Rosepaw ran to the camp and froze. Leafclan outnumbered Skyclan horribly. Rosepaw looked aroud the land, and saw Wildstar laying on the ground, unmoving with his shaggy fur blowing in the chilly wind.
No! screamed Rosepaw in her head. She turned away from the limp body and slammed into the first cat she saw. It was ginger tabby-tom with a deep scar across his eye. He was small, about the size of Rosepaw. He hissed, and raked her face.
Rosepaw howled and ran in the direction of a grey queen. She turned around and looked into Rosepaw's eyes. She smelt her kits on her, and became enraged. "Where are my kits?" she yowled. Her voice cracked with anger. Rosepaw ignored this and jumped on top of her, as she had seen Grasspelt demonstrate many times before. She dug her claws into her shoulder and tried to hold on.
"You vile little brat! First you get into my kits, and now you try to attack an honored warrior?" shouted the queen. Rosepaw recognized this vanity to only Ashcoat. Rosepaw aimed to bite Ashcoat's shoulder, but she missed and bit down on her neck. Ashcoat fell, and Rosepaw looked at her deed with horror and astonishment. My first kill. One of possibly many. She thought. She looked around warily as if some cat would come up to her and scold her. But she only saw war. Raging, bloody war. She backed away from Ashcoat's body and felt someone behind her. She swirled around, and looked into Blackstar's ugly, scarred face. "Well, well. Looky, a little apprentice is trying to pick a fight with a big, strong leader, as myself," he hissed. "Brave, yet foolish. Hard to not mistake you as a kit, little brat. But, at least I have chance at making sure you don't leak anything to Wildstar over there. Oh, wait! I think he's died. By the paws of me, of course." Rosepaw's mind swirled. Thought beyond thought was stretching her mind to horrible facts. Rosepaw suddenly felt enraged. She leaped at Blackstar, but missed. He had jumped out of the way as easily as she could had walked to her den. Rosepaw's rage made her ignore this agility and she dove again. To her surprise, she made it onto his back and she was intent on holding on.
She dug her claws into his shoulders as he swerved around, trying to shake her off. He flipped back, slamming Rosepaw onto the ground. Rosepaw grunted, and Blackstar got up and quickly pinned her down. "Not so mighty now, eh kitty?" he hissed. Rosepaw couldn't squeeze out, and she felt every ounce of air swim out of her lungs as an air bubble on the river pops. She gasped for non existing air and her eyes widened. I am going to die, She thought. And after I've done so much.
Her life swam into her head. The day before she became an apprentice. The cold, foggy day in the nursery with her mother and Skykit. The day when noble Wildstar anointed her an apprentice. Wildstar. Rosepaw remembered the rage she felt when she saw the limp body. The brown and ginger hair flowing with the breeze. Her paws reached under her chest and she pushed. She felt her mussels complaining under the huge weight of the strong Blackstar. Rosepaw pushed him off enough to squeeze out. She jumped away and faced the vile leader. She hissed, and glared into the evil leader's eyes. "I have more lives than you, you stupid kit!" he hissed. Rosepaw sensed hollowness in his voice, and thought, He must only have one left! She glanced at Jayfeather, who nodded, as if knowing what she was thinking. Rosepaw pounced on Blackstar's back again, but this time holding on so hard that she smelt blood. Blackstar howled in rage and pain, and once again tried to shake her off. Rosepaw was just as enraged and held even harder.
Blackstar was screaming now, and every cat stopped to see what was making such a sound. They was a simple apprentice holding onto a huge leader. It interested every cat. The battle went silent, but a smaller battle was still raging. The battle of apprentice and leader.
Wildstar was now regaining conciousness, apparently he had only lost a life and had blacked out. He saw Rosepaw and Blackstar, and a signal was shooting from his brain to act. But his instincts were screaming to let it go. Rosepaw, holding on just as hard as ever, shot the final blow.
A straight gash on the neck. Blackstar fell, and Rosepaw got up. She looked at him, only this time, with his deeds being pondered in her mind, she felt no horror. She looked around, her eyes wide as if she had just discovered something new.
Every cat had stopped battling each other to watch her brave battle. She looked around more and saw Wildstar staggering toward her. She gasped, and ran to her leader, purring her loudest. "You're alive! Oh, Wildstar!" she exclaimed, and purred louder.
"Is he dead?" said Wildstar in reply.
"Yes, Wildstar," said Grasspelt and Mooneye at the same time. They looked at each other, at Rosepaw, and at Wildstar. "She and Skypaw both fought like warriors," finished Mooneye. Wildstar padded up to Rosepaw, and staggered. He had a deep gash in his leg, and he was all but refreshed. "Rosepaw, you have done something that no other apprentice could," he said. "And Skypaw, you fought as if there would be no chance to later." He raised his head, and Skyclan listened to his next words. Even Leafclan stared at him as if he was their own leader. "I, Wildstar, leader of Skyclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn."
He looked at Skypaw and Rosepaw with the look that a leader would only give a hero. "Rosepaw, Skypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your lives?" Rosepaw and Skypaw shared burning excitement raise inside them. "I do," she said with as much bravery she could muster.
"I do," mirrored Skypaw, who didn't try to hide her excitement.
Wildstar continued, "Then by the powers of Starclan I give you your warrior names: Rosepaw, from this moment you will be known as Rose-eyes. Starclan honors your bravery and your strength, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Skyclan." Wildstar stepped forward and layed his muzzle on top of Rose-eyes lowered head. She bent lower to give his shoulder a respectful lick, then raised and walked toward the other warriors.
Wildstar padded to Skypaw and looked into her eyes.
"Skypaw, from this moment you will be known as Skyflower. Starclan honors your bravery and your strength, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Skyclan." He laid her muzzle on Skyflower's head and Skyflower copied the respectful lick to Wildstar's shoulder. Skyflower padded to the other warriors and sat by Rose-eyes. Every cat, including Leafclan, were chanting Skyflower's and Rose-eye's new names.
"Rose-eyes! Skyflower! Rose-eyes! Skyflower!" Wildstars voice stopped the chanting to listen. "Twilight is setting in," he meowed. "In the tradition of our ancestors, Rose-eyes and Skyflower must sit in silent vigil until dawn, and guard the camp alone as we sleep. But first, we must go home."
The Skyclan cats followed Wildstar into the grass one by one until only Leafclan remained. Rose-eyes decided to talk to Skyflower before she started her vigil. "Well, we made it," she whispered. "We finally made it." Rose-eyes knew that her words were not talking of becoming warriors. She meant about that they had survived a horrible battle.
"We did make it!" replied Skyflower. "We sure did, Rosepaw. I mean, Rose-eyes!" Rose-eyes giggled at Skyflower's mistake and ran to catch up with the clan. When they had returned home, she saw Daisyfur and several other queens take the stolen kits to the nursery. The kidnapped apprentices were meowing thanks to Rose-eyes and many other warriors for rescuing them. Rose-eyes mewed one last, "You're welcome!" and sat in her silent vigil with her best friend, Skyflower.
When dawn's sun creeped over the horizon, Rose-eyes got the dawn beginning confirmed with Wildstar, and let Skyflower go to the warriors den to find a spot to sleep. "Rose-eyes, may I talk to you in my den, please?" asked Wildstar. Even if it sounded like a question, Rose-eyes knew that it was an order. She obeyed and followed Wildstar to the den curtained with moss.
"Rose-eyes, I am greatly impressed. You, an apprentice, defeated the strongest leader in this generation!" he exclaimed. "Rose-eyes, I am very proud to have you as a warrior in my Clan." He looked into Rose-eyes' eyes and continued. "I believe you will lead to greatness."
Rose-eyes looked at her leader with more admiration than ever. She remembered the moment when she was only a kit. Wildstar had seemed scary to her, and she feared him. Now she far from feared him. She respected him, and his superiority. "Wildstar, I think that I would never be able to reach as much glory as you," she meowed. Wildstar beamed, and replied, "Maybe so!"