Warriors: The Prophecy of Frost - The Darkest Battle

Chapter 5 - Turbulent Times

"P-Patchheart?" Frostblaze stammered. "How... What happened to him?"

"He looks like he have been attacked," Honeyfrost mewed sorrowfully.

I can't believe Patchheart is dead, Frostblaze thought, taking a shaky step towards the cream ginger tom.

Not minding the salty tang of blood, she slowly licked most of the blood from his fur.

Frostblaze pressed her nose to his pelt, only to flinch at the coldness of his pelt. His pelt is cold already.

Stagwind padded to her side and examined the claw marks on Patchheart's fur.

"I think he is killed by a fox," she finally announced.

Yowls of outrage came from the cats who were listening to the medicine cat.

"We should avenge him and kill that fox!" Fireclaw growled, his pelt bristling with anger.

Frostblaze didn't listen to what her Clanmates said. She only rested her head on Patchheart's fur, closing her eyes. Is this what Sunstar meant when she told me to be brave?

"Why do you have to leave?" she cried.

She heard a raspy cough and she thought she felt Patchheart's body being moved.

"I'm not dead, mouse-brain," came a familiar voice.

"Patchheart? You are alive?" Frostblaze yowled in disbelief. "But you were covered with blood! And you didn't move!"

She heard him snort in amusement. "Doesn't mean that I didn't move or covered with blood means that I am dead. I think the Clan overreacted."

"What happened?" Frostblaze asked, furious with herself for not noticing the faint rise and fall of his chest.

"Well-" Patchheart began but he stopped when the other cats ran towards him, all speaking at once, wanting to know what had happened.
"I will explain," he sighed.

"I went out of the camp to hunt. It was still early but I thought an early hunt could warm me up," Patchheart explained. "I fell into a small pond and got myself drenched and cold. Unfortunately, before I could walk back to camp, a fox appeared out of nowhere and attacked me. After fighting it for a while, I had managed to cut open the fox's belly and I became covered with its blood. By then, I was tired. The moment I padded into camp, I fell unconscious."

Stormleaf stormed over to her kit and cuffed his ear angrily. "You scared me out of my life! Don't ever do that again."

"I won't," Patchheart mewed. Then, in a mischievous voice he added, "Yet."

"Patchheart!" Frostblaze snapped in annoyance.

"Sorry," he apologised, "for letting all of you worry about me."

As Sunstream ushered him to the medicine cat den, the Clan fell into an uneasy silence.

Frostblaze let out a sigh. What if I lose everything in the battle that is yet to come?

~~~~

Frostblaze had just returned from a hunting patrol. She talked comfortably with Poolshine as she waited for a patrol to join.

"Frostblaze!" Spikethorn called. "You are needed on a hu-"

The ThunderClan deputy was cut of by cats rushing through the thorn barrier.

It was the cats that made up the RiverClan border patrol. All of them looked tired, a few baring wounds - from RiverClan, Frostblaze guessed.

"What happened?" Hailstar asked, jumping down from the Highledge.

"A RiverClan patrol attacked without warning!" Dustfur gasped. "Only when another patrol arrived, then they will stop."

"Why didn't you send some cat for reinforcements?" the ThunderClan leader questioned.

"We tried," it was Berryheart who spoke. "But the RiverClan cats had us surrounded before we could send any cat for reinforcement."

"I see," Hailstar muttered.

"Should we attack RiverClan?" Blazestrike asked.

Behind him, Lightningcurl hissed in annoyance. "Who's going attack us next? WindClan?"

A heartbeat after Lightningcurl said that, WindClan warriors charged into the camp.

"Fox-dung!" Lightningcurl growled. "WindClan really did attack!"

"ThunderClan, defend the camp!" Hailstar ordered, pouncing into battle.

Frostblaze quickly dodged to avoid a WindClan cat charging towards her.

"Out flank them!" Spikethorn yowled, leaping onto a WindClan warrior.

Frostblaze felt herself being pinned by a black cat. It was Shadowclaw.

She twisted with much difficulty to swipe at his face. He let out a growl and swiftly raked her belly with his hindlegs.

"Stop!" she screeched so fierce that Shadowclaw stopped attacking.

"Why are you attacking ThunderClan?" she demanded.

Shadowclaw looked stunned. "I..."

Frustrated, Frostblaze pinned down Shadowclaw. "Tell me!" she snapped.

"You attacked us," Shadowclaw mewed. "But you don't seem guilty."

"Because we have not done anything!" Frostblaze growled.

"ThunderClan did attack us," another WindClan cat hissed. "I saw it with my own eyes. "Iceleap, Stripepad, Berryheart and even Spikethorn were in that patrol that attacked our camp."

"That is not true!" Spikethorn growled.

"Every cat, stop fighting!" Hailstar yowled.

All the cats stopped, falling into silence.

"Dawnstar, why did you order your Clan to attack us?" Hailstar asked, struggling to control his temper.

"Your Clanmates attacked our camp," Dawnstar snarled. "We could have been shredded!"

"They snuck up on us and launched an ambush," Shadowclaw pointed out calmly as Frostblaze hesitantly released him.

"And they denied doing so!" Heatherstorm snarled.

Both Clans glared at each other, ready to attack again.

With a feeling of dread, Frostblaze stared at the furious cats in shock. How can we win the battle if the battle is within us?

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A/N: Patchheart is not dead! :)