Leafshadow's War [Warrior Cats]

Chapter Eight

The six cats charged down the slope, towards the ShadowClan camp - Leafshadow's mind was racing. Usually, this is what they would do. By attacking at night, taking ThunderClan by surprise, they would have the advantage. But there were so few cats that could go - surely this was a bad idea?

The camp was in chaos. Everywhere cats were fighting, arguing.

"We need to show ThunderClan that we're strong!" Oatwhisker growled, standing on the high branch beside Featherstar, their muzzles inches apart, tails lashing.

"But we're not strong enough - cats will get hurt!" he retorted. "I won't send my warriors into a battle they can't win."

"You have no faith in your warriors! You have no faith in me!"

Leafshadow's eyes widened. Everything was the same below them, in the camp - all the warriors were fighting. Sootwing and Brackenpaw were snarling at each other, claws unsheathed, eyes both glistening with sickness. Chaosflight was having a heated debate with Amberwhisker, both their fur ruffled, and even gentle Skytail was on edge, hissing at Mousechaser.

Near the camp entrance, Wolfsong was lashing her tail, fur fluffed up, glaring at Flintclaw. "You rogues have no right to fight - you're hardly even ShadowClan!"

Ravenwing darted between them before either Leafshadow or Nightleap could pull her back, spitting at Wolfsong. "Say that again!"

"You think you can sneak in here while we're all trapped in our dens," she growled, "And fight for territory that isn't yours!"

Leafshadow stepped smoothly between them, but was unable to keep her anger and disbelief out of her voice. "Wolfsong, Ravenwing and the others have every right to be here!"

"Easy for you to say. After all, aren't you half-clan too?"

"You foxheart! Why the hell are you bringing that up now?!" Leafshadow hissed, something inside her snapping. She felt Nightleap lay her tail on her flank, but she ignored her, fluffing out her fur. "If we're going to attack ThunderClan camp, we're going to have to use every cat we've got, clanborn or not!"

"EVERYONE SHUT UP!"

The camp fell silent as the yowl of a she-cat could he heard. The crowd parted to reveal a slender dark grey, almost black tabby she-cat, with white spotting, and icy blue eyes, glaring at everyone, particularly Featherstar and Oatwhisker, who looked incredibly guilty at being caught up in the arguments. Leafshadow tore her gaze away from Wolfsong and forced herself to sheath her claws. "Shadeheart..."

"This meeting was held to solve problems, so why are we creating more?!" she spat. "As it stands, this is proving to be about as useless as the Ultimate Mossball Tournament Cloudstorm started!"

Cloudstorm frowned. "Er, that was a really long time ago..."

"I won," Nightleap whispered to Ravenwing. "As a new apprentice. Totally the underdog. Beat Featherstar in the finals. No big deal."

Ravenwing let out a quiet mrrow of amusement.

Shadeheart wrapped her tail around her paws. "We should calm down and discuss these matters. And since I'm the only one who seems to know how to run a meeting, we'll follow my rules from here on out!"

Oatwhisker nodded, and Featherstar sighed, knowing the senior warrior was right.

"Don't talk for any longer than it takes Jaggedtail to start a fight at a gathering-"