Warriors AU: Novellas: Blackfoot's Reckoning (Book 1)

Chapter 1

"Scourge! Scourge is dead!"

As the cry rang out from somewhere behind her, Blackfoot dug her teeth into the matted fur of the Bloodclan tabby she was fighting. Her opponent didn't seem to hear, and continued growling and struggling against her. His paws ripped at her sides, but she ignored the stinging scratches and bit down harder onto his throat. Can it be true?

"Scourge is dead!" Another Bloodclan cat yowled in horror.

The tabby heard it this time. He jerked back in shock as the wail went up all around them; Blackfoot lost her grip on him. They both turned and saw Scourge's small form sprawled lifeless, blood coating the front of her body. It is true. For a moment, Blackfoot and the tabby stared at each other. Then, his eyes widening, he turned and ran. With a snarl, Blackfoot followed.

All the Bloodclan cats were running. Without their leader, they were abandoning their attack on the Clans' territory. Panicked, they streamed out of Fourtrees as fast as they could, Clan cats chasing close behind. Blackfoot raced after them. Tallstar of Windclan ran beside her, snarling at the fleeing invaders, while on her other side, Tallstar's Clanmate Cloudrunner bared her teeth ferociously. Cats of all four Clans joined the pursuit, all swept up in a fierce vengeful joy.

With a last swipe, Blackfoot clawed at the tabby tom's hindquarters as they reached the end of Clan territory, sending him yowling into the forest. He and the other Bloodclan invaders were running back toward the Twolegplace they had come from. Blackfoot didn't think that they would return. Without Scourge, the tiny, bloodthirsty leader who had wanted the Clans' territory for her own, they were nothing but rogues.

And what is Shadowclan, without Goldenstar? Blackfoot's own leader had been killed by Scourge, after he tried to make a bargain with the Bloodclan leader to battle against his own enemies within the Clans. Goldenstar had been determined to lead every cat in the forest. He had planned every move that Tigerclan—the Clan he had formed by combining Shadowclan and Riverclan—had made. What will we do without him? Blackfoot bristled at her own unwelcome thought, then shook her pelt as if to shake the idea away. She could feel a trickle of warm blood through her fur, and glanced down at a row of stinging scratches on her shoulder.

Shadowclan will do what we always do, she told herself. We'll survive.

Turning back to Fourtrees, she saw the cats were gathering in small Clan groups, centered around their medicine cats or their leaders. A few bodies—both warrior and rogue—dotted the ground, and Blackfoot bristled as she passed Darkstripe's corpse sprawled in the dirt. The dark gray tabby's face was still twisted in a snarl. Darkstripe had left Thunderclan, following Goldenstar to Shadowclan, but once Goldenstar was dead, she had turned against the Clans entirely and fought for the rogues.

Traitor. There was nothing worse than a cat who abandoned her Clan, and Darkstripe had done it twice. Blackfoot snarled at the dead cat for a moment before moving on. They would leave Darkstripe there for now, Shadowclan certainly didn't owe her a warrior's vigil.

Without looking back, he crossed the clearing to where Runningnose, Shadowclan's medicine cat, was surrounded by their Clanmates.

"If you keep that scratch clean, it shouldn't leave a scar," the small gray and white she-cat was saying to Oakfur, who had a long bloody wound across her chest. "Come to my den in the morning and I'll put more marigold on it."

The warrior nodded. "Thanks, Runningnose."

Blackfoot looked around at the Shadowclan warriors. Littlecloud, Runningnose's apprentice, was licking clean a gash on Tallpoppy's side. Russetfur's hindquarters were scratched, but it seemed that the bleeding had already stopped. Those were the worst injures she could see. Thank Starclan.