Chapter Two

Darkflight stumbled into the bright sunlight, blinking away his sleep. He spotted the Clan deputy, Ripplefang, sorting out patrols.

"Darkflight!" she called. "Can you go on a hunting patrol with Ivywing and Berrynose? Hunt around the Great Oak- no cat has tried there for a couple days."

"Sure," Darkflight replied, and saw Pantherclaw and his apprentice, Nightpaw, heading out with Redwillow. He frowned.

"Why is Redwillow going with Pantherclaw and Nightpaw?" he asked.

"It's a new training program that Hawkstar thought up," Mousewhisker answered. He, his apprentice Hazelpaw, and Gorsefang had been on the dawn patrol, so they were enjoying a bite of prey. "Two warriors are going to assess an apprentice from now on."

"Darkflight! Come on!" Berrynose yowled from the gorse tunnel. Darkflight started. "Sorry, Berrynose," he replied, and followed the creamy warrior and Ivywing out of camp.

The patrol headed through the forest until they came to the Great Oak. "Alright. Darkflight and Ivywing, you guys spread out. I'll hunt around here," Berrynose said.

"He's so bossy!" Ivywing murmured in Darkflight's ear. Darkflight muttered agreement and wandered away to hunt.

Spotting a mouse nibbling at some roots, Darkflight crouched and tensed. He slid forward and leaped, pinning the mouse to the forest floor. Satisfied, he buried it and straightened, tasting the air for more scents of prey.

Suddenly, he heard a shriek. Darkflight instantly recognized the voice of Hollypaw, Kestrelflight's apprentice. Kestrelflight, Hollypaw, Icecloud, and Vixenpaw had been on a border patrol around WindClan's border. They must have gotten into some sort of trouble, though.

Darkflight raced towards the border and saw the patrol struggling with WindClan cats.

Berrynose and Ivywing burst out of the bushes behind him and joined the patrol. Darkflight leaped at a gray she-cat pinning Vixenpaw down. He recognized Mistclaw, a senior WindClan warrior- and a Dark Forest cat. But the Dark Forest could go to hell right now. No cat was going to harm his Clanmates.

Darkflight knocked Mistclaw over. He could see surprise in her blue eyes. As they grappled and rolled over, she hissed in his ear, "I thought you were a Dark Forest cat!"

Darkflight grunted. "I'm also a ThunderClan cat who's protecting my Clanmates!" he growled, and lashed out with his back paws. Mistclaw flew away from him and crashed on the ground.

"WindClan! Retreat!" she yowled, and the other warriors squirmed and wriggled away from the ThunderClan cats. Darkflight also recognized the WindClan apprentice Harepaw.

"Yeah! That'll show those flea-pelts!" Berrynose crowed.

"Hollypaw?" Kestrelflight mewed, gently prodding Hollypaw's pelt. The black apprentice was slumped on the ground.

"We have to get her back to Graymist's den!" Vixenpaw mewed urgently. "She's losing blood!"

With Icecloud's help, Kestrelflight pulled Hollypaw's limp body onto his back and set off for the camp. They came in and were greeted by mews of shock.

"What happened?" Hawkstar asked, rising from his place by the fresh-kill pile.

"WindClan attacked us when we were on our patrol," Kestrelflight explained, laying Hollypaw's body by Graymist.

Hawkstar frowned. "But why would they attack us? It's greenleaf, and WindClan has plenty of prey."

"Mistclaw said something about getting even with ThunderClan to her warriors," Icecloud said. Hawkstar looked even more confused.

"That doesn't make sense. Who were the warriors?" he asked.

"Mistclaw, Shalefoot, Oakfeather, Ryewhisker, and Harepaw," Vixenpaw told him.

"Ripplefang!" Hawkstar called, and the deputy stepped forward. "Yes, Hawkstar?"

"Increase the patrols along the WindClan border, and let me know if this happens again. If it does, then you and Graymist will be coming with me to speak with Runningstar," Hawkstar ordered.

Ripplefang dipped her head. She turned to Berrynose. "Did your patrol catch any prey?"

"Yes, but we left it where we caught it, because we heard Hollypaw yowl," Berrynose replied. "Do you want me to fetch it?"

"Yes. Take Swiftpaw with you."

The creamy warrior led the black-and-white tom out of camp. Hawkstar and Ripplefang headed over to the medicine cat den, where Graymist was working frantically on Hollypaw.

Hawkstar's eyes blazed with fury at seeing the limp apprentice. He whirled around, turning to face Kestrelflight, who was watching with a worried anticipation.

"Who did this to Hollypaw?" he asked.

"Shalefoot," Kestrelflight replied, not looking up from Hollypaw's body.

Hawkstar shook his head. "Shalefoot. I thought he was an honorable warrior."

Darkflight kept quiet. Shalefoot was also being trained in the Dark Forest.

Finally, Graymist stopped working. He looked up at Hawkstar and silently shook his head.

Cliffy!

Thanks for reading and, if you did, reviewing!

~Onyx