RavenClan: The Rogues

"Ashpaw, slow down. StormClan isn't going anywhere." Yewstar winced as Marshfang bellowed at the apprentice. Ahead of them, the little blue-gray tom came to a screeching halt and looked back at them with wide blue eyes.

"It's good that he's exploring." RavenClan's leader said mildly to the shaggy warrior.

"It won't be good if he wanders right across the border." Marshfang rumbled, bright yellow eyes scanning the horizon. Yewstar followed his gaze, examining the marshy land rolling before them. Small tufts of cattails and marsh grasses poked up from the frosty ground. The view was rather barren at this time of year, when the warm winds were just beginning to thaw the layer of ice over RavenClan land. To make it worse, the sky above was slate gray, accenting the monotonous beige coloring of the ground below. In weather like this everything took on an ethereal feel, outlines of creatures and plants suddenly becoming harder to make out.

"Is something wrong?" Ashpaw asked anxiously as the rest of the patrol joined up with him.

"Stay with the patrol now Ashpaw. We're close to the border." Yewstar meowed, flicking his ear with her tail.

"Will we see any StormClan cats?" The apprentice looked suddenly alarmed. Yewstar knew any other apprentice would have relished the opportunity, but Ashpaw was not the most aggressive young cat in the Clan. At the mere mention of battle he would often go quiet and start looking uneasy. She hoped his first battle would help dispel his fears, because she knew she would need every strong cat she could get in the future.

"StarClan willing, no." Marshfang grunted, his bushy black tail twitching.

"You never know." Yewstar answered the apprentice, amusement in her mew. "Border patrols always have to stay alert. We don't want trouble with StormClan while prey is still so scarce."

"Roseclaw said they like to start trouble no matter what season it is." Ashpaw mewed nervously.

"Border patrols like to swap insults whenever they meet." Marshfang gave a throaty purr. "The trick is not to be goaded into ripping the tails off the insolent furballs. Roseclaw tends to get a little more… aggravated than others."

Yewstar paused to taste the air. "I don't smell anything. Let's be quick. I don't want any nonsense from StormClan today. They can save it for the gathering if they have anything to say."

Marshfang gave a growl of assent while Ashpaw kept casting wary glances up along the mountainside. The slope along StormClan's border was very mild, descending gently into RavenClan's boggy territory. Without the scent markers, it would be easy to accidentally wander across. StormClan was especially careful to mark this border above all others. Sometimes it seemed to Yewstar that they often tried to drown out RavenClan scent-markers altogether.

"We'll start here and make our way north." Yewstar said, sniffing the dirt carefully. They were the second patrol to pass by here today, but the previous patrol had already marked along the part of the southern part of the border, closest to where all the Clans' territories met. The patrol had been interrupted when Featherfur scented a fresh fox scent and returned immediately to camp to report it. The scent was stale now. Hopefully the red-furred devil had moved on, or crossed into StormClan territory.

The patrol moved along quickly. Yewstar felt herself relaxing as they padded on, finding no evidence of their borders being crossed. She was turning to tell Marshfang that they had been rather lucky today when a strong StormClan scent met her nostrils. Her head snapped around, seeing a rival patrol pelting down toward them from further up the mountain.

The golden she-cat groaned inwardly at the sight of the silver cat leading it. It was none other than Silverbranch, StormClan's feisty deputy. Running beside her was a cream-colored she-cat and a white tom with a pure black tail. Behind them was a smaller, snowy-white she-cat. Yewstar recognized the warriors, Cloudflower and Falconclaw, but she could not name the younger cat with them.

"See if they'll leave us alone." She hissed quietly to her Clanmates, shooing them along the border.

"Yewstar!" The haughty voice of Silverbranch rang out.

Mouse-dung!

"Think we can still ignore them?" Marshfang asked, eyes sparkling with laughter as Yewstar shot him a dirty look before turning to face the approaching patrol.

"What are you doing here?" Silverbranch demanded, skidding to a halt just on the inside of the border. Her ears were flat and her nostrils flared aggressively. She wanted a fight.

"Marking my borders, same as you." Yewstar meowed evenly, golden eyes unblinking. Silverbranch was the bigger cat, and maybe the prettier cat, but no one could deny that RavenClan's leader commanded the attention and respect of every cat there, much as Silverbranch would wish it otherwise.

"No RavenClan patrol is to patrol here without an accompanying StormClan patrol." Silverbranch hissed, tail lashing from side to side. "You two-faced mouse-brains can't be trusted so close to StormClan's borders."

"You don't tell us what to do, Silverbranch." Yewstar said, her gaze not moving from Silverbranch's. She had never heard such an absurd notion. Did she think that RavenClan was going to share when their patrols would go out with a rival Clan? "Ivystar is only leader from this scent line on."

"That won't stop us from escorting you up and down the border." Silverbranch said smugly, sitting down and curling her gray tail over her paws.

"Whatever you want. Just stay on your side." Yewstar shrugged and turned away from the rival patrol. She didn't have to glance back to feel the annoyance radiating off of StormClan's deputy at her lack of a reaction.

Seeing the anger in Marshfang's expression, she gave him a warning look. As his fur began to lie flat again, she took the lead once more and carried on along the border, each step she took shadowed by Silverbranch on the opposite side. "Just ignore them, Ashpaw." Yewstar meowed to the apprentice, who was flicking his tail in irritation and casting uneasy glances at the enemy patrol.

"Your Clan must be weak for you to allow something like this." Silverbranch sneered. "If it were me, I would have attacked instantly rather than allowing another Clan tell me what to do."

The three RavenClan cats ignored the comment, moving along with tails held high and ears perked. Whenever Marshfang or Yewstar looked over the border, they made sure that their expressions were blank as they passed over the enemy cats, as though they were no more than rocks or brush. Ashpaw, however, could not help but glance worriedly between his leader and the StormClan cats whenever Silverbranch made a snide comment about their Clan. Yewstar rather felt like she was letting the young tom down, but she knew StormClan. A shrug would do more damage to their egos than a few snarled words ever would, and if there was one thing every RavenClan cat enjoyed, it was getting under StormClan's fur.

"Are all RavenClan cats so ugly?" The StormClan apprentice asked her mentor, holly green gaze sweeping critically over the three cats. Yewstar could tell that she was a particularly brainwashed StormClan specimen. She already had the smug and knowing look that most of the mountain cats had, but it was as though there was no youthful energy left in her. She moved with graceful, controlled movements. There was none of the clumsy enthusiasm of a 'paw in her, although it was still clear that she was still quite young.

"I'm afraid so, Pinepaw." Silverbranch said, shaking her head sadly. "This is what becomes of a Clan when their noble blood is diluted by loners and kittypets. They lose their StarClan-given strength, wisdom, and grace."

"You never seem too graceful when you have to walk on marshy ground." Ashpaw meowed angrily, seeing Cloudflower stumble over a clump of springy marsh grass.

"That's because no cat should have to live in this StarClan-forsaken environment." Falconclaw growled. "Apprentices should only speak when they are spoken to."

"At least our apprentices have manners." Marshfang growled.

"Let's go." Yewstar meowed, signaling to her cats with her tail. She sensed the situation deteriorating as the two patrols started exchanging insults.

"Yes, run away little RavenClan cats." Cloudflower purred. Beside her, Silverbranch'a eyes flashed triumphantly.

Yewstar sighed as Marshfang stepped slowly and deliberately up to the border. He was a huge cat, towering over almost every cat in all the Clans. His shaggy fur and wide yellow eyes gave him an intimidating appearance. All of the StormClan cats took a step back.

"Watch yourselves." He rumbled ominously. "The day will come when you taunt the wrong cat, and he'll box your ears for you."

"Is that a threat?" Silverbranch hissed.

"It's a promise." Marshfang meowed solemnly, un-cowed by the StormClan deputy's wrath.

"Such impudence!" Pinepaw screeched, bouncing forward slightly with her claws unsheathed. "Silverbranch, let's teach him a lesson."

"What was that about apprentices speaking out of turn?" Yewstar padded up to stand beside her Clanmate, meeting the apprentice's angry gaze.

"I should teach you a lesson." Silverbranch snarled, flexing her own claws. "You can't even keep your own patrol under control."

"A good leader listens to her Clanmates." Yewstar said shortly, her tail beginning to lash back and forth as she faced off with the silver she-cat.

Falconclaw crouched down, ready to spring on Marshfang at his deputy's command. Yewstar realized that they were not going to get away without a fight this time, but she also realized that she didn't care. For a long, cold season her Clanmates had been forced to endure the insults and jibes of StormClan for fear of a war they could not win. But Yewstar knew they were strong now, with kits in the nursery and apprentices rapidly becoming strong young warriors. It was time to show StormClan that they were not afraid.

Yewstar raised her tail, getting ready to lead her cats into battle.

"Stop!"

The growls died in every cat's throat as they collectively raised their heads to look at the cat hurrying toward them from the StormClan side of the border. Yewstar felt a wave of relief at the sight of a familiar gray face.

"I thought you were patrolling, Silverbranch, not trying to start a war." The tom said coolly, coming to a halt in front of the StormClan deputy.

"And I thought you were gathering herbs, Cinderfang, not interfering in warrior business." Silverbranch meowed icily.

"Warrior business is my business, just as herbs are your business. You know I don't have enough to treat you." Cinderfang growled. "What am I supposed to do if you all get infected scratches from these fleabags?"

Silverbranch appeared to mull this over for a long moment before she finally dipped her head to the medicine cat and meowed, "Forgive me Cinderfang. I thought you were just being soft with these mange-ridden creatures. I will take your advice… for now." She turned her blue glare to Yewstar. "Consider yourselves lucky." With a flick of her tail, she and the rest of her patrol disappeared up into StormClan territory, leaving the RavenClan patrol with the StormClan medicine cat.

"Now be gone. I don't want you causing any more trouble." Cinderfang mewed gruffly to Yewstar. He was a handsome cat, despite his age. Yewstar was one of the few cats who remembered this broad-shouldered tom as a warrior. It was easy to see where his kit name had come from: he had a dark gray coat with a splash of ginger on his chest and face. He had been a formidable warrior, and now he was a good medicine cat.

"Of course." Yewstar said smoothly, inclining her head slightly to the StormClan cat before turning and leading her Clanmates briskly along the border to finish their patrol in peace.

"Thank StarClan there's one cat in StormClan with a good head on his shoulders." Marshfang grumbled.

"Why did he help us like that?" Ashpaw asked Yewstar, peering quizzically up at his leader.

"You heard what he said. They must be running low on herbs." The golden she-cat said with a casual shrug. StormClan had been putting on quite a show of strength recently, so she rather doubted that they were as weak as Cinderfang made it sound. "At least we know they won't cause trouble for a few moons yet, when the useful herbs have grown back."

"Still, I don't like accepting help from a cat from another Clan like that." Marshfang complained. "And now they won't respect us at all."

"We'll make sure we send bigger patrols along here in the future." Yewstar meowed, more to herself than to Marshfang. "I'll make sure Smokepatch knows that we are done being passive with those uppity furballs."

Filled with energy at the thought of giving StormClan what they deserved, Marshfang and Ashpaw surged ahead of their leader. They did not notice her cast a long glance back toward StormClan territory.