Mantisflame kept shaking Bearfrost until the sleep that still clouded his eyes faded away.
"We're under attack? By whom?" Bearfrost asked while he jumped to his paws, slightly dizzy from standing up so fast.
"All three Clans! They've conspired against us and attacked us in the night. Spottedcloud is already dead."
Spottedcloud was Sunstream's sister, and she was close to moving to the elders' den.
"What about the others?" Bearfrost tried to peer around Mantisflame, but the bulky warrior blocked his view. Bearfrost could only hear the shrieks and cries of battle, and smell the stench of blood.
"They're all fighting for their lives. I came to wake you and Willowtwig. You two sleep like badgers!" Mantisflame tried to joke, but he ended up sounding… desperate. Bearfrost pushed past Mantisflame, who had begun to awaken Willowtwig.
Bearfrost stepped out into the thick of battle; blood splattered the ground, and the camp was overrun by cats from every Clan. Bearfrost could see Greenstorm from ThunderClan battling with Mintbreeze, Icejay of ShadowClan clawing at Spiderstrike's eyes, and the WindClan cat Waspmoon jumping onto Rainstar's shoulders, drawing blood with his sharp claws.
Bearfrost rushed to aid his leader, only to be interrupted by Echoflood, one of the ShadowClan she-cats kept by Scarlet and the other cats that ate one another.
Echoflood hissed at Bearfrost, and leaped over his head to land on his back, clawing Bearfrost's delicate ears. He hissed in pain, and bucked her off. Bearfrost turned around and pin Echoflood to the ground. He clawed at her muzzle, leaving a nasty scratch. Bearfrost used his hind legs to pummel the ShadowClan she-cat, while she squirmed to get away.
After a few moments, Bearfrost let go of Echoflood, and saw her rush, yowling, into the bushes beyond. He was immediately attacked again from behind, and this time, it was Firethorn, a ThunderClan she-cat.
"Leave the Clan territory, you mangey fish-face!" Firethorn taunted him.
"The only time I'll leave is when I'm in StarClan!" Bearfrost spat back before launching himself at the she-cat. He tore at Firethorn's throat with his teeth, careful not to sink too deep. The ThunderClan she-cat struggled, only to make Bearfrost's teeth tear through more of her fragile neck. Firethorn eventually gave up, and laid still.
"Don't mess with RiverClan." Bearfrost hissed into her ear, before letting go. Instead of running like Echoflood had, Firethorn turned around and slashed at Bearfrost's forehead. He screeched in pain, and blood dripped down into his eyes. Blinded by rage, he reared up onto his back legs, and brought his front paws down on Firethorn's neck.
Bearfrost heard a deafening snap, and immediately he realized what he had done.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no…" Bearfrost muttered to himself, as he nudged Firethorn's unmoving body. Four ThunderClan warriors noticed their Clanmate lying on the barren ground, and came over to see if she was alright.
"She's not breathing!" One of the cats exclaimed.
"The RiverClan cat killed Firethorn!" A gray she-cat, Heatherspeck turned on Bearfrost, snarling. He wiped the blood from his eyes with his tail, and prepared for another oncoming attack.
Heatherspeck launched herself at Bearfrost, but he dodged to the side just in time, and the enraged she-cat hurled into Rabbitstar and Rockwhisker, tumbling together in a mass of fur and claws. The three remaining ThunderClan cats circled Bearfrost.
"ThunderClan, attack!" a tom named Dusktooth commanded. They leaped onto Bearfrost's head, shoulders, and hind legs, pinning him down. Dusktooth rasped into his ear,
"Where did the tip of your tail go, fish-breath?"
"Somewhere that if you ever went, you would run mewling to your mother with your tail in between your legs!" Bearfrost spat back. He had almost forgotten completely about his shortened tail, and now he lashed it back and forth, preparing for sharp teeth and claws to sink into his skin.
"Bearpaw, I'm coming!" A familiar voice shouted.
Plumeshine! He always comes right when we need him most. Maybe he is still a loyal RiverClan cat after all. Bearfrost felt two of the three large warriors rise up off him to meet Plumeshine's attack. Bearfrost's brother was a lot bigger and more muscular than when he had last seen him, and Plumeshine easily overtook the two smaller ThunderClan cats.
Bearfrost then found the strength to rise up and twist around to slash at the last cat, Wrencreek, as she began struggling to bite his back legs. His claws met her eye, and there was a large splatter of blood as well as a shriek of horror and pain.
"My eye! Why you piece of fox-dung!" Wrencreek hurried over to a nearby bush, where the ThunderClan medicine cat Larktail was waiting with healing herbs.
Plumeshine was deep in battle with Dusktooth and the other warrior Bearfrost didn't recognize, and he rushed over to help his littermate. Plumeshine had pinned Dusktooth while the other warrior struggled to stand due to the kick Plumeshine had given him.
Bearfrost tackled the warrior on the ground, and sunk his teeth into his shoulder for a moment before he pinned him to the dirt.
"What is your name?" Bearfrost asked through a strained voice.
"S-Swanpaw." The cat replied. Bearfrost realized that this cat was an apprentice, and decided not to cause him any more pain.
"Well, Swanpaw, I suggest you go back to your Clan, and not attack RiverClan ever again. Got it?" Swanpaw shook and nodded, and Bearfrost let him rush to his medicine cat.
Bearfrost looked around, and saw that RiverClan was heavily outnumbered. Everywhere he turned he saw a cat from his own Clan battling two, three, or four cats at a time. Then, he spotted Spiderstrike.
His Clan deputy was lying on his side, unmoving. Multiple ShadowClan warriors were standing over him, and jabbing him with their claws.
"Get up and fight!" One of them taunted.
Ravenlight. The ShadowClan tom that claimed we stole prey from their territory.
Spiderstrike barely moved, only twitching his tail. It was obvious to Bearfrost that he was injured badly. He rushed to his deputy's side, hissing at the ShadowClan cats.
"Maplefern! Maplefern!" He called for the medicine cat. "Have you no honor? To torture a cat that is obviously badly wounded?" He spat at the ShadowClan cats. They only scoffed in reply and trotted off towards the thick of the battle. Bearfrost knew that he should go and fight as well, but Spiderstrike needed to be seen to.
"Bearfrost..?" Spiderstrike's weak voice came barley at a whisper.
"Yes, Spiderstrke? What is it?" Bearfrost tried to sound cheerful, but his voice failed to hide his concern.
"Let Rainstar know that I will always be honored to serve as his deputy, if only for a few moons…"
"What do you mean? Maplefern is going to make you better, and then you will be able to keep being Rainstar's deputy for many seasons, and maybe you'll even become Spiderstar, the great leader of RiverClan." Bearfrost tried to fill Spiderstrike's mind with happy thoughts, for he knew that these breaths his deputy were taking would be his last.
"Bearfrost… You know as well as any cat that won't happen." Spiderstrike smiled weakly. "Before I die, promise me this…" Spiderstrike took a deep breath, then seemed to close his eyes to think.
"Promise you what?" Bearfrost began prodding at the deputy's chest, feeling no heartbeat. "Spiderstrike?" He whispered.
Spiderstrike's eyes opened, revealing them to be glowing orange. "Promise me you'll go to the place of rocks and stones to create new life." Spiderstrike's eyes closed for the last time, as his final moments of life slipped away.
"I will, Shiningblaze. I will, Spiderstrike. I will, StarClan." Bearfrost looked up at the stars, which were slowly fading away to the dawn's light. He took a deep breath, momentarily mourning the death of his deputy. Then, Bearfrost got to his paws and hurled himself back into the battle that would change RiverClan's fate forever.
"RiverClan, retreat!" Rainstar's voice called over the clearing of tired, battered cats. It was now sunhigh, and the battle had begun before dawn.
The RiverClan cats flooded out of the clearing, following Rainstar, who was dashing towards the lake. Bearfrost could hear the other three Clans yowling their victory, but all he could think to do was keep running. Bearfrost was so tired, he felt as if his paws were about to drop off just from the effort of thinking about running.
After a few moments, Rainstar reached the shore of the lake. He bounded to the top of a fallen tree, and sat down, huffing.
"RiverClan, gather round for a Clan meeting." Rainstar sounded too exhausted to say the traditional words. "As you can see, we have lost the battle, and our home."
"What will we do?"
"Is RiverClan destroyed?"
"Why did the Clans accuse us of trespassing and stealing prey, anyway?" The last shout came from Willowtwig, who was raggedy and covered in blood.
"First, before we do anything, I want Maplefern and Dewpaw to come around and heal everyone." Rainstar nodded at the medicine cat and her temporary apprentice, and they stood up, and began to search for herbs. Bearfrost felt in need of a long wash in a stream to get all of his own and other cats' dried blood off of his pelt.
When Maplefern and Dewpaw had found enough of what they needed, with the help of a few less wounded cats, they began to chew some of the herbs into a pulp.
"Do you remember what I taught you?" Maplefern asked Dewpaw.
"Yes." She replied.
"What do juniper berries do?" Maplefern quizzed.
"They help with strength, and soothing pain."
"Comfrey root?"
"If you chew them into a pulp, they can heal broken bones. They can also help take the pain from wounds."
"What about tansy?"
"They can help with coughs, but only in small doses."
"Watermint?"
"Helps with bellyaches, and if you roll in it it can cure infection."
"Thyme?"
"Cures shock and anxiety."
"One more. Goldenrod?"
"You can chew it up, and apply it to a wound. It's one of the best for healing cuts or gashes." Dewpaw looked satisfied with her answers, and Maplefern nodded with admiration.
"When I was an apprentice, it took me moons to learn all of the herbs that I quizzed you on. You're a natural medicine cat." Maplefern looked warmly at Dewpaw, while the apprentice looked away shyly.
"We should start healing now." Dewpaw got up, and immediately weaved her way through the crowd to find Bearfrost. He showed her his scratched ears and muzzle, and she applied some goldenrod. She also treated the scratches on his legs and back.
"Here, eat these." Dewpaw shoved two juniper berries at him, and he licked them up.
"Thanks, Dewpaw. I feel a lot better already."
Dewpaw ignored his praise, and moved onto the next cat; Peachblossom.
Bearfrost made his way through the many cats clustered together, to find Plumeshine, sitting alone at the edge of the crowd.
"Hey, Plumeshine." Bearfrost sat beside his brother.
"We didn't win… after all that we didn't win." Plumeshine looked at Bearfrost with big, sad eyes. "I've failed you and all of RiverClan."
"Don't say that, Plumeshine. You fought hard; harder than any other cat I saw fighting in the clearing." Bearfrost wrapped his tail around his brother's shoulders, but Plumeshine shrugged him off. "It was a battle RiverClan couldn't have won, anyways. It was three Clans against one! Without you, I'm sure more cats from our Clan would've died."
"But Spiderstrike and Spottedcloud are both dead…" Plumeshine lowered his head.
"I might've been able to save them if I had arrived earlier-"
"Now you're just being a downer. Spottedcloud was practically an elder, and Spiderstrike died while you were battling with Dusktooth. There is no way you could've saved either of them."
Plumeshine sighed, and layed down. "I think I might stay here, by the lake, while you go find a new home."
Bearfrost hadn't even thought about finding a new home. "But you have to come with us."
"Bearpaw, you know that I'm not accepted by RiverClan after what happened with Shiningpaw…" Plumeshine crouched lower, his head almost touching the ground.
"Plumeshine, I'm a warrior now. And Rainstar gave Shiningpaw a warrior name as well."
"Congratulations!" Plumeshine tried to sound cheerful. "What's your warrior name?"
"Bearfrost. And Shiningpaw's new name is Shiningblaze." Bearfrost looked away, embarrassed.
Plumeshine exclaimed, "Bearfrost is a great name. And Shiningblaze fits my sister well."
Bearfrost nodded appreciatively, and used his tail to guide Plumeshine to a sitting position. "Maplefern is coming around to heal. Where is your worst wound?" Bearfrost examined Plumeshine, and found a large bite mark on his leg, which was still bleeding.
"Is that the worst one?"
"No, the one that hurts the most is on my underbelly. A WindClan tom scratched really hard. I think his name was Hawthornfoot."
"More like Hawthornclaw." Bearfrost chuckled at his own joke, thinking about the long spikes that protruded off hawthorn plants.
Maplefern and Dewpaw checked all of the cats, including themselves. A couple ThunderClan warriors decided it was alright to attack a medicine cat and her apprentice, so they got a few scratches.
"RiverClan!" Rainstar called. All the RiverClan cats looked up at their leader, giving him their full attention. "We will journey away from the lake at sunhigh."
"Where will we go?" Silverleaf asked.
"I might have an idea." Bearfrost stepped to the front of the crowd, beside Rainstar. "Shiningblaze told me when she was dying, to go to the place of rocks and stones. I believe she means the mountains, or somewhere very rocky." As Bearfrost's words rang out over the cats, a stunned silence set in.
Then, it was broken by Willowtwig. "How can we trust you? You're the littermate of a murderer." Plumeshine visibly cringed, and Bearfrost was brought back to the moment when Plumeshine attacked Shiningblaze just for taunting him. That was the last time Plumeshine saw his sister.
"It was an accident. Anyhow, I don't see why me being his brother makes me any different from him." After the words left his lips, Bearfrost could see Plumeshine flinch again. He immediately regretted what he had said.
"Bearfrost shared this information with me after Shiningblaze's death." Rainstar informed the Clan. "He also told me that in a dream, Shiningblaze said the same thing. I believe we should do as Shiningblaze says, and travel to the place of rocks and stones."
"You're really going to believe a dream that Bearfrost had?" Willowtwig scoffed. "I bet he's just making it up!"
"Why would I give my Clanmates false hope?" Bearfrost retorted.
"Because… Because… Because you aren't actually loyal to RiverClan!" Willowtwig struggled to reply.
"Willowtwig, I remember when you helped teach me how to fish. I remember when you were a light-hearted tom. What happened to you that would make you so mean? So cruel and selfish?" Bearfrost sat back, satisfied with his response.
Instead of replying, Willowtwig stomped off in the direction of ThunderClan territory.
"He'll be back when we set off to leave. I know Willowtwig. He's a loyal RiverClan cat, but just stubborn." Rainstar reassured Bearfrost.