Bathed in Blue

Chapter 10: StarClan's Fury

Whitestorm was the first to attack. With a shriek of fury, he jumped on the RiverClan warrior in front of him, clawing at his flank. For one shocked moment the other cats just stared at the two battling warriors, then they all seemed to leap at once. The ThunderClan cats attacked the RiverClan cats, the RiverClan cats attacked the ThunderClan cats, and the ShadowClan and WindClan cats fled in one chaotic mass, terrified. "No!!" snarled Raggedstar, the ShadowClan leader, "You know about the truce!! StarClan will punish us for this!!"

However, the warring cats, even Badgerstar and Goldenstar, didn't pay any attention to him. They had leapt at one another, snarling, and seemed to be blinded by their own anger. Bluepaw searched helplessly for her brothers as Oakpaw backed up worriedly, muttering something under his breath. Branchpaw was assisting his mentor, attempting to swipe at Badgerstar, but Regalpaw was nowhere to be seen. "Regalpaw! Regalpaw!" called Bluepaw, but it was no use. The cat had simply disappeared.

Suddenly a heavy object pinned her to the ground, and Bluepaw let out a surprised yowl and looked up just in time to see Crookedfang staring down at her. His icy gaze terrified her, and, forgetting all that she had been taught: that she had to be a warrior, that she had to be courageous, that she had to be loyal, everything, she let out another frightened wail and attempted to escape form Crookedfang's grasp. The RiverClan cat wasn't about to go against the warrior code, so he let the apprentice go and watched coolly as she ran away, into the undergrowth.

As soon as she felt her fear melting away, Bluepaw stopped, feeling foolish, and went back to watch the battle from behind a bush. Oakpaw was saying something to Crookedfang worriedly, but Crookedfang seemed to just dismiss it and leapt back into the fray, signaling with his tail for Oakpaw to follow him. Suddenly a voice coming from behind Bluepaw mewed her name, and the apprentice whipped around in fear. However, it was only Regalpaw. "Regalpaw!" exclaimed Bluepaw, "What are you doing here?!"

"Me?!" replied the gray apprentice incredulously, "I'm looking for Rosetail! She's not anywhere around here, and I'm worried… What are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be fighting?"

"I-I tried, but Crookedfang…"

"Who?"

"A Riverclan warrior. He challenged me, and… I just felt terrified. I fled from him, and here I am now!"

"Oh, yes!" mewed Regalpaw, tilting his head in thought, "That prickly old furball that got into a bit of an argument with Whitestorm! I remember him!"

Bluepaw turned around, sighing. "Should I help you search for Rosetail, Regalpaw? I… don't think I can go back out there."

"What? Oh, her. Yeah… that was just an excuse for my own hiding. I just didn't want you to think I was lazy if you were hiding for some noble reason!"

"Regalpaw! You mouse-brain!"

"Look, don't insult me!" hissed Regalpaw, "You're just as scared as I am! I can see it in your eyes! Now… I'll go back if you go back. Deal?"

Bluepaw gave her brother a glance before turning back towards Fourtrees and replying, "Deal."

"All right—go!" yowled Regalpaw and sped onto the battlefield, tackling the first RiverClan cat he saw.

Bluepaw was a bit more hesitant, but in the end, she, too, ran blindly into the fray and tackled the first cat she saw. "B-Bluepaw?!" mewed the cat, surprised, and Bluepaw looked down to see Oakpaw beneath her.

"O-Oakpaw…" mewed Bluepaw, contemplating whether to go on attacking him or not. This is mouse-brained! thought the ThunderClan apprentice, We aren't even very good friends! Where's your loyalty, Bluepaw? He's in an enemy Clan! Attack him! But still, she found that she couldn't do it. The RiverClan apprentice under her was only staring back up at her, not making any attempt to escape from her grasp.

Bluepaw didn't get a chance to make the choice, for another RiverClan apprentice tackled her and wrestled her to the ground. Before Bluepaw could even react, the apprentice had slashed her across the face with sharp claws, and she felt a stinging pain. She let out a yowl of fury and pain, and bit the apprentice's neck. The apprentice looked ready to claw her fur out, but then Oakpaw rushed next to him and yowled, "Loudpaw!"

Loudpaw looked back at his Clanmate, confused. Oakpaw continued, "Leave Bluepaw…" then added, for Loudpaw didn't seem convinced, "She's not much danger to RiverClan compared to the warriors. There's two of us now, so we can take them easily."

Loudpaw gave a snort. "Not much danger? From what I see, Oakpaw, you were about to be shredded!"

Oakpaw looked embarrassed, but then mewed, "Come on. Let's go." and dragged the brown apprentice with him as they padded off.

For a second Bluepaw just sat there, shocked. Had Oakpaw just stopped his Clanmate from attacking her—an enemy cat?! However, her thoughts were interrupted as a roar sounded from Fourtrees. At first, as Bluepaw's gaze flew to the four trees, she thought that it must not be a simple cat that made such a fearsome roar. It must be a LionClan cat, descended from StarClan to stop the battle… she thought. However, it wasn't a lion, but Goldenstar, his right ear torn and blood dripping from a wound on his left side. His eyes were filled with sorrow. "Cats of both RiverClan and ThunderClan… we have all made a grave mistake. In our rage, we have broken the sacred truce—ordered by StarClan…" The tom paused ominously and Bluepaw cast a glance at the sky, the moon covered by dark clouds and the sound of thunder roaring in the distance. "…I don't know if any warriors have been lost on either side, but we can't continue this until some are. I am sorry that, well… your own leaders started this."

Bluepaw let out a sigh, relieved that Goldenstar had stopped the battle. But before she could pull herself up, Badgerstar snapped, "Speak for yourself, Goldenstar! I won't stop until you admit to killing Brownstripe!"

"Badgerstar, that's mouse-brained!" It wasn't Goldenstar that spoke this time, but Crookedfang, Badgerstar's own deputy. "This has nothing to do with RiverClan and ThunderClan. The point is that we've broken the warrior code! We have to stop now!" His words echoed across the clearing, and many cats began muttering to one another fearfully.

Badgerstar took a step forwards and snarled at his deputy, but Crookedfang didn't back down. Finally, the RiverClan leader mewed, "Fine. Leave. But Goldenstar… this isn't over."

The walk back to ThunderClan territory was fairly uneventful. An eerie silence clung to the entire Clan, and Bluepaw swore she could hear the steady heartbeat of Whitestorm beside her. Many of the cats were licking their wounds or casting a glance to their friends and family to see how badly they had been injured. Only one sentence was spoken, and it was by usually-quiet Branchpaw, ahead with Goldenstar: "We'll be facing Starclan's fury for that." His words hung ominously over the entire Clan.