Bloodflower

Chapter 50

"What?" Rosethorn gasped. As she spoke, her breath hitched painfully in her throat. "What do you mean, they're at our camp?"

"Exactly what you think it means!" Acornpaw hissed. Normally Rosethorn would have scolded her for being so blunt, but this situation was so dire she couldn't care less how her apprentice spoke right now. "I can explain on the way, but we have to hurry back. A battle could've started already!"

The rogues. Invading our own camp. StarClan help us all. In a haze of fear, fury, and shock, Rosethorn sprinted beside Acornpaw as they jumped over the fence and back into SunClan territory. Back into the utterly destroyed forest that she could hardly bear to look at, let alone accept that it was real.

"Start talking," she demanded, breathless as she put most of her effort into running. Despite wanting to move as fast as she could, she forced herself to slow down a bit; Acornpaw wouldn't be able to keep up if she ran at full speed.

"No one's really sure how it happened," panted Acornpaw. "All we know is that they must have snuck across the territory after the fire stopped and waited for us there. They were expecting us...that was the worst part. Like we were the ones invading their home. It was sickening."

"The rogues were responsible for the fire," Rosethorn said bluntly. "They must have started it as revenge for...for me killing Poppy. They waited for us to evacuate, and then moved into our camp after the fire went out. From the beginning, their motive was to take our territory as theirs. This is their way of trying."

"But...setting their supposed future home on fire?" Acornpaw replied incredulously. "How does that make any sense?"

"Newleaf is on its way," Rosethorn answered. "The forest will grow back stronger than it was before the fire, which would be good for them." She hissed, wishing she could stop and claw at one of the scorched trees until her paws ached. Anything to get rid of this boiling anger. "They're smart. I'm the last cat in the world who would want to admit that, but it's true."

"They must have been planning this for ages now," Acornpaw gasped. "That's why they left us alone for so long: to get us to let our guard down and think we were safe, that we'd won. But the whole time..."

The ginger apprentice trailed off, then said despairingly, "You're right. These cats really do know what they're doing."

"Don't worry," Rosethorn said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. "We're just as smart as them. We'll find a way to drive them out of here for good. How many rogues were there? Did you see Zodiac, or...Minnowtail?"

"There were a lot," Acornpaw growled. "Enough to match our whole Clan. Zodiac confronted us when we came through the fern tunnel, but I didn't see Minnowtail anywhere. She could've stayed behind, or she could've been somewhere behind all the other cats so she wouldn't be seen. I don't know. I didn't have much time to look before Beestripe told me to slip away and find you."

"I know Minnowtail had something to do with all this," snarled Rosethorn darkly. "She wanted revenge on us as much as the rest of the rogues did. I'd bet my life that she gave Zodiac the information she needed to orchestrate all this, and she did it willingly." Slimy piece of fox-dung, she added to herself furiously. How could any good cat betray the ones who raised them like this? Her claws itched with the hope of tearing Minnowtail's face open from her ear to her jaw once they got back to the camp.

As the pieces of the rogues' scheme assembled in her head, Rosethorn's fury only increased. It was a hideously perfect plan. Set the forest on fire, and drive SunClan out of their territory. Find their camp, with Minnowtail's assistance, and lie in wait until they returned. No SunClan cat ever could have seen it coming. And yet it pained her that she hadn't understood it all until it was too late.