The scrawny brown tom and his helpers dragged Sunstrike into the cave. The two other cats transported her to another part of the cave, while the brown tom went off to find his master.

"Master, this is not your plan, is it?" the brown tom asked.

"No, Mud. You know whose plan it is."

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I do not."

"You take orders from me, and I am taking orders, I mean helping...a certain cat to carry out their plans."

"Master...is your master one of the Eight?"

The tortoiseshell hesitated.

Mud's eyes widened. "It is, isn't it?"

"Yes. I will not tell you which one. My master already knows they are being 'kidnapped.'"

"Why must we pretend to kidnap your master, Master?"

"Isn't that obvious? It's so that they will seem just like the others...nobody will ever suspect them as the murderer."

"Your master is going to kill the others?"

"Yes. And they will never know who it is. Slowly but surely, they will all die one by one."

***

Tawnypelt was on a border patrol with Olivenose and her son, Tigerheart. They met a ThunderClan patrol consisting of Icecloud, Spiderleg, Brackenfur, and Bumblestripe.

Olivenose, the patrol's leader, dipped her head respectfully to the ThunderClan cats. "Greetings, Icecloud."

Icecloud eyed the ShadowClan cats warily. "Greetings."

Tigerheart whispered to Tawnypelt, "They seem tense."

Tawnypelt agreed. They seemed like cats looking to attack whoever...hm, whoever did what?"

Icecloud turned to continue on with the patrol, but then stopped. "Would you happen to know where Lionblaze is?"

"Lionblaze? No, we don't," Olivenose replied. "Why?"

Icecloud hesitated. "It's not...well we haven't seen him in three days. He's missing. Gone. We can't find him anywhere in our territory, and there's no scent trails to follow. It's as if he's been kidnapped..."

Tawnypelt gasped in spite of herself. "By who?"

Olivenose's neck fur was bristling. "Those mouse-brains dared to accuse us of kidnapping him! They thought WE kidnapped him! We follow the warrior code, unlike your Clan of kittypets!"

Bumblestripe unsheathed his claws and hissed at the ShadowClan cats, clearly offended by the kittypet remark. Icecloud gave the tom a sharp look, then signalled to her patrol with a flick of her tail. The ThunderClan cats stormed off.

"Maybe next time you should accuse WindClan before you dare to accuse us!" Olivenose called after her.