Lighttail's Courage (A Warrior Cats fan fiction)

Chapter sixteen

"It all started when you left the group that one night of the battle. We were all so busy running to camp that we didn't realize you were gone until after the battle, and by then it was to late. Anyway, we came into camp and found the DarkClan cats had surrounded our whole camp, and a full battle broke out. It was a massacre; Rosefur died at the claws of Hare, Eaglefeather, Lilyheart, Beechpaw, Brackenfur, three of the cats that joined us against DarkClan, Reedfeather, Crowfur, and Pinenose all died as well. It was terrible. Finally Bramblestar and Mistystar had to surrender their leadership to DarkClan, all the while StarClan never stopped them.

 After the battle we sent Ravenflight to track and find you, but he never came back, so we gave up and thought you were dead. Meanwhile DarkClan took over the clans, and we were forced to well... act like rouges. The weakest cats were flushed out, including all of us here at camp. If we were seen on DarkClan territory again we would be killed, and we knew it was true, so after six moons of watching other be abandoned and living on our own we were finally being rid of. To make things safer RiverClan and ThunderClan split up camps, and now we're all being hunted down one by one. The DarkClan cats keep finding our camps, so we need to move constantly. 

Now DarkClan has been brought down to a group of strong cats, ones we don't exactly know their names, while the "weak," others that couldn't escape have to guard the entrance of DarkClan territory because they have no other choice. The good news is that some cats are beginning to realize the mistake they made in joining DarkClan, while others still think that DarkClan is right. Besides, we're still intensely outnumbered. But what's worse is that our medicine cats can't get to the Moonpool, so now we have no contact with StarClan. 

That's the short version of the story, because the long version would take hours to explain every detail, death, proclamation and rule DarkClan has caused. To sum it up, DarkClan has decided to abandon all rules, and any cat that disagrees, well, dies. It's not a good scene. We've tried our best to break through, but that's when... Bramblestar died. We attacked, and then Leaf, Tiger, and Hare killed him, along with Squirrelflight. We haven' t thought of a new leader yet; all we've done is survive, trying to think of ideas and ways to get back at DarkClan. 

We tried recruiting rouges to join us so we'd have more numbers, but once they saw all the fighting they left. We're desperate now, and you know how desperate we really are if I let my pride down and admit it." Thorntooth finished, tail drooping all the while. Lighttail looked from her sister to sister, throat dry. Things were worse than she had thought, and Lighttail was kicking herself thinking that it might've been okay again when she arrived. 

Meanwhile she could feel herself tremble with grief at the loss of all of her precious clanmates; especially her leader, and clanmates she had known for so long. At the thought of Ravenflight Lighttail's heart was pierced with terrible claws. He died trying to find me... wait, what about Gorseclaw? Suddenly fear throbbed in her heart. "Where's Gorseclaw?" Lighttail meowed, her heart beating frantically with grief and fear. Mistcloud's eyes glistened. "When Rosefur died he got crazy and... he tried to kill Hare Lighttail, but Hare ended up killing him."  

Lighttail's vision began to spiral, and she let out a grief-crazed moan before collapsing, trembling from head to tail. Half of her wanted to run away again, away from the pressure weighing on her shoulders, away from the terrible grief making her whimper hysterically. Her father, like her mother, meant so much to her. "Oh Gorseclaw..." she softly choked out, feeling her sister comforting tail on her shoulder and Julie and Barkfur's soothing licks on her flank. "Get up, Lighttail. You must be strong." Julie's voice echoed in Lighttail's ear, and taking a deep breath, Lighttail got up, feeling like a kit as she longed to yowl with despair for the whole world to hear. "Lighttail, if you can manage it, would you tell us about your journey? Thorntooth and I are dying to hear it." Mistcloud meowed, eyes full of sorrow.