First of all, I am SO sorry that this chapter is late! I forgot to tell you in the AN of the last chapter that I was going to be busy yesterday. I am REALLY sorry about that.

Second, as always, thanks for all the reviews! I know this gets annoying, but I really appreciate them. I can only hope that this story continues to live up to all of your expectations.

Enjoy!

-Izrose


Chapter Twenty-Seven

One cat saw me streaking towards them through the blinding rain and called out my name. "It's Lightningpaw!"

Forestpaw was the first at the edge of the group of ThunderClan cats to greet me. "Where were you?" he said. "Why did you run off again when we needed you?"

I looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "I'm here now, and that's what matters. And I need to talk to Jaystar."

Forestpaw nodded reluctantly. "Okay. Come on." We shoved our way through the throng of cats and towards the front, where Jaystar stood beside Thunderfang.

"Jaystar," I said in a hushed whisper.

He spun his head around in surprise. "Lightningpaw," he said. "I thought you'd ran off again."

"That's not important," I said. "You need to get the other Clans to unite against Bonestar. All three Clans together would outnumber him. But as long as we're divided, he can beat us easily."

Jaystar looked at me with newfound respect. "You're right." He turned back out to face the other Clans. It almost felt like there were five – ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, the true ShadowClan, and Bonestar's Clan. ThunderClan stood in the shallow end of the river, RiverClan at the opposite bank. WindClan stood a little to the side of RiverClan. ShadowClan stood beside ThunderClan, yet off to the side, proving that they were allies but separate. Bonestar faced them from the direction of ShadowClan territory.

Bonestar drew closer, and began speaking.

"Cats of all Clans! We constantly fight each other over the silliest things! In doing so, we only weaken ourselves and each other! We spend more energy on fighting so that we cannot even hunt for prey! But, if the four Clans were to unite and become one, we would have no more fights! We would be able to focus on growing and prospering!" Bonestar yowled, speaking to all the cats. "Look before you at this group of cats. You see cats from every Clan, joined together under BoneClan! Is that not proof that StarClan approves of this?"

"No," said Jaystar, stepping forward to face Bonestar. "StarClan meant for there to be four Clans in the forest! There always were and there always have been!" Jaystar turned his piercing blue gaze to the other Clans. "Bonestar is a liar! He killed Blizzardstar and Settingstar, and invaded ThunderClan and lied about it! He will do anything to get what he wants! You can see, he even has rogues fighting with him! Clan cats do not fight beside rogues!

"The only way we can defeat Bonestar is if we join together against him!" Jaystar's yowl sounded across the river.

The Clans were silent for a few moments. Eaglestrike stepped forward to stand at Jaystar's side. Then, Wavestar, the leader of RiverClan, swam slowly and steadily across the river to join him. Gingerstar followed suit. Each of the leaders' Clans assembled behind the four, mixing together to form one giant group of cats with four leaders.

Bonestar growled in frustration. "BoneClan, attack!" he yowled, and they raced towards us.

The four Clans raced forward too, and then the fighting began.

The strength Poppypaw had given me had died away when I reached the river. As the sound of cats yowling and fighting began around me, I realized that I had no idea what to do. The only other battle I had been in was against the small ShadowClan patrol, and that had hardly been difficult, especially since I was at Jaystar's side the entire time.

And what about the kits and elders? They had fled the fire with the rest of the Clan. Who was protecting them?

I pushed through the fighting cats, heading for the river's edge. Every cat from all Clans was on the ThunderClan side. As I shoved my way through the battle, I tried not to watch the cats fighting, but I couldn't help glancing over. Clanmates were turning on Clanmates, pushing each other into the river or into the flaming trees. Sometimes it was two against one. Mates and littermates took blows for each other, and mentors stood to protect apprentices.

At the shallow part of the river, the elders stood protecting our Clan's kits. Frostpool, a RiverClan she-cat that had sided with Bonestar, and a rogue tomcat I did not know were attacking them. Loudflight, Bluefrost, Flightfur, and Frosty-eyes all stood in front of the ThunderClan and ShadowClan kits, hissing and slashing like young warriors. However, they were still elders, and Frostpool and the rogue were starting to weaken them.

Hissing fiercely, I leapt onto Frostpool's back. She hadn't seen me coming, so she yowled in surprise and pain when I dug my claws into her sides. I clung on as she tried to shake me off, digging my claws in deeper every time she tried to toss me away. Finally she lost her balance and rolled onto her side, and I took the chance to rake my claws down her belly.

Suddenly, the rogue's claws were in my pelt, dragging me towards the river. I clawed at the ground, trying to free myself, but he caught hold of my scruff with his teeth. I was at the edge of the water when he all of a sudden lost his grip. I still lost my balance and fell sideways into the water, but was able to scramble back onto the shore before becoming completely submerged.

Forestpaw was the one who had come to my rescue and was now locked in combat with the charcoal rogue. Both were focused on their opponent, so neither noticed me come up behind the rogue and bite hard into his tail. He yowled furiously and spun around, giving Forestpaw a chance to leap onto his back and drag his claws through the rogue's fur.

The rogue snarled and shook Forestpaw off. He glanced at me and hissed, "This was never worth it," before running off.

Forestpaw stood beside the rogues, nodding to me. "I'll stay here with them. Go!"

I headed back into the throng of battle, not sure where I should help. I could see WindClan and RiverClan cats fighting each other, but I wasn't sure which side the cats were on. I didn't know who to help. I wasn't even sure about the ThunderClan cats fighting each other.

I was bleeding a little from the scratches the charcoal tom had given me, but I was alright for the most part. Most of the cats around me looked much worse off. I caught sight of one injured queen hobbling into the bushes. Peeking around, I saw Goldenbird sitting there, herbs piled around her in a makeshift medicine den. She was now wrapping the she-cats wound in bandages.

"Goldenbird!" I gasped, leaping into the small treatment area. The battle had only begun, but it looked like she was running out of herbs, and the ground nearby was spattered with scarlet drops.

"Kind of busy at the moment, Lightningpaw," said Goldenbird. She finished wrapping up the she-cat's wound. "Normally I'd say, don't go back out into battle, but I'm not going to stop you, am I?"

The she-cat shook her head. "My kits are out there," she said.

"Fine, then try your best not to tear the cobwebs. Find another medicine cat after the battle to redo them," Goldenbird said. The she-cat nodded and walked off. "What's wrong, Lightningpaw?"

"I… I don't know what to do," I said.

What she said next was the last thing I expected to hear. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it? You must go kill Bonestar."