The Barn Cat

Chapter Thirty-Seven

    It was the next morning from the gathering, and the Wild-Ones were still mourning their young cat they lost. Flower and Jay were taking it the hardest, since they had considered Kaya kin. Leafstride felt tingly in his paws everytime he thought about it, everytime he thought about Slayer. He wanted to destroy this evil, it was making him stress about Mistfoot. Slayer had tried to kill her once, what's to stop him from trying again? Especially now that she was expecting kits. He stretched his hind legs, trying to get rid of the anger. Mistfoot was still sleeping, she was exhausted from the walk to the meeting and back. Leafstride wasn't though, he had enough energy to run around the whole territory without burning his paws. He decided he would go hunt, catch a couple of pieces of prey to stock up the fresh-kill pile. He started walking towards the entrance when Darkblaze's mew stopped him in his tracks. He turned around to face his brother, who had a serious gaze slapped across his face. "Hurry, come with me." Darkblaze shot past him, and Leafstride followed.

     The two toms padded a bit away from the camp, slipping into a tiny spot covered by thorn bushes. Their secret place to speak without anyone else hearing them. They both sat down and listened to make sure no one had followed them. "What is it?" Leafstride asked in a low whisper. "I had a vision," Darkblaze leaned forward, "I saw blood being spilt everywhere. Cries of pain and battle. Kits and warriors fighting side by side. The only thing I heard was 'soon. Be ready.' The cats are coming, and they are coming fast." Leafstride's tail twitched, "did you tell Splashstar?" Darkblaze nodded, "he, Twisteddusk, and Silverspring know. He is going to start training every cat in the clan, including the kits." "What?" "Slayer, the cat that killed Kaya and tried to kill Mistfoot, wants kit blood as well. I saw it." Darkblaze let out a shiver, "the clans are not prepared for this." "We will be," Leafstride made sure his mew was hard and confident. "We need to battle-train you as well," he mewed. Darkblaze gave him a fearful gaze, "I'm a medicine cat, not a warrior." Leafstride shook his head, "you have to be both for now. After the battle, you can be whatever you want to be." Darkblaze let out a sigh, "okay. Help me learn to cause the wounds instead of healing them."

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     Nearly a moon and a half had passed, and for what Leafstride knew Frostclan wasn't the only clan training the warriors harder than ever. He knew that Springstar and Lightningstar were training everyone in the clan, but no one knew anything about Fireclan. Silverstar had said nothing at the last gathering, she didn't even take a stand when it came to her turn to speak. The battle was growing closer and closer, Leafstride could feel it. All the other cats could as well. It could be any day now, depending on when Slayer thinks would be the great time. He didn't know if the ghost tom had been stalking the cats, since Ivypaw wasn't at the last gathering. He hoped not.

     "Leafstride." Mistfoot's call broke him from his thoughts, and he looked up to see her and her large belly across the clearing. "Want to share a rabbit with me?" He hurriedly got to his paws and snatched a rabbit from the fresh-kill pile, running over to his mate. "Of course," he mewed as he and Mistfoot crouched down to eat it. Mistfoot grunted, "it's so hard to do anything anymore. The kits took over my body." Leafstride gave her a sympathetic glance, "I know. At least you're healthy and they have a great mother." She grunted again, "I'm going to claw their ears off when they get here, making me hungry and tired all day." Leafstride let out a mrrow of amusement, "we'll see." The two of them happily shared the rabbit, leaving nothing left to waste. He picked up the bones and trotted over to where they buried them. He thanked Starclan after he finished burying it, then glanced up at the sky. The air was growing colder, and the leaves were starting to turn red and orange and were slowly starting to fall to the ground.

    Leaf-fall. He liked leaf-fall, it made the world more colorful. He didn't like the cold air though, or how leaf-bare comes after it. He wasn't too big of a fan of snow. He let out a relaxing sigh, but it was broken by a terrified shriek in the distance. He turned his gaze back to in front of him, his hackles rising. He spotted Sandwing from Fogclan running to him, the smell of blood getting caught in his nose. "What's happening?" He demanded. "Fogclan is under attack!" She shrieked from the distance, "the battle is here! We need help! Theres too many of them!" Leafstride turned and bolted back into camp, shooting towards Splashstar's den. "They're here!" Leafstride called, "Fogclan is under attack!" Splashstar flung himself out of his den, "Slayer's cats?" Leafstride nodded, "yes! Sandwing says they need help! They're outnumbered!" "Twistedcoat, Duskstem, Loststream, Snowfrost, Flamedust, Hopefur, Honeyflower, Squirrelblaze, Firestorm, Foxbranch, go with Twisteddusk to Fogclan. I'll catch up. Brightfrost, you're the fastest cat here, go to Mistclan and fetch more warriors. Darkblaze, you're going to Fogclan, Leafstride will take you there and stay there with you. The rest of you will all stay here. Hurry! Let's go!" Splashstar's mew was strong, but Leafstride felt a pang of horror when he realized Mistfoot will be here with so few warriors and the apprentice's.

    "All the barn cats except for Cherry, Thorn Shadow, and Twig. We are all going!" Courage yowled. "Let's go!" The barn cats charged away with the Frostclan warriors, and Leafstride hurriedly helped his brother gather herbs. "Be careful!" Mistfoot called, and he watched he get shoved away to a protective spot by Silverstrike and Berryblossom. They were keeping Mistfoot and Streamflight, along with her kits, in the safest spot in the camp guarded by warriors and the apprentice's. "Leafstride! Let's go!" Darkblaze called to him. Leafstride turned his gaze and sprinted with his brother out of camp, heading to Fogclan territory. He could feel the fear growing inside of him. What if it was too late? But once they reached Fogclan territory and grew closer to their camp, Leafstride could hear the battle cries steaming in the air.

     "I'll stay out here," Darkblaze slammed his paws on the ground just outside of camp near a bush, "you go in there." Leafstride dropped the rest of the herbs with his brother and charged into the Fogclan camp. Their camp was in a gorge, a rocky cave-like gorge with ledges everywhere. Cats were fighting and blood was spilling in every direction, and Leafstride spotted his clan mates fighting the large, attacking cats. Cats were on the top of the camp as well, waiting for a mess up to kill the clan cats. Leafstride heard a fearful shriek and saw Petalpaw being crushed by a large, red-tabby tom. His claws were long and sharp, but Leafstride charged at him anyways. He knocked into the tom's side, sending him flying sideways. Petalpaw got to her paws, panting. "Thank you." Leafstride nodded his head, then flung himself back in battle by fighting side by side with Halftail, a Fogclan tom that Leafstride had grown up with. They were fighting a large black she-cat with a slash down her face. After a few scratches, she fled to a different cat to attack, but Halftail followed her and didn't let her go.

     Leafstride glanced around, panting. They were still outnumbered by so many cats. Mistclan scent hit his nose, and he glanced upwards to no longer see the cats watching from above. They must be fighting up there. Leafstride glanced around, not knowing what to do. He spotted Ivypaw fighting two large toms, and charged over there to help him. They fought side by side like Leafstride and Halftail did, but they were smoother and quicker with their moves. It was from all the training they did at the barn cats territory, they were moving like kin. Ivypaw got a good hook on one of the toms, sending him flying and running up the hill to battle the Mistclan warriors. "I can't let him go!" Ivypaw hissed. Leafstride watched him chase the tom, leaving Leafstride to fight this cat by himself. The tom let out a hiss, and Leafstride jumped over him when the cat charged at him. Before the cat had a chance to turn around, Leafstride dug his claws into the tom's heels and dragged him backwards. He bit hard into the back of the tom's neck, and the tom let out a cry of pain.

  Leafstride didn't know if he should kill him or let him go. These cats seemed to be here to fight till death, so if Leafstride let him go he would just go attack another cat and try to kill them. It was against the warrior code to kill him thought. He took too long to decide, as the tom shot upwards and knocked Leafstride backwards. Before Leafstride could react, the tom jumped on top of him and started trying to slash for Leafstride's throat. Leafstride kept his paws pressed against the tom, lucky that his legs were longer. He had no other choice, he had to kill him. He slashed his claws into the tom's throat, and he fell over. Leafstride jumped to his paws, his pelt burning with guilt when he stared at the lifeless body next to him. Darkblaze wasn't lying when he said that blood was going to be spilt in every single corner.

    A rake across Leafstride's back made him shriek and turn around. He turned to face his next opponent, a large white she-cat who's pelt was stained red with blood. She had blood written in her eyes, and she lunged at Leafstride. He jumped to dodge her, but she caught a claw on his hind leg, causing him to collapse. He felt the wind get knocked out of him when he slammed his stomach into the ground. The she-cat jumped on top of him with the chance, raking her claws down his back. He couldn't move, the pressure of her body was too much without any breath for him to fight back with. Then the weight disappeared, allowing Leafstride to breathe again. He got to his paws, turning to see what happened. Jay and Flower had taken over for him, slashing her eyes and body as they swiftly weaved their ways around her body without a single paw touching either of them. He gave a thankful nod to Jay as he jumped on her back, then turned to get back in the battle.

     There were still so many evil cats, leaving the clan cats still outnumbered. Would they be able to win this? Doubt filled Leafstride. What if the clans didn't win? The clans would be destroyed. His thoughts were interrupted at a slash on his ear. He turned to face another opponent. This battle was going to last forever, but he wasn't going to back down. He had to protect the clans.