Deception; Disgrace [Closed]

Minnowslip all but ran into the camp, dragging along Lionspark as she was desperate to tell her leader about the recent ThunderClan incursion into camp. Her yellow eyes were dilated as she was fuelled by pure anxiety and frustration at their secret place being discovered. Also the Artemis/Leafstorm/Lionspark argument was really confusing and had so many back and forths. What happened to simple black and white fighting, clobbering ThunderClan and loving RiverClan? This was screwing with her.

Shaking her head to focus, she slid into camp in a flurry of snow.

"Ivystuur! Ivystarrr!" She sounded like a fox in heat, yowling the silver leader's name.

Ivystar sighed at Minnowslip's calls, praying it wasn't another damned fox in their territory or ThunderClan mauling their clanmates. She almost felt tempted to bury her face in the snow and pretend she didn't hear it, maybe if she did that, she could stall the inevitable pain that came with cats calling her name. But when she turned to face the warrior, she was pleasantly surprised to not see Minnowslip drenched in blood or weeping openly.

"What happened?"

Jaystream shivered. Everytime that someone called Ivystar like that it was because someone died. At least that what been happening the last times. The deputy turned his head just to see Minnowslip rushing toward the leader. Saying goodbye respectfully to the warriors that were going to a border patrol, the tall tom walked to both she-cats. He sighed a bit relieved that the young warrior wasn't carrying any dead corpse but he couldn't stop having a bad feeling about this situation. "What's wrong, Minnowslip?" His greatest fear was to hear another death but he couldn't show weakness. He had to be strong, just like Ivystar. That's why he tried to stop his shaking paws and stood up straightly as he looked at his clanmate, concerned.

Viperstorm came in afterwards, her sliding to a stop causing some snow to scattered. "Thunderclan.." She panted. "They.. found the cavern.. tried to take... Lionspark back." The young warrior stopped speaking for a moment to catch her breathe. "They had some rogue helping.. them. I don't know how they.. found it."

The blue gray warrior looked over to the Riverclan and Thunderclan warrior that she had followed in. "Lionspark stayed.. out of fear for her clan.." The warrior informed. She swallowed and collected herself once again. "They tried to make a trade."

"What Viperstorm said!" Minnowslip meowed out of breath, shaking off the snow slurry that clung to her brown tabby pelt. Her whiskered drooped from exhaustion, but she forced herself to remain upright to give her report. Jaystream and Ivystar probably wanted all those nitty-gritty details, like how pompous Artemis was, and mean Leafstorm was. He was a right fox-dung, alright. He treated Lionspark like dirt.

"And neither of you are hurt?" Ivystar asked after she took a moment to process what exactly had happened. It made no sense to her how they managed to find a place so hidden in their territory. There wasn't even any scent trails as it involved swimming upriver. How did they manage to find such a secluded place?

"Sweetheart and Nutfur warned us about them so we weren't ambushed. It was lucky that they were there to spot the patrol and tell us about it." Minnowslip nattered on. Though she'd had her doubts about Sweetheart, she was glad that the warrior had been there to help them against the ThunderClan rescue group. But unfortunately, Ivystar didn't share this sentiment.

The silver tabby bristled as she meowed lowly. "Where are Sweetheart and Nutfur now?"

"Coming right behind us." She chirped, not noticing the sudden change in mood.

Lionspark did her best to follow Minnowslip as she was more or less dragged into the camp, her eyes bright as she took in her surroundings. Her fur was fluffed against the cold weather, shivering as she hadn't faced the blunt of it due to her hiding in the cavern for most of the season. She sighed in relief as she was pulled into the camp and Minnowslip released her grip to call out for the RiverClan leader. The ThunderClan warrior tried to pull herself together as she nervously looked around, crouching to establish herself as not a threat as Minnowslip and Viperstorm spoke on her behalf to both the leader and deputy. Part of her wanted to speak, to say something but she was lost on what to do - shaking from both the cold and her recent breakdown in the cavern. Her gaze was focused on the leader, having noticed the bristling of the pelt as she swallowed but couldn't figure out what the anger was directed toward. Ivystar wasn't going to strike out against ThunderClan for the failed recuse attempt...Was she?

Sweetheart panted in fatigue and pain as she raced after the defeated patrol. Her fight with Artemis had left her hurt and sore all over, but worst of all she was scared for the well being of her dear kits. Had they been hurt? Why didn't she just stay in the nursery like all queens were supposed to?

Nutfur raced in behind Minnowslip and Viperstorm, her face now full of fear and confusion, most of it forced to seem realistic. But surprisingly, she didn't have to try to hard. Fear of being caught and confusion at Lionspark's decision both resided in her mind. On the whole run back she had been planning a story for how why they were there and why they should still be trusted. Just hopefully Sweetheart would play along and not act suspicious. Unfortunately, due to Cobwebkit, she had a lot of experience lying to cats that held more power than she did. She entered camp in time to hear Ivystar's call, and knew that her plan had to start immediately. "We're right here Ivystar!"

"ThunderClan break their oaths and raid our territory to take back Lionspark, and of course the two of you are involved." Ivystar snarled as she approached the two cats, her teeth bared as she deliberately made her displeasure known. Ears pinned back, and fur bristled, she growled. "What is a queen and a warrior ordered to keep away from Lionspark doing by the Cavern? Explain yourselves!"

Minnowslip cowed at Ivystar's wrath, looking nervously at Jaystream for answers.

Nutfur's ears flattened and her eyes grew wide when Ivystar turned on her and Sweetheart. It was time for her lie. Her stomach clenched with fear, and though she looked scared, she somehow managed not to look guilty. As much as she hated it, she had lied before, and could lie again. Tone slightly defensive, she began to speak. "We were going a patrol near Sunningrocks, when we saw a ThunderClan patrol, though they did have a weird rogue with them. We got into a small fight, but we ended up running away. We could have fought slightly longer, but we didn't want to risk Sweetheart in her condition. But as we were leaving, we heard that rogue say he knew where Lionspark was and was going to lead them to her. We thought they were lying, of course, but they crossed the river and headed towards the gorge. I know we should have attacked them, but we were curious to see if they really knew where she was. I'm sorry, I know that wasn't what we should have done. But when they headed down into the gorge, we knew we had to do something."
There she took a few breaths, looking up at the leader apologetically. Was she buying the story? "We followed them, and they headed towards the cavern. The only reason we got there first was because we can swim. Maybe we did accidentally lead them the last piece of distance, but it didn't even occur to us then that they had gotten all the way there and were still bluffing. Sweetheart an I did our best to warn to guards and fight off the ThunderClanners. Once again, I'm sorry for not being more careful and for being too curious. I'll accept any punishment you give me." The lie was most believable when squished between two truths. Self-blame made it seem like something someone wouldn't want to make up. What she did fear she did wrong was give too much information. Would a whole detailed story be too suspicious? The warrior looked at her paws, then once again at the leader, the same humble and rueful expression.

Sweetheart lowered her head as well, looking apologetic -- and almost genuinely feeling the part. "The reason I went with Nutfur to begin with was because I wanted to stretch my legs and step outside of the nursery. Surely fresh air and a careful walk is beneficial for a queen. I knew my kits would be at risk if I fought, but I wasn't going to let Nutfur take on those ThunderClan cats and their stranger friend alone. I could have sacrificed the lives of my unborn children for the good of RiverClan; surely that must mean something about my loyalty." Now she actually did feel sorry. What would her kits think if they knew they had a mother who was seen as a traitor by a majority of the Clan? They would probably be ridiculed as well for no reason.

The deputy remained quiet as he heard Vipertorm's story. So Lionspark, the hostage that was keeping them safe from another war, was going to be liberated if it weren't for Viperstorm, Minnowslip, Nutfur, Sweetheart and even the same Lionspark. However, something felt off in the narration and her mother didn't lose any second to point that out. He looked at Minnowslip and tried to give her a gentle smile, trying to say her without words that everything would be resolved and that her leader's anger had reasons to be like that.

Jaystream heard Nutfur and Sweetheart in complete silence and when they were done, his green looked at his mother. "I-I-If I may have a word, I-I-Ivystar, let me talk with both of you." He started a bit nervous, referring to the two suspected she-cats. "If your story is true, then tell me, how do you think that that so-called rogue knew were Lionspark was? I mean, Riverclan cats should be the only ones who know about that secret cave. That's why Ivystar put Lionspark there. And even if they knew where she was, isn't it weird that those Thunderclan cats, even if they followed both of you, which is a terrible mistake, know how to swim through the exact places where the currents aren't strong enough to wipe them away from the Gorge? In the first place, they shouldn't know how to swim." As he talked, his voice grew more confident and less shaky. It seemed that finally, he was being able to overcome his stupid shyness with all his work as a deputy. But no... that wasn't the reason. The usually calm tom had started to develop a natural anger toward Thunderclan and even toward Windclan. They were slaughtering young blood in their borders and Jaystream couldn't stand that. Everytime that that clan was named, he could feel a spark of confidence and hate rising inside his heart. That gave him the strength to speak straightly, as the strong deputy he should be.

"And Nutfur, you know that Queens shouldn't leave the camp. Why did you bring her with you? Why weren't you with more warriors if you were going to take her out in the middle of leafbare? I should have been notified about this patrol as a deputy and let me tell you that I would never allow Sweetheart to leave this camp after what happened to Thistleblaze. I'm sorry but for me, something feels wrong. What do you think, Viperstorm and Minnowslip? You were the ones there in the first place." His green eyes fixed on the two young warriors, with a curious and concerned look.

Viperstorm's eyes narrowed as the deputy and leader began to speak suspecting the two warriors of leading the Thunderclan warriors to the cavern. "I find it weird.. even with a rogue they still managed to get inside. Even our new warriors struggle to get inside because of the currents.." Her blue eyes turned to the two warriors in question. "And it's convenient that these two who spoke against keeping Lionspark were the ones to warn us.." There was definitely something fishy going on. What they said seemed true, but it was weird.. even if the queen wanted to walk they wouldn't go to far from camp. Though the mention of Thistleblaze had her bristling. Her mother gave her life to give birth to the she-cat standing here.. If she hadn't wondered out of camp then the queen might have still be alive to this day...

"But no warrior loyal to their clan would risk their clanmates lives to help the enemy! Sweetheart and Nutfur surely know the difference between speaking out and betraying their clan, right?" Minnowslip sensed the dark turn this conversation was going and tried to stop what she thought was Jaystream and Ivystar jumping to conclusions. Sweetheart and Nutfur had sworn an oath to be loyal to RiverClan when they became warriors, surely they wouldn't break it. Ivystar and Jaystream were going too far in their paranoia."Maybe the rogue really did just follow them there by accident?"

Ivystar listened to all this with her eyes narrowed into slits. She let Jaystream interrogate the pair before she finally chimed in. "Viperstorm, Minnowslip, did they look like they'd been injured in a battle against ThunderClan patrol before they came running to you?"

"No...? But they looked terrified?" Minnowslip winced as she felt like every word just seemed to condemn them.

With Minnowslip's answer heard, Ivystar's sharp gaze turned to Viperstorm, demanding an answer that would satisfy her. A part of the leader wanted to hear something to the contrary, but another part wanted to root out the sickness of deception that seemed to lurk within her clan. She hated questioning her clanmates, not being able to trust their intentions. It reminded her too much of her apprenticehood spent watching and waiting for someone to recognise her from across the river.

Viperstorm sat back, looking at her two clan mates. Her blue eyes narrowed. They were injured now but barely. She had nearly gotten knocked out by a Thunderclan warrior. "No. They weren't injured at all when they arrived." If they were truly that close to the Thunderclan patrol then they would have been caught..

"The rogue has this weird tactic where he doesn't use claws. Thats's why I don't have any scratches. Besides, we left as soon as Sweetheart was attacked," Nutfur defended, glad at remembering that detail. That was a true fact, so a lie wasn't required. There were a few day old bruises on her from falling into the river the day before, so that might help her case. Next she turned to Jaystream, wondering how to answer his question. She had no idea why Sweetheart thought it was a good idea to go out, but it wasn't as if she could just deny her from helping. So she could tell the truth, just leaving out the hiding in the bushes part. She managed to play the role of both humble and offended perfectly. "Why was I out of camp with her? Well, Sweetheart asked if she could go on a walk with me, because we're friends. It wasn't even intended to be a patrol, we just happened to see some ThunderClanners at Sunningrocks. And I know I should of asked you before leaving, but we assumed you had better things to be worrying about."