Jaggedstar's Choice {COMPLETE}

Chapter 41

The past two days had been spent training and preparing for the upcoming battle. Jaggedtail's nerves were out of control with each passing moment. He didn't want to fight this battle, there was no reason to. No reason to shed the blood of innocent SunClan and LichenClan warriors, lives could be lost and for nothing, because of some nightmare that Elmstar had. Jaggedtail had made his choice, however, he would follow his leader no matter what. I need to be there, I need to help keep Elmstar from doing something stupid.

It was the day of the battle and Jaggedtail was frantically running around to see if everything was ready. He crossed the camp to the medicine cat den and poked his head inside to see if Barkclaw was ready, the medicine cat would be staying near the SunClan border to treat any serious wounded cats.

"Do you have everything that you need?" Jaggedtail questioned, he looked over the sick cats that were still resting in the nests.

"You mean other than a leader with a speck of intelligence?" Barkclaw lashed his tail, looking over his shoulder at Jaggedtail with anger deep in his eyes. "You know as well as I do that this battle is a mousebrained idea, Jaggedtail."

Jaggedtail sighed. "The word of the Clan leader is the warrior code, Barkclaw. We must follow Elmstar."

Barkclaw shook his head. "You warriors all take an oath to defend your Clan even at the cost of your life, do you know what oath medicine cats take?" Jaggedtail shook his head slowly. "We vow to stand apart from rivalry between Clan and Clan and to protect all cats equally." Fighting in pointless battles like this goes against everything that I believe in, I will follow Elmstar but I do not trust him. From Birdstar to Jumpstar we lived in an era of peace, yes MoonClan led a war against us but that was Cloudstar's doing, not ours. Suddenly Elmstar takes over and we are thrust into an unjust battle." Barkclaw gathered his herbs. "Maybe it's time to ask yourself, should we really follow a leader like this?"

Without another word, Barkclaw pushed past Jaggedtail to meet with the rest of the Clan. He left Jaggedtail feeling incredibly conflicted. Elmstar is my best friend, I would do anything for him. Jaggedtail reminded himself. Would you allow your Clan to be destroyed for him? A voice spoke inside Jaggedtail's head, he shook his head to ignoring it. I've made my choice.

Jaggedtail left the medicine cat den and approached the center of Clan where the cats of LichenClan were starting to gather. Elmstar left his den, his eyes burning with a deep fury. Jaggedtail took a deep breath and padded to his friends' side. The Clan was already gathered but Elmstar jumped up on the High Stump. "The time is upon us LichenClan!" Elmstar shouted, his voice echoing throughout the trees. It's time to show every single Clan in this forest that LichenClan will no longer hide in the shadows, we will make our presence and our threat known."

Jaggedtail stood up, he had to make something very clear. "You all know where you're supposed to be. Remember your training and please remember, we're not attacking SunClan to kill them." He could feel Elmstar glaring at him, but Jaggedtail kept his head high. Once the final preparations were in order, the Clan set out into the darkened forest.

Jaggedtail walked beside Elmstar as he always had, he noticed Elmstar turning to face him. "You're with me the whole way, right?" Elmstar questioned, his amber eyes glinting in the moonlight.

"Always." Jaggedtail have a small nod, despite the raging anxiety in his chest, Jaggedtail stayed by his leader's side. The cats of LichenClan crossed into the gathering hollow, which would lead to SunClan territory. Jaggedtail had never seen the trees of SunClan, none of them had any idea where their camp was, but they would find it soon enough.

Jaggedtail had spent the prior days planning out the best attack strategy with the best chance for no loss of life. He had sent two patrols to go around the opposite edges of the camp while Elmstar and Jaggedtail would lead the frontal assault directly into the heart of SunClan camp. The rest of the warriors would come in as backup, swarming the SunClan warriors. He hoped this plan would make the SunClan warriors defend, but it would show Elmstar that they couldn't beat LichenClan and he would stop his ramblings about his dreams.