The Red Hand [C]

Redice casually dragged the body back to Shadowclan. The Skyclanner's name he didn't know, nor did it matter. Nightstar wanted him to hunt, so hunt he did. He dragged the body by the scruff, dragging the unconscious (presumed dead by Redice) through the marsh and the muck and the mud. It would be sunrise soon. Redice normally wouldn't have taken so long but the Skyclanner was heavy. On occasion Redice took a breather and sat beside him, admiring the slashes in his belly that had brought the poor tom down. At least it had ended quickly. During one of these breathers that Redice was taking, he thought he heard some movement in the sloshy waters of the marsh. The red tom's eyes went to the source of the noise...

"Nightstar! The hunt was a success. I could use some assistance carrying the carcass home." He spoke calmly and casually. He watched his leader with innocent, unblinking eyes. This piece of freshkill was more impressive than the others that everyone else brought. Unless some fool brought in a dog, Redice had won this little game once and for all.

Nightstar had left camp early instead of tending to repairs because... well something felt off. He wasn't sure what, but Burdockroots cautions about Redice had the Shadowclan leader out in the territory, looking for the tom with little success. That was until he had found Redice with the thick stench of blood, alongside the faint scent of Skyclan. Nightstar blinked at Redice's calm tone, speaking of a successful hunt and needing aid with a carcass, but what could be so big that he needed help? That was when Nightstar's eyes flicked down to see a cat.

Horror flashed across the tom's face, memories surging forth, his dead mentor and second mother, Dawnhawk calling for the death of queens and kits. Horror turned to anger as he looked back up at Redice. "I did not tell you to hunt a cat." Nightstar padded forth and sniffed at the wounds, the scent of Skyclan once more making itself known beneath all the gore. "A Skyclan cat? Do you want us to have troubles with more than just Windclan?" Nightstar's tail lashed, his fur bristling. How could he fix this? "Was he on our border? How much blood and scent did you leave?" Nightstar rapid fired. He could fix this, he could try to twist it- but how could he explain away a cat that his warrior murdered?

Redice would stand trial, and any punishment his clan saw fit, he'd do. But Nightstar was a strong believer in an eye for an eye... but could he really kill his own clanmate? Dear Starclan.

An angry voice breached the tom's unconsciousness, and then he could feel again. Stoatclaw's eyes shot open, propelled by the pain that still pulsed along his injuries. Immediately his sides began to heave violently as he sucked in deep breaths, not caring about the pain that shot through him with each inhalation. He could feel something wet all around. At first he had assumed that it was just more blood, but as the scenery around him started to make sense, the tom realized what it really was. Mud. It clung thickly to his fur and covered his wounds, sapping the warmth from his body. Paws worked at the swampy ground beneath him, begging the warrior to stand, but nothing happened. He had no strength left to get up, what was he to do? Stoatclaw's eyes roamed for the voice that had woken him before eventually falling on a large black tom. Familiar, yes he knew this cat. Nightstar! A glimmer of hope entered the Skyclan tom, was he being saved from that red warrior? Stoatclaw opened his mouth to speak, though all that came was a pitiful rasping noise. Hopefully that would be enough, and hopefully that wouldn't just be inviting the leader to finish the job.

Redice watched the expressions that flashed across Nightstar's face. He still had a hard time reading them but... was it... disgust? The red tom blinked, confusion and uncertainty settling in. Once Nightstar began to speak it started to make sense. Redice glanced down at the dead Skyclan cat for a moment, then put his eyes back on Nightstar.

"I found him on the Thunderpath, silly." His tone was tired with a slight hint of amusement. Maybe that was the only problem? As for the rest of the questions, Redice had to think about it for a moment. The tip of his tail twitched as he began to feel slightly irritated.

"Well maybe if you explained the rules of the game I wouldn't have brought back the wrong prey. You told me to make myself useful and go hunt. I looked at the fresh-kill pile and saw plenty to eat. Clearly you meant bring something else back. So I did. Did you want a dog? Did you want a fox? Did you want a twoleg?? None of those things were on the fresh-kill pile but neither. Was. A. Cat. So there." Now he plopped his rump down indignantly with a splash from the soaked ground. He'd won the game and Nightstar was mad about it. That had to be it. He was mad because he lost. He didn't think Redice could kill a cat and bring it home. Sore loser... that's what he was!

"You could travel along his scent and his blood trail right to the spot where I-" Suddenly the dead Skyclanner made noises. Redice wasn't so naïve to believe dead cats that weren't leaders just... began breathing again. The red tom snapped his head in the Skyclanner's direction and stared, all annoyance forgotten in an instant. His ears flattened back and his tail curled tightly around his paws.

Oh... he didn't die. Is that why Nightstar is mad? Well now what? Redice looked at Nightstar again, his expression back to being annoyed. "One mistake. One little mistake and everyone loses their minds." He was far from apologetic. Redice raised a claw just above the neck of the Skyclanner, but he waited. He looked one more time, sideways, at Nightstar. He wanted to see how his leader was going to react before he did anything. He needed to learn the rules of this game. Was he allowed to fix the mistake or did he have to start all over?

This wouldn't happen if he would just explain things thoroughly. Butt-hurt Nightstar... it's your fault and you know it.

Burdockroot was right, there was something wrong with Redice. Acting like a petulant child as he scolded him, "It doesn't matter if you think the pile is full if I tell you to do something you do it. My word is law." He snarled, but a dark consideration flickered across his thoughts. If Redice went out to kill like he thought Nightstar told him to, surely Redice would do it without question? Redice's indignant rambling faded away as Nightstar considered it. That would be an extremely useful asset to have if used right- But then the skyclan cat made it known that it was alive, both good and bad.

"Don't." Nightstar barked. "He saw you didn't he?" If Redice left any evidence that Skyclan could catch, they were done for, blood, fur, scent, anything. But it would be worse if this now living cat had seen who had attacked him. Nightstar wouldn't be able to turn this around to repay that debt, even if it was convoluted. Frustration mounted. "We'll talk later. Redice. For now, continue dragging him we'll take him to camp and treat his wounds and send a messenger for Skyclan." Nightstar meowed, his thoughts churning on themselves with fervor as he tried to work out a way to get out of this with the least amount of backlash possible.

Redice would be useful.