Bluestar was awake and washing outside her den when Fireheart and the rest of the patrol returned to the camp. She glanced up as her son approached her, purring and giving his ears a quick lick in greeting. Normally, Fireheart would have taken a few moments to bask in his mother's affection, but he had more pressing matters on his mind today. Sensing that something was wrong, Bluestar stepped back, looking at him with a worried expression on her face.

"Fireheart? What's the matter?" she asked.

"We saw something strange in Twolegplace today," Fireheart told her. "When we were passing by, I heard voices from the other side of the fence. I decided to see what was going on, and I saw two kittypets talking. Or, well, I don't know what they were. They certainly looked like kittypets with their collars, but they didn't really talk or act like any of the ones I knew. And they were talking about something rather...odd."

"What was it?" Bluestar inquired.

Fireheart furrowed his brow. "They were talking about gathering more followers. Scourge–that was one of the kittypets–said something about strength coming in numbers and how they would face less resistance if they had more allies. And he was giving orders to the other cat–his name was Bone, not that it matters–almost as if he were a leader of some sort."

"Are you sure they weren't just playing a game?" his mother asked skeptically.

"Kittypets don't play games like that," Fireheart replied, shaking his head. He suppressed a shiver as he remembered the cold, calculating tone of the small black kittypet. "And besides, the way they were talking...no, it definitely wasn't a game."

"I see," Bluestar murmured, looking troubled. "Thank you for telling me this, Fireheart. Make sure to tell the patrols to keep an eye out when they go near that area. I don't know if these kittypets will be of any threat to ThunderClan, but considering recent events, we can't be too careful."

Fireheart nodded in agreement and turned away, padding over to join Sandstorm and Cinderheart at the fresh-kill pile. As much as he wanted to believe that the kittypets weren't going to be a threat, his gut instinct told him otherwise. The most frustrating part was that there was no way to keep an eye on them to see what moves they planned to make next. Even worse, there was no way of knowing how long they had been plotting...whatever it was they were plotting. For all anyone knew, Scourge and Bone might have already gathered enough followers to take on all four Clans if they wanted.

Out of both cats he had seen so far, it was Scourge that concerned Fireheart the most. The tom was barely the size of a new apprentice, whereas Bone was massive–probably at least as big as Whitestorm, if not larger. If Fireheart had to guess, he would have thought that the black and white kittypet could have sliced Scourge open with one blow if he wanted. Yet somehow, it was Scourge, not Bone, who seemingly had the other in complete submission to his demands. Clearly, there was more to the small black tom that he hadn't seen, and Fireheart couldn't help wondering what sort of tricks he was hiding.

I guess that's more proof that they aren't typical kittypets, he mused, taking a bite out of his rabbit. Most kittypets would follow Bone, not Scourge.

"Fireheart! Bluestar!" A frantic yowl jolted him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see Brackenfur and Snowpaw burst into the camp. "Come quick! Something terrible has happened."

In an instant, Fireheart was on his paws, followed closely by Sandstorm and Cinderheart. "Tell me what happened," he ordered.

"We were patrolling near the RiverClan border when we smelled blood," Brackenfur explained as Bluestar walked over to join them. "But we didn't hear any fighting prior to that, which we thought was strange. I went over to check it out while Ravenflight stayed near Snowpaw in case someone decided to attack. And, well..."

He trailed off, leaving the rest of his sentence unfinished. Not that Fireheart needed him to say anything else anyway. For at that moment, Ravenflight–the last remaining member of Brackenfur's patrol–padded into the camp with the bloody, unconscious form of Graystripe in his jaws.

"Great StarClan!" Sandstorm exclaimed, staring at the mangled mess of their former Clanmate.

Fireheart gaped at Graystripe for a few heartbeats, unable to believe what he was seeing. The gray warrior wasn't the strongest cat in the forest, but he was one of the larger ones and because of that, he could hold his own in a fight against almost any opponent. For someone to have beaten Graystripe so thoroughly, leaving him on the brink of death, was almost inconceivable.

"Move aside." Fireheart jumped slightly as Yellowfang strode over to join them, a bundle of herbs in her jaws. She must have smelled the stench of blood and realized there was an injured warrior in the camp. He watched as she bent forward to sniff at Graystripe. "He's alive, but only just. Give me space, everyone. I need to treat my patient."

"Come on, let's leave Yellowfang to tend to Graystripe," Bluestar meowed. "Ravenflight, will you take us to where you found him? Perhaps we can find out who his attacker was."

For a moment, Fireheart wondered why she was so concerned about an enemy warrior, and one that had betrayed ThunderClan, no less. Then he realized that it wasn't Graystripe she was worried about, but ThunderClan and perhaps RiverClan as well. If Ravenflight had brought Graystripe back to their camp instead of taking him to a RiverClan patrol, it meant the gray warrior had probably been attacked on ThunderClan land. That meant whoever attacked him was probably still on their territory, possibly waiting for another chance to strike.

But who could have done it? he asked himself.

The most logical explanation was that it was either a rogue or a ThunderClan warrior that had caught Graystripe on their land. Still, there was something off about both possibilities. Whoever had attacked Graystripe had clearly wanted him dead, indicating a personal vendetta of some sort. But while everyone in ThunderClan disapproved of his betrayal, nobody hated him enough to injure him so horrifically. As for rogues, most of them didn't go out of their way to harm Clan cats unless they had some sort of ulterior motive, and Fireheart couldn't imagine why any rogues would care that much about Graystripe.

Eventually, Ravenflight came to a stop at a spot a few fox-lengths away from the RiverClan border. The ground was stained with blood, and as Fireheart padded forward to sniff at it, he had to fight hard not to retch. Most of the time, he had a fairly strong stomach, but the scents of blood and RiverClan didn't make for a particularly pleasant combination.

"What can you smell?" he asked Sandstorm. She was the best tracker in the group and would be able to pick out scents the rest of the patrol couldn't.

"Brackenfur, Ravenflight, and Snowpaw's scents are all here," the pale ginger molly answered. "Graystripe too, of course, although his scent is just a little less fresh than theirs. And there's another one here too–definitely a rogue, but not any of the ones that we've seen before. But they definitely came from Twolegplace, though."

"Then that rogue is probably the cat that attacked Graystripe," Bluestar concluded, her face grim. "Fireheart, Sandstorm, try to track the rogue down and see if they're still on our territory. If they are, you know what to do. Ravenflight, come with me. I need to speak to Leopardstar to inform her of what has happened."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Fireheart asked skeptically. "Leopardstar isn't too fond of us, especially since we beat RiverClan when they tried to take Sunningrocks. If you tell her that you found Graystripe's bloody, beaten body on our territory, she'll probably just use it as an excuse to attack us."

"It is a possibility," Bluestar agreed. "But it's a risk we have to take. Besides, if Leopardstar realizes he's been gone for too long, she'll send a patrol to track him down, and his trail will lead to ThunderClan territory. It's best if we clear the air now instead of waiting."

Fireheart knew his mother was right, so he dipped his head respectfully and turned to leave with Sandstorm at his side. The rogue's scent led him in the direction of Twolegplace, which didn't surprise him considering Sandstorm's earlier revelation. As they continued on their way, his mind kept wandering back to Graystripe, being tended to by Yellowfang back in their camp. He wasn't fond of his former Clanmate, but never in a thousand moons would he have wished this on him.

"You're worried about Graystripe, aren't you?" Sandstorm asked, glancing over at him.

"A little," Fireheart admitted. "I know we aren't friends and sure, he's a traitor, but even he didn't deserve that. For StarClan's sake, Tigerstar did far worse things and he's still fine."

"I know," his mate agreed. "Why do you think anyone would want to hurt Graystripe so badly anyway? I mean, at the end of the day, it's just Graystripe. He's not really someone you'd think anyone would take an interest in, especially not a rogue."

"I'm not sure it was Graystripe specifically that the rogue had an interest in," Fireheart replied grimly. "But make no mistake, they definitely had an interest in something–or someone. This wasn't just a simple battle with a rogue that got out of hand. Whoever attacked Graystripe was on a mission–what for, I don't know, but one thing is for certain. They will stop at nothing to get what they want."

So yeah, we're pretty much jumping straight into the action with this one. I decided to make it a point to write fewer filler chapters since I don't want this story to drag on any longer than necessary. Don't worry though, there will still be plenty of time for family bonding fluff. Also...possible redemption arc for Graystripe? Who knows?

I also really just want to get to BloodClan's official introduction to the Clans because I've got a plan for the battle that I've been dying to start writing.

Thanks for reading!

-TheShadowedWarrior