Curled Silence *Completed*

Chapter Fourteen

Thunder rolled over head as the patrol and I headed through the dense undergrowth of the early-morning forest. There would be a storm.

We passed straight through the ShadowClan scent markers without hesitation and continued on towards to what I thought was the ShadowClan camp. I had never been in it before, so this would be my first visit. As I thought over battle strategies and statistics, I realized something: why were we going into the heart of ShadowClan territory, because there are no trees at all to climb. Every single tree had branches way above the jumping height of even a SkyClan cat. The other cats seemed to see this, and we're peering around at the high branches and slippery trunks.

Only one cat voiced all their thoughts. "Why are we in ShadowClan territory if we haven't practiced here?" Sorreltail asked.

"It is the only way to stage a surprise attack, so it's a risk we'll have to take," Bramblestar meowed up from the front of the pack. "Now no more talking until we reach the camp; were almost there."

The patrol glided silently along the thin pine needles as they headed for the camp. The air crackled uncomfortably with tense feelings. The stink in the air was getting stronger by the heartbeat, when finally we broke away from the trees and revealed a shallow dip on the earth, as if a StarClan cat had scooped out a place for the camp.

Overlooking it, I saw a couple dens, the medicine cat den, I knew, because there was a cat lying on their side with herbs spread out across their flank. Probably from the battle. I smirked. I could make out the nursery in the dim light and also the warriors den. It was packed with sleeping and snoring cats, unsuspecting a large ThunderClan patrol was waiting for the right moment to ambush them. A shock wave of excitement rippled through me. I was going in a battle!

Stormpaw was wriggling beside me, also excited it seemed. Hollypaw to my right seemed - what was that in her eyes? Hunger? No sooner had I looked into her eyes then did they change to a neutral tone.

"Attack!"

I missed the call, I was distracted. I suddenly jerked up, realizing that most of the cats in my patrol had already began swarming down the hillside. I followed, slightly behind.

The first warrior screeched as he was tackled upon. That alerted the rest of the camp, and suddenly it was filled with terrified shrieks and yowls. Queens were shoving their kits into their bed of moss, hoping they wouldn't be seen by all he viscous warriors. To my surprise, Cederheart, a ShadowClan elder had sprang upon Birchfall and started attacking him. I was impressed. Luckily, the old elder didn't seem to be doing too much damage. Looking around once more, I spotted a pretty young ShadowClan she-cat cowering at the edge of the clearing. Warriors encircled her.

I shot a quick glance around the clearing, hoping to find an easier cat to fight. My muscles were a bit sore, so I wanted a practice round. My lips curled into a smile when my eyes found a small black tom looking around in a daze, as if he had just been woken up. Perfect.

I took one step when a massive weight crashed into my flank, shoving all the air out of my lungs. My body crashed to the ground, the heavy weight coming with me. I was staring up into green eyes, filled with delight. "Oh how nice it is to see you, Curlpaw." The cat spat the last word in my face. "I believe we haven't met before. I am Rowanstar." I shut my eyes, but the grinning face was still plastered to my eyelids. The weight vanished and I opened my eyes. He had gotten off. I scrambled to my feet, neck fur bristling and blood pumping at the thought of fighting this cat.

Rowanstar was huge. My ear tips barely reached his chin, and every time he moved, muscles rippled beneath his golden coat. "Let's see if you're a real warrior, shall we?" It took a moment to register this simple sentence, as I was almost in shock. Thoughts ran through my head as I searched for an answer to reply with. I could run. No, he would catch me, and that wouldn't be what a real warrior would do. I realized what he meant. I could run, or I could stay and fight.

The answer was pretty obvious: I would fight him and beat him. I would show them I was not a little kit that could be played with all they wanted, and be tortured and thrown around. This would not go down like it did last time.

With a screech, I flung myself at him. I hit Rowanstar straight in the flank, but it wouldn't have been any more use then hitting stone. "Hahaha, you little kit," he spat at me. "You have no idea how weak and useless you are." I reeled back at these words. Even Blackstar wouldn't go this far. My vision started to blur, though I knew it wasn't from the light pitter patter of the beginning storm. He took a step towards me, and I started to back away, but realized that a steep wall was blocking my escape route. "You are nothing."

With a hefty paw, Rowanstar hit me in the head hard. I was thrown to the ground immediately, and stars filled my vision as I tried to see what was happening above my head. When my vision was clear, I looked up to see the big cat was on me, in the exactly the same place the last ShadowClan cat was. My heart thumped in my chest as I waited for the pain to come. But it never did.

I opened my eyes and realized that Rowanstar was tackling another cat. My father had come to my rescue at the last moment. I thanked StarClan.

I sprang to my paws, and looked around, hoping to find an easier opponent. The pretty she-cat I had seen earlier was now battering away at Honeypaw, and I realized that I had to help my Clanmate. I ran over, and tackled her, and the two of us rolled over and over, locked in tight combat of screeching voices, flailing paws, and flashing teeth.

Finally, I threw her off of me and I pinned her to the ground. The screeching behind me stopped, but I ignored it, to engaged to worry. "Don't ever think of ThunderClan as weak again," I growled fiercely in her face. The ShadowClan cat didn't reply. I didn't know if she even did think of us as weak, but it seemed rigt to say. The she-cat's face was scrunched up in pain, and I could tell she was losing her grip on her pride. "Now go and run off, with the rest of your pitiful Clanmates." I released her, expecting to do what I told her to do, but instead she swung a paw at my legs, forcing me to collapse.

This time, it was me who was pinned. She was more violent then I thought she was actually going to be, and started to shred my ear. I howled in pain. My head was now throbbing from the pain of Rowanstar's blow, and now this. I pawed at her face weakly, trying to get her to stop, but it seemed to agrivate her more.

When she had finished with my ear that was ringing at the moment, she dealt a barrage of blows to my stomach and flank before rising a paw. I was barely conscious when two cats raced over and had to drag her off of me. I looked around, and through the blood, saw a circle of cats around me. I was confused, and thought I might be seeing things, but it loked so real. It seemed as if the whole battle had stopped and watched me and the she-cat fight.

Lifting my head was a huge difficulty, so I didn't even bother standing up. My head pulsed to the beat of my heart, along with several other wounds. Now I was sure I was going to pass out as I did last battle. I wanted to scream to the world I was so mad. It had turned out how it had last battle. I was a fail. I was never going to become a warrior.

I lay my head down and fell into darkness, hoping to escape all the difficulties of the world.