Warrior Cat Cody: Hey there, everyone, and welcome back to Warrior Cat Tales Of Virtues! I'm gonna focus on this story, The Big Wolf, and Legend Of Owlflame Book 2 before we move on to other stories.

This chapter is gonna be kinda like fundamentalism. Basically, it's when people have a very strict belief in something and is horrified when someone else does something against what they normally believe in. Hollyleaf was like this before her disappearance, and after her reappearance, she's become a better cat, not being very strict with the warrior code. And for that, she's earned my respect, going from one of my disliked characters to one of my most liked characters. But here, the main character of this chapter will go beyond fretting about the warrior code.

Anyway, sorry about all that. Let's get on with the story.

Uploading Date: February 26, 2015

Enjoy!

...

Dawnfur's Secret Mate

With a big claw swipe, Mallowflight drove the EarthClan warrior back and made him fall into the ditch. The light brown tabby she-cat had been called into a fight of AirClan against EarthClan after Lionstar had accused Ravenstar of taking EarthClan land. She was going to go full-out on AirClan like there was no tomorrow, and she wouldn't give up until EarthClan was firmly out of their land.

"Get out of here!" Galeclaw, the AirClan deputy, screeched towards the EarthClan cats. "And take your mud-loving paws with you!"

"Not just yet," the young brown warrior Mallowflight fought growled. "We won't give up!"

"Well said, Elkblaze," Nightfang, deputy of EarthClan, growled. "EarthClan, shove them back to their mountain!"

Galeclaw turned to his warriors and snarled, "AirClan, show them what we're made of!"

The AirClan warriors ran towards their enemies, meeting the wall of teeth and claws with their own. Mallowflight pounced on top of Elkblaze again and raked her claws down his side and to his hind paw, making him hiss in pain. It must have been an injury from apprenticeship, and she was going to keep going for it. She gripped his back paw in her teeth and started biting down hard, making him squeal in pain. And she was about to crunch down more when a cuffing on her ear made her let go of his foot and look around.

"Don't break his foot," a ginger-and-white tom named Slugfoot hissed into her ear. "Even enemies need to flee from battle on all fours."

So Mallowflight reluctantly released Elkblaze and watched him hobble away. Just then, the EarthClan cats were pushing back towards their invaders, catching cats near the eyes with their swipes.

"It's too much," Galeclaw called over the chaos. "AirClan, retreat!"

The AirClan cats immediately broke contact with the EarthClan cats, and they fled up the mountainside. Behind them, they heard the EarthClan cats yowling in triumph, and Mallowflight was upset. They had been a few warriors too short, including her best friend Dawnfur, who was the better fighter out of the two of them. Anyways, they stalked and limped up the mountainside and eventually reached the rock tunnel that led to the AirClan camp, heading into the tunnel and arriving on the other side of the rock.

In front of them was the AirClan camp, which rested on a hillside. Some of the dens were dug into the bottom of the hill while the others had been carved into the rock by a river that ran down the mountain once. The leader's den was inside a rock on top of the hill so that Ravenstar could look down on her Clan and watch their lives go by. As for the medicine den, it was on the farthest right side of the camp, dug in between the dirt and the rock, and Foxmask was coming out of the den, her mouth full of herbs.

"Just look at these wounds!" the black-and-orange she-cat exclaimed. "Everyone who's had a bad injury come to me at once!"

But Mallowflight noticed a cat-like shape awkwardly make its way down the rock barrier and in front of the fresh-kill pile. Her eyes narrowed, she limped over towards the shape and saw that it was Dawnfur. She was just dropping a vole onto the fresh-kill pile and was picking up a partridge when she noticed her friend and dropped the bird on the pile.

"Where have you been?" she asked in a whispering hiss. "We lost the rights to the ditch, and Foxmask is patching up the wounds. Why weren't you with us?"

"I was in the camp," Dawnfur mewed. "Just doing...camp stuff."

Mallowflight didn't believe her. "Not every warrior can be in the camp when a fight goes on. Now where were you?"

The ginger she-cat sighed, looking as if she did not want to talk anymore. But she finally answered, "I was in the Twolegplace, patrolling the borders, when I met this handsome tomcat with long white fur. He was a kittypet, his name is David, and he was really nice."

"And then what?" Mallowflight didn't like where this was going.

"Well...we ended up being mates," Dawnfur finally admitted. "And he's really sweet. I wish you can meet him."

This made Mallowflight back up and stare at her in shock. She had feared this would happen, that someone would fall in love with a kittypet. She had heard of how a kittypet-born leader accepted non-Clan cats into the Clan and considered him a disgrace. Her mother had always taught her that kittypets were not to be trusted, for they could always leech off of the purer warriors and run back to their Twolegs if they showed just a little scratch on the nose.

Don't believe it when they say kittypets can be as tough as warriors, her meow echoed into her ears. They're underneath us, fat and lazy and always scared of the wild. To even think of being friends or StarClan forbid mates would be the deepest shame.

"How could you do this?" she hissed aloud at Dawnfur, her voice harsh. "There was a battle going on, and you were hanging around at the Twolegplace!"

"Not all warriors can fight in one battle," Dawnfur tried protesting. "And I was just hunting after meeting with David."

But Mallowflight was already on a roll. "And that's another thing! Hanging around with a kittypet?! Cats who laze around, eat rabbit droppings, and haven't heard of a battle in their life!" she spat, using the word "kittypet" like a curse. "What would StarClan think of that? They'll be as angry with you as I am! And how long have you been meeting with him?!"

Dawnfur looked hurt when she said this, but she looked like she didn't care. She retorted, "For two moons. In fact, we've been expecting kits for quite some time."

"Half-kittypet kits?! That's against the warrior code!" Mallowflight screeched, sinking her claws into the ground. "You've lost your mind, Dawnfur! You better watch your back, because everyone will hate you until you clean up your act!"

And with that, she limped away, ignoring the shocked and hurt look on her friend's face.

...

True to her word, Mallowflight started spreading rumors about Dawnfur, saying that she was considering abandoning the Clan to be with a kittypet. After that, AirClan now watched Dawnfur with a suspicious look, acting as if she had caught whitecough and was spreading it around. Queens kept their kits away from her, and some of the apprentices even came over to make fun of her. The ginger she-cat endured it, but anytime she appeared to be alone, she would leave the camp and grieve silently.

Mallowflight saw how upset Dawnfur looked after all this...and felt that she deserved it. That would teach her to be mates with a kittypet! But there was also the matter of the kits, which she believed went completely against the warrior code. Maybe if she took them once they were born and dumped them off somewhere, then the matter could be done for good.

It's for her own good, Mallowflight thought to herself. If that doesn't work, I can always get them to break up.

But there was no time to think about it, for Galeclaw was organizing the daily patrols. "Take a border patrol around the edges of EarthClan," the orange tabby tom was meowing. "If you see any EarthClan cats lurking around, challenge them, and if they don't give in, chase them off. If not, then just mark the borders and do the same around the Thunderpath. Plus, make sure to bring back some water from the stream nearby if you will; the elders are getting thirsty, and you know how cranky thirsty elders can be."

"All right, Galeclaw," a black tom named Darkstorm meowed. "Who should we take with us?"

Mallowflight padded over, but for some odd reason, Galeclaw looked angry when her name was mentioned. Then the deputy meowed, "Anyone but Mallowflight. Ravenstar and I actually wanted a word with her."

The confidence she had felt for the past quarter-moon burst like a bubble in a stream. What would the Clan deputy and the Clan leader want with her? Once the border patrol left, Galeclaw flicked his tail towards him, an indication for Mallowflight to follow. She followed him into climbing up the steep slope of the hill until they were before the leader's den.

"Ravenstar, it's me, and I brought Mallowflight," Galeclaw called. "I'm coming in."

They walked on through the entrance, Mallowflight catching sight of the roof of the den before going underneath. Ravenstar was sitting at the back of the cave in her nest, tail wrapped around her paws and her golden eyes gleaming. It was a wonder why everyone in the Clan called her a shadow whenever a cat went to see her. She flicked her tail down to the floor beneath her as a way to say "Sit", and she did so, Galeclaw sitting in between them.

"Galeclaw told me something interesting," the black cat began icily as they settled on the cold stone ground. "Something about all the rumors about Dawnfur. We were wondering if you had anything to do with it."

How did he know? Mallowflight thought angrily. Out loud, she finally meowed, "Yes I did. She mated with a kittypet, and she's expecting his kits. I spread those rumors so no one else would pick up the habit."

"No you didn't," Galeclaw growled. "All you did was humiliate a Clanmate for something that shouldn't have been a big deal in the first place."

"But she mated with a kittypet! It's wrong!" Mallowflight whined. She was frustrated that her leader and deputy didn't think the same as she. "Kittypets will dilute AirClan blood!"

Ravenstar gave her the coldest glare she had ever given her. "In case you hadn't heard, I had a kittypet for a grandfather. His name was Hutch, and he had been a warrior in the past before becoming a kittypet."

Part of Mallowflight felt that the leader and deputy were right, but anger clouded her judgement. So she hissed, "All right, all right! I'm sorry, okay?"

"Don't raise your voice at us," Galeclaw snapped as his gray fur bristled, not fooled by the empty words. "And it's Dawnfur you need to apologize to, not us. Thanks to you, everyone now believes your lies and think she's a traitor."

"What's worse," Ravenstar added with a growl, "is that she's considering leaving AirClan because of your ignorance. And let me give you a short history lesson: every Clan cat has been descended from rogues, loners, former Clan cats, and yes, even kittypets. And if there are kits born half-kittypet and half-Clan, they can be raised here and not feel conflicted about who to stay with. If word of your actions spread out to the other Clans, they'll throw out other cats just because you couldn't let go of your prejudices!"

"FINE!" Mallowflight screeched. "I get it! I'll go apologize to her! Now get off my back!"

She turned on her paws and stalked off. Before she left, she heard Galeclaw yowl after her, "We won't until you drop that attitude!"

But Mallowflight didn't hear anymore, heading down the hill and ignoring the whispering from her Clanmates. She headed into the rock tunnel that led to the outside world and pushed her way through until she was out of camp. Spotting a robin on a nearby tree branch, she supposed that this should be enough for Dawnfur and to keep her StarClan-forsaken furballs fed.

Suddenly, a bark and a yowl made her turn away from the robin. Perhaps she could go and see who made that yowl; the hunt would have to wait. Thus, Mallowflight turned away from her prey and ran down a few ledges before coming across something shocking.

Dawnfur was in a clearing fighting a big black dog, and she was losing. She herself looked thinner as if she had given birth to her kits already, and Mallowflight found herself hoping that they were out of harm's way. In the meantime, Dawnfur had gripped onto the dog's throat, making the larger animal angrier as it tried to shake her off. The beast had enough, for it wrenched her off of its neck and bit down hard on her throat, causing her to gasp as the life was fatally squeezed out of her.

"Dawnfur!" Mallowflight yowled, watching the dog hurl Dawnfur's body against a tree before howling victoriously. With a scream, she hurled herself out of the bushes, darted under the dog, and sliced her claws upward towards the dog's underbelly. The dog wasn't expecting any company, for it gave a yelp and ran back through the bushes, its baying resounding through the forest.

Once the dog was gone, Mallowflight watched the remaining kit mewling desperately, blind and deaf and helpless, before running over to Dawnfur. It was too late to save her; her eyes were pale with death, and bloody scars covered her body.

My best friend's dead...and it's all because of me, she cried silently to herself. She had wanted Dawnfur to learn a lesson, not die. Dawnfur, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I tried to force my opinions onto you! Forgive me!

Then she noticed the kitten lying behind her and mewling for milk, orange like her mother with a white muzzle. With a ragged sigh, she draped her tail around it and drew it closer to her as she thought, I'll take care of you. I'll be the mother and friend I hadn't been to Dawnfur...Sunkit.

To be continued...

...

Warrior Cat Cody: Done with this chapter at last! I hope everyone else likes this chapter because I can fix it if there's something wrong. And please tell me if there's something wrong as long as you're polite about it.

About this chapter, I can't help but feel slightly confused. I know ignorance is usually showing shallow views on stuff like homosexuality or accepting one's beliefs or something like that. But maybe it could also be aware of stuff like autism (which I'm proud to have) and Downs' Syndrome. If either one is the true definition of ignorance, please let me know. But like I said before, be polite about it.

See ya next time!