Open to Join Plot Thread Whispering Wrath Across the Thunderpath

Tiptoe through the murk and mire
✧ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ♖ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ✧

Duskpaw hadn’t expected much when he set out that morning. But as he neared the Thunderpath, his paws slowed, his fur prickling before he even saw the scene. The scent hit him first. Blood. It was sharp and fresh, curling in his throat like bile. Then came the fear thick enough to make his skin crawl. Something was wrong.

He moved forward cautiously, his breath coming in tight, measured huffs. The frost crunched under his paws as he stepped into the clearing - then he saw her. Whisperingwind lay still, twisted unnaturally among the undergrowth, her fur dark with blood. His stomach lurched.

For a heartbeat, he froze, his blue eyes locked on the deep gash at her throat. It was savage, thoughtless - nothing like a clean warrior’s strike. His gaze darted to the marks in the ground, the scuffed earth, the signs of a desperate struggle. Then, the tufts of dark fur clinging to the bark.

His ears pinned back as the tom swallowed hard. He forced himself closer, the sharp scent of death burning his nose. "Whisperingwind...?" He murmured, as if she might still respond. But the way she lay - twisted, motionless - he already knew.

Even in the darkest shadows, there is always a glimmer of light. We just have to look for it.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 🍀 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Clovershine had been on a walk, a solo patrol of one needed a word for it, she hadn’t been hunting, nor did she fell like she wanted to, and the territory seemed rather… quiet anyway, too quiet… The cream colored she-cat felt uncomfortable, a feeling brought on by an eerie silence that fill the air. But her spine quivered, sending her fur to stand on end when she smelt it, the scent was unmistakable and it stung her throat as if she had eaten moss bile. But that just might have been the Thunderpath

Clovershine, against her conscience telling her to run away, pushed forward towards the scent, fear lingered in the air, though, at this point it could have been anyone’s, Clovershine’s, the cause of the blood scent, anyone in the vicinity that bore witness to whatever horror she was about to witness for herself. But regardless of the acrid stench that lingered still in the air Clovershine pushed forward. Curiosity getting the better of the senior warrior.

But that’s when she saw it, Whisperingwind, sprawled out her limbs jagged and her throat practically shredded, the wound uncontrolled and messy, done in a rush, that was no warriors strike but she smelled no predator that could have done such a thing. Before her senses reached her, Clovershine stood practically frozen with her paws on the patchy snow, her bright blue eyes wide and mortified. Suddenly, like a burst of lighting, Clovershine bolted forward "Whisperingwind!!" She wailed examining her tattered pelt before turning the the apprentice nearby.

"She’s dead Duskpaw, no cat could survive that" Clovershine’s eyes filled with water and her voice shook with terror, that she nearly didn’t take notice of the dark smoke fur fleck on the nearby tree bark "Duskpaw, I need you to do something for me. Help me bring Whisperingwind’s body back to camp, we must report all of this to Palestar" she explained before taking a quick whiff of the smoke fur, the scent had been lost over the thunderpath, the killer had gotten away "We need to tell her everything"

Tiptoe through the murk and mire
✧ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ♖ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ✧

Duskpaw barely registered Clovershine’s arrival at first, his ears still ringing with the silence that followed Whisperingwind’s stillness. But then - her voice cut through it all, sharp and stricken.

Of course, he already knew that. But hearing it out loud made it feel heavier, like a stone pressing down on his ribs. His claws dug into the frozen ground as he forced himself to look away from Whisperingwind’s body and toward Clovershine. Her eyes were wide, filled with something that made him uneasy.

Duskpaw’s fur bristled. He had seen the blood, the way it had already started to freeze at the edges of her wounds. He had smelled the sharp tang of death thick in the air. And now Clovershine wanted him to carry her? The thought made his tail flick sharply, a wave of revulsion creeping down his spine.

He wasn’t scared exactly...just... unsettled. Whisperingwind wasn’t Whisperingwind anymore. She was a heavy body stiffened in the cold. He swallowed hard, forcing down the rising discomfort. "You want me to..." He exhaled through his nose, his whiskers twitching. Great. Just great. For a moment, he considered arguing. Maybe he could run ahead, get a patrol, let some other cats deal with this. But then his gaze flickered back to Clovershine’s expression, his adopted mother.

Duskpaw sighed, his ears flattening. "Fine." He muttered softly stepping forward with reluctance before unceremoniously tugging at the body until it was half on his shoulders, all the while shuttering.

Even in the darkest shadows, there is always a glimmer of light. We just have to look for it.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 🍀 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

As Duskpaw unceremoniously heaved half of Whisperingwind's body, Clovershine ducked her head beneath the rest of her body until she was able to slide her shoulders under the limp warrior's belly fur "Duskpaw, I'm here to help you, we both saw her at around the same time, we can tell Palestar together, and we'll..." Clovershine paused, Duskpaw was never her real son, Clovershine knew he wasn't but there was something in Clovershine that felt that he should have been, that he should have been hers instead of whatever rogue he was born to.

But in truth, he was, her had spend most of his life in ShadowClan at this stage, and white her eyes were still glossy and wet, she looked to her adopted... no, her son with as much determination as she could muster up in her panic and worry "We'll tell Palestar everything we know, right?" She said with a twitch of one of her ears, her long legs making strides to match Duskpaw's steps so the two didn't drop the limp barely warm she-cat, her body was growing eerily cold the further they went and Clovershine couldn't help but want to yowl a cry at StarClan, but there was a reason for everything, and StarClam must have had reason for taking Whisperingwind away from them.

"The body of a clanmate is always jarring for any cat of any clan, so we will more than likely get a lot of stares Duskpaw" She warned, though obviously he would have known something like that, every cat would assume something like that wouldn't they? Clovershine's thoughts then slowly drifted back to her dame, Petalstorm, taken while she was spending her time in the elders' den, she should have been having a long rest, but there was no time to feel more grief then she had right now, so she tossed the thought away for the time being and saved it for a later date, now, it was just time to take Whisperingwind's body back to camp.

Tiptoe through the murk and mire
✧ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ♖ ⭒ ♦ ⭒ ✧

Duskpaw gritted his teeth, shifting his weight to keep Whisperingwind’s body balanced. His legs burned under the strain, his fur prickling with the feeling of death clinging to his pelt. He wanted to shake it off, to drop the body and run ahead like his instincts begged him to, but Clovershine’s voice kept him grounded.

He knew that Clovershine was here to help him.. He did. But it didn’t make this any easier. His paws dragged against the cold earth as they trudged forward, the weight on his shoulders pressing down like the leaden realization that this wasn’t some bad dream. This was real.

Her next words made his ear flick sharply. Duskpaw hesitated for just a moment before nodding, his throat tightening. "Yeah...Of course. We'll tell her everything." His voice was gruff with something he didn’t want to name. Shock...? Disgust...? He didn't know.

As they moved, Clovershine kept speaking, filling the silence with words Duskpaw wasn’t sure he needed to hear. He knew they’d be stared at. He knew the camp would be shaken by Whisperingwind’s death. But what he didn’t know - what gnawed at his insides - was who had done this. Whose dark fur he had scented... and if his sire and rest of his family was safe from the threat.