Faith's Journey - Book One (Warriors Fanfiction)

Chapter 16

"Speckleshade, Ashpaw, Acornpaw, Faithpaw, and Quickfern, go and patrol the FoxClan border. We want to keep our border markers secure, considering all of the stuff that has been happening lately." Hollyhawk announced from where she was sitting by the Prey Pile.

Faithpaw glanced at Ashpaw and Acornpaw who were sitting beside her, they hastily finished the squirrel they were sharing and padded over to the two warriors in the patrol.

"Let's head out then." Speckledshade meowed.

The patrol followed her as she lead the way out of camp.

The trees thinned out and let more sunshine into the forest as they neared the FoxClan border. The scent of grass tickled Faithpaw's nostrils as the patrol stopped.

Quickfern padded up to the border and sniffed the air, while Speckleshade remarked FernClan's border marks.

Acornpaw suddenly stiffened, her nostrils flaring. 

"What is it?" Faithpaw asked, giving her a concerned look.

"I smell FoxClan." The reddish-brown she-cat hissed.

"What!" Ashpaw growled.

Just then, a scream sounded. The apprentices turned to see a FoxClan warrior pinning Quickfern to the ground, his claws digging into the side of her head.

"Quickfern! Get off of her!" Acornpaw yowled. The apprentice threw herself at the enemy cat, her claws outstretched. Acornpaw pushed the cat off of her mentor and Quickfern scrambled to her paws, blood dripping from her wound.

Four more FoxClan warriors had joined their clanmate and were now slashing their claws at the FernClan patrol. Faithpaw hissed as a warrior's claws caught her shoulder. She twisted away and landed a blow of the FoxClan cat's ear. Faithpaw glanced over at her companions. Acornpaw was fighting side-by-side with Quickfern, slashing and spitting. Ashpaw was wrestling with a warrior, and Speckleshade was clinging at a cat's back, her back claws scoring down their spine. 

A paw came into Faithpaw's vision and she ducked, feeling the claws graze her ear. Faithpaw straightened up, bringing her paw down hard on the warrior's head. The warrior backed away, shaking their head and looking dazed. She heard a screech and turned, seeing Ashpaw's teeth sunk deep into a cat's ear. The cat was trying to twist and claw at the dark gray tom but Ashpaw batted their claws away with his paws. The cat threw him off and Ashpaw went flying into a tree, a chunk of the enemy's ears hanging from his jaws. 

With blood dripping from the wound, the cat started toward FoxClan's side of the border. Suddenly, a dark brown tabby shot out from the trees with two cats behind him. Faithpaw felt relief surge through her. Raggedstorm had came with Bluewillow and Stagpaw.

"Raggedstorm brought backup!" Faithpaw yowled over the screeching of cats, as Raggedstorm barreled the fleeing warrior over. Bluewillow launched herself toward a warrior that had Acornpaw's scruff clamped between his teeth. Stagpaw ran over and slashed at an enemy warrior with Ashpaw following his movements.

Faithpaw looked around, trying to find some cat she could help. Her eyes caught a black cat peeking out from behind a tree, his claws twitched as his eyes gleamed amber with the light of sun. The cat noticed her and he bared his teeth in a snarl. The tom launched himself at her, claws outstretched. Faithpaw's eyes widened in alarm as she dodged to the side. The black tom was Darkstar! What was he doing here in a border skirmish? 

Darkstar stalked toward her again, close to the ground, his belly fur brushing the grass. Faithpaw dug her claws into the ground, and crouched slightly, her fur fluffing up. As Darkstar's reared up to bring his paws down on her, Faithpaw darted forward, clawing the FoxClan leader's exposed belly. Darkstar let out a hiss and dropped to all four paws as Faithpaw darted back out. Darkstar readied himself for another attack but a growl from Raggedstorm interrupted him.

"Looks like your warriors fled." He gestured toward the cats streaking back across FoxClan's territory.

Darkstar stared after him, his mouth agape in shock and his eyes were narrowed in anger. "Cowards..." He muttered, turning back to the FernClan patrol. "This isn't over." He hissed, his blazing eyes landing on Faithpaw for a split second. Faithpaw held his gaze, not showing her fear as his eyes blazed into hers.

Darkstar then turned tail and ran after his clanmates.