Cloudtail slowly stuck his head out of the bush he was hiding in. WindClan territory stretched out before him like the Thunderpath. A steady breeze brushed across his back, and the white warrior crept onto the moor as slow as he would move if he was hunting.
Sandstorm and Graystripe followed behind him. Sandstorm seemed anxious to see Fireheart again, while Graystripe lashed his tail and darted his head from side to side on the lookout. Cloudtail was relieved to know that he wasn't the only uncomfortable one.
"Let's hurry," suggested Cloudtail. "I don't like it here."
"Then do us all a favor and leave!" Mudclaw charged up to the intruders with Tornear, Webfoot, and Tawnyfur behind him. Cloudtail cursed under his breath at the bad luck. They had just set paw on the territory!
"Greetings, Mudclaw." Graystripe dipped his head respectively. "We apologize for intruding, but we have no choice. We need to speak to Fire-"
"You will do such thing! Haven't you ruined WindClan enough? I'll give you one more chance to leave before we rip you to shreds!" Mudclaw hissed. The four WindClan warriors started to circle around the ThunderClan cats. They clawed the air threatingly while snarling for them to return to the forest.
"Chill out!" Cloudtail exclaimed. "We need help and want to speak to Fireheart-"
"Attack!" AtMudclaw howl, Tornear launched himself at Sandstorm. Webfoot aided him, and the pale she-cat was buried under the wrath of the furious WindClan warriors. Cloudtail could see Graystripe fighting Tawnyfur, so the white warrior was left with Mudclaw.
"This is stupid!" Cloudtail hissed. "We don't need to fight. And what did you mean when you said that we ruined WindClan?"
Mudclaw tried to rake his claws down Cloudtail's white pelt, but he managed to leap out of the way in time. "That stupid kittypet has taken a place that he doesn't belong at. And with Tallstar sick, he could become-"
"That's enough!" Fireheart appeared from behind the angered WindClan cats. He charged down the moor, then jumped and pushed Webfoot and Tornear off of Sandstorm. Since there wasn't that much prey on WindClan territory, Sandstorm wasn't injured too badly by the weakened cats.
"Mudclaw! Why did you attack them?" Fireheart narrowed his eyes.
"They invaded our territory," explained Mudclaw. "But of course you wouldn't care if they made off with the rest of our prey!"
"That's nonsense and you know it." Fireheart looked over to Cloudtail. "Well? Why are you here?"
Cloudtail quickly explained finding the dead body of Brindleface, then continued with Tigerstar's involvement and the trail of rabbits. When he finished, Fireheart was deadly quiet.
"I can't do anything… I'm sorry Cloudtail. I have responsibilities for WindClan now." The flame colored warrior turned and started back for WindClan's camp.
"Wait! Just give us a plan at least! I don't know what to do." Cloudtail was shaking in fear. If they didn't do something soon, all of ThunderClan would be destroyed!
Fireheart didn't turn. His new clanmates bounded up next to him, happy that the former kittypet and ThunderClan warrior was siding with them. "I-I'm WindClan's deputy now. Deadfoot was killed by the dogs. If I help you, then I'm betraying my clan. Now go! Before we have to force you to leave…"
"Fireheart…" Sandstorm whispered. Graystripe pushed her towards their home with his head, then all three cats disappeared from the moor and went into the trees. When they were a safe distance from the WindClan cats, they stopped. The sun was peeking at them through a hole in the trees.
"That couldn't have gone worse." Cloudtail sighed. "Now WindClan is hostile. What can we do!?" Sandstorm didn't even look up. Her head was hanging in defeat.
"He rejected us," she kept whispering. "He rejected me." She's useless now, thought Cloudtail.
Graystripe, though, wasn't. "I have an idea! The Thunderpath!"
Cloudtail didn't understand. "What about it?"
"We can let the monsters kill the dogs! This time of day, the Thunderpath is really busy with monsters all over the place. If we run across, then maybe the monsters will hit the dogs and they'll leave us alone!"
"But what if the monsters miss? Or what if we get hit? Or-"
Graystripe placed his tail over Cloudtail's mouth. "The Twolegplace. If we cross the Thunderpath near Tallpines and Twolegplace, then the big white monster will take the dogs away."
"Big white monster?" Cloudtail echoed. Maybe this could work after all.
Sandstorm finally took part in the conversation. "The big white monster lives only in the Twolegplace. A big male Twoleg lives inside it. He throws eats cats and dogs into the monster's mouth, and you never see them again. So if the dogs live through the Thunderpath, we can get the dogs caught by the monster!"
"What if we get caught instead?" Cloudtail wasn't going to risk a ThunderClan warrior.
"We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen," mewed Graystripe. "Either way, we don't have any other option, do we?"
Cloudtail didn't reply. Graystripe was right- they didn't have any other choice. The three warriors started for Sunningrocks. Whenever the dogs showed up, ThunderClan would be ready for them. Afterwards, they would lead them to the Thunderpath and to the monster or die trying.