Conflagration [A Warrior Cats AU]

Chapter Four

Bluefur padded into camp with a plump mouse in her jaws. Her chest was puffed out in pride as she strode over to the fresh kill pile. Hailstar looked at her approvingly. It had been a few moons after she had 'joined' RiverClan, and she had tried her hardest to prove herself to her adoptive Clan. Leaf-bare was almost over, and the ice was beginning to thaw. Mistykit, Stonekit and Mosskit were almost apprentices and were growing bigger every day. Thrushpelt had won the trust of the Clan when he fought valiantly in a battle for sunning rocks, earning them the territory. 

"Soon we'll have to teach you to fish," Crookedjaw meowed, nodding curtly to her and jerking her back into the present. "Thank you, Crookedjaw," the blue-grey she-cat purred. "Do you know where Brambleberry is? I think I got a thorn in my paw, and it's really deep!"

Crookedjaw motioned with his head to the nursery. "She's cleaning the nests. If you helped her, that'd be great. There's moss already in there to use."

Bluefur nodded and limped off to the nursery with her tail high and her eyes bright. A hopeful feeling in her chest began to form, and she began to think that maybe she'd be allowed in the Clan for good. 

After she helped Brambleberry and got the thorn out of her pad, she walked back into the middle of the camp and sat down, watching her kits playing. "I'm a ThunderClan cat!" Stonekit hissed. "I'm gonna rip you to shreds!"

Mistykit snorted. "Yeah right, ThunderClan cat! I'm Mistystar and I'm the Leader of RiverClan! Mossclaw, let's fight!"

Mosskit shuffled her paws. "Do I have to be Mossclaw? It sounds kind of mean... I'd rather be a medicine cat!"

"What about Mossleaf then?" Bluefur suggested with a smile. "And maybe you can be a medicine cat one day."

Mosskit brightened. "Okay! Mistystar can fight for me and I can heal her!" She purred.

Mistykit nodded in agreement. "And Stonestar doesn't have a medicine cat!"

Stonekit's eyes narrowed.  "Why can't I be in RiverClan?" He grumbled.

"Well, maybe you can move from ThunderClan?" Mosskit suggested with shining eyes. "Apparently Mama and Uncle Thrushpelt and we did! Right, mama?"

Bluefur looked away. "RiverClan is our home now," is all she said.

Stonekit scampered closer to Mistykit and Mosskit, but before he could say anything he was interrupted.

"Sunningrocks! ThunderClan is trying to take sunningrocks!" Timberfur, a Warrior of RiverClan yowled.

Bluefur leapt to her paws and let her claws out of their sheaths. She raised her voice loud enough to sound above the clamour of cats hissing and yowling.

"Let's show those mouse-hearts their place! Sunningrocks is ours!" She yowled.

Some cats looked at her in surprise. She understood- she was a former ThunderClan cat, after all. But she was pleased to hear cats yelling agreement and nodding at her words. Hailstar raised his tail and the Clan went silent. He stared at Bluefur through thoughtful narrowed eyes.

"Okay," he meowed after a few moments. "Crookedjaw, you lead the patrol with Bluefur, Thrushpelt, Oakheart, Petaldust and Timberfur. Go, and quick!"

Crookedjaw nodded, gathering the warriors together and then racing out of camp. Bluefur sprinted after him, able to easily leap over the stepping stones now. Timberfur was right. There were ThunderClan warriors just taking the rocks. Thistleclaw, Adderfang, Tigerclaw, Dappletail and Swiftbreeze were marking around sunningrocks! 

"RiverClan, attack!" Crookedjaw yowled, leaping at the warrior closest to him. Adderfang was knocked to the ground and the two toms tussled in the grass. Bluefur joined in, jumping at Tigerclaw and biting down onto his shoulder. He let out a hiss of pain and shook her off his back, leaving her dazed for a second. He pinned her down and snarled in her face. She was surprised to smell how different ThunderClan scent was now. Bluefur struggled under his strong grip and snarled in pain as he slashed at her cheek. Resorting to last moves, she lay limp, looking like she had given up. 

"Can't fight me, huh? Weakling!" Tigerclaw laughed, his grip loosening. Bluefur took this opportunity to kick him off when he was distracted, leaping to her paws neatly and snarling at him. Nearby, Thrushpelt and Thistleclaw slashed and bit at each other and Bluefur decided she needed to help her friend. She used her small frame and lithe build to her advantage and slid under Tigerclaw, ending up on the other side of him and biting down on his tail. He let out a yelp and tried to turn around but Bluefur started to nip at his hind legs. After a bit of that, he snarled and turned to fight someone else. Feeling proud of herself, Bluefur looked back to Thrushpelt and Thistleclaw. Thistleclaw had pinned Thrushpelt down and- was he about to do a killing blow?! 

Outraged, Bluefur tackled Thistleclaw, bringing him off of Thrushpelt. She spat in his face as the two rolled on the ground. For a few seconds, Thistleclaw was caught off guard, but even when he had realised what was happening, he did nothing and only let Bluefur pin him to the ground and push his face into the grass. But then suddenly, she felt another presence, one she knew but also was very unfamiliar. Then, after a second she realised and hastily got off Thistleclaw. Mapleshade was here.

She shook her head. Mapleshade was dead. She couldn't hurt her. Bluefur noticed Thistleclaw got back up to his paws and raised a paw, slicing his muzzle and then biting his ear when he was confused. With a yelp, he pulled away and turned to the rest of the battle. "ThunderClan, retreat!" He yowled, very reluctantly, running into the bushes. The other cats of the ThunderClan patrol ran off after him and RiverClan was left alone with sunningrocks belonging to them. Bluefur raised her head to the sky and let out a yowl of joy. They had won! 

On the way back to camp, Bluefur's pride gave way to shame and nervousness. She had been fearless fighting ThunderClan, but was that necessarily a good thing? Would she soon not care at all about her birth Clan? Trying to shrug the thought off, she joined the rest of RiverClan for a feast. She didn't need to care right now. They had won.