As soon as the moon had begun to set, the warriors Fireheart had gathered for the attack on WindClan had assembled at the camp entrance. Fireheart himself was pacing about restlessly, trying in vain to ignore the ever-growing feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach. As the patrol waited for Bluestar's arrival, the ginger tom could feel the others' gazes trained on him, their expressions a mixture of curiosity and concern.
"Fireheart, what's wrong?" Sandstorm asked finally. "Honestly, you're going to wear yourself out before we even leave if you keep this up."
"I know, I know," Fireheart muttered, forcing himself to pause in his pacing. "Sorry. I guess I'm just feeling a little restless."
"Why? Are you nervous?" the pale ginger she-cat meowed curiously.
Fireheart hesitated for a moment, then mewed, "I guess I am a little."
"What's wrong? Are you worried that we're going to lose?" Longtail asked, although for once it wasn't with his usual sneer.
"No!" Fireheart meowed quickly. "No, it's got nothing to do with winning or losing. I–I don't know, I have a feeling that something bad might happen, but I can't say why or what it might be. But it doesn't have anything to do with whether or not we're going to win."
"It could be stress," Mousefur suggested calmly, observing him with her pale-colored eyes. "You have been working pretty hard lately, Fireheart. Perhaps the stress is finally starting to catch up and making you feel anxious."
"Yeah, that's probably it," Fireheart agreed.
Sandstorm didn't look convinced, however, and opened her mouth to continue pressing the ThunderClan deputy for an explanation. Fortunately, Fireheart was saved having to answer to anyone as Bluestar finally made her appearance. She still looked frail, but her pelt shone, and her eyes burned with the fierce light of battle. Somehow, Fireheart wasn't sure if he felt reassured by that or not.
"Are we ready?" she snapped, brushing past Fireheart. "Come on; we don't have all day."
Without even waiting for a response, she led the way out of the gorse tunnel and towards the WindClan border. Fireheart gave a small sigh and padded after his leader, followed shortly by the rest of the patrol. He kept a few paces behind Bluestar, hoping his uncertainty wasn't showing on his face. The last thing he needed was for Bluestar to start questioning his loyalties right when they were about to go into battle.
It seemed to take moons to reach the WindClan border. Finally, just as the sun was beginning to peer over the horizon, Fireheart saw the familiar moorlands coming into view. Despite his misgivings, he felt the fire of battle starting to ignite from somewhere within himself. No matter what, he would do whatever it took to prove to Bluestar that she could still trust her warriors.
"So what's the plan, Bluestar?" he asked quietly.
"Put simply, attack and steal as much of their prey as possible," the old she-cat meowed in response. A bit louder, Bluestar continued, "Mousefur and Dustpelt, you two will be responsible for scavenging their prey. The rest of us will take care of fighting off any WindClan warriors."
There were a few meows of agreement before the group fell silent once more, still walking their way towards the uplands. When they reached the foot of the border, Fireheart closed his eyes and took a small breath. In just a few heartbeats, he would be partaking in possibly the most unjust battle he would ever fight in. He would be destroying his friendships with Onewhisker, Morningflower, and Gorsepaw, as well as increasing the animosity between him and Mudclaw.
But if it's for Bluestar's sake, then I have to do it, he reminded himself. He refused to allow his mind to consider the possibility that Bluestar was beyond saving at this point, rendering the sacrifice of his friendships utterly useless.
Sandstorm padded up beside him, brushing her pelt against his. "Don't worry," she murmured gently. "Everything will turn out just fine. You'll see."
Fireheart blinked at her gratefully. "Thanks, Sandstorm," he meowed.
Bluestar's ear twitched slightly, but other than that she did not indicate that she had heard what transpired between her two warriors. Fireheart glanced over at her, but the blue-gray she-cat wasn't even looking in his direction. Instead, she had fixed her gaze on the opposite side of the border, and the expression in her blue eyes simultaneously chilled him to the bone and burned into his fur. She looked more like the Bluestar he had met when he first arrived in the Clan and less like the old defeated cat he'd come to know over the past few moons, and Fireheart felt a pang of regret in knowing that it was a terrible lapse in judgment that had brought out this side of her.
"Are we ready?" Bluestar meowed sharply. The rest of the patrol meowed in assent. "Very well, then. ThunderClan, attack!"
Here goes nothing, Fireheart thought, taking a deep breath before plunging over the other side of the border.
He raced alongside Bluestar, almost overtaking her a few times but always stopping himself before he did. Despite this, however, she didn't seem displeased in the slightest. Instead, she appeared to have taken it as a sign of his complete and utter commitment to the battle, and Fireheart could see a glimmer of approval in her eyes as she looked at him. Unfortunately, it didn't spark the same feeling of warmth as it once had.
They had almost reached the WindClan camp when they came across a patrol, lead by none other than the WindClan deputy, Deadfoot. The lame warrior's eyes widened in shock for a brief moment before filling with cold fury, his lips drawn back in a snarl.
"ThunderClan!" he spat. Turning to the young apprentice beside him, he meowed, "Rabbitpaw, go back to camp and warn the others. Tell them ThunderClan are attacking."
Rabbitpaw nodded and turned around, dashing back towards the WindClan camp. Bluestar, however, chose to ignore him and hurled herself at Deadfoot instead. The two warriors crashed to the ground, spitting and clawing, as more fighting and chaos broke out around them. Before long, Fireheart found himself battling fiercely with Tornear, slashing and swiping at the tom while doing all he could to avoid the blows being rained down upon him.
Whatever happened next, Fireheart knew it was too late to turn back now. If it were StarClan's will that he fight in an unnecessary battle, then he would have to accept his reality. And if not, then they would have to wait and see what the consequence of their actions would be.
By the time the ThunderClan warriors reached the WindClan camp, Fireheart was sporting several new bites and scratches. However, the ginger tom still felt relatively fresh and was confident that he could hold out until the end of the battle. He glanced over at Bluestar and was relieved to see that, while she was bleeding a bit from her left shoulder, she didn't appear to be badly hurt.
A little ways away, Dustpelt was battling Onewhisker, who was desperately attempting to defend his Clan's fresh-kill. Fireheart felt guiltily relieved that he didn't have to fight his friend; even though he had accepted the fact that he needed to cut ties with WindClan, that didn't make the actual task of doing so any more comfortable. As he watched, Dustpelt gave one last blow to Onewhisker's flank and sent him fleeing towards what Fireheart guessed was their medicine den.
"Kittypet!" A moment later, Fireheart had the wind knocked out of him as Mudclaw slammed into his side, knocking him off balance. "Come and fight me like a warrior, you cowardly piece of fox dung!"
"You're one to talk," Fireheart hissed back, slashing at Mudclaw and opening a gash above the WindClan tom's forehead. "Been stopping any more Clan leaders from trying to visit the Moonstone lately?"
Mudclaw snarled at him. "You've renounced your right to StarClan, and this attack on us proves it once and for all."
"Save the talk for someone who cares." Fireheart gave a mighty heave and managed to launch Mudclaw halfway across the camp where he landed painfully on the ground, stunned. Satisfied that his enemy would be down for some time, he turned around to see if any of his Clanmates needed assistance. He saw Mousefur being tag-teamed by Webfoot and Ashfoot and quickly raced over to help, dragging Ashfoot off of Mousefur and raking his claws over her flank. Meanwhile, Mousefur pummeled Webfoot with her hind paws, and eventually, the two WindClan warriors were forced to flee.
"Thanks for that, Fireheart," Mousefur meowed gratefully.
"Anytime," Fireheart replied. "Have you managed to get any of their fresh-kill yet?"
Mousefur nodded before her eyes suddenly filled with alarm. "Fireheart, watch out!" she yowled, staring at something over his shoulder.
Startled by her sudden outburst, the flame-colored warrior turned around to see what was worrying his Clanmate, which turned out to be a fatal mistake. Mudclaw, having recovered from their earlier encounter, was leaping at him with his claws extended. Before Fireheart could so much as blink, the mottled brown tom slashed Fireheart's stomach, opening a large gash. Blood sprayed out from the wound, and Fireheart let out a yowl of pain. He struggled to his feet, already growing dizzy from losing so much blood. Feeling his head spinning, Fireheart swiped at Mudclaw in a desperate attempt at a counterstrike but missed by several mouse-lengths.
"Say goodbye, kittypet," Mudclaw sneered, lifting his head to give Fireheart one last bite.
Knowing there was no hope of him escaping, Fireheart screwed his eyes shut and waited for the blow. A moment later, however, he felt Mudclaw's weight suddenly vanish as someone knocked the tabby warrior off of him. Before he could thank his savior, however, a wave of blackness overtook the ginger warrior and he passed out.