The Lost Prophecy: Book 1: Ravenpaw's Secret

Chapter 14

At the sound of Bluestar's alarm call, Ravenpaw sprang forward, Graypaw at his side. He raced through the forest, swerving around trees and leaping over fallen logs. Finally he reached the camp, and a storm a screams met his ears.

Every cat was fighting, including elders and queens. Brindleface was grappling with a dark ginger she-cat, even though her belly was heavy with kits. One-Eye, Dappletail, and Smallear were nipping at a vicious gray tabby, while one of the younger elders, Rosetail, was defending the nursery.

Ravenpaw lost sight of Graypaw almost immediately as he leaped into the fray. He felt claws strike his shoulder. Whipping around, he saw a flash of orange and black fur a mouselength from his whiskers. Ravenpaw tried to dodge, but the tortoiseshell was faster. She raked her sharp claws down his side, opening one of his wounds from the rat fight, and he shrieked as droplets of his own blood spattered the ground. Before he could respond to the attack, the enemy warrior bounded away to take on another ThunderClan cat.

A brown warrior caught sight of Ravenpaw and sprang at him when a fierce yowl sounded at the camp entrance.  Ravenpaw recognized Bluestar's voice. The brown warrior looked up, distracted by the leader's arrival, and Ravenpaw took the chance to retreat to the back of the throng of fighting cats. Still stunned from the strike from the tortoiseshell, he squeezed between and underneath the battling cats, trying to make his way out from the group of warriors that he was still trapped in.

Ravenpaw could see Bluestar racing across the camp, her pelt a gray blur. She threw herself into the battle and clawed fiercely at their enemies in spite of her wounds. She raced at one tom, grasping him in her forepaws while raking her back claws through his belly. Only when the tom let out a scream of pain did she let him go. The tom stumbled into the thick undergrowth that surrounded the camp.

Out of nowhere, a huge gray tom pinned Ravenpaw to the ground with enormous paws. He didn't think he could bear any more weight without being crushed when yet another cat piled on top of him, his thorn-sharp claws digging into his shoulder. He cried out in pain and in the blink of an eye, the cats were gone. He looked around to see one of the cats was now crashing wildly through the camp, trying to buck off Dustpaw, who was clinging to his back. Lionheart was now grappling with the other, his golden tabby pelt streaked with blood. Ravenpaw had never seen Lionheart look so fierce.

"Fight, Ravenpaw!" the golden tabby yowled. "Go on!"

A flurry of enemy warriors passed in front of Ravenpaw, and he couldn't see Lionheart anymore. He was hobbling to his paws, bracing himself to take on the next enemy, when he noticed that there was no one guarding the nursery.  Why would Rosetail leave her position? Then he saw a ginger shape lying motionless next to the nursery.

"Rosetail!" he yowled. The lifeless elder did not respond to his call.

Next to Rosetail's body, he recognized Blackfoot of ShadowClan. The huge white tom was half inside the nursery, half out. With huge black paws he scooped up one kit and placed it outside. It was a tiny kit, Ravenpaw realized with a sickening feeling in his stomach, one of Frostfur's newborns. Blackfoot reached another paw into the nursery and pulled out another kit.

"The kits!" Ravenpaw screeched. "The kits are in danger!" Hoping that his Clanmates had heard his alarm through the noise, Ravenpaw tried to bound toward the nursery, but stumbled over his injured hind leg, and before he could do anything else a tabby ShadowClan cat tackled him from behind. Ravenpaw's muzzle was pressed into the dirt, and he flailed wildly to free himself, ignoring the sharp stings of pain from his wounds.

Lionheart's words repeated in his head: Fight, Ravenpaw. Go on. He flipped over onto his back. Summoning all his strength, Ravenpaw kicked wildly with his hind legs, clawing at the tabby tom's vulnerable belly. His attack sent the young tabby tom yowling across the clearing, and Ravenpaw flopped onto his side, gasping.