Those of you who are long time readers probably remember my first story, History Rewritten: Brokenstar. Well, if you didn't see the note in the last chapter, there's good news and bad news. Bad news is that I will not be going back to that story (it's on indefinite hiatus). Good news is, I won't be killing it! History Rewritten:Brokenstar is up for adoption to another author! Please PM me if you are interested and we can talk about how to go from there.
Second thing I really wanted to get out of the way is what is going to happen after Dawnstar's Legacy ends. Well, aside from getting the prequel (No Wings to Fly) rolling along and the few stray oneshots here and there, I plan on doing another series. I think I'm going to be centering it around WindClan, since I feel as though we've seen it the least out of all of the books out there. It will take place many seasons after the Dawnstar's Legacy storyline so there will be new characters and new calls for your OC's to appear there. Not sure when this is going to get started at all, but it will eventually.
Last thing: I got a review recently! Thank you, Sophie (guest) for reading and liking this passion project that I've been working with for 6 years now! I really appreciate it since you're the first review I've received in years. Sophie, I apologize if you're yearning for the story to continue on; I understand how you feel because I've been in your position many times over. But there's not set schedule for this story like there was in previous years because I'm a senior in college now. Free time and energy aren't things I have a lot of so you should always expect random or long delays. My profile (in the favorites section) has tons of Warriors fanfics to tide you over made by some amazing people so I recommend you go check it out! I don't exactly ask for reviews at all. I just ask that people read and enjoy regardless of whether or not they have anything to say about this story of mine.
Thank you to everyone who has submitted characters over the years! I really do appreciate it and I love seeing how creative you guys are. Torrentrunner belongs to Nightmask.
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Dawnflight nearly tripped over her own white paws as she and her clanmates trotted across the half moonlight grass. Hissing, Dawnflight put her paws out in front of her and carefully stepped forward. Beside her, Timberclaw let out a purr and brushed his striped tail against her back. The brown tabby turned towards his mate and nudged her along. His emerald green eyes seemed to glow like moonlight lake water and Dawnflight couldn't help but give contented sigh at the sight. She let Timberclaw walk ahead of her; his thinner frame rippling with a hidden strength that only Dawnflight seemed to notice or admire. His handsome pelt swished as he gracefully stepped passed his mate. As his tail swished passed her, the gray and white she cat mentally shook herself.
I can't be mooning over him! There's a battle I need to be focused on.
The two cats strode to the ShadowClan border shoulder to shoulder with their clanmates. Shinepaw stood next to Dawnflight. Her blue-green eyes shone with a grim determination that Dawnflight wished she could share. The two friends shared a brief nod.
I hope Shinepaw is ready for this. She's only been in a fewer border tussles than I have.
Dawnflight let go of her worry for her golden striped friend and frantically searched the line of RiverClan cats for Thunderpaw. She let out a quick breath when she saw her brother trotting ahead of his mentor, Icepelt. Both cats had their fur fluffed out and excitement lined their faces amongst the rush of pelts.
I swear I'm the only one remotely nervous about this! But then again, I have a much bigger job than anyone else here.
Dawnflight didn't bother looking for her parents among the battle party. She knew her mother would be joining the fight. Stoneheart always joined battle parties. Dawnflight and Thunderpaw were always puzzled by their mother's enthusiasm for battle, but didn't bother questioning it when they noticed she tended to bring back fewer pieces of prey from hunting patrols.
The large line of cats stopped by a clearing between the reed-riddled grass and the start of the pine forests. ShadowClan scent strongly assaulted Dawnflight's senses and a few cats standing next to her gagged. Shinepaw in particular wrinkled her golden nose at the hit. Dawnflight suppressed a small laugh. The silvery warrior looked ahead to see a line of ShadowClan warriors waiting by the scent line. Falconstar stood at the front, his leafy green eyes gleaming against his rough, tan tabby fur. Next to him sat Torrentrunner. Her black tabby stripes seemed to blend in with the darkness that made up her clan's territory. The ShadowClan deputy gave Dawnflight a reassuring look, but it did little to calm the gray warrior's nerves.
Here we go.
Dawnflight shut her eyes and briefly hoped that Emberheart wasn't among the opposing battle party. She slowly opened her eyes and ran her dark amber gaze down the crowd of ShadowClan cats. She felt a stab of pity when she noticed most of them fidgeted anxiously. They clearly did not support the battle. Luckily for Dawnflight, she didn't find Emberheart's stark cream pelt or his unique purple-blue eyes. Silently, Dawnflight thanked StarClan she wouldn't have to fight her friend. The silvery gray she cat composed herself and stood straighter when Falconstar called out to Waterstar.
"This is your final chance to give up that land, Waterstar." Falconstar meowed. Dawnflight scoffed as his relaxed tone. Waterstar narrowed her dark blue eyes at the ShadowClan leader. Confidently, she snarled back at him.
"RiverClan refuses to give up our territory."
RiverClan warriors and apprentices gave a caterwauls in agreement. Falconstar's calm disposition instantly changed into a snarling hiss. Torrentrunner just frowned beside him.
"ShadowClan, attack!"
Falconstar flung himself at the line of RiverClan cats, who leapt in to meet him. A few heartbeats passed before Falconstar's cats hesitantly ran after their leader. Claws flew and warriors growled at each other. Dawnflight gave a heavy swipe to a ShadowClan cat that ran up to hit her. The enemy warrior gave a small cough of pain but made motions with her head towards away from her.
"Falconstar is that way!" she hissed. Dawnflight nodded and sprinted through the sea of cats. Pelts were forced against her flanks, knocking the breath out of the silver and white cat's lungs. Yowling in frustration, Dawnflight clawed at the flanks of the ShadowClan cat in front of her. The enemy warrior growled and clawed her back. Dawnflight leaned in for a bite on the warrior's shoulder, but her jaws clamped on thin air! She was punished for her miss with a slash to the side of her head. The cut felt hot on Dawnflight's pelt and blood dripped onto her white paws. In retaliation, Dawnflight slashed him across the muzzle with one paw and shoved him backwards with the other. The ShadowClan cat hit the ground with a soft "thud" and then hissed at his opponent.
"Falconstar!" the ShadowClan tom reminded Dawnflight. Not waiting for another word, Dawnflight rushed past him and looked out to the ocean of chaos before her. Timberclaw and Icepelt nipped at an enemy warrior who, in turn, clawed back at them. Splashfrost grabbed the tail of a ShadowClan she cat and sliced at her haunches. Mistpaw, recently named Mistfur a few sunrises ago, fled from a burly ShadowClan tom who hesitantly took a few final strikes at her. Her sister Bluepool, formerly Bluepaw, launched herself at her sister's attacker, causing him to yowl and turn tail. Thunderpaw seemed to be holding his own against another apprentice. Both toms seemed equally matched as they clawed and bit each other's pelts. Dawnflight snuck past the fighting cats into a less heavily contested patch of grass. She was surprised that there was a small mass of injured cats from both ShadowClan and RiverClan settled side by side. The silvery warrior's eyes widened when she noticed Blackwing carefully applying poultices and cobwebs to an injured ShadowClan she cat!
I thought Blackwing was supposed to be at the half moon medicine cat meeting. She was supposed to leave with Leafstep.
Dawnflight averted her gaze from the kind medicine cat's form and into the brush nearby. The leaves rustled softly, as if they were ruffled by the breeze. Dawnflight's heart dropped when she realized there was no breeze blowing. Screeching, Dawnflight bounded towards the brush, but skidded to a halt when a tan tabby form exploded from the undergrowth, yowling at the medicine cat. Injured cats scattered and fled; Dawnflight froze in terror when she realized that Falconstar was targeting a medicine cat. Rashly, the silvery warrior ran towards the ShadowClan leader, who was clawing at the black she cat underneath him. Blackwing bit and ripped off some of Falconstar's white belly fur, but was no match for the old, yet muscular tom. Blackwing's blood splattered onto Falconstar's smirking face. His leafy green eyes glowed wildly with the same emotion that Dawnflight had seen in them prior. Falconstar screeched in Blackwing's face.
"This is for maiming Leopardwind!" *
Dawnflight jumped at her friend's attacker and slashed when she felt her claws connect with Falconstar's pelt. She tried to get close enough to bite or claw at his neck, but Dawnflight's face was choked with think, silvery gray fur as she was barreled aside and forced down into the half moonlight grass. Landing on her haunches, Dawnflight whipped the massive, gray tail out of her face only to see Stoneheart viciously clawing and biting at Falconstar!
"Get off of her you mangy piece of fox dung!" Stoneheart growled as she tore off a chunk of fur. Falconstar bit her shoulder in return.
Nearby, Blackwing lay stunned on the flat ground, bleeding from multiple cuts all over her body. Her normally bright, icy blue eyes looked hollow and filled with terror. Shinepaw's brother, Hawkpaw, and a ShadowClan tom Dawnflight didn't recognize frantically scrambled to place poultices and flurry of cobwebs onto Blackwing's body. Dawnflight hopped over to the three cats and hurried to placed extra leaves and nearby moss around the feathery black cat's wounds.
"Save the medicine cat!" The ShadowClan warrior yowled. Cats fled from the small clearing and a few stop in the midst of fighting to collect all the herbs Blackwing had dropped when Falconstar lunged at her prior. RiverClan's deputy, Mossclaw, pushed his way through the crowd and picked up Blackwing by the scruff. He dragged her across the border to a sheltered alcove below a tree. The ShadowClan tom and Hawkpaw followed and Dawnflight picked up some dropped poultices.
"Place the moss here and a cobweb down on her flanks." The ShadowClan tom instructed Hawkpaw. The brown tabby did as instructed and the ShadowClan warrior turned towards Dawnflight. "Put a poultice on the cut on her chest." He meowed. Dawnflight rubbed the green paste on Blackwing's skin. Blood stopped pouring out of the medicine cat's wounds and the ShadowClan tom breathed a hefty sigh of relief when he was Blackwing's eyes close and her sides rise and fall steadily.
"She should be stable now," he started, his ginger fur still fluffed out with alarm from earlier, "You'd best take her back to camp as soon as you can someone can watch her."
Hawkpaw nodded and motioned for Mossclaw to help him carry Blackwing back. Dawnflight mewed her thanks.
"Thank you." She said genuinely. The tom blinked at her and gave her a reassuring look from his yellow-green eyes. Then, he scampered off towards his clanmates.
Dawnflight turned her attention back to her mother and Falconstar. The silvery gray she cat wished she hadn't when she leapt passed a few warriors still fighting. Falconstar was on the forest floor beneath Dawnflight's mother. Several clumps of tan and white fur were scattered across the grass and blood coated Stoneheart's upper half of her body. Falconstar lay in a bloody heap in front of her. A short trail of blood led from his throat to clump of bleeding flesh and fur. Stoneheart stood over Falconstar's body with fury in green eyes. She seemed to pay no mind to the carnage that had just ensued and didn't even bother to clean the blood off of her once silver fur.
My mother just killed a cat. A tyrannical and mentally ill cat who was abusing his clan, but nonetheless, a cat.
Dawnflight felt her legs grow numb at the realization and felt her breath catch in her chest as she tried to think of what to say to Stoneheart. But the silver and white she cat couldn't think of any words anyway. Afraid to approach her mother, Dawnflight stood still and quiet. Her mother didn't turn to acknowledge her daughter.
Torrentrunner then stepped out of the Shadows, cuts lining her striped pelt. She looked down at her kit's father's maimed body. Instead of a heart wrenching wail, the black tabby she cat let out a relieved sigh. She locked her bright amber eyes with Stoneheart's green, who seemed to have softened just slightly at the weight of her actions. The two shared a long blink before Torrentrunner finally broke the thickening silence.
"ShadowClan thanks you." Torrentrunner meowed gently. Stoneheart drooped her ears and let out a small gasp of grief.
"He got Blackwing. He got my sister." She mewed quietly. Torrentrunner embraced the silvery gray warrior for a heartbeat and then drew back.
"He's gone now," Torrentrunner said, "it's over."
Finally, Dawnflight felt the strength to take a step forward. She settled next to her mother, ignoring the blood smearing on her gray and white fur. The three she cats huddles together. Dawnflight felt her mother press her face against her shoulder. Wet tears soaked into Dawnflight's fur. Torrentrunner gave Dawnflight a quick lick on the cheek before urging the two RiverClan warriors to stand back up on their paws. Torrentrunner took a step back from the two other cats and yowled out to her clanmates.
"ShadowClan, retreat!" the black tabby and white she cat yowled. ShadowClan warriors and apprentices rushed to their side of the border. Excited and relieved mews echoed among them. The area around the border between the two clans cleared out under the thrumming of paw steps. The RiverClan cats stood alone at the clearing and Waterstar padded up by the border and faced the fleeing ShadowClan warriors. She let out a yowl of triumph and let a smirk crawl on her pale gray face.
Stoneheart had rushed from her daughter's side to the cats carrying Blackwing away.
"Blackwing!" Stoneheart screeched as she sprinted to Hawkpaw's and Mossclaw's side. The silvery gray she cat nearly bowled over the two toms and insisted on carrying Blackwing herself. Dawnflight watched as the three cats disappeared through the reeds and back towards RiverClan's camp. Dawnflight stood alone in the clearing and slowly trotted back behind her clanmates.
* Falconstar is referring to an event that occurred while Blackwing was still an apprentice training as a warrior. The scene is mentioned in the first chapter of No Wings to Fly.