Warriors: Into the Forest

Chapter 8

Stonepaw yawned.  His dreams had been plagued by the horrible dream of the "flood of blood".

Spiritpaw was twitching in his nest.  He was obviously having a bad dream.  Stonepaw quietly padded out of the cliff's crevice, and padded to the entrance to the camp, where Acorntail was on watch.

"Hello." Acorntail mewed sleepily.

"Hi." Stonepaw greeted the senior warrior.  "Do you want to rest?"

Acorntail nodded.  Stonepaw took the dark ginger tom's place as he padded to the uncrowded warriors' den.

As soon as Stonepaw had made himself comfortable on the hard, cold earth, the ferns rustled in front of him.  He sprang up and growled, "Come out, whoever you are!"

A yellow tom sprang out of the ferns and landed in front of Stonepaw.  "Help!" he meowed.  He smelled of CloudClan, and he had a scratch on his shoulder.  "HillockClan is attacking the CloudClan camp!"

Stonepaw turned and bounded into camp.  "Thornstar!" he yowled.  The gray tom appeared from his den in the small cave beside the Lightning Tree, Strikeacorn close behind him.

"What is it?" he asked, seeing the panic in Stonepaw's eyes.

"CloudClan is in trouble!" he informed his leader.

Poppystem and Molestripe had appeared at the entrance to the warriors' den, and Stonepaw could see Acorntail blinking sleep from his eyes behind them.  Spiritpaw padded out of the apprentices' den, and Amberstorm was standing at the entrance to the nursery, Blackkit and Whitekit trying to see what was happening around her.

Thornstar nodded.  "Molestripe, Poppystem, come with me.  Strikeacorn, you too.  Stonepaw, you're coming with us."

"What about me and Acorntail?" Spiritpaw asked.

"You two will stay behind and watch the camp.  We have elders and queens who need help protecting themselves."

The five cats exited the camp, where the yellow tom licked his chest fur nervously.  "What is your name?" Thornstar asked.

"L-Larkpaw." the apprentice meowed.

"Larkpaw, lead the way."

As Larkpaw led them through the forest, Stonepaw realized that the oaks were turning to spruce trees, and Larkpaw seemed more comfortable as they crossed the CloudClan scent line.  They quickened their pace, and soon arrived at a clearing where the trees ended, and, on the other side, the hills began.  He could see HillockClan and CloudClan cats clashing, and recognized the ginger pelt of Falconpaw, and also the light brown fur of Cranestar.

"LightningClan!"  Thornstar made sure his yowl was loud enough to reach every cat in the clearing.  "Attack!"

The patrol of cats launched themselves into the camp, and Stonepaw quickly found himself facing off against a ginger she-cat, and he lashed out.  He felt a flicker of triumph in his belly as he felt flesh tear beneath his claws.

The warrior jumped back, and Stonepaw realized how much damage he had done when he saw her shoulder nearly covered in scarlet blood.  His battle training was paying off.

As the she-cat ran off, a dark ginger tom leaped onto Stonepaw, and he felt a flash of pain as claws dug into his flank.  He went limp, and the toms grip loosened.  Stonepaw took the advantage and slithered out from under his opponent, hooking his claws around his tail.

The tom let out a yowl, and then a gray she-cat crashed into him.  Stonepaw knew she was CloudClan by her strong legs.

"I'm Sagewing." the she-cat mewed.

Stonepaw nodded before leaping onto a black she-cat, whom he recognized as the HillockClan deputy Branchcloud.  The deputy shook him off easily, and pinned him to the ground.  "Give up, you scrawny apprentice!" she growled.

Stonepaw pushed her off.  The she-cat was much older than him, but she was a HillockClan cat, meaning she didn't have as much strength as she did speed, and was barely larger.

Stonepaw let out a loud hiss, and flung himself at the deputy.  She obviously was not expecting it, and her legs buckled from underneath her lithe body.  As she gained the advantage and began to overtake Stonepaw, Poppystem slammed into Branchcloud's side.  The deputy fell to the ground, hissing.

A dark ginger tom, who Stonepaw recognized as Adderrunner, appeared at the deputy's side.  "Stay away from her!" he growled.

Poppystem glanced at Stonepaw and meowed, "I've got this!"

Stonepaw nodded and bounded away, finding himself at Falconpaw's side.  The ginger tom was battling a brown tom, who Stonepaw recognized as Squirrelpaw.  His brother, Mistpaw, came up and attacked Stonepaw, raking his claws down his sides.  Falconpaw pushed Squirrelpaw away and butted his head into Mistpaw's side.  The gray tom's weight was lifted from Stonepaw.

"Are you okay?" Falconpaw asked.  Stonepaw nodded.  He could feel hot, sticky blood on his flank where Mistpaw had clawed him, but he was still fit to fight.

Falconpaw leaped back into battle.  Suddenly, a loud yowl came from the top of the hollow.  Stonepaw glanced up.  FogClan! he thought as he smelled the sour stench, carried to him on the breeze.

At the front of the patrol was Nightstar, the midnight-black leader of FogClan.  He was accompanied by several FogClan cats, but Stonepaw only recognized the deputy, Ferretpuddle, and the medicine cat, Ashenskip.

The FogClan cats filtered into the hollow, quickly overtaking several CloudClan warriors, and Stonepaw thought he saw the warrior Sagewing.

Stonepaw's thoughts were interrupted by a loud screech from one side of the CloudClan camp.  He glanced over and saw golden brown tabby she-cat raking her claws down the sides of Eveningspark, the ginger warrior Stonepaw had fought earlier on in the battle.

"Hazel!"  Stonepaw turned and saw Falconpaw dash past him, heading towards the she-cat, who had been overtaken by Springcloud.  Stonepaw followed closely as Falconpaw leaped onto Springcloud's back, forcing the golden warrior to roll over.  Falconpaw was squashed under his weight, and Stonepaw was about to attack him, when the she-cat, who he now knew was Hazel, butted Springcloud in the side, making him roll off with a grunt.

"Thanks," Falconpaw rasped as he gulped in air.  The word was hardly out of his mouth when an ear-splitting screech filled the hollow.

Stonepaw turned and saw Cranestar.  The light brown she-cat was bent over bulky tabby, who had blood pooling from his neck.  Stonepaw and Falconpaw approached, leaving Hazel to watch from where she stood.

"Owlhawk," Stonepaw heard Cranestar choke out.  A black tom and a white she-cat burst out of the crowd and crouched down next to Cranestar.

"No!" the white she-cat yowled.

Cranestar rounded on Dovestar and Nightstar, who were both wearing proud smirks.  "Get out of my camp!" she yowled.  Dovestar cringed visibly.  "You have killed my mate, and if any of my warriors see you back here after sunhigh, they will kill you."

Dovestar and Nightstar called their Clans together, and bounded from the hollow.

Stonepaw felt a tail-tip rest on his shoulder.  "We must go." Thornstar mewed.