Warriors: Skytail's Reckoning (COMPLETED)

Chapter 7

Skypaw marked the tree on the edge of WindClan's territory. Her weariness from getting up so early dragged at her fur as she rejoined the rest of the patrol. The sun was barely starting to rise and Skypaw could see the exhaustion on the rest of her patrolmates' faces.

Logstorm yawned, showing off his pointy yellow teeth. "Is everything marked?" He asked, seeing Skypaw padding up. The apprentice nodded, trying not to show her tiredness from the Gathering the night before. "Good. What about you, Ravenstem?"

The fluffy black tom emerged from behind a boulder, his fur ruffled as he fluffed it out from the early morning chill. "Everything's good over here," he meowed, his voice a low grunt.

Skypaw shivered as the cool moorland nipped at her paw pads. She looked over at the SkyClan forest, where the trees loomed over them. She could hear birds chirping in the tall trees and her ears pricked as she padded toward the border, halting before she could cross it.

Behind her, Ravenstem strode to her side. His green eyes were narrowed and his ears twitched back and forth. "SkyClan has been bothering this border since before you joined the Clan," he told her with a glance. "Even if they are well-fed, we're the swiftest cats around the lake."

Logstorm trotted up on Skypaw's other side, his shoulders tense. "Which is why moor runner apprentices are fought over along with the tunnelers." He added with a flick of his tail. He looked over at Skypaw and his orange eyes twinkled with mischief. "When you're a warrior, you'll be faster than a rabbit chased by a fox."

"Are you sure about that, Logstorm?" Snarled a voice from the other side of the border. Skypaw's ears pricked as three cats slid from the fern, their eyes flashing as they took in the dawn patrol. "You all look awfully scrawny."

Logstorm flattened his ears and Ravenstem pressed protectively against Skypaw. "We're faster than you could ever be, Sedgewing." He retorted.

A silver tabby she-cat pinned Skypaw with her eyes and the apprentice flinched at the menace in the warrior's orange eyes. "And what about that mewling lump of fur?" She taunted in a snarl. "She looks like a kittypet! Is WindClan so desperate for cats that they'd take in soft kits?"

Ravenstem hissed in response. "You're certainly one to talk, Eelheart." He spat back, pelt bristling. "Your father was a kittypet himself, right?"

Eelheart let out a snarl but said nothing more.

An auburn tabby she-cat bared her teeth, eyes narrowing in taunting hostility. "Is that supposed to do something, Ravenstem?" She demanded, her tail lashing back and forth. "Come over here and do something other than talk us to death."

A low growl came from deep in Ravenstem's throat and Skypaw felt her claws unsheathe as they faced the SkyClan patrol in a protective battle line.

"You need to leave now," growled Logstorm as he took a threatening step forward, eyes nothing more than mere slits. "If you do, this will be forgotten."

The auburn she-cat twitched her ear and her Clanmates sized up the WindClan cats. "And if we don't?" Her voice was laced with mockery. "Will you kill us?"

With a roar of anger, Logstorm cleared the border in a single long stride and tackled the she-cat. Ravenstem leaped forward, following his lead and locked into battle with Eelheart. Skypaw found herself facing the light gray she-cat Logstorm called Sedgewing.

Sedgewing snarled and lunged forward, raking her ear with her claws before ducking and springing onto her back. Churning paws buried themselves into Skypaw's back with the claws digging into her pelt. The apprentice let out a screech of pain and fury and she rolled onto her back, dislodging the SkyClan warrior.