Fox-Hearted

Despite recent events, the day was beautiful, with trees and flowers finally beginning to bloom as leafbare lost its' grip on the forest. Graywind stretched, making her way to the edge of camp, offering Honeydew a polite dip of her head. The sunhigh patrol would be leaving soon, and she was eager to get going. The weather was simply too nice to stay in camp. Maybe their patrol would be as pleasant.

"Bye, Honeydew!" Ambersun called. "We'll be home soon!" Words that seven-moon-old Amberpaw would never have uttered, but that Ambersun felt were right for who she was right now. Home might have been boring - of course it was - but after moons of exploring and uncertainty, she now enjoyed the boredom of SkyClan's camp.

Once the patrol was far from camp, Ambersun kept pace with Graywind to talk with her. "Do you like being on these border patrols, Graywind?" she asked. The act of patrolling the border itself was not that appealing to Ambersun - though she did know it needed to be done. To her, though, border patrols were best spent talking with her clanmates, getting to know them a little better and connecting with them as they did their duties.

It was ironic that she was simultaneously doing her best to ignore the other cat who was also on the patrol with them. But she had nothing to say to him, so she continued doing so.

It was bright when the patrol left SkyClan's camp, a cloudless blue sky stretching above them for as far as the eye could see. Soon, the bare limbs would fill with new leaves and branches, and they would only be able to see glimpses through the clutter... but for now, the sun, high in the sky, supervised the three cats as they padded deeper into the forest. It had been a pleasant surprise to find he was on patrol with his sister this morning... they hadn't had a good chat in some time, but before he even had the chance to, Myrtlebloom - who was not so subtly pretending he didn't exist - struck up conversation first.

Yellow eyes flicked between them for a moment, and the tiniest hint of annoyance flared in his gaze, but the yellow tom turned away without a word, resigning himself to spending this patrol in solitude and silence, instead. He'd long since grown used to the cold shoulder... and to the bitter, untrusting looks half the clan sent his way. He was surprised, even, that Honeydew had chosen him to lead this patrol, all things considered, but what did it matter? Their dislike of him had yet to change his goals... and if he had to sacrifice every friend he had just to keep SkyClan safe, it would still be worth it in the end.

Wouldn't it?

Sunfire laid his ears flat, not liking the way that that question, for the first time, didn't seem to have a clear answer. The warrior swallowed past the tightness in his throat and quickened his pace, putting distance in between himself and the she-cats. He concentrated instead on the damp dirt beneath his paws, on the scents he dragged in through his nostrils. A sparrow flitted across his field of vision, and he followed it, but stopped short when the acrid scent of death coated his tongue.

He was still too far ahead of the others to say something without shouting, so he angled his body across the center of the trail, hoping it would signal to his patrolmates that something wasn’t right, and they could be cautious proceeding. But for the time being, everything was calm… there was nothing in sight, no birds alarm-calling through the trees, just that heavy, thick stench of old blood and the early stages of decay.

“Hold on,” he told them finally, when their pawsteps sounded behind him. “Do you smell that?”

A breeze carried the scent to them again, and Sunfire pinpointed the direction it was coming from. He looked over his shoulder, fixing them with a stare that was all business. “Stay quiet and follow me.”

Creeping forward, Sunfire moved off the path and directly followed the scent, his pawsteps slow and methodical. Whatever it was, was close, and it didn’t take the patrol but a few minutes before a mess of red and orange could be spied through the bushes. There was a quick pause to ensure that there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger, and then the yellow tom pushed through the bushes and emerged on the other side to a sight of immense carnage.

A fox - or what once had been a fox - lay strewn at the bottom of a large tree. It had been gutted, almost, entrails dragged haphazardly across the ground, and its neck was one raw, gaping wound. Black flies buzzed around the fox’s maw, which was open in almost a sort of silent scream, broken, gorestained fangs bared at nothing and everything all at once. Sunfire narrowed his eyes, immediately suspicious that whatever had killed it would still be nearby, but after his investigatory glance, there seemed to be no threat, so he moved closer. “Whatever did this was no cat…” he muttered, more aloud to himself than the others.

But what had it been? The scent of death overpowered anything else, so there was no telling… but it lacked the scratches and small punctures that would have been indicative of a warrior patrol having handled it. Whatever did this had been larger than the fox… and had torn it apart indiscriminately, like it was prey. “Graywind… what do you think?”

"I'd like them more if they were less eventful, honestly." Graywind replied to Ambersun's question, "But it's so nice out today, and it's good to get out of camp and stretch our legs." And it truly was a nice day, the sky was clear, there was a warmth in the air that reminded Graywind of when she was an apprentice. Times had been simpler then, with less to worry about.

Graywind fell silent as the patrol made their way through the territory. Sunfire was silent and brooding ahead of them, Graywind's golden eyes settling on her brother for a moment before a soft huff escaped her and she shook her head. There was plenty bothering him, it seemed, and she was unsure of how to approach him... Or her other brother, for that matter. At some point things had changed and they had all grown distant from one another. It was wrong but she didn't know how to address it... And maybe she was a little afraid to try.

Sunfire's body cutting in front of the path ahead rather than continuing straight drew a concerned look from the silver she-cat, drawing in a slow breath at his words. "Fox." Dead, by the smell of it... And there was something else. Something foul. Her nose wrinkled.

In silence, Graywind took to the trees, trailing after her brother from above. She was not so tall or bulky as her mother and that made moving through the trees easy. The wind carried the foul scent, growing stronger as they abandoned the trail and slowly approached the scent's source.

Bits of mangled red and white fur caught her eye, standing out against the still-drab terrain of Skyclan's rocky forest. Graywind's lip curled in visible disgust at the sight before her, the mangled corpse buzzing with flies and reeking of death. The sight of a dead fox was a joyous one, given the last several times Graywind had encountered the filthy animals, but the how... "No cat... But what, then?" Her voice was soft, and Graywind's gaze swept over their surroundings.

"Whatever it is isn't here... But if they can do that to a fox..." She grimaced, "I don't like the look of that." She fell silent for a few moments, staring down at the mangled body.

"None of the other patrols mentioned anything that I'm aware of... I think Honeydew should be informed. Whatever did this could still be lurking around and if that fox is anything to go by... It's a threat."

Ambersun nodded. "Yeah, I get that," she said. "It's never really fun when something bad happens on these kinds of patrols..."

She trailed off after the stench of rotting flesh and stale fox hit her nose. "I smell it too," she replied, turning towards the breeze that carried the scent before following Sunfire silently. They eventually arrived at the rotting corpse of a fox, gutted and sliced by... something. Something gigantic, from the size of the wounds.

"Maybe... it was a wolf?" As she brought it up, she felt like the wounds were very similar to the ones on Lionstripe's body, back when they escaped from the wolves all those moons ago. A grown wolf would be more than big enough to take a fox down, too. At the same time... something felt wrong. Why would a wolf just have left a dead fox here instead of eating it? Did it kill the fox for fun? And why would its stomach be cut open like that? It's not like a wolf would have - or even could have - slid under a fox and raked its belly to do that much damage. "I can't think of anything else that big that could have killed a fox like this."

As Graywind suggested to leave, Ambersun followed suit. "I agree with Graywind. We should go back and let SkyClan know about the mangled fox, and that something wolf-sized is lurking around our territory."