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The Death of Thistleclaw
A Warriors Adventure by Antoinette Bishop
It was late one evening in Newleaf when a great, unexpected tragedy would strike ThunderClan. The last patrol of the day was just finishing up their duty, and they were ready to go back to camp. All they had to do now was mark the RiverClan boundary. It was a large patrol, consisting of six cats, Lionheart, Mousefur, Darkstripe, Darkstripe's apprentice Longpaw, and Thistleclaw. "Nice evening, eh?" Lionheart remarked casually to Darkstripe. "Yes," the silver-and-black tabby replied coolly. "Nice and quiet, that's the way I like it." "Hey guys," whispered Mousefur. "What's the matter with him?" They looked up to see Thistleclaw walking a good two or three fox-lengths ahead of them. His gray-and –white fur was unkempt, his tail was dragging in the dirt, and he was mumbling loudly to himself. "Why did Redtail assigned him to our patrol?" Darkstripe hissed. "Can't he see he's crazy?" "I know," sighed Lionheart. "He hasn't been the same since Sunstar died." "Why is that?" Mousefur asked. "They were never close." "Look, a RiverClan patrol!" Longpaw cried. Sure enough, three cats were coming up the bank towards Sunningrocks. Lionheart instantly recognized the Clan deputy, Oakheart, along with another warrior named Blackclaw, but there was a gray tom he has never seen before. He must be new. Lionheart assumed. "Hello there." mewed the RiverClan deputy politely to the ThunderClan patrol. Lionheart dipped his head, Darkstripe flicked his ears and nodded, Mousefur said 'Good evening', while Longpaw said a shy hello. Thistleclaw on the other paw stalked over to the border, his hackles raised. "YOU!" He bellowed to Oakheart. "It's you, you're the reason Sunstar didn't make me deputy!" Alarm and confusion flashed in Oakheart's green eyes. "What are you talking about?" "You know exactly what I'm talking about, fish-face!" "Dad, what's going on?" The gray warrior whispered. "Dad?!" Thistleclaw shrieked. "I can't believe this! But it's true, you two look exactly alike!" The gray tom glanced at his father. "I don't look a thing like him. I take after my mother." "You got that right!" "Blackclaw," Oakheart said tensely, straining to control his temper. "Take Stonefur home. I'll handle this." "Oh yeah you will." Thistleclaw hissed, unsheathing his claws. "Thistleclaw, stop it!" Mousefur called. "You're making a fool of yourself." "Shut up!" The crazed warrior snarled. "The only fool here is that piece of fox-dung standing in front of me!" He leaped, claws outstretched, aiming at Oakheart's throat. "Not my father, fox-dung!" Stonefur bellowed as he slammed his head into Thistleclaw's flank, sending him flying into Sunningrocks. The gray-and-white's warrior's body jerked violently, but he was back on his paws in an instant, and flung himself at Stonefur. But the gray warrior was ready, and he raked his claws across the crazed tom's face. Ignoring the pain, Thistleclaw sank his claws into Stonefur's shoulders and dragged him to the ground. The two warriors fought, hissing and spitting, while the other cats looked on in horror, unsure what to do. "Should we help?" Blackclaw asked, not taking his eyes off the battle. "No," Oakheart said solemnly. "When Stonefur pushed Thistleclaw away from me, it became his battle. I know he can hold his because he's not only my son, he's his mother's son too." Blackclaw narrowed his eyes in confusion. Graypool didn't have a reputation for being a fighter. The battle took a sudden, drastic turn when Thistleclaw pinned Stonefur on his back on one of the rocks. He then leaned in and sank his teeth into the gray warrior's ear, shaking his head from side to side, shredding it. Stonefur howled in agony, and Oakheart braced himself to jump in when suddenly Stonefur sunk his claws into his attacker's shoulders and pulled him close. He bit him in the throat and jerked his head back, tearing it open. The brave young warrior kicked Thistleclaw in the belly and knocked him away. The gray-and-white warrior staggered, blood gushing violently from the wound on his neck. It ran down his chest and legs until the ground became scarlet. He craned his neck and stared at his Clanmates. "Cowards!" Thistleclaw yowled, blood pooling from his mouth. He fell over on his side, his body jerked once and he was gone. Stonefur rose, blooding oozing from what was left of his ear. His body was quivering violently. "I'm sorry," he said to the ThunderClan patrol, his blue eyes shining with guilt and sorrow. "I didn't mean to kill him." The only reply he received was Longpaw's wail of fear. "I'll take him back and tell Bluestar," said Darkstripe as he wrapped his tail around his apprentice in an attempt to comfort him. "C'mon, buddy, let's go." "Ok," Lionheart croaked. It felt as though he had swallowed a boulder. "We'll carry his body back." They padded over to Thistleclaw, where the RiverClan warriors still lingered. Oakheart was pressed against Stonefur, stroking his back with his tail-tip while Blackclaw was licking his ear. "Crookedstar is going to hear about this," meowed the deputy. "But I doubt he will want to start a war over this one isolated incident. My brother is wiser than that." He dipped his head to Lionheart and Mousefur. "We are sorry for your loss." The RiverClan warriors turned around and vanished into the river. The warriors turned to their fallen Clanmate. Even in death, Thistleclaw still looked ready for a fight. His claws were still unsheathed, his yellow eyes were wide and bulging, and his lips were curled back in a snarl. He was lying in a pool of his own blood. Too shocked to make a comment, they picked up Thistleclaw, and silently carried him home.
When Mousefur and Lionheart arrived back in camp, it was obvious that every cat in the Clan knew of Thistleclaw's death. They huddled about the clearing, worrying whether or not RiverClan has started a war with them. Lionheart looked up and saw the lithe gray shape of Bluestar leaping up to Highrock. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey join in for a Clan meeting!" The cats left their huddled groups and went to sit under Highrock. "As you all know," she began. "Our brave Clanmate, Thistleclaw, is dead." "We should counter-attack immediately!" cried Tigerclaw, Thistleclaw's apprentice. "Those fox-hearts should pay for what they've done!" "Thistleclaw started that fight!" Mousefur retorted. "Enough!" Bluestar yowled, her blue eyes flashing. The two warriors were silent at once. "We shall have no talk of fighting. The Gathering is tomorrow, and we will discuss it with RiverClan then. For now, let's pay our respects to Thistleclaw." She leaped down from Highrock, and all the cats gathered around Thistleclaw's body, which Lionheart and Mousefur put in the center of the clearing. "I'm so sorry," Lionheart said to his friend Whitestorm. "He was a very brave cat, and he died a true warrior." "Thank you," Whitestorm replied. "I was lucky to have him as a father." He walked over to Thistleclaw's body, leaving Lionheart unsure of his words. Thistleclaw attacked Oakheart first. He thought. He started the whole thing. The RiverClan cats were only patrolling their territory; he had no reason to attack them. He padded over to Highrock. I must talk to Bluestar. "Bluestar," He began. "Can I talk to you? It's important" She nodded. "Darkstripe already gave me a full account of what happened, but yes you may. What is it?" "Thistleclaw said some pretty strange things to the RiverClan cats, particularly Oakheart." Worry flashed in Bluestar's eyes. "Like what?" "Well, he said things like 'You're the reason Sunstar didn't make me deputy.' It was really strange." The worried look did not leave Bluestar's eyes. "Lionheart, I think you and I will have to talk outside of camp, away from prying eyes." She called to her deputy. "Redtail! I need to step out for a while, it's urgent. Look after the Clan for me until I got back." The tortoiseshell warrior dipped his head. "Yes, Bluestar." The two cats walked out of camp through the thorn tunnel. Bluestar did not say a word until they were at the top of the ravine. "Before I tell you," Bluestar meowed. "You must not repeat this to any cat, and I mean it Lionheart. No cat is to know about this." "I won't breathe it to a soul, Bluestar." Lionheart replied solemnly. "Alright then," she began with a sigh. "Thistleclaw has always hated me for a few reasons. The first reason is that he blames me for the death of his mate." Shock flashed through him. "Why would he think that?!" "Thistleclaw's mate was my sister. Her name was Snowfur, and she is Whitestorm's mother. It was her first time having kits so she was very protective of him, and she didn't want to leave camp because she was worried about him. Well one day I persuaded her to leave camp and go for a walk with me." She took a deep breath. "While we were out, we caught some ShadowClan warriors on our territory. Snowfur chased them all the way to the Thunderpath, and when she was half way across a monster hit her." Her eyes became clouded with grief. "I had to tell Whitestorm. He was too young to lose her. Thistleclaw and I never got along to begin with, but after she died things just got worse and worse. We were constantly fighting over who was to raise Whitestorm. I didn't want Thistleclaw to take care of him because I was afraid he would have a negative influence on him. Thistleclaw was always so violent, always ready for a fight. Whitestorm was the opposite, very gentle." She swallowed hard. "I ended up raising Whitestorm, but because of that I never had time to find a mate. To be honest, I didn't really want one, but everyone in the Clan was hounding me to get one." "Is that when you got with Thrushpelt?" Lionheart asked. Bluestar shook her hard. "Thrushpelt and I were never mates." Shock flashed in his green gaze. "Then who was..?" She took another deep breath. "I felt like a needed someone who was like me, someone who understood my ambition, my dream to be leader, and I felt like there was no tom cat like that in ThunderClan." The shocked look didn't leave his eyes. "Bluestar, what are you saying?" She looked him straight in the eye. "Lionheart, a long time ago Oakheart and I were mates." The shocked look was replaced by horror. "Bluestar! You were mates with a RiverClan cat?!…Umf!" She put a paw over his mouth. "Shhh! For StarClan's sake, you might as well yowl it from Great Rock!" She pulled her paw back. "Sorry... I knew me falling in love with Oakheart was wrong in every way but I couldn't stop thinking about him. We only were together one time, but afterwards I found out I was expecting kits." Grief glowed in her blue eyes. "I told him as soon as I found out. I met him by the river. He said he would join ThunderClan so we could raise our kits together, and for a moment I considered but then Thistleclaw saw us. I pretended to chase Oakheart away, but I saw the suspicion in his eyes. He turned and went back to camp and I thought he would tell Sunstar but he didn't say a word. At that moment I knew what I had to do." She took a deep breath. "You're going to think I'm heartless for doing this, but I knew I needed to become deputy instead of Thistleclaw, and I could not do it while raising kits. Sunstar favored both of us, but I knew he preferred me probably because I was his apprentice." She swallowed. "Two moons after I gave birth to my kits, I took them out of camp and we went to the river. It was so cold and the snow was a fox-length deep. I had to swim through the snow as my kits struggled behind me." Tears ran down her face. "My youngest, Mosskit, kept falling farther and farther behind so I stopped so we could rest. I made a den out of the snow and I gathered my kits around me to keep them warm. The older two were fine but Mosskit was so cold. I kept licking her and licking her, but her breathing just got shallower and shallower and then it stopped. She died right there in my paws." Her voice cracked, grief flooded her gaze as she struggled to go on. "I buried her in the snow and took the other kits to the river where Oakheart was waiting. I didn't look at him, I couldn't…he has Mosskit's eyes. I could never look into those eyes again. I only told him their names and then I left, I ran back to Mosskit, uncovered her body and dug deep in the snow until I felt the ground. I scraped and scarped until I had a hole big enough for her and put her body inside. I wouldn't let my daughter be eaten by foxes when the snow thawed. When I buried her I raced home and tore a hole in the nursery wall, and then I told the whole Clan my kits have been taken by foxes." Bluestar bowed her head, tears falling from her face. She was quiet for several while Lionheart watched, too stunned to speak. "I only did it for my Clan," she whispered at last. "If Thistleclaw was not the cat he was I would have let him become deputy. All of this means nothing to me, and I would give it all back in a heartbeat for the two little kits I sacrificed to the river and the little body lying in the snow, whose life I took in exchange for my selfish desires." She was silent. Lionheart thought about the battled at the river about Oakheart and the young gray tom that called him "Dad." "Bluestar," he whispered. "Is Stonefur your son?" She looked up. "Yes and his sister Mistyfoot is my daughter. Not a day goes by when I don't think about them. Was Stonefur hurt badly?" "He had a few scratches and his ear was badly torn, but other than that he was ok. He's a magnificent fighter, Bluestar." Her eyes glowed with pride. "Of course," she purred. "Where do you think he gets it from?" They did not realize that they had reached the edge of the woods and now were on the riverbank. A few fox-lengths away were Sunningrocks. Lionheart stared at the river. "It's so beautiful." "Yes," Bluestar agreed. "It's the most beautiful thing in this entire forest, but also the ugliest. It brings great joy as well as great pain, and it brings death…" A large, silvery fish jumped out of the water. "…as well as life." She turned to Lionheart, her eyes solemn. "My kits will probably never know who I am, but as long as Oakheart is there to guide them I will always love them from this side of the river." The golden warrior nodded and he stared at the RiverClan bank and for a heartbeat he thought he saw a little gray-and-white kit playing at the water's edge…but it was only for a heartbeat.
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