Applethorn lead the patrol past the Leaf Stone and up towards the river and they stopped at a forest. She turned around and stared at them "I want Badgerfang and Alderstrike in the trees above me, Lintfang will lead the way and then hide, the rest of you will stay here until my signal" she meowed sternly, She followed Lintfang as Badgerfang climbed up the tree, "Applethorn!" Alderstrike called, and she turned "I-I'm sorry about how I was acting..." he apologized, Applethorn narrowed her eyes "Should've thought before you spoke. Get in a position now" she hissed at him. "Well, are you following me or what?" Lintfang called and with a flick of her tail she turned back around and trotted to catch up with Lintfang, "All right everyone! Get in your positions! Alderstrike hurry up! And the rest of you spread out so they can't smell you!" Badgerfang yowled to them.
The sun was going down, Eaglefern snuck behind her as Lintfang carefully tried to spot them, "Here" Lintfang whispered, "All right, the both of you move back and hide-wait until my signal" Applethorn nodded to them as the moved back "Applethorn" Eaglerfern whispered "Be careful" he mewed worriedly-then licked her head and moved back.
Applethorn sat and waited until she heard meowing going on "So what? They don't give a rat's tail!" a voice sounded, "Heatherwing you should be careful...you don't know what they might be doing" another sounded, "Hah!" Heatherwing chuckled "Please don't make me laugh if they really wanted to keep their territory safe-they wouldn't have let us hunt on their territory 4 times" she sneered, "That's not the point you mouse brain! If you were truly a warrior you wouldn't be putting your clanmates in danger over stupid land" the cat hissed, "Jaypool, are you saying that I can't keep proper authority over my clanmates?" Heatherwing hissed, "Yes I am! You're a terrible deputy and we all know it should've been me!" she snapped back, Applethorn heard scuffling and a hiss, then heavy breathing "You will regret what you've said" Heatherwing hissed "I'm telling Speckledstar!" she breathed, Heatherwing had sliced her ear and Jaypool had torn some fur from Heatherwing "Tell Speckledstar then, don't you know that I have him wrapped around my tail so tight-he could easily let me do whatever I want" she snarled, "That means scarring cats who can't stay put in their place Jaypool" she continued, "And since I've become deputy I've been keeping the clan fed! What've you done to prove your worth?" she sneered as she circled the blue-grey warrior.
"I've been taking more hunting patrols then you ever have!" Jaypool growled-Heatherwing shoved her muzzle into hers "Really? Last time I checked no matter how many hunting patrols you lead you always brought back nothing and the same cats too" she hissed, "Well, at least they know who to really trust" she snarled back. Then leaves rustled as more of their clanmates came "Tch I knew I heard you" a voice sneered "Jaypool your ear! are you okay?" another sounded, as two more murmured in worry "Silence! I will be reporting the betrayal of your little friend here to Speckledstar for attacking me without reason" Heatherwing snarled, "You have no authority over anyone here! You don't deserve to be the deputy" Jaypool snapped, but Heatherwing ignored her as more warriors came "Is she bothering you Heatherwing?" one voice spoke, "Oh great-look what you got yourself into now Jaypool!" another hissed.
Applethorn slit her eyes in concentration, "Gather the rest of the patrol here and escort Jaypool into the Prison den, make sure Willowheart watches her" Heatherwing instructed, "But she's a medicine cat!" one rang out, "Are you saying that my sister can't watch a prisoner? Do you know how strong she is? Do you even know her struggles?" Heatherwing hissed, and all she heard was silence "Then go do what you were god damn told!" she snarled. Applethorn watched as she was grabbed by 2 warriors and her 5 other friends followed her-soon the 2 warriors came back and 5 other cats came along "Let's, Hunt!" Heatherwing trilled, bushes rustled and Heatherwing angled her ears "My catch.." she purred licking her watering mouth, she leaps lazily into the air to be smashed in the stomach and laid on the ground.
"Ugh..." she groaned, she opened her eyes to see Applethorn pinning her down, her eyes of burning mint scathing her face. Applethorn looked up at the 7 warriors "You are all trespassing on FlintClan territory" she meowed, "Leave as instructed or pay the price" she finished. "Get this thing off of me! DustClan attack!" she yowled but nobody moved "I wouldn't want to do that if I were you Heatherwing" Applethorn hissed, Heatherwing looked into her eyes and saw the saw violent look she saw moons ago "Its..you..y-you're the one that tore Speckledstar's stomach open.." she gasped "You're the one who I never got a chance to fight!" she snarled in rage. Heatherwing pushed her off and stood ready to attack, "All right show me what you've g-" Heatherwing was attacked by Applethorn who never gave her a chance to finish.
Applethorn thrashed her claws throughout the air, catching Heatherwing with painful slices everytime she continued, Heatherwing yowled in pain and flopped onto and flopped on her stomach. Applethorn tore off her fur and scratched her face, Applethorn was slashing her to bits "Please stop!" a yowl sounded, a grey warrior had stepped up "My name is Owlthorn..." he swallowed hard, "Please let go of Heatherwing-she is our deputy" he begged, "That makes this situation even worse.." Applethorn purred. "The deputy of any clan wouldn't be stupid enough to land their paws on my territory-what happened to your own?" she hissed, "N-Nothing" Owlthorn whimpered, "Unfortunately, I cannot let go of this situation, or Heatherwing at all. You have been taking too many risks and chances and coming onto our territory 4 times was it? And without our permission too" Applethorn snarled, "Please.." Owlthorn begged Applethorn narrowed her eyes "No. You should've known you weren't just going to keep going onto our territory without us noticing" she growled. Owlthorn hung his head, "Fine, then-Attack!" he called, but Alderstrike and Badgerfang had landed on two cats threatening to kill them if they moved.
Applethorn knocked Heatherwing out with a powerful smash to her head, then slithered throughout the patrol, slashing at each cat and injuring them. "Enough!" one of Heatherwing's guards begged, "We give up!" he finished. "Great-then you guys can finally listen" she meowed. The fox's blood still stained her pelt and some of the cats were still staring at her, "I just recently tore the throat of a fox's out and dragged it onto MintClan territory-I won't hesitate to tear the throat of another" she meowed. Some cats shuffled, as others muttered under their breaths "For not leaving our premises peacefully and trying to harm us we will take all of you prisoner until your leader and ours can have a chat tonight" Applethorn announced. Cats exclaimed and disagreed "This is nonsense! We did nothing wrong!" Owlthorn yowled, Badgerfang slashed his face as Alderstrike held him down "The words coming out of your mouth is nonsense! Look where you are! You are on enemy territory hunting prey that doesn't belong to you, of course, you're doing something wrong!" Badgerfang exclaimed.
"Enough! If you DustClan cats continue speaking I'll snap one of your necks" Applethorn threatened "And do not test me-'cause I will take the life out of your poor rotting bodies" she hissed out, Cats stayed silent not wanting to test her and Applethorn turned and yowled, the large patrol came to the noise and surrounded the DustClan cats-spitting and hissing insults at them, as Applethorn carried Heatherwing's heavy body. "Is she dead?" Eaglefern asked "Did she recognize you?" he swished his ears towards her in interest "She is unconscious. And she did recognize me" Applethorn breathed heavily as she carried the body Eaglefern just smiled and continued padding forward, "Come on prisoners! Pick up the pace or we'll force you to!" Badgerfang yowled, and the patrol brought the prey-stealers back to their camp.
...
As the moon rose into the sky Featherflower's eyes fluttered in exhaustion, then a rustle sounded-then more-and then a whole trotting sounded and scared her awake, Then Applethorn normally popped out the bushes. "What the heck?!" Featherflower exclaimed it was the only thing that got her draining energy back as she saw Applethorn, Eaglefern, Lintfang and the entire rest of the patrol. "How many cats did you capture?!" She meowed as she walked with her sister and father, "Ask Applethorn-she assessed the whole situation so perfectly as if she were a true deputy" Eaglefern purred, Creamflower and Dandelionheart came forward "Applethorn, Eaglefern!" Dandelionheart purred "Where were you guys? When I awoke half the clan was gone! Ashpaw, Tigerpaw and Fernpaw became warriors!". Applethorn darted her head towards Featherflower "They did? How come you didn't tell me!" she exclaimed "I was about to close my eyes! I was tired before you guys scared me awake!" Featherflower meowed, "Their new names are Tigerleap, Ashflame, and Fernfeather! Aren't they beautiful names?" Dandelionheart swooned, "I can't believe all my kits grew up already-I'm mostly shocked about you Applethorn" she mewed.
"Why?" Applethorn licked her paw, "Because looked how fast you've transformed! Your muscles are bigger than Needleleap's-and your speed is faster that Lightfang's! You've gone from kit to warrior all right! And look how many cats you caught prisoner! Oh, I'm so proud!" Dandelionheart covered her face in licks "Mother!" Applethorn lightly pushed her away as she chuckled. "Look-there they are" Creamflower meowed, as a large dark tabby tom with green eyes came forward "Applethorn!" his meowed had become so deep it scared her, she hadn't been with her siblings in so long they already looked like adults, "What's with the look sis?" Ashflame meowed "Can't recognize Tigerleap either eh?" she purred, her fur had grown thicker- her spots had covered her entire body leaving her tail tip white and her amber eyes had grown fiercer. As Fernfeather stepped forward she saw that her eyes had grown sharper-but still looked soft and shy as normal, her fur was the shortest lining out her beautifully modeled body, her tabby stripes had shown a beautiful thick design and she was now the tallest in the group-other than Tigerleap-who was in second now.
Nettlestar had yowled for everyone attention-as the 7 warriors were shoved into the front and circled by the clan who hissed insults at them "Cats of FlintClan, We have officially caught the patrol of thieves who thought they can hunt on our territory and get away with it" he announced as the clan cheered in pride "And it's all because of Applethorn" Nettlestar purred, "Applethorn, Applethorn Applethorn!" they cheered and Applethorn-instead of ducking in embarrassment-she stood tall and accepted the praise in pride. "Now, who out of this group of you has a higher rank? I wish for them to speak" Nettlestar asked the prisoners, one stepped up-Owlthorn, and another tom named Snaketail. "Heatherwing is the deputy of DustClan-but someone-" he glared at Applethorn "Knocked her out, other than that she trusts us two the most" Owlthorn responded, and Nettlestar nodded.
"Why, and how dare you hunt on the enemy territory you do not own?" Nettlestar hissed, "Because we need the prey" Snaketail responded with slit eyes, Nettlestar growled irritated "Of course you need prey! But so does every other clan, now answer my question. Why were you on our territory?" he hissed, "I thought I answered your stupid question" Snaketail snarled "Don't test me you piece of crowfood", Applethorn ran and pinned him down in a flash "Don't speak to the leader like that" she hissed, "You have no authority here, and have no reason to act like you do-now let me explain this in your language, Why couldn't you hunt in your own territory? Why hunt on ours? Why not hunt in another clan's?" she snarled, Owlthorn shoved her off of Snaketail "Because we wanted to! You guys don't deserve that territory-we do!" Owlthorn growled, Applethorn glared at him "Heatherwing must be pretty foolish to leave her terrible authority off to two mouse brains wasting our time" she hissed.
"Please! We're the best warriors in the forest, you can't do anything to change that" Owlthorn bragged, Applethorn slashed at his face as three bloody claw marks bled down to his chin-he tried to attack back but she had tripped him and slashed at his back, Owlthorn yowled in pain and scrabbled at the dusty ground to escape but Applethorn held him down with her large paw. "Now that you know we're taking this situation pretty seriously, I don't need to hear any nonsense right now and don't have the mood for it" she hissed "Your explanation shows that you were basically on our territory because you wanted to, How selfish." she turned to Nettlestar who was staring at her in shock "Well? What do we do now?" she meowed to Lightfang and Nettlestar. The cats murmured to each other for a second, then turned back to her "You decide, you seem to be handling this pretty well" Lightfang meowed, and Applethorn dipped her head in thanks, She turned to the clan "I think that we should leave them to rot in the prisoners den and feed them once a night, and if they dare speak back or spit at us, then that group can attack the prisoner and have fun with it. And if they can't behave the first time or second, or third-then we kill them out in the forest, feed them to the foxes near their border for a lesson-least it'll keep them away from our territory" she yowled, at first there were silence-and shocked faces but then a cat stood and yowled "Right on Applethorn! Let's do that!" Tigerleap yowled, "Yeah! They deserve it for hunting on our territory 4 times!" Eaglefern shouted, "They're being selfish with the territory StarClan blessed them to have! Punish them, my daughter!" Dandelionheart yowled, "They're wasting our time with their stupid lies-punish them, punish them, punish them!" Creamflower started chanting.
As Applethorn looked at her clanmates as they each continued to chant punish them, Applethorn looked at the prisoners and saw that they were scared, all of the them-faces of fear lit up their poor faces, and Applethorn turned to Nettlestar, "The guards will be Lintfang, Whitefeather, Eaglefern, Lightfang, and Tigerleap" Nettlestar announced "The names I have called will report everything to Applethorn if they cause trouble" he finished, "But Lightfang's the deputy! I can't certainly-" Applethorn stuttered in shock but Lightfang shook her head, "It'll help you gain experience-I'm doing this all for you my little apprentice" she purred and Nettlestar called off the meeting-the prisoners brought to their den.
Applethorn peeked in the medicine den and saw that Palestripe had been speaking to Heatherwing, "What am I doing here?" she hissed "Who are you?", Palestripe blinked calmly "I am Palestripe, medicine cat of FlintClan" he meowed, "What in the hell am I doing in FlintClan? Where's my patrol?" she snarled, "There in the prisoners den-like you should" Applethorn meowed as she walked in lightly. She dipped her head to Palestripe as he did the same and continued on with Heatherwing who continued to glare at her "That doesn't explain anything" Heatherwing hissed, Applethorn tilted her head "It explains everything actually, You were hunting on our territory and so we caught you and your warriors and brought them here-as prisoners" she meowed licking her paw. Heatherwing tensed up "Do you even know who I am? I'm the deputy of DustClan! I order you to let me and my warriors go!" Heatherwing hissed with a lash of her tail, "Heatherwing-" Palestripe started but she cut him off with a scratch sliced on his nose, Palestripe backed up-shocked and Applethorn leaped into action she stood on her hind legs to show dominance and slashed at her face as Heatherwing bunched up and hissed-readying to leap at her.
Heatherwing leaped with such force-but missed as Applethorn ducked in a second, Heatherwing busted her nose on the rim of the den opening-causing it to spurt blood, Heatherwing flopped to the ground in pain and Applethorn leaped onto her to pin her down, she leaned her head near Heatherwing's ear. "Oh, Heatherwing when will you learn? You can't defeat me. You never will" Applethorn mused in her ear, Heatherwing tried to move but Applethorn sheathed her claws stabbing the back of her neck, Heatherwing hissed in pain "Now you listen here, and you listen good" Applethorn growled "We've been planning to take you and your patrol hostage since day 1, from this moment forward until you've been retrieved and claimed by Speckledstar's warriors himself-you are a prisoner" she meowed. Heatherwing growled "Really? Please If you expect me to be a nice prisoner you should think twice" she hissed, Applethorn smiled and dug her claws deeper in her neck "No-you should think twice. You have no authority over anyone here, so get that through your thick skull of yours" Applethorn hissed lightly "If you attack or insult one of my warriors-they will have the right to attack you, and besides if you think that won't straighten you out-then we'll bring you back to your border" Applethorn mewed "Good." Heatherwing muttered "I'm not done yet" Applethorn growled " We'll bring you back to your border-kill you-then leave your rotting body for the foxes to feast on" she hissed, Heatherwing sighed "Don't test me Heatherwing-I'm not afraid to kill you or your precious clanmates" Applthorn growled. She unsheathed her claws and forced her up "Follow me" Applethorn meowed and Heatherwing had no choice but to listen, they padded through camp and pretty soon they were near the prisoner's den wherein the clearing there was a battle between a prisoner and someone in her clan.
"Come on! Show me how tough you are weakling!" Applethorn heard a hiss, she pushed through the crowd to see what was happening and saw it all. Owlthorn had pinned down Fernfeather and had raised his claws up for a killing blow, Applethorn dashed into Owlthorn and they scuffled amongst each other-Applethorn's hind claws dug into Owlthorn's stomach rapidly, clawing oof chunks of his belly fur and soon all she felt was meat, Owlthorn yowled in pain and let go of Applethorn, backing away in pain. Applethorn checked Fernfeather and she thanked her-Fernfeather was shaking "Fernfeather, what happened?" Applethorn mewed as she nuzzled her traumatized sister "I...I was padding by when Owlthorn insulted me-but I kept walking, I accidentally bumped into another prisoner and then Owlthorn started attacking me and.." she shook "And the clan just sat and watched" she wailed. Applethorn looked at Owlthorn who was crouching as blood pooled around him, then Applethorn searched through the crowds-her family was there-even Alderstrike and his brother was betting on who would win, Flashtooth had just come back from a patrol and saw what was happening "What's going on why aren't they fighting?" Alderstrike called out "I want to see who wins".
"You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" Applethorn screeched in rage "You'd rather have a prisoner almost murder my sister instead of helping her?", she turned to everybody who looked at each other "You are all disgusting! You're all no better than rogues if you'd rather watch one of your clanmates die to the claws of these prey-stealers! You should all be ashamed!" she snarled. She glared at Alderstrike who looked to his paws in embarrassment as cats murmured sadly, some even apologized. "And you!" she snarled at Owlthorn, "You will regret harming my sister.." she narrowed her eyes, Owlthorn glared back "She's weak-she should've died underneath me like the garbage she is!" he hissed, Applethorn snapped her neck and widened her eyes her snarling mouth turned into a wide grin. "W-Why are you smiling?" Owlthorn hissed in fear, but Applethorn didn't answer-she stood up-still smiling and dashed into Owlthorn so quick he lost his breath, Owlthorn fell to the ground unable to get up and looked at Applethorn, Her eyes were dangerously wide and dark-staring through his soul, her grin so psychotically wide it scared him he shook underneath her "H-Hey wait! I-I'm sorry" he meowed shakily Applethorn blinked slowly, "It's okay-you'll be dead anyway" she purred, cats looked at her worriedly as she then sheathed her claws and sliced deeply into his stomach, his guts and blood flowed out as Owlthorn choked and coughed on his blood. Cats screamed and gasped, as Alderstrike threw up, Owlthorn gurgled out a yowl but it turned short after Applethorn smashed his head to the ground then bit his throat and tightened her jaw-harder, and harder, and SNAP.
Owlthorn's head lolled in her mouth as his guts hung out and blood was spilled, Fernfeather fainted, Tigerleap stared in horror as he looked at the face of the cat he called his sister-while Eaglefern, Creamflower, and Dandelionheart stared in shock. She dropped the limp body and licked the blood off her muzzle, then looked towards the rest of the prisoners with a shaking Heatherwing included "This is what happens when you attack the wrong cat. Go out of line and I'll murder you" she trilled, "Get on with the patrols! Guards better are guarding now!" Applethorn ordered and cats scurried this way and that not wanting to bother her, it felt as if she were imprisoned in a body she didn't want to be in. She had killed an innocent cat-and now she has to wait for her punishment from StarClan.