River of Blood (A Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter Eighteen

After Adderspring left, Honeyflower had fallen asleep. She was still on watch and so when she heard noises outside, she quickly scrambled to her paws. Almost instantly, the noises stopped, and it was quiet again.

Honeyflower would have thought that she had imagined it, if not for the cracking of a stick nearby. Her heart pounding, she tried to keep her voice from wavering when she called out, "I know you're there! Come out now, or I'll be forced to chase you from my camp!"

There was no movement. Honeyflower turned, looking behind her to see that every cat was still asleep, before she felt a sharp pain on her haunches. Hissing, she immediately rolled on to her belly, kicking the air.

It was hard to see in the dark, but she could feel her foot make contact with someone's chest, startling them and causing them to stumble. The smell was palpable. PineClan!

More shadows were coming towards them. Honeyflower jumped to her paws, ignoring her assailant, and bounded into the center of the camp, yowling, "hurry! PineClan is attacking!"

For a moment there was only confusion, cats coming out of their dens and blinking away sleep. But they didn't have time to think before the camp was overrun by PineClan cats, nearly the entire clan's worth. Hollystar had been shaken awake by Juniperbush, and locking eyes with Jaggedstar, growled and told him, "only a coward attacks at night!"

Honeyflower could not hear Jaggedstar's response over the fighting. She was then pounced on by a black-and-white tom who she recognized as Larkpelt. His claws dug into her shoulder blades, pinning her to the ground. He was strong, but Honeyflower was bigger; she flipped him over, winding him momentarily, and swiped his face. Larkpelt was struggling to break free, trying to throw her off, but his attempts were in vain.

Her teeth grazed his neck. It was nothing more than a threat, but Larkpelt started to struggle harder, even more lackluster as his only goal now was to get her off of him. He began to wheeze and Honeyflower, feeling bad for him, stepped off and allowed him to stagger to his paws. Without sparing her a glance, he took off and disappeared among the other fighting cats. Honeyflower hoped that he had left for good.

She tried to spot Adderspring in the horde, but there were too many cats. Honeyflower saw Patchsong grappling with two PineClan warriors, and she was going to go help him before being tossed to the ground. On top of her was Fernwhisker, PineClan's deputy.

They wrestled each other, both trying to gain the upper hand. Fernwhisker was more experienced, however, and had been made deputy way before Honeyflower was even born. He overpowered her easily, and didn't move as she tried shaking him off. She glared up at him. "We didn't cross your borders or hunt your prey," coughing, Honeyflower said, "this attack is not justified."

Honeyflower was surprised to see him falter, for a moment. "I didn't want to be here," Fernwhisker sighed. "None of us do. But Jaggedstar is our leader, and we listen to him."

"SunClan would never blindly follow Hollystar if we knew her arbitrary actions would lead to death," she hissed. "Even if her nine lives had been granted by StarClan!"

"Well," he started, digging his claws into the soft fur of her belly. Honeyflower groaned out in pain. "That's you. And this is me."

Fernwhisker did not relent his grip, bearing down on her even more harshly now, and Honeyflower began to panic. He's trying to kill me! she thought in horror. Her alarm only made her weaker and her writhing less effective. She swallowed; dying like this, underneath the paws of a PineClan warrior? It would be fitting. Finchflower died the same way.

He lowered his head, and Honeyflower closed her eyes and waited for him to deliver the killing bite. But it never came. Fernwhisker's weight was lifted off of her, and she was finally able to stand. Confused, she opened her eyes, and widened them again. In front of her was Emberstrike, his claws unsheathed. His fur was ruffling. Honeyflower was surprised to see him here; she figured that he would be in the nursery, preparing for Swallowfur's birth. But he really did look like Reedkit. Deep down, Honeyflower knew that she'll always regret not giving her kits a chance to meet their father. They'll grow up thinking that they were abandoned by the both of them now. "Emberstrike?" Fernwhisker breathed. His anger at the warrior's betrayal was masked by his shock. "You're loyal to PineClan! What are you doing?"