Starlightlynxes: Stars in the Sky #1: Twilight

~Chapter 3~

Someone's in trouble. Starlight could feel it. She was out gathering herbs- dried ones that were left from last fall- instead of training- which she was supposed to be doing with Cloud and River. She started running towards camp. Herbs can wait. When she burst through the entrance she saw half the lynxes staring at Moonsight with worry.

"What happened here?" She asked Stone.

"Nothing happened here." Stone glanced at her for a second before looking at the trainee's den. "But something did happen in the forest." He explained everything. From River and Dawn going hunting, to Ash finding a clearing with their blood and wolf stench.

"Oh." Star nodded in thanks to the young lynx before padding towards the den.

Storm was lying in her nest, head buried in her paws.

"Come with me." Starlight meowed.

Storm raised her head in confusion. "What?"

"Come with me." She repeated. "Let's go check out the clearing. We don't know anything about this 'death', so let's go check it out."

"Why?" Storm asked. "Moonsight said no one can go there." She flattened her ears and whimpered in sorrow.

"I know." Star purred to comfort. "But I want to see it for myself. Don't you?"

. . .

Star knew that tracking was hard in the snow, but you gotta do what you gotta do when you have a dead lynx case on your paws. She wasn't even good at tracking, so she felt completely useless. Storm was basically doing most of the scent finding, but that was okay with Starlight. Her nose was freezing.

As they padded through the forest, Storm stopped suddenly, causing Star to almost smack right into her.

"I've lost the scent." Storm's stump-tail waved with anger. "Great. Now what?"

"Don't give up!" Star encouraged. "Remember, Moonsight said it was in a small clearing. So, do you know where any clearings are?"

"No."

"Well, we still shouldn't give up. We'll find it."

"How?" Storm looked distraught. "I was never very good at tracking. My nose wasn't really ever one of the strong types." She blinked sadly.

Star brushed against her. She felt sad too. River and Dawn were so young. They couldn't be dead. They were strong. River was one of the strongest trainees, and Dawn was an awesome tracker and hunter. If they'd gotten lost, River would keep them both safe and Dawn could find home again. As big as the forest was, Dawn knew her way around. They would come home.

"Wait!" A call sounded behind them.

"Who's there?" Storm spun around, pelt bristling..

"It's just me." Hawk emerged from some bushes. "I saw you two leave, and I suspected that you were going-"

"We don't care what you are trying to say." Star interrupted. "Just help us find the scent." He didn't hesitate and started searching.

In no time at all, Hawk found the scent, and the trio followed it all the way to the clearing Moonsight had said all the blood was.

"Wow." Was all Storm could get out.

"Wow is right." Hawk agreed.

Wow. Star blinked in disbelief. The clearing had bits of fur everywhere, and blood staining the snow.

"No lynx could survive losing that much blood." Hawk shook his head.

Storm turned to leave, but Star stopped her.

"Wait." She meowed.

"What is it?" Hawk questioned, tilting his head.

She went over to the biggest patch of blood and sniffed. "Just as I thought. This isn't River and Dawn's blood. This is rabbit blood."

"What?" Storm went to another patch of blood and sniffed. "You're right!" She exclaimed.

"Over here!" Hawk was standing over a rock. "This is River's blood." Starlight and Storm padded over and looked at it, fear rising in Star's fur.

Inside, Storm felt dread like never before, Star could tell. What will Storm do if River is dead? How will she go on? She thought. "That's River's blood alright." She meowed. "But there's not a lot or any death scent. I think that River is still alive."

"Me too." Hawk agreed. "What about Dawn?"

' Star walked to another patch of blood. Not Dawn's. She saw a place in the snow that looked like there had been a struggle. "I found Dawn's scent. There's no blood though." She told Storm and Hawk.

"They must be alive." Starlight mewed.

"We have to tell Moonsight about this." Hawk hissed.

"Do you really think that he will listen to a very new Starlightlynx and two trainees?" Storm asked sarcastically.

"Well... no." He admitted. "But shouldn't we at least try?"

"What are the chances of him listening to us? Everyone will think that we've lost our minds." Star shook her head. "There's no point." She pricked her ears. "Someone's coming."

"How do you know?" Hawk listened carefully, but didn't seem to hear anything.

"Ear tufts." Storm pointed her paw at Starlight's ears, which had unusually long tufts sticking up.

"No need to talk about ear tufts." Star looked to the edge of the clearing.

The bushes rustled. "What are you doing here?" Ash stepped out. Midnight followed.

"We just wanted to see things for ourselves." Star sent a warning glare to her friends, warning them not to tell him what they found. "We were just about to leave."

"Did you find anything?" He asked. He looked almost...

Storm shook her head. "Nothing."

"Well you'd best be off then." Midnight purred happily. "Moonsight is closing this clearing." Star nodded and started moving towards the entrance. Storm and Hawk followed.