Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.
A/N: I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, but my computer died and it only started working again today, so I have an excuse!
The next few moons passed with no memorable events; training in the dark forest continued as usual, and bramblestar only taught her the things that apprentices were usually taught. The gatherings that she went to were un-eventful, as the clans had been at peace since the great battle; in fact, according to hollypaw, the only interesting things were seedpaw, lilypaw, amberpaw, snowpaw and dewpaw, now seedpelt, lilyflower, amberclaw, snowstorm and dewfrost's warrior ceremonies. Due to this, hollypaw was longing for something actually interesting to happen. But when her wishes were answered, it was not in a way she had hoped for.
"Hollypaw! Pebblepaw! Border patrol!" the two apprentices snapped their heads up from the vole they were sharing to see squirrelflight scowling at them.
"Now!" she ordered, flicking towards a group of cats that were waiting by the camp entrance in an impatient motion. Muttering a curse under her breath, hollypaw heaved herself to her paws before padding to join the patrol. Pebblepaw joined her mentor molefur, whilst hollypaw surveyed who was in the rest of the group.
Sorreltail, brackenfur, seedpelt, spiderleg, thornclaw and berrynose. She recited, sighing in exasperation at the sight of berrynose. He'll only get us into trouble… she thought.
"Right, let's go!" Brackenfur's yowl startled hollypaw, and she stumbled into thornclaw, who hissed at her bad-temperedly.
"Watch it!" he snapped, baring sharp, needle-like fangs. Hollypaw backed up, ears flattened in fear and agitation. The patrol had already left by the time she turned round, and the young cat broke into a sprint to catch up.
The patrol checked the borders around the territory, heading in the direction of windclan. As they passed the moor-side border, berrynose suddenly raced away from the group and into the opposite clans territory. The cause of this mad dash became clear when the troublesome warrior sauntered back with a smug look on his face and a plump rabbit clasped in his jaws.
"Prey thieves!" the cry rose into the air, and the patrol of thunderclan warriors snapped their heads around to see a windclan patrol decending over the crest of the ridge, fury blazing in their eyes. Battle cries rang through the air as the two groups clashed, each cat locked in battle with another. Hollypaw swung her head from side to side, the chaos of the battle confusing her, but she was snapped back to reality as a weight landed on her back and she was forced to the ground. She twisted in her attackers grasp and saw the snarling face of the newly named warrior furzespeckle, her white and grey dappled pelt raised in anger. Hollypaw twisted side to side as the powerful young cat aimed heavy paw-swipes and bites at her. Despite her dark forest training, she was fighting a losing battle, and with each writhing movement she made, her strength seemed to ebb slowly away. Finally, one of furzespeckle's swipes met its mark, and white hot pain exploded in hollypaw's cheek, and she winced as blood ran down her face and onto her neck. Furzespeckle then raised her paw above her opponent's neck and smiled murderously, and hollypaw closed her eyes in fear and regret.
No… It can't end like this… she thought to herself, but there was a sudden loud cry behind the apprentice and the weight of her attacker was abruptly lifted, and her emerald eyes snapped open to see brackenfur engaged in combat with furzespeckle. Yowls and shrieks split through the air, and hollypaw looked around the battleground, taking it all in. her gaze fell upon pebblepaw, who was struggling to fight off a calico tom, who hollypaw recognised from the gathering. She seemed to recall his name to be chasepaw, but she quietly scolded herself for being too slow, as an anguished yowl of pain came from the direction of pebblepaw, and the black she-cat bounded forwards, knocking chasepaw away from the grey she cat.
The two cats wrestled furiously on the ground, slashing and biting in a frenzy of claws and fur. Neither cat seemed to be winning, so hollypaw, in a spur of the moment decision, attempted the move that snowtuft had taught her the previous night. She suddenly twisted and slid underneath chasepaw, crawling out behind him and lashing out at the back of his neck in an explosive claw swipe. The calico tom crumpled to the ground, blood streaming from the wound in his neck. Hollypaw backed up; waiting for the windclan apprentice to spring up and return the attack, but the black apprentice recoiled in horror as she saw the glazed-over look in the tom's amber eyes.
"No…" she whispered, hoarse in shock
"Please starclan… no…" then, all of a sudden, a horrified yowl rose into the morning sky, and hollypaw turned her head to see swallowtail, her eyes dark with anger and greif.
"You monster!" she hissed, lashing her tail furiously.
"You killed my apprentice!"
A/N: I decided to include hollypaw killing chasepaw because I re-read my previous chapters, and hollypaw seemed like a bit of a 'can do no wrong' character during the day at least, so I thought a dark twist in the plot would make her seem more developed and troubled. I hope you liked it! Also, I have had two suggestions for what hollypaws warrior name will be, and I just can't decide between them, so I will try to post a poll on my profile, which I will leave up for a week or two to help me decide! Until next time!
Storm