Warriors AU: The Darkest Hour

Chapter 24

When Sandstar emerged from his den the following morning, the camp was already full of activity. Mousefur was leaving at the head of a patrol. Fireheart was rounding up Willowpelt's three kits, who bounced around her in wild excitement as she herded them toward the gorse tunnel on their way to the training hollow. Blackclaw and the two Riverclan apprentices followed them. Sorreltail passed them at the entrance to the camp, a piece of fresh-kill in his jaws.

Sandstar spotted Brindleface with Squirrelpaw and Ashpaw beside the thorn wall that surrounded the camp, and padded across to join them. The pale gray tabby warrior came to meet him.

"I'm getting these two to inspect the defenses and patch any gaps," he meowed. "If Bloodclan get this far..." He stopped, his green eyes worried.

"Good idea." Sandstar suppressed a shiver at the thought of Bloodclan breaking into the camp. He turned sharply at the sight of movement in the gorse tunnel, and flashed a glance of astonishment at Brindleface as Patchpaw appeared, followed by Raven. The black loner had never been to the Thunderclan camp before.

Leaving his deputy to finish instructing the apprentices, Sandstar padded toward them. Patchpaw hurried forward confidently, but Raven lagged behind, glancing warily around, as if she wasn't sure of a welcome.

"We have to talk to you." Patchpaw blurted out. "Last night we met Smokefur on the border of his territory and he told us about Scourge and Bloodclan." The black and white fur on her shoulders bristled. "We want to help, but more important, Raven has some information for you."

Sandstar dipped his head in greeting. "It's good to see you both," he meowed. "And we're grateful for any help we can get. Perhaps you'd better come to my den."

Raven relaxed at Sandstar's friendly greeting, and the two loners followed Sandstar to the hollow beneath the Highrock. Early morning sunshine slanted through the entrance and into the peaceful den. Sandstar could almost forget the threat from Scourge and her bloodthirsty followers. But the serious expressions of his visions reminded him all too clearly of the shadow over the future of the forest.

"What is it?" he prompted, once the two loners were settled.

Patchpaw was gazing around her with an almost awestruck look—Sandstar guessed she was remembering Oakstar, and maybe wondering at how the apprentice who had trained with her had come to take the former leader's place. Raven, however, looked uneasy, crouching with her paws tucked under he as she begin to speak.

"I was born in Twolegplace," she began quietly. "I know too much about Scourge and her warriors. I... I suppose you could say I was once a member of Bloodclan."

Sandstar's interest quickened. "Go on."

"The first thing I remember is playing with my littermates on a patch of waste ground," Raven explained. "Our father taught us how to hunt and find food among Twoleg rubbish. Later on he showed us how to defend ourselves."

"Your father mentored you?" Sandstar asked, surprised. "All of you?"

Raven nodded. "Bloodclan doesn't have a proper system of mentors and apprentices. It's not a Clan at all in the way you forest cats understand it. Most cats listen to Scourge because she's the strongest and the most vicious, and Bone is a kind of deputy, insofar as she carries out Scourge's dirty work."

"Bone?" Sandstar asked. "Is that a big black and white cat? She was there at Fourtrees."

"That sounds like her, yes." The loner's voice was filled with disgust. "She's almost as bad as Scourge. Any cats who don't do as they're told are chased off, if they're lucky, or more likely killed."

Sandstar stared at her. "But what about caring for kits and elders?"

Raven shrugged. "A cat's mate will probably hunt for them while they're nursing their kits," she mewed. "Even Scourge realizes that if there are no kits, sooner or later there's no Clan. But elders, or cats who are sick or injured—well, they're left to fend for themselves. It's kill or be killed, hunt or starve. There's no room for weakness."