the night is my companion, and solitude my guide [solo]

There was no snow here.

She was sheltered beneath the skeletal remains of a juniper bush, its foliage long since dead or gone - but what remained of it, mostly branches and vines and crisp leaves - was enough to shield her from view from all but the most sharp-eyed of creatures. Behind her, the snow-covered forest, bathed in shadows... and before her, the flat, empty stretch of land that surrounded Snakerocks. Since there were no shadows here, and the sun was free to beam down on the rocky landscape, the snow had melted, leaving this particular section of the territory perfect for doing exactly what the pointed tabby warrior had come here to do.

Since hearing about StarClan's anger, and about their demands that the clans purify themselves, Rainstrike had been deliberating. Should she sit back, and wait? Give StarClan the time to enact their own plans, or should she step in and give them a paw? She knew Oakstar - he was her kin, after all - and she knew how he felt about StarClan's ultimatums. He was never going to give in, never going to cast aside clan-hoppers, or punish blood-traitors who sought mates outside their own borders. And in doing such, in being so stubborn, he was endangering the entirety of ThunderClan.

So she couldn't just stand in the background and do nothing. She couldn't allow ThunderClan to be targeted because of weak-minded leadership. She wouldn't.

...

An hour passed. And then another. Even contained in her makeshift den, the warrior was cold, nearly cold enough to give up. But the sun had been at its highest point for quite some time now, and Rainstrike knew that if there was going to be a time, it would be soon. So she waited a bit longer, and soon enough, her patience was rewarded. A flicker of movement snagged her attention, and her eyes, only her eyes, moved to catch it. An adder's head poked from beneath a cluster of rocks, its long tongue flickering out to taste the air. She watched it move, its full length unveiled as it slithered across the sun-warmed rocks in search of prey. It was cold, too cold for the snake, but the creature had been lured out by the false spring, and that's what Rainstrike had been counting on. As the snake headed away from her, she slipped from the bush, silent, calculating. Her first steps on the warm, snowless expanse may have been more welcomed if every hair hadn't been on edge from the instinctive fear she felt being so close to the adder. This was reckless and stupid, but she knew her limits, and she had a plan.

Lining herself up with the snake, who had paused again in search of scents, Rainstrike crouched, tensed, and then rushed forward. She reached the snake just as it noticed her, and she saw its bared fangs as she scooped it skyward. It writhed in the air, confused and angry, and landed with a hiss in a snowdrift at the edge of the clearing. Rainstrike sprinted after it, keeping her distance as the snake desperately tried to seek warmth, out of its element in the snow. And that's what she had predicted, waiting until the creature's struggling had mostly ceased, and it lay still and stiff. Cautiously, she moved forward, testing her limit, but the snake was nonresponsive, predictably in the throes of unconsciousness or even death. Perfect. She approached slowly, reaching down to grasp the snake by the back of the head, where it was no danger to her if it started to revive. Using her paw to shove the snake's length up over her back, so it wasn't dangling, she carefully began to make her way back to the ThunderClan camp.

She stuck off-path, but even so saw no sign of other cats as she slipped through the dirtplace tunnel. She crouched there, eyes sweeping the camp to make sure she was alone, before dashing quickly to the Highrock, scaling it with ease and making her way inside. It was empty, as she expected - Oakstar was out on patrol. Just as she'd accounted for. Had he been here unexpectedly, it would have been easy enough to dispatch the snake simply by crunching its neck between her teeth and present the creature as a gift. But he wasn't here. And so her plan could continue unhindered. She crept forward, lowering her shoulder so first the snake's tail, then the rest of its body, was nestled into the thick, lush nest that the leader had built. Tensing, she quickly dropped the snake's head and leaped away before it could strike, though it didn't, as it was still very sluggish from the cold. She watched it settle down into Oakstar's nest, camouflaged by shadows, and then she turned and walked away, leaping down from the Highrock and heading for her own nest.

Sorta felt like the right time to take a nap.

[continued here: https://warriorclancats.forumotion.com/t40707-the-serpent-s-den-open]