Hi again, my loyal readers! Once again, I beg for reviews! This chapter is a BATTLE! That's all I'm gonna say. Yea… ranting complete.
Special thanks go out to Meadowsong and my iPod for the inspiration. Yes, I thanked a music player. Got a problem with that?
Let's close our eyes an imagine a disclaimer here.
Chapter 8: From Fight to Fear
Rainpaw's POV
Rainpaw opened her eyelids. The weak dawn light reached her. She got up, seeing little point in trying to fall back asleep. Deciding to go get some fresh kill, Rainpaw blinked the last of her sleepiness from her eyes and made for the den's exit--Windfur was still asleep in her nest.
The camp was still silent, though a few cats were basking in the early sunlight. She guessed that the dawn patrol had left already- due to the lack of fresh kill on the pile. Rainpaw chose a mouse as her breakfast before sitting down near the apprentice den, to wait for her sisters to wake up.
She began to worry. The memories of her dream haunted her. Could it really be true? Could something that was going to happen today change her life and shape her destiny? Of course her life wasn't perfect, but she still didn't want it to change. She loved her sisters and her mentor and her role as a Medicine Cat apprentice. It seemed unlikely that something major was fated to happen today. The camp was calm, the sun was shining, and everything was perfect. 'Could StarClan's predictions be right?' thought Rainpaw.
Suddenly, the calm was shattered. Foampaw, Leafpaw and the rest of what looked like the dawn patrol raced into camp- followed by a swarm of ShadowClan warriors. Rainpaw recognized Darkfur at the head of the group.
Panic erupted. WindClan cats poured out of the dens and launched themselves at ShadowClan invaders. Rainpaw just stood there stunned. It couldn't be… could this battle be what StarClan had told her would shape her destiny?
"Rainpaw!" hissed Windfur from the entrance to the Medicine Den, "Come! Quick!"
Rainpaw raced after Windfur into the den. She could smell Windfur's growing fear scent. It was as if the gray cat knew something--something that made the prospect of the coming battle even more terrifying…
"Now," Windfur began, her voice filled with worry, "I want you to stay here, take care of any injured cats that can make it this far. I want you to stay out of sight, I haven't taught you any fighting moves yet, we can't afford to have our Medicine Cat apprentice killed. I will be out in the battle--stay safe, I love you very much."
She left the den without another word.
--
Leafpaw's POV
Leafpaw blinked open her eyes. She sat up slowly; the other apprentices were still sound asleep. Remembering that she was on the dawn patrol, she padded to the leftovers from last night's fresh-kill pile. She grabbed a mouse and sat down to eat, letting her mind wander. She reflected everything that her Rainpaw had told her the day before. Her life was going downhill fast. First she gets stuck with him as a mentor, and then she finds out that she and her sisters have fates laid out by StarClan.
Her mental rambling was once again cut short by her fox-dung mentor.
"You're on dawn patrol," Stormheart hissed. "Get going."
"I know," said Leafpaw with a hint of malice. "And I'm already on my way." She brushed passed him, and began to walk in the direction of the camp entrance when she noticed that Stormheart wasn't following her: she was almost positive he was on the patrol too.
"Aren't you coming?" she asked.
"No," replied Stormheart, "I'm going hunting. Keep your eyes open, I might just drop in and see how you are doing." He said the last part with a glint of malice in his eyes.
Leafpaw rolled her eyes as soon as his back was turned, and walked over to Brakenclaw, who was leading the patrol. The WindClan warrior was busy tearing at a large rabbit.
"Oh, Leafpaw," he said through a mouth full of rabbit, "Grab yourself something to eat, we're not quite ready yet."
Leafpaw nodded politely and bounded over to the apprentice den, hoping to catch Snowpaw awake. Leafpaw rolled her eyes: the white apprentice was still sound asleep, snoring away. Leafpaw gave her ears a quick lick, not wanting to wake her. She knew something was going to happen today; she only wished that the sisters would stay together. No matter what. They were her only friends, and, aside from Windfur, her only true family. Leafpaw didn't think she could bar it if she lost them.
Snowpaw started muttering as Leafpaw left the den. It was mostly disoriented things like "put down the vole and step away from the marigold" or "I will always be the queen of the squirrels", but then she said, "I love you too, Eaglepaw."
Leafpaw snorted.
--
Leafpaw bumped into Brakenclaw a few tail-lengths from the den. She followed him the camp entrance, were they met Foampaw.
"Where's Stormheart?" asked Brakenclaw.
"He went hunting, didn't say were. He told me he'd meet up with us later, "replied Leafpaw.
Brakenclaw muttered something about it not being fair that that "annoying furball of a warrior" got to skip out on patrols just because he was the son of a Clan leader before leading them out of camp and onto the moors.
The patrol reached the WindClan-RiverClan border a few minutes later. Leafpaw saw her clan mates scrunch their noses, and she didn't know why. She thought RiverClan smelled good. They smelled like water and fish to Leafpaw, and she couldn't see why that was a bad thing.
"Ok, Leafpaw, Foampaw, what can you smell?" asked Brakenclaw.
"I smell RiverClan, badger--but it's long gone; rabbit, fresh--I think we just missed it; and vole--but it's stale," said Foampaw.
"Good," said Brakenclaw, "Now you, Leafpaw, leave out everything that Foampaw already mentioned, please."
Leafpaw opened her mouth and scented the air. "I smell fox, but it's stale, two maybe three days old; fish; squirrel; EW mouse bile; and Stormheart."
Sure enough, the WindClan warrior who Leafpaw was unlucky enough to call her mentor came up behind them with a rabbit in his jaws. He smelled like he had given himself a very good washing recently, but underneath that scent was something else, the scent of marsh and mud. ShadowClan scent.
Leafpaw gasped. Why did Stormheart smell like ShadowClan? Could it be that he was doing something other than hunting? Before Leafpaw could say anything, Brakenclaw spoke.
"Is there anything else, Leafpaw?" he said.
Leafpaw briefly wondered why none of the other cats could smell the revolting stench on Stormheart, but quickly pushed the thoughts away and began to focus on her senses. "I smell marigold, this weird cat-scent, rouge maybe, and poppy seeds-"
"Stop," said Stormheart, cutting Leafpaw off.
"What?" snapped Leafpaw.
"Stop making it all up. You are so worthless that you make things up because you are so bad at scenting! You know where Windfur gets her herbs, marigold is hard to scent from this far away! Same with the ThunderClan scent! You disappoint me!" he yelled.
Other than the fact that she had forgotten what ThunderClan smelled like, Leafpaw hadn't done anything wrong. She knew that. Anger and hurt showed in her eyes.
"I didn't lie, Stormheart," said Leafpaw, "I really did smell all those things!"
"Now, there's no need to argue. Stormheart, that was a bit harsh, and Leafpaw, I know that you want to impress your mentor, but making up things is not the way to do that. It's ok that you aren't as good at scenting as Foampaw," said Brakenclaw.
Leafpaw was really mad now. "But I wasn't lying!"
"That's enough," said Brakenclaw, "Come on, we still have to finish the patrol. He took off before Leafpaw could say another word. Foampaw followed. Stormheart gave Leafpaw a cold look before racing after him.
A few minutes later, the patrol stopped again and Stormheart asked the apprentices what they had scented.
"I scent--" said Leafpaw before being cut off.
"I scent the marshes and some sort of bird. We're near the ShadowClan border," said Foampaw, interrupting.
"Very good, that was wood-pecker you smelled," said Stormheart. "Better try again next time, Leafpaw," he finished with a smirk.
Leafpaw did try again next time, and the time after that, but each time Foampaw cut her off. The little furball!
The group began to head back, passing once again the ShadowClan border. Leafpaw scented the air. She could smell rabbit, ShadowClan, alarmingly fresh, they must have just missed a patrol, and the scents of Foampaw and Brakenclaw, but not Stormheart.
"Where's Stormheart?" asked Leafpaw.
"Oh, he was here a second ago. He most likely just went back to hunting again," said Brakenclaw.
Suddenly, Stormheart raced out of the marshes, followed by at least half of ShadowClan.
"Run!" he yowled.
The entire patrol didn't hesitate to obey.
"Try and lose them!" yelled Brackenclaw.
That was easier said than done.
The ShadowClan warriors were faster than they looked.
Brackenclaw had given up; they couldn't turn and fight. Leafpaw knew that, if they did, they would be slaughtered like prey, but they could not run forever, either.
They would have to lead them to the camp.
Yes! That was it! It did mean endangering WindClan lives, but it seemed the only thing that would work. The ShadowClan warriors would meet most of WindClan, battle ready. They were in for a real shock.
Little did Leafpaw know that that was precisely want the ShadowClan warriors wanted them to do.
"Brackenclaw!" called Leafpaw, "We'll have to lead them to camp! We're out numbered, let's lead them to the reinforcements!"
"That's thinking like a warrior, Leafpaw!" praised Brackenclaw, much to Stormheart's displeasure. "Lead them to camp!"
Leafpaw's racing heart swelled with pride. 'LOSER! Haha, Stormheart! I think like a warrior!' she thought.
The WindClan cats obeyed and soon they were crashing through the camp walls.
And brought with them a battle that would change their lives.
--
Snowpaw's POV
Snowpaw woke to hear a yowl echo throughout the clearing, sounding a lot like Foampaw. She leapt up out of her nest and saw that the dawn patrol had just came back, followed by a swarm of ShadowClan warriors invading the camp.
"Snowpaw!" yowled her mentor, "Get in there! Defend the nursery!"
Snowpaw obeyed. As much as the idea of Owlkit and Berryfur being shredded by ShadowClan appealed to her, Dawnflower was in there, too, and they were her Clan-mates. Foxdung! She was looking forward to calling Owlkit "her late clan-mate".
She sprang at a ShadowClan apprentice that was much smaller than her, ironically. She quickly bit down on the apprentice's paw, sending him running for the bushes.
Ravenpelt gave her a nod of praise before launching herself back into battle with a ShadowClan she-cat.
The battle continued. Snowpaw successfully fought off two more ShadowClan apprentices, and was now battling a warrior. She dodged the she-cat's carefully aimed blows and lunged forward to strike her. The two cats wrestled together for a moment before the larger pinned Snowpaw to the ground.
Then, Snowpaw heard the warrior speak, "Haha! I've got her now!" but the cat's mouth didn't move. What the heck? Had she just heard another cat's voice, or had she heard the enemy warrior's mind?
Snowpaw quickly thought of her next move. Something that would have made Leafpaw proud. Hopefully her sister was watching; she had seen her battling earlier. Snowpaw let her body go limp; tricking the warrior into thinking she had won. The ShadowClan warrior relaxed her grip and moved in to bite her, not enough to kill her, but enough to knock her out. Snowpaw kicked out with her hind legs, sending the cat flying backwards. Snowpaw leapt towards her, and bit down on her hind leg. Blood trickled out of the warrior's wounds onto Snowpaw's pure white flank. Snowpaw let go and the warrior ran, only to crash right into Eaglestar, who quickly finished it.
"You fool!" yowled a voice from behind Snowpaw, who turned quickly whipped around, "I'll take her myself!"
Darkfur threw himself at the white apprentice, who's fur was now stained with blood.
Snowpaw leapt away from Darkfur, right into a dark warrior who was so encrusted in blood that she couldn't tell whether the she-cat was black or dark brown. The she-cat saw her and snorted, underestimating the little apprentice, who was muscle-bound under her thick fur.
The cat tried to pin her down by jumping on her back, but Snowpaw heard, "This little brat is stronger than I thought! No matter, I'll just push her down with my weight!"
'Ok…,' thought Snowpaw, 'I don't think that she'd tell me what she was going to do next...could I have read her mind?'
Snowpaw heard Darkfur over to her left, and saw him pinning down Eaglepaw, ready to rip his flank open.
"No! Eaglepaw!" Snowpaw yowled as she launched herself at Darkfur, bowling him over, and knocking him off Eaglepaw.
"You piece of fox-dung! I will rip you to shreds!" Snowpaw shrieked, raking her claws down Darkfur's flank, making him yowl in pain like the coward he was.
"Even if you kill me, I have nine lives; I will come back for you!" Darkfur shouted, catching Snowpaw off guard. She backed off, startled, and then recovered.
"Yeah, right! StarClan isn't stupid enough to give you nine lives! You fleabag of a traitor! You know that! You're a murderer, too!" Snowpaw shouted, leaping at Darkstar, shredding his left ear with her razor-sharp claws.
"Get lost coward!!" she said, ripping fur off his flank between every word. Darkfur yowled in pain then ran off, right into Ravenpelt.
"That's right! You'd better run!" Snowpaw yowled, walking back to Eaglepaw and leaping back into battle with him at her side.
--
Rainpaw's POV
Rainpaw was getting more paranoid by the second. Outside the safety of the Medicine Den she could hear the screeches of the ongoing battle. She had only had one cat come to her in need of herbs--and he was out faster than he arrived. The battle was unnerving Rainpaw. The cat had told her one thing--that Darkfur was calling himself Darkstar. He must have killed Brownstar! Rainpaw was scared. If what Fernheart and the rest of the cats had said were true, then…
Suddenly, four ShadowClan cats burst into the clearing. Rainpaw froze. All bravery she possessed suddenly left her. She covered in front of the terrifying cats.
"This is the one," murmured one.
Rainpaw noticed one cats grab a combination of herbs from the store. She gulped-- the combination the cat held could knock out a fully grown warrior for quite some time. Did they plan to kidnap her? Did Darkstar already know about her and her sisters? The answer was yes, definitely yes.
"You have two choices, half-Clan. Come with us willingly, or we will take you forcefully," snarled the biggest- a black tom.
Rainpaw looked up in fear. She took a deep breath. If they were going to kidnap her- she would go down fighting.
"No. You can't make me," she said in a voice that was brave--though it did not fully conceal her fear.
She launched herself at the tom. He was unprepared for Rainpaw's attack, though he was still much stronger than the apprentice, who had no battle training. In one swift blow he threw her off of him. One of the others quickly pinned her down. Rainpaw struggled, but she could not free herself. Another quickly sprinkled the herbs over Rainpaw's nose.
Rainpaw's vision began to cloud and darkness crept over her like a tide of black.
She thought she heard a voice speaking to her--not from StarClan, but a voice none the less.
"One down, two to go," it said.
Rainpaw heard no more.
--
Leafpaw's POV
Leafpaw raced forward as a dark black tom chased her. She jumped up and pulled a branch with her. She let it go swiftly and it swung back the tom with it. With a thump, he hit the ground.
The warriors were in camp now, the WindClan defense turning to face them with a battle cry.
Huge groups of warriors rushed into their territory, yowling wildly. WindClan warrior's eyes sparked and rose to battle back. Why were they here? That and the suspicious movements of Stormheart, who had padded away...or so she saw.
She quickly got back to her feet and glanced around franticly. She saw a flank offur she recognized Snowpaw.
She raced to her sister, who was currently furiously fighting a ShadowClan apprentice. Unknown to Snowpaw, another ShadowClan apprentice was
heading her way. As Snowpaw gave a last strike to the first apprentice, Leafpaw met the other apprentice and gave a hard swipe to him. The tom yowled and he ran away in fright. 'Must have been a really new apprentice,' Leafpaw thought.
Then she saw Snowpaw gave a hard kick to the first apprentice and he lay unconscious on the ground.
"Leafpaw!" called Ravenpelt, "Behind you!"
Leafpaw spun around to see large ShadowClan warrior. She sprang forward, knocking all her weight into him. The warrior was ready, and quickly pinned her down.
Suddenly, the weight vanished; Eaglestar himself had knocked the warrior off of her. With a few blows, the WindClan leader sent the enemy warrior screeching into the bushes.
A few fox-lengths away, Snowpaw was battling Darkfur, and, remarkably, she was winning. A few minutes later, Darkfur was battling with Ravenpelt, his ear bleeding heavily.
Snowpaw was now battling a pair of young warriors side-by-side with Eaglepaw. Leafpaw jumped in and tackled one of the warriors. He spun and attacked back. They struggled for a moment before the warrior screeched and let go, Snowpaw's teeth imbedded in the warrior's paw. Snowpaw let go as the warriors ran into other WindClan cats and glanced at Leafpaw.
"Whatever happened to 'I don't need you to come save my butt!' Huh?" teased Snowpaw.
"Oh, stuff it, ignorant fur-ball!" said Leafpaw.
"Are you two alright?" said Eaglepaw.
"I'm fine," said Leafpaw. She then noticed that Snowpaw's normally white fur was stained with blood, "Are you ok, Snowpaw? Your fur is all bloody..."
"But I'm not hurt! I swear!" said Snowpaw, "They could hardly hit me!"
Leafpaw looked at her sister more closely, and saw that she was right. Snowpaw was almost completely unharmed: the blood on her flank was the blood of other cats.
"You, on the other paw," began Snowpaw, "Should go and find Windfur. You shouldn't still be fighting."
Leafpaw had not noticed her own wounds. She glanced at her bruised paw, which had tufts of fur on her claws. She was panting slightly--she was not used to fighting. The tip of her left ear was bloodied, and a small gash was on her right forepaw.
"I'm okay," Leafpaw replied.
"Then let's go!" said Snowpaw."Come on! Let's go kick some ShadowClan butt!" Snowpaw let out her own yowl as she raced off to fight.
Leafpaw padded off, looking for another way to defeat the ShadowClan cats. She was not prepared for this. Maybe Snowpaw was, but not her. Stormheart had never really taught her to fight; how could she survive this battle? She licked her paw and raced off.
Right when she was going to be prepared to fight, two toms appeared right before her eyes. They, too, smelled like death. Slowly she paced backwards--maybe she wasn't their target--and sprung away, running faster than she ever had. She didn't know if they had given up or if they were still pursuing. She just ran.
Then a sharp claw raked her back and she felt tufts of her fur being pulled away. Fear overtaking Leafpaw, she scrambled up, hoping to get away. Then a weight pulled her back down. She stared into the coal eyes of her first enemy. A feeling of a hunter came over her as she raked her claws into his eyes. The tom yelped and yowled in pain as he backed away. Leafpaw growled as loud as she ever did as she came back onto her paws.
The next tom came charging towards her. Realizing that, in her position she couldn't fight well, she tried to find some way to escape. However, she sprinted into a concealed area and the stench of blood overwhelmed her senses. Her eyes were in a panic, and her body shook with fear as images of death came over.
Then the second tom flashed in front of her face. Her body flew back towards the ground as the tom sunk his teeth into her neck, not deep enough to wound. She in turned and sunk her fangs into his fur.
They tumbled apart. Leafpaw felt the blood seeping from her neck; the back wound seemed to be burning. She felt water start matting down her fur.
Staring up to the sky, she saw dark gray clouds cover it. Droplets of rain moistened the air and fell to the ground.
A cry of battle was heard all over, but the one closest to her was the tom. He came rushing towards her; she would face him once more. Leafpaw pulled herself straight, but before she could go any farther something struck her. The stench of blood was stronger now more than ever, and it clung to her.
"I almost had her," a gruff voice called from the darkness that she was sure was the tom's.
"And you almost failed as well." She knew that only one voice could belong to that blood stench. Darkfur.
She slowly fell deeper into the darkness, and could not longer hear anymore voices. She did feel her body moving, though.
Why did this destiny come upon her and her sisters? Why? Blackness started to surround her. Her eyes were closed, with no way of opening. She felt the raindrops falling on her; it was like the sky was crying for them. For the fate of the young she-cats. Why her? Why Snowpaw? Why Rainpaw? She felt her being carried by Darkfur by the strong scent he carried.
She felt her neck's fur lift, as if someone was carrying her. She could smell something so familiar... Then it came to her, the scent of herbs. The scent of Rainpaw.
"R-ain-paw," Leafpaw strangled out before all turned to dark.
Snowpaw's POV
The fighting was over. The ShadowClan cats were nearly beaten when Darkfur, or Darkstar, or whatever the evil little furball was called these days, ran away. Snowpaw reflected upon the battle. She had done well; she had beaten fully grown warriors! Snowpaw was also pretty sure that she could read minds; logic says that cats just don't go blurting out their battle plans to their opponents. I mean, what kind of idiot would they be if they did? Snowpaw, of course, wasn't sure, so she didn't say anything.
She was, of course, going to say something to her sisters. After all, she didn't keep anything from them...well except the stuff about Eaglepaw.
The only problem was she hadn't seen Leafpaw since she was battling with Eaglepaw, who was getting water for the injured cats, and she hadn't seen Rainpaw since the previous night.
"Rainpaw?" Snowpaw said as she walked into the medicine cat's den.
"She's not here Snowpaw," said Windfur, who was preparing herbs for her patients. "Have you seen her?"
"No, I thought she was with you!"
"She's not here," said Windfur, her voice growing more and more concerned. "Have you seen Leafpaw?"
"Not since the battle," replied Snowpaw.
"Go tell Eaglestar that Rainpaw and Leafpaw are missing, get some apprentices together and search the camp. I'll have Eaglestar send out a patrol if you still can't find them. In the meantime, I have work to do."
Snowpaw nodded and left the den.
--
They searched the camp, but no one found them, so Snowpaw and Eaglepaw returned to the center of camp, just as Eaglestar called a clan meeting.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the Tallrock for a clan meeting!" yowled Eaglestar.
The cats of WindClan emerged from their dens and gathered bellow their leader.
"As you all know, two of our apprentices, Rainpaw and Leafpaw have gone missing!" Eaglestar began, "We need to send out search parties!"
Some of the cats nodded, but others looked like they could care less. Some even grumbled about it wasting their time.
Snowpaw could take it no longer. "Watch it! Those are my sisters you are talking about!" she yowled. "And I'll fight anyone who insults them!"
Eaglepaw gave her a lick on the shoulder, to calm her.
Eaglestar continued on as if he had heard nothing from his Clan. "Ravenpelt will lead one, Kestrelwing the other. Split the territory between you and be back by Moonhigh. Take whomever you want."
The two senior warriors nodded.
"I'll take Brackenclaw, Stormheart, Snowpaw, and Eaglepaw!" yowled Ravenpelt.
"Guess we'd better go," said Eaglepaw, nudging Snowpaw in the direction of were Ravenpelt and the rest of the patrol had gathered.
"Yea," said Snowpaw.
--
She began to worry more. With every step she took, it felt like she was getting father and father from her sisters. They were half way done, and they still hadn't found the scent. The fact that it had begun to rain wasn't helping, either.
Eventually, Ravenpelt ordered the patrol home. Snowpaw let out a wail of grief as the rain began to pour harder. Snowpaw was hardly aware of Eaglepaw's presence beside her, or Ravenpelt's words of comfort. It seemed like the whole forest was grieving for the loss of Snowpaw's sisters.
--
What happened to Rainpaw and Leafpaw? Find out next chappie!
I am very sad to announce that this next chapter will be the last chapter, not including the epilogue and the credits (where I thank people and list fun facts about were the ideas for this story came from, etc.). Now, don't worry, the only other part of this series that will be this short is the prequel, Four Clans, One Loyalty: Before the Prophecy, which will be released when this story is complete. ALL three sequels will be released NO LATER than July first, hopefully after the completion of the prequel.
If you don't have my buddies and me on author alert you might want to do that soon, so you are up-to-date on the new additions to the series. If you don't want to add me to author alert, I can PM you when I release the other installments.
Other news: I am also going to publish a new warriors AU fic, it's going to be called Bloodline, the summary is on my profile.
Thanks for reading! NOW REVIEW!
Patronus OUT!!
Next time…
"We can't get anywhere near Darkstar," said Rainpaw, "We're going to have to escape before they come to get us. But how are we going to do that? We have no idea where we are, and there are guards rights outside!"
"What if I distract them, and you run?" suggested Leafpaw.
Rainpaw considered it for a moment, but logic told her Leafpaw's plan wouldn't work. "You can't fight off all of them! You'll be killed!"
"We'll never get out!" wailed Leafpaw in despair.
Suddenly, part of the top of the den fell out, and two young she-kits landed with a thud next to Rainpaw, who was badly startled. One of the cats was a golden tabby with green eyes. The other was grey and white with light blue eyes.
"Yes you will," said the grey and white cat, "I'm Mist and this is Sun, we're going to get you out of here."