Chapter 103: Tigerstar's Blitz
Stonefur was starting to look better after a couple more days. He managed to avoid having more panic attacks after some counseling from Cinderpelt as well as interacting with his sister. Unfortunately, he still had a lingering hatred for Riverclan for betraying him, but he was overall recovering. Ravenfeather and I were laying with him, enjoying the midday sun when a Windclan cat came pelting into camp yelling about how Tigerclan was invading them. All of us were immediately on our paws. We'd been waiting for Tigerstar to make his move.
As Firestar and I began organizing our rescue patrol, Stonefur came up to me. "I want to help. I want to fight. Those Riverclan traitors have been calling for my claws." He mewed, a growl coming from the back of his throat.
"Stonefur. I need you here. Please just stay here. As far as we know, Tigerclan is attacking Windclan, but we don't know if there's more. We swore to back Windclan up, but Tigerstar knows that. There's a real chance that a second raid will occur here once we take off to assist Windclan. I need you to protect the cats here." I answered, knowing Stonefur was not recovered enough to avoid the call to violence.
The second raid would not likely occur, but a low probability was not something I wanted to chance. At least if I gave Stonefur something to do, and if things went wrong, we wouldn't be looking at the worst-case scenario. Stonefur begrudgingly nodded. We were leaving behind Snowpaw, Stormpaw, Bramblepaw, Featherpaw, Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Whitestorm, and the queens. Knowing Tigerstar, he had every able-bodied cat in his attack, so taking so many was necessary. Cinderpelt was also to follow at a more sedated pace, so she would arrive after the battle was decided. The rest of us set out at a brisk trot. It would not do for us to get exhausted too early, much to the Windclan warrior's dismay.
When we arrived, Windclan was already heavily pinned. They were outnumbered two to one, but they weren't backing down this time. Their time on the run was too fresh in their minds. They did not want that to happen again. Of course, this proved to be advantageous to us. With Tigerclan so over extended, it made it easy for us to get behind them and force them into close quarters combat. This was Tigerclan's biggest weakness. Shadowclan was a clan largely based on ambushes and guerrilla warfare. Riverclan always called upon the advantage of the river in a fight, needing their home field advantage. Thunderclan meanwhile were used to grounded fights. We could outmaneuver Riverclan, and Shadowclan couldn't survive a long-drawn-out battle. As soon as we hit, it made space for Windclan to break away and begin their hit and run tactics again.
Tigerclan was clearly being pushed into a rout. Tigerstar knew it. He could see his cats falling back. That's when he made his move, capturing a Windclan apprentice as a hostage. I could already tell Tigerstar had gotten what he wanted. This entire attack was to demoralize Windclan and attempt to lessen their numbers by wounding or killing. Of course, with most of his army being clan cats, there hadn't been any deaths yet, but Tigerstar was going to put on a show.
Either luck or fate was on my side because Swiftbreeze was in an opportune position. He was concealed among the wounded behind Tigerstar, having dropped when the battle lulled. I needed to signal him somehow before Tigerstar could kill the apprentice. We had a little time since Tigerstar was monologuing, but it wouldn't be much, and Tigerstar was ready to cut his speech short if he saw any of us act. I couldn't reveal Swiftbreeze or call him out, but I needed to let him know to act. It needed to be silent.
Fortunately, someone else noticed Swiftbreeze as well. It was Brightheart. I couldn't convey what I wanted to Swiftbreeze, but I sent the gesture anyways, which Brightheart picked up. It was one we developed in the kit game Guard. The basic command meant they're not looking. Grab now. Brightheart got my message. She began to circle around Tigerstar, making it clear she wasn't leaving his sight, but that wasn't her goal. Her goal was to get close enough to Swiftbreeze to let him know what to do. I waited a little longer for her to get close and whisper something to him. He gave her a little nod and shot one back to me, waiting for the signal. It was time I put on an act.
"Tigerstar, Tigerstar, Tigerstar. You continue to disappoint me." I tutted, shaking my head as if chastising a kit. I needed him mad, mad enough to take a step towards me in aggression. "You brought in all these cats, and yet you only managed to capture one apprentice. I thought you were better than that, but I guess you really are pathetic." Mewed, knowing it'd rile him up.
Instead of the anger I expected, he shot me a cruel sneer. "You really think this is all I did? You must have lost your touch Smudgefoot. Even now, you don't even realize you've been played. You've brought every warrior in Thunderclan here, right into my paws, but who's back at camp to protect your kits and elders, hmm?" He smugly mewed back, stepping forward to attempt to intimidate me.
"No!" I shouted, wanting him to step a little closer. Tigerstar was trying to enrage me. Even if he did raid Thunderclan, it wouldn't be many cats. It had to be a bluff, but I'd pretend I bought it.
Tigerstar took another step forward, forgetting briefly the apprentice he had captured and now far enough away that he couldn't act before Swiftbreeze could. Tigerstar made to say something, but I sent Swiftbreeze the signal. All at once, Swiftbreeze exploded into motion, slamming into Tigerstar's back and scooping up the apprentice. Tigerstar snarled at his failure to keep his hostage, trotting back to his forces, but he shot one last comment our way before leaving.
"Congratulations Smudgefoot. You saved one life today, but how many did you lose as well?" He mewed cryptically.
Tallstar met us as Thunderclan was rounding up to return home. "We thank you Thunderclan for providing aid, but I must ask for more. Are you willing to heal our cats with your medicines?"
For once, it was Firestar who made the aggressive and tactical move. "No. Thunderclan has no herbs to spare because of a certain unwarranted raid a few moons back. Yes, our medicine cat will provide aid, but not with our supplies. Windclan owes us a great deal, and you request more. I'm afraid we don't have more to give. If not for Tigerclan, we'd be at war with you. There will be no peace between us until Windclan remembers their favors and pays their debts." Firestar growled back. I was honestly impressed. I didn't think he had that kind of bite in him. Firestar's kindness was finally being tempered by his duty to our clan. I couldn't be prouder.
We made our way back with haste, but it turned out Tigerstar's bluff wasn't a bluff. A hole was torn in the camp barrier. We quickly made our way inside expecting carnage, but we were lucky. The apprentices, Whitestorm, Mistyfoot, and Stonefur seemed to have protected the camp. All of them had a share of scratches from the attack, but none looked too bad, though Stonefur was the most worrying. His muzzle was covered in blood, and his eyes were dilated. He was panting with blood still dripping from his mouth. Below him was a body. It was one unfamiliar to me, but it had some disturbing signs. The most notable was the tooth studded collar. This was the third time we'd seen Bloodclan involved with Tigerclan. One or two can be mercenaries, but three… Three meant Scourge was involved. My fur bristled as I knew a battle with Bloodclan would be in our near future.