Author's Notes: My email inbox has been almost flooded with alerts saying I have reviews for the first two books in this series. My profile says I haven't been working on this story for some time, but reading my new reviews made me want to work on this story again. When I checked my files, I realized that I hadn't uploaded the last two chapters I had finished! So, enjoy the two newest chapters while I write!

Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors, but I do own the characters created for this story. Please don't steal them!

Chapter 15

"No!" Thornfur screamed, agony thick in his voice. "No! It...can't be!"

"Rowanwind! Follow Nimblepaw to where the others are. Take Granitetail with you," Clawstar ordered.

Ignoring the frightened whispers around him, Rowanwind headed for the exit with Granitetail. Without a word, Thornfur rushed after the two of them.

"Thornfur!" Clawstar called once, but the black tom ignored him.

Rowanwind watched Thornfur's frantic running as they followed Nimblepaw through the forest. He could only just imagine the pain that Thornfur was experiencing. Blackcloud and Thornfur had been very close, like Thunderstripe and Darkeye. Their brotherhood had never been very conspicuous, but everyone knew it was there. Thinking about Thunderstripe and Darkeye made Rowanwind realize that Blackcloud was their father. His heart wrenched with the thought. Why did the stupid poachers have to keep killing off his Clanmates? Couldn't they just kill birds and other prey and leave the cats alone?

"Rowanwind!" Rainfur screeched. She was backed up against a tree by a Twoleg, who was waving around Blackcloud's lifeless body.

Thornfur gave a mighty caterwaul before launching himself at the Twoleg. Blackcloud's body was dropped as the Twoleg tried to get Thornfur off of him. Rowanwind watched in horror as Thornfur was grabbed and tossed into a bramble bush.

"Stupid Twoleg!" Rowanwind heard a familiar meow. He turned in time to see Thunderstripe leap and dig his claws into the Twoleg's leg.

"Thunderstripe!" Rowanwind yelped, frightened for the life of his friend. He jumped when more Twoleg voices came at them from the forest. "Don't let the Twoleg get away!" Rowanwind yelped. He ran over and dug his claws into the screaming Twoleg's other leg.

The new Twolegs appeared. Rowanwind let go and backed off from the Twoleg. Thunderstripe did the same.

The new Twolegs grabbed the first Twoleg and dragged him away.

"Hey!" a voice said quietly.

Rowanwind and Thunderstripe turned to see a Twoleg girl kneeling behind them.

"Gingerheart!" Thunderstripe purred.

"I'm ready to come home. Is Duskpaw back at camp?" Gingerheart asked.

"I'll go get him!" Thunderstripe said before scampering off.

"Who was it this time?" Gingerheart asked, looking around. Rowanwind knew she wanted to know who had been killed by the poachers this time.

"Blackcloud," he whispered.

"Oh, no!" Gingerheart put her paw over her mouth. "Why Blackcloud? Oh, I was too late! If I'd gotten here sooner..."

"Don't blame yourself!" Rowanwind meowed.

Gingerheart flapped her paw at him. "I have to hide so they think I've left! Meet me here with Duskpaw once those Twolegs are gone!"

Before Rowanwind could speak, she slipped away.

"Rowanwind, they're looking at Blackcloud!" Granitetail shouted.

Rowanwind raced over and stood above Blackcloud's body, hissing. Rainfur stood beside him and hissed as well. The Twolegs paused before shaking their heads and leaving.

"We need to get Blackcloud back to camp," Rowanwind said.

"I'll help!" Thornfur said.

"But you just got thrown into a bush!" Darkeye said. Rowanwind couldn't remember when he'd showed up.

"Darkeye, have Reedclaw and Granitetail help you take Blackcloud back to camp," Rowanwind ordered. "Rainfur, help Thornfur follow. Nimblepaw, you can go with them. I'm going to stay here and make sure the Twolegs don't come back."

The cats followed his orders without any questions.

Thunderstripe and Duskpaw showed up moments after the others had headed back to camp.

"Where is she?" Thunderstripe demanded. "She...hasn't left me, has she?"

"I promised I would come back!"

They turned to see Gingerheart walking toward them. For some reason, she looked different as a Twoleg from the first time that Rowanwind had seen her.

Duskpaw whispered something. Gingerheart began to transform in front of them. Once the transformation was over, Gingerheart rushed over to Thunderstripe.

"Why did you look different than the first time I met you as a Twoleg?" Rowanwind wondered.

"I had Duskpaw disguise me," Gingerheart explained. "If I hadn't had him do that, the Twolegs I talked to would have recognized me as the Twoleg who disappeared."

"Well, I thought you were all up to something!" Stormypelt stepped out of the forest. "Welcome back, Gingerheart."

"Thanks, Stormypelt. It's good to be home," Gingerheart said. "I really missed all of you."

"We'd better get back to camp," Rowanwind said. "Everyone thinks you went to talk to an old rogue friend about the Twoleg poachers."

"Well, my story is going to be interesting!" Gingerheart commented.

Together, the five friends headed back to ThunderClan's camp.

Rowanwind sat with Stormypelt and watched their Clanmates give their last respects to Blackcloud. His heart felt like it was shattering as he watched Tenderclaw, Blackcloud's father; Thornfur, Blackcloud's brother; Wetpelt, Blackcloud's mate; and Darkeye and Thunderstripe, Blackcloud's kits, all sit together near Blackcloud's motionless body.

"I feel so sorry for them," Stormypelt whispered. "Blackcloud was a great warrior. He did so much for ThunderClan."

"I know," Rowanwind whispered, looking down at his paws as Thunderstripe stepped forward to bury his nose in Blackcloud's fur.

Tenderclaw waved his tail at Barrenoak. The two toms were currently the only elders left in ThunderClan. Together, the aged warriors grabbed a part of Blackcloud's body and began to drag him to where he would be buried.

A sob escaped from Wetpelt. Thunderstripe and Darkeye touched their tails to her shoulders in comfort. Thornfur watched closely as his father and Barrenoak took away Blackcloud's body.

"No parent should ever have to bury their children."

Rowanwind turned to look at Gingerheart. Her light brown eyes were full of tears as she looked at Thunderstripe and his family.

"That's what I was told when I was a Twoleg, anyway. Now I can see why it's so true," Gingerheart whispered.

"Yes," Rowanwind replied in a whisper. He closed his eyes and leaned his head on Stormypelt's shoulder.

The world felt like it was falling apart.

"Hello, Rowanwind!" Maggotpaw said as he slipped into Frostflower's den.

"Hello there, Maggotpaw," Rowanwind said. He glanced around the den for a few moments. Josephine, Doodle, and Whisker were all sitting near Maggotpaw as she worked at sorting herbs she and Frostflower had gathered this morning.

"Maggotpaw's told me a lot about you since I got here," Whisker meowed with a short laugh. "Thank you for saving me."

"And us, as well!" Josephine added, not wanting to be left out.

"We would have died there if you hadn't come to rescue us," Doodle said, curling his tail around his paws.

"I'm just glad to see all of you are getting better," Rowanwind replied. He glanced at Icefur's barely moving body. "Has there been any change?"

Maggotpaw frowned when she noticed Rowanwind looking at Icefur. Her head shook back and forth slowly. "No. Frostflower and I have been doing everything possible, but his condition hasn't changed at all."

"Was he close to you?" Josephine wondered quietly.

"He's my half-sister's mate," Rowanwind replied. "He was always very...confrontational. We never really got along. I'm not sure why. When I became deputy of ThunderClan, Icefur thought it was wrong because I didn't have an apprentice yet. He left because of that."

None of the cats knew what to say. They all just stared at him speechlessly.

"I'd better go. I need to speak to Clawstar about tomorrow's border patrols," Rowanwind said. A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to see Purepaw's head lifting off his paws.

"Rowanwind!" Purepaw purred.

"Hello, Purepaw. How are you feeling?" Rowanwind asked. The apprentice's left eye was still wrapped up in cobwebs, but his right eye looked much livelier than it had.

"I'm feeling great!" Purepaw replied. "Frostflower says I should be able to leave her den after the half moon!"

"That's great to hear. I bet you can't wait to get back to training," Rowanwind said.

"Training, yeah. Cleaing out dens, no!" Purepaw replied.

Rowanwind chuckled. "I'd better go. I'll check back in soon."

"See you later, Rowanwind!" Purepaw waved his tail on good-bye. The other cats nodded to him as he slipped outside.

"There you are, Rowanwind!" Clawstar said, padding over. "We need to discuss the border and hunting patrols for tomorrow."

"I was just about to find you," Rowanwind said. "I was thinking..."

Rowanwind was prodded awake the next morning by Thunderstripe. He blinked sleepily up at his friend.

"Time for the dawn patrol," Thunderstripe whispered.

After a good stretch, Rowanwind slipped out of the den. A chill, leaf fall wind blew through the camp. He ruffled his fur against the cold before shaking bits of moss from himself.

"Ready?" Rowanwind asked Thunderstripe, Wetpelt, and Palepaw. The others nodded.

Rowanwind led the way out of the camp. They passed Granitetail, who was by the entrance because he'd been on night guard. The forest outside was quiet in the early dawn. The silence felt nice to Rowanwind, whose last few days had been rather noisy with events. The four ThunderClan cats headed for the WindClan border. Rowanwind could smell the fresh scents of WindClan blowing from their hillside territory. They had probably just missed a WindClan border patrol going by.

"It's very peaceful this morning," Wetpelt commented as they headed along the border back up through ThunderClan territory.

"It's a nice change, isn't it?" Thunderstripe said. He was sticking close to his mother. Rowanwind knew the two of them were still grieving over Blackcloud's death.

Rowanwind paused to mark a bush. The others padded on a little farther ahead to wait for him. Just as Rowanwind was finishing, his paws began to tingle. He spun around and looked all around the forest surrounding them. He saw nothing but tree branches swaying in the breeze.

His fur on end, Rowanwind headed back to the others. "We're being followed," he hissed under his breath. "Keep going."

The other three cats followed his hissed order and continued going. Rowanwind didn't know why the DarkClan cats were waiting for. Why weren't they attacking? And then there was a howling screech. Rowanwind dodged out of the way as a black tom came flying down out of the trees.

"Palepaw! Camp! Now!" Rowanwind shouted.

The black and white she-cat zoomed into the underbrush, leaving behind the three warriors to fight. Rowanwind looked up and saw three black crows flapping around. Two more cats were crouched up in the trees.

They were outnumbered!

End of Chapter Fifteen