Warriors: The Prophecy of Frost - The Darkest Battle

Chapter 14 - Looming Shadows

(Brackenflame's POV)

The brown tabby tom quickened his face towards the ThunderClan camp. Frostblaze broke into a run and he had to hurry after her.

Fallowstem followed and they charged into the ThunderClan camp. Brackenflame gasped in shock. Many dens were ruined and the Dark Forest rogues outnumbered the ThunderClan warriors.

Russeteyes, an elder, was fighting fiercely to defend the nursery, where Brackenflame could hear faint meows of pain.

Fallowstem had already launched herself into battle with Frostblaze beside her.

Brackenflame unsheathed his claws and started to lash out at any Dark Forest rogue that tried attacking him.

Brackenflame's claws caught a hold of a light gray tom's fur, his unwelcoming scent of rotting leaves told Brackenflame that he was a Dark Forest cat.

Dull green eyes met Brackenflame's dark amber eyes as they began to fight.

As Brackenflame fought, he was grateful that the rogue group that he was from taught him different battle techniques that the Clans would never teach. No matter how bad his former leaders' intentions were, there were still some good in it.

His opponent was easier to fight that he originally thought - after a few more swipes, he had sent the Dark Forest cat running.

However there was no time to celebrate his mini victory. He had a Clan to help.

Brackenflame only hoped that his own Clan is doing well enough to keep the wave of Dark Forest cats away.

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(Hawkflight's POV)

Hawkflight hobbled to the medicine cat, favoring his left paw gingerly. My old injury acted up again, he thought, growling in frustration.

Brightdawn was beside him, ready to defend him from any attacking cats. Hawkflight sighed in relief when he finally made it inside the medicine cat den.

Shimmerbreeze was patching up Littlestar's wounds with cobwebs that were collected the day before. His father's pained eyes told him that he had just lost a life.

"Be careful out there," Shimmerbreeze muttered to the ShadowClan leader, who was getting up.

"I can't promise you that," Littlestar mewed to the medicine cat. "My Clan needs me to fight."

Shimmerbreeze did not reply. After Littlestar left the den, she turned to Hawkflight. Her gaze landed on his badly scratched up paw and mewed, "Is it broken?"

"Not yet," he winced as Shimmerpelt carefully dripped some horsetail on his paw. "A Dark Forest rogue noticed that my left paw is wounded before and she immediately went for it."

Hawkflight shuddered at the memory. "A fox nearly bit my paw off a long time ago," he explained, noticing her slightly confused look.

"Then, you should have been more careful," she mewed, patching it up with cobwebs.

Shimmerbreeze sighed. "If you and your father could be more careful, none of this could have happened."

"You sound like a queen," Hawkflight remarked as she finished wrapping his paw in cobwebs.

"You may go now," Shimmerbreeze meowed, ignoring his comment.

Hawkflight carefully placed his paw onto the ground, wincing at the sudden sharp tang of pain.

"I'm fine," he mewed, half limping out of the medicine cat den. He was relieved that his paw stopped hurting - at least for now.

The screeches of battle were still going on. The sound of angry yowls rang in his head and he tried to get his mind of it. His Clanmates needed him to focus and fight.

A Dark Forest rogue charged towards Hawkflight, her eyes wild with fury. As Hawkflight lifted his paw to defend himself, the she-cat swiped at his paw that was balancing him - his left paw - and he collapsed.

Hawkflight rolled away before the Dark Forest cat could pounce on him. Suddenly, an apprentice launched herself at Hawkflight's attacker.

The Dark Forest snarled and switched her focus on the apprentice. Hawkflight got up with a groan and looked up at the battle between the two she-cats.

He realised that the apprentice was Juniperpaw, a WindClan apprentice. He was relieved that WindClan came to help, but his relief soon turned into horror.

Juniperpaw fell beside Hawkflight, with several deep gashes on her flank. The young apprentice's eyes reflected shock as her gaze met his.

Hawkflight was speechless, turning to face the Dark Forest cat. The pain in his paw suddenly disappeared as Hawkflight brust forward, as fast as a snake, towards the she-cat.

She had barely any time to escape before Hawkflight sank his fangs into her throat.

The Dark Forest rogue struggled for a heartbeat before stopping and fading away.

"Are you okay?" Woodear asked. "You seem shaken up."

"Yes," Hawkflight replied, glancing at Juniperpaw's unmoving form sadly, "but I couldn't save Juniperpaw. She saved me, but I didn't try hard to do the same for her."

"I know you tried your best," the WindClan warrior mewed, his gaze fixed on the mourning WindClan leader.

Hawkflight instantly felt guilty and he turned away - he did not want to meet Dawnstar's eyes.

"Where are the Dark Forest cats?" he asked, bewildered that the shadowy cats were not fighting in ShadowClan's camp.

"Chasing them to Fourtrees," Woodear meowed. "We have to go and help them."

He nudged Dawnstar, whispering some words into her ear. She nodded and looked at Juniperpaw regretfully before breaking into a run.

Hawkflight ran after them, leaping over small fallen logs and pulling his paw out of a muddy pool.

When he reached Fourtrees, he was greeted by a chaos of growls and snarls. As he fought, he could not help but wonder where was ThunderClan.

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This took longer than I expected. :/ Anyways, hopefully I would be able to update more frequently as it is currently my school break. :)