Warriors the Clans Reborn: Enemies Within

Chapter 23

"Wolfpaw? Wolfpaw!"
What was that voice yelling about? Wolfpaw didn't know and her eyes refused to open. Where am I? What happened?
"Wolfpaw, please open your eyes!"
That voice, it sounded urgent. Should Wolfpaw know that voice? There seemed to be desperation behind it. Why was it so familiar? Then all at once, it hit her like a tidal wave and Wolfpaw's insides hiccuped fiercely. Coughing, Wolfpaw gasped and retched as water cascaded out of her mouth, coming in large amounts. She opened her eyes groggily and looked into Brownpelt's blue eyes.
"Wolfpaw! Your okay!" He exclaimed, showering her face and cheeks in licks. "I thought I had lost you!" He said between them, voice deeply relieved.
"What, what happened?" She rasped, sitting up.
Brownpelt shook his head. "I don't know, all I know is that you fell into a hole and the next thing I knew, you drifted out of a nearby pit with water surrounding you." His eyes became serious. "You drowned." He murmured. "I was so scared."
Wolfpaw's eyes widened. The tunnels, the flood! It all had happened so fast! "Brownpelt, there's tunnels in our camp!" She exclaimed.
He stopped. "What?"
Wolfpaw continued. "And an underground river, but the tunnels flooded and I got swept away, that's how you found me." She explained to him and Brownpelt's eyes widened.
"Really?" He gasped.
Wolfpaw nodded vigorously. "Yes!" She exclaimed. Then realization dawned on her and she bared her teeth angrily. "Wait, you followed me?!" She meowed, an edge to her voice.
Brownpelt swallowed. "Yes?" He said hesitantly. "But you were upset, I didn't know what you'd do or where you'd go, so I had to follow you, and look what happened." He pointed out, eyes dark.
Wolfpaw sniffed. "I guess that's true," she mumbled. "Thanks Brownpelt."
He smiled gratefully and Wolfpaw couldn't help but return it. Sniffing, she got an idea to return the favor of him saving her. Standing up, she approached Brownpelt and leaned in close and licked his cheek warmly, breathing in his sweet scent. When Wolfpaw pulled away, Brownpelt was frozen in place, his eyes dreamy and full of stars. Wolfpaw couldn't help a small chuckle and Brownpelt was immediately brought back into reality. A flush spread over his cheeks.
"S-sorry," he stuttered. "I just wasn't expecting that." Brownpelt's features relaxed and Wolfpaw smiled warmly.
"Come on," she said, "lets get back to camp."

Arriving st camp as the sun was sinking behind the clouds, with tails twined together, Wolfpaw bragged in the scents of her Clanmates. At last, she was feeling higher, less heavy. Though she still felt upset about her fathers death, she was glad he was in a better place and didn't have to deal with Massacre's Clan. The question was, where was his Clan? As if on cue with her thoughts, yowls rose into the air, coming from the direction of OutClan.
Brownpelt met Wolfpaw's eyes. "You don't think..?" He cut himself off.
Wolfpaw nodded and looked to the Glowingrock. Ashstar was already making her way up its sloping sides, sun reflecting its gold flecks into the sky.
"Cats of LightClan!" Ashstar yowled. "OutClan is being attacked, and we assume it is the very cats that just attacked our camp." Ashstar slowly eyed all of her Clanmates each in the eyes. "I need warriors and their apprentices to go help fight off this unknown heard of feral cats." She yowled triumphantly. Wolfpaw and Brownpelt shared a look. Not completely.
Brownpelt stepped forward. "I'll go." He pledged, unsheathing his claws.
Wolfpaw stepped up to his side. "I'll go as well." She said, puffing out her chest. The cats closest to them looked in her and Brownpelt's direction then quickly averted their eyes. Wolfpaw felt a growl in her throat. Leave me alone!
Flarestorm stepped forward. "I'll go," she mewed graciously. "In honor of my sister." Mistfur sided up to her and nodded her agreement. More cats, one by one agreed to go and soon enough they were splitting into groups.
"Alright," Blackshade yowled to his group. "Let's come in from a different side then the others and take these vengeful cats by surprise." He said, looking at all of his cats. He had Wolfpaw, Darkface, Mistfur and Dapplepelt. They all nodded in unison and Blackshade immediately began bounding through the forest, leading the charge. Cats banked left as Blackshade took a hard left and then a right, swerving around trees and stumps. Wolfpaw kept pace directly behind Blackshade and soon enough saw OutClan's camp coming up ahead. Putting on a burst of speed, Wolfpaw pulled ahead of Blackshade only to be pulled back by him.
"Stay behind me." He snarled angrily. His curled his lip in disgust and he faced forward again, never looking back. Wolfpaw growled loudly and shoved past Blackshade's ramming into his shoulder as she pounded ahead.

"Hey!" Blackshade yowled as she quickly lengthened her distance from Blackshade. "Get back here, Wolfpaw! I'm the leader of this patrol!"
Wolfpaw smiled wickedly to herself. Not to me your not. Pulling ahead, she skidded to a stop as she reached OutClan's camp and looked down into it. She immediately spotted Briarpaw fighting an all grey tom with silver eyes. The tom was a full grown cat and Briarpaw was wavering at his size, although he himself had grown quite some since Wolfpaw had last seen him. But nonetheless, he was faltering. Letting out a battle cry, Wolfpaw launched herself down the slope into OutClan camp, and leapt straight at the silver tom. Cannoning into him, she sent both him and herself flying forward off of Briarpaw. Crashing into the dirt, they rolled in a ball of teeth and claws. Finally stopping with Wolfpaw on top of him, she raised a clawed paw and cut deep grooves into his chest and he yowled in Antony. Kicking her away, he fled. Licking blood off her lips, Wolfpaw turned back to Briarpaw. He was getting shakily to his laws widened when he laid his eyes on her.
"Wolfpaw!" He exclaimed. "Your alive!" Bounding over to her, he ran his chin along her cheek bones in greeting. He pulled away. "What happened to you? Where were you with that kittypet?"
Wolfpaw's fur fluffed in alarm. "I'll tell you later Briarpaw, right now we need to fight off these VengeanceClan cats!"
He smiled knowingly. "I think you mean Briarnose."
"What?"
"I'm a warrior now." He clarified. Wolfpaw's ears flattened. Him too? Briarnose straightened, flexing his claws aggressively. Wolfpaw nodded and looked up when her fellow Clanmates came charging down the slope, yowling challenges at the VengeanceClan cats. They looked up at the new arrivals and quickly began fighting more harshly, drawing lots of blood. Wolfpaw scowled and launched herself into the fray, catching whatever enemy pelt she could as she ran. Her Clan joined the battle and yowls could be heard from all over. Wolfpaw glanced around for Massacre and gasped to see him facing off with Thistlestar, the huge OutClan leader. He threw a swing at Massacre's cheek and connected. Blood spurted from his cheek, but he didn't falter. Coming back, he slashed Thistlestar's chest then fled, howling as he ran, rounding up his cats. Wolfpaw looked over in horror and saw multiple cats carrying kits and apprentices or hissing at their heels to keep them moving.
Briarnose gasped. "Maplepaw..." he trailed off. Wolfpaw felt her heartstrings tug as she saw her being shoved forward by an orange tom. How much did I miss while I was away?
Once all of the cats had cleared out, Thistlestar let out a long, drawn out yowl over the loss of his apprentices and kits.
Wolfpaw pricked her ears to catch what he was saying.
"If I ever see that traitor again, I'm going to tear his pelt off then force feed it down his sorry throat after shredding the skin off his entire body!" He whisper-yelled. Wolfpaw gulped at how calmly he said this, malice evident in his voice and at once realized who he was talking about. Mousepelt!
Sniffing sadly, Wolfpaw glanced around the camp. Bloodied bodies littered the forest floor and immediately Wolfpaw was taken back to their battle just a few days back. Grief nearly choked her heart at seeing it once again. She looked to the sky in despair. We came all the way here only to see them off with more kits and apprentices. What are we going to do now?
~
Holy crap, two different story chapters in one day? I am on fire! Well, onto another chapter to write, hopefully this one won't take long too write because I don't want to write it. 😫