Bluestar was roused from a light doze by the sound of cries of alarm coming from outside her den. Her fur bristling with apprehension, she pushed her way outside to see Fireheart, Sandstorm, Bramblepaw, and Snowpaw walking back into the camp. Sandstorm's fur was covered in dried blood, but she was walking without any support and from what Bluestar could see, she didn't appear to be too badly hurt, so she assumed the blood wasn't her own. Despite this, however, her son and his companions all wore the same grim expressions.
"Fireheart, what's wrong?" she asked, bounding over to her kit. "What happened to the four of you?"
"We think we might have found out who attacked Loudbelly and Graystripe," Fireheart replied gravely. "While we were out hunting, we found a rogue on our territory. A molly, and by the smell of her, I would guess that she was from Twolegplace."
"She wasn't like a normal rogue, though," Sandstorm added. "Other than smelling of crowfood, I mean. Her pelt was pretty well-groomed and she was wearing a collar. But the collar was embedded with cat and dog teeth."
Bluestar barely had time to be disgusted before Fireheart went on, "She told us that her name was Fang and that she was a warrior of...something called BloodClan. And she swore that BloodClan was going to hunt down every forest cat until there wasn't anyone left to defend our territory."
"Fireheart wasn't impressed by her," Sandstorm continued, flashing her mate an admiring glance. "And he told me to take care of her and send her on her way."
"Which she did with no problem, obviously," the flame-colored warrior meowed. "But it seems strange, don't you think? First, two Clan cats are attacked by rogues within days of each other, and now another rogue is trying to make threats against us. It doesn't really seem like it's entirely a coincidence."
"No, it doesn't," Bluestar agreed with a worried frown.
It had been one thing when they thought the attacks on Loudbelly and Graystripe had been the work of a few lone rouges. While troublesome, Bluestar felt they could have dealt with them eventually. Now, however, she was learning that there was supposedly an entire Clan of rogues–rogues that were somehow strong enough to kill dogs and use their teeth as trophies.
"So now we know of at least three cats who are members of BloodClan," she mused, half to herself. "And if I'm not mistaken, there have to be a lot more we haven't met yet."
"Five, actually," her son corrected her. "Scourge and Bone are BloodClan cats as well. I couldn't see clearly at the time, but I'm willing to bet that their collars were decorated with teeth as well. Scourge must be the leader of BloodClan."
"Did you ever meet anyone from BloodClan while you were in Twolegplace?" Sandstorm asked, glancing at Fireheart.
The fiery-colored tom shook his head. "It might not have formed yet while I was there, or maybe they just weren't interested in recruiting more members at the time. Twolegplace is a lot bigger than you might think. Two cats could both live there and never cross paths with each other if their homes were far enough apart."
"So it's possible that BloodClan could have more cats than all of the forest Clans combined?" the pale ginger molly clarified.
"That's right," Fireheart replied.
"That doesn't make sense," Sandstorm meowed slowly. "If there are so many of them, why not just attack the forest if they want to take it over so badly? Not that I want them to, of course, it just seems like a waste of time to try to pick off forest cats one by one if they have enough numbers to stage an attack."
"Because they're a bunch of cowards," Fireheart growled, and Bluestar almost winced; she rarely heard him sound so angry and hateful. "They don't have the courage to face us in an honorable battle because we probably still have enough numbers to beat them. That's why they're picking off Clan cats in the dark. They'll want to be absolutely certain that their victory is ensured before they lead a real raid."
He sounded absolutely certain, as though he had witnessed the BloodClan cats plotting against the forest Clans for himself. Bluestar couldn't disagree with him; it did sound exactly like the typical behavior of rogues. And wasn't that exactly what they were? These cats could claim to be a Clan all they wanted, but at the end of the day, they were still nothing more than rogues and loners, and it was obvious that their tendencies hadn't changed.
"Thank you for letting me know," she meowed finally. "Sandstorm, go see Yellowfang so she can check out your wounds. Bramblepaw, you and Snowpaw can grab something to eat. Fireheart, come with me. We need to discuss what to do about this...BloodClan."
Sandstorm nodded and padded off to the medicine den while Bramblepaw led Snowpaw over to the fresh-kill pile. Once they were gone, Bluestar beckoned for Fireheart to follow her to her den. As soon as they were inside, she settled herself in her nest and turned to face him.
"Alright," she began. "We need to make a plan to deal with BloodClan, preferably sooner rather than later. But until we find out more about them and why they suddenly want to take over the forest, there's not much we can do. So from now on, we'll increase the number of patrols we send to patrol the Twolegplace border. And everyone must travel in groups of at least two cats."
"That sounds like a good plan," Fireheart agreed. He hesitated, then added, "Do you think we should warn the other Clans? I mean, I personally don't care if ShadowClan gets destroyed, but there are meant to be four Clans in the forest and StarClan probably won't be pleased if we let one get picked off by a bunch of rogues."
Bluestar snorted with amusement. "I have to agree with you there, and you're right, we probably should give them a warning. Tell you what, the next Gathering is in two days. I'll make an announcement then."
"Alright," Fireheart meowed, nodding. "And we should probably increase battle training for the apprentices as well. Teach them how to fight like rogues. I hate to do it and I know it's technically against the code, but BloodClan cats obviously don't have morals and they won't care one way or another about killing us all. We can't afford to show them any mercy."
His words sent a chill down Bluestar's spine, not least because she knew he was right. Rogues didn't have a code that dictated what was right or wrong; the death of another cat meant absolutely nothing to them. She suspected that Scourge had been sending his weaker fighters into the forest to pick off Clan cats because it wouldn't matter one way or another if they were killed–after all, there were always more cats where they came from. While she didn't like the idea of abandoning her own morals–as a Clan warrior, she had always believed that killing should be avoided at all cost–she would do so if it meant protecting her home and her family.
"You're right," she meowed after a few heartbeats. "We need to teach BloodClan their place. This is our land. And if that means a few of them have to die in the process...so be it."