River of Blood (A Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter Ten

Honeypaw stumbled across a clearing, streaked with blood. She jumped on to the back of a white tom who was wrestling with Rainfall, digging thorn-sharp claws into his shoulders.

They were outnumbered by four. Emberpaw had followed her, but had quickly disappeared amidst all of the fighting. Honeypaw dug her claws in harder, pulling the tom off of the younger warrior.

Rainfall struggled to his feet. He panted, blood seeping from a wound in his neck. His eyes were wide with pain. Stammering, he said, "H-Honeypaw, behind you!"

It was too late. Claws gripped her by the hindquarters, piercing bone. Honeypaw swallowed a squeal of pain and turned around, quickly swiping the she-cat across the face.

Suddenly, Mossydawn appeared, having been alerted by the sounds of battling cats. She shoved her way past prickly pines and dense foliage, followed by Nettleburr, Spiderpaw, and Cloverpath. She threw herself on to a smaller gray-and-white she-cat, who Honeypaw recognized immediately as Swallowpaw, the hot-tempered PineClan apprentice from the gathering.

Spiderpaw tussled with a dark brown tom, and Nettleburr and Cloverpath chased off a silver she-cat, watching her vanish among the harsh, prickly leaves of PineClan territory. Knowing that they now outnumbered them by one, Honeypaw's teeth latched onto the scruff of a black she-cat, tossing her into a patch of sharp pine needles.

A black-and-white apprentice, barely bigger than a kit, landed on top of her, squishing Honeypaw underneath him. He swiped at her nose, lips curled in a snarl. "Leave my mentor alone!" he told her, hissing.

Honeypaw flung him off. She rolled over him, pinning the apprentice to the ground. She dug her claws into the soft fur of his belly, leaving a painful scar in its wake. He squirmed, trying everything in his power to dislodge her. But he was so small that his attempts were in vain, as effective as a mouse battering at a stone wall. "Make me," she growled. Her claws dug, impossibly harder, into his chest.

A weight slammed into Honeypaw, throwing her off of the apprentice. She spun around, about to rake her claws over the ear of her attacker, before she noticed Mossydawn, tufts of fur missing from her pelt. She shook her head and said, "leave him be, Honeypaw. We've already won."

The small tom staggered to his paws, not wasting another moment before he barrelled after his injured clanmates, leaving behind a trail of thick, scarlet blood in his wake.

In the center of the clearing, Cloverpath was crouched over the body of a dark gray tom, her nose pressed into his freezing cold fur.

"Rainfall!" wailed Spiderpaw, huddling beside Cloverpath. She pushed her muzzle into the tom's shoulder blade, breathing in his familiar scent.

"Wildheart has already lost so much," whispered Nettleburr, startling Honeypaw. She closed her eyes. "Aspenspring, Sandkit, and now her own brother. Hasn't StarClan taken enough from her?"

I wish I had an answer for you, thought Honeypaw, miserably.

-

When they finally dragged Rainfall's limp body back to camp, they were met with the boisterous cries of their clanmates, ringing in Honeypaw's ears until she could hardly think.

Hawthornstar stalked out from underneath the Fallen Willow, followed quickly by her deputy, Orchidsplash. She noticed Rainfall and asked, harshly, "what in StarClan's name happened?"

Through the lichen of the nursery, Honeypaw could see Juniperbush, who had given birth only a sunrise before, to Nettleburr's litter. She draped her tail over the backs of Twigkit and Nightkit, and pulled them impossibly closer to her belly, as if scared to let them go.