Shadows of the Storm, Part I: Rising

Thunderpaw’s heart raced as the cats chosen for the battle with SilverClan readied themselves. They were all being given juniper berries by Skypelt and Blazepaw, to give them extra strength.

“Take care of yourself,” Blazepaw pleaded as Thunderpaw ate her juniper berries, grimacing from the foul taste. “Please.”

“I will,” Thunderpaw promised, shaking her head to get rid of the taste of the berries. “I’ll be fine, trust me!”

Blazepaw nodded. “Good.”

The medicine cat apprentice moved out to the next cat, and Magpietail approached Thunderpaw, her emerald gaze holding pride and affection.

“I know you’ll make me proud,” the black-and-white warrior meowed. “You’ve learned so much since becoming my apprentice. Though I won’t be going with you, I have full confidence that you will do splendidly.”

Magpietail gave Thunderpaw a lick on the ear, and the apprentice gave her mentor a lap on the shoulder. Thunderpaw was so glad she had such a supportive, wise mentor.

“Warriors of DawnClan,” Wrenstar commanded from the edge of camp, “move out!”

Magpietail nodded to Thunderpaw, stepping away as the cats chosen for the battle began their mission. Thunderpaw could feel adrenaline course through her veins, making her paws itch to run, though she knew she had to save her energy for the battle itself. Wrenstar had told the DawnClan battle cats that, if they made it to SilverClan’s camp, they were not to harm the medicine cats or medicine den, or any of the queens, elders, or kits. Thunderpaw admired Wrenstar’s honour, even if Shadowpaw thought that they should have been allowed to destroy SilverClan’s supply of herbs to send an even clearer message. Thunderpaw saw both sides, but she knew that Wrenstar knew best, so she trusted her leader to make the right decision.

“We got this,” Thunderpaw murmured to Shadowpaw, walking beside her. “Those SilverClan cats will pay for stealing our prey and crossing our borders!”

Shadowpaw only nodded, her grassy gaze focused and hard. The dark-furred molly was determined to prove herself, though Thunderpaw had reassured her that she had nothing to prove, as she was already respected by the whole clan. But Shadowpaw didn’t seem to care; she wanted to satisfy her ambition to become the best warrior in the clans.

The party of cats was silent as they made their way to SilverClan’s territory, tension and anticipation emanating through the air like an invisible energy. The cats became even more silent as they crossed the border into SilverClan’s territory, the forest swallowing them whole and enveloping them in its maw of darkness. The DawnClan cats didn’t make it far before they heard SilverClan cats talking nearby. All of the battle cats halted in their tracks, crouching down low to hide in the forest flora.

“…up with Bluerose?” Thunderpaw heard one of the SilverClan cats speak as they got closer, this cat’s voice deep and rumbly. “She seems happier than usual.”

“She’s gonna have my kits in less than two moons!” another cat announced proudly, Thunderpaw recognising this one’s voice as Branchheart’s. “I’m so excited! I’m gonna be—”

“Wait,” came the quieter voice of Oakstripe. “Do you smell that?”

Eerie silence consumed the forest, though Thunderpaw felt like her heart was beating so hard that there was no way the SilverClan cats couldn’t hear it. There were some incomprehensible whispers from the SilverClan cats, and Thunderpaw felt every muscle in her body tense.

“Attack!” Wrenstar roared suddenly, bursting from the undergrowth of the forest. “Attack, warriors of DawnClan!”

Thunderpaw and Shadowpaw leapt from their spots in unison, charging towards the SilverClan patrol together. The two she-cats caught sight of Emberpaw, the apprentice’s brown eyes huge and filled with terror as they pelted towards her. Together, side-by-side, the sisters slashed at the shocked apprentice, their claws connecting with her muzzle and ears. Emberpaw turned tail and ran, Shadowpaw and Thunderpaw giving chase.

“What a coward!” Thunderpaw spat as they chased Emberpaw through the trees, desperately trying to keep track of where the ginger tabby was going.

“She’s running to get reinforcements,” Shadowpaw pointed out. “Though if she had any pride, she would face us!”

 Without warning, Emberpaw vanished without a trace. Thunderpaw and Shadowpaw skidded to a halt, unable to find where the apprentice had gone.

“We need to get back to the battle,” Shadowpaw advised. “If we get caught out here when the reinforcements arrive, we’ll be in trouble.”

“But we should stop the reinforcements—”

“We won’t be enough. We need to get to the main battle and warn the others that reinforcements are on the way.”

Thunderpaw obeyed her sister, the two mollies heading back to the battle at a swift pace. It wasn’t hard to tell where the battle was, as the sounds of yowling cats rang through the forest, echoing off of the trees. By the time the sisters arrived back at the battle, they could hear the reinforcements approaching rapidly.

“That was quick!” Thunderpaw remarked, shocked.

“They’re used to the forest,” Shadowpaw meowed. “We’re not.”

Shadowpaw found Wrenstar battling a dark grey tom side-by-side with Sandtail, the two experienced she-cats dealing painful blows to the large, resilient SilverClan warrior.

“Wrenstar!” Thunderpaw called. “SilverClan reinforcements are almost here!”

On cue, the SilverClan reinforcements burst into the battle, Thunderpaw catching Shimmerpaw crashing into Shadowpaw out of the corner of her eye before she herself was tackled by a brown tabby she-cat, her green eyes filled with fury as she dug her claws into Thunderpaw’s pelt and pulled her to the ground. The two she-cats tumbled across the forest floor before Thunderpaw leapt away, escaping from the SilverClan warrior’s grasp. Thunderpaw now saw that this molly was Ivynose, Shimmerpaw’s mentor. The warrior was bigger than Thunderpaw, but she’d prepared for this.

I just need to remember Magpietail’s training. 

Ivynose lashed out at Thunderpaw, swiping at her muzzle. Thunderpaw ducked and dodged to the side, darting forward and getting close enough to Ivynose’s tail that she could grasp it in her jaws. The apprentice yanked as hard as she could at the tabby’s tail, the warrior yowling in pain and surprise. Thunderpaw let go of Ivynose’s tail, whipping around and slamming herself into the warrior, just like she’d done to Magpietail. Ivynose fell onto her side, and Thunderpaw pinned her down by the neck.

“Yield,” Thunderpaw hissed.

Just then, Thunderpaw heard a particularly ear-piercing caterwaul. Her attention turned to where the sound came from, and she stared in horror as she saw Shimmerpaw lying on the ground, bleeding and helpless, while Shadowpaw lifted her paw, claws unsheathed for a killing blow. Thunderpaw leapt from Ivynose without thinking, unable to let her sister go through with such a deed, even if Shimmerpaw was just a SilverClan cat.

“Shadowpaw, stop!” Thunderpaw shouted, just in time. “She’s defeated! You don’t have to kill her!”

Shadowpaw stopped, the cold, focused glare in her green eyes melting away. But before Thunderpaw could turn around, she felt claws rake her side as weight shoved her to the ground, pinning her down by the shoulder. Thunderpaw could see Ivynose’s furious gaze out of the corner of her eyes as the SilverClan she-cat raked at Thunderpaw’s belly, causing the apprentice to yowl in agony. But the pain didn’t last long, as Shadowpaw tackled Ivynose, bringing the warrior down swiftly. Thunderpaw got to her paws, watching as Shadowpaw grabbed Ivynose by the scruff and shook her viciously, disorienting the warrior before letting her go and pinning her down.

Thunderpaw looked to the battle around her, spotting Cloudybreeze struggling to keep Branchheart away from a wounded Jaygaze. The black-and-white molly rushed to Cloudybreeze’s aid, jumping onto Branchheart’s back while he was distracted with fighting Cloudybreeze. She dug her claws into the tom’s back, causing him to yowl in surprise and pain. Thunderpaw was able to land a blow to the back of his neck with her unsheathed claws before the Bengal tom dropped down to roll over. Thunderpaw lost balance, becoming crushed under Branchheart’s weight before the tom flipped back onto his paws, going in for a strike. Cloudybreeze intercepted him, however, swiping the tom across the cheek with outstretched claws. Branchheart’s green eyes were filled with fury, the tom uttering only a growl of rage as his cheek dripped crimson.

Thunderpaw got to her paws swiftly, falling into stance with Cloudybreeze, the two swiping together at Branchheart. The tom wasn’t easily defeated however, and the two she-cats learned this very quickly: he leapt backwards, planting his back legs into a tree before pushing off from the tree, landing squarely on top of Cloudybreeze, tumbling down with the she-cat as she screeched in shock and agony, Branchheart raking his claws into her stomach and chest. Thunderpaw was about to leap to Cloudybreeze’s assistance, but a flurry of dark fur burst through the undergrowth and crashed into Branchheart, tumbling across the ground with him as the two cats wrestled savagely. Thunderpaw could see that Branchheart’s assailant was Shadowpaw as the large apprentice was shoved away by Branchheart. Cloudybreeze, Thunderpaw, and Shadowpaw stood together against Branchheart, cornering him against a tree, their teeth bared at the tom as blood streamed from his muzzle, shoulder, and newly-nicked ear.

“Warriors of SilverClan! Surrender!”

The sounds of battle halted at this yowl that came from Crimsonstar. Thunderpaw looked to where the sound came from, seeing Wrenstar holding Crimsonstar down, the brown-furred she-cat’s pelt stained with blood and her haunches scarred, her amber eyes filled with wrath. Crimsonstar, however, was worse off—their long fur was matted with blood, scratches scoring their body and face, fear in their emerald gaze.

“Surrender, warriors of SilverClan!” Crimsonstar repeated. “We have lost.”

“Promise upon StarClan that you will never cross our borders again!” Wrenstar demanded, digging her claws into Crimsonstar’s already scarred and blood-stained neck. “Do it, or I’ll take another one of your lives, and I’ll keep taking lives until you promise!”

Gasps of shock came from the SilverClan cats, the news that their leader had lost a life rocking them to their cores.

 “I promise upon StarClan,” Crimsonstar vowed, their voice betraying their disappointment and shame, “that neither me nor my warriors shall ever cross into your territory again, so long as I am leader of SilverClan.”