Code Fifteen

An honorable Warrior does not need to kill to win his or her battles, unless they are outside the Messenger Code or it is in self-defense.

I know you HouseCats and Loners believe we are fierce and bloodthirsty creatures that line our nests with the fur of our enemies, but truly, we are not.

Here is how this Code came into play; through the bitter experiences that taught the Warriors that they don't have to always step in blood. This comes from an endless conflict between LightClan and SunClan.

The Decision of the Medicine Cats

SunClan Camp

Owlfur finishes chewing the marigold leaves into a pulp then he spits them carefully onto a leaf. "These should help with the infection," Owlfur said. A dark ginger tabby tom is lying awkwardly on his left side. The jagged cut smells of crow-food and seems to be yellow around the edges, the skin surrounding it is tender and inflamed… this is not good at all.

"If I ever catch the mouse-brained LightClan cat that did this, I'll rip out his throat!" Suntail vowed. Owlfur shakes his head.

"Then his Clan will lose another Warrior and sear vengeance on SunClan. Then this will go on forever, back and forth, shedding blood on one side of the border or the other until the stars are old and gray," Owlfur said.

"But we have to defend our boundaries! The Messenger Code says so!" Suntail hissed. Owlfur sighs deeply.

the border battles between SunClan and its neighbor LightClan have grown more and more violent in the recent moons, with Warriors from both sides darting across the river on raids. Neither Clan is short on prey nor it isn't like LightClan cats can catch all birds or SunClan can catch all woodland creatures. These battles are nothing more than mouse-brained pride that makes neither Clan to be the first to stop. Blackclaw, a LightClan Warrior was killed last moon and Rosenight, a SunClan Warrior was lamed and would never hunt or fight for her clan again. Owlfur thought.

Owlfur finishes packing the wound with the juicy green pulp and then he lays cobwebs on top in an attempt to hold the edges closed and keep the poultice in place. "Do not move until I tell you to," Owlfur said gently.

Owlfur pushes a ball of moss under Suntail's head in order to make him more comfortable and then he pads out of his den to clear his mind of the bitter marigold scent. Heatherbreeze, Glowshine, and Windstrike are standing on the far side of the clearing staring into the trees with their ears pricked. A white she-cat named Whiteleopard her belly round with Kits turns to face Owlfur.

"They're fighting again. Listen," Whiteleopard said.

Oh, HeavenClan, no! Owlfur thought. Owlfur pads forward to stand beside Whiteleopard. His pelt suddenly felt hot and sticky and there is a sour scent in his nose. He looks down slowly. Owlfur's dark brown fur is drenched in scarlet blood that is running down his legs and drips onto the ground. He opens his mouth to cry out and chokes on a thick salty clot. Owlfur quickly spits it out.

"Owlfur, are you all right?" Whiteleopard asked. Owlfur opens his eyes. Whiteleopard is standing over Owlfur. Owlfur's pelt is healthy and clean.

"Do you have a furball lodged in your throat?" Whiteleopard asked.

"No. I –" Owlfur said as he stands up again. The only taste in his mouth is the marigold juice. There are faint sounds of the growing battle drifting on the breeze: yowls and thuds as cats hit the ground, the rip of claws on fur. So much blood… Owlfur bolts towards the nose.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Whiteleopard called.

"We have to stop the battle!" Owlfur answered. My vision must have been a message from HeavenClan that the cats in the forest are in danger of drowning in the bloodshed. Paws thud behind him and he realizes that Whiteleopard is following. "Go back! You Kits –"

"My Kits will be fine. I have watched you enough to be useful. It's going to be bad isn't it? I mean, worse than before," Whiteleopard wheezed. Owlfur nods briskly. Whiteleopard and Owlfur burst out of the trees and into a clear patch of dirt not far from the river. A tangle of bleeding and screeching cats are wrestling in the center of the clearing. Owlfur narrows his eyes. Two large patrols from the looks of it contains several Apprentices as well as Warriors. A loud screech stretches across the clearing.

"STOP!" Reedshine shouted. A small reddish-ginger face appears from the dark green bushes. "Stop this right now!"

"It's Reedshine the LightClan Medicine Cat," Owlfur said. Reedshine steps around the motionless body of Bluewind of LightClan with a rueful glance and marches up to the nearest tussle.

"Enough! There is nothing to be won from this battle!" Reedshine shouted. Eeltail and Slatepelt stop and stare at Reedshine and then they step back from each other. Reedshine gives Slatepelt a shove with his nose. "Go home!" To Owlfur and Whiteleopard's astonishment, Slatepelt spins around and runs into the bushes that separate the clearing from the river. Eeltail bunches his haunches ready to plunge back into battle. Owlfur hurtles up to Eeltail and plants himself in his way.

"You heard what Reedshine said! Go home!" Owlfur said.

"There is a battle to be fought here!" Eeltail replied.

"Not anymore!" the SunClan Medicine Cat said. Eeltail glares at Owlfur then he slowly walks away leaving a thin trail of blood behind him from the wound on his left hindleg.

"What in the name of HeavenClan are you doing?" Mistcloud asked. Owlfur quickly spins around. Mistcloud is standing behind him the black stripe on his face is stained with blood. "Do you wish for us to lose?"

"No, I want you to continue to live! Are you going to keep fighting until there are no Warriors left?" Owlfur asked as he flicks his tail at the numerous bodies that lay slumped on the ground. "Three more cats dead. How is this going to help anybody?"

"Because two of them are LightClan, which means two fewer enemies for us to deal with," Mistcloud said and lifts his head and tail up in triumph. There is a sad tone in Owlfur's voice.

"You are even more mouse-brained than I had originally thought," Owlfur said sadly. Behind them, the remaining Warriors are staggering apart and begin stumbling into the undergrowth in the direction of their own territories. Mistcloud eyes them with deep disgust.

"Are you happy now, Owlfur? We could have won that battle," Mistcloud said.

"No, you could not for every battle has its loses," Owlfur said. With a hiss, Mistcloud limps away. "I will wait to tell him that his wounds need to be treated with goldenrod." Whiteleopard pads over to Owlfur.

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Whiteleopard said. Owlfur gazes around the clearing.

"Flufftail and Silverfur of LightClan will not be making their own way back to their camp and neither is Adderpaw a SunClan Apprentice," Owlfur said. Owlfur gulps as he looks at Adderpaw's little body. A warm breeze stirs the fur on Adderpaw's flank making it look as if he is breathing, but the scent of death hangs heavily over him and his once bright gray eyes are glazed and milky. Reedshine glances up at Owlfur.

"I am deeply sorry for your loss," Reedshine said.

"And I for yours," Owlfur said.

"This has to stop!" Reedshine hissed. Reedshine's hiss startles Owlfur. "If we lose anymore, Warriors our Clans will starve when winter comes. How can HeavenClan let this happen?"

"Have you been to Moonstone Cavern to speak with them about it?"

"No, have you?" Reedshine asked. Owlfur shakes his head. "Then we should go. You and me along with the other four Medicine Cats. If we all show up perhaps HeavenClan will be forced to listen." Owlfur stares at Reedshine.

I have met the other Medicine Cats at Gatherings but never alone without other Clanmates around them. Owlfur thought.Owlfur looks at Reedshine. "How can we tell them what we want to do?"

"I will visit them. I will go on my own so it is obvious that I am not a threat and I will bring them all to the moor. Meet us by the Moonhill Hollow next sunrise."

I know Reedshine is right. The Medicine Cats need to unite. We have the power to heal our Clans – perhaps this means we can stop battles before they take place. Owlfur thought. "I will be there."

The Next Dawn

Reedshine pops his head around the corner of the gorse as Owlfur approaches the Moonhill Hollow.

"I had thought that you decided not to come," Reedshine said. Clearnight the WaterfallClan Medicine Cat appears behind Reedshine her eyes shining brightly.

"I cannot believe we are doing this!" Clearnight said.

"All six of us going to share tongues with HeavenClan at the same time!" Acorntail said.

"Maybe we should have done this before…" Summerstorm said.

"Come on we have many things to do before sunset," Winterbreeze said. Reedshine leads them into Moonstone Cavern padding confidently to the waiting smoldering shadows of the deep cavern. Owlfur is walking beside Winterbreeze of SkyClan. Summerstorm of CloudClan follows Acorntail of LeafClan. The six Medicine Cats mostly travel in silence.

Center of Moonstone Cavern

Summerstorm looks up at the quarter-moon shining through the opening at the top of the cavern. "It is red!" Summerstorm said. The moon is washed with scarlet darker around the edges. "I have never seen it look like that before."

"It is the color of blood," Clearnight said.

Perhaps HeavenClan is already waiting for us. Winterbreeze thought. Acorntail takes the lead and leads the other Medicine Cats up to the shining whitish-blue stone. The Moonstone reflects the scarlet moon tonight giving off a reddish gleam that is seen in the cats' eyes. Reedshine nods his head to the Moonstone.

"You know what to do. We have to ask HeavenClan if there is a way to stop the pointless bloodshed," Reedshine said. Owlfur lies down and presses his muzzle against the base of the cool stone. The stone is ice-cold and he winces but gradually it grows warmer. He feels it begin to throb gently as if he is curled against the belly of his mother.

I am safe here, safe and loved. No blood will ever be shed in the Moonstone Chamber… Owlfur thought.

Owlfur's Dream

"SunClan! Attack!" Mistcloud commanded. Owlfur jumps as Mistcloud yowls right next to his ear. He looks around and realizes he back in the clearing by the river surrounded by a SunClan patrol rushing to hurl themselves on LightClan cats running towards them. He is watching yesterday's battle from the very start.

"You cannot stop the fighting, you know," Adderpaw said. Owlfur looks down. A small light brown tom is standing beside him.

"Adderpaw! You're not fighting!" Owlfur said. Adderpaw looks up at Owlfur.

"How can I? I am dead remember, Owlfur."

"But this is yesterday!"

"No, it is not. It is every day. This battle and battles like it will happen continuously for all moons to come and there is nothing you can do to change that. We fight to protect our territories, our Kits, our reputation among the other Clans. It is what Warriors do."

"But you died because of it," Owlfur pointed out. Adderpaw looks sad.

"Yes. I wish that I didn't. I wanted to be the best Warrior that SunClan ever knew." Owlfur touches his muzzle to Adderpaw's fluffy ear.

"I am so sorry, little one." Adderpaw is beginning to fade.

"You cannot stop the fighting. However, maybe you can stop the dying. Blackheart did not need to kill me. I knew I was beaten. If he had let me go I would have ran away. He did not have to keep biting me harder and harder…" Adderpaw's gray eyes glow for a moment after his body vanishes then they go out like setting suns. Owlfur closes his eyes as grief sweeps over him.

"What a bitter, bitter waste."

Moonstone Chamber

When Owlfur opens his eyes, he is back in the chamber lying by the Moonstone. His body is cold, cramped so he stands up, and stretches each leg in turn arching his back and kinking his tail right over his ears. "Well?" Reedshine asked. Reedshine is sitting in the shadows with the other Medicine Cats. With a shock, Owlfur realizes he is the last to wake up.

"I dreamed of Adderpaw the SunClan Apprentice who died yesterday," Owlfur said. Owlfur stops when he sees the other cats nodding their heads.

"We all dreamt of fallen Clanmates," Clearnight said.

"Each one said the same," Acorntail said.

"That we can never stop the battles from happening but that they knew they had lost their fight before being killed. They did not have to die for the other cat to win," Summerstorm said.

"Victory without death. Do you believe the Clans will approve of it?" Winterbreeze asked.

"They will have no choice. HeavenClan has told us all the same thing: that a Warrior does not have to kill to be victorious," Reedshine said.

"What if he or she is fighting for his or her life like against a Rogue or a fox?" Clearnight asked.

"There shall be an exception to the Code," Owlfur said.

"Because some battles can only end in death, but for Clan fighting Clan, killing will never be the answer," Acorntail said.

"When should we tell our Leaders about this?" Summerstorm asked.

"Why don't we wait until the next Gathering? It is only a quarter-moon away. We can tell them about our dreams and suggest a new law for the Messenger Code," Winterbreeze said.

"The Leaders cannot disagree with all six of us," Acorntail said.

"That is right. In addition, from now on, I think we should meet every half-moon to share tongues with HeavenClan together. None of us wants to see our Clanmates die and all of us would be happy never to treat another battle wound again. Perhaps boundaries do not exist for Medicine Cats the way they do for our Clanmates. We should work together whenever we can to preserve the peace and health of all six Clans," Owlfur said.

Owlfur leads them back into the tunnel that leads to the mouth of the cave with fresh air and starlight. As they emerge, the moon has cleared and is as bright as ever. The cats begin to head down the slope their paws brushing over soft grass. Owlfur is convinced that he can hear another set of paws nearby even though he is not near any of the other cats. Then he catches a trace of scent and knows who is running beside him.

"Thank you. Your law will save the lives of many, many cats. HeavenClan will honor all of you forever," Adderpaw whispered.