bones of a shrew next to her paws to Birdtalon as the young gray warrior stood near the entrance of the camp. Since the loss of Hawkstar and his beloved mate, the gray tom had been stepping up within the clan to aid help whenever needed as Smokestar and Valiantstride settled into their new roles within the clan. When it came to the loss of the their former leader, the young she-cat was somewhat unsure of how she was suppose to feel. It was strange, not having the large form of Hawkstar standing there everyday as gray licked at his paws and face.

But, she was only nine moons old. Young enough to both know and yet not know the aged tom in ways several of the Stoneclanenrs did. She saw the way it shook her clanmates to the core, the silence that lurked like a fog and the hole left in hearts all around. Paintedpaw merely took it with stride, it was too troublesome to go about attempting to soothe it with tender words and soft memories.

It took a second, but Paintedpaw finally made her way to her paws decided it couldn't hurt to tag along. Her mentor was off at the gathering, and something told the unreadable she-cat that Cicadasong probably loved that sort of thing. She was just as bubbly and excitable as both Dawnpaw and Poppypaw. It seemed Paintedpaw was constantly surrounded by brightly colored individuals despite her persistent sour temperament and gloomy personality.

Plume tail flickering the long coated she-cat slowly made her way towards the group of toms that formed at the entrance, it seemed Vipertail and Crimsonshadow would also be joining the patrol for the night. Her unreadable, dim gaze narrowed ever so slightly at the sharp arrogance that rippled from the former Treeclanner as Crimsionshadow pushed past Birdtalon without much care. Paintedpaw held herself back from rolling her eyes though she let out a soft huff that was nearly inaudible before she followed after the more passive gray warrior.

"How troublesome." She murmured in that monotone rasp of hers, seemingly unimpressed with practically everything though her attention was directed towards the orange-brown senior warrior with a fowl attitude. Paws moved near silent through the barren territory of Stoneclan, faint moonlight causing her the dark oranges and blacks of her coat to glow with a silver gleam. It wasn't often Stoneclanners ran a night patrol, so the possibility of running into some creature of the darkness was greater than if they had all decided to stay in camp.

Paintedpaw paused for a second, ear flickering as she thought she heard a sound but after a moment and a gust of wind that brushed her lengthy coat, she continued on at Birdtalon's flank. There was no scent of badger or fox, and it seemed that those creatures were steering clear of the scrublands since the more recent problem were birds of prey, but other things like lurking adders and vipers could cause a lot of damage within the crannies of boulders.

---

Save me if I become, My demons

721 Words || KARAZHAL

[KARAZHAL]

Birdtalon kept his sighs to himself. He glanced at all three of his other patrol members and wondered if this was going to work out well tonight. He wanted them all to act like a team, but he couldn't force anyone to show more enthusiasm for it. All he could hope for was that Paintedpaw learned something from this patrol. If they weren't on the job, he'd try to talk to her and get to know her better, but it was best to stay quiet in the dusty darkness of StoneClan's scrubland.

He kept his head low to sniff the ground. Ignoring the tell-tale marks of his clan, he smelled rodent. A stenchy line followed it, and Birdtalon searched his surroundings for holes and danger before moving slowly after the rodent's smell. Two fox-lengths away, he saw it: a field mouse rubbing its whiskers underneath a scraggly bush. It tensed as their eyes met, and the mouse scrambled away to some stacked stones. A long arrow-headed shadow suddenly reached out from a gap as the mouse ran past, and it pierced the tiny prey with sharp fangs. With a single squeak, it was snuffed out and the viper retreated.

Looking back at Paintedpaw to see if she'd been paying attention, Birdtalon jerked his chin at the stone pile and gave the rock pile a wide berth as he hurried toward Vipertail. He marked from a distance just to be safe.

"Hold up, Birdtalon, I think we have a problem," meowed Vipertail .

The gray tom immediately came to a halt a fox-length away from him. "What's going on?"

"Crimsonshadow. He ran ahead and leapt on those rocks. Look!"

The moonlight illuminated the land and stones, but it cast tall shadows as well. Birdtalon inhaled sharply as flickering tongues and slithering bodies moved in and out of shadow. That big rock might've been a good surveying height but it was home to snakes. If only Crimsonshadow hadn't been so quick to rush ahead!

Birdtalon yowled to his Clanmate to warn him about the snakes. Crimsonshadow had the sense to look a little worried, and the ruddy tom braced himself for a leap. The snakes had cut him off from climbing down safely. They all seemed to realize cat eyes were upon them for they began a chorus of hissing and puffing.

"Get out of my way! I'm going to jump!" Crimsonshadow yelled to the three cats below. Everywhere else were leafless thorny bushes. He sprang from the top with all claws out. His paws splayed as he landed hard on the dirt closest to Paintedpaw.

The snakes followed the shadow moving across the ground, and the largest one lunged practically half its entire length in an attempt to bite the leaping warrior. It missed and landed with a thump, pinprick eyes gleaming up at the apprentice and the rusty tomcat. It coiled its thick body back into a striking stance. Crimsonshadow twisted around with claws unsheathed. He swung at it, trying to rip its scales apart with his strong claws, but the viper struck faster and had a longer reach, its venomous fangs piercing the junction of left leg and chest. It ricocheted backward in its S formation, and its head jerked in the direction of the tortoiseshell she-cat. Heaving a delayed yelp, Crimsonshadow leapt sideways and plummeted, his hindlegs kicking wildly and uselessly.

"No!" Birdtalon gasped. "Crimsonshadow!"

NIGHTTIME PATROL
birdtalon (KARAZHAL )
crimsonshadow (NPC)
vipertail (NPC)
paintedpaw (Ghost the Undead Goddess )

[Ghost the Undead Goddess]

Paintedpaw

9 Moons - Stoneclan Apprentice

---

She trailed purposefully behind the trio of older tomcats within the nightly patrol, her pawsteps fairly quiet while her plume like tail softly dragged the ground behind her as it hung down. Her ears twitched to and fro, steadily monitoring the sounds around her as she tried to catch certain movements that could warrant worry. The night breed a different type of danger than that of the daytime, certain predators only emerged once the light of the moon took over the black sky.

Like Nightclan.

Observation had always been a strong point to the youngster, something that came very naturally. Her dull green pools caught sight of the slithering from of the snake only seconds after Birdtalon had, the gray warrior pointing it out though she found the gesture unnecessary. There was only the slightest flicker from one ear that indicated her mild irritation, though there was that small voice that broke through her pessimism to remind her that it was just something clanmates did because they looked out for each other.

Now aware of the activity of the scaled serpents, Paintedpaw made sure her attention was hyper focused on specific noises and movements that coincided with snakes. That was, until Vipertail prevented them from venturing any future through the scrubland territory of Stonclan. Pale green pools shifted to find the form of Crimsonshadow perched in a dangerous position upon a rock as several forked tongued monsters wriggled from the darkness and crevices within the stones around.

What a mousebrain.

The thought was a cold insult within the tortieshell's mind though her face mirrored nothing as it remained an unreadable, blank slate. It was troublesome enough that they had padded straight into a viper nest, now they had to deal with the fact that one of their clanmates was practically serving himself up as fresh prey by being foolish and cocky. Paintedpaw watched from her spot near Birdtalon and Vipertail as the russet colored tom leaped, which quickly proved to be unsuccessful as his body crashed to the ground. A snake had struck, as quick as lighting, it's fangs dripping with the crimson color of blood.

Despite the length of her coat, the young feline could feel the hackles upon her shoulders raise as the slitted green eyes of the offending viper turned towards her direction, forked tongue flickering as a low and threatening hiss passed it's parted jaws. Refusing to aknowledge the emotion of fear that wriggled within her stomach, Paintedpaw let a defensive growl rumble within her chest as claws slide from the wide paws beneath her crouched form.

While she may have generally kept a sour mood towards doing things, dragging tail and quietly protesting it didn't mean that her training didn't get done. In fact, Paintedpaw was a quick learner and did as she was told despite the complaining. Her battle training with Cicadasong would hopefully prove useful in a situation such as this, which she was far more prepared for than her brother had been when he got into a scuffle with a hawk moons ago. She could feel her muscles tensing, preparing for the inevitable as the scaled creature moved just as quickly towards her as it had towards the flailing Crimsonshadow.

A warning hiss parted Paintedpaw's colorful maw, feathered tail flicking with irritation behind her as her lengthy coated fluffed up in an attempt to seem even more intimidating towards the nighttime demon. It didn't even seem to phase it as the snake curled and shifted into a striking pose before darting forwards faster than she could even take a breath. Acting on instinct and speed, the young she-cat lashed out to find her claws connecting with something as she knocked the viper, slamming it into some stones nearby. An odd noise emanated from the creature as it writhed in pain, blood spotting along his scaled hide from where the apprentice's claws had sliced through flesh along it's slinking body.

---

Save me if I become, My demons

669 Words || KARAZHAL

[KARAZHAL]

Birdtalon and Vipertail left forward immediately to come to their clanmates' aid. The gray tom knew there was nothing he could do to save Crimsonshadow, not from a viper bite; their medicine cat was at the Gathering besides. No, it was most important to keep the youngest one of their patrol safe. He did not think her incapable, but who knew if she and Cicadasong had come across an enemy like this before.

"Get him back," he ordered Vipertail, but that was easier said than done when Crimsonshadow began convulsing in the dirt. "Or at least out of the way," he spoke while turning his head. He was fully intending to lunge forward, but the she-cat was already ahead of him with claws slashing at the snake. She'd completely flabbergasted the creature, for it writhed in agony and smacked its body about.

He thought about retreating and leaving the creatures where they lay but they were dangerous and could kill an unwary apprentice. Not all of them were as proactive as Paintedpaw. Dead, the snake wouldn't pose a threat any longer. Birdtalon pounced upon the injured snake as he would a mouse. One paw hit the head hard and kept it pinned to the earth to keep its weapons sheathed. The other pressed on a few vertebrae down from the skull. Swiftly, he crunched down to end its writhing. The other snakes rustled against each other in the rock pile uneasily and flicked out their tongues at the scent of blood in the air. It seemed they weren't as bold as the biggest of them had been.

"That's the way to do it," Birdtalon remarked with approval as Paintedpaw's battle style. He picked up the snake where he'd bitten down and held it aloft. In the moonlight, it was easy to see where the apprentice had clawed down its sides. Scales attached to filleted skin wobbled every time Birdtalon adjusted his grip. Vipertail helped him dig a quick hole to bury the snake in so they could come back for it later. Getting Crimsonshadow back to camp would be a whole struggle in itself.

Heaving a sigh, Birdtalon called the patrol short. "Paintedpaw, can you lead us back to camp? Vipertail and I will carry him. Ugh... I'm going to have to break it to Smokestar that Crimsonshadow's been... ugh..." He shook his head and struggled to push himself under the ginger tom's outstretched limbs. Despite losing his life recently, his body was as stiff as a stone thanks to that paralytic venom.

NIGHTTIME PATROL
birdtalon (KARAZHAL )
crimsonshadow (NPC)
vipertail (NPC)
paintedpaw (Ghost the Undead Goddess )