As I hurried through the undergrowth I thought back to how Redtail had saved me, how I could have died if he hadn't helped. 'I wont let him down' I thought as the sound of a battle cry reached my ears. It slowly grew louder until I finally came out on a small rise overlooking the Sunning Rocks to see it swarming with Riverclan warriors,before spotting the Thunderclan patrol almost directly below me.
Quickly I turned and scrambling down along the rocky incline toward the fight. My claws were clicking against the rock as I did so, before throwing myself at one of the warriors who'd pinned a small black tom to the ground, knocking him back slightly before leaping at his side and drawing my claws across his muzzle, sending him running before I glanced down at the small tom.
He glanced up at me with slight nod, stumbling to his feet and looking across the clearing toward the rest of the patrol and charging in, taking one of the warriors by surprise. I made my way through the knots of battling cats toward Redtail. Suddently a spike of pain lanced up my body from my tail, and a mocking voice made me turn around to see the same tom from before, Loudbelly.
"Back for more rouge, you should have left while you had the chance!" He yowled, charging forward again, only to be sidestepped by me as I swiped at his shoulder, scoring blood as he turned on me and leapt. Taking a chance I jumped clear of him before turning and lashing out at his side again, grinning as he let out a pained gasp before backing away from me and charging into the battling cats.
Almost immediately I turned and dashed towards Redtail as he battled a large reddish brown warrior, immediately falling in beside the exhausted deputy to slowly force the tom back. An ominous cracking sound caused me to look up and notice a small boulder had broken loose from the rise and threatened to crush us. I threw myself against Redtail, pushing us clear just as the boulder landed, crushing the reddish tom underneath.
Once the dust cleared, I stood up and coughed as all around me the Riverclan cats untangled themselves from their Thunderclan counterparts and fled toward the river, leaving me, Redtail, and a large tabby to watch them leave. I slowly stood up and padded toward the river, stopping at the edge and looking across at the fleeing warriors until a slight scuffing sound behind me drew my attention.
As I turned I felt my pelt bristle in horror as I saw the tabby, that until now had been speaking to Redtail, latch onto the back of his neck and bite down with a sickening crack that echoed around the now deserted clearing, dropping his body and looking over at me as I stood locked in place, my eyes latched to Redtails body before I realized he was rushing towards me.
As the tabby hit me, I fell back stumbling back into the shallows of the river. His claws sliced across my muzzle, knocking me headfirst into the clear sky blue water, slamming his massive paws against my chest in an effort to hold me below the water. 'He's trying to drown me!' I thought in terror, as I held in my last breath of air. I struggled vainly against the massive tom, my lungs screaming as I tried to push him off, only to feel my efforts grow weaker and less coordinated. I slowly stopped fighting back and released the air that had kept me going and prepared to die.
As the cold water filled my throat I felt the paw on my chest let up slightly before pushing down again, forcing me to draw in more water and to my surprise, I could still breath. 'I can breath underwater?!' I thought in confusion as I simply stopped moving, faking the appearance of death while I waited for the tabby to leave, only to freeze in fear as his massive head shot through the water and gripped my neck before hauling me out of the shallows and flinging me into the river itself.
Almost immediately I went under, the current pulling me along as I struggled to break the surface. I slammed against something in the water before finally breaking through. I tried in vain to swim against the current, only to feel my exhaustion, my weak limbs slowly failing before looking towards the shore. Water slammed against me. "Starclan help m-!" I yowled. I slid back under the water. A small wave slammed against me before I managed to just get my head above the water again, only to be thrown back under it as another wave struck me.
Slowly I felt my mind slipping as the strain to stay above water and the previous battle took its toll, and as black slowly overtook my vision, a faint form filled my vision, its pelt appearing like a silver angel in the river, before it dug its teeth into my scruff and dragged me up toward the light before another joined it and continued dragging me, before I faded out.
I felt the sensation of something sharp pulling on my neck before I slowly opened my eyes to see reeds and high marshy grass slowly pass by me before moaning as one of my legs bumped a rock, only to be dropped by whatever was carrying me. When I glanced up to see who exactly had saved me I was surprised to be met with the burning dark blue eyes of Loudbelly.
For a few moments we both stared at each other until he kicked me with his right paw. "Get up rouge, I'm done carrying you." He muttered before I sluggishly stumbled to my paws, only to collapse from exhaustion. Almost immediately I felt a paw jab into my side and moaned slightly as Loudbelly continued to try an force me to my feet until a new voice joined him. "Loudbelly, please stop this. He's weak from the river." Unlike Loudbellys slow deep toned growl, the sound of this other cats voice was soft and calming, with a much higher tone. It took most of my energy to lift my head and catch a glimpse of her, but when I did I was surprised. She seemed to be around my size with a silver-grey coat that shined in the sunhigh light while her bright blue eyes shown with concern.
"Silverpaw, this cat isn't some clan cat, its a rouge. Don't be worried about how we treat him." Loudbelly growled before moving away from me, leaving me alone on the path with Silverpaw. As I lay on the smoothed path of pebbles I managed to lift my head and look over at Silverpaw, who was stared off after Loudbelly before lowering her head.
"Hey, he's just got a grudge." I muttered. She glanced over her shoulder at me, tilting her head slightly to the side. "What do you mean he's got a grudge, what could you have done?" she asked. I smiled slightly and painfully pulled myself to a sitting position before turning to her again. "I battled against him at Sunning Rocks a few nights ago and beat him, and I did so again during.." I stopped, a feeling of dread washing over me as I remembered what happened.
Silverpaw stared at me as I lowered my head before pulling myself to my paws and taking a stumbling step back down the path toward the river. She blocked my path. "Where are you going?" She asked still looking concerned as I took another shaky step forward. "Back to Thunderclan, I have to warn them." I said, moving past her and stumbling again until a warm pelt pushed up against mine and as I glanced back, Silverpaw helped hold me up before looking up at me again. "You wont be able to make it on your own." She muttered as I nodded and let her guide me along the path.
After a few minutes an old bridge came into sight. After checking to see if it was safe, we crossed it into Thunderclan. Cautiously I glanced back at her. "You don't have to help me anymore, you could get in trouble if you stay with me all the way to the camp." I said as she smiled slightly. "Well I cant leave you alone out here," she said as we continued on until finally the familiar shape of the thorn barrier came into view. We continued on, pushing through the tunnel and into the camp.
As soon as we entered the camp, I noticed Redtails' body laying in the center and felt tears form in my eyes .The cats mourning him glanced up at me and Silverpaw, but before I could utter a word I was blindsided by a rush of tabby fur that knocked me and Silverpaw against the thorns. I felt claws come to rest on my neck and a pair of angry Amber eyes burned into mine. "Hello, traitor.." Tigerclaw muttered.
