Redstar, Raventail, and Featherleg jumped from their positions on highledge.

"How many warriors do they have?" Redstar asked.

"At least half their Clan, sir," Quickstorm responded. "We'll need everyone we can get to help."

"Redstar, I know that Thistlepaw and Badgerpaw would be ready for this," Raventail mewed. "In fact, all the apprentices are. We can send them if we must."

Redstar's eyes narrowed slightly. "If you're certain about your apprentice." His voice sounded more hostile than concerned.

Birdpaw raced forward.

"Should I track down Willownose?" the she-cat asked Redstar. "She went off to find herbs, but I expect you'll need her ready for the injured warriors."

The ginger tom dipped his head. "Yes. Go. But be careful, in case WindClan has pressed further in to our territory."

Birdpaw dipped her head and pushed past Quickstorm at the camp entrance.

"Raventail, gather as many warriors as are available, but leave some to guard camp. I will go myself," Redstar mewed.

"Of course," Raventail dipped his head, then turned towards their group. "Apprentices!"

Badgerpaw stood up with the other four apprentices, and padded over to the deputy.

"You will be coming with us to fight WindClan," he meowed. "Harepaw and Berrypaw, I expect a lot from you two especially. Consider this your assessment."

Badgerpaw felt the pair stiffin beside her.

"Featherleg, you lead them out," Raventail meowed. "I want cats out there now. Quickstorm, you go see if ShadowClan will lend us any paws."

Featherleg dipped his head, and touched his tail tip to the darker tom's shoulder. "I'll see you there, brother."

"Go!" Raventail hissed.

Featherleg turned quickly. "C'mon!" He raced forward, and the apprentices ran after him.

Badgerpaw's heart hammered in her chest. She could hear her blood pounding in her ears, and she could smell fear-scent on her companions, and no doubt from herself.

She remembered when she was a kit and heard the elder's tales about battle. They hadn't spoken of their fear when the ran forward to fight.

What was the guard patrol doing now? Cloudflower had been on duty. Was her mother okay? Would she be okay?

Badgerpaw forced herself to keep pace with the others, her shaking paws making it difficult to run. She had been in a battle before, but she knew deep down that this would be very different. It wasn't just another apprentice she was fighting.

"ThunderClan, attack!" Featherleg yowled, launching himself forward over the underbrush. The apprentices followed suit, and Badgerpaw forced a snarl onto her lips.

There were so many WindClan cats, and their stench was nearly overwhelming. Badgerpaw wrinkled her nose and searched the clearing desperately for her mother, but she couldn't spot the white she-cat-

There! Her pelt was almost stained red with blood, but it didn't appear to be hers. She was fighting two much larger toms, but holding her own.

Badgerpaw bounded forward. "I'm coming, Cloudflower!" she called, and she slammed herself as hard as possible into one of the toms.

The ginger tabby hissed as she landed on his back, writing around under her, hissing and spitting. "Get off of me!"

"Not a chance!" Badgerpaw snapped, and she dug her claws in deeper to his shoulders. Now that she had someone to protect, she could care less about the cats who felt her claws.

"Careful, Badgerpaw!" Cloudflower called, before giving her opponent a good slash across the muzzle.

Meanwhile, the ginger tom fell to his side and began to roll. Badgerpaw instantly struggled away, recognizing the move- Harepaw had figured it out recently and was using it often during training sessions. She wasn't about to get trapped by a tom this size.

Instead, she took the opportunity to pin him down, claws at his throat, but not pushing down. She was no killer. She stood with the rest of her body to the side, not leaving her belly exposed.

"Give up?" she hissed.

"Never!" he spat, and kicked her hind leg with his, and she lost her balance. He twisted up and slashed his claws deep in her shoulder, then pushed her to the ground while she was still off balance.

Badgerpaw let out a yowl of frustration, and gave a sharp bite to his foreleg, and writhed out from under him. She lunged up and bit his side while digging her claws into his flank.

"Gah!" the tom cried. He attached himself to her back leg and she screeched, pulling away quickly and desperately. Once her paw was out of his grip, she gave a sharp kick in the nose.

Suddenly, a dark mass launched into her, and she tumbled away from the ginger tabby.

"Nice one, Flyfang!" the tabby crowed.

At first, Badgerpaw was confused- it didn't help that she was a bit stunned from the attack- and then she realized the Flypaw must have been made a warrior. Anger bristled inside her. What had he done to deserve the title?

"Well, here we are," Flyfang hissed down at his struggling prey. "How does it feel to be pinned?"

Before Badgerpaw could retort, she heard a loud battlecry yowled. Both she and Flyfang turned to see cats racing to the aid of the ThunderClan cats, and the sudden smell of ShadowClan was overwhelming.

"Fox dung!" Flyfang spat.

"Not so brave now that we've got more allies, are you?" Badgerpaw hissed. She writhed around until she pulled herself from his grip and whipped up to slash her claws across his face.

The cats that were once outnumbered on the ThunderClan side were now nearly fighting two-on-one with the WindClan warriors.

The battle will be over soon, Badgerpaw thought gleefully, giving Flypaw a good bite on the ear as the wrestled. We're going to win!

Flyfang twisted around in her grip, angrily cursing all of her family, her friends, her Clan. He bit down on her fore paw and flipped her around.

Badgerpaw felt splintering pain and let out an ear splitting yowl. She was pinned. She couldn't believe that she had let this happen.

Flyfang gave a harsh laugh. "They told me I could do it!" he purred. His normally arrogant voice had changed to something almost maniacal. "I have! I'm going to beat you!" He reared his neck back, his teeth bared, and Badgerpaw felt her belly flip.

I'm going to StarClan, she thought. I'll never be made a warrior now. I'll see if Breezekit really was telling me those things. I'll talk to Birdpaw while she's at the moonpool.

But before the strike came, Flyfang was tackled off of her. She struggled to turn and saw Featherleg standing over him, claws dug into his shoulders.

"Warriors don't kill!" Featherleg hissed. "And you'd better not kill my apprentice!"

Flyfang growled. "This warrior does what he wants!" He bit down on Featherleg's front paw. The silver tom growled, but kept his claws dug in.

"If this is the kind of cat Ashstar would train, she's worse than I thought," Featherleg spat. "Why do you want to kill an apprentice?"

Flyfang didn't answer. Instead, he unsheathed his back claws, kicked up, and dragged them across Featherleg's belly.

The cry that Featherleg made was louder than any that Badgerpaw had ever heard. It made everything stop. The cats battling broke apart and turned their heads towards the noise.

Featherleg let out rasping breaths. His eyes were wide, his pupils were slits. He stared down at Flyfang with shock before falling to his side, off of the cat that had made him prey.