The stream bubbled across the smooth stones. The cry of a barn owl pierced the chilly silence of leaf-bare. All around him, the glow of a rosy morning was subdued by the grey fog which settled into the air. He barely felt the chill behind his thick coat.
The black tabby rested beside the water, watching tiny minnows darting beneath the surface. He wondered if RiverClan would be angry to find out that he'd been hunting fish, and dark satisfaction bloomed in him as he pictured Leopardstar's outraged face as her Clan withered away to nothing but skin and bones.
Would serve her right, he thought. RiverClan cats don't even know how to hunt a mouse!
His paw flashed, hooking out a choice minnow and killing it with a single bite. He carelessly flicked the carcass onto a small pile of other fish, their silver scales gleaming in the pre-dawnlight. It was enough to feed all the apprentices.
He rose and stretched, basking in the pleasure as his aching muscles flexed and rippled under his pelt. He smoothed down his fur, before gathering up the minnows by their tails and heading home.
Darkstar had never felt more relaxed in his life. Even with war on the horizon, he almost felt like he was going to live forever. His world felt more whole and complete than it had in a long time. Everything was going his way again.
When he padded into ThunderClan camp with his catch, he was greeted with surprised mews and shocked stares.
"Did you get that from the river?" asked an apprentice.
"We shouldn't be hunting on RiverClan territory," mewed Mousefur with a nervous glance at her sibling, Runningwind.
"Would serve those fishbreath right," muttered Dustpelt, but his tail and head was low.
Darkstar dismissed them all airily with a wave of his tail and dropped the fish onto the freshkill pile. "It's prey from the stream," he mewed, a touch haughtily. "We can't be afraid of catching a little fish every now and again, especially with leaf-bare on the way. Only RiverClan and WindClan cats care about the prey other cats eat."
"But won't this upset them?" Fireheart mewed. "Shouldn't we be avoiding war with RiverClan?"
Darkstar realized he hadn't shared his news with the Clan yet. "Our land is for us to hunt on and us alone. If RiverClan has a problem with that, they can speak to our claws."
His gaze swept the Clan as he soaked in their nods and murmurs of agreement. Only soft-hearts like Fireheart were less keen on the idea but they understood they should remain silent. "Whitestorm," Darkstar began, "what news from the patrols?"
The white tom gazed up at him with calm yellow eyes despite the nervous twitch of his tail. "Dustpelt's dawn patrol scented RiverClan on the border." He looked unhappy. "They also scented prey blood and fur on this side of the border."
Shocked and angry yowls answered this statement. Darkstar felt his hackles rise and didn't bother to fight the snarl on his face. "Mangepelts," he growled, as the rest of the Clan slowly became silent. "Whitestorm, gather a battle patrol. Bring all the new warriors and older apprentices."
The white tom dipped his head, resigned. "Yes, Darkstar."
"Darkstar-" Fireheart mewed, but Darkstar turned away and padded for his den. He did not want to listen to mousehearts when he needed to prepare for a battle.
When he stepped out of the den, his pelt was smooth and sleek and his Clanmates were waiting for him. Darkstar felt a rush of pride to see them already gathered. My Clan. They are all mine.
"To the RiverClan border!" he yowled. "We'll see exactly what they've done to our prey and then we'll show them what we do in kind!"
"Wait!" A dark grey tabby tom emerged from the warrior's den. "Let me come, too."
Darkstar stared hard at Greystripe. "Why?"
"I wish to prove my loyalty to ThunderClan." Greystripe's eyes were firm.
"Greystripe," started Fireheart, "you don't have to-"
"I agree," mewed Darkstar. "You may join the patrol. If we run into a RiverClan patrol, we could always use the extra claws."
"Thank you, Darkstar," mewed Greystripe with relief. "I won't let you down!"
Darkstar searched the Clan, finally registering who was actually on the patrol and who wasn't. "Longtail, you will be in charge of the camp while we are gone. Whitestorm, you're coming with me."
With a final twitch of his tail, he led the patrol out of camp. Theirs paws pounded the grass flat, and Darkstar imagined he was surrounded by lions. Excitement pulsed through Darkstar's fur. Finally, he was going to lead the Clan into another battle. He felt as if last time didn't even count. Today, he was on a righteous mission from StarClan and the whole Clan had his back.
Whitestorm ran beside Darkstar and subtly guided him to the Sunningrocks border. Darkstar's tail lashed in fury as he realized where RiverClan had hunted.
They halted in Sunningrocks. Darkstar absorbed the sight of his triumph and felt confident he would not lose the upcoming battle. He jerked his head at Whitestorm. "Where?"
The white warrior had his nose to the ground and carefully padded to the far end of the clearing. "Here." He gestured at the grass with his tail.
Darkstar felt a dark growl in his throat as he approached the mangled prey but stopped in shock as the smell hit his nose. Underneath the sweet mint and bland watercress was the smell of Tigerclaw. His tail twitched nervously as he looked around. "Can you smell any other cats?"
Whitestorm blinked. "No." He sniffed the prey himself and looked at Darkstar in worry. "Do you recognize the scent?"
The black tabby was surprised the tom even asked. As far as he understood it, Whitestorm and Tigerclaw had been friends as apprentices. Surely Whitestorm recognized the smell?
Maybe I'm just smelling the scent from yesterday, he decided with a touch of relief. "We're remarking the border," he announced. "Two cats per bush. If they think we didn't notice, then they are dead wrong. Push the boundary to the edge of the river."
His Clanmates rushed around to do what he asked, and Darkstar felt a twinge of satisfaction. He smiled at Whitestorm. "Those mangepelts are going to regret this."
"What are you going to do?" asked Whitestorm cautiously.
"We share a border with the river," Darkstar mewed. "We're going to use it."
Once his patrol had gathered behind him, he began to give them his new orders. Whitestorm watched dubiously behind him, his ears flicking nervously.
"Are you sure about this?" Fireheart questioned. Darkstar had been trying to forget he was a part of the patrol, being one of the Clan's younger warriors.
"Any other questions?" Darkstar mewed pointedly, and was satisfied when no one else said anything. He saw the excitement in their eyes and the shifting of their paws. "Good. Spread out."
Darkstar waited until his Clanmates had disappeared into the bushes before following and padding out to the edge of the water. His gaze swept the river. It frothed and bubbled, but the water was blue and clear near the surface. He spotted a young trout between a swarm of minnows. He signaled to his hiding Clanmates. Watch what I do. Then he studied the ripples of light across the surface of the water, reached out a paw, and struck. The young trout flew onto the land, flopping wildly. Darkstar bit it in the gills until it went still. He licked his lips. "It's easy," he mewed loudly.
When he looked around, Swiftwing was already at the edge of the water. The black and white tom dipped his head, his eyes furrowed in concentration, before his paw shot out. He jumped back, with a shiver. "The water is cold."
"Deal with it," answered Darkstar. "Prey is more valuable than a warrior's comfort."
Swiftwing frowned sulkily but stared at the water determinedly. Eventually, he crept forward like he was stalking a mouse and prepared to make another strike in the water.
Around them, a few other ThunderClan warriors were giving it a try. Dustpelt already had a long minnow beside him. Whitestorm hooked out a trout almost as large as an apprentice and smashed it into the mud to kill it. Sandstorm and Fireheart bunched together with Greystripe at the end, but only Greystripe had a small but growing pile beside him. The dark grey tabby had a look of concentration on his face. Darkstar purred in satisfaction, his own eyes drifting to watch the RiverClan camp near the bend in the river. He could already see the warriors moving around and felt a touch of satisfaction as a patrol of blue pelts started to head in their direction, quiet anger on their faces.
"ThunderClan!" Blackclaw led the patrol, his tail lashing. "What are you doing hunting on RiverClan territory?"
Darkstar's eyes widened mockingly. "RiverClan territory?" He sniffed the air dramatically and glanced around. "I'm exactly where my border is, mangepelt."
"The river belongs to RiverClan!" yowled Stormfur.
Darkstar rolled his eyes. "I don't taste your scent on it. The river doesn't belong to any Clan!"
"Why are you doing this?" yowled a distressed dark grey she-cat. "Don't you have plenty of prey in your forest?"
The dark tabby narrowed his eyes and rose to his full height, signaling with a lash of his tail for his warriors to gather near him. "You warriors claim to respect the boundaries between our Clans and claim to pretend to know how much forest is in the forest when you can't even hunt mice!" His gaze swept the warriors in fury as he realized that the RiverClan patrol was outnumbered. "It's leafbare. Prey is scarce and going to be get scarcer as the river freezes over. We're just making sure we gain more than a few mouthfuls before it does."
"The river has always belonged to RiverClan," the she-cat protested.
"The river belongs to the Clan that borders it," snapped Darkstar. "And you have no right to complain about territory when your warriors catch prey on our lands!" He gestured to the river. "RiverClan can't make that mistake on accident!"
The RiverClan warriors looked nervously at each other. Despite being strong and powerful in the water, they knew the moment they tried to fight the ThunderClan cats on land, they'd be easily outnumbered.
Stormfur stepped forward. "What do you mean? No RiverClan warrior has hunted on ThunderClan land."
Darkstar sneered. "RiverClan seems to have a funny interpretation of what territory even is. Land is not the only type of territory a ThunderClan warrior can hunt in." His gaze gestured to the fish. "From now on, any RiverClan cat caught on this side of the river will be punished severely. If we find anymore scraps of prey with RiverClan stench on them, I'll personally lead a battle patrol into your camp and kill Leopardstar again if that's what it takes to get the message across." He narrowed his eyes to slits. "You've been warned."
After a few heartbeats of silence where Darkstar hoped the RiverClan cats would attack, he gestured for his patrol to return to their hunting. He could see the frustration and fury on the faces of the RiverClan cats, but eventually Stormfur dipped his head and they padded back to their camp.
Darkstar felt disappointed. He had been hoping for some bloodshed.
"What do we do now?" asked Brightflower innocently. She had a large minnow beside her, freshly caught.
"We hunt," mewed Darkstar.
He waited until his patrol had caught enough fish to feed the whole Clan and felt a little appreciation for the bounty of the river. They had barely been out since sunhigh when the patrol was ready to head back to camp.
"I think the Clan deserves a feast," he yowled to his patrol. "We have won a great victory today. RiverClan now understand where we stand on this border. If they cross it again, rest assured we will not hold back!"
He grabbed his own trout and led the Clan back to camp. By the time they reached the top of the ravine, Darkstar's neck ached with the weight of the fish. Whitestorm struggled not to drag his fish through the leaf and finally gave up.
After dropping his prey in front of the Highrock, he leapted up on the Highrock and announced to the whole Clan. "It's time for a feast!" he yowled. "We have won a great victory against the RiverClan cats today and not a single drop of blood was spilled! They barely even challenged us! But we must prepare as well. They are not going to take us hunting their fish lying down. We must be strong and well fed when RiverClan crosses us again." He looked out over his Clanmates, his eyes hard as he spent more than a few heartbeats staring down Fireheart and the other softhearts. "Trust me, it won't be a matter of if. It will be a matter of when."