The sunlight reflected off the soft wings of the butterfly as it rode gently through the sky. A breeze blew it off its path for a moment, but determined, the butterfly increased the speed of its wings, sailing back onto its course. I followed the delicate thing with my eyes a little while longer, watching it carelessly flutter and weave through the sky until it disappeared from my line of sight. My gaze shifted away and I quickly realized my patrol had left without me. I scrambled to my feet and raced off to join them.
We were up by the border that separates us from Riverclan. We had been refreshing old scent markers all morning, the most mundane task any warrior could do. Nothing ever happens on patrols this early, any danger was probably still sleeping in its nest. I could hardly wait to return to my own. I had been awake for about two sunrises at this point and it certainly felt like it. I was running myself ragged by accepting every task that was thrown at me. My life had devolved into a constant whirlwind of patrols, hunting, and training. Then again, I didn't mind it too much. I always had this strange, itching need to always be doing something. If it wasn't fulfilled, I'd get terribly nervous, regardless if there was work to be done or not.
Cloudfrost was treading beside me, chattering about Starclan knows what. His mouth was moving so fast I could barely read what they were saying. But, I was too tired to ask him to repeat himself, so I just occasionally nodded my head whenever he stopped to take a breath. Unexpectedly, Cloudfrost gently nudged my shoulder and exclaimed,
"Hey, I asked you a question! You've been acting strangely for a while, are you alright?"
"I'm on a patrol at the crack of dawn instead of being asleep in my nest, so no I'm not alright" I huffed at him.
"Waspshine, I'm being serious,"
"I'm being serious too!"
Mosslight flicked her ginger tail, signaling the patrol to keep moving. I hurried past Cloudfrost to the front of the patrol, but I could still feel his worried gaze burning on the back of my neck.
We were to keep going until we reached the tall pines. We were to stop, refresh markers, and start again. Along the way, I noticed prey skittering through the overgrowth. The instinct to hunt kept rising within me but I kept having to deny it. Mosslight would have my pelt if I dare strayed from the assignment. She had always been strict about following orders, but after being made deputy she seemed to become more insufferable by the day. She was like a tick, but instead of sucking blood, she sucked the fun out of everything.
We finally arrived at tall pines. I could see the pointy tops of twoleg nests billowing smoke, they must be busy working just like us. Everyone on the patrol shared frightened looks, and the ground was rumbling from underneath my paws. That must mean the treecut monsters are awake. I've been told that these monsters would make loud, snarling noises uncomparable to anything else heard before. Everyone else was eager to brush past this place but, I could sense there was something wrong.
"This place gives me the creeps," Cloudfrost shivered beside me.
"You're right, something feels off," I whispered back, the fur on my flank standing on end.
"What's wrong?" Cloudfrost's eyes widened.
What was wrong? Everything certainly seemed to be alright. The sun was still shining, and the sky was still blue, but there was a blistering feeling inside my gut telling me something was wrong. Mosslight commanded us to keep moving but I hadn't found what I was looking for yet.
She rippled her tail impatiently, "Waspshine, let's go, now,"
"Keep your pelt on, Mosslight, I'm looking for something," I snapped back.
"What did you just say to me? Is that any way to talk to your clan's deputy? I swear you're nothing like your father, no respect for-"
That's when I found it.
A stiff breeze began to pick up behind me, washing a heavy familiar scent over my nose and tongue. I recognized it instantly. Shadowclan's scent and it was strong too. We had just missed whoever had been here. I gathered the patrol together to come over and see what I had discovered.
Mosslight wrinkled her nose and spat, "Shadowclan. We have to tell Wolfstar about this, who knows what they could be planning."
Cloudfrost and I exchanged worried glances. What would a Shadowclan cat be doing so far away from its territory? Could they be planning something? Maybe it was an ambush, and they were sending spies to get a good layout of our territory. Yet that still didn't make any sense. Shadowclan and Thunderclan had been on good terms for several moons, now. Why would they turn their backs on us now?
Mosslight quickly lead us back to camp. Wolfstar was busy organizing patrols at the base of the highrock. Tail twitching anxiously, Mosslight bounded up to the new leader.
"Wolfstar, we found Shadowclan scent near the tall pines. We think whoever was there must've crossed the border recently," Mosslight mewed exasperatedly.
Wolfstar cursed under her breath. The cats gathered around her immediately began to air their disapproval.
"We can't just sit around and let Shadowclan cats spread their stench all over Thunderclan's territory!" Stormfeather cried, unsheathing her claws.
Everyone else yowled in agreement except for Cloudfrost. He had a desperate look on his face and piqued up, "We shouldn't be so quick to violence, it could just be a misunderstanding,"
"They probably think we're weak after Featherstar died!" Dawntail spat "We'll show them who's weak,"
Flamewhisper approached me and put her tail on my shoulder, "You don't think this has anything to do with Nightfang, do you?"
I hissed at her in surprise, "Not everything that deals with Shadowclan crossing our borders is my fault!"
Wolfstar yowled at us to settle down, then finally spoke. "Mosslight, go gather a patrol and confront Shadowclan's dawn patrol. I want to get to the bottom of this. But, I want no violence either. I want them to know that Thunderclan is still strong, not bloodthirsty,"
Mosslight bowed her head, "Yes, Wolfstar,"
She turned to the rapidly growing crowd of cats gathering around the highrock, "Robinjump, Sunflight, Waspshine, Nettleclaw, come with me, let's see what's going on,"
"I'll tell you everything that happens once we get back," I whispered to Cloudfrost.
"Starclan help us" Cloudfrost mumbled to himself.
The fog of tiredness had completely lifted. Nothing remotely this exciting had happened to me in moons, even if it was just a petty border dispute. Energy pulsed through my veins as we crept across the stinking thunderpath and bounded into Shadowclan territory. We noticed a Shadowclan patrol all huddled up walking together, laughing and joking amongst themselves. I wish I could have that much fun on a boring old patrol. We approached them, slowly, making no attempt to hide ourselves. They flinched in surprise when they noticed us, their fur rising in hostility.
Mosslight spoke steadily, "Your clan's scent was all over tall pines, and we would like answers,"
"You're mouse-brained. None of our warriors crossed your precious border," Shadowclan's abrasive deputy, Duskfur, snarled.
"We see it otherwise,"
"Are you calling us liars?" Duskfur unsheathed his claws, his fur bristling wildly.
"We don't want to fight! Just promise to stay off our territory," Sunflight jumped in to try and mediate the situation but it was in vain.
"First, you barge into our territory, accuse us of crossing your borders, and you expect for everything to be alright?" Duskfur and his patrol slowly began to advance towards us.
"Uh, yeah, pretty much actually," Mosslight mumbled softly.
"Then Thunderclan is more stupid than I thought,"
"You'll eat your words!" Nettleclaw hissed.
"I'd like to see you try," Duskfur flicked his tail and his patrol came charging towards us.
So much for Thunderclan and Shadowclan being on friendly terms.
A smoke-colored tom came barrelling towards me. Before I could dodge him, he leapt onto my back. I screeched in pain as he sunk his claws deep into my skin. I immediately dropped to my paws and rolled over. But he was too quick and jumped off me before I could crush him.
From the corner of my eye, I could see my own blood dribbling off my shoulders. I knew it would be an absolute pain to wash the stain out of my pelt later. My chest heaved trying to catch my rasping breath. My heart was pounding in my throat.
Without warning, he charged at me again, this time aiming for my shoulders. This caught me by surprise and I tumbled backward. He pounced on top of me, pinning me to the ground. I wiggled an arm out from under his grasp and raked my claws across his cheek. His grip loosed on me and I exploded out from under him.
We wrestled around, trying to hold each other down. I finally overpowered him and pinned him, sinking my claws into his shoulders. He squirmed from under me, trying to flip me off but I held him steady. I shifted the bulk of my weight to my front paws, pushing him into the ground.
He suddenly unsheathed his back claws. I felt my flesh being ripped open as his sharp claws dragged across my stomach. I gasped and crumbled off of him. My wound immediately began gushing out blood like a swollen river. I felt a puddle of warm blood gather around my paws as I fought to stand upright. My vision was slowly ebbing away from me like I was going down through a dark tunnel. Everything was spinning. The gray cat rushed away from me, his green eyes filled with dread. I stumbled to the ground. Then everything went dark.
When I first opened my eyes the only thing I saw was light.
My vision was too blurred to make out anything. My heart began to race, as the visions of the battle played again in my mind. Bile was rising in my throat, I shivered but couldn't feel anything around me. Was I dead? I wasn't, I knew I wasn't. In Starclan, I could hear there. The old memories of the sound of crunching grass, fast gurgling rivers, and familiar voices slowly began to resurface. I wasn't dead, at least not yet. I gulped in a breath of air and tried to calm myself down. I could smell the bitter scent of herbs and the familiar scent of Flamewhisper. I refocused my eyes and saw rays of sunlight creeping through the cracks of the medicine cat's den. Relief washed over my body, I was safe.
Unfortunately, the solace was short-lived as the pain began to set in. It coursed through my body like a bolt of lighting, sharp and stinging. My shoulders, back, and stomach, all felt like it was being torn apart by invisible enemies. It was unyielding, devastating. I let out a small choked sound and Flamewhisper bolted back into the medicine cat's den. She hurried over towards me and buried her flame-colored head into my shoulder. She let out a soft shuddering breath and weakly said,
"I should've been here when you woke up, I'm sorry,"
I tried to reassure her but my voice got caught in my throat.
"Oh, you're probably thirsty. Here, I'll go get you some water,"
Flamewhisper soon returned, carrying soaking wet moss in her jaws. She placed it at my paws and I bowed my head thankfully. Once I drank my fill I looked up again at Flamewhisper,
"What happened?" I managed to cough out.
"You've been sleeping since yesterday. No one else was seriously injured in the battle except for you. Waspshine, you're very lucky. If we hadn't gotten you back to camp in time, you would've-" Her voice trailed off. "Everyone was worried about you, but I knew you'd pull through,"
"It's my own fault. I was such an idiot for leaving myself so exposed,"
Flamewhisper's fur prickled at my self-deprecating comment. I licked my fur in embarrassment, feeling bad for making her uncomfortable.
"Did they ever find out which cat crossed our border?" I asked, straightening up.
"No, but we do have some theories. Since Shadowclan was so adamant it wasn't them, we think it might've been a rogue or loner who crossed through Shadowclan territory before coming to us,"
I scoffed in disagreement, "I know what I smelled, Flamewhisper! It wasn't some rogue, It was Shadowclan,"
"Waspshine it's over. It's nothing to get so worked up about," Flamewhisper tried to put her tail on my shoulder, but I shrugged her off.
"I'm not getting 'worked up' you're just not listening to me,"
"Yes, I am! I am listening! It's going to be alright," She pleaded.
"No, you aren't, because you keep brushing me off like I'm a stupid kit. Is it that you don't trust my judgment, why? Why is that? Is it because you think I'm weak?"
"Waspshine, I never said that," Flamewhisper mewed nervously.
"But, you think that, don't you?"
"I don't know what's wrong with you. Is it because you're in pain? Is it because of Featherstar? Then you have to get over yourself, Waspshine, because none of those things give you an excuse to act like a foxheart."
My fur bristled at her comment, a wave of old familiar anger rising inside of me, "What do you know about Featherstar, medicine cat?"
Flamewhisper stiffened at my comment, before turning away from me and leaving.
"Yeah fine, go run off! What would you know about being a warrior anyway?"