Conflagration [A Warrior Cats AU]

Chapter Twenty Eight

Bluestar woke up that night in the dark forest, a place she hadn't been for moons now. She looked around with a snarl, sinking her claws into the ground. Then she spotted a shape in the distance, cautiously walking towards them. The trees of the forest disappeared as she padded closer, turning into RiverClan's camp.

But there was blood staining the grass as she approached it, making her gulp. Yowls pierced the air, causing her to be hesitant about approaching. As she entered the camp, she gasped. 

Bodies were littered around the camp. Sitting on a hill of bones were Thistleclaw, Whitestorm and Tigerclaw. Cats bowed at the pile, looking terrified. Thistleclaw smiled, looking satisfied. Bluestar nearly gagged as she watched. So many familiar cats who were now rotting crowfood. Stonefur, Mistyfoot, Beetlenose-

And herself, lying in the middle of the camp. Bits of meat ripped off for the birds and some bones sticking out, her ribcage clearly visible through her fur and some of the bones even showing through the ripped off flesh.

Bluestar ran past the corpse and up the bonehill, swiping at Thistleclaw. Her paw went through his face, and he paid her no notice. She hissed at him, biting into his neck, but again it seemed like she wasn't even there. No one even saw her. She jumped off the pile and sprinted out of camp, careful not to step on anything disgusting. She chased after nothing in particular, just wanting to get away from the gruesome sight. She tripped and fell into a ravine, eyes widening and a sharp inhale escaping her mouth before she went crashing down, rolling and thumping and hitting the ground, dust blowing everywhere from the impact. 

She second her body hit the bottom of the ravine, her eyes shot open, wide in surprise. She looked at her moss, realising she had ripped it up in the middle of her nightmare. She got to her paws and luxuriously stretched, not remembering what had happened in her dream that night. She stretched her jaws wide in a yawn and trotted outside. 

But her relaxed stance stiffened as she saw what was happening outside. Smoke rose in the air, from the direction of ThunderClan's camp. The leader watched with eyes stretched wide as she realised there was a fire in their territory. "Stonefur, Beetlenose, Mistyfoot and Oakheart, come with me! We're going to save ThunderClan!" She yowled as a flash of lightning appeared behind her. 

Oakheart nodded, gathering the three other warriors, and followed Bluestar as she sprinted out of camp. Her legs grew tired, but she refused to stop. At last, they got to the stepping stones, the fire almost right in front of them. "Mistyfoot, go to sunningrocks and help any ThunderClan cats to camp! Everyone else, come with me!"

Mistyfoot watched as the four cats bounded across the stepping stones and ran into the territory of ThunderClan. Bluestar didn't hesitate or stop once, only skidding to a halt as they made it to the camp. "We've come to help!" She screeched, coughing at the smoke. "If you're strong enough, head towards sunningrocks!"

She narrowed her eyes and saw a ginger tom struggling to get a white she-cat out of the nursery. The tom was holding a kit and trying to help the stumbling queen with her other kit. Rusty and Willowpelt!

Once Bluestar made it to the bottom of the ravine, she dipped her head to the two cats, grabbing onto a white and orange kit. "Quick!" She yowled through the kit-fluff, running back up to the top of the ravine. Rusty and Willowpelt had made it up as well, but barely, and Bluestar stared at the ginger tom. His collar was gone now and he had a warrior-like gleam in his eye. "Rusty, take Willowpelt to the sunningrocks!" 

Rusty's eyes flashed with annoyance, but he realised the situation and dipped his head, helping the kits and their mother into the forest. 

Bluestar was beginning to feel dizzy. Back down in the ravine, she checked for any cats who were still there, but there were none. Feeling confident they had saved everyone, she sprinted into the bushes. She halted as she scented cats, but not in the direction of sunningrocks. She swerved around, stumbling as she sprinted to snakerocks. Were there more cats that she had to save? Maybe they were trapped there!

She stopped abruptly as a wall of fire blocked her path. Terrified, she ran around it and drew closer to the rock. Had a snake gotten someone?

But she began to feel nervous and anxious as she picked up who the scents belonged to. Sunstar, Tigerclaw, Thistleclaw and Whitestorm. Why was her nephew not helping his mate and kits? And why were all three of them with Sunstar?

Dread began to fill her stomach. She picked up on their conversation a quarter moon before, eyes wide in horror. She had to stop them before it was too late. 

She neared the snakerocks, but as she was almost there, she tripped and fell. A cat leapt onto her back and pinned her down, scowling in her ear. "I-I can't let you stop them!" The cat hissed, a stutter in his voice.

"Rusty, let me go!" Bluestar snarled. "This is important!"

Rusty looked at her with terrified eyes. "Thistleclaw told me you're a traitor to ThunderClan and that you left them when they needed you most. You were the one who introduced me to the Clans! Why did you betray ThunderClan?!"

Bluestar struggled to get the young tom off, the smoke beginning to weaken her. "Because Thistleclaw's evil. He killed two of my best friends, and I'm guessing he's going to kill his own leader now! You have to let me stop him," she rasped, lying limp.

Rusty hesitated, his grip loosening. "He killed other cats...? He said StarClan asked him to kill Sunstar, a-and-"

Arching her spine, Bluestar pushed the young ginger tom off of her, jumping to her paws and sprinting off to the clearing where snakerocks lay. She froze, almost tripping over, as she saw what was in front of her.

Thistleclaw was about to kill Sunstar.