NOTE: THIS CHAPTER WILL BE LONGER THAN THE OTHER CHAPTERS AND MORE DETAILED. I KNOW I SAID THAT THIS CHAPTER WOULD BE NARRATED IN ALPHA'S POINT OF VIEW, BUT I FELT LIKE IT WOULD BE BETTER NARRATED BY LUCKY. THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE IN APLHA'S POINT OF VIEW, I PROMISE*
Chapter 4 - THE BATTLE
Lucky's POV
I woke up with a start to a yowl coming from Squirrelflight.
"ShadowClan is attacking!" she yowled and we all ran out of our dens. I saw Sweet and Alpha looking around for Bella and I. Lusa and Ujurak looked nervous and on edge. All of the cats around the clearing had their backs arched and were spitting. They were tense, braced for attack. Sweet ran over to me.
"We need to form our own battle plan. I've heard that ShadowClan is very good at ambushes. We need to be aware of our surroundings at all times. Since we're bigger, we can use that to our advantage. And our weight. Come on," she bared, gesturing with her tail for me to follow her.
I then noticed that it was night out. My eyes quickly adjusted and I could see eyes reflecting in the bushes at the top of the clearing.
"We now you're there, Blackstar!" Bramblestar yowled. "Show yourself!"
The black and white tom I had seen at the Gathering with amber eyes slowly stalked down the stone walls. We all tensed, ready for battle. Beside me, Thornclaw was spitting and hissing.
"What do you want?" Bramblestar spat.
"Isn't it obvious what I want, Bramblestar? I want these animals out. And if you won't get rid of them, ShadowClan will," he threatened.
"We're not getting rid of them. They're staying here. They've given us no reason to not trust them," Bramblestar growled.
"Have it your way," Blackstar purred. Louder, he yowled, "ShadowClan! ATTACK!"
At once, about twenty cats launched themselves into the clearing. Dart, Mulch, Whine, and Bruno were nowhere to be seen. Where were they? All I could see were flashes of different colored fur, and blood. Squirrelflight rushed over to us.
"Take a patrol over to the ShadowClan border and find Dart, Mulch, Bruno, Whine, and Toklo! Take Lusa and Ujurak, too! Then, go over to RiverClan and warn them. Do not go to WindClan. They're not going to listen to us, no matter what. Go!" she meowed hurriedly as brown tom tackled her. Alpha, Sweet, Bella, Lusa, Ujurak, and I rushed out of the clearing and took off as fast as we could towards the ShadowClan camp. Even though it was the middle of the night and I was tired from the Gathering, I ran with all of my might. Lusa and Ujurak brought up the rear of the group, with Bella, Alpha, and I in the middle. Sweet was way in the front, weaving easily along bramble thicket, bracken patches, and trees. Within minutes, we passed the border and I felt something sticky on my paws. I growled. Why did ShadowClan have to live in the marsh?
We stopped running and crept through the territory. It was filled with pine trees, pine needles, and more marsh. After a while, we saw a clearing with Dart, Mulch, Whine, Bruno, and Toklo backed up into a corner and surrounded by hissing cats. I nodded at Sweet and she took the cue. We all launched into the clearing, growling, and Alpha easily tackled one of the cats. He spun around and clawed Alpha's chest. Dart, being the clever dog she is, took her chance and ran out of the clearing. Mulch immediately attacked a light brown tabby tom and bit the cat's neck.
I scanned my surroundings, and saw that there were four cats in the clearing who appeared to be warriors. The light brown tabby tom fighting Mulch, a black and white tom, a tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes, and a dark gray tom. Out of another den, a cream-furred she-cat and a white she-cat were hissing and snarling. Bruno was tussling with the tortoiseshell and the black-and-white tom, while Toklo was at the edge of the clearing seeing if anybody needed any help. Whine, the old Omega (and Lucky's enemy beside Mulch and Alpha) was scratching and biting at the cream-furred she-cat on the other side of the clearing.
"Whine! Leave them alone!" I barked angrily at the pug mix.
"Shut it, City-Dog!" he snarled back. I ran over to him, and grabbed the scruff of his neck to pull him off of the she-cats. I dragged him to the center of the clearing, where the other cats were no where to be found. Bruno was covered in some scratches and bite marks, but nothing too serious. Mulch had some scratches on his back and his belly was bleeding.
"We need to get Mulch to a medicine cat!" Bella barked urgently.
"Okay, Whine, Sweet, Lusa, Bella, and I will travel on to RiverClan to give them the warning. The rest of you will go back to the camp, receive medicine care from Jayfeather, and fight in the battle until we come back. Toklo, can you carry Mulch on your back?" The brown bear nodded his head.
"Hold up, who said City-Dog here could give us orders?" Whine snapped.
"He's just trying to help out here and give everybody jobs, make everything run smoother," Sweet snapped back.
"Isn't that Alpha's job?" Whine snarled.
"Yes, but -"
"Then he should be punished, shouldn't he?"
"That's enough, Whine," Alpha growled.
"But -"
"I said that's enough!" Alpha snarled. Whine bared his teeth a final time at Lucky before turning away. "Everybody, just do what City-Dog has said. We don't have time to waste here arguing. Lives are at stake here. It's about survival in this world. I'll do anything it takes to survive. Even if it means working with other animals." Everybody nodded and we ran out of the camp.
Eventually, we got to the head of the forest where we would go our separate ways. Toklo, with Mulch on his back, Dart, Alpha, and Bruno headed back to the ThunderClan camp to help with ShadowClan, while Whine, Sweet, Lusa, Bella, and I were to go to RiverClan to warn them about the others. It was now dawn, and RiverClan was likely to have patrols out by now. The sun was rising over the mountains, and it was bright in my eyes. It reflected off the water. Whine walked ahead of everyone like he was in charge, while Lusa, Bella, Sweet, and I were in the middle.
"Lucky, do you think we should leave? It seems like it would be best for the peace here," Bella suggested.
"No, Bella, I don't think we should leave. My dream said that "one will bring four together, and five will bring three together," I replied confidently.
"Ujurak had that dreamed, too," Lusa murmured.
"He did?" Sweet whined.
"Yeah," Lusa replied.
"Where did Ujurak go?" Bella barked urgently.
"He went back to camp to help Jayfeather with the medical stuff," Lusa answered.
By now we were almost to RiverClan territory. We ran to the borderline, and stopped there, waiting for a patrol so it didn't look like we were trespassing. Whine, of course, ran right over the border.
"Whine! Whine! Get back here! As your Beta, I order you back here at once!" Sweet snarled angrily.
"I don't have to do what you say, Sweet," came the taunting bark back. I exchanged nervous glances with Bella. Whine was going to be in a whole lot of trouble for disrespecting Beta like that. By calling her by her actual name. Whine took back off into RiverClan territory.
We're screwed. Thanks a lot, Whine.
"That lazy, bad-tempered, mean, little, son of a - !" Beta growled. A light brown tabby tom, a tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes, a smaller black-and-white she-cat, and a smaller gray-and-white she-cat came walking up to the border.
"I am assuming that the little dog who just came charging into our territory belongs to your patrol?" The light brown tabby tom meowed. "We sent Heronwing after him." Sweet nodded approvingly.
"I apologize for him, but we're here on behalf of ThunderClan. We just wanted to warn you that ShadowClan attacked us last night because of us and the bears. They want us gone. They may try to attack you too," Sweet barked.
"Thank you. We will let Mistystar and Reedwhisker now when we get back to camp," the tortoiseshell she-cat meowed.
"What are your names?" Lusa asked them.
"My name is Mallownose, and the tortoiseshell is Mosspelt. The black-and-white she-cat is Havenpaw, and the other is Perchpaw," Mallownose answered.
"Could you do us a favor and let WindClan know as well?" Bella tried. The two older cats looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Good luck with that. WindClan refuses to accept ANY help these days. You can try, but I doubt you'll get anywhere. Those WindClan cats are so stubborn these days," Mosspelt meowed. "We have to go. But we'll see you at Gatherings." Then the patrol turned around and left.
We waited there a few more minutes for Whine. Eventually, a dark gray and black tom came out of the bushes carrying a very disgruntled looking Whine.
"Here's the missing member of your patrol," Heronwing hissed before dropping Whine and turning back into RiverClan territory.
"Thank you," Lusa called out as he left.
After that we turned around and headed for the long trek back home. We stayed five tail-lengths within the edge of the lake so we weren't trespassing. All of us ran home, eager to see our Clanmates again and how the others were doing. We ran all the way to ThunderClan territory and continued running and dodging the trees, bushes, and undergrowth. We all raced into the clearing and skidded to a halt, Bella crashing into me. All of the cats in the clearing were covered in blood and wounds.
"Lucky, you go on to sleep. You've had a long night. Get some sleep," Squirrelflight meowed.
"Did we have any casualties?" I asked her.
"Yes. Thornclaw died in the battle. His body is the center of clearing, if you would like to mourn," Squirrelflight answered sorrowfully. I nodded and headed over to Thornclaw's body to pay him respects. His brother, Brackenfur was there, as was Brightheart, Cloudtail, Whitewing, Dovewing, Ivypool, Birchfall, Amberpaw, Dewpaw, Snowpaw and a lot of others. I pressed my nose against his cold fur, and whispered, "May StarClan light your path and bring you great hunting." I then padded over to the warriors' den, feeling like my paws were about to fall off. I laid down and eventually darkness overcame me.
FINALLY! A NEW CHAPTER! I am SO SORRY that I haven't updated in seven months! I have just been super busy, as I mentioned in the last author's note. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!
~Misty