The longest chapter in this story. I think so. I typed this in school, on mah laptop. This is the penultimate chapter. The climax. Only chapter 18 and the epilogue left…
Chapter 17
Snowpaw sat in her nest, listening to Oakpaw and Thistlepaw argue outside. Stormpaw was sitting by Drizzlepaw, and Darkpaw was in the nursery with his younger siblings.
"This is messed up." Snowpaw growled.
"Tell me about it." Drizzlepaw mewed, his blue eyes wide with fear.
"Can we calm down a little?" Stormpaw asked, his tail flicking. "It's the night of the Gathering, WindClan knows there's a truce."
"At the Island!" Drizzlepaw protested.
Thunder rumbled outside. Snowpaw shivered. "I'm going outside. Don't die while I'm gone." Stormpaw glared at her, but Snowpaw ignored it as she went to sit by camp entrance.
Rubyheart padded up behind her, the tension radiating from his scarlet fur. "Alright?" He asked, staring into the darkness with her.
"No." Snowpaw admitted, shivering.
"I don't think anybody is." Rubyheart looked at her oddly, and Snowpaw blinked. "But we are a clan. And we will stick together throughout this time."
"Not so much comfort now…" Snowpaw muttered, staring out of camp entrance.
Rubyheart was about to respond when a twig cracked out in the darkness. Snowpaw stiffened, her eyes flashing.
There was silence, then a small brown she-cat with white paws staggered out of the brush, her green eyes wide with fear.
"WindClan- Oh, Mintpaw." Rubyheart didn't relax his aggressive stance as he looked at the medicine cat apprentice.
"I have to warn you!" Mintpaw mewed in horror. "Please, listen to me! Your clan is in danger!"
"We know that!" Snowpaw snapped.
Mintpaw shook her head. "Wildlegs isn't supposed to be leader!"
"But you said you had been given a sign!" Rubyheart meowed, looking suspicious.
Mintpaw's eyes widened in horror. "I saw what he did!"
"What?" Snowpaw asked, staring at the brown she-cat.
"When he was out hunting with Breezestar and Violeteyes, he said he saw a rabbit running into a badger den. When they went in, he jumped on the entrance and caused it to collapse!" Mintpaw wailed.
"You mean he killed Breezestar and Violeteyes?" Rubyheart exclaimed, looking horrified.
"I saw it, and he didn't try to help, and he saw me, and he told me he would kill me if I didn't help him convince the clan he was supposed to be leader!" Mintpaw looked close to tears.
"That monster!" Rubyheart snarled.
"And, tonight, he's gonna attack ThunderClan, to show how strong he thinks he is!" Mintpaw gasped.
"What's going on?" Flamestar had bounded over, along with Pinepelt.
"WindClan is attacking tonight." Rubyheart growled.
Pinepelt hissed. "We have to strike them first. Get them while they don't expect it."
Flamestar looked angry, and yet somehow scarred. "Alright. Pinepelt, organize a battle party, and make sure some warriors are left behind to protect the kits."
Pinepelt grinned, then yowled out to the clan. "WindClan think they can defeat us! Now, let us prove them wrong!"
A roar of approval went out. Confused clanmates got the story from anyone who had been paying attention, and everyone in camp was suddenly battle-ready. Snowpaw saw that Gingerblaze was comforting Swirlsplash and Lionmane was licking Bluetip's ear.
"LISTEN!" Pinepelt roared. When the clan had quieted, he growled. "We will be attacking in two waves. First wave will be comprised of Flamestar, Rubyheart, Bramblepelt, Gingerblaze, Rainstripe, Darkpaw, and Moongaze. Second wave will be myself, Diamondclaw, Lionmane, Mousetail, Thistlepaw, and Oakpaw."
"That hardly leaves anyone to protect the camp." Snowpaw hissed to Stormpaw, who had wormed his way over to her.
"Just us and Drizzlepaw. I think he left us out on purpose." Stormpaw growled. Drizzlepaw looked saddened.
As the battle parties formed, Pinepelt looked scornfully at the three apprentices. "You three are in charge of the camp. Keep it safe."
"Yes, Flamestar." The three nodded solemnly. Pinepelt moved off to join the battle party, leaving the three to stand there, feeling distinctly left out.
"Let's move out!" He yowled, and the swarm of cats bounded out of camp, vanishing into the darkness.
Mintpaw looked stricken.
"This isn't what you had in mind, is it?" Snowpaw asked.
Mintpaw shook her head.
"ThunderClan is full of honorable warriors, they won't kill anyone." Stormpaw assured her.
Mintpaw smiled weakly, then looked around the camp worriedly.
Stormpaw tilted his head, then looked at Snowpaw.
"I know that look." Snowpaw braced herself for something bad.
"Do you think that Breezestar is dead?" Stormpaw asked.
Snowpaw groaned. "We know that!"
"Mintpaw said that she saw the entrance collapse, but she didn't see if it fell on them. Badger dens are deeper than they look. She could still be alive!" Stormpaw's eyes widened.
Snowpaw thought for a moment, then looked at Mintpaw. "…Show us where the den is."
Mintpaw nodded, then streaked out of the camp, Snowpaw and Stormpaw on her heels. Drizzlepaw watched them go, his eyes wide with fear.
WindClan territory made Snowpaw's fur prickle with unease. It was so open, and with the thunder booming in the distance, she was especially scarred. One of the rouges she had met had unwisely been out in a field during a thunderstorm, and his companion had been struck by lightning. She had been burnt and blinded, and most of her fur had fallen out. Snowpaw shuddered.
"This way." Mintpaw mewed quietly, her green eyes bright with fear.
Stormpaw nodded, and the ThunderClan cats streaked across the moors. The battle parties were not in sight, which Snowpaw was grateful for.
A small hollow made a dip on the lighted moors, which Mintpaw was heading for. Snowpaw sped up, looking at the collapsed badger den that could be Breezestar's grave.
"We need to dig." Stormpaw meowed, already starting. Snowpaw helped him, her paws scraping away rocks and clods of dirt. She suddenly fell forward as he paws broke through to an empty space. Stormpaw grabbed her scruff before she could be buried in the dirt.
"Thanks." Snowpaw shook the dirt out of her paws.
"Got to be care-" Stormpaw broke off as they both could have sworn they heard a cough.
"Breezestar?" Snowpaw hissed.
Another cough answered her, and a brown and white tabby head pushed through the gap Snowpaw had broken through, paws feebly scraping aside the dirt.
"Breezestar!" Mintpaw moved forward to help dig out her leader, and the she-cat let out a wild series of coughing.
"She's got dirt in her mouth." Stormpaw patted the WindClan leader on the back, and she managed to cough out more dirt.
"M- M- Mintpaw!" Breezestar coughed. "And you ThunderClanners again."
"Breezestar, where's Violeteyes?" Snowpaw asked, and the leader looked suddenly stricken.
"She's dead. The rubble came down on her, and she broke her neck." Breezestar meowed hoarsely.
"Wildlegs tried to kill you!" Mintpaw wailed.
"He almost managed to." Breezestar suddenly looked like a monster, her ragged form suddenly aggressive. "And he's tried to take over WindClan, hasn't he?"
"He has! And he's attacking ThunderClan!" Stormpaw meowed frantically.
"Pinepelt has sent out battle parties! They're-!" Snowpaw stopped as a challenging yowl rang across the moors.
"That's dad-!" Stormpaw began.
"We have to stop them! Before they start killing!" Snowpaw meowed, her hackles rising. Breezestar snarled.
"You won't destroy my clan, Wildlegs! NOT TONIGHT!" With a roar of anger, the WindClan leader sprang out of the little group, tearing across the moors.
"C'mon!" Snowpaw bounded after her, Stormpaw racing after the white she-cat. Mintpaw ran after them, her eyes again wide with fear.
Snowpaw glanced over her shoulder at the storm clouds, and felt a sharp claw pierce her heart. The lightning-!
As the four cats rounded a hill, the moonlight revealed a terrible scene.
ThunderClan cats grappled with WindClanners, their shrieks and snarls deafening the thunder.
Snowpaw was about to run into the fray when there was a blinding flash of light. Cats screamed and ran, Snowpaw cried out. "STORMPAW!"
Then, out of the resulting darkness, fire bloomed.
It blossomed from the dry grass, scorching the ground. Flames reared like wild dogs, charging toward the now terrified cats.
"Wild fire will burn the moors…" Snowpaw hissed hoarsely. Terror surged through her as she watched the fire race across the grass.
"SNOWPAW!" A voice behind her screamed. "MOVE!!"
Snowpaw couldn't, she was staring in terror at the flames as they moved ever closer to her. Suddenly, something golden brown slammed into her, knocking her so that she rolled down the hill.
"Oakpaw!" Snowpaw gasped. The golden-brown she-cat glared at her.
"Now we're even, rouge!" She snarled and ran off into the smoke. Snowpaw ran after her, trying to find Stormpaw. She couldn't scent him through the smoke, and her eyes and throat were burning.
She heard a snarl from somewhere to her left, and she instinctively ducked, but nobody attacked her. Snowpaw crawled toward the sound, managing not to breath in much smoke.
A clearing was surrounded by flames, and in the center, glaring at each other, were Wildlegs and Breezestar.
Breezestar had a cut running down her face, and Wildlegs was covered in wounds, but looking very battle-ready. The pair began to circle each other, ignoring the flames, their eyes fixed together.
"So, you lived." Wildlegs growled. "This makes it much simpler."
"Traitor." Breezestar snarled, her eyes flashing.
"How am I a traitor for making sure ThunderClan pays for their crimes?" Wildlegs demanded, his tail lashing.
"Because you are not fighting for your clan, you are fighting for a crime that wasn't committed." Breezestar countered.
Wildlegs spat. He unsheathed his claws briefly, but continued circling the WindClan leader. "I am not a traitor."
"No." Breezestar looked terrible, her gaunt form illuminated by the flames. "You are a pathetic kit who seeks to blame others for supposed crimes. Ignorant." Her eyes glinted in the firelight. "Foolish."
"I am not foolish!" Wildlegs snarled.
"Your mother's death wasn't the fault of ThunderClan." Breezestar hissed, her voice could have been part of the spitting flames.
"Whose was it then, if not those monsters?!" Wildlegs yowled, taking a step closer to Breezestar as he continued to pace.
Breezestar's face twisted. "It was mine."
There was silence, except for the terrified yowls still echoing across the moors.
"You killed my mother?" Wildlegs asked hoarsely. "You?"
"Applestripe was not your mother, Wildlegs." Breezestar growled. Her tail lashed as she also took a step closer to her opponent. "Applestripe took you in, because I asked her to."
"Then why did you kill her?!" Wildlegs screeched.
"Because she was going to reveal who your mother was." Breezestar swallowed hard. "Who I was."
Wildlegs took a step backward in shock, Snowpaw gasped, but was unheard by the two cats.
Wildlegs let out a low growl, his whole body trembling. "My mother or not, you will still die!" He lunged at Breezestar, who sidestepped, and sank her claws into the tom's side, ripping open his shoulder.
Wildlegs screamed, falling as Breezestar stepped away. He looked up at her in horror as she stared coldly down at him.
"I regret this." The brown and white she-cat turned and walked toward Snowpaw, leaving the terribly injured and horrified tom to bleed in the midst of the flames.
Snowpaw backed up as Breezestar left the circle of flames, then began running. Snowpaw ran after her, not sure what she should do.
Rain began to fall, beginning to douse the flames, but not before a terrible scream rang over the moors, which Snowpaw knew was Wildlegs' dying scream.
"Snowpaw!" A hoarsely relieved voice cried out as Stormpaw barreled into her.
"You're alive!" Snowpaw yowled as she tumbled down the hill, down to where the smoky and scratched ThunderClan and WindClan cats were waiting.
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE!!?!?!??!" Pinepelt screamed.
Both cats looked at Pinepelt guiltily.
"I TOLD YOU!" Pinepelt stormed, marching over to them angrily, his fur inflated. "I TOLD you to STAY in CAMP!"
Breezestar walked over, looking solemn. "Enough, Pinepelt. These two apprentices saved me from a horrible fate."
Pinepelt blanched, looking like he might choke. Flamestar cleared his throat. "Where is Wildlegs?"
"He's dead." Breezestar answered shortly. "The flames consumed him."
Flamestar nodded. "ThunderClan, we need to go. WindClan can manage."
Breezestar nodded stiffly, then padded off to check on her clanmates. Snowpaw stared after her, a icy claw sinking into her stomach. Breezestar had lied. The WindClan leader had left her son to die.