A/N: Super sorry for not posting earlier! Hopefully this makes up for it. Enjoy!
Chapter 15 | Howl Time
"IceClan," Swiftbreeze snarled angrily, her green eyes blazing so much Yellowtail was sure she'd burn holes in the tree in front of her. "I should've known they would try something this low."
"Specifically ThornClan scent on Lightningclaw. But we'll teach them a lesson this Howl Time tonight," Yellowtail growled, her fury focusing into one solid stone of ferocious anger. "We may not be able to fight but then again, neither can they during the truce."
Swiftbreeze nodded, growling more furiously than Yellowtail had ever seen her before. "I can't believe that they would sink this low." She worked her claws into the ground. Soon there was a deep hole about two claw-lengths deep.
Yellowtail suddenly whipped her head around to the ThornClan territory, sensing something off. A pair of amber eyes stared back. "Come out, Riverclaw," Yellowtail hissed to the ThornClan deputy.
Riverclaw padded out of the dark trees. Immediately Swiftbreeze leaped on him and pinned him down. He froze with shock. Swiftbreeze aimed her claws at his throat viciously. "I'll only give you one chance to answer," she hissed. "Who did this to Lightningclaw?"
Riverclaw swallowed nervously. Swiftbreeze was intimidating even to him. "Darkfire from FrostClan," he forced out. "Now let me go."
Swiftbreeze slashed her claws at his throat. Riverclaw ducked back just in time. "Liar," she hissed. "There was ThornClan scent on Lightningclaw, not FrostClan."
"Alright, alright," whimpered Riverclaw. "I don't know, okay?"
"You should know," growled Yellowtail, "you're the deputy of ThornClan."
"Yeah," snapped Riverclaw, "but Claystar's higher in the ranks, isn't he? So if he chooses not to tell me something, I have to obey that! I'm a loyal wolf!"
"Yes," hissed Swiftbreeze. "You're a loyal, murderous wolf."
"I'm just following orders!"
"You dirty slime-"
"Stop!" ordered Yellowtail. "Swiftbreeze, let him up. I want to hear what Claystar said to him."
Swiftbreeze let him get up, cornering Riverclaw against the Great Rock in the middle of the clearing. "You're lucky I didn't just kill you the first time."
"You're lucky I'm choosing not to battle you two," Riverclaw shot back.
"What did Claystar say to you?" Swiftbreeze demanded.
"What makes you think he said anything of interest to you to me?"
"You're not in a position to be cheeky," Yellowtail warned, sharpening her claws against a hard piece of rock until they were thorn-sharp. In an instant, she'd taken Swiftbreeze's place. "So tell us what Claystar said to you about this attack. Or you won't like what happens." Her claws pressed against Riverclaw's throat.
Riverclaw gave the two lions a murderous look but eventually he began his story. "I came back from a patrol when I saw Claystar talking to two big warriors- Crookedclaw and Jaggedstripe. Claystar said, 'Remember, he'll be weak, but even so, you'll have to wait until he's asleep to do it.'
"Jaggedstripe asked, 'Should we have another warrior do it?' Claystar replied, 'Whoever you want. Just make sure that your wolf is loyal and won't speak of this to anyone.' 'Don't worry,' Jaggedstripe said, 'I know the perfect wolf.' Claystar smiled.
"Then Crookedclaw asked, 'Why do you want us to do this?' Claystar replied, 'To weaken WaterClan. IceClan will become superior! But remember, no other wolf should know about this.'
"Then he saw me and hissed to his warriors, 'Go! Tell no one!' Then he strolled over to me and said in this half-guilty voice, 'Just instructing them on hunting techniques.'
" 'Really?' I said. 'It sounded very secret.' He replied, 'Don't worry about it. Go out on patrol again.'
" 'But I just did three-' I protested.
" 'Go!' he yelled. So I went on patrol by myself. Then I saw you guys and I was wondering if Claystar did something to you, and you know what happened next." Riverclaw sighed. "So the attacker could be anyone in ThornClan, I don't know." He pushed himself free of the lions. "I'll be going back to camp. Tell no one of this. I don't want to get accused of spying and handing out secrets." He disappeared into the forest.
"Well," sighed Swiftbreeze, "now we have warriors of ThornClan plus three others as our suspects."
"But you counted their medicine wolf, Lilypond."
"Hey, you never know. Lilypond might be vicious. It's just the kind of thing that Claystar would pull: commit a crime that it seems only a warrior could do, and then have the medicine wolf do it."
"That's a good point," mused Yellowtail, "considering how the wound was sliced in just the right spot to get maximum bleeding in the fewest claws. Only a medicine wolf should know how to do that."
()()()()
The sunset came and went, and Yellowtail and Swiftbreeze awoke from their naps. Lightningclaw was still unconscious, but Swiftbreeze announced that he'd wake up soon, and if not, it wouldn't hurt him to wake him up by the all-powerful pinch method, or the amazing ice-cold-stream-water-on-head method.
"I volunteer you to utilize one of those methods," Yellowtail joked. "You're the medicine lion so you'll know how to fix yourself after he kills you."
Swiftbreeze replied, "I think I'll use a less… surprising method."
The lions were saved from having to wake Lightningclaw up as he opened his eyes, screwing them up against the harsh sunset light.
"You're finally awake!" Swiftbreeze gushed. "Here, eat this parsley. And don't move or you'll open your wound again."
Lightningclaw obediently munched the parsley up. "What's this for?"
"Your blood was too thin to clot and make a scab," Swiftbreeze explained, "so Oakfur from MoonClan told me about parsley which will thicken your blood. Do you feel good enough to walk?"
Lightningclaw hoisted himself up, his unused muscles and bones creaking. He winced as he put weight on his injured leg-
"Don't do that!" Swiftbreeze screamed. Lightningclaw stopped.
"Why?"
"You'll reopen the wound. It hasn't got a chance to stop bleeding yet."
"Oh."
()()()()
That night, the lions and Lightningclaw carefully groomed themselves and had some prey. They wanted to appear strong and healthy so that IceClan would think twice about invading them (or at least delay the invasion). Also, Lightningclaw was excited to attend his first Howl Time. At a bit before moonhigh, the first wolves started appearing: about half of SnowClan's wolves. SnowClan's leader, Cloudstar, jumped up onto the huge Great Rock with some difficulty.
WaterClan had decided that Lightningclaw would be acting leader of WaterClan. Although he'd been leading WaterClan for a while now, it'd never been official.
Soon IceClan arrived together, with SnowClan shooting uncertain looks at the huge, blended Clan. It appeared that Snowstar was the leader of the entire IceClan as only she and not Claystar jumped up onto the Great Rock, she too having to climb to a ledge on the rock and jump from there.
Finally Lightningclaw appeared out of the shadows and jumped easily onto an open spot on the Great Rock, making Snowstar glare at him. Lightningclaw just shot her a triumphant look. The leader's den where he'd slept for a few moons as a cub was much higher than the rock, so he could stretch his muscles smoothly despite his injury.
Snowstar looked a little surprised that his leg gash appeared to have had healed so quickly. It had just started to scab, in fact, but Yellowtail had combed his fur in a way to hide the gash.
Snowstar began to speak, but the poisonous look that Cloudstar shot her made it seem as if she had been dominating the Howl Times for a long time. Instead, Cloudstar nodded courteously to Lightningclaw, who gulped. This was his first time at a Howl Time, and he didn't really know what to say. The only clues he had were Snowstar's body language as she attempted to start the Howl Time herself, and the stories Quailfur had told him in the nursery about Howl Times.
Hoping he didn't make a terrible mistake, Lightningclaw puffed out his chest, tried to appear confident, stepped to the front of the Great Rick, and howled, "Let the Howl Time begin!" From the wolves' expressions down below, it appeared that he'd said the words correctly.
Lightningclaw nodded to Cloudstar to begin. She smiled at him (apparently SnowClan never went first) and started. "SnowClan has had a plentiful greenleaf. The prey is running well and we do not have many border conflicts…" Cloudstar glared at Claystar in the audience, who shifted uncomfortably. "We have detected ThornClan scent on our side of the border, and last sunrise we saw a patrol well inside the borders. On a different note, we have three new cubs: Streamcub, Shadecub, and Hollycub." She sat down and nodded at Lightningclaw.
Lightningclaw took a step forward and announced, "WaterClan has been recovering well since the invasion and massacre by FrostClan. However, we've continually been finding IceClan scent well within our borders-"
"You have no proof!" cried Snowstar angrily. Obviously she didn't think Lightningclaw would bring up the border skirmishes at a Howl Time.
Lightningclaw continued as if the interruption had never happened. "And border skirmishes have been going on. I was unconscious and injured terribly, so I will let Swiftbreeze tell the rest." He nodded at Swiftbreeze, who looked very surprised. The wolves in the audience shifted uncomfortably as if letting a lion speak was against protocol.
Swiftbreeze told the story of the ambush on Lightningclaw while she and Yellowtail were at the Cold Cave, leaving out the bit about Riverclaw telling them the story without putting up much of a fight. Riverclaw looked grateful for that as Swiftbreeze described a long and vicious fight that had actually never happened. But no one else needed to know that.
While Swiftbreeze spoke, Yellowtail discreetly observed her prime suspect: Lilypond, medicine wolf of ThornClan. She kept shifting around uncomfortably. Yellowtail cornered her and spoke to her quietly.
Once Swiftbreeze was done, Lightningclaw ended his turn with a warning: "And anyone who tries to mess with WaterClan will not like what happens." Then he nodded to Snowstar, but it was a cold nod.
Snowstar described IceClan forming, and then her turn was over. It was bafflingly short. Swiftbreeze suspected that she was hiding something, a lot of somethings. Meanwhile, Lightningclaw had noticed a light-gray she-wolf squirming around in the back of IceClan. She was beautifully delicate, but Lightningclaw could detect hardened muscles rippling under her fur. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, the most beautiful wolf he'd ever seen.
"I have one last thing to say," Snowstar announced. "I have a warrior that is banished from IceClan: Frostfur." She gestured with her tail to the light-gray wolf, who looked resigned to her fate. "She is convicted of trying to help another Clan, SnowClan. If she is found on IceClan's territory by sunrise tomorrow, anyone has my permission to kill her."
From Frostfur's expression, it was clear that helping SnowClan had been the right thing to do, and that she really, really hated Snowstar.
"Now it's time to ho-" Snowstar began.
"Wait!" Yellowtail called.
"What is it?" Lightningclaw asked, a bit irritated that she had interrupted the leaders. Yellowtail revealed Lilypond, dragged behind her.
"This wolf is the one responsible for Lightningclaw's injury."
"That's not possible!" Snowstar gasped, though her eyes darted guiltily.
"It is," Lilypond sighed, shoulders hunched. "I confess. I was the one one did it, though J-" Jaggedstripe shot her a look. "A warrior told me to."
Outraged cries came from WaterClan and SnowClan, but Snowstar looked crafty, like she was planning something. "Lilypond can stay," she called. "However, Riverclaw needs to go. He should be banished just like Frostfur."
"Why?" Riverclaw called, bewildered.
"He told enemy secrets to Yellowtail."
Riverclaw looked outraged, then he dropped his head and stalked to WaterClan. "Okay. Fine. I used to love ThornClan but now it's against my morals. I choose to leave this wretched Clan. Come on, Windrunner." His mate followed.
"We're joining WaterClan with Frostfur," Windrunner announced. They walked over to Swiftbreeze and Yellowtail.
"Now it's time to howl!" Lightningclaw yelled. All the wolves howled to the moon, though with the shocking events of the Howl Time, only WaterClan and SnowClan howled to their ancestors. IceClan howled to themselves.
The Howl Time gathering broke up, and the new members of WaterClan joined Lightningclaw at the Great Rock. "WaterClan, let's go back to camp tonight," Swiftbreeze said. "I think we're all healed enough."
Lightningclaw nodded in agreement. He streaked off towards camp, with Swiftbreeze, Yellowtail, Frostfur, Riverclaw, and Windrunner following. It was the new WaterClan, filled with hope for a better life.