Cruellamange was a bit nervous, although she didn't like to admit it. Although she had felt a bond form between them when she talked to Sparkstar last moon, Sparkstar was still her leader, and Cruellamange wanted to impress her with her hunting skills, not make a fool of herself. Her leader hardly ever went on patrols, although it was more often than Nightstar had.

  Cruellamange was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the scent right away. She had always prided herself on her ability to scent and hear things farther away than any other cat she'd met. She scented the air. That smells like... Berryshine?

  She called out to Crimsonbloom and Sparkstar. "I smell Berryshine. I'm going to follow the scent." She started tracing the scent, the other two cats falling in behind her. The scent led her to a few scraps of Berryshine's fur on the ground, coated in blood. There were two cat claws on the ground, also coated in blood. Cruellamange gasped in horror. She sniffed the blood, confirming it was actually Berryshine's. 

  "I'm not sure about the claws. They have so much of Berryshine's blood on them, I can't smell the actual scent of the claws themselves. It's likely that Berryshine got into a fight with another cat, and the other cat scratched Berryshine so hard they got her blood all over their claws, ripping out some of Berryshine's fur in the process. Then, the cat lost two claws, likely getting them stuck in the ground here," she pointed to a few claw marks in the ground with her tail. 

  "Whether they're Berryshine's or not, this could give us an important lead in our search for the missing cats. There's no evidence of another cat in this fight at all, I can't scent another cat in this area. I can't even smell an animal at all! Whatever attacked Berryshine, or vice versa, was obviously a good fighter. There's not enough blood on the ground for any fatal wounds- Berryshine was probably knocked unconscious."

  She lashed her tail. "The more I think about it, the less I understand." Cruellamange shuddered. "It may sound silly, but whatever did this... it doesn't seem possible for any animal I know of to have done this. It almost seems like... a spirit, maybe. The dark forest back for revenge?" 

  She dismissed that idea. "Not likely. What do you think?" She turned around, but there was no cat there. Nothing. The forest faded to black. A single star appeared, and grew closer and closer. She caught a glimpse of a starry cat, and then passed out. The last thing she remembered was noticing the cats paws... they were red. Blood red.