Warrior cats: Power of the Phoenix- Book One

Chapter 23 The Betrayal That Sparked a Blaze

   It started off as a beautiful day in OceanClan, the leaves of the small grove behind the camp were slowly turning orange and red, as the sun beat down onto the sandy hollow.

   It had been moons since Glowpaw became Glowheart, and Yarrowberry had returned to GhostClan. During Yarrowberry's stay she seemed to help Glowheart with his self esteem, Glowheart now padded around the camp confidently and was no longer afraid to tell his clanmates what to do.

   Rainpelt padded towards Phoenixheart, her tail flicking back and forth in irritation. "Have you seen Salmonclaw? He was suppose to be on the morning patrol but he didn't show up." Phoenixheart looked up at Rainpelt and shook her head, "I haven't seen him all day, he wasn't in our nest when I woke up." Rainpelt's expression immediately changed from angry to concerned after hearing that, Phoenixheart guessed that she was thinking about Tealstreak's disappearance. "I'll inform Heatherstar." She replied solemnly before turning towards the leader of OceanClan's den and padding away.

   Phoenixheart looked down at her half eaten minnow, now that Rainpelt had mentioned it Phoenixheart realized how strange it was for her mate to not be around for morning patrol. He always was trying to impress everyone in the Clan ever since his littermate Troutshadow had saved Autumnpromise's life when he was an apprentice and became a hero among his clanmates.

   After a few heartbeats Phoenixheart got up and padded through the reeds, leaping from stepping stone to stepping stone gracefully until she jumped onto dry land with a small thud.

   Phoenixheart padded up to a small river and sat down to hunt. After catching a few minnows and a decently sized trout Phoenixheart picked up her prey and went to padded back towards camp, ignoring the rain that had started a few moments ago.

   By the time Phoenixheart got back to camp the rain had become severe, and Phoenixheart jumped at the crackling of nearby lightning. Maplewish ran up to Phoenixheart as soon as she entered the camp. "There you are! I was getting worried about you." She meowed, her ears back. Phoenixheart dropped her fish, "sorry, I wanted to clear my head. I'm worried about Salmonclaw," she confessed.

   Maplewish's gaze softened, she nuzzled her sister. "I'm sure he's fine, but we have to go. Heatherstar evacuated the camp incase it flooded, I stayed behind to wait for you." Phoenixheart's eyes widened, as she looked around, she had assumed that her clanmates were in their dens sheltering from the storm. "I didn't think it was that bad," she replied warily, Maplewish sighed.

   "Its better to be safe than sorry, now we need to g-" before Maplewish could finish her sentence a bolt of lightning hit the reeds that were near the entrance of the camp, Phoenixheart and Maplewish stared in horror as the fire quickly spread from reed to reed, lighting up the night faster then Phoenixheart can comprehend. Before the fire completely engulfed the entrance Salmonclaw and a black tom cat walked in, their teeth bared. "Salmonclaw?" Phoenixheart asked carefully as Maplewish pressed her pelt against hers. Salmonclaw chuckled, ignoring Phoenixheart. "This'll be easier then we thought." He commented darkly, only then did Phoenixheart notice that a few other cats had crept into the camp through the unburnt reeds.

   Maplewish took a step toward Salmonclaw and the black tom, "why are you doing this," she demanded, her hackles raised as she fluffed up her fur to look twice her size. The other tom padded up to Maplewish until he was only a fox length away from her. "It's time for DarkClan too rule the forest, sister."

   Maplewish's eyes widened, "Owl?" Ruby had told Phoenixheart and Maplewish about their littermate that died the day they were born. Owlsight sneered, "It's Owlsight now, though I would've thought that Phoenixheart had told you that by now." Maplewish whipped around to face Phoenixheart who hesitated before speaking, "I- I never knew how to tell you.."

   Hurt flashed in Maplewish's eyes, "Well now look where that got us." Phoenixheart didn't know how to respond, so she turned her attention back to Salmonclaw. "Why would you do this.." She asked heavy-heartedly, Salmonclaw smirked. "I am the deputy of DarkClan, there I'm respected and honored. If I stayed in OceanClan then I'll just be another meaningless warrior that will be forgotten one day." Phoenixheart snarled, "you've always been so obsessed with having everyone adore you, but you never stopped to notice how much I adored you!"

   Salmonclaw hesitated to respond, before he could Owlsight growled, "I'm tired of this, DarkClan, atta-!" before Owlsight could finish the command Maplewish lunged at him and bit down on his neck. The loud crack of bone seemed to silence the flames as everyone stared in shock.

   A few heartbeats later Maplewish let Owlsight's lifeless body fall to the ground as he started to slowly fade away. Phoenixheart looked around at the other cats that had begun to surround her and Maplewish. The cats looked to one another in alarm before a jet black tom raced out of the reeds, soon the others fled after him. "Come back you cowards, there's only two of them!" Salmonclaw yowled, but by then they had all left. Salmonclaw turned back to Maplewish and Phoenixheart and hissed, his fur fluffed up. "You won't get away with this, you'll both pay for what you've done one day!" He growled before racing out of the camp as another bolt of lightning lit up the sky.

   Phoenixheart and Maplewish stood there in silence for a few heartbeats before Maplewish turned back to Phoenixheart, her jaws bloody. Phoenixheart took a deep breath and brushed her pelt against her sister's comfortingly. "What have I done.." Maplewish wimpered as she trembled against Phoenixheart. "You did what you had too do too save us," Phoenixheart said soothingly, placing her tail on Maplewish's shoulder. "Lets go, we can get back to the others using the hole behind the elders den." Maplewish only nodded, and let Phoenixheart lead her, to shaken up too do anything else.