Owlpaw's Prophecy

Chapter 13

Mudpaw padded slowly followed behind Ashfur, Halfmoon and his father as they led the dawn patrol. Jetpaw was padding along side him, not too thrilled to be woken up quite literally at the crack of dawn, and for once Mudpaw agreed with him. He let out a long sigh as he padded along the grass, only looking up when he realised the patrol had come to a stop. At least I didn't run into them this time. Mudpaw thought.

"Strongwind." Greystripe greeted respectfully to the lean Snowclan warrior. Mudpaw could see a golden brown wolf, and another silver grey she-wolf with a small, wide-eyed apprentice beside her.

"Greystripe." Strongwind responded after a while, gaze a little cold.
"How's Snowclan?" Greystripe asked carefully, "Wolfspark seems to be a little concerned. He said you where having boarder issues."
"That's none of your business." He snapped back coldly. "Neither is it Wolfspark's."
"We didn't mean to offend you." Greystripe countered cooly. "I only want to know if your clans are okay. We all have a place in the forest."
Strongwind narrowed his eyes. "Yes, that is true for now."
"Is that a threat?" Ashfur growled squaring up to the opposing warrior.
Greystripe stood up abruptly, "Ashfur, no! We're not here to start a fight!" He reprimanded in a stern hiss.
"So?" He turned harshly facing Strongwind, "They shouldn't even be here! This is Oceanclan too close to Oceanclan's boarder! You just try to kick Riverclan out of the forest! We'll rip your mangy fur out!" Everything was for what felt like a heartbeat, before Strongwind lunged forward let out a loud snarl.

Jetpaw and Halfmoon lunged into action, attempting to fend off the opposing cats. Greystripe rushed off to go help Ashfur when Mudpaw quiet suddenly found himself pinned down by the young Snowclan apprentice. He forced himself to relax as he desperately tried to remember his training. He braced himself before kicking out his hind legs harshly, and scrabbling up. The apprentice let out a yelp and she too scrabbled up. The She-cat shook off Jetpaw harshly before turning to the pair.

"Don't Touch her." She snarled teeth bared. Jetpaw stood up rushing over.
"He wouldn't have to if you hadn'tve started a fight!" He yowled defensively.
"She wouldn't have to be here at all if it weren't for Darkmoon!" The she-cat argued back.
"Thundercloud." The golden brown wolf warned lowly.
"What?" She asked turning on her clanmate quite suddenly. "Are you afraid of what Riverclan will think of us? They already think we can't be trusted. What more can we do?"
The wolf shook his head. "They don't think we've done anything outright against the code. It's best too keep it that way, hmm?"
"Yes But—" Thundercloud's Protest was suddenly cut off by a loud, defeated wail. Mudpaw froze again, his stomach dropping.

"Greystripe!" Ashfur yowled rushing over to the deputy.
Strongwind walked away, blood on his paw. "Come. We're done here." He snarled leading his patrol away. The small apprentice hesitated, still looking afraid, before scrambling after her mentor.

Mudpaw padded over nervously, not wishing to know what had happened. He peered over cautiously, fears only confirmed. His father lay unmoving on the floor, eyes dark, a deep, fresh wound in his neck....

He-he was dead—

Mudpaw froze quite suddenly, feeling like he couldn't breathe...

"Mudpaw...?" Halfmoon asked quietly.
He jerked up suddenly, being surprised by the attempted comfort. He took a step back.

"Are you okay?" Halfmoon prompted again. Mudpaw's eyes trailed back to Greystripe's lifeless body, before he found himself quite suddenly racing away from the battle scene as fast as he could. He didn't know why. He didn't know where he was going. He just ran the other way, deeper and deeper into the forest....