10 Chapter 10

"He's gone..." Mom murmured with tears streaming down his face. Cats wailed in sadness, while others bowed their heads. I looked up at Ace. He was shedding crocodile tears. There was no sadness in his eyes. Instead, there was a hint of joy that no one else could see.

Rudy said, "Alright. Before we do the naming ceremony for Ace, I have to talk to the other leaders about it because I wasn't here for the duration of Ace's time as a prince." Cats started leaving and Ace left as well saying, "I'll go on a hunting patrol." I stayed in the den with mom to mourn my dad's death. He's been murdered, but by who?

Ace would've started an investigation already, but the cat that killed him probably hid their sent. I was ready to leave, so I stood up and walked into my den. Jay and my kits followed me inside, and Jay asked me, "Are you okay?" I nodded, and my kits left the den. Suddenly, Bandit's story came up in my head, and I started to fear that my mom would get like that as well.

I said, "I'm scared, Jay. What if my mom gets too sad to do anything..." Jay sat next to me and put his tail on my shoulder saying, "King Rudy has a strong spirit. I'm sure he'll pull through." I sighed and said, "I hope you're right."

The next day, Jay went to go visit Bandit and Smoke. I stayed at the entrance of my den, watching what was going on. There were a few cats in the clearing chatting or sunbathing. Ace was nowhere to be found, and Rudy was talking to Lu. Quinn was talking to Joy, so everything was peaceful. Until Ace got back.

He came back holding Jay in one hand, and Bandit and Smoke in the other. There were scratches on Ace's face and hands, and one of them gave him a scar on his leg. He threw them into the clearing, and he said, "Jay is a traitor! He's been taking care of a couple of Night Cats!" Every cat walked out of their den to see what was going on.

Some cats didn't care, while some were genuinely surprised. Some became hostile, and some became afraid. All in all, everyone didn't expect this. Rudy shouted, "Ace what's going on now!?" Ace said, "Jay's a traitor!" Bandit and Smoke stayed quiet, and Lu said, "Jay... is this why you were always gone?"

Jay didn't speak. He just stayed looking down with fear plastered on his face. Ace did something to him that made him go quiet. Mom asked Ace in a stern tone, "Is this true?" Ace nodded, and then he said, "Birch knows about this too, so he's a traitor as well!" I growled at any cat who got near me. I said, "Ace you're a heartless monster. What happened to the old Ace?"

Cats stopped talking, and they all stared at me and Ace. I said, "It's true. We took care of these two cats, but there's something you don't know." Ace looked at me with a cold stare, but I continued anyway. I said, "These two cats were kits when we took them in. They were in a battle that wasn't supposed to happen, and they were scared. They were going to run away from forest life anyway, so we took them in."

Cats started whispering, and some other cats had looks of curiosity and sympathy. "Jay has been leaving the camp to feed them because as kits, they still didn't know how to hunt properly. This went on for four months, until now." Rudy looked at me with a proud smile, and Ace said, "That still makes them traitors!" Very few cats agreed while others looked at him in disgust.

Then one of the cats said, "I bet he's the one who killed King Jet for power." Then there was a small group of cats who agreed to that statement. Ace looked around in disbelief, and he shouted, "King Jet wouldn't stand for this!" Then Rudy stepped up and said, "Yes he would. He would be proud that our son and his mate are kind enough to do such a thing."

Other cats cheered, and Jay ran to me with Bandit and Smoke saying, "Thank goodness you said something! If I said anything, your life would be in danger!" That was the last straw. I said, "Wait... Ace threatened to kill me!?" Then the clearing became silent. Ace looked at us, and Jay said, "It's true. If we said anything, he said that he would kill you."