It was night, clouded and black. Everyone was asleep, aside from three cats. There was an apprentice, white-and-cream fur and wide green eyes. A medicine cat, black as the night with misty green eyes. Finally, a leader, white-and-brown fur and old amber eyes.
"What is it, Stormdusk? Everything seems fine to me" the leader spoke, scratching the faint white star on his forehead.
"My apprentice and I feel something is wrong, StarClan isn't showing themselves tonight..." the medicine cat, Stromdusk, said, not tearing her anxious gaze from the clouded sky. Her tail was moving anxiously, lashing from side to side against the dirt beneath.
"StarClan does that, nothing to be worried about" he yawned, tired and old.
"Hm..." the two medicine cats sounded, still looking anxiously at the sky, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Their leader yawned, and was about to turn back when a pale ginger tabby she-cat darted out, panting and shaking with fear.
"Appleriver! What is it?!" The leader asked, alert and awake. Appleriver had one of the best sight, smell, and hearing ability in the whole clan.
"Badger! It's half-way to our camp! I can hear it swimming, we need to wake up the clan!" Appleriver told him, terrified. The leader looked at the two medicine cats, who took 0.2 seconds of their time to give him an told you so look.
"I'll get on the rock, you help get the camp ready! Prepare for attack!" he commanded, running and leaping onto his rock.
"RiverClan! We are under attack from a badger! Prepare to fight!" he yowled at the top of his lungs, having a loud voice that projected through the whole camp easily every cat in the camp awoke immediately.
Everyone who could fight ran out, the queens, kits, and elders being herded into the medicine den for safety. They prepared as usual, no hesitation in their work. While they worked, the leader cast a glance at the huge river that ran around their camp. Indeed, a large black-and-white creature was swimming quickly across the river that protected them.
The leader cleared his throat, preparing to speak again. He ordered ten of his strongest and swiftest warriors to stall the beast, all which they did willingly, himself tagging along.
Him and his deputy, Bumblefall, led the nine other warriors towards the beast, keeping to the shadows and the few bushes they had.
They were quick, and soon they were at the river. They waited, preparing for their leaders signal so they could slip in and attack it. Silently, he told them to spread out around the bank.
His warriors did as so, and he waited for the perfect moment before he quietly picked up a pebble and tossed it behind him towards the path. The badger turned towards it, then followed it to the other side of the river. Then, he slipped in with his warriors silently.
While the badger prepared for a fight on the other side, they slipped towards him and managed to get on him. The strongest warriors leapt onto its back, clawing and attacking it. The swiftest' attempted to immobilize it, as they were able to dodge its attacks and do their job quickly. The leader and Bumblefall did their duties, both them being pretty strong. The water around the badger soon began to redden, blood seeping from the badgers wounds.
Then the badger jumped up, twisting in the air and attacking anyone it was able to attack. Three of the warriors got hit, including the leader.
They fell into the river, either in pain from the wounds or from the hard hit from the water. The blood was different from the regular water, so thick and blinding it trapped them.
While the warriors were trapped, the badger ran with wounds bleeding heavily onto the bank and towards the camp. Even though everyone escaped 2 seconds later, the badger was already very close to camp.
"The badger is approaching! Prepare to fight!" someone yelled, and most of them charged towards the beast. They attacked it full-force while the ones in the camp prepared to fight inside.
The warriors stalled it a bit, but the badger was soon fighting all available warriors inside the camp.
It was dawn when the badger retreated, its body red with blood, and died a few feet away on the other side of the river.
The camp was bloody, all dens torn and broken. Bodies were scattered among the floor, while those who'd survived were being treated by the medicine cats and the queens.
Even though the badger broke into the medicine den and managed to kill three elders and a queen, most remained untouched.
Soon, the medicine cats and expecting queens were working on cleaning up the dead bodies and everyone in camp who didn't have to stay in the medicine den because of their injuries began working on rebuilding the camp.
The stars were scattered in the sky, practically filling the blackened sky. It was the night after, Bumblefall returning not long before the burial ceremony for all who were dead from his nine lives ceremony.
He was saying the names of all who had fallen, everyone at the burial ceremony - including the kits.
Their heads were all bowed, the only movement was the two remaining elders burying their fallen clanmates.
Finally, after listing at least 20 dead cats, Bumblestar took a deep breath and steadied his voice.
"Finally, we will honour our fallen leader; Redstar. Just like all the others, he fought hard. We will now honour our fallen leader under the willow" he said, his voice still shaking slightly for Redstar was his uncle, the only family member he had aside from an egotistical aunt named Pearsong in ThunderClan.
Bumblestar and the two elders gently picked up their leader, and Bumblestar could truly see how old and thin he was in his leadership. Sadness swept over him as he carried the cat towards a large, old willow tree where the buried their fallen leaders. Gently, they placed him inside his grave and the whole clan prayed to him like they did with all the other fallen cats before covering his body with the dirt around him.
Bumblestar padded towards the prey pile, picking up a sardine and eating it.
When it was moonhigh at the burial, he'd chosen Appleriver as his deputy, for she'd saved the clan. Now it was the day after, and everything was going smoothly. Though he still had one problem; he needed to find a foster mother for Ravenkit.
It was difficult because he was an only-kit, and that meant bad luck to religious cats. Unluckily, most of the clan had became religious during the days after the battle.
He'd only eaten half of it when a shadow came over him. He looked up, noticing a beautiful white cat towering over him. Her green eyes were intelligent and beautiful, her white fur unknotted and blowing in the breeze. He felt himself grow warm under his fur, but he needed to ask
"What do you need, Snowwind?" he asked, tilting his head a bit.
"I've decided to take care of Ravenkit" she said, her voice serious and wavering not once.
"Really? Oh, that's fantastic! Are you sure, though? I mean, you're one of the strongest warriors out there - do you truly want to spend your days in the nursery looking after a 'cursed kit'?" he asked, putting a bit more sarcasm on the 'cursed kit' part.
"Yes, Bumblestar, I'm sure. His mother was my sister, and his father was one of the kindest cats I've ever met" she said, determination filled in her voice.
Bumblestar nodded, growing warmer. "Alright, I'll tell the queens so the available ones can start on your nest" he said, gulping down the rest of the sardine and standing up.
Snowwind nodded, heading off again while he headed to the nursery.