I can't hardly see the ground for all the flyin' fur and screamin', runnin' bodies. Boulder lifts his head over the edge of the bushes, no doubt lookin' for Russetfur. Zander and I pull him back, though I'm as desperate to see how every cat is doin' as he is. My claws score through the dirt, eager to get to work.
"We gotta wait for the right time," I say. "Stick to the plan."
A cacophony of yowls and screeches fills the night. The smell of blood burns my nostrils. Don't take long for some of the fighting to spill out of the ShadowClan camp. I spot Barley and Ravenpaw goin' at it the Snake and Ice. It looks real personal.
"I know you!" Snake (I think it's Snake, but it ain't easy tellin' 'em apart) hisses.
"You didn't have the courage to stay with Scourge," Maybe-Ice adds.
"At least I had the courage to leave," Barley growls back. He and Ravenpaw match one another blow for blow like they grew up trainin' together.
I lose sight of them among the knots of battling felines. But a few heartbeats later, I catch a glimpse of Mistyfoot's blue-gray pelt as she wrestles with Emerald outside the deserted nursery. Featherpaw and Stormpaw fight beside her. Sandstorm is locked together with Snipe. My breath catches in my throat as the black BloodClan warrior bats my friend away and rakes teeth-studded claws down her side. Sandstorm yowls in pain and sinks her teeth into Snipe's ear. Then Deerfoot is there, scratching the BloodClan she-cat's muzzle and snarlin' somethin' that gets lost in the din. Ain't the only time I see warriors from different clans helpin' each other. My heart swells as a WindClan she-cat yanks Claw off Tallpoppy.
"Can we go now, Nettlethorn?" Lucky asks eagerly.
Is this the right time? Before I can make up my fool mind, the question is taken out of my paws. Some cat crashes through the bushes behind my patrol.
"What the-" I start to say, but Snag's yowl drowns mine.
"BloodClan, there's another ambush!" In a slightly lower voice, he adds with a leer, "I knew you two idiots were up to somethin' when Brick said she saw you in town. It don't matter how many other idiots you brought with you; Scourge will still win."
"Joining BloodClan? Really? Jerry would be ashamed of you, Snag," Scorch snarls.
"You fox-hearted son of a twoleg!" Boulder curses.
"Let's do this! We fight with the forest! Down with BloodClan!" I shriek, streakin' through the thorn tunnel at top speed. Still swearing inventively, Boulder follows hard on my paws, our companions streamin' out behind us.
Snag's gotta pay for messin' up my ambush, but before I can sink my claws into the traitor, he ducks behind a pine tree and lunges for a WindClan tom. So I take out my frustrations on the nearest BloodClan cat I can get hold of, who turns out to be a one-eared old tom called Screech. I scratch his nose deeply. He rears back as blood pours from the wound, the screech comin' from him provin' his mama named him right. While he's off balance, I knock his paws out from under him, give his remaining ear a hard bite, then push him away.
As Screech decides he got somewhere better to be, another enemy lands on my back with extended claws. I yowl in pain as my attacker rips chunks of fur away. I try rollin' free, but his grip is strong. I'm looking into the snarling face of Gordon. The big tom obviously ain't forgotten how I beat him a few days ago.
Before he can bite down on my neck, a spotted paw whacks him upside the head. When Gordon looks away, claws go for his eyes.
"Thanks," I say, panting as I throw him off and stand up. The world spins for a heartbeat, then steadies. My savior is Leopardstar. The RiverClan leader looks tired but also more alive than I've seen her since the first TigerClan meeting. I wonder what she really thinks of how I defended her warriors when she couldn't or wouldn't. Maybe she hates me for makin' her look bad.
But she just says cooly, "Your allies are a true help."
I follow Leopardstar's gaze to where Snake and Ice are now takin' on Risk and Chance. The brothers look like they're gonna regret comin' back for round two with the black she-cats, on account of they're pinned against an intact section of the camp wall. Scorch is a few paces away wrestling with a tabby she-cat, and Lucky is helping a WindClan warrior drive back a BloodClan tom.
"We all doin' our best," I say. We both know I'm talkin' about more than the battle. Leopardstar dips her head in understanding, then bounds away to help Stormpaw.
I lose myself in battle for awhile. Everything becomes glinting teeth, slashing claws, and blood. So much blood. At one point, I spot the lithe brown body of Deerfoot, one of ShadowClan's most senior warriors, lyin' motionless on the ground. He was the most badly hurt when our camp fell and definitely shouldn't be in this fight, but knowin' him, the daft furball insisted. I feel a pang of loss but can't think of it for more than a heartbeat as another screechin' cat shoulder-checks me. I batter his belly with my paws, eventually forcin' him away.
At one point, I end up fightin' beside Brightheart and Cloudtail. The one-eyed she-cat proves to be more than these BloodClan wastes of space can handle. A big tom keeps tryin' to go for her blind side, but she weaves around him and slashes out ferociously.
"Those battle moves are awesome!" I enthuse as I rip my claws through the face of the cat Cloudtail is holdin' down.
Over by the thornbush where Tigerstar made me sleep during my punishment, I see somethin' that makes every drop of blood inside me turn to ice. A black apprentice, bleeding and trembling, crouches over the body of a clearly dead warrior, maybe his mentor or one of his parents. With a pang, I recognize her as Ottersplash, the she-cat who hunted with us before we left for town. Bone stalks toward the apprentice, like he got all the time in the world. The huge black-and-white tom swipes almost playfully at the smaller cat, and as I run in that direction, I hear him snarl, "Time to die, kit. You should've run away."
I slam, claws extended, into the BloodClan deputy's side. I'm relieved to see the apprentice scurry beneath the thornbush, where it'll be harder for a big cat like Bone to get at him. Bone almost manages to stay on his paws despite my attack, but the muddy ground betrays him. He falls, exposing his belly.
"Were you born an abusive, kit-killin' piece of garbage, or did you have to work at it?" I growl, sinkin' my fangs into his belly. A savage joy turns my blood to fire as Bone roars in pain.
He wrenches himself away from me and rakes his reinforced claws across the top of my head, shredding one of my ears. Pain shoots through me from nose to tail as I feel blood tricklin' through my fur.
"If I'd known you'd turn out to be such a nuisance, I'd have killed you as well as your wretched brother. Better yet, I should've put an end to your no-good, treacherous mother," Bone hisses.
I twist away from his next lunge. Bone curls his lip in frustration as his paws thud hard into the earth. I jump to my feet, shakin' blood out of my ears, and slice at his back legs. Bone stumbles into the thornbush with another yowl of pain. Battle rages all around us, but I feel like we're the only two cats in the world.
I dart forward again as Bone pulls himself out of the bush, but I underestimate his speed. Before I can swipe at his eyes, his teeth meet in my scruff. For a small cat like me, lettin' a bigger opponent get a firm grip is bad news. But no matter how hard I fight, I can't wriggle away. Bone shakes me like a piece of prey, then throws me.
My paws leave the ground as I fly through the air. Fresh agony explodes in my skull as I slam into one of the rocks outside the medicine den. Black spots pulse in my vision. He'll kill you if you pass out, I think, desperately tryin' to claw my way back from the edge of unconsciousness.
Bone rears over me, eager for the kill. The moonlight glints off his reinforced claws. Claws that will rip through my throat in another heartbeat if I don't move. I try to scramble to my paws, but a wave of dizziness puts an end to that real quick. Bone lowers his forepaw. This is it.
Somethin' tugs way down deep inside me. Ain't no better way to describe it. Some barrier hidden in a mental crevice I've never explored breaks like the bones of a small animal. A strange new power surges through my blood, so cold it burns. The mysterious energy erases the pain from my wounds and the blow to my head, then reaches out to… somewhere. Scents of grass, too-sweet flowers, and twolegs fill my nose. The smells of the garden where I dreamed of Mama and Coal.
I reckon I'm dead when I smell that, but based on what I saw with Tigerstar, the whole gettin'-cut-open business hurts a lot. Plus, I can still hear the battle. I open my eyes to see what's keepin' Bone from finishin' me off. The BloodClan deputy is grappling with another cat, but hard as I squint, I can't make out its features. The feline shape be shrouded in white mist. But however transparent it looks, my spectral ally's claws are apparently very real. I see the blood coating Bone's black-and-white fur as they slash through his cheek.
"You ain't gonna touch one of my kits again. Not ever!" THE voice snarlin' those words is definitely Mama's, but she sounds more ferocious than I ever heard her when she was alive. I'd swear it was her before every cat in StarClan, though I got no idea how she came here. It's one thing to dream of dead cats, but they don't show up in the waking world like this.
Bone is a tough cat, but he ain't up to fightin' ghosts. The fear I see in his eyes as he turns and flees into the crowd of strugglin' cats does me ten kinds of good.
"Mama, how are you here?" I call, lookin' around frantically for her. But she's gone. The only signs that she was ever here are a whisp of white smoke blowin' away on the night breeze and a faint trace of her scent in my nose.
From behind me, a deep male voice asks, "Nettlethorn, are you okay?"
I near 'bout jump out of my fur as I spin around. Blackfoot stands there, his sides heavin' and his pelt streaked with blood and dirt.
"Yeah," I meow. "Cats always be tellin' me I got a hard head."
And that's why I saw and heard Mama, I tell myself. I just got knocked on the head too hard and had a little hallucination. That's gotta be it. When a nagging little voice asks why Bone ran off from a figment of my imagination, I order it to shut up. I ain't got time for this.
Turnin' away from Blackfoot, I spot Claw, he of the scarred forehead, pinning down the slender ThunderClan she-cat who argued for sendin' us away. Pushin' all thoughts of Bone and ghosts from my mind, I sneak up behind Claw and whack him upside the head as hard as I can. He releases the ThunderClan warrior as his eyes slide out of focus. She wastes no time in rakin' her claws over his belly and flanks. Claw staggers toward the camp entrance, yowlin' fit to split. Rowanpaw and Cedarpaw nip at his hindquarters, drivin' him out of camp. They'll force him through the marshes and out of clan territory.
"ShadowClan tactics," the cranky ThunderClan warrior mutters, but she winks at me as she limps off toward the side of the clearing where the medicine cats are waiting together.
It turns out Snag ain't the only traitor who showed up today. Darkstripe has leapt on Firestar and is goin' for his ex-leader's throat. I start to leap to his side, but Graystripe beats me to it, wrenching the dark warrior away.
I shriek in pain as teeth-sharpened claws rake one of my forelegs. "You're mine, deserter," the BloodClan she-cat growls. It's Snipe, and the look in her green eyes ain't nothin' but death.
I lunge for her throat, but Snipe twists her head away. My teeth meet harmlessly in black fur. She comes in for another swipe at my uninjured paw. I thrust her away with my shoulder, but Snipe's extra-sharp claws score another glancing blow. I'm bleedin' freely now.
Snipe smirks, knowin' I'm gettin' weaker. She used to smirk just that way while watchin' Bone or Scourge make some cat (Mama, for instance) suffer. Her eyes tell me I never really escaped BloodClan at all.
Before she can attack again, a small silvery blurr shoots between us. Caught off guard, Snipe hits the dirt. For a crazy heartbeat, I think it's Featherpaw rippin' the black she-cat's throat open. But then I recognize Hope, the quietest of my rogue companions, the one I know least about.
"That was for Max," Hope hisses in Snipe's ear, then whirls away and attacks a BloodClan tom I don't know. I don't ask if Max was her mate, brother, kit, or friend. He's avenged, and that's all that matters.
My gaze is drawn to a tussle near Clanrock, where Tigerstar addressed us so many times. A big group of apprentices—Bramblepaw, Tawnypaw, Lightningpaw, Stormpaw, and Featherpaw—have all ganged up on a single enemy, to the point I can't make out who's writhing beneath them. Until one of the apprentices shifts and I see black-and-white fur. Bone is lyin' there, blood all over the place.
Even as I watch, stunned, Lightningpaw sinks her fangs into his neck. A gout of blood covers the little ginger-and-white she-cat. Bone twitches a few times, then goes still. The apprentices leap away, yowlin' in triumph, but I just stand there like a rock. I can't believe the BloodClan deputy, the cat who terrorized my kithood and almost killed me this very night, is really dead. Probably it's just in my head, but I think I hear relieved sighs from Mama, Coal, and Nightwhisper, like some darkness is finally past.
Suddenly Snag appears out of nowhere and seizes Bramblepaw. Tawnypaw ain't havin' none of it and leaps at him. "Don't touch my brother, traitor!" she shrieks.
Snag drops Bramblepaw, bats his sister away, and goes for... NO! I'm a good fox-length away, but I don't think before I leap. Ain't no time for that. Snag misses Lightningpaw's throat but bites into her shoulder fiercely. As she cries in pain and terror, the other apprentices attack.
"Out of the way!" I snarl, sheathin' my claws before batting Featherpaw aside. I slam into Snag hard enough to bring both of us to the ground.
"You're disgusting. We should've left you in that dumpster to die. You should've got run over in the road instead of Jerry," I hiss.
"All this is your fault!" he snarls, lungin' for my neck. Don't see how he figures that, but I guess cats like him gotta blame someone when their hero falls. There's nothin' he won't do now to hurt me, or to lash out for the wrongs he thinks been done him.
So I don't hesitate as I tear his throat open. Snag's eyes widen as blood bubbles in his windpipe. He gasps somethin' that could be my old name, then coughs out the last of his strength. A memory comes on me then, so powerful the battle disappears for a heartbeat. I'm lyin' in our old twolegplace den, sharin' tongues with Snag after our first meetin' with Tigerstar, dreamin' of a better future. Never in a thousand moons had I imagined our path together might end with me takin' his life.
"Nettlethorn, look out!" Lightningpaw shrieks.
I twist out the way as a BloodClan tortoiseshell leaps at me, her muzzle coated with blood. I swipe at her as she hurtles past me. Stormpaw catches the end of her tail in his teeth and shakes his head violently. The tortoiseshell screeches in pain and bats at him with her hindpaws. Not to be outdone, Featherpaw knocks her legs out from under her and scratches her shoulder hard. The BloodClan she-cat takes one look at me and the snarling apprentices and runs for the camp entrance.
My gaze snaps back to Lightningpaw. She's bleedin' from the shoulder, and despite tryin' to look tough, I can see she's in some serious pain. Rowanpaw is beside her, supportin' her.
"Let's get you to a medicine cat," I say briskly. The other apprentices scatter as Lightningpaw and Rowanpaw follow me toward the medicine cats, alert for enemies.
"Nettlethorn, why did Jaggedtooth… how could he do that? Try to kill Lightningpaw? I know he was a BloodClan traitor, but…" Rowanpaw gulps and looks down at his paws, hunchin' up in grief and shame for his mentor. I reckon this is how Tigerstar's ThunderClan apprentices and kits feel sometimes.
"Some cats are just dark inside. They can hurt us and don't care," I say, wishin' I could give Rowanpaw a better answer.
When we reach the bushes, Littlecloud is busy tending a nasty gash in Ratscar's belly. But Cinderpelt hurries over when she sees us. Relief sweeps over me as I point at Lightningpaw with my tail. Lightningpaw draws away, her eyes narrowin' with instinctive mistrust.
"Lightningpaw, this is Cinderpelt," I say gently. "She took care of me after I escaped the foxhole."
A triumphant yowl from Scourge has me leapin' out of the bushes, ready to protect the medicine cats and patients. Rowanpaw be at my side, bristlin'.
"Your sneak attack has done you no good, forest fools. I have killed your leader!" Scourge howls in glee. "Firestar is dead!" Dread pools in my stomach as I see the limp ginger form at the BloodClan leader's ridiculously tiny paws.