Chapter 46

## Plot

(Continues from Chapter 45).

The den-building team are tired out from all the den-building and ready for lunch. But there isn’t much on the fresh kill pile – despite having had ‘hours to do it’, the hunting patrol have not restocked it. Suddenly Stalkleaf sees them coming back– OH MY MUDSTAR CAUGHT A DEER. The deer is placed, along with a substantial amount of other dead things, on the pile. Stalkleaf observes that this is Mudstar’s sixth time catching one. Mudstar himself is apparently engaged in a Serious Conversation with Swiftfoot and Plumflower. Dovepaw declares he is ‘the second coolest cat’ she knows. Boulderpatch asks grumpily why Dovepaw is still here, which causes him to receive a kick from Stalkleaf’s foot strong enough to knock him over. (Perhaps Stalkleaf was simply fed up with Boulderpatch’s insolence and decided to put an end to it.) Dovepaw tries to ask whether Boulderpatch okay, but Stalkleaf removes her and Bloomnose from the scene in an incredibly cursed bipedal way. She sits them down in another area. Bloomnose looks vaguely reproving, whereas Dovepaw has gone into some sort of shock. There is a pause.

Stalkleaf breaks this pause by asking Dovepaw who she thinks ‘the first coolest cat is’ (since Mudstar was second). Dovepaw does something which she immediately regrets and says it’s probably Moonpaw, blushing. This causes Stalkleaf and Bloomnose to go into full-on girly-squee shipper mode. They shower Dovepaw with questions and mild teasing, which immediately stops when Dovepaw starts crying, ovewhelmed. Stalkleaf and Bloomnose switch to gentle-comforting-and-apologising mode.

Boulderpatch looks on from afar. He is sitting next to Beetlestripe, chewing meat. He is still fuming about Stalkleaf’s kick, which he, somewhat understandably, thinks was an overreaction. He also complains about how Dovepaw is being treated so nicely (‘that… white-furred piece of mouse dung’) as if they have all forgotten about The Accident. Beetlestripe tells him to chill out, and that it’s not a big deal, which merely enrages Boulderpatch further. He questions Beetlestripe’s friendship. Beetlestripe, hurt, tries again to calm him down. Boulderpatch tells Beetlestripe he is starting to sound like his dad (Dave) and adds that maybe Beetlestripe ‘should be more like him’. When Beetlestripe asks what he was like, Boulderpatch delivers the killer blow: “Dead.” Beetlestripe watches hurtfully as Boulderpatch walks off.

(Of course, Dave isn’t actually dead, but Boulderpatch seems to think he is.)

Mudstar calls a clan meeting. After a few introductory pleasantries, Mudstar tells the clan that there is a ‘new type of spider’ in the woods with a description that matches Softfur’s spider exactly. They must be crushed on sight. But apparently Mudstar hasn’t prepared a reason for why the spiders are so bad, because he says unconvincingly that ‘they are… uh… very um poisonous. If they bite you’. (9rainbowtails notes in the Notes And Credits that she knows the difference between poisonous and venomous, but Mudstar is acting very suspiciously.) Mudstar dismisses the meeting.

At this point Bubblepool puts two and two together - Softfur is harbouring a spider that is apparently extremely dangerous. “SOFTFUR!” she yells.

## Characters

### Major

* Dovepaw
* Stalkleaf
* Boulderpatch
* Mudstar

### Minor

* Bloomnose
* Plumflower
* Swiftfoot
* Bubblepool
* Logheart
* Branchclaw
* Firestone
* Fuzztail
* Snapfur

#### Mentioned

* Moonpaw
* Dave
* Softfur