Chapter 21: First Real Team Fight

The day was young. Darkstripe had been pacing around camp. Something in the air told him something big was going to happen today. Darktripe's intuition was correct when Onewhisker came sprinting into camp. Apparently Windclan was under attack by both Shadowclan and Riverclan. Already a fury was building up in Darkstripe. How dare those Shadowclan frog munchers act so rashly. Couldn't they go a moon without breaking the code so flagrantly. Riverclan was also not off the hook in Darkstripe's mind as he knew those wetpelts conspired with Shadowclan for this raid. Crookedstar was beginning to turn as crooked as his name implied.

Tigerclaw quickly whipped up two battle patrols. Darkstripe stuck close to Fireheart. This was a good opportunity to test his and Fireheart's synch. The Windclan camp was a mess of combat. The hot fury Darkstripe held turned icy and calculating. His mind was on overdrive as he stuck close to Fireheart. As a support, no detail was allowed to be missed. Friends and foes had to be accounted for.

Fireheart entered the battle expecting to fight like any other fight, but a certain cat pressed closely to his side. That cat felt hot as battle energy flooded their bodies. Fireheart threw himself at one Riverclan cat and clung to their back. Fireheart expected them to try to buck him off, but instead his 'partner' seized the opportunity to roll the cat. Fireheart off instinct shifted as the cat fell transitioning to a traditional pin. He raked his claws across their belly as Darkstripe intercepted another Riverclan cat trying to break Fireheart's pin. Fireheart bit hard into his opponent's shoulder causing the cat to yowl in pain. Fireheart moved to assist Darkstripe as his first opponent pelted out of the camp.

Darkstripe was carefully monitoring Fireheart as the battle progressed. Fireheart was a skilled fighter, but as Darkstripe observed, he realized the cat suffered from tunnel vision in a fight. Thunderclan's arrival had certainly set the aggressor clans on the back paw. The Shadowclan and Riverclan presence was beginning to subside.

In the midst of battle, Fireheart ended up getting jumped by Silverstream He quickly rolled her and was going to strike when Graystripe caught his eye. He instantly knew hurting her would be ab etrayel to his friend, so he released her. Graystripe looked relieved, but as quick as a flash, Darkstripe arrived and put a scratch across the she-cat's muzzle. Graystripe stared at the Dark warrior with obvious hatred before having to move back into the battle.

Darkstripe found his synch with Fireheart was out of tune ever since he put that superficial scratch on that Riverclan cat. He quickly tried to accommodate, but the flow between them was frayed enough that Fireheart missed Darkstripe's signal to avoid the Riverclan deputy. She quickly pinned Fireheart and was almost going for a kill when Darkstripe hauled her off and tossed her to Whitestorm. Soon the camp was secured. Darkstripe knew he had to address what happened with that Riverclan Molly before a bigger rift formed between himself and his protégé.

On the way back, Darkstripe signaled Fireheart to space himself from the patrol a bit, so they could talk.

"What was that back there? You were going to let that Molly go without a scratch."

"I couldn't hurt her. I can't tell you why, but it would hurt someone else if I did."

"This is about Graystripe, isn't it? Listen. If you ever want to let a cat go free, you have to leave at least something behind to show you fought. It may seem I'm trying to be cruel, but that scratch I put on her is entirely superficial. It'll be gone within a day and won't scar, bit it will bleed like all face injuries do. A case of looks worse than it is."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You and your friend aren't the first and won't be the last to have relations with other clans. Its advice I give every cat I meet who is in one of these relationships. Cats are watching in a battle, and a cat running away unscathed is suspicious. I also saw how Gray looked at me. Let me guess. He's in an interclan relationship with her, and you are covering?"

Fireheart was dumbfounded. Darkstripe hadn't just deduced what was going on, but was giving advice on how to keep doing it. Truly a strange cat.

"How did you know?"

"Little Gray isn't the most subtle. I mean he goes 'hunting' all day and comes back with just a sparrow. I've caught sneakier cats than him. Most just meet at Fourtrees at what I call the 'interclan club.' We dealers meet there all the time and see them. We never report them since there isn't a point to do that. As long as both cats keep up their duties and keep any kits under queens' right, they really haven't broken the code to us."

Fireheart began to think maybe the Graystripe thing might work out until he saw Darkstripe's face turn sour.

"Graystripe is breaking the rules to me. He's abandoning his duties by using all of his time fraternizing with that she-cat. I'd be fine with it if he just met at Fourtrees every once and a while, but no. He's seeing her all day every day. His meeting location is making Riverclan think there's a spy. He's actively harming the clan at this point, and this will all come to a head soon if something isn't done."