Warriors; Thin Ice

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Sparrowstripe stood in the clearing, his fur ruffled with a soft wind. Beside him, Icefrond stood, waiting to go on patrol. Her eyes were dark with worry. He wondered if he should ask her what was wrong, but he said nothing.

Emberpaw joined them, looking tired. Her pelt was messy, a feather from her nest stuck in the fur of her flank. He gave her a glance, but she continued to stare out into the forest.

Another patrol emerged from the tunnel. This time, it was Blackfeather, Mothshadow, and Sharpfang, carrying a cat between them. Sparrowstripe narrowed his eyes, and he heard a gasp of shock.

“Nightpool,” he heard the cat yowl. Molefoot pushed his way toward the patrol, and Sparrowstripe wondered if the two were related.

“What happened?” Sparrowstripe meowed to Blackfeather, crossing over to him. The dark tabby stared back at him before answering, “A snake attacked me.” His eyes filled with guilt.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Sparrowstripe insisted.

Sunfade padded over to the cats. “Sharpfang, can you join the border patrol?” He nodded to Sparrowstripe.

The silver tom nodded and joined the patrol. “Which border are we remarking?” He asked.

“ThunderClan,” Sparrowstripe mewed. He hoped that they would have no trouble with the other Clan, since they had been allies in the recent battle.

He allowed Sharpfang to lead and dropped back to walk beside Emberpaw. Their pelts brushed, and Emberpaw looked up at him. “Can we talk later? It’s important.”

Sparrowstripe began to suggest that they talked now, but Icefrond glanced over her shoulder with a tiny smirk on her face. Embarrassed, Sparrowstripe looked at his paws and kept walking. “Yeah, yeah, okay,” he mumbled. Emberpaw’s annoyance was obvious as she glared up at Icefrond.

They walked in silence until they reached the border. Sparrowstripe noticed that ThunderClan’s border marker wasn’t marked recently and was hardly there. He snorted as Emberpaw began to walk right past it, and then turned to look over her shoulder at the rest of the patrol.

Suddenly, a ginger pelt burst from the undergrowth. Emberpaw reared up and met the cat’s paws, rolling over and landing on top of him, pinning him down by his paws.

Three more cats moved from the undergrowth. Emberpaw leapt from the cat, onto ShadowClan’s side of the border.

“It was an accident,” Sparrowstripe immediately began, but Sharpfang’s growl cut him off. Sparrowstripe watched the other patrol unsheathe their claws, looking hostile, and he nudged Sharpfang back a few paw steps. The ginger tom, looking shaken up, clambered to his paws and moved back to the other cats.

“We’re not here to fight,” he growled. “We’re here to mark the border and go.”

A handsome golden brown tabby tom nodded. “And us, as well.”

“Lionstar, these cats are asking for a fight,” a brown tabby tom hissed. Sparrowstripe lashed his tail.

“Applestar is dead?” Emberpaw mewed from near Icefrond.

“She was killed by a sickness a few nights ago,” the tom called Lionstar mewed solemnly, not concerned about what his Clanmate had said. “And I guess that now is as good a time as ever to announce that all former conflict between us has been forgotten by ThunderClan. We need to team up if we’re to get rid of RiverClan’s new threats.”

Sparrowstripe glanced at his Clanmates. “We’ll make sure to inform Darkstar,” he answered finally.

“Good,” Lionstar said with a nod. He began to remark the border with his patrol members, and Sparrowstripe heard Icefrond mutter, “At least they have a sane leader now.”