Chapter 2
"Redstar," Tenderheart called, but Redstar was already pushing out of his den. Quickly, he recited names.
"Tigerstripe, Spottedfur, Icefur, Bluepaw, Honeypaw, Silverfur, Cloudfoot, you'll come with me. We'll be the main attack. Lightwing, Pineleg, Windstep, Sageflower, Robinpaw, Flameclaw, you go with Tenderheart. Take the long way around, near the Snakerocks. A second patrol should send RiverClan scattering."
Silverfur jumped forward as her name was called, then filed out of the gorse tunnel with the rest of the battle patrol. Spottedfur ran beside her through the woods.
"How many of them do you think there are," Spottedfur asked.
"Enough," answered Silverfur.
As they neared the rock wall, Silverfur realized that this was her first time out of camp since she had kitted. As she scaled up the wall behind her Clanmates, she remembered when she was an apprentice and how much harder it had been to climb back then.
"Do you remember when we were apprentices," she asked, voicing her thoughts.
"Yea," purred Spottedfur. "You fell in the river, remember?"
"How could I forget something like that," meowed Silverfur, shuddering. She hoped never to touch water again as long as she lived. When they got to the stream, Silverfur leaped gracefully over it before hearing a yowl of surprise behind her. She spun around to see Icefur helping a wet and shivering Bluepaw climbing out of the water.
"Great, now I'm soaking wet," Bluepaw complained.
"Running will warm you up," meowed Spottedfur sympathetically. "Great StarClan, I wonder how RiverClan can stand getting their paws wet.
"They're more like fish with fur if you ask me," panted Silverfur. The running was starting to tire her. She hadn't run this far in moons.
Finally, they reached Sunningrocks where Ripplestar, Rainclaw, and the rest of the RiverClan warriors were waiting.
"The Sunningrocks are ours once more," yowled Ripplestar, speaking mostly to Redstar. "They belong to RiverClan!"
"Never! ThunderClan! Attack!"
The rocks were soon alive with wrestling, screeching cats. Silverfur felt the blood roar in her ears as she lunged at a gray tabby, who she recognized as Moonleaf from Gatherings. Moonleaf yowled as Silverfur's thorn- sharp claws gripped her back and rolled over, squishing Silverfur under her. Silverfur shoved her off gasping for breath, but was too slow to regain it.
Moonleaf swiped her paw downward and knocked Silverfur's from under her, pinning her down to the ground. Silverfur went limp underneath her, hoping that an obvious trick might work.
"ThunderClan give up too easily," Moonleaf growled with satisfaction as she leaned forward to give Silverfur a sharp bite in her shoulder.
Silverfur shoved upwards as hard as she could, sending Moonleaf flying in surprise. Then Silverfur jumped on her before she could regain her balance, pinning her down. Giving her a quick nip on the neck, she released Moonleaf, who fled back to her own territory, then looked around for another cat to fight.
"Silverfur," Honeypaw was calling to her, seeing that she wasn't busy with a RiverClan warrior. Honeypaw was cornered by three giant RiverClan cats, who were advancing on her slowly.
"Hold on Honeypaw," she yowled, racing down the slope. With a battle screech, she leaped onto the biggest one, who happened to be the RiverClan deputy, Rainclaw. He rolled over to squash her, but she had learned that trick from Moonleaf. She jumped off his back, then leaped at him before he could regain his balance. Suddenly, claws yanked her off of Rainclaw, and she spun around to see Jabtooth with his claws in her back. Panic sparked inside her. She couldn't take both warriors at once!
Then, a yowl came from behind her.
"Spottedfur," she gasped in relief as Spottedfur leaped onto Rainclaw's back. Silverfur turned back to Jabtooth, and was surprised to see Honeypaw clinging to his back. Honey paw had already sent the other warrior fleeing back to her own territory. Silverfur nipped Jabtooth's front leg, then hind leg, causing his to collapse.
"Frog dung," he yelled as Silverfur pinned his hind legs down, Honeypaw his neck.
"Get off our territory," Silverfur hissed, releasing him. Jabtooth fled back to RiverClan territory, not bothering to look back.
"ThunderClan! Attack!" Silver fur heard a yowl from the woods. The second patrol had come!
RiverClan cats from everywhere started to race back to their own territory when they heard Tenderheart's yowl. Silverfur watched them run away, not looking back to see if the ThunderClan warriors were following them. Then, she turned back to look at Redstar.
Well fought, everyone," Redstar said, addressing his warriors. "RiverClan will think twice about setting paw on Sunningrocks again. Now, let's go home. Our Clan is waiting."