of the thought [ open! ]

[T. Corpse]

SPIDERTAIL

As the day got older, Spidertail started to lose his energy. He'd started out the day on a patrol along the BrookClan border and it had sapped any of his enthusiasm. The tension in the air was unbelievable; lately BrookClan swore that GoldenClan was trespassing. Of course, his Clanmates were enraged; as far as they knew, no cat had crossed the border. He felt sick with guilt--just the previous night he'd met Fawnstripe for the last time before she had her kits. He knew it was his fault and hoped that they wouldn't meet any BrookClan patrols who would recognize his scent.

They didn't, but Spidertail didn't feel any better. He knew that if there was a battle over this it would be his fault, but he couldn't confess his betrayal. He was just oddly silent during the patrol, and when they returned to camp, he started limping and told Sedgefur, the cat leading the patrol, that he must of hurt his paw and he was going off to see Rootfrost. The black tom nodded and muttered that Spidertail had been oddly quiet today.

Of course, he'd been lying (and felt all the more guilty for it). As soon as he could, he crept back out of camp and bounded away, to the opposite border. As much as he wished he could talk to Fawnstripe, he knew she would be getting ready to have their kits--and besides, he couldn't risk that they get caught meeting, especially not now. He couldn't take the chance of leaving more GoldenClan scent on their side of the border, either.

He ran until he felt exhausted and worn out, and by then he'd reached the fence. He was breathing heavily and his fur felt too hot for him but he paid it no mind--he was away from the camp, and as far as he knew, no cat would be patrolling this border today until sundown. So he jumped up onto the fence, padded along it until he found a wide post, and sat down.

Spidertail stared out into the land beyond the border, thinking. He needed to make sense of his feelings, needed to figure out what to do and when. He loved his Clan, but he also loved Fawnstripe. He wanted to be loyal to GoldenClan, and make his family and fellow warriors proud, and yet he was the father of kits that were going to be born to BrookClan. He had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He stared out beyond the territory, thinking.

[' Swifty ?!]

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[atrb=background,http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm141/Spottedbelly/Eaglestarmain.png] It had been a long, hard day for Eaglestar. He'd been on his paws for most of it, hunting and scent marking for the Clan, and in truth, he just wanted to rest. But camp had not been the best place to do that; it was too noisy, with cats almost constantly going in and out. Then the tom thought about how he and Adderfang used to explore the old wood fence as apprentices, and remembered how calm and peaceful it was this time of day. And BrookClan's rather unusual accusations didn't help his stress levels, by any means. They had no reason to blame GoldenClan for crossing into their territory. Why would they? They certainly didn't want any of their disgusting water prey, and he hadn't given any invasion orders. Eaglestar padded through the familiar wheat, which was fairly tall by now, but he still made not a sound. This was something his Clan was skilled at, being taught to stalk silently through these fields as apprentices. Actually, that was usually one of the very first things GoldenClan mentors would teach their apprentices. At least it was, in his case. Finally, he came across the haystack fields, which was the checkpoint that he was close to the fence. The fence was dangerous if a cat didn't know what they were doing, since it nearly aligned perfectly with the thunderpath. Because of that, apprentices usually weren't allowed there without supervision. The dream he'd had at the end of leaf-bare still lingered in the back of his mind, but he hadn't heard anything from StarClan or Rootfrost since then, so he had calmed down a bit. He always felt vulnerable when he walked through the haystack fields, but it could rarely be avoided unless he wanted to walk all the way around, which he didn't. Finally, the fence came into view and Eaglestar sped up his pace into a quick gallop. Once he'd gotten close, he slowed back down to a trot, and stopped. A gray figure caught his attention, sitting atop a wooden post that intersected each section of the fence. But to his relief, he instantly recognized him to be a GoldenClan cat. "Oh, Spidertail," he meowed loud enough for the gray tom to hear. Once he was sure no monsters were coming, he slithered up the fence and balanced himself. "I didn't know you'd be out here," he purred as he sat himself down. He trusted each of his warriors considerably, so the thought of one of his own cats trespassing had never actually crossed his mind. It may have peered in for a heartbeat or two, but he had never believed it. WORD COUNT: 442 COMMENTS: --- MUSE: Okay

[T. Corpse]

SPIDERTAIL

When he heard Eaglestar call out to him, Spidertail jumped so high he almost fell off his post when he came back down. Not only had he not really been paying much attention to surroundings (he was the best warrior ever) but he was terrified to hear his Leader's voice. Did Eaglestar know? Did he follow him out here to punish him? His mind was ablaze with worries and fear and for a moment he just sat rigidly still, looking at anything but the other cat.

But then he noticed the ease in Eaglestar's voice and the lack of anything accusatory. If he knew, he wouldn't be so calm and friendly; Spidertail was sure that there would be retribution once he was found out. For now he was safe. He got rid of all the tension he could, but he was still stiff when he turned to look at the other cat and dip his head. For a moment he could think of nothing to say, so he just sat in an awkward, uncomfortable silence.

After another silent moment passed between them Spidertail finally forced words out--and as usual, as soon as he started talking, he couldn't stop. "Hi, uh, I mean, greetings, Eaglestar. It's--uh--nice, I mean, an honor, to see you here." His ears were hot with embarrassment and he felt sick and nervous and his heart wouldn't stop pounding, but he couldn't clamp his mouth shut. "I--I--didn't think I'd see you here. I thought that you--I mean--of course you could come here, you're Clan Leader, aren't you?"

"Uhmm," he finished, looking away and his fur fluffed up. He curled his tail around him, hunched his shoulders, and looked away. Oh yeah. He was smooth. That was a perfect way to make himself seem totally innocent--if Eaglestar didn't suspect something before, he sure would now. Spidertail was getting worse and worse at hiding his secret.

[' Swifty ?!]

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[atrb=background,http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm141/Spottedbelly/Eaglestarmain.png] His gaze remained steady and confident as he listened to Spidertail ramble on. He'd always been a talker, and honestly Eaglestar never believed that the Clans were for him. Still, the young warrior had proved himself loyal countless times, and the leader had no reason to doubt him now. Even if his stammering did seem unusually suspicious at the time. No, he trusted all his warriors with great ferocity, and would give them his last life if he had to. Not that he wouldn't punish a cat if they were trespassing; he wasn't a softie, no matter how much one might think so at first glance. His day to day personality differed greatly from his father, Hawkclaw, but his ferocity and viciousness in battle was just the same. Finally, he took a breath and turned his head away from his clan-mate, looking out over the thunderpath and into the forest of HillClan. "You know, BrookClan was a dear ally of ours before these accusations occurred," he meowed strongly, not a single bit of doubt lining his tone. He shook his head, and flicked both ears in unison, "And I don't quite understand what's going on in that mind of Pantherstar. She's usually so level headed about everything, she must have real reason to believe we've trespassed." Eaglestar's neck fur bristled as the memory of that vicious meeting filled his mind. He tried to visualize what Pantherstar's tone had been like and her body language; neither one seemed like she was lying at all. Maybe she's just a good actor, he thought to himself. Then he remembered how BrookClan used to cooperate with them before last leaf-bare, and that's when an idea struck him. A growl escaped his maw as his eyes slitted and became fierce. "Or perhaps they're getting revenge for my denying them our prey this previous leaf-bare," he snarled, even going so far as to bare his fangs. Deep down, he knew that didn't make much sense either, not with Pantherstar leading them. As he thought before, she was way too level headed to make stuff up for a reason like that. She had to have understood how difficult it was for GoldenClan at that time, too. It was Eaglestar's job to put his Clan before his friends and allies. Still, it was the only explanation that he could come up with, that made at least a little sense. "No matter. If she wants a fight, I'll give her one. Plain and simple." His temporary anger seemed to subside, and he began to lick his neck fur back into place. "You will accompany us on that patrol, won't you? We won't lose for something we didn't do," he purred, lashing his tail back and forth across the wooden fence. WORD COUNT: 458 COMMENTS: --- MUSE: Okay

[T. Corpse]

SPIDERTAIL

For once, Spidertail was quiet. He didn't say anything; he just listened to his leader with a sick, sinking feeling. He wished that he could bring himself to confess but he just couldn't. He almost wished that Eaglestar knew of his betrayal because maybe his disappointment would be better than this ignorance--he couldn't bear to sit here and listen to his leader talk as if he were innocent, because he wasn't. He hated that he had his leader's trust when he didn't deserve it. He hated that he was doing more harm to his clam than he could help.

Spidertail stared ahead, still and quiet, listening. He listened as Eaglestar tried to come up with a reason for BrookClan to suddenly believe that GoldenClan were trespassing and he wanted to jump up and yowl "it's me!" but he kept himself silent. He hunched over and he continued to listen, feeling sicker and sicker.

He was still lost in silence when Eaglestar got to the bit about fighting, and how he wanted the young warrior to join the patrol. He had stopped paying a whole lot of attention to what Eaglestar was actually saying and instead he'd been focusing on his own guilt and Eaglestar's belief of his innocence.

He jumped, and stuttered: "Uh--yeah!" Because could he had said no?

"Yeah, I--I would love to join you." He said, blinking rapidly, trying to force his voice to sound calm and level. And Spidertail was willing to fight--he'd never really met any other BrookClanners, other than Fawnstripe, and he was sure that he would be able to see them as enemy warriors--besides, Fawnstripe wouldn't be at the battle, anyway. She'd be in the nursery.

The young cat took a deep breath. "I'd love to fight." He said, straightening up and doing his best to look collected and confident.