Thank you are for reviewing! You all seem pretty excited for this chapter! Spoiler alert, it's epic.

Nightstorm: No it's not. At least it's not any better than what other people write.

Me: *flustered* Just...say the disclaimer

Nightstorm: Born of True Destiny doesn't own Warriors. *snickers* or any decent writing talent!

Me: Hey!

"Ivystar, is there really any point to this? I mean, you heard about what ShadowClan talked about at the border. They're going through enough already."

The night was growing strong around them as Ivystar climbed onto the fallen tree. Shadeglare leaped on after her and continued to speak.

"They must have already informed ThunderClan and RiverClan about it. What if they don't show? There really wouldn't be a point to this attack. Sure, we outnumber them, but let's not forget that they already expect this to happen-"

"I'm doing them a favor then," Ivystar meowed bitterly. "They will die at the claws of some Clancats rather than a pack of filthy rogues." She landed on the island squarely and continued padding forward. "You've been trying to get me to change my mind for days, Shadeglare, and you use the same arguments. You can't convince me to turn this whole thing around when we are already neck-deep in it already. This is now what I live for."

Shadeglare paused his walking for a moment, and Ivystar didn't bother to look back at him. To her annoyance, though, he spoke again.

"This is what you live for? Ivystar, killing off a Clan isn't a destiny worth working towards."

"You know my reasons for doing this, Shadeglare, and you yourself agreed that they were good reasons."

"That was in the past," he growled. "I've changed from those moons ago." Silence enveloped his words, and Ivystar felt as though his voice was just hanging there. "And so did you."

"Pardon?" she asked, finally looking over her shoulder to glare at him. His green gaze did not waver. A look of defiance crossed over his expression and he glared deeply back at her. "Shadeglare, I haven't changed my intentions at all."

"Maybe you don't think so," he snarled, "But it's true. At first, you wanted to fight for equality for the Clans, and then this entire thing shifted into something much more brutal. You want to destroy a Clan, because of something that happened seasons ago. You mind has drifted away from the true meaning of this war, Ivystar."

"What's the hold up?" Greenmoss called. "Let's get moving."

Ivystar started walking again, towards the clearing, but didn't say a word.

She had told the Clans to meet at the island on the night of the attack so the battle plan could be reviewed and everyone could be organized. RiverClan arrived just as the horizon went pitch black. ThunderClan joined them soon after, and Cherrystar climbed the tree with grace and took her place on her branch.

"Tonight is the night we finally show ShadowClan that they are no more than mice against us," Ravenstar growled. Ivystar smiled as the warriors beneath her yowled in response to the RiverClan leader's announcement. Shadeglare though, sat silently, tail curled tightly over his forepaws. He did not look at the three Clan leaders up on the Great Oak, but rather stared directly below them, as if it was his way of showing we would not look up to them as his superiors.

"Before we leave though, we will go over the battle plan. We must make sure that everything is perfect," meowed Cherrystar.

"First off, it must be sounded that no killing is allowed until we say so," Ravenstar said sternly. "Ivystar, Cherrystar, and I have agreed on how we should fight the warriors of ShadowClan. Wound your warrior, until you hear them cry their surrender. No death blows, now is that clear?"

The Clans yowled, showing that they understood.

"Once we have the whole of ShadowClan surrendered to us," Ivystar went on, drawing her own attention away from her deputy, "Then we take care of Smokestar and Pouncefoot."

"Wait a moment," Cherrystar hissed quietly, only to Ivystar, "We never agreed to that."

"We made a deal to go with whatever I have planned," she retorted. "If I were you I'd preserve my word in case you find yourself in some sort of situation you aren't strong enough to fight alone."

Cherrystar's tail went limp and her eyes filled with shock. Ravenstar blinked, but didn't show any sign of hostility towards Ivystar. He merely turned his head back to the clearing of cats and continued speaking. "Your patrols were announced back with your own Clan."

"This entire thing is ridiculous!" someone shouted, and to Ivystar's disgust, it was Shadeglare. "Why bring three Clans to do a job that only one is needed for. Better yet, what is the point of doing this at all! ShadowClan has already told us they are already facing a danger aside from us. If you ask me, this whole idea is just useless and unnecessary."

"I agree!" yowled a RiverClan cat called Volefur. "We are no better than ShadowClan if we follow through with this. All over what, a few arguments made several moons ago?"

"Volefur," Ravenstar snarled. "You were never told to speak."

"This is not unnecessary," Ivystar added, feeling betrayed by the warriors around her that had followed her for so long. "The point of this war was to show ShadowClan that even though their name is dark and mysterious, they have made generations of mistakes to mock the three Clans that stand here today. They have looked down on us since the dawn of our creation. These battles have proven that we are just as strong as we are."

"But we aren't even seeing things through their eyes!" hissed Shadeglare. "We have no idea what they are going through right now. All of those things are in the past. Didn't they always unite with us when our well-being was threatened?"

"Maybe ShadowClan has always been known for their arrogance and sketchy nature," Volefur growled. "But battle will never change them, just how it never should had changed us."

"I disagree," protested Eagleheart. He was glancing worryingly at the moon, as if the way it crawled up the sky was making him impatient. "After all this time, ShadowClan has refused to admit their weakness the way they should have. In the end they couldn't overcome that arrogance that you speak of just to save their lives. I say we carry on with the battle!"

Many yowls of agreement followed the WindClan warrior's words. Ivystar glared down at Shadeglare and Volefur. "And just so you know, we won't just be fighting the Clan. Several of us will also be assigned to destroying their camp, and killing their prey. We must make sure that ShadowClan takes a long time to take back their honor. And maybe if they overcome those difficulties, they'll take back the honor they had lost."

Ivystar led the Clans with Ravenstar and Cherrystar through ShadowClan territory. She found the area to be rather quiet, as if the prey had known they were coming and decided to hide away. Not even the crickets were chirping.

Shadeglare padded silently behind her, his head low and his eyes fixed on the back of her head. Ivystar could feel the intensity of his glare, but she said nothing. Based on what had happened just earlier that night, she wondered if she had made the right decision making her former apprentice the deputy. She was beginning to doubt his loyalty despite everything he had done for the Clan in the past, and it hurt her to think that the one so focused and intense in the battles with ShadowClan would later be the one defend them against his own Clan, the Clan that had raised him when he had been abandoned.

Ivystar found herself getting more and more excited when they neared the camp. The stillness of the land around her made her think that the moments counting down to the attack were precious, like what was about to happen was important. Shadeglare sped up and would have passed right by if it wasn't for the look she shot at him. Even so, he didn't seem to pay attention. His eyes darted from tree to tree, and Ivystar couldn't help but wonder if he knew something she didn't.

"Does anyone else feel as though they're being watched?" she asked her fellow Clan leaders. Ravenstar flicked his tail in response, while Cherrystar just fixed her narrowed gaze ahead, not answering Ivystar's question.

Ivystar lifted her muzzle into the air and tasted the wind. A very unfamiliar scent touched her tongue. It was something that smelled worse than ShadowClan. Something wrong, and it got worse the deeper they went in the territory.

A dark laugh sounded from behind Ivystar and she paused and whirled around. Several cats were staring at Eagleheart as he looked around the forest, a broad grin on his face and a mysterious look in his eyes that sent chills down Ivystar's spine. Shadeglare gazed at him with a fearful, yet knowing look, as if he understood exactly what was happening.

"Eagleheart, stop chuckling like a fool," scolded Fernthorn.

He looked up, something close to madness gleaming in his gaze. "Me a fool? Ha! You'll see how pathetic you Clancats really are when you realize you should have listened to him." He flicked his tail at Shadeglare and yowled, his cry breaking the peculiar silence of the forest.

Suddenly, cats all around, each possessing a murderous look in the eyes leaped out of hiding and surrounded the Clan cats in their patrol. Eagleheart jumped at Fernthorn and pinned her down. Thornfur of ThunderClan did the same with one of his fellow warriors, and Ivystar realized battle had broken out between them and the rogues around them. She looked at where Shadeglare was, and found that he had disappeared.

She gasped and spun around, only to gaze in the eyes of a massive black tom with dark amber eyes. "When ShadowClan said we were coming for all four Clans," he unsheathed his claws, "They weren't joking."

He lunged for her.

;)

Review please!

~Destiny (and Nightstorm)