Chapter Eleven
Here's Chapter Eleven, as promised :)
Don't own warriors.
Clearpaw lay on the ground by the nursery. She swatted her tail lazily toward a butterfly as it flew past. She purred with content as her mother padded toward her, fresh-kill in her jaws.
"Here, Clearpaw, I know thrushes are your favourite." The gray apprentice blinked her thanks and bit down into the thrush. Suddenly, the thrush became a writhing mass of tortoiseshell fur.
"Clearpaw! Stop biting me for StarClan's sake!" Silverpaw glared angrily at her sister.
"I thought you were a thrush!" She mewed confusedly.
"Clearpaw I am NOT a thrush!"
"But Squirrelflight just brought me one!'
"Badger-face! Squirrelflight's not even here!"
"Yes she is, fish-breath, she's over there." Clearpaw indicated with her tail. Her jaw dropped open as she saw a reddish-brown figure and breathed in the scent of a fox instead.
"Clearpaw!" Clearpaw whipped around to see the fox dragging Silverpaw to her death. Gleaming amber eyes appeared near the fox. A sketchy outline of Tigerstar appeared.
"Save her, Tigerstar!" But as the fox ran past, the limp tortoiseshell in his mouth, Tigerstar made no move and just watched on with an evil glint in his eye.
"You piece of badger-dung! Mouse-bile! Fox-breath! You let Silverpaw die!" Clearpaw broke off, taking a deep breath. "Silverpaw!" She wailed.
"Yeah, Clearpaw?"
"Wha—" Clearpaw leaped to her paws. She was back in the apprentices den, and her mossy bedding was torn up.
"Bad dream?" Silverpaw asked sympathetically.
"Yeah... I gotta admit, I've been practically on end since the Tigerstar incident." Silverpaw rested her tail tip on her shoulder.
"Me too. Now come on lazy-butt, we're on dawn patrol."
"I am not a lazy-butt!" Clearpaw mewed indignantly, chasing Silverpaw out of the apprentice den. The tortoiseshell apprentice ran in a straight line, quickly changing to the other direction when Clearpaw had chased her to the entrance. Clearpaw bashed into Bumblestripe, and the two cats lay on the floor, dust covering their pelts.
"I'm gonna get you for that!" Clearpaw vowed to her sister. Bumblestripe got up, chuckling softly.
"Don't worry Clearpaw, one day, in greenleaf, we'll get Foxleap to distract her. She'll be so in love, and that's when we'll hit her on the head with a rabbit!" The striped warrior yowled triumphantly.
"What!" Silverpaw exclaimed angrily, "I am not in love with Foxleap!" Clearpaw dropped her jaw and faked a dramatic gasp.
"That's the first time you have called him Foxdung!" Silverpaw batted at her playfully. The two apprentices charged into the forest.
"Wait for us!" Briarlight and Blossomfall darted toward the two cats, Bumblestripe close behind.
"This is the first dawn patrol I've ever led!" Bumblestripe mewed excitedly. It felt good to run side by side with her friends and sister, Clearpaw reflected. It also felt good to forget about her disturbing dream. Soon they reached the WindClan border. Clearpaw wrinkled her nose.
"A WindClan patrol must have just passed." Blossompool commented.
"Yeah, their stench is more recent then usual." Silverpaw mewed. The patrol followed the stream down toward the stepping stones. Bumblestripe stopped, sweeping his friends back with his tail. Clearpaw tilted her head confusedly, and sniffed the air. WindClan markers in our territory! She thought angrily. Before she could say anything, Bumblestripe pointed with his nose. Peering through the bracken fronds, Clearpaw recognised the mottled pelt of Onestar, the WindClan leader. He was sitting by the stream, on the ThunderClan side. Bumblestripe pushed his way through the bracken and stared at the WindClan patrol. It was obvious his sudden appearance startled them. Don't they ever check for a scent? Clearpaw wondered.
"Greetings, Onestar." Bumblestripe's tone was polite, as respectful as any warrior would be toward a leader. Onestar glanced at the striped warrior through narrow eyes.
"Greetings." His tone was not completely hostile, though it was not exactly friendly either.
"We've noticed that the border markings have been changed." Bumblestripe tilted his head. "I don't remember Firestar saying that WindClan markers could be in our territory." Bumblestripe's head was still dipped in respect. Only Clearpaw seemed to notice that his legs were shaking nervously.
"We don't need Firestar's permission to extend our territory! Not when your clan is full of prey-stealing kittypets!" Clearpaw sank her claws into the ground at the leaders' insolent voice. I'm part kittypet myself, she thought, Why don't they say it to my face? Suddenly, a WindClan apprentice leaped at Clearpaw, claws extended. Yowling in anger, she jumped upward, leaving the apprentice winded on the floor. She heard battles breaking out all around her and desperately tried to spot the striped gray pelt of Bumblestripe. She spotted him battling the WindClan leader.
"Get help!" He gasped. Clearpaw nodded and raced through the woods to the hollow. She climbed into the rocky hollow.
"WindClan! Attack! Help!" She gasped, tired from her frantic dash through the woods. Images of her friends lying motionless on the floor broke into her mind and she pushed them away. Firestar emerged, and she was suddenly conscious of how she appeared to her leader: muddy and bedraggled.
"What?" Clearpaw told him how WindClan had moved the borders and were now fighting. Graystripe, who had overheard the story, snarled.
"If they've hurt my kits, then I'll flail them!" He hissed. Firestar nodded calmly.
"Gather a patrol quickly, Graystripe." Graystripe whisked away, and Firestar followed. They soon appeared with Hollyleaf, Thornclaw, Millie, Ashfur, Brackenfur, Ferncloud and Dustpelt.
"Millie, Dustpelt and Thornclaw are checking the ShadowClan border. I wouldn't put it past them to try and take some territory while we're battling WindClan." Firestar explained. Millie gathered her patrol and ran into the forest. Clearpaw turned and led Firestar and his patrol up to the border. She felt them hard on her paws and felt as though she were running at the speed of light. She heard the sounds of battle before she saw it. As she burst into the clearing, she spotted Silverpaw battling two warriors at the same time. Yowling, Clearpaw leapt on the back of the ginger tom. She recognised him from the gathering; he was the same cat who had attacked Lighteningpaw. She purposefully dug her claws in harder, just for a bit of revenge.
"Mrr-row!" The ginger tom yowled and fled, with Graystripe snapping at his heels. The striped former-deputy was fighting side by side with Bumblestripe, so it was almost impossible to tell the two apart. Leaping over Silverpaw's head, she landed on the shoulders of a white she-cat who was battling Bumblestripe. The queen spun around and landed a blow on Clearpaw's haunches. As she fell with a thud, she glimpsed the fire-coloured pelt of Firestar as he face Onestar. The two old friends were now facing each other in combat. When Clearpaw had finally staggered to her paws, she realised that Onestar was calling out angry orders to his clanmates.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Clearpaw lifted her head in triumph. They had won!
"We're not through with you, kittypet. We'll find the prey-stealer in your clan, and we will fight to win back the territory that you continually trespass on!" Onestar snarled the last words before turning to chase his fleeing clan.
"Great StarClan! What a battle! Is anybody injured?" The question had come from Brackenfur. Hollyleaf mumbled something and Clearpaw saw blood trickling out of her mouth. When she opened her mouth, Clearpaw noticed that her tongue was scratched.
"Hollyleaf's tongue is scratched." She mewed. Brackenfur looked at his former apprentice, his eyes showing concern.
"We'll get you back soon, and there Jayfeather will have a look at you and make you all better." The gentle words had come from Blossomfall who was gently coaxing Hollyleaf to drink from the stream. They continued toward camp. Soon they were near the hollow.
"Badger!" Ashfur exclaimed suddenly. Clearpaw took a sharp intake of breath as she saw a dark shape loom over them. With a yowl of outrage, Clearpaw and her clanmates leaped at the badger. It glanced around bewildered, and flailed its arms around wildly. Clearpaw dodged and shivered. A blow from those paws could shatter a cat's spine without even giving it time to feel the pain. Clearpaw saw the badger looming over Ferncloud. Clearpaw leaped forward to distract the badger, but Ashfur was closer. Yowling in outrage, he pushed his sister out of the way just in time before the badger brought down its large paw. Frantically, he struggled out of the dust and tried to move, but the dark creature slammed down a paw before he could move. It hit his leg, and Clearpaw thanked StarClan that it missed his spine, though he yowled in pain, unable to move.
"Ashfur!" Ferncloud yowled. Clearpaw guessed that anger and grief blinded her and gave her new strength at the same time. She slashed at the badger's muzzle, Brackenfur and Briarlight swiping at its hind legs. They chased it away from camp.
"Will they be ok?" Silverpaw asked.
"Yeah. Brackenfur and Briarlight are probably chasing it toward the WindClan border." Firestar replied.
"WindClan are welcome to it!" Graystripe growled. Clearpaw turned away from the senior warriors and padded over to Ferncloud. She was crouching over her brother.
"Ashfur, we'll get you back to the hollow, it's just a little further. You'll feel all better and good as new before Greenleaf!" Ferncloud's mew was soft, tainted with fear.
"Ferncloud?" Clearpaw looked at the gentle queen and couldn't bear to see the grief in her eyes as she faced her. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she snapped. "Sorry. I'm just worried about Ashfur." The rest of the patrol padded over. They gently picked up their injured clanmate. He let out a faint mew of protest.
"You'll be fine." Clearpaw mewed. I hope he will be…
OMG, will Ashfur be okay? Who would've thought? A random badger on the way back from a border fight!