Author's Note: Sorry if I haven't updated in a long time. Here's what school can do to you, in case you were wondering what happened to me...
"Hey, Lionblaze!" Icepaw called happily,"Graystripe told me that we're going on a border patrol!"
The golden tabby tom sighed grumpily. Why did Icepaw have to be so excited all of the time? She was so positive about everything that it wasn't even funny anymore!
The white she-cat moved closer to him, and repeated what she had said. She liked when the young warrior looked at her; it felt good when she knew that she had crossed his mind, even if it was for only a second.
"Thank you, I know," Lionblaze hissed. Her attitude was so annoying, why couldn't she just see that? He had been through so much pain, and she... just couldn't understand.
Icepaw herself sighed after the comment. It stung a little, she didn't like it when others took out their anger on her. She liked it when he thought of her, but not in this way. The young she-cat longed for something more. If only he could see her the way she saw him.
Thornclaw approached the two cats.
"We don't have all day," he pointed out.
Lionblaze dipped his head to the older warrior and padded over to join Graystripe outside of camp. Thornclaw, slightly irritated and very impatient, followed him. Icepaw brought up the rear.
Foxpaw was just returning from a hunting patrol consisting of Hazeltail, Brackenfur, Sorreltail, and Birchfall. He briefly touched noses with his sister.
"How are you?" he asked through a mouthful of feathers. He had caught a thrush.
"I'm fine," she replied,"border patrol to the RiverClan border."
The dark ginger tom smiled. "That's great."
"See you around later," Icepaw mewed and walked away.
The RiverClan border was far from camp, for ThunderClan's convenience. However, the young warrior's paws ached by the time they reached the lake.
"Everything seems fine," Graystripe meowed.
"The fox scent around here is stale, the animals are probably in ShadowClan by now," Thornclaw agreed.
Lionblaze was not so sure. This boundary reeked of fish, unnaturally. Surely fish weren't getting washed up on shore.
Lionblaze nodded, he was too inexperienced and he would embarrass himself if he told the patrol. He couldn't give Icepaw a reason to bug him even further.
"Let's go," Graystripe said after a while.
Icepaw reluctantly followed him. Lionblaze did the same, looking back to the border once in a while.
"Attack!" there was a screech coming from somewhere around the lake. The water splashed, and there were loud pawsteps. Water droplets fell down to the grass, as if an animal had just shaken them from its fur.
Before Lionblaze could figure out what was going on, teeth met in his scruff. He shook his attacker off and twisted around. He came face to face with Beechfur.
"We meet again, half clan," the tom spat in his face.
The golden tabby tom's fury drove him on. He clawed fiercely at the RiverClan cat. Another RiverClan warrior joined him, and bit the ThunderClan cat's tail. It didn't hurt for Lionblaze of course, but Icepaw didn't know that.
Not thinking twice, she leaped on Beechfur. Soon, she was buried under RiverClan cats, all at least twice her size. They used their weight to their advantage. RiverClan must have thought her an easier target than Lionblaze. They were probably right, and Icepaw hated them even more for it.
Lionblaze tried to reach her, but more RiverClan warriors kept on coming. He lost track of where Graystripe and Thornclaw were. Even so, they were gravely outnumbered. Did Leopardstar send all of her Clan here?
A heavy weight crashed into the unsuspecting tom. Lionblaze looked around. There was no cat fighting him, just brawls going on around him. Yet some cat, or something... it was dragging him down.
A ginger and white she-cat, barely visible, encouraged Beechfur.
"You can do it," she whispered. "You can be the great warrior RiverClan never had."
Her scent was not familiar. It suddenly struck Lionblaze, this she-cat was not alive. Yet no StarClan cat in their right mind would say something like that about the living clans. Who was this she-cat, and how did she come here?
Icepaw's white pelt eventually disappeared from view. Forgetting her annoying actions, Lionblaze snarled at the rival Clan. His fur bristled. Hollyleaf, wherever you are now, help bring her back to camp safe.