"Don't waste your time, apprentice!" Brokenstar spat furiously at the young, ginger tom in front of him. Around them, the battle had quieted. Cats had abandon their fights to turn and watch. Fueled by their support, Brokenstar snarled, "I've shared dreams with StarClan. You will have to kill me nine times over before I join them. Do you really think you're strong enough for that?"
The ginger apprentice only stood there, tail lashing defiantly despite the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. Around them, cats began to break away from the ThunderClan warriors. Brokenstar growled with satisfaction as his Clan began to rally behind him. He didn't even have to turn around to know they were there, stalking to his side and hissing and snarling their support. Glaring back at the ThunderClan cats mixed with the ShadowClan rebels, he knew he was outnumbered.
But when did that ever stop him?
He turned his head slightly each way, looking at the warriors flanking him on both sides. Their eyes shown with hatred, and their claws were unsheathed, ready for another round of battle. Confidently, Brokenstar lifted his chin and yowled, "ShadowClan, attack!"
Around him, his warriors leaped forward. Though half-starved and bloodied already, they dove head first back into battle. Brokenstar watched, tail lashing with a sense of achievement. Oh, has he trained them well!
"The kits!" A yowl split the air, and Brokenstar swung around to see that a brown ThunderClan warrior and a gray apprentice were digging furiously at where the stolen ThunderClan kits had been stashed.
With a furious battle cry, Brokenstar leaped after them and launched straight into the brown warrior's side. He sank his claws into her shoulder, and hulled her away from the pit. She yowled in pain, and thrashed wildly beneath his paws. He heard the apprentice yowl in a mixture of fear and rage, telling Brokenstar that one of his warriors stopped him from reaching the kits as well.
The brown warrior, who he now recognized to be Mousefur, had wriggled around her get her hind legs up and was painfully ranking his belly. He leaped off her, shoving her farther into the dirt as he did so, and twisted in the air to land neatly beside her. Mousefur, till struggling to stand, was easy to pin down. He stood over her powerfully and raised one paw to land one blow after another on her ears.
"ThunderClan retreat!" He heard Whitestorm howl above the vicious fighting. In this moment, Mousefur managed to wriggle out from under his paws and flee the camp with her Clanmates. Brokenstar hissed with rage, but let her go.
The ThunderClan warriors raced from the camp. It took him a few heartbeats to realize that there were more cats were running than just ThunderClan. A new round of rage hit him as he saw the traitors begin to flee as well.
"Stop them!" He roared.
At once, his warriors leaped forward. Clawface and Boulder tackled two of the traitors. Wetpaw had pounded forward to help as well, and sank his claws into one of the traitor's flank, but the warrior turned and lashed the apprentice across the face. Wetpaw was left bloody and howling as the warrior fled from the camp.
Brokenstar stalked forward to where Clawface and Boulder were struggling to hold down the captured rebels. As he towered over them, they fell still with fear. Ashfur and Dawncloud, he recognized easily. They stared up at him with wide, terrified eyes, their faces still pressed into the dirt by the loyal warriors holding them down.
His powerful growl turned into a nasty purr as he crouched down to eye level with the traitors. "Well, well, well..." he purred at their fear, "What are we going to do with you?" He straightened abruptly, and growled to his warriors. "Kill them."