Poisoned Fangs, Scenes 1-4: A death of a code breaker

#### Summary: Tumbleflight, Snakeclan's medicine cat catches Sandfoot trying to meet up with his mate Ripplewish, who is from another clan, Echoclan. Tumbleflight kills Sandfoot by smashing his body in a rock, Chivebean catches Tumbleflight do this, and the next morning, she talks to the other cats about it. They don't believe her and Tumbleflight catches on what she's doing and follow her durning Pigeonpaw's training session. He finds out that Chivebean has been letting Pigeonpaw see a kittypet named Violet. When the she-cats get back to camp, the cats are mourning Sandfoot's death. Weaselpaw lectures the clan of how cats can't be gay and that Sandfoot died because Starclan didn't allowed toms to be with toms. The clan is shocked by Weaselpaw's speech and Tumbleflight is frustrated of how wrong Weaselpaw is in her speech. Chivebean tries to tell Kinkstar how Sandfoot actually killed, but she was interrupted by **Chivetail**, who has Frogdust and Weaselpaw talk to Kinkstar about Weaselpaw's speech from earlier.

The Snakeclan camp was silent in the blanket of night, no cat stirred besides the guards outside the camp entrance. A cat's piercing eyes could be seen from the medicine den exit, watching closely as a young tom walked toward the dirtplace tunnel. The young tom squeezed through the tunnel entrance, which lead outside camp into the forest. The medicine cat watched silently, glancing around the camp before squeezing in after him.

The medicine cat, Tumbleflight, stepped out into the forest, careful not to step on a single leaf or twig. He saw Sandfoot sniffing the ground curiously, unaware of his surroundings. Tumbleflight crept forward carefully, and set his sights on the tom.

*I wonder where Sandfoot's going at this time of night?* Tumbleflight thought *maybe I should follow him some more.*

Sandfoot looked around, making Tumbleflight duck into the underbrush. Sandfoot began running all of a sudden, though he hadn’t spotted the medicine cat in the bushes

*why's he running all of a sudden did he notice me?* Tumbleflight thought, he began to panic. Tumbleflight continued to follow him through the forest. *I hope he didn't spot me* again even more worried.

Tumbleflight kept pace behind the ginger tom, he huffed, questions began piling in his mind. *Why is he here? What is he doing here?*

Sandfoot stops suddenly at the border of a neighboring clan and mews the name “Ripplewish.” Tumble flight waits patiently as the tom mews again. After a while, Sandfoot looked at his paws, obviously disappointed. Sandfoot turned around and headed back towards the dirt place tunnel.

*Was he meeting up with a cat from another clan?* Tumbleflight can feel his pelt starting to rise with anger *He's a Traitor to the warrior code! Should I tell the clan what would Kinkstar say? He needs to be punished! Forget it, I'll just do it myself.*

Tumbleflight slowly followed him back to a familiar spot. Tumbleflight jumped up the small rock heap and watched Sandfoot sit down looking almost miserably, and then look up at the stars.

"Our warrior ancestors would be disappointed in you Sandfoot"

Sandfoot jumped, the voice had surprised him. He looked around and then saw the dark black tabby tom looming over him from behind, the moon shining brightly behind the dark tom.

"Tumbleflight?" What are you doing out here?" Sandfoot yelped

Tumbleflight inched closer to the huge rock at the top "I should ask you the same"

Before Sandfoot could answer Tumbleflight continued "how's Ripplewish?"

Sandfoot looked surprised then acted confused "What do you mean?" he nervously asked

"You know exactly what I mean traitor!" Tumbleflight responded almost yelling "And now you must be punished"

Before sandfoot could realize what was happening Tumbleflight pushed the rock as hard as he could and it fell down fast. Blood spattered everywhere. Sandfoot's limbs went still as the blood started to pool out.

*It was over, the traitor was no more.* Tumbleflight huffed, he's was now pleased that now seeing that the cat was dead.

He jumped down the rest of the rocks careful not to trip and end up like Sandfoot. *he won't get a proper burial.* He looked at the corspe. *But does he deserve one? No* he quickly answered himself, quickly walking away. He heard rustling from the bushes, he turned to see a flash of cream fur. He stood still for a while, making sure he wasn't mistaken. It shook off the thought and quietly made his way back to his den, although he was worried there could a possible witness.

Dawn comes, Tumbleflight wakes up, he yawns and stretches it's legs. He turns to see a few she cats gather around together.

“I saw him do it!” Chivebean whispered loudly enough for Tumbleflight to hear. Her other she cat friends looked amused.

''Really? He's a medicine cat!'' Sunflower burst in, "there's no way he could've done that!" she then laughed

Tumbleflight turned to face they're direction, *Medicine cat? But I'm the medicine cat? What are they talking about?* He wondered. Tumbleflight got up and for closer listening to the she cats talk.

''He wouldn't hurt anyone!'' sunflower mumbled

*hurt?* *What could they be talking about?* He glanced over at Chivebean, and suddenly remembered the cream colored pelt he saw last night. *That's the same cream color flash I saw last night!* He approached sat down wanting to hear every last word in the conversation *let's see what she knows*

"What why are the silent all of a sudden?" Tumbleflight slowly stood up and walked over to the she cats "lovely day isn't it?" The shecat turned and stared at the tom

"Am I bothering you?" He said trying to be nice "not at all," one of the she cats answered "I wonder what happened to sandfoot I haven't seen him in awhile?" Before any of the she cats could answer he continued "maybe he ran off to be a kittypet or a loner?" Chivebean sat uneasily, she shuffled her paws and keep her gaze away from Tumbleflight.

Sunflower nodded, ''Maybe... but that doesn't seem like him!''

"How well did you know sandfoot?" "He was always getting into trouble as an apprentice and lately before we noticed him missing, he was always somewhere besides the camp" Tumbleflight responded quickled "he's probably happy where he is now"

Sunflower's ears flattened against her head. ''How do you know?'' she muttered

"I was a warrior with him at one point. Remember, I wasn't always a nice medicine cat" Tumbleflight said remembering his warriors days "I became one because I almost died"

"i am deeply sorry Tumbleflight, we were just discussing about sandfoot's sudden disapperance" Chivebean mewed. "I am sorry you had to experience that." Chivebean heisitated, trying to think of way to change the subject. "If Sandfoot is really dead, I am sure he's happy where he is now. Now, excuse me as I need to take my apprentice training" The fluffy cream she cat quickly then padded off.

*Dead? I only mentioned that I thought he was happy were he was now! She does know something I'll have keep an eye on her.* Tumbleflight turned around towards the camp entrance  "I've got herbs to collect" he said "tell Kinkstar if he needs me" Tumbleflight continued walking until he was out of the camp. *Now I can see what Chivebeans up to!*

Kinkstar emerged from his den, his eyes filled with worry. Rumors began to spread through camp about Sandfoot’s disappearance, some cats believed he was dead and the others thought he had ran away or even stolen by two legs. Chivetail followed Kinkstar out of the den, his face a mixture of fear and confusion. “We can’t have our clan spreading rumors around, Kinkstar. Perhaps we should send a search party for the lost warrior?”

"Good idea chivetail" kinkstar responded nervous "could you organize the search party?"

Chivetail bowed his head briskly, “Yes Kinkstar. Wise as always.” Chivetail hopped onto the large rock that laid in the center of camp and called to the warriors. “Frogdust, you will lead the patrol and I will take the rear. Everyone stay alert as we don’t know if danger has made itself into our territory!” Chivetail hopped down and exited camp with his patrol.

Kinkstar watched as chivetail exited the camp "he's going to make a great leader   one day" the tom thought he turned and walked back into den and laid down. A *lost warrior already?* he thought *I've only been leader for a few moons since racoonstar died.* Worried slumped in his throat. Then a question chocked in him, *does the clan hate me? Is there anything I could have done to prevent this? No.* he answered himself "it's not my fault" he laid his head down and slowly fell asleep.

Kinkstar woke up to sound of snakes, hissing and squirming between his paws. Startled, he jumped. He wasn’t in his den nor in camp. One snake leaps out from from the pile and snuck their fangs into one other. A cat silhouette appeared from behind him. A voice echoed “There is poison in the fangs of a snake, and the venom must be neutralized” One of the snakes charged straight at Kinkstar.

AAAHHH" the tom screamed. He woke up in a cold sweat, trying to catch his breath.

"calm down kinkstar" he said to himself "it was a dream or was it a prohecy?" The young white tom stood up and walked out of his den. C*hivetail's not back yet*. he thought. *I should tell Tumbleflight about my dream? he'll know what it means*

Kinkstar walked towards the medicine cat Den "Tumbleflight?" He called careful not to step in Tumbleflight didn't like uninvited guests "Tumbleflight?" He called again "oh no his he missing too?"

"Tumbleflight went to collect herbs" a voice mewed from behind, it was Marshpaw, they walked up to their leader.

"oh tell him I need to see him when he gets back" kinkstar turned and respond

"got it" then they ran off.

Kinkstar wandered back to his den and sat down. *Poison in the fangs of a snake?* *Was there a traitor in the clan to blame for sandfoots disappearance?*

"KINKSTAR! Hurry get out here" The tom jumped up and ran outside his den Chivetail was back.

Chivetail’s fur was bristling from ears to tail tip and his pupils were as thin as a strand of hair. “We found Sandfoot!” Kinkstar was happy for a moment before noticing the grim looks from the other patrol members. Frogdust let out a wail and collapsed to the ground, “He’s dead!” Tears streamed down the she-cats face as she yowled.

Chivetail nodded solemnly. “We found his body, he was crushed by a Boulder. We couldn’t-“

He was cut off as Frogdust let out another grief stricken wail for her brother’s death. Chivetail continued with pity, “I’m sorry, he cannot get a proper buried for him as it would be impossible to recover his body.”

"w..what?" Kinkstar responded grief flooded the tom."Sandfoot was a noble warrior and we will find the monster responsible for this. Frogdust I'm sorry your lost," Kinkstar was holding back tears *how could I lose a warrior already?* he thought

A familiar black pelt slip in through the entrance a she cat quickly turned and stared at him *was she angry? Worried?* "Tumbleflight!" Kinkstar called the tom looked and walked over to his leader.

"what is it" He asked.

The shecat was still staring at him he could see her face this time she was looking at him in horror "come speak to me in my den" Tumbleflight nodded and followed his leader into the den "This morning we sent search party to find sandfoot"

Tumbleflight looked happy almost "was he found?"

"Yes he was dead.... He was crushed by a boulder"

Tumbleflight's face turned to sad and he looked down "oh"

"On another note I had a dream today a prohecy even"

Tumbleflight looked at him "what was it" the medicine cat asked

"I saw snakes hissing and too many to count then I heard a voice say..." He paused trying to remember "There is poison in the fangs of a snake, and the venom must be neutralized" Tumbleflight looked at him and a puzzled look on his face "do you know what it means?"

"No"

"I'lll have to think about kinkstar"  Tumbleflight turned and walked out of the den

*That look the shecat gave Tumbleflight wasn't good does she know something?* Kinkstar thought.

As chivebean waited for Pigeonpaw to come back from the twolegs place, she heard a small rustling from the bush. A familiar scent hit her. *Tumbleflight.* Is he spying on her? Chivebean slowly crept towards the bush. “Maybe it’s rabbit? No I’m sure it was Tumbleflight’s scent. He probably found out” Chivebean said to herself uneasily. Paw from behind her padded closer to her, she turned and saw Pigeonpaw had just returned. Suddenly, a loud cry came from camp. Chivebean and pigeonpaw then go sprinting back to camp. As they arrive Chivebean see serval cats mourning. Especially, Frogdust, who is sobbing with grief and distress “W-what happened?” Chivebean asked

Frogdust dug her claws into the grass, tears still streaming down her face. “Sandfoot’s dead.” Her eyes burned with rage suddenly. “And I’m going to find the fox heart who did it and they’ll be sorry!” Chivetail brushed the angry she-cat with his tail sympathetically. “Revenge isn’t the thing you have to worry about right now, Frogdust. All we can do is honor his courage and sit vigil for him. He will watch over you, I promise.” Frogdust inched away, “no cat will kill my brother and get away with it. I will avenge him, and no cat will stop me!” Chivetail sighed and turned to Chivebean who was stunned. “We found his body crushed by a Boulder. The clan will mourn him for many moons.”

*As I thought, they found his body haven’t they?* Chivebean thought. She sighed, yet no one will believe her, even gossiping queens would think it would be mouse brain to think of Tumbleflight, a medicine cat would kill a warrior.

Suddenly a yowl sounded from the center of camp, making everyone look to see a black apprentice she-cat standing with her tail lashing. Weaselpaw stood in the center of camp and looked around. “Now that I have your attention, I know what’s happening to our clan.” The cats looked at her in shock and began whispering.

Frogdust squinted at her apprentice, “What are you yowling about?”

Weaselpaw snorted, “It’s simple. Starclan is angry! You can tell from the prophecy they sent us!”

Chivetail growled, “Have you been eavesdropping?”

Weaselpaw ignored his angry growl and continued. “They’re upset with us not following the warrior code!”

“What did Sandfoot do wrong?” Frogdust challenged.

Weaselpaw snarled at her mentor, “We all know that he was in a relationship with a tom! And that’s why Starclan striked him down! Ripplewish is a tom from another clan, yes, but being in a relationship with another tom is strictly forbidden!”

Frogdust leaped onto her apprentice, “And where in the warrior code does it state that?”

Weaselpaw hissed and slid out from under her. “New parts of the code are being discovered and Starclan is sending us a sign to lead us in the right direction! The sign that killed your brother! We must get rid of the scum in this clan!”

What? Tumbleflight thought. *That's not why I punished Sandfoot he broke the code of being in a relationship with a cat from a different clan!* Tumbleflight wanted to run out and yell at Weaselpaw. *She should know better then to act like that!* Tumbleflight's pelt slowly began rising but he quickly calmed down and walked into the clearing and sat down next to a scared and shocked Chivebean. Weaselpaw turned and looked at the medicine cat.

"Tell them Tumbleflight! Starclan must of told you already" she yelled at him

"Starclan has done no such thing I have not received a prohecy have you ever thought that maybe the reason was ripplewish was form another clan and not that they were both toms?"

Weaselpaw hissed back. “The prophecy said that the poison was inside the clan! This has nothing to do with outer forces! And one of our main problems is that our clan is full of she-cats loving she-cats and toms loving toms! What will happen when we need more warriors? They cannot have kits! Do you want Snakeclan to be destroyed due to lack of warriors?” The clan was silent. Weaselpaw growled, “Fine. Be ignorant, but I’m not done yet!” She stalked off into the apprentice den, leaving the clan in stunned silence.

Tumbleflight stared in shock "how could she say something like that?" Shock turned to anger as Tumbleflight got up and went in front of his clan "Starclan had given me no message that  toms loving toms and she-cats loving she-cats is against the code" The clan stared at him he could tell some of them believed weaselpaw "Sandfoots death was not Starclan's doing it was an accident he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time" The cats starred "How could a boluder that big fall by itself" A tom yelled back "Rocks fall all the time" Tumbleflight responded

"yeah rocks, but this is a boulder!" A shecat jumped up yelled at him

"A boulder is a big rock" Tumbleflight answered starring at his Clanmates no one said anything Tumbleflight walked back towards his den and went in

Chivebean was shaken at what just happened. *How can he just say a boulder just fell on Sandfoot?! I can't watch any more cats die.* she thought. The fluffy cream she cat began walking towards kinkstar's den. Although, she was trembling with every step she took

"Kinkstar? May i speak with you?" She softly asked

"Oh Chivebean of course" the two cats walked into the den "what is it" Kinkstar asked and sat down

"I have to confess something, it may sound like mouse dug but you have to believe me." The she cat took in a big breath then said "I know how Sandfoot actually died, I saw it right before my eyes,"

Kinkstar looked surprised "tell me" he said in a stern tone

Chivetail appeared beside the den and peaked in with surprise. “May I come in, Kinkstar?”

"oh of course, Chivetail"

“Kinkstar, please this is important! If we don’t get rid of the one who murdered Sandfoot, we can never grantee the safety of our clan ever again!” Shouted Chivebean

"calm down Chivebean" kinkstar responded "chivetail could you give us a moment?" "Of course" he replied chivetail turned and walked out of the den "now what were you saying chivebean?

“Last night, while I was on stroll. I heard screaming and smelled blood. I  am sure that I smelled Tumbleflight and sandfoot together. Next thing I knew, sandfoot dies! Tumbleflight just walks away with doing anything!” The cream she-cat’s fur began prickling up with anger

"Tumbleflight?" He's are medicine cat his job is to protect his clan and keep them safe" he paused for a second "Are you sure it was Tumbleflight?"

“I’m sure, there couldn’t have been any other black and white tom with scars other than Tumbleflight! I think he set this up to kill sandfoot” Chivebean took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. “I also caught him-“ She cut her sentence abruptly. She want to tell him she caught him spying on her earlier but it wouldn’t be a good idea to expose pigeonpaw’s meetings with that kittypet.

"This isn't the time for accusing your Clanmates" he replied "A loyal warrior just died" he looked at the ground "we need to get over this lost" he looked back up at Chivebean "Tumbleflight said sandfoot's death was natural I believe him he's the closest to starclan" he replied

“I-“ Chivebean paused. Of course no one would believe her. It’s no use telling kinkstar about it. Chivebean bowed her head “I apologize kinkstar, I respect your wishes” she then began to make her way out of the den, visibly disappointed/.

Kinkstar watched the shecat walk out of his den "Chivetail" he called "you can come in now"

Chivetail shook out his pelt, "Oh yes, Kinkstar. Sorry for the inconvenience. The clan is practically splitting in two due to the incident and that foolish apprentice's "speech" We need to figure out how to calm the clan." Chivetail's tail lashed, "I am deputy I should be able to help my clan in these times! Everything I tried seemed to make them more upset. Sandfoot's loss is a hard one, yes, but it should bring the clan together in his memory! Not fighting like loose dogs!"

"You've done he best you can Chivetail you're a good deputy" Kinkstar responded "Perhaps we should have a talk with weaselpaw and her mentor?"He suggested "maybe we can find out why weaselpaw said what she did?"

Chivetail nodded, "That's a good idea, hopefully they will cooperate." He stood up and bounded into camp. "Frogdust! Weaselpaw! Come see me in the leader's den!" Frogdust looked up and padded over to the deputy. Weaselpaw stepped out of the apprentice's den and stood across from her mentor. Frogdust shot an angry glance at her apprentice and Weaselpaw clawed the ground and threw dirt up into her face. Chivetail let out a snarl. "Enough! You're both acting like kits!" Frogdust looked down at her paws and Weaselpaw scoffed and looked away. Chivetail sighed and walked into the leader's den, flicking his tail for the two she-cats to follow him. Chivetail walked back into the den the two she-cats followed behind

"Frogdust Weaselpaw it's good to see you" Kinkstar said trying to be respectful "Frogdust do you know what could have happened to make weaselpaw act up and say things she doesn't mean?" Kinkstar said calmly

Frogdust cleared her throat and straightened up. "Well, Kinkstar, the other day Weaselpaw had skipped out on cleaning the queen's bedding and got in trouble. She is still having to pull off the elder's ticks and I think that it was a way to retaliate against me by hitting me where it hurts."

"Perhaps that's the reason" kinkstar looks over at weaselpaw "was that the reason you said that? Holding a grudge is not a good thing"

Weaselpaw's snout wrinkled. "Why would I do that just to get back at my mentor? I'm just says what I feel is correct! But of course Frogdust thinks EVERYTHING is ALWAYS about her!" She snarled at her mentor and frogdust hissed back.

"I don't understand what i've done to deserve this treatment from you! I've tried my best teaching you, punishing you, praising you, nothing works! Why must you be so difficult?" Weaselpaw stood up and unsheathed her claws with a low growl.

Chivetail pushed back the angry apprentice with his paw and gave both the she-cats a stern look. "Be respectful of eachother!"

"You both are excused" Kinkstar said "Weaselpaw you need to be more respectful and responsible your nearly a warrior" Kinkstar said keeping his cool "If you continue this act you'll be punished like a warrior there will be no excuses" Kinkstar said staring at the apprentice "Chivetail I would like you to keep an eye on Frogdust and Weaselpaw"

Chivetail bowed his head, "Yes Kinkstar, I will not fail you." Frogdust walked out of the den with her ears back. Weaselpaw followed her tail lashing angrily.

***Read what happens next here!*** Poisoned Fangs, Scenes 5-6: A new best friend

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Hello this is Ohitqabo, I have finished revising and editing these scenes here! I hope you enjoyed it! I may have made some tiny errors here and there so feel free to fix them if you can! Thank you ^w^

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