Keasong had been about to doze off in her nest; finally giving up on waiting up for the raid patrol, when a cry from outside brought her straight back up to full awareness. She leapt up, causing a slumbering Duckwing to startle awake next to her. She didn't even wait to let the older she-cat know what was going on before bounding outside.

In the camp, other cats were gathering. Through the entrance was padding the raid patrol. Tired, worn, some bleeding. But alive. Here. Relief blossomed in Keasong's chest, but the looks of the faces of her returning clanmates also bred concern.

Flamestar led his cats. His fur was bloodstained around his head, but Keasong could see no wound. His eyes had a far-away, exhausted look to them. Lost in thought… Had he…?

Willowwind rushed to greet him with a delighted cry as Keasong searched the party with her gaze. She saw Lionmane first; large and thick furred and battle-scarred. He was okay. He looked angry. Frostpaw was supported by his brother, limping on a front leg. There was Wrenfeather. She seemed to be one of the more unharmed, but she was more subdued than usual as Grasstail greeted her at the entrance.

The whole raid party was there… they'd all made it back… except. Fear gripped around Keasong's chest like an icy claw. Flamestar seemed to notice her distress at Rowanfall's absence, for her broke off from his quiet muttering to his mate and moved over to her.

"He's alive." That regal voice was always soothing, and his words even more so right now. "Quite unhurt, actually."

"Where is he then?" He hadn't run off again had he? She thought he was past that! Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sparrowcrest lingering in the background, face tense. She probably wanted to talk to Flamestar about what Jock had said, but right now that wasn't forefront of Keasong's own worries.

"Rowanfall said he had something he needed to do. Somewhere he needed to go." Flamestar shook his head. Keasong had to make sure she didn't find herself staring at the bloodstains on his pelt. "He promised he'd be back."

The tabby she-cat let out a little sigh of respite, and then found herself curious. "Did he say where?"

"No. He wouldn't tell me, and since I'm not his leader he wasn't obliged to either… Not within Gorseclan at least." He considered the disappointed warrior before him a moment. "You know how cagey he can be, Keasong, and in the circumstances I didn't want to push the issue too hard. He asked me to trust him to come back, and I have."

As much as she wanted to know where Rowanfall had gone off to, she understood. "Speaking of circumstances… what-" The leader broke her off with a flick of his ear, voice grim.

"I'm about to address the clan. You'll hear." And with that, the tom padded away, his mate and deputy quick to join him. Earthshatter waved away Sheepfur as she approached to look at his torn ear. The medicine cat and her apprentice moved to the rest of the raiding cats instead to check and tend their wounds. Nobody looked seriously hurt at least.

Keasong would have called it lucky, if she hadn't then heard what Flamestar had to say when he called the clan meeting moments later.

Fieldclan's patrol hadn't turned up. There had been some loud, strange noises from their territory around dusk as the other two clans waited, and Fieldclan never came. The other two patrols; Marshclan led by Bluewind due to Swallowstar's fragility and ill health, decided to go ahead with the raid. They still had plenty of cats on their side, and the element of surprise.

In the end, it had been a poor choice.

At first, it had been going well. Gorseclan had made some preparations, but clearly weren't expecting a counterattack so soon. The rogues weren't even there. It seemed they had their camp elsewhere…

But then Bluewind was killed by Icestar and Sorrelfur. The brave fool had been taking on two of the best fighters in the valley on his own. Marshclan's battle leadership started to fall apart after that. The senior warrior Bogclaw seemed to be getting his cats together again when the rogues arrived. How they had found out, no cat could say. Perhaps a Gorseclan cat ran to tell them, and their own camp wasn't far. Maybe they'd somehow known it was about to happen in advance…

Their arrival firmly turned the tide. The fought viciously and fought dirty. The Gustclan prisoners they'd been trying to rescue had to be left behind to be recaptured. Flamestar ended up against Icestar while Bogclaw fought Sorrelfur, and Sting, the rogue leader came in from behind. He lost a life.

Apparently, it was Rowanfall's interference that stopped him from losing them all. He took on Icestar, while Earthshatter occupied Sting.

"He fought like a cat possessed." Earthshatter had rumbled. "Like a raging fire that flickered away from Icestar's blows. Looked to me like even Icestar was surprised. A little longer and he would've had the bastard… Gave him a few new scars for that ugly collection, that's for sure." The cats in the clan listening had muttered to each other. Many still did not trust Rowanfall. Perhaps now, that had changed.

In the end though, they were overwhelmed. Some of the Marshclan cats had fled when Bluewind was killed, and without Fieldclan's numbers, it was just not enough. They were forced to retreat. They left behind the Gustclan cats. They hadn't stopped Icestar, or Sting. The only death on all sides was Bluewind.

They'd lost, and now they could be certain that their enemies were going to come for them.

A tense, fearful quiet had fallen over the camp at the end of Flamestar's words. Sparrowcrest broke it from beside Keasong. It was further bad news, but they had to hear Jock's warning.

"There's something else everyone needs to know too…"