Chapter Two

Cinderheart gasped with shock. "You're just cats that don't follow the warrior code," she hissed. "Dovepaw! Go get help! NOW!"

Dovepaw quickly scampered away.

"Catch her!" Onestar commanded. "Make sure you give her a scar that she'll never forget." Three warriors nodded and pelted after her.

Lionblaze felt angry. Furious, to be exact. "Lay one claw on her," he growled threateningly to Onestar, "and I'll rip your throat out."

"Are you so sure you can beat me?" Onestar's voice was sneering. He turned to Ashfoot, his deputy, who was one tail-length away. "Go get more backup so we can defeat this Clan."

"NO!" Lionblaze propelled himself forward, clawing the WindClan leader's face with all his strength. Onestar screeched in pain and attempted to throw him off, but Lionblaze held his ground. Cinderheart was battling Ashfoot, who was trying to run back to her camp to fetch help. Cinderheart grappled with Ashfoot as Lionblaze kept Onestar pinned down. "Even a Clan leader can't even beat me," he taunted.

Onestar yowled with anger and scarred the earth. "You'll regret this, Lionblaze," he snarled. In the corner of Lionblaze's eye, he could see WindClan warriors racing towards him. Fox-dung!

"You can't fight your own battles, I see," Lionblaze hissed. "You're just a weakling; always will be."

"LIONBLAZE!" Cinderheart shrieked suddenly. "Where's Ivypaw?"

Onestar sneered, "She's gone, Lionblaze. She's in our paws unless you give us this territory."

"That's a LIE!" Lionblaze yowled. "I know you don't have her; I'll find her myself. Do you want me to bite your neck off your head?"

Suddenly Harespring bowled him over and Lionblaze skidded across the earth. The WindClan warrior was helping Onestar up once Lionblaze struggled back to his paws.

"ATTACK!"

Lionblaze couldn't tell whether it was ThunderClan backup or WindClan's. He looked behind him and was relieved when he saw Dovepaw racing towards him. "They were already coming before I reached camp," the apprentice informed him breathlessly.

"How did they know?" Lionblaze asked, curious.

"Dustpelt told me that Sandstorm went out hunting with her patrol near the WindClan border and scented intruders," Dovepaw explained. "They went back to camp only to realise that our patrol had already left and was heading over to the WindClan border."

Lionblaze nodded before looking around for the cats that needed the most help. He saw that Ashfoot was attempting to run towards the WindClan border, and Cinderheart was stopping her, although the ThunderClan warrior was panting hard.

With a yowl, Lionblaze leaped toward the WindClan deputy and knocked her down to the ground. Cinderheart gave Lionblaze a nod and together they both clawed and bit Ashfoot. Lionblaze was sure that he could hear the WindClan warrior Leaftail run towards him.

"Cinderheart," he hissed. She looked at him. "I'll deal with Leaftail. You stop her from getting help in WindClan territory."

Cinderheart nodded and Lionblaze saw the dark tabby tom pelting towards him. As Leaftail leaped, Lionblaze ducked, and instead the WindClan warrior landed on Cinderheart!

Cinderheart yelped with shock and glared at Lionblaze. "I thought YOU were dealing with him?" she mewed, but there was no frustration in her eyes, only amusement. "If you're so high and mighty, then how about help me get this warrior off?" She lashed at Leaftail while turning to look if Ashfoot had moved from where she was lying down.

Lionblaze shrugged. "Okay," he replied, but instead it was Mousewhisker who leaped at Leaftail.

"Thanks!" Cinderheart gasped, and she quickly left Lionblaze to deal with Ashfoot while she helped Dovepaw who was struggling under Furzepaw's grasp.

"Where's Ivypaw?" Mousewhisker demanded to Lionblaze as Leaftail was sent 'packing his bags' to a bush.

"I don't know!" Lionblaze replied. "She was missing before you guys came. Onestar claimed that he's holding her hostage, but I'm not too sure..."

Mousewhisker hissed, "Then let's just race to WindClan territory and bring her back!"

"Why are you so worried? She could still be in the heat of the battle."

"Aren't YOU worried?"

Lionblaze sighed. "Of course, but let's just wait for this battle to end before we go searching for her."

"But that's when the battling WindClan cats RETURN to their territory, and we're not welcome there after the battle anyway," Mousewhisker protested. "You're telling me you don't know this?"

I'm too into the fighting to care about Ivypaw!' Lionblaze thought. She's not one of the three anyway, so why should I care?

Suddenly Onestar yowled, "WindClan, RETREAT!"

All the WindClan warriors fled back to their own territory, and all the ThunderClan cats yowled in victory as Ashfoot yowled to Lionblaze, "You should've listened to your horseplace friend, you know. Ivypaw IS in our paws, and the only way you can get her back is to give us our desired piece of territory!"

"Or maybe we could just raid over your camp and get her back!" Lionblaze shot back.

Ashfoot growled and scampered off to catch up with her Clan members, who were wailing with pain and anger.

Firestar turned to Lionblaze. "You're fine, right?" The warrior nodded, but then saw Mousewhisker glaring at him through slitted eyes. "What?" he asked.

"Where's Ivypaw?"

This time Lionblaze looked around carefully. The silver and white tabby was not in sight. He turned to Mousewhisker and replied slowly, "Well, I can't seem to find her. Maybe she went back to camp?" he suggested hopefully, but the warrior obviously didn't believe him.

It's like Mousewhisker's in love with her or something! Lionblaze thought as Firestar sent a patrol to re-scent the border marks that was ORIGINALLY there. The rest padded back to camp, and Lionblaze caught sight of Dovepaw walking towards him.

"Have you seen my sister?" she asked.

Lionblaze sighed. Why was everyone worried about that bratty apprentice? "No, I haven't seen her," he meowed back. "Did she go to camp with you?"

Dovepaw shook her head. "No," she replied. "Ivypaw was definitely with you and Cinderheart when I left to warn Firestar and the others."

Now Lionblaze was worried. Was Onestar right, and Ivypaw was taken hostage? He growled, "If she's in WindClan camp, I'll..."

Suddenly, Jayfeather appeared, and he demanded, "Who's the one with the worst wounds? We can't afford to have any injured, otherwise if WindClan wants to attack again; we won't be ready for them."

While the worst ones were being treated, the others padded back to camp. Firestar was already there, and he was summoning a meeting. Probably about the battle, that's why.

"As you all probably know," Firestar began, "there was a battle between us and WindClan."

There were hisses and growls and a few cats were yowling with rage.

As the noise quieted down, Firestar went on, "We cannot seem to find Ivypaw anywhere. Many are convinced that she was kidnapped by the WindClan cats, but I believe that she is just –"

"WHAT?" It was Whitewing's voice. She was shivering uncontrollably, as though she couldn't believe it. Birchfall glared at Firestar.

"She's not captured, is she?" he snarled. "If she is..."

Firestar ignored them. "This meeting is OVER!" he turned back and headed to his den.

There was continuous muttering among the Clan, and Lionblaze whispered to Cinderheart, "I'm convinced that she went out for a walk."

Cinderheart shook her head sadly. "She's definitely in the paws of WindClan."

Lionblaze sighed. "Firestar will get her back; don't worry."

"I hope so."

"Hey, Cinderheart!" It was Mousewhisker's voice. Oh, it's the nuisance furball again, Lionblaze thought tiredly.

"I'm going for a rest," Lionblaze told the two warriors, and he left.

But on the way, he heard their conversation:

"I'm sorry that Ivypaw went missing," Mousewhisker meowed.

"... don't worry about it," Cinderheart replied. "She's probably out for a walk."

Mousewhisker purred. "How about I cheer you up by going hunting together?"

Cinderheart looked up eagerly. "Okay!" she answered and they quickly raced out of camp. Lionblaze felt a twinge of jealousy. Was it that Mousewhisker was very fond of Cinderheart? Did Cinderheart like Mousewhisker? Lionblaze's envy grew bigger.

You're not getting Cinderheart, Mousewhisker! She's mine!

...

A/N: Sorry if it wasn't really interesting! Please review on it! Thanks :D