Disclaimer: After searching my entire house for Erin Hunter, I am forced to conclude that I do not own Warriors, just this idea and my OC's.

Chapter 5. Battle in the ThunderClan Camp

"Is everyone ready?" Blackfoot asks, his tail flickin' eagerly.

We all nod, though my belly is churning. I try to catch Snag's eye, but he's looking at Tigerclaw with an admiration that disturbs me.

"Cici, I want you right behind me," Tigerclaw meows.

"Me?" I gasp.

"Unless there's another Cici on this patrol," he snaps.

"Keep your fur on, I'm comin'. Said I'd fight for you, didn't I? I don't break my word," I say, taking my place. A low hiss from Tangleburr warns me to watch myself.

Before I know it, we're racing through the forest, new scents flooding my nose and mouth. Righteous fury, excitement, and anxiety fight for space inside me. On one paw, I wanna rip the ThunderClan warriors' fur off for what they've done to my friends: turnin' their clan against 'em and capturin' their rightful leader. But on the other, Tigerclaw still makes me nervous. He don't tolerate no cat questioning his orders or his motives, which reminds me of how Scourge and Bone operate. And when he talks about Fireheart, the kittypet who's supposedly ruining ThunderClan, there's somethin' wrong about the burning, insane intensity in his eyes and voice. I don't like the way both Snag and Mowgli idolize him, how neither of 'em got a thought in their head these days the ThunderClan deputy didn't have first. I know exactly why Tigerclaw wants me right behind him. He don't trust me. Sometimes I think if he could drive me off or kill me and be completely sure that Snag and Mowgli would stay, he would. But the three of us have been through things these clan cats ain't never thought of, and that makes us tight.

It's been almost a moon since we joined the ShadowClan exiles. I've had a hard time gettin' used to takin' orders from Blackfoot, but the training has made us stronger and faster than we've ever been. I like this warrior code they've told us about, though some parts of it still don't make sense.

"I see the camp up ahead!" Stumpytail yowls. "Brokenstar will be free soon."

Tigerclaw pushes his way through a tunnel made out of gorse into a ravine sheltered by trees, me hard on his paws. I get one glimpse of the ThunderClan camp before chaos breaks out. A pregnant she-cat quickly moves some kittens into a deep thicket. There's a pile of prey beside another bush, more live prey than I ever seen. It looks like cats just goin' about their business.

Tigerclaw glares at us and roars, "To me, ThunderClan!"

He prepared us for this part of his plan, but his command still sends a shard of fear like broken glass right through me. This turns to full-blown panic when Tigerclaw pounces on me, pinning me to the ground and fastening his teeth in my scruff. I twist and writhe but can't break free. All Mama's dire warnings about the dangers of forest cats were true! He lured the ShadowClan exiles here so his warriors could finish 'em once and for all, but why he bothered with us is a mystery. Could be he just hates town cats on account of that kittypet he's always meowing about. Stupid, stupid she-cat! I deserve to get killed for falling for this.

But then I realize his claws are sheathed, and his teeth ain't breakin' my skin, and relief makes me go limp. Maybe this will all work just like he said.

"Betray me, Cici, and I will kill you slowly," Tigerclaw hisses in my ear. With that horrifying threat, he lets me go and springs into the mass of struggling cats.

A ginger tom about my age springs at me, snarling savagely. I hiss in pain as his claws slash my side. I twist his way and try to grapple him, but strong back legs pummel my stomach, knockin' the wind right outa me. Is this Fireheart? I wonder as I stagger to my paws and flee. He don't fight like a cat pampered by twolegs.

I look for the rest of my patrol. Snag's fightin' a lithe brown she-cat, both of them bleeding. Two elderly, battle-scarred she-cats advance on Blackfoot. A dark tabby tom with a crooked tail and terrible scars over both eyes holds down a brown ThunderClan tom. That's gotta be Brokenstar, the former ShadowClan leader we're here to rescue. Tangleburr and a burly gray warrior are locked together in a snarling knot beside the thicket where the kittens be hidin'.

"Help your clanmates in battle. Your lives depend on each other," Tigerclaw told us euring our last training session. Ain't like I need some forest cat tellin' me that. Mowgli and I have always depended on one another, since before we opened our eyes.

So even though I don't see my brother and worry bites me, I jump in to help Blackfoot. I land on the back of the smaller tabby she-cat, diggin' my claws into her flanks as hard as I can. She yowls in pain and tries to roll over, and I sink my teeth into her exposed belly.

"You fight well, Cici," Blackfoot says, pinning her clanmate beneath his giant black paws.

"If you say for a rogue, I'll claw your ears off later," I meow.

As the she-cat twists and bites into my shoulder, my eyes catch Mowgli's just a few cat-lengths away. He scores his claws across Fireheart's flank, yowling in triumph. Fireheart tries to attack, but Mowgli bats him away, just like Tigerclaw taught us. He's almost got Fireheart pinned when a golden-brown ThunderClan tom springs on him from behind and sinks his teeth into his neck, shaking him like one of them light trash balls we played with as kittens.

Blackfoot and the she-cat I'm holdin' down fly right out of my head. I leap toward Mowgli's attacker, who's dragged him off Fireheart and bitten down on his paw. Mowgli takes one look at the other tom and flees the ravine.

Ain't no way I'm lettin' my brother run through this unfamiliar forest full of hostile and possibly insane cats alone. But I can't help lookin' over my shoulder as I pelt back through the gorse tunnel. In my last glimpse of the ThunderClan camp, Tigerclaw is pushin' his way through some plants under a high slab of stone, into some sort of cave. Is that where his leader is? I wonder with a pang of guilt. I didn't see the old blue-gray she-cat he told us to look out for.

I catch up with Mowgli at the top of a hill overlookin' a small sandy hollow. He's panting and trembling, sheltered behind a half-grown tree. "It's okay, I'm here," I say, licking him soothingly as I check his wounds. I ain't no medicine cat, but I don't like the wound in his neck.

"We gotta go back," Mowgli says once he's got his breath.

"I know you ain't an idiot, so quit talkin' like one," I snap.

"But Tigerclaw needs us," my brother meows.

"Tigerclaw threatened to kill me," I growl. "Far as I'm concerned, he can go die in a hole." Mowgli's green eyes widen as I spill what happened when Tigerclaw had me at his mercy as the fight began. But he looks more resigned than scared or outraged.

"Cici, I know you got bad memories of BloodClan—I do too—but Tigerclaw ain't like that. If you want him to trust you and stop seeing you as a threat, you got to quit unsheathing your claws every time he looks at you. We can't survive unless we join Tigerclaw or BloodClan, and I reckon our odds are better with Tigerclaw."

I lash my tail in anger, but the sinkin' in my gut says Mowgli's right. "Let's just go back to town and see how the battle turns out. If we see any of the forest cats again, we can try and get back in," I say reluctantly.

"I guess it makes sense to see if Tigerclaw wins, though I can't imagine he won't," Mowgli says.

"Ain't no need to act like Tigerclaw walks on water," I grumble.

We only have to hide once on our way back to town. I pull Mowgli into a thicket as four ThunderClan warriors, led by a pale ginger she-cat, sprint past. They're all growlin' 'bout what they gonna do to the rogues who dared attack their camp. I don't relax my bunched muscles until they're long gone, and I keep lookin' over my shoulder till we get back to the familiar alleys of the town we grew up in.