"Foxclaw?" Cinderbird asked, looking at the red tom with a gasp of horror.

The handsome red tom's fur, once so sleek, was now ragged. He had a haunted look in his eyes that was only replaced by his look of surprise at seeing Cinderbird.

"Foxclaw!" she cried again, lunging towards him.

The two guards glared at her and blocked her path towards him.

"Please, you have to let me through!" she mewed, and struggled to see him past the guards.

His red fur became smaller and smaller as the guards carried her away, spitting at her.

"No, no! Foxclaw!" Cinderbird yowled.

Berryoak pricked his ears and looked up. "Foxclaw's here?" he asked in surprise.

"He's over there!" she cried to him, trying to resist her attackers.

"Nice try," one of them spat.

"Come on, Cleo," the other cat muttered, "We need to get back before that tom gets to him."

A fire starting building in Cinderbird. No cat could take him away and not pay the price! Her eyes flashed and she lunged towards the guards. Pouncing on Cleo's back, she dug in her claws and yowled a battle cry.

"Coco!" Cleo meowed, trying to alert her denmate.

The brown she-cat turned and saw Cleo being attacked. Cinderbird spat out a clump of white-and-gray fur and growled. Cleo looked up at her with blood trickling into her eyes.

"What are you doing?" she spat.

"Taking back what's mine," Cinderbird simply responded.

"Wha—" Cleo was cut off after receiving a clout on the ear.

Cinderbird felt her weaken and she jumped off of her opponent and dashed back into the cave. Somewhere, Foxclaw was waiting for her. She had to get to him.

"Duskblossom!" Cinderbird yowled, "Is he still there?"

The smoky gray she-cat shook her head. "More guards came and took him away. There was nothing we could do."

"Cloudfish! He's here!" Cinderbird alerted him.

Cloudfish glanced at the pretty tortoiseshell she-cat he was fighting with before delivering another blow. He broke off from the fight and stumbled towards the she-cats.

"Are you okay?" Duskblossom asked, sniffing his wound in concern.

"I'm fine," he grunted, but his eyes revealed his pain.

"Foxclaw! He was taken away!" Cinderbird mewed.

Berryoak limped up to them. "Right now, there's nothing we can do. We told the Tribe cats we would help them, and we will."

"We also told Shadestar and Mistbriar we would find Foxclaw!" Cinderbird shot back.

"We can come back. Right now, we don't have the advantage," Berryoak told her gently.

"No," she let out a strangled cry.

Berryoak and Cloudfish resumed their fighting and Duskblossom licked her sister's ear before doing the same.

"What if they move him?" Cinderbird asked in a small voice to her sister before she left.

"Then we'll find him. He will always find you, and you will always find him," Duskblossom replied encouragingly.

Cinderbird looked at her sister doubtfully. "You think?" she whispered.

"I know," Duskblossom answered, "Come on," she nudged Cinderbird to her paws, "We have a battle."

Cinderbird reluctantly stood up. The scratches Cleo and Coco had given her were becoming sore and she figured she would have to get them treated.

"Where is Thalia?" Eagle roared.

A dark she-cat looked at him defiantly, even though Eagle could have ripped her apart.

"Now, Eagle," she purred, "Calm down, darling."

Eagle twitched his whiskers. "Where is Thalia?" he repeated, looking amused at her attempt to soften him.

A bright yellow she-cat padded up to him. Cinderbird watched Gingerpaw's eyes bug out as the pretty she-cat walked smoothly past him.

"We'll never tell," she spat.

"Well, isn't your sister here somewhere?" Eagle encouraged her, looking around.

He flicked his ears at Oak, telling him to bring him the she-cat. The black-and-white tom came back with a spitting tortoiseshell she-cat. The she-cat wrenched herself out of Oak's possession and stared bravely at Eagle.

"What do you want with me?" she snarled.

"Now, Calista," Eagle began, "You know we have a history."

Calista allowed a glimmer of guilt to creep into her eyes.

"Now, if your sweet sister doesn't tell me where Thalia is, I'm going to shred you."

To Calista's credit, Cinderbird noticed that not a single flash of fear rang in her eyes. Cinderbird wasn't sure why he was being so brutal.

Eagle unsheathed his claws. "Three, two…"

The yellow she-cat shifted on her paws. When Eagle started to drawl out "one", she opened her jaws.

"Stop!" A mew rang out, but this yowl wasn't the yellow she-cat.

Cinderbird watched a beautiful silver tabby make her way out of a side tunnel in the cave.

"What are you doing in our cave?" she asked, her voice as smooth as honey.

"Thalia, as you very well know," Eagle snarled, "you have been stealing prey!"

"All this for morsels of prey?" Thalia scoffed. "Please."

Cinderbird retrained a mrrow of amusement at Cloudfish's expression. His eyes were fixed on the silver she-cat and nothing Eagle threatened shook it.

"Leave. Us. Alone!" Eagle growled.

"Fine," Thalia snapped after hesitating, "If you let her go," she bartered.

"Fine," he retorted and signaled to Oak to let Calista go.

Calista spat at the two toms and retreated back to the Graces.

"The red cat," Eagle reminded her.

The silver she-cat looked up at him. "No."

"The red cat." His voice rose with every word he spoke.

"No!" Thalia remained strong, to Cinderbird's dismay. "We had a deal," she growled.

"Fine!" Eagle snapped, "But, we'll be back for him."

"Estelle," Thalia called the tabby she-cat, "Go make sure our queens our safe."

"Yes, Thalia," Estelle dipped her head.

Cinderbird glanced at her sister, whose eyes were bugging out.

"Estelle?" Duskblossom called.

The tabby she-cat turned.

"Are-are you…Are you Cooper's Estelle?" she asked, theories bubbling in her eyes.

Estelle looked back at the smoky gray-she cat. "Yes," she whispered, memories rippling in her amber gaze.


Daypaw studied her paws, bored out of her mind. Gingerpaw was off fighting some mysterious cats and she and Rippleshade were stuck in the cave, like elders. Rippleshade didn't seem to mind, he was busy flirting with Stream. Daypaw wanted to eat her own paw, she was so sick and tired of hearing them gush over each other.

"Who do you think has the most silver pelt?" Stream giggled.

Oh. My. StarClan.

Forget eating her own paw, she would still be able to hear them. How about eating her ears? Was that possible?

Or drugging them both with poppy seeds, Daypaw contemplated. But where would poppy seeds grow in this StarClan forsaken place?

"Yeah, I think you do, too," Stream gushed.

Daypaw wanted to bang her head into the rock.

"Can we have some quiet over here?" she exploded.

Stream and Rippleshade both glared at her and continued talking.

Why? Why? Why?

Glancing at the cave entrance, she was surprised to see that the patrol was back already. Eagle led them in, bloody and battered. Daypaw jumped to her paws. Cinderbird followed slowly behind, her eyes alight with hope and fear.

"What happened?" Daypaw asked them.

"We won," Eagle announced, though his voice wasn't filled with triumph or happiness. His voice was filled with pain, and his eyes were dull.

"Cinderbird?" Daypaw asked, her small mew somehow echoing off the cave walls.

The gray she-cat mutely turned towards the apprentice. "Foxclaw," she whispered.

"Foxclaw? What? Did you find him?" Daypaw's voice was filled with hope.

"He's with the Graces," Cinderbird rasped. "He's in the mountains."

"W-where is he? I don't understand. If he was with the Graces, why didn't you bring him back?" Daypaw stammered.

Cinderbird swooned, her blue eyes closing as she fell to the cave floor. Daypaw prodded her with a single gray paw.

What just happened?

"Um, Duskblossom?" she asked, looking with concern at the passed out she-cat. "I think she fainted."

Duskblossom bounded over to the two she-cats. "You think?" she asked sarcastically. "Where's Stoneteller? Cinderbird needs some help," she went on, calling to the Tribe cats.

Stoneteller trotted over to where they were all standing. His thick white fur was tainted by blood. His eyes radiated exhaustion.

"She just… fell over," Daypaw explained.

"Just fell over, huh?" Stoneteller chuckled.

Duskblossom scoffed. "Can you just help her, please?"

He winked, "I'll see what I can do."

Daypaw turned to Duskblossom. "Cinderbird said that Foxclaw was there."

Duskblossom looked at her paws nervously. "Yeah, he was there."

"Well, where is he?" Daypaw inquired.

"We couldn't save him. They took him away again," Duskblossom softly explained.

"Why did you let them take him away?" Daypaw cried.

Her namesake eyes were full of distraught and confusion.

"There was nothing we could do," Duskblossom whispered, but her eyes revealed there was more.

"There's always something you can do," Daypaw hissed, and walked away to find Gingerpaw.

The red tom was panting, and laying on his side. Daypaw could clearly see a huge red gash down his flank.

"Where's Stoneteller?" A gray tribe cat yowled.

Their Healer was still busy checking Cinderbird, but at the sound of his name, he turned and bounded towards the other injured cats.

"They put up a fight," he murmured. "Please, every cat, make sure your wound is clean before I see you."

Daypaw felt utterly helpless. Watching cats die would do that to you. But knowing there was nothing you could do was the worst feeling.

"Daypaw, go inside my den and fetch cobwebs," Stoneteller ordered.

She nodded and rushed off, glad to be doing something. Was this the way to his cave? All she knew about it was that it was a sacred place, and place not to be tampered with. She peered into the den and saw beautiful spiderwebs draped from the ceiling and into the corners.

These will work, she decided.

Bounding to a cobweb filled corner, something out of the corner of her eye made her stop. A puddle, filled with moonlight, seemed to speak to her. Daypaw looked around guilty and trotted towards it. The moon shone so brightly, it seemed to speak to her.

Daypaw shook her head. It was nothing but a simple puddle. The cobwebs were what was needed. Snatching the webs in her jaws, she cast one last sorrowful look at the pool of water before quickly exiting the den.


The Graces

Leader: Thalia, pretty silver she-cat with dark blue eyes

Second Command: Violet, dark gray she-cat with green eyes

Mollies:

Estelle, former kittypet, pretty tabby she-cat with amber eyes

Coco, dark brown she-cat with blue eyes

Callie, tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

Lyla, light gray she-cat with darker stripes and amber eyes

Sunny, bright yellow she-cat with blue eyes

Cleo, white she-cat with gray patches and green eyes

Calista, tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

Queens:

Marie, pretty she-cat with a shimmering black pelt and green eyes, expecting kits

Dixie, red she-cat with dazzling blue eyes, expecting kits

Chloe, blue-gray she-cat with pretty dark blue eyes, expecting kits