WindClan's Fright: Brave Again

Chapter 3

Moonkit's POV

I watched as Seedstar looked up from the crow he was eating, his eyes full of surprise.

"WHAT!?" he bellowed. The small patrol all nodded their heads. "Then we will go and get our kits back!" he declared with a lash of his tail. "Doveshadow, Duststrike, Fernshade, Liongrowl, Fiddlegaze, Sootstorm, Finchflight, Horseleap, Skypaw, and Hawkpaw, come with me! Sandfern, protect the camp with the warriors left."

The called cats ran to the entrance of camp in a hurry.

While Skypaw and Hawkpaw were overflowing themselves in excitement, I decided to go and greet them.

"Hey Skypaw, Hawkpaw! You two are so lucky! I wish I could go fight!" The apprentices looked down at me with amusement glittering in their eyes as they exchanged glances.

Skypaw smiled. "One day you will," he purred. "But it's not always fun, you know. Cats can die sometimes."

His words sent a cold and icy shiver down my spine and I held in a shudder. The young tom was right.

Sorrow stabbed my heart as I watched the apprentices look over to their mother, Fernshade, and say goodbye to their father, the deputy, Sandfern.

"Let's go!" Seedstar yowled. The warriors streamed out of camp and I watched quietly, wishing with all my heart I could go avenge my litter-brother.

Skypaw's POV

As we ran towards the Riverclan border, a screech split the air and I nearly froze along with the others on patrol. I shared a startled glance with Hawkpaw before Seedstar ran forward and we followed.

When we arrived, we saw the Riverclan warrior Birchstreak piercing Owlkit's tail, his claws glinting under the sun. Owlkit's blood slowly began trickling down onto the ground.

Before we could react, the sound of pawsteps filled my ears and I turned to see Turtlestream racing up from behind the patrol.

"Turtlestream!" Seedstar exclaimed with shock. "I told you to stay at camp!"

Turtlestream ignored him as she raced to the aid of Owlkit, crossing the boarder and bowling over Birchstreak. Her attack seemed to enrage the rest of the RiverClan patrol, and they yowled with fury.

I watched with pure horror as two warriors jumped onto the she-cat. One sank its fangs into her neck, dragging her off Birchstreak. The other began shredding her pelt apart, sending drops of blood scattering onto the ground.

Despite the cries of Seedstar and the rest of the WindClan patrol, the RiverClan warriors didn't so much as glance at the WindClan battle patrol and mercilessly attacked Turtlestream. I heard her cry out before it was muffled by a slash to her throat.

No! No! I cried in my head. They're going to kill her!

When the RiverClan warriors stepped back, they revealed a mangled and bloody Turtlestream. Her eyes were glazed over and her teeth were bared in a final snarl. But that wasn't even the worst part. Her throat was ripped open and gushing blood and her neck was twisted at an awkward angle. Her claws were unsheathed and caked with blood, but many of them were hanging off her paws, barely attached.

"No," Fernshade, who was standing beside me, choked out. My mother had been best friends and littermates with Turtlestream. They were practically inseparable, even after Fernshade had moved out of the nursery.

I leaned into her to comfort her and she squeezed her eyes shut. Silver tears threatened to fall from her closed eyes and she sobbed quietly, her shoulders shaking.

Hawkpaw, on Fernshade's other side, rested his tail on her back. Her head drooped in defeat.

"Go back to Sandfern," I whispered. "I'm sure Seedstar won't mind." Fernshade opened her eyes and glanced at me, her tears making her green eyes more vibrant.

"N-no," she sniffed. "If something happened to you and Hawkpaw because I wasn't here, I'd never forgive myself." A tear slid down her cheek.

I quickly brush it away with my tail.

"You are grieving. You're not thinking straight. You might get hurt too," I reasoned. "Go back to dad."

"We'll be fine," Hawkpaw added. "We are almost warriors. We can handle ourselves." Fernshade opened her mouth as if she was about to argue, but slowly closed it.

"Alright," she sighed. "Stay safe." She quickly licked both my brother and I on the head before sprinting off, tears streaming down her face.

I watched her leave, sad to see her go, but I know that we had given her the right choice. She could have gotten hurt.

I looked back to Turtlestream. Her scream rang through my ears and I shuddered.

I felt a nudge, snapping me out of my trance. Hawkpaw used his chin to point to Seedstar. Seedstar's eyes are blazing like fire.

"WindClan, attack!"

Swiftkit's POV

I can hear loud sobs as some cat runs into camp. I glance at Moonkit and she glances at me. We seem to be thinking the same thing.

We both creep to the nursery entrance and peek into the clearing.

Fernshade bursts into the clearing, tears streaming down her face. Sandfern rushes over from where he is guarding the camp to comfort her.

"What's wrong?" he asks softly. Fernshade buries her head into his fur. Her reply is muffled. Sandfern seems to be puzzled on what she said as well, because he asks her to speak up.

Fernshade glances up from Sandfern's fur, her eyes blazing.

"I said Turtlestream is dead!" she shouted. She lashed her tail and dashed off, barreling through the camp entrance.

Moonkit gasps. I stare in horror at the spot where Fernshade had vanished. Turtlestream dead? No, it couldn't be. But the tortoiseshell queen had dashed after the battle patrol, leaving her two kits still asleep. She had been gone for a while now, and having just kitted, Turtlestream was still in no condition to fight. It was very possible that Turtlestream really was dead.

"W-what was that about?" I jumped and quickly turned around, coming nose to nose with Sparrowkit.

"Yeah," Pebblekit meowed, stretching. "All this shouting woke us up." So they hadn't heard.

I shuffled my paws nervously. "Um, well..." I trailed off, not wanting to tell the kits the tragic news.

"Swiftkit! Moonkit!" A familiar yowl erupted from the clearing and paws thundered towards the nursery. Whisperkit burst into the nursery, her eyes wild. "Did you hear what happened to Turtlestream?" Her voice was thick with sadness.

"What happened to momma?" Sparrowkit asked. Whisperkit snapped her gaze to Turtlestream's two remaining kits. Her eyes widened. She must have not noticed them when she came in.

"Oh! Uh, hi," Whisperkit greeted, suddenly nervous.

Pebblekit took a step towards Whisperkit. "What happened to momma?"

"I, uh, gotta go! Bye!" Whisperkit exclaimed before rushing into the clearing. I sighed and shook my head.

Moonkit turned to the two kits.

"I'm sorry to say this, but..." She paused, not wanting to be the one to say it. When I, or anyone else, didn't come to her aid, she sighed. "Y-your mom is dead."

AN: Wow it's been a while. So how did you like this chapter? I expected it to be out a lot sooner, but when no one was coming onto the account very often, I decided to finish the chapter. I know I said it would probably be Moon who wrote this chapter, but I'm back with the third chapter! :)
But be honest. How did you like this chapter?
Until next time,
Pepper