On their way back to the camp, no one made a sound...

"I've never seen anyone this quiet," Tigerpelt quietly said to his littermate.

"I know," replied Dawnclaw without turning her head to look at him.

Dawnclaw looked over at her mother, Blueheart still had a straight face with no emotion. They had been shocked by what she said to the leaders and clans at the gathering. She was normally pretty quiet and calm. She normally kept to herself. Dawnclaw didn't remember her father much but she knew Tigerpelt did. She knew the death had been a lot on his little heart at the time. He had been in good spirits since then, most likely not able to remember enough to greave this long after.

Once they arrive back at camp it was well after dark, the gathering took from just after sun high to about sunset. That wasn't a normal gathering time frame but, they were discussing something that involved all the clans is it was a big deal. But even after discussing a plan for each individual clan, it still ended in arguing which led to Blueheart's speech, which lead to the clans leaving in silence after for once Yellowstar quietly and calmly excused everyone.

Everyone seemed just to go straight to their dens. All except Nightstar, Leaftail and some of the elders.

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The next morning, Dawnclaw was the first up. She walked out of the warrior den and stretched. She walked over to the fresh-kill pile, but there wasn't a pile, nothing.

But wasn't it full last night?

It didn't make sense. Where did all the prey go? She looked over and saw Leaftail emerging from the den.

"Dawnclaw? Where is all the prey?" Leaftail asked, a concerned look on his face.

"I don't know," replied Dawnclaw, "it was full when we got back wasn't it?"

"Yeah... it was" Leaftail said before bounding over to Nightstar's den.
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"All cats gather below the highrock!" Nightstar yowled from the top of the highrock.

Cats quickly gathered, eager to find out what was going on. They all exchanged worried glances.

"All our freshkill is gone! Did anyone see what happened to it?"

Cats all looked around at each other, but no one seemed to know what happened to the freshkill.

"Leaftail and I agreed to send some patrols out. We need to track where it went. I will be sending Dawnclaw, Leaftail, Specklepaw, Mousepaw, and Brownfur on the trail. Leaftail will lead you."

Specklepaw and Mousepaw eagerly bounded over to Leaftail and smiled from one tip of their ears to the other.