Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors.
Note: Chapter two's in Ravenpaw's POV. Enjoy!
Âme Empoisonnée
"You came!"
Runningwind was fighting Brokenstar desperately when the four cats arrived. His voice was weary and cracked, but his eyes were shining delightedly as Brokenstar rolled away from him.
"I heard you killed Brokenstar," Whitestorm replied. "Such ferocity is something ThunderClan needs in desperate times. Besides, you're my Clanmate. Even if you weren't a great fighter, I couldn't let you die."
"I killed him twice," Runningwind added proudly, clawing Brokenstar's muzzle as the large tabby tried to slash at the swift cat's back.
"Twice too many!" Brokenstar roared. "If I had my way, all of you would've died long before my father reigned—" His sentence was cut short when Longtail leapt on top of him and wrenched him away from Runningwind. The ShadowClan leader screeched in fury. "How dare you!"
Whitestorm hissed. "How dare you! You're ambushing us on our own territory and trying to rid the forest of our pure hearts!" Brokenstar snorted at that comment, but Whitestorm went on: "And on the night of the Gathering, no less! Peace should reign!"
"Say," Sandpaw broke in, "shouldn't you be at the Gathering?" Ravenpaw narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. Leaders usually did attend Gatherings, and Brokenstar didn't physically look sick (he was, in the apprentice's view, sick in his head).
Clawface, the only other ShadowClan cat present, grunted scornfully. "No ShadowClan cat wants to waste their time hanging around with weak enemies. Blackfoot, Jaggedtooth, Yellowfang, and Boulder are attending, to inform the other Clans of this new prospect."
Whitestorm snarled at Clawface. "He's not going to Gatherings? He's not respecting StarClan's will? He's ignoring the warrior code? You're mad to follow him!" He rushed at the scarred tom, bowling him over. "Sandpaw! Ravenpaw! Attack!"
While Sandpaw headed over to her mentor and Clawface, Ravenpaw ran straight for Brokenstar. He didn't want to fight the larger cat, but if there were ever a chance to prove himself to Tigerclaw, this was it. He pounced on Brokenstar's back and began to tear at the striped fur in a frenzy. Brokenstar yowled and flipped over onto his back, nearly crushing the apprentice.
Longtail, who had been clawing at the enemy's side, joined Ravenpaw and helped him slip out from under the big leader. The two ThunderClan cats battered Brokenstar furiously. Brokenstar fought back, ruthlessy scratching and biting and flailing, but even he could not fight them off when Runningwind, whom Ravenpaw had suspected had been killed or gone back to camp for even more help, leapt on him in a surprise attack. The three cats tore at Brokenstar's soft underbelly.
Then Brokenstar did a very surprising thing. He groaned pitifully and went limp, apparently giving up. Runningwind and Ravenpaw stepped back, but, to Ravenpaw's astonishment, Longtail kept on fighting.
"What are you doing?" Runningwind cried, echoing Ravenpaw's thoughts. "Didn't Darkstripe teach you about not killing a cat who cannot defend themselves?" Ravenpaw shuddered at those words, imagining Tigerclaw looming over him and trying to kill him.
"It's a trick," said the young warrior, tearing at the thick creamy fur below him. "He can defend himself just fine." But Ravenpaw noticed an uncertain glint in his eyes, as if he were saying that to convince himself as well as the others.
Longtail was proved right. Brokenstar, tired of his act (which didn't seem to be working anyway), reared up and struck Longtail in the shoulder with his sharp claws, narrowly missing his throat. Runningwind angrily leapt for the tabby, but Brokenstar was ready. He knocked him aside with a hard blow from his side, forcing all his strength into the push.
Ravenpaw stared, transfixed, at the approaching Brokenstar. StarClan, help me! What if Brokenstar tried to kill him, as he almost certainly would? He'd only been an apprentice for two moons, he didn't know how to fend him off…well, he did, a little, but he'd never been great at fighting, heck, he'd never been great at training, StarClan knew how many times Tigerclaw had drilled that into his head…
He didn't need to be very good at fighting, however. Just as Brokenstar was bunching his haunches in preparation for his leap, a huge tabby, larger than the ShadowClan leader, came crashing into the scene, knocking Brokenstar off his paws. His proud amber eyes glared defiantly at Clawface, who had turned around at the sound of Brokenstar's surprised yelp and was now suffering many scratches at the claws of Whitestorm and Sandpaw.
Then the new tabby unsheathed his huge, knife-like claws and sliced Brokenstar's throat.