StarClan isn't real..

Chapter 21

Deadbee yawned, settling down into his nest in the warriors' den. His pelt ached from the training he had had today, and was looking forward to a good night's rest before the supposed battle tommorow night. He still wasn't fully convinced, but better safe than sorry. Beetleshine was guarding the camp tonight, so the Clan would most likely be safe until further notice, if Ryepelt was being honest.

As Deadbee slept, he felt uneasy prickle at his spine, and new anxiety and stress made his stomach hurt. Lifting his tail to his chest, he realized that his heart was pounding. Why? He wasn't scared. Nor nervous. Was something watching him?

Lifting his head, Deadbee glanced around. He was laying beside Fawnleap, his former apprentice, and Grassleg. Ryepelt slept behind his gray-pelted father. Nobody's here... Deadbee sniffed the air. The wind carried a musty smell... was it fox? Foxes always come out at night, He reminded himself. It's probably-

His thoughts abruptly ended as he noticed shadows slinking above the camp. Are those rogues? Or even wolves? He couldn't tell.

The night went silent. Stars glittered peacefully in the night sky.

Then there was a faint rustling, coming from the moor. Squinting, Deadbee tried to find out what it was, when suddenly, yowls and screeches of battle sounded from outside the camp. Grassleg jerked awake beside Deadbee, and Ryepelt did too, panic and confusion lighting his gaze. Fawnleap let out a groan and lifted her head.

Suddenly, Beetleshine burst into camp. His pelt was clumped and matted with blood, and Deadbee quickly leapt to his paws. "Beetleshine! What-"

He was interrupted as cats burst into the camp. Claws glinted in the moonlight, like water reflecting the moon. Cats all around camp ran out of their sleeping spaces and leapt into battle, their yowls quickly throwing up a storm.

Deadbee rose to his paws, hissing, and launched himself into the fray. The attacking cats smelled bloody and musty, like ShadowClan territory. To Deadbee's horror, he realized they had a strange red outline, and black mist seemed to radiate from them. Their eyes were either bright red, burning with hate, or white. Their fur was sticking up so much that Deadbee thought their coat was going to fall off.

He leapt instinctively onto one of the cats and clawed at their fur, yowling and spitting. The cat knocked them off easily, then leapt onto him, tearing at his fur with unsheathed claws. Striking out with his hind paws, Deadbee struck the enemy warrior hard in the belly, sending him flying across the battlefield.

Rising to his paws, Deadbee's tail lashed. Ryepelt lied to us! He had said that the battle would be after the night of half-moon!

Dread hardened in Deadbee's belly. Weedtooth had gone to the meeting, although Stormcloud has stayed behind. Were the medicine cat's safe? But they had left only a little bit ago, well before the Dark Forest cats had gotten here.

The blue-gray pelt of Ryepelt skidded past. Deadbee hissed, ready to fight off the traitorous warrior, but then he realized that Ryepelt was already getting attacked, not by another Clan cat. A Dark Forest warrior with gleaming red eyes. "Traitor!"

Oh, no. Deadbee thought. Ryepelt hadn't been a traitor to WindClan; other cats had been! There must've been more Dark Forest trainees who had changed the time of attack.

Shaking of this thoughts, Deadbee sprang forward, knocking into the Dark Forest. He pinned them to the ground and slammed his paws against there's, wrestling aggressively. Deadbee didn't turn, but he could feel Ryepelt's gaze bearing into his back. Do me a favor and get out of here, Deadbee hissed silently.

As he slammed the enemy warrior's paws into the ground, a shriek sounded from the nursery. Nettlestem! His mate was in trouble!

Releasing the tom, Deadbee bolted across the bloody clearing, tearing through hordes of Dark Forest warriors, his only intent on reaching the nursery. He heaved himself into the den, just as Grassleg exploded out with his own mate, Patchstep, beside him.

"Her kits are coming," Was all Grassleg said.

Deadbee skidded into the nursery, seeing two Dark Forest warriors in there. One of them was stalking towards Nettlestem, who lay, injured and beaten, on the ground. The other warrior was heading towards two white kits who wailed with terror. Casperkit! Whitekit! Panic sparked in Deadbee's eyes. Nettlestem!

He caught his mate's eye. Through her weak state, she nodded to him, as if saying, "Get the kits, not me."

Nodding back, Deadbee lunged, tackling the warrior. He raked his claws down his enemy's spine, feeling fur split and flesh explode into blood. Claws raked over his ear, and a piece of his own flesh fell off, but none of that mattered.

He drove the warrior away, shrieking, then turned to his kits.

"Are you two okay?"

Through their trembling, Casperkit, an albino she-cat, managed to mutter a small, "Yes."

Deadbee turned to Nettlestem and let out a cry. The tabby and white queen was laying on her side, blood pulsing from a wound on her neck. The Dark Forest warriors who attacked her was licking his paws carelessly, as if he hadn't just ended the life of a mother, and Deadbee's own mate.

"You piece of fox-dung!" Deadbee launched himself at the warrior and slammed him to the ground, ending his life as he would a piece of prey, or in this case, Nettlestem.

Once the Dark Forest cat was dead, his fur whipping away like dust in a breeze, Deadbee turned to his mate. "Nettlestem?" He whispered. "Come on. We have kits to look after." He prodded her with a forepaw, but she didn't move.

"Oh, StarClan..." Deadbee whispered.

***

Grassleg placed his paw on Patchstep's flank, trying to hide the panic in his eyes. Patchstep was clearly struggling. Where is Stormcloud? Grassleg remembered Ryepelt's kitting, but that had been easy, since the kitten was small and there was only one. There could be five kits! More than that! But Grassleg had to keep calm.

As Patchstep breathed, a small shape slid onto the earth. A kit! Quickly, Grassleg began to lap at the kit's body, until it's color melted in. It was a brown and white tabby, who reminded Grassleg of Nettlestem, Deadbee's mate.

Where is Deadbee...

As his eyes widened, the warrior exploded from the nursery. "Grassleg!" He reached Patchstep and Grassleg, his eyes wide with sorrow and grief. "Nettlestem is dead!"

"Oh... oh no." Grassleg looked towards Patchstep. Would she pass, too?

Deadbee sank his claws into the earth. "You and me need to stay here. I'll defend my kits and the nursery with my life." He ran over to Patchstep. "Weedtooth taught me some herbs and such... we need a stick for her to bite on, when the pain comes."

As Grassleg watched his friend run off, he couldn't help but look towards the camp entrance. The warriors and apprentices were chasing the Dark Forest cats away, but even as they ran, Grassleg knew they had no intention of holding off the attack.

The battle had only just begun.