Sandclan's Destiny Book 3: Blackout

Chapter 16: To the Core

Rockshade slunk through the sands of Venomclan, feeling very vulnerable. The sand beneath his feet felt cool and uninviting. The sky above was shrouded with dark grey clouds, threatening rain but nothing more. He could see the Tangled Willow in the distance, and the imposing shapes crowded around it. Midnightpaw pressed her dark unkempt pelt up against his and whispered, "What if I die?"

"Then we honour the life you lived and bury you." He answered back in a coarse whisper. "But you won't die. I'll promise that. As your mentor I have to protect you in battle."

"Is that a rule?" She whispered in disbelief.

Rockshade had no time to answer as the patrol slowly came to a halt. He hoped that this trip would end the same as the previous one at Rockclan- a small success, little argument and little wounds, and everyone manages to flee back to safety. Rockshade saw Bigstar standing at the front of the group, and he directed his thoughts to her instead.

Their leader whispered through a hiss, "We get in there and we look as threatening as possible. It's the only way to deal with cats like these." Rockshade looked to Midnightpaw who was beginning to unsheathe her claws and put on a scary guise. Her pelt began to bristle as well, and Rockshade could tell that her anger was ingenuous. "Now we'll fan out, claws out, teeth bared with our tails lashing. I don't care if you spit threats, so long as it doesn't go over my voice." Bigstar let the patrol advance again, but faster than before.

Soon they were running and their pawsteps thudded gently against the sand. Rockshade heard hisses from his fellow clanmates and some of them muttered to one another. Sandstripe, the cat in front of Rockshade, suddenly skidded to a halt. Rockshade placed his paws firmly in the sand, doing the same, with Midnightpaw coming up besides him. Rockshade glanced around, heartbeat quickening as he saw the craggy wall looming not-so-far away, a sheer black tower indicated the end of VenomClan camp. He peeked between two warriors' bodies to see the Tangled Willow as well, a threatening and intimidating mass. His breath caught in his throat.

Rockshade could hear Wolfstar's voice booming from above them, "Oh, look who it is! Bigstar and her clan. What a welcome surprise. May we ask what you're doing here?" He cooed. "Of course we can ask. Frostbone, go organize the warriors."

The deputy climbed down from besides her leader, but the warriors did not need organizing. They swerved sneakily around the Sandclan patrol, flanking them and blocking their front but leaving the back exposed. Open to allow us to flee. Rockshade guessed.

*~*~*

Bloodpaw slunk in front of the Tangled Willow from where he was training with Dogpaw. He heard Bigstar's voice ringing across the sandy clearing. The acoustics weren't strong in the camp, save the nursery and from atop the Tangled Willow, but he could make out her distant message:

"Where's Blizzardstar?"

Bloodpaw smirked and brushed against the Tangled Willow. The branches sometimes snagged at his pelt or nicked his skin- the thing was rumoured to be cursed after all- and it did not miss any opportunity to harm a cat just padding by... which made Bloodpaw quite vexed sometimes. But, he did respect the tree's authority- it did kill a traitor queen during the Dreaded Leaf-bare after all. He continued snickering and him and Dogpaw began their chortling laughter as they heard their leader's response:

"Blizzardstar? She's ours now. Fairly. She was traded for the sole purpose of gathering information and for... the gathering, where we will once again STOKE the clans with our progress. Then she's allowed to live forever in Starclan! How THOUGHTFUL of us!"

Bloodpaw laughed aloud and looked over to the Sandclanners whose pelts were bristling and whose teeth were bared, and he could also see that their claws were unsheathed. What manners, coming into another's camp and being already so hostile. But Bloodpaw didn't mind, in fact, he liked the idea that Sandclanners were up for a bit of a tousling.

"We can take 'em all, right? The clan I mean, not us two." Dogpaw asked Bloodpaw. Behind her were Dawnpaw and Frostedpaw.

"Aren't we supposed to be at our battle stations? Y'know, the ones we TRAINED fo-" Frostedpaw began.

"Doesn't matter." Bloodpaw snorted.

"That attitude's what gets you beaten by your mentor, Icemarrow." She retaliated, sneering. "And what gets you held back from being a warrior!"

"Doesn't matter." He repeated, "Come on, wanna visit Blizzardstar? She's right in here." He peeked in through the branches of the Tangled Willow at the leader who was sleeping. Better she slept- last time she was awake she slapped Bloodpaw right in the nose, earning him another scar.

The leader's eyes fluttered open, she was listening the entire time, "Do not bother me. I am leaving soon anyways. Right now. Sandclan has come." She got up and went over to press her face against the branches. She looked tattered, and she was scarred all over her pelt from the endless slashes it took Wolfstar to get her into the willow. She fought hard, but not hard enough it seems.

Dawnpaw, the docile Dawnpaw as she was known, backed away from Blizzardstar. She muttered an apology. Bloodpaw snorted- the fool always agreed to anything anyone told her to do, which was bad, because she never sided with him in arguments. She never sided with anyone, in fact. She's got the mind of a Birdclanner. Of Birdclan blood but of Venomclan influence, and I suppose we didn't brainwash her enough.

"You give her back now before we attack! And we will! And we'll tear your lives away from you, Starclan help us." Bigstar's voice echoed. Blizzardstar's eyes lit up.

Dogpaw and Bloodpaw left the two younger apprentices and slid out to the front of the Tangled Willow instead, still behind a blockade of warriors however. Dogpaw whispered, "You can test your strength, Bloodpaw!"

Frostedpaw followed them, with the absence of her littermate, Dawnpaw. She hissed and turned her head over her shoulder, calling for the shy she-cat to come, and as expected she did, scampering over and muttering an apology.

Wolfstar answered, his voice loudly heard from below him, "Sadly Starclan cannot help you. They have no way of coming here! They have no influence. They can only watch the death of Blizzardstar- and they already have." He smirked.

Bloodpaw could not help but grin. He yearned to become like his leader someday, a sneaky liar. It felt immoral to feel that way, but he did love the idea of toying with the cats he hated. He'd start with his mentor.

"You did not." Bigstar's aghast voice was heard. "She had three lives left, h-how did you-"

"Over. And over. And over." Wolfstar's voice sounded, and Dogpaw chuckled from next to Bloodpaw. Frostedpaw stood near, looking more than ready to battle, with her eyes glowing and her claws flexing.

Bloodpaw caught a glimpse of something past a warrior's leg. A golden pelt, none other than Blizzardstar's deputy. He studied her face in that split moment when he saw her, and it was contorted in grief. She will not become a deputy. Tigerstar is leading and he has his own deputy. Sandclan should just give up and face defeat. It's not like we won't someday steal their leader, too.

"Then there's only one choice left, and that's to attack Rockclan, defeat Tigerleap, and let Goldenfern take her rightful place as leader!"

"And what about the warriors loyal to Tigerstar and me?" Wolfstar's eyes glinted.

"Force them to learn. Rockclan's always been a peaceful clan, a wise clan, but they've grown to stupidity."

"And all because their leader was weak. And now, she's dead!" Wolfstar sneered.

Bloodpaw heard a noise behind them, and they all turned to see Blizzardstar hissing, yowling, and exerting herself to tear the limbs of the tree to break herself out. "I'M NOT DEAD. NOT YET, WOLFSTAR." She screeched, eventually ripping herself free, strong spirited and hearty for a cat who was just pummeled by an entire clan. Eyes lit up, hope lit like a flame as Blizzardstar ran, the apprentices moving out of her way as she stood beneath Wolfstar's perch, "And I'm ready to fight you. For my freedom. For my clan."