[Fawn]

Backdated to Newleaf Day Four. Briarthroat's patrol has been scattered by Demon, and everyone expects the worst. Foxstar is dying.

Shadowchaser

Shadowchaser waited outside of the medicine cat's den, doing everything he could to resist the urge to pace. Thornscar had gone off in search of Briarthroat's patrol at Shadowchaser's urging. 'Foxstar's on her last few breaths. Find Briarthroat,' he'd told his sister; she'd seen the look in his eyes and left without argument. He appreciated her ability to not ask questions in times like these, a surge of gratitude overlapping the sense of gloom in his heart. Smokefur was with Foxstar now, for however long she had left...

Finally the drum of paws answered the impatience thumping through his chest, but Shadowchaser's relief was stilted by the faint tinge of fear on Thornscar's orange and black-speckled pelt. She looked breathless, and her return to NightClan was attracting attention - eyes tracked her across the shadowlit cavern of the camp.

"I can't find him or his patrol. What's worse, I found blood and fur at our border to the mountains." Thornscar's eyes hollowed, prickling Shadowchaser's skin with the grim conclusion she was drawing. "And I scented Demon."

Oh no. The young healer's stomach dropped.

"What do you mean you can't find him? Did you say something about blood?" The accusatory voice of Nettleheart made Shadowchaser nearly jump out of his pelt; without a shred of tact or concern for anything beyond her missing mentor, Nettleheart didn't even try to keep her voice down.

"Nettleheart, be quiet--" Shadowchaser urged, and the young calico gave him a look that would have flayed bark off a tree.

"Foxdung! Briarthroat's been chased off by something and you're worried I'm making too much noise?" Nettleheart's teeth showed as her lips curled back. "I'll go find him myself." The she-cat turned to stomp toward the exit with Thornscar's reprimanding words bouncing off the back of her ears - but the presence of more Clanmates halted her progress.

"What's going on? What happened to Briarthroat?"

"Where's Foxstar? She's dying, isn't she?"

"You're the medicine cat, do something."

The last outcry from Sablefoot stung Shadowchaser to the core, horrible memories of Newtstripe's desperate pleading overtook him, threatening to drown him. Overwhelmed, Shadowchaser couldn't find the words; he couldn't get his tongue to move, or his lungs to expand. All the while, more voices chimed in as others demanded calm and even more demanded answers.

Oh StarClan, groaned Shadowchaser. What a mess we're in.

---

@zen @poptart Hellion
(OPEN to everyone)

[Deleted]

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

"Quiet!" Pinewhisker yowled ferociously, the majority of NightClan growing achingly silent.

What a mess. She thought sullenly, the eyes of the gathered cats burning into her pelt. Their gazes were like tiny sparks spraying into the air: confusion and fear had come to replace the false hope that NightClan had finally managed to solidify its leadership. Dimstar was an empty, conservative leader, though he had offered the clan something that Pinewhisker wasn't able to. That Foxstar wasn't able to.

Pinewhisker's eyes raked the clearing. She didn't dare step up on the Boulder Ledge, not again. She didn't have enough life left to give NightClan, though she couldn't let her clan fall into chaos. They were the only family she had ever really had, and seeing them so lost and anxious made her heart split in two. Pinewhisker's voice rang out to those who cared to listen, more tender like a mother than authoritative like the leader she once was.

That didn't bother her though. She had put that life behind her.

"I will take a patrol to search for Briarthroat and the others. Jaystep, Pipitwing, and Ivyshade, come with me. Stoatclaw, follow behind me with Sablefoot, Willowpelt, and Snakeflower. Don't travel individually. Any and all searching is to be done in pairs at the minimum. This is a rescue and reconnaissance mission. It is important not to engage the enemy." Her voice grew bitter as she spat out the next few words. "We don't need any more dead bodies."

Pinewhisker's tail twitched as she eyed the chosen cats. The ones she had called seemed to have accepted her orders willingly, perhaps grasping desperately at her play on leadership due to the ensued chaos that seemed to crash over NightClan yet again.

Would it ever end? Would the clan find a leader who could offer them more than pretty words and a few moons of advisement?

The ginger she-cat stepped forward calmly and assuredly, wistful thoughts and wishes over in an instant. This was no time to assume things. Briarthroat just might be alive after all, and time was of the essence. Pinewhisker shoved through the crowd of cats, feeling the bodies she had carefully selected fall in behind her. Her voice was soft, hardly more than a whisper as she left in search of NightClan's next ascending power.

"Let's find Briarthroat."

72 Moons - Senior Warrior - NightClan

PInewhiskeR

Tags: Fawn
Word Count: 415
Notes: xxx

[Deleted]

Darkstorm had been keeping an eye on her brother ever since he had sent Thornscar out of camp for some unknown reason, settling herself out of the way and giving herself a casual grooming while she waited for her sister to return. When she did, there was fear scent on her, and her rushed steps and concerning expression brought Darkstorm to her paws and over to her littermates to find out what was going on.

Her ears angled sharply forward at Thornscar's report of blood, fur, and Demon scent at the border. It had been some time since Demon had threatened NightClan so directly, but she remembered hearing plenty of things about the monster cat growing up. It was rare for him to attack a patrol, older cats claimed he was lazy and disliked fighting them if he could avoid it, preferring to target cats alone or in pairs that would be easier prey. If that was the case, it was likely some of the patrol had survived at least.

Nettleheart's sudden intrusion into the conversation broke her from her thoughts. The younger she-cat turned to storm off, and Darkstorm couldn't blame her in the least, but going off on her own if Demon was still around would only get her killed. Luckily other Clanmates halted her before she could escape camp, a flurry of confusion and panic overtaking the Clan as the lack of leadership to ground them made way for chaos.

Several cats were looking to Shadowchaser for the leadership they needed in this time of crisis, but one look at her brother and Darkstorm could see how overwhelmed he must be feeling. Protective instincts took over and she stepped in front of Shadowchaser just as Pinewhisker caught the Clan’s attention. Her fiery gaze quickly took in the gathered cats. Snakestep had joined his sister, worry and fear clear on his features, but with some cat taking control, and a former leader at that, some order seemed to be restored.

When Pinewhisker did not call Thornscar forward to lead the two patrols to where she had found the traces of the battle with Demon so they could start their search more efficiently, nor allow Nettleheart the chance to search for her mentor, her tail flicked in annoyance. She would not keep Nettleheart from searching for her mentor. If that had been Blackwolf out there, nothing would have stopped her from searching.

“Thornscar, take Nettleheart and Snakestep and go with them, lead them to what you found,” she told her sister as Pinewhisker and the cats she'd called forth were already heading for the tunnel leading up and out of camp. She had a feeling if Nettleheart wasn't allowed to go with the patrols, she might very well go out on her own. “Everyone else should stay in camp until the search patrols return. We don't know where Demon might be and until we know it's safe, only groups should leave camp.” Idle paws were a bit risky right now, but the Clan's safety was most important. There was a very real possibility they had lost at least one Clanmate so far today and depending on the injuries of the rest of the patrol, even if they were currently alive, they might lose more.

Part of her wanted to go herself, but she didn't want to leave the cats left in camp to fall into panic again, and she didn't want them overwhelming her brother further while she was gone either. He was going to have enough going on treating any wounded brought back to camp. Sitting idle didn't sit well with her either, but right now staying in camp seemed to her to be what was best for the Clan, so she could try to keep order. If she could show calm and patience at a time like this, she hoped it might help others do the same… no matter how hard it was.

She turned to her brother, lowering her voice, “Maybe you should check in with Smokefur and Foxstar before any other cat tries to corner you for answers you don't have. I'll stay out here and keep them out.”

---

Fawn