Brightheart's Revenge

An Unforgiven Grudge

Sorry! Short chapter!
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     I rushed through the trees, forgetting about the pain surging through my body as the brambles sliced open my wounds yet again. My muscles were screeching at me to stop and go back to my nest and sleep but I forced my legs forward. My heart pounded in my chest as I worried more and more that it was Snowpaw that was throwing that scent in the air. 'It was probably just a carcass of a rabbit a fox had eaten...' I reassured myself over and over.
     The blood in my ears roared and my breathing was beginning to come in short rasps. The scent was growing stronger as I leaped over a fallen log. The WindClan border scent was coming closer until I halted, making sure I didn't go over it.
      My breaths came in short rasps as I fought to catch my breath; I looked around. Sorreltail rushed over, panting from the run. 'Where and who could it be?' I wondered, looking around. The tang of blood bathed my tongue as I smelt the air to find the trail.
     I looked down and saw a puddle of blood just in front of me. I was just a few whiskers away. Sorreltail padded over and sniffed it. "Smells of ThunderClan..." she whispered, half questioning it. "Well who could it've been?" I meowed, sniffing it too. It seemed like it was half WindClan and ThunderClan mixed together. I tipped my head to the side and looked at a small trail leading out of the territory lines. I rushed away, following the trail in a hurry. My head was spinning, wondering who could possibly have done this. And to who?
     I followed it and followed it until finally I found a recently dug up hole, covered with loose dirt. Sorreltail stood beside me and we exchanged glances. Feeling like a dog, I started digging down. My paws started to ache as the ground came to pebbles. Finally, my claws hit some grey fur. I dug around it until I saw the head. I gasped at the sight.
     A dirty, battered cat laid at the bottom, as still and stiff as a rock. The smell of soil and death clung to it's fur. A gaping wound was slit open in the neck and scratches scattered everywhere else on its body. Sorreltail gasped and grabbed the cat with her claws, unable to get to it's scruff. I helped her and grabbed it's leg in my teeth, yanking the limp, cold body out of the hole.
     My eye widened as my mind registered who this body was.
     It was Ivypool.
     Sorreltail looked away and sat down. "Ivypool... who... did this to you?" I whispered and rested my tail on her shoulders. Her grey tabby pelt wasn't as shiny as it was the night before, her eyes dull and distant. She was looking beyond the forest, beyond the sky and beyond the clouds. I told myself over and over that she was in a better place now, but what would Dovewing think? And Whitewing? Dirt was clumped in her fur, wounds, eyes and ears. The smell of WindClan clung to her fur. WindClan did it. ShadowClan killed Cloudtail and now WindClan killed Ivypool? What's next? RiverClan cats killing Squirrelflight?
    A growl rose in my throat until I couldn't keep it from being low. I bared my teeth in a snarl and grabbed Ivypool's scruff and drug her through the undergrowth. Sorreltail followed me and hurried to get back to my side. "What are you thinking, Brightheart?" she prompted, eyes wide. "ShadowClan is against us, always has been. But I thought that maybe - just maybe - WindClan might like us," I snarled, keeping my gaze forward. "But for this to happen, I think we need to have revenge. We can't sit back and watch two enemy Clans take out cats away. You can't tell me you don't want the same." Sorreltail was silent for many heartbeats, her head down. Finally she spoke, "I want revenge but I don't think this is the time. We can put everyone in danger." She pointed out.
     "Sorreltail, we cannot be the soft Clan they make rumours about. They have gone too far!" I hissed through the cold fur of Ivytail. 'I will not let ShadowClan and WindClan beat us up anymore. We will get back at them twice as bad for what they did.' I glared silently at nothing and I tried to pick up speed, even with the cold, beat up and dirty Ivypool at my paws.
*****

      I ducked into camp and drug Ivypool's body into the center of the camp. Squirrelflight gasped and ran to grab Dovewing. Daisy curled his fluffy tail around the sleepy kits and softly scotched them into the nursery. Sorreltail told me she'd be back, she was going for a hunt and to grab Bumblestripe and Whitewing.
      Dovewing's face filled with grief as she took in her sister's dead, battered body. "I found her near WindClan territory buried. She was outside of both territories. WindClan scent was all around the place she was burried," I murmured softly, putting my tail on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.
Bramblestar hurried out of his den with Squirrelflight beside him. Cats gathered around to see what had happened. "What happened?" Bramblestar demanded, eyes slotted and ears back. "I found a blood trail beside WindClan's border. I followed it outside of out territory and WindClan's until I found a place recently dug up. Sorreltail and I discovered Ivypool under it with WindClan scent mixed in her wounds," I explained, looking our leader in the eye. He nodded.
     "Squirrelflight, grab Jayfeather," Bramblestar ordered. While Bramblestar was doing nothing but staring, I padded over to confront him. "ShadowClan has attacked us and now WindClan. They think they can beat us up and I know you don't want that to be how everyone see's us anymore. We have to show them who's boss and attack them back," I insisted, my tail lashing on the ground. He looked at me without moving, "I understand what you're saying, Brightheart, but ThunderClan is still healing from the last battle. We can't risk harming anyone else when we have been weakened already." he replied simply. My ears flattened and I forced my voice to go even and for my fur to stay flat. "I know that we are still healing, but we need to attack them and get revenge before it's too late. Just consider it. We should attack WindClan when we are healed then ShadowClan if we can," he didn't reply. "They think we are weak and we are going along with it, Bramblestar. They'll keep attacking until we are forced out of our territory."
      When he didn't reply, I trekked away from the camp. 'If he doesn't reply in half a moon, I'm taking matter into my own paws.' I vowed to myself, padding into the woods again. I needed to clear my head. Padding through the dense undergrowth, I headed for WindClan's territory line. The silence ebbed around me, the only sound was the soft crunch of my paws as they snapped sticks. The sky went grey as clouds slipped over the sky, the scent of rain batheing my tongue. A wet drop of water splashed my ear, and then my spine and then my nose until water drenched my fur. Rain poured out of the sky and I pushed on, still heading to the WindClan border.
      The scent of WindClan bathed my tongue as I came closer, their scent markers still looming in the air. I peered over the territory line and narrowed my eye. A growl crept up my throat until I was almost roaring. I snarled, lip curling as I caught a glimpse of a WindClan patrol. The came up to me and gave me a look.
     "Don't act like you don't know what happened." I sneered, unsheathing my claws. Rage pulsed through me. This wasn't me. The battle between dead and alive, evil and good changed me for the better. I wouldn't let Ivypool's death go to the back of everyone heads too quickly. Nor Cloudtail's. They narrowed their eyes at me, their fur sticking to their flesh. "What do you mean?" Owlwhisker asked, Nightcloud stepping forward. She snarled at me and shoved Owlwhisker aside. "Are you accusing us again?" She growled, her fur spiking up even with the rain pounding down on it. "Yes. And I know it was someone in your Clan. We found Ivypool buried outside of WindClan territory with WindClan scent bathed in her blood," I insisted, feeling another growl raise in my throat.
    "You have no real proof for this, Brightheart. You can't possibly think that you can accuse us without prof and a witness," Owlwhisker meowed calmly, pulling Nightcloud back so I didn't lung at her. My heart hammered in my chest. They were right. Even if Sorreltail and I had smelt it, I hadn't had a witness, and now, with all the rain, the prof of WindClan scent in the hole I had unburied Ivypool out of, was gone. "I know what my nose was telling me. I'm not the type to lie and I know for a fact that a WindClan warrior murdered Ivypool. I may not have prof but I will get revenge." I meowed, sheathing my claws and turning around. Guilt and hatred washed over me as I shouldered through the forest.
     'Don't worry Ivypool, WindClan will wish they hadn't murdered you. They'll cry for mercy under my paws.'

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