Thundering Darkness

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Darkthunder felt her stomach flip over as the world around her descended into one of hissing and screeching cats. Now that everything was happening, Darkthinder was beginning to feel the fear that should have been in her from the start creeping in.

Thinking fast, Darkthunder propelled herself towards the ThunderClan cats. Around her cats hissed and snarled, batting at each other with unsheathed claws. Darkthunder saw Thornpaw in a tight lock with Scarletslash, a new ThunderClan warrior, while Boulderpaw leaped at his former denmate, Roachfrost, when she attacked Spike. He wasn't afraid to fight his former denmates if they got in the way of his friends. That was what Mightystar had expected of her, but Darkthunder wasn't going to fight on the white she-cat's side.

The world tasted of blood as Darkthunder forced her way through the cats. A paw sliced off the tip of her ear, but Darkthunder didn't see who did it amidst the fight.

She had to end this fast. Darkthunder searched for Mightystar, and saw her on top of a loner she recalled as Bark. He lay motionless in a pool of blood, twitching feebly.

As Darkthunder padded forward, she saw Mightystar's claws glint with scarlet-red blood. Bark's eyes filmed over, and with a sickening lurch, Darkthunder realised he was dead. The first death of the war.

Darkthunder barely had time to react before a couple of tussling cats slammed into her and she was knocked off balance. It was Redmoth, fighting Thornpaw and Batpaw. His eyes widened when he saw Darkthunder.

"Not a scratch on you!" He spat. "Help me finish these two 'Tinypelts' of yours off."

Without even thinking, Darkthunder launched herself onto Redmoth and slashed a claw across his face. She felt grim satisfaction when he whimpered and backed off. Darkthunder pinned him, and turned to Batpaw and Thornpaw.

"I've got him." She gasped as Redmoth tried to pummel her belly. "You two should make sure that ThunderClan doesn't get into RiverClan camp, and warn them of what was happening."

She thought she saw Batpaw nod, and Thornpaw mouth a thanks, but she wasn't sure. She dug her claws deeper into Redmoth's flank when one flailing forepaw ripped off a piece of chest fur.

Suddenly, claws dug into her shoulders, hauling Darkthunder off of Redmoth. The ginger and cream tom slunk away, and Darkthunder found herself face to face with the clan deputy, Eagletalon. She saw claw marks that ran down his side, although they were small.

"I always knew you were a traitor!" Eagletalon snarled furiously.

He aimed a blow meant for Darkthunder's throat, but she dodged neatly. Her paws skidded on something wet, and Darkthunder realised with a sickening lurch that it was blood, but thankfully not hers.

"Great job," Darkthunder spat. "You're so very smart."

Eagletalon gave her one last glowering look before he lifted his voice to the sky and yowled.

"Darkthunder is a traitor! Kill her!"

"Great StarClan," Darkthunder swore as suddenly ThunderClan warriors began to turn on her.

She felt claws dig into her tail, and turned to see Roachfrost trying to drag her to the ground. Darkthunder was about to turn, but some cat leaped on top of her. Suddenly, she collapsed to the ground.

A black shape moved rapidly towards her, and shoved the figure off of Darkthunder's back. She looked up to see a ThunderClan Tinypelt. His eyes were wild with fear, but he gave her a tight nod, and turned away to fight seemingly on neither side. She watched him act like a fool and blunder into ThunderClan warriors, acting as though he was simply clumsy. Guess that works, Darkthunder thought.