Chapter 19- Troutleap

Troutleap darted right into WindClan's territory picking up every scent on the way. He could see places covered in blood stinking of the Dark Forest. "Fernpaw? Fernpaw, where are you?"

There was a blur and Fernpaw appeared by Troutleap. "Here! The Dark Forest is attacking. What do I do?"

"Fight them!" Fernpaw nodded and leaped into the air. There was a cat sneaking up behind Troutleap. "Thanks."

Fernpaw nodded and clawed the cat's ears. "Aw a kit is going to try to defeat a big bad warrior like me." Fernpaw let out a hiss and clawed the tom's ears. "Aw you're so little." He went to strike Fernpaw's head but he hit nothing but air.

"I'm not that little. Go find Mosspaw if you want little. I'm the fastest cat that's ever lived though!" She ran circles around the tom, throwing occasional scratches at him. He was beginning to look like a piece of prey when the tom stood in her patch tripping her. He pinned her down easy.

"You're little to me. You may be fast but I'm strong. I can defeat anyone. Just try."

Troutleap looked at the tom with his silver eyes. "Can you defeat a cat with invincibility?" Troutleap leaped on top of the cat and dug his claws into his shoulders. "Just try but I won't get a scratch." He felt pressure on his stomach but nothing happened. He started to get more confidence. "What is your name? Dogbreath?"

The tom showed his claws. "I died as Stormfang. Surely you've heard of me?" Troutleap shook his head. "Well, I was sent to the Dark Forest because of the way I treated my daughters Plumpaw and Cascadepaw. Plumpaw was born with the most beautiful brown pelt ever seen, it looked gold in the sun and her eyes were a beautiful deep purple. Her paws were all white up to the knees. She was beautiful. So was Cascadepaw. She was a beautiful as her sister with a silver pelt that shone white in moonlight, her eyes were the same purple and her paws were black up to knees. The only problem was Plumpaw had a brown pelt.

"She was the first cat born with a brown pelt to my family, the first one to my mate's family too. Several saw that as amazing while we saw it as a curse. We would abuse her, treat her second to beautiful Cascadepaw and show Cascadepaw –kit at the time- how to fight while using her sister as a dummy. Yet Plumpaw never turned bitter and Cascadepaw never would fight her. That upset Silverwing, my mate, so she started telling everyone in RiverClan cats not silver, black, white or gray weren't suppose to live in the Clan. Stupidly, my leader believed her." Stormfang said nothing.

"Then what happened?" Troutleap dug his claws into Stormfang's shoulders deeper. "Tell me."

Stormfang looked back and said mockingly, "If you are so close to StarClan then ask them!" Troutleap bit Stormfang's neck and the tom disappeared as a vapor. He took a look at Fernpaw who stood shocked.

"He is the reason I… I'm treated different?" She padded up slowly to Troutleap and started to sob. "That's not fair! Besides, what did Plumpaw and Cascadepaw do to deserve that? What happened to them? How did they die? Did they even become warriors?"

Troutleap shook his head and licked her head. "It'll be alright, Fernpaw. We're saving the Clans." He looked up at WindClan territory. "Let's gather everyone else. I think we've won."

The two of them padded slowly across the moore, making sure no one was fighting against the Dark Forest still. They crossed into ThunderClan when they heard Dustypaw's tortured yell. "Mosspaw!" They ran over as fast as they could. Treadpaw was dead, blood flowing out of her throat.

"No, Mosspaw, hang in there." His voice was tortured, coming out in ragged breaths. Mosspaw was lying on her side weakly. "I- I'm sorry. I couldn't kill her."

Dustypaw pressed his muzzle to hers. "You'll be fine." Mosspaw's shoulder and throat were closed but she was still having hard, ragged breathing. Dustypaw was making illusions.

Mosspaw's bright green eyes started to dull. "No, Mosspaw! Please don't die!"

Okay, I was in a good mood and decided to update early. Only because I'm writing Chapter 21 right now and I'm excited to being developing the plot for the sequel and prequel. Next chapter we will find out if Mosspaw lives or dies… no one but me knows if she does. I want to give a shout out to Silent Steps in Silver Snow. She is the creator of Fernpaw. Y'all should go check out her story once you leave a review here!

Songstar of MaskedClan