Rise From Darkness {COMPLETE}

Timberstar's Journey -Chapter 5-

The cries of battle raged through the air, yowls of rage and pain filled the evening sky, the sharp scent of blood hung thick in the air like a dense fog. Timbertail looked around his fellow warriors in horror. Not only his Clanmates, but cats from all four Clans fighting the nameless, violent rogues who fought on the side of Thornstar.

Timbertail never thought he would see such violence in his lifetime. He also couldn't shake the betrayal of his Clanmates, watching Rowanwhisker and Owlheart was a complete shock, they had never shown issue with Jaggedstar. The other two, were not as much of a surprise, but one of them hurt Timbertail on a much deeper level.

The other two betrayals were Tigerfang and Branchfur. Timbertail couldn't shake the sight of his father turning his back on LichenClan, and the look in his dark eyes. He had looked at Timbertail for just a moment, as if inviting him to follow but Timbertail never would. He promised Branchfur to always be loyal to LichenClan, and his father had broken his own code.

Timbertail knew his father hated Jaggedstar, but to turn his back on his own Clan, on his own family, on everything...it made Timbertail feel sick to his stomach, but he couldn't think about that now. He had to defend his Clan, he had to defend all four Clans from Thornstar and his violent rogues, he would deal with Branchfur after.

Before anything, Timbertail had to search for Foxpaw, his apprentice. Foxpaw was Larkclaw's son, and he promised when he became his mentor that he would keep him safe and he wasn't about to let her down.

His eyes scanned the raging battle, pelts mingled together in a the chaos. He finally spotted Foxpaw's ginger pelt among the surging bodies. Foxpaw was fighting a silver tabby rouge alongside AshClan apprentice Puddlepaw, a cat he had known to be apprenticed early by Thornstar.

Foxpaw was doing everything he could to protect Puddlepaw against the large rogue, he bled from a bite wound on his leg while Puddlepaw had claw marks lacing her pelt. Feeling rage build inside of him, Timbertail charged towards the rogue. He tackled her to the ground.

His claws sank into the cat's tabby pelt, shredding it and leaving bloody claw marks across her body, sending blood across the forest floor. The she-cat yowled in pain and tried to fight back, but she was scrawny and thin compared to Timbertail's own lean form. She didn't stand a chance, and luckily for her she figured that out quickly. She scrambled out of Timbertail's grasp and vanished into the trees.

"Are you two alright?" Timbertail questioned, looking down at Foxpaw and Puddlepaw, his heart pounding. "How badly are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt that bad," Foxpaw looked over his shoulder at Puddlepaw. "But she's hurt pretty badly.

"Can you get her back to the medicine cats? Or do you want me to take her?"

"I can take her." Foxpaw said confidently. He had grown into a very brave warrior and Timbertail couldn't be prouder. If they all made it out of this alive...Timbertail would be certain to have him made into a warrior.

"Then go, waste no time." He said confidently and together the two apprentices hobbled off away from the fight to where the medicine cats were hiding. Timbertail had taken care of the rogue but he knew not every fight would be so easy.

He ventured through the battling cats, his heart aching as he saw Clan cats deeply wounded, and even more when he stumbled across the dead body of SunClan warrior Willownose, she had deep claw wounds in her belly.

He forced himself to look away from her body and back into the fight. He chased off a few more rogues. He was taking a moment to catch his breath, and part of him desperately wanted to find his father, wanting to confront him. Wanting to demand why, why had be turned his back on LichenClan. His mind raced with a thousand questions and a burning storm of emotions. They continued to swam his mind, so much so that he felt his other senses start to crumble.