Shimmerheart sat outside the warriors' den grooming herself quickly before she had to go out on a hunting patrol. It had been a few days and the Clan had gradually moved on from Nightcloud's death. Specklewish had moved to the nursery slightly early by Ravenstripe's request. Shimmerheart knew that it was mostly so he could keep an eye on her. She was still grieving over the loss of her mate and Shimmerheart couldn't blame her. She could still feel the grief from the loss of Nightcloud as well even though she wasn't as close with him as she would've liked. I couldn't help Nightcloud, but I will help Specklewish.

"Shimmerheart!" Shimmerheart looked up, seeing Ruskclaw standing at the camp entrance with Bluestripe and Fernpaw. "Let's go! The prey isn't going to catch itself."

Shimmerheart sighed and quickly joined her patrol. Ruskclaw headed out of camp the minute she reached them. Shimmerheart ended up in the back of the patrol beside Fernpaw with Bluestripe directly in front of them and Ruskclaw leading the way on his own. Shimmerheart watched him, hardly able to believe he had been able to offer her comfort a few days prior. Every other time she had talked with him or heard him talking with others, he only seemed to care only about his warrior duties rather than his Clanmates.

The patrol stopped near the river. "Bluestripe and Fernpaw, you go towards the border. Shimmerheart and I will stay here to see what we can find by the river," Ruskclaw ordered, padding down towards the riverbank without waiting to see if his orders were obeyed.

"Bossy fur-ball," Fernpaw muttered, earning a hard look from her mentor as the two padded off towards the border. Shimmerheart opened her mouth and tasted the air. She detected a few mice nearby and decided to catch a few before she moved onto fishing in the river.

Shimmerheart had caught two small mice when Ruskclaw walked past her, a squirrel in his jaws. He put his prey beside hers, eyeing the mice. "I hope that's not all you're planning on catching," he meowed.

Shimmerheart had to force her fur to lie flat at that comment. It's better than no prey at all! She padded over to the river, crouching down and being sure that her shadow didn't fall over the edge. Her gaze was fixed intently on the water.

"What do you think you're doing? This is no time to be playing in the water!" Ruskclaw growled.

"Would you just be quiet? I'm focusing here!" Shimmerheart hissed quietly, never once taking her eyes off the surface. A few moments passed before she saw a flicker of movement just below the surface. She flashed out a paw, knocking the fish out of the water and onto dry land. She was on it quickly, killing it swiftly. She picked up her fish and carried it over to Ruskclaw, giving him a look before burying the fish and her mice. Ruskclaw gritted his teeth but just buried his squirrel without saying anything.

Shimmerheart was about to head back to the river when she heard a loud yowl coming from the border. That's Bluestripe! She quickly dashed towards the border, reaching out with the Force to figure out what kind of situation she was running into. She was vaguely aware of Ruskclaw running beside her, but she hardly paid him any attention as she did her best to assess the situation. She could sense four cats, one of which was the Sith from the day of Nightcloud's death.

Shimmerheart and Ruskclaw burst out of the trees, seeing the sandy colored tom pinning Bluestripe to the ground. Three other rogues surrounded Fernpaw, who had her ears laid back and was snarling at the enemies surrounding her. Shimmerheart looked back towards Bluestripe, seeing that one of her hind legs was very bloody.

"What are you mouse-brain's doing? Take her and leave!" the sandy colored tom growled at the other three surrounding Fernpaw.

Ruskclaw immediately leaped a the three cats surrounding the apprentice. Shimmerheart took that moment to leap and tackle the sandy tom off of Bluestripe since he was distracted by the sudden attack on his allies. They rolled on the ground for a moment before Shimmerheart broke away and positioned herself in front of Bluestripe, teeth bared. "I'm giving you one chance. Leave now," she warned, digging her claws into the ground.

The sight of her only seemed to make the tom angrier. "Not a chance! You killed my son, and I will make you pay!" He leaped towards her, but Shimmerheart quickly sidestepped and rammed him from the side, digging her claws into his pelt.

"I'm sorry about your son, but none of this will bring him back," Shimmerheart persisted. "Stop this endless bloodshed! Is this really what your son would've wanted?"

"He would want me to kill you, little Jedi!" the tom hissed. He narrowed his eyes. "And I think I know just how to do it." With that, he turned and ran into the undergrowth with the other rogues chasing behind him. Shimmerheart remained tense for a moment before allowing her muscles to relax, confident that the rogues had left.

"Are you ok, Bluestripe?" Shimmerheart turned around, seeing Fernpaw standing beside her mentor, concern in her eyes. Bluestripe remained on the ground, her leg bloody and bent at an odd angle.

"I'll be fine. I just need to get back to camp and see Ravenstripe," Bluestripe assured her. Her voice sounded very calm but Shimmerheart could feel how much pain she was in.

"Shimmerheart, help Bluestripe get back to camp. Fernpaw, we're going to gather the prey and bring it back," Ruskclaw ordered.

"But, I need to make sure Bluestripe is ok!" Fernpaw protested.

"You will do as you're told," Ruskclaw growled.

Fernpaw narrowed her eyes and looked like she was about to protest but Bluestripe chimed in, "Fernpaw, I'll be fine. Help Ruskclaw. The Clan needs the prey."

"Don't worry. I'll get her back to camp safely," Shimmerheart promised. Fernpaw stared at her a moment before nodding and following Ruskclaw into the trees. Shimmerheart then helped Bluestripe up and allowed the older warrior to lean on her as they headed back to camp.

Hey guys! So sorry for the hold up on this chapter. I've been super busy but I'm finally getting some more of the story done. Also, I'm currently in the process of casting roles for the audiobook version of this, which will be on my YouTube! If you're interested in that, details are in a video on my channel. My YouTube channel is Sandra Dragonwolf.