Chapter 15: Red And Black/Do You Hear The Warriors Sing?
After Fawnflower had gone to find the she-cat, their was a group of cats who wanted their rights. To hunt freely. Most of the time they were staving themselves, but they didn't care.
"At the streams, the sections are prepared!" A white tom dipped his head to the leader of their group, Battlefur.
"In the woods, they're straining at the leash!" A long-haired silver tom meowed.
"Apprentices, Warriors, every cat! There's a river on the run! Like the flowing of the tide, Breezeclan coming to our side!" A blue-gray tom reported.
"The time is near.. So near, it's stirring the blood in their pelts! But yet, beware! Don't let the mice go to your head!" Battlefur, the red tom, shot a glance at a cat who looked like a badger.
"For the warriors we fight are a dangerous foe... With the cats and the arms that we never could match! It is easy to sit here and catch them like mice, but the leader will be harder to catch!" His silver eyes became silver slits, as he talked to the toms.
"We need a sign! To rally the cats! To call them to us, and to bring them in line!" The red tom glanced at a cat who had walked in.
"Sparkheart! You're late!" He meowed, an annoyed tone to his voice.
"What's wrong today? You look as if you'd seen a ghost!" A really dark tabby tom, the medicine cat named Nightleaf asked.
"A thrush and say what's going on!" The badger-cat, named Bagderfur mewed.
"A ghost you say.. A ghost maybe, she was just like a ghost to me.." Sparkeheart wistfully said. "One minute there, then she was gone!"
Badgerfur got up and smirked. "I am surprised! How can this be? Is Sparkheart in love at last? I've never seen him 'ooh' and 'ahh!'"
He padded up to Battlefur. "You talk of battles to won!" Badgerfur pointed to Sparkheart, "And here he comes so lovestruck! It is better than cats tripping!"
"It is time for us all to decide who we are.." Battlefur said, shoving Badgerfur away. "Do you fight for the right to be in love now? Have you asked of yourselves.. What's the price you might pay? Is it simply a game for a bunch of young cats to play? The colors of the woods are changing, day by day.." He meowed softly.
"Red, the blood of angry cats.. Black, the dark of moons past.. Red, a world about to dawn.. Black, the night that ends at last!" The red tom murmured.
"Had you been there that day, you might know how it feels... To be struck to the bone, in a moment of breathless delight!" Sparkheart said, breathlessly.
"Had you been there that day, you might also have known.. How the world may be changed, in just one burst of light!" He said.
"And what was right seems wrong, and what was wrong... Seems right." The ginger tom murmured.
"Red!" Badgerfur yelled.
"I feel my soul on fire!" Sparkheart wistfully mewed.
"Black!" Badgerfur grinned at the other cats.
"My world if she's not there.." Sparkheart shuddered at the thought.
"RED!" The cats chorused together.
"The color of desire!" Sparkheart said.
"BLACK!" The cats howled.
"The color of despair!" Sparkheart meowed.
"Sparkheart! You're no longer a child. I do not doubt you mean it well, but now there is a higher call." Battlefur stopped the cats before they could say anymore.
"Who cares about your lonely soul? We strive toward a larger goal. Our little lives don't count at all!" He snapped at the ginger tom.
"Red, the blood of angry cats! Black, the dark of ages past! Red, a world about to dawn! Black, the night that ends at last!" They all yowled.
"Well, Rainpelt, do we have all the cats?" Battlefur turned towards the blue-grey tom.
"Silvertalon, Snowstorm, our time is running short." He told the two cats.
"Badgerfur, put the squirrel down!" He snapped at the cat.
"Do we have the cats we need?" He asked.
"I still hate you Battlefur. Sometimes I wonder how you're the same kit from moons ago.." Badgerfur grumbled.
"In Forestclan, they're with us for sure!" Rainpelt said.
"With the loners, they're showing protests!" Snowstorm nodded.
"Twenty warriors, good as new!" Silvertalon responded.
Just then, a small cat apprentice rushed in. "Listen!" Copperpaw shouted.
"Twenty bit of supplies for each cat!" Nightleaf mewed.
"Listen to me!" Copperpaw yelled.
"There's even more in Lightclan!" A tabby tom named Thorngaze purred, at the thought of this revolution.
"Listen, everybody!" Copperpaw tried again.
"Seven helpful kittypets!" A smokey grey tom named Lightningfur snorted, at the thought of kittypets helping them.
"GOLDENSTRIPE IS DEAD!" Copperpaw yowled with all his might.
There was a dead silence between cats until Battlefur spoke up, "Goldenstripe is dead.. Goldenstripe! His death is the hour of fate! The warriors' cat! His death is the sign we await!"
"On his mourning day, they will honor his name.. It's a rallying cry that will reach every ear! In the death of Goldenstripe we will kindle the flame. They will see that the day of salvation is near!" He continued.
"The time is near! Let us welcome it gladly with courage and cheer! Let us take down Hawkstar with no doubt in our hearts! But a jubilant shout; they will come one and all, they will come when we call!" He meowed before finishing.
While this was happening, Copperpaw noticed that Sparkheart was looking off to the side, and being hurt, so he padded Battlefur with his tail and pointed to the pale ginger tom.
"Do you hear the warriors yowl? Yowling the song of angry cats? It is the music of a clan who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart, echoes the beating of the drums! There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!" Battlefur started, to get Sparkheart's feelings up again.
"Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me? Beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?" Snowstorm continued.
"Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!" Rainpelt meowed right along.
"Do you hear the warriors sing? Singing the song of angry cats? It is the music of a clan who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart, echoes the beating of the drums! There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!" They chorused together nicely.
"Will you give all you can give so that our rebellion may advance? Some will fall and some will live! Will you stand up and take your chance?" Silvertalon meowed.
"The spilled blood of the cats will water the meadows of the forest!"
"Do you hear the warriors sing? Singing the song of angry cats? It is the music of a clan who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart, echoes the beating of the drums! There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!" The cats yowled.
Badgerfur, had noticed something, and it was a gray tabby. Eaglestrike.
"Battlefur, a certain cat is here!" He hissed.
"This meeting is over." Battlefur dismissed.
Sparkheart met Rainbrook later, she was trembling, but he didn't notice.
"I have it.. The she-cat's den.." She softly mewed, as if hurt on the inside.
"Show me.." Sparkheart flicked his tail, she started padding towards her home.