Wingpaw was completely out of his element in the forest. It seemed like he had stepped on every thorn and snapped every twig when they finally reached the DawnClan border. Wingpaw almost immediately became more confident at the river. He slipped into the water nearly noiselessly and quickly swam to the other bank. For the EarthClan cats, however, it was not so easy. They carefully stepped from one stepping stone in the water to another, while an impatient Wingpaw waited quietly for them. When they were all on the DawnClan shore, Wingpaw led them further into his territory.
"Come on," he would mew every five minutes. "My Clan is in danger, hurry up!"
They went as fast as they could, but the constant streams made it hard.
Finally, they stopped at a piece of land surrounded by streams on all three sides, an island. And it was in chaos.
The DawnClan camp was concealed by bushes and a reed wall, but Nettlepaw could hear the yowls of outrage and pain ring out.
"In here." Wingpaw was standing in front of a narrow strip of land connecting the island to the mainland. Nettlepaw saw Dreampaw's bushy white tail disappear into the entrance of the reed wall. Nettlepaw didn't want to look scared, so she went in second with her tail held high. But on the inside, fear and anticipation boiled and churned. And rightly so, for what awaited her was indeed frightening.
Cats hissed and screeched. The battlefield scene intensified Nettlepaw's fear. She pressed closer to Smalltwig, her mother.
"It's okay, little one," mewed Smalltwig gently, "Although the battle may be fierce, your friends and family will fight even more fiercely to protect you. There is nothing to fear; we are warriors, they are rouges; we have friends and family to fight for and depend on, they have only themselves. We will win!"
Her mother's words filling her with confidence, Nettlepaw realized how lucky she was to have her best friend and her mother with her. Poor Vinepaw was stuck with going through a mucky territory without even her mentor to comfort her.
A fearsome yowl snapped Nettlepaw out of her thoughts.
"For ShadeClan!" A black she-cat was flying towards her.
Nettlepaw just had time to think, What in the name of StarClan is ShadeClan? before the she-cat was on top of her.
"Such a pity to end a young life," the she-cat mewed, baring her razor-sharp fangs. "Goodbye." She lunged for Nettlepaw's throat.
Nettlepaw closed her eyes, preparing to die.
"No!" A white shape streaked through the air, knocking the black she-cat off of Nettlepaw. Dreampaw had saved her life. He clawed the she-cat cat on her back. Blood welled up in the scratches. She yowled and ran out of the camp. "Coward!" Dreampaw yowled at the fleeing cat.
"Thanks," Nettlepaw mewed.
"It was nothing," Dreampaw mewed breathlessly. "Like Smalltwig said, we all look out for each other."
Nettlepaw spotted a gray tom running towards the elders' den. She rocketed after him, but turns out, she didn't need to. A silver tabby apprentice dropped from a bush nearby, landing on top of the tom and knocking him to the ground.
A screech, shrill and loud, pierced the battle. An orange-muzzled tom had pinned down a struggling white tabby queen. Another queen, this one black with an orange tail, was also pinned down by a rouge. While the nursery was undefended, a brown she-cat, about the age of an apprentice, pulled out two mewling kits, and started to take out more.
"Acornwing, help! They're taking my kits!" the white tabby yowled.
A brown tom with darker paws rushed over, fast as lightning, knocking the scrawny brown she-cat to the ground.
"Get away from my kits," the tom hissed in her ear.
She looked up with fear in her eyes, and then raced off.
"Nettlepaw…"
She turned towards the barely audible sound, and saw Dreampaw being mauled by two rouges. They were clawing and biting him mercilessly. He was trying to fight back, but he was fading. She could almost see the life draining from his eyes. She screeched a fearsome battle-cry, and leapt to defend her friend.
She clawed, rolled, dodged, and bit, not caring about the wounds inflicted on her. The only thing that mattered to her was when the two cats raced out of the camp.
Dreampaw's eyelids fluttered weakly.
"Nettlepaw?" he croaked.
"I'm here"
"Medicine cat… hurry."
Netllepaw ran to the place she hoped was the medicine cat's den: a shady hollow in the trunk of a fallen tree that smelled of herbs. Thank StarClan, Nettlepaw thought. There was a cat inside who she'd seen picking herbs at the border once: a brown tom named Brownshell.
"Hurry… my friend… no time to explain," Nettlepaw mewed hurriedly.
Brownshell nodded and grabbed a bundle of herbs. Nettlepaw raced to Dreampaw's side. Brownshell got to work.
Nettlepaw left her friend in Brownshell's care. Almost immediately, she was pounced on by a gray and white tom. She hissed, clawing at his underbelly with her back claws. He let go, and Nettlepaw barreled into him, throwing him off balance. She gave him a vicious bite to his left flank for good measure,and then let him scamper off.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nettlepaw saw that four cats were attacking Mushroomfoot. She was battling valiantly, but she was vastly outnumbered. Nettlepaw silently crept up on one, a light gray tom. She struck, clamping her jaws onto his ear. He yowled in surprise and managed to shake her off, but red liquid dripped from the wound and his ear was now badly torn. The three other rouges were pretty startled, so Mushroomfoot took the opportunity and struck. She tackled one, knocking him into his unsuspecting comrades. With Nettlepaw helping, she drove the four rouges out of the camp.
Nettlepaw looked around, trying to see who needed help the most. Not the queens, they were clawing any rouge that got to close while their kits cowered behind them. There was one warrior, a young but battle scarred orange tom, who was being attacked by three cats at once, but he was doing fine. He was dodging and striking like he was born to fight. The look on his face, the bloodlust in his eyes sent chills up Nettlepaw's spine. The elders were okay, too. Three cats, Wingpaw and two other apprentices, were defending them. Then, she saw it; a white she-cat speeding towards a tan tom with brown paws bending over an injured Kiss, treating her with herbs. Nettlepaw didn't recognize him, but he was probably Brownshell's apprentice.
Nettlepaw lunged right when the rouge did, slamming into her in midair and knocking her away from the medicine cat. She clawed and bit her back, but the rouge managed to bite her paw and Nettlepaw fell off. The white she-cat left the camp yowling, "We'll be back! You just wait!" Then, she was gone.
R-E-V-I-E-W!
Please?
: )