Tears

"Hey... Where the heck is Bluestorm? She's usually the first one to step up in battle," Dustclaw, my best friend muttered. "Strange..."

"Yeah, well, I bet she's just late." I flicked my tail absently. "Bluestorm will be here soon. She'll never miss anything as big as this."

Dustclaw nodded. "I guess... I'm just worried, after all, especially after one of our own clanmates apparently betrayed us and told all our secrets to the enemy. And what bothers me is that we don't even know who it was. It could be anyone... We need her to boost our ranks."

None of us talked for the next hour, stomping through enemy territory with the rest of the clan and keeping a lookout for passing patrols. The air was gloomy today, thick and gloomy, with the thin-spaced trees packing together and blocking out the sunlight. I blinked. "Are we almost there yet?"

That was what I said before a mass of shadows loomed over us and began tearing, clawing, and ripping like their lives depended on it.

The battle had begun. We had underestimated the enemy.

OoOoO

"Thought you could get away with it, huh?" I looked up, and a huge bracken-colored tom pounced on to me, pinning me down. After throwing him off, I caught sight of my apprentice, Sprucepaw, getting caterwauled by a nimble cream she-cat, landing blows here and there. Not able to bear seeing him like that, I sprang into the middle of the fight and managed to push the she-cat off, scoring a few blows before dashing off. The fight was just beginning, yet we were already losing. Looking around, I could see that Bluestorm and her apprentice, Dovepaw, was still not here. What happened to them? Where...

That was when I finally saw Bluestorm. Out in the distance, she yowled, "for our clan!" and lead a bunch of cats to help us. I smiled. It was gonna be okay... Wait.

I frowned. Why did Bluestorm look... Smaller than usual? And why did she not look confident at all? A bad feeling shook me. Something was wrong.

"Help!"

I spun around. It was Bluestorm again, but now a group of enemy warriors had started on her and was now pinning her to the ground. "Coming!" Jumping out of the way of fighting cats and dodging the thick thorn bushes, I ran all the way to where she needed me and leaped right in front of them. It was two against one, but I had the advantage of surprise as I slammed into them and sent them almost flying. I turned around. "Here, Blue..." I stared. "Bluestorm?"

It was not her at all.

It was Dovepaw, Blustorm's very own daughter.

I smoothed her chest fur. "Why... Why did you pretend to be Bluestorm? Why? Why!" I bit my bottom mouth. "What were you thinking?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

I spun around. The real Bluestorm. "What happened?"

"Mom, I... Dovepaw swallowed. "I saw that our side was losing, and when I saw that I looked like you, I decided to restore faith in the clan by making everyone think you were here. I'm... I'm sorry. It was the least I could do after what I've done."

Bluestorm's eyes widened. "What did you do?"

Dovepaw whimpered. "Mom, I... Please don't hate me, but I... I was the spy." I was on the verge of choking. "Fireblaze, one of the enemy warriors, he... He threatened me. He said that he would hurt Tigerpelt if I didn't tell him everything I knew." Tigerpaw was Dovepaw's future mate.

"And you never told anyone?"

"No. I... I was scared. He promised... He promised it would be for a good cause. He lied..." Dovepaw trailed off, and for the first time I noticed the deep scars on her pelt. "He lied..."

And then her eyes rolled up into her head, and I knew she'd never wake again. The words echoed around the clearing. Lies... Lies...

Bluestorm screamed.