Chapter 3 - Border Skirmish

The Gathering patrol, led by Goldenstar and Petalflutter, padded back to the silent WindClan camp. The cat on watch nodded at her leader and walked over to Icegaze.
“Hi, Scarletwhisker. What’s going on?”
“You tell me. You were the one at the Gathering, so what happened?” Scarletwhisker licked her shoulder.
“Oh, it was fine, nothing out of the ordinary.” Icegaze replied then looked down at her paws, smiling to herself.
“Really? I heard that ThunderClan gave up some of it’s territory to ShadowClan.” Scarletwhisker was beginning to get impatient with her, she wanted a detailed answer, but Icegaze just shrugged and said,
“Oh, yeah, they did.” Scarletwhisker flicked her tail in annoyance and asked again,
“and I overheard Willowmoon telling Honeywing that the ShadowClan queen Shadowfrost has two kits now.” Her tail waved from side to side. “Were you even paying attention?!” She paused and lifted her nose to the air, “Hey, do you smell that?”
“Smell what?” She asked. “I smell you, the camp, our Clan-Mates…” Icegaze trailed off, thinking about what Snowclaw had said.
“I’m not a mouse-brain, and neither are you, well, most of the time you’re not, it’s not a WindClan scent.” As Scarletwhisker scented the air again a brown-green cat burst into the camp. “Thornpaw! You look like a fox clawed you! What happened?!”
“RiverClan! On our territory!” Thornpaw panted as he fought to catch his breath. “Petalflutter, Rabbitfrost and Yellowfoot are fighting off Bloodstream, Waterheart, Wingedfur, Brightpaw, Falconflight, and Silverpaw! We scented them while on patrol and they ambushed us! We smelled rabbit blood and found RiverClan feasting on our territory! The mouse-brains didn’t even bother to take it back to their camp!” Scarletwhisker spat in disgust,
“I’ll go help, I could use a good fight!” She turned to face Icegaze again, “Now who owes me a mouse after we drive out RiverClan!” She yowled triumphantly. Icegaze just grumbled and padded to her den,
“Just go help already, I’ll get some herbs ready and meet you there in a moment.” Her white tail-tip disappeared into her den. Scarletwhisker called for her apprentice, Adderpaw, while Goldenstar, who had come out of her den when she heard the commotion, nodded at Thornpaw and said,
“Do you think you can lead them back to the fight?”
“Of course! I’ve always got extra energy for the clan!” said Thornpaw, who was still a bit out of breath. Scarletwhisker reappeared with a yellow-green apprentice following her. Thornpaw smiled a bit at the sight of the apprentice, “Hey, Adderpaw!” She smiled at him as well, Scarletwhisker stood impatiently at the camp entrance,
“Are we leaving yet? No hurry, I expect that our three warriors are faring quite well against the six RiverClan intruders!” She looked sternly at the apprentices. Thornpaw shook his head and ran out of the camp,
“Sorry, Scarletwhisker, I’m going!” He raced off across the moorland, towards the RiverClan border. Adderpaw flashed a guilty smile at Scarletwhisker and sprinted after Thornpaw, Scarletwhisker ran after them.
Thornpaw launched himself into battle as soon as he arrived at the fight. The WindClan warriors were badly outnumbered, Petalflutter was holding her own against Waterheart, the RiverClan deputy, and Wingedfur, Yellowfoot was fighting Falconflight and Silverpaw, and Rabbitfrost was clawing at Bloodstream and Brightpaw. The scent of freshly killed prey lingered in the air. Hunting on our territory?! Thornpaw thought, I’d like to see them leave with all of their whiskers, let alone any fresh-kill! He slammed into Brightpaw in midair as she leaped for Rabbitfrost’s back. As they fell to the ground, Thornpaw pummeled his belly with unsheathed claws. Adderpaw screeched her battle cry and leapt on Silverpaw. She gripped on tightly with her claws and refused to let go. Scarletwhisker ran to Petalflutter, took a position on her right side and slashed at Waterheart and Wingedfur, matching Petalflutter for every step. Brightpaw managed wriggle out of Thornpaw’s grasp, turned on him with teeth bared, and slashed at his feet with well aimed claws. Thornpaw was caught unaware and fell to the ground, Brightpaw was on him in a instant, clawing at his belly just as he was doing to her a few moments ago. He felt blood seeping out of the new scratches, he gritted his teeth against the pain and heaved his body upwards, sending his smaller frame flying. Thornpaw leapt to his feet and faced his opponent, lip curled to show bloodstained teeth. Brightpaw shook his head to clear away the throbbing, and lunged at Thornpaw. He sidestepped quickly and let him charge past, he raked his claws along his side as he flashed by. Brightpaw yowled as Thornpaw cut open his side. He skidded to a stop and growled at Thornpaw. He leapt at him, aiming for his paws. He was pushed off balance and tumbled to the ground, Thornpaw leapt on him before he could get to his feet. He pinned him under his greater weight, as he struggled to free himself, he nipped viciously at her ears and neck. He went limp, but Thornpaw was not fooled by his trick. He merely dropped his weight harder on him. Brightpaw attempted to lunge at his throat, but his greater size and weight made his struggle useless. He snapped at his neck again and he yelped in pain. He knew he had hit a tender spot and bit down harder. When his movements became desperate, rather than aggressive, Thornpaw opened his jaws and lifted himself from his body. Brightpaw stood, turned tail and ran off, in the direction of the RiverClan border. Thornpaw sprinted after him, making sure he didn’t change direction and head back to the fight.
Across the little valley, Silverpaw and Adderpaw were still clawing at each other. Silverpaw shook herself as much as she could to dislodge her attacker, but Adderpaw just tightened her grip each time she was shaken. Finally, after Silverpaw had begun to tire, she dropped to the ground and rolled over, hoping to crush Adderpaw beneath her. Adderpaw jumped clear at the last moment, though, and waved her long tail side to side as she crouched in front of Silverpaw. As soon as Silverpaw’s eyes left hers, to see Brightpaw
and Thornpaw flash by, Adderpaw charged straight underneath her belly, raking her legs with sharp claws. She unbalanced Silverpaw and shot out from under her before she hit the ground. Silverpaw got up again and snarled fiercely at her. Adderpaw just unsheathed her claws, darted to her, and raked them down her side. Silverpaw managed to catch her ear with her own claws as she attacked. Adderpaw screeched and flicked the droplets of blood from her face. As Silverpaw charged her again, Adderpaw kicked out with her back legs and felt them slash through fur and skin. She finished her attack by ducking down, rolling over and pushing Silverpaw away with all four paws. Adderpaw spat at Silverpaw as she raced away.
Rabbitfrost yowled as she fought Bloodstream. She had narrowed her eyes in concentration as she clawed at him. She was bleeding from a cut over her eye and long slashes down the length of her body. Bloodstream just smirked and continued slashing at her. Rabbitfrost was not about to give up, however, and for every strike Bloodstream got, she lunged at him with mouth wide open.
Meanwhile, Petalflutter and Scarletwhisker slashed and clawed at Waterheart and Wingedfur. They used old techniques they had learned as apprentices together. Petalflutter bunched her hind legs and soared over the two RiverClan warriors. Scarletwhisker held their focus by fighting twice as hard as before. She pushed them a couple steps back and into Petalflutter’s open jaws. She grabbed Wingedfur’s tail and yanked as hard as she could. He screeched and yanked his tail back. Scarletwhisker ripped her claws through Waterheart’s fur. She yowled and called to her remaining Clan-Mates,
“RiverClan! Retreat!” Thornpaw appeared at the fight scene once more, out of breath, but a grin spread across his face. Petalflutter loosened her grip on Wingedfur and he slithered away. Bloodstream was still fighting with Rabbitfrost, as if he hadn’t heard Waterheart’s order. It was then that Icegaze ran up to the fight, a bundle of herbs in her mouth. She saw Rabbitfrost struggling against the larger warrior, dropped her herbs, and leaped with claws outstretched at Bloodstream. Together, the two she-cats drove him back, “Enough!” Waterheart glared at Bloodstream, “I told you to retreat, as your deputy you will listen to me!” Bloodstream sprang back and snarled at Rabbitfrost,
“You and me Rabbitfrost! Or do you need a medicine cat’s help to match up to me?”
“Bring it on, you piece of Fox-Dung!” Rabbitfrost spat the words at him.
“Leave it, you wouldn’t want to set a bad example for Thornpaw.” Icegaze spoke gently to Rabbitfrost. She sneered at Bloodstream, turned her back, and stalked off. Waterheart growled at the WindClan cats,
“Don’t think this is over! We will take your hunting grounds!”
“Just try it! Just know we won’t take any prisoners!” Petalflutter shot the words back. The RiverClan cats limped off. Icegaze grabbed her herbs again and started checking the most serious wounds, putting a paste on Rabbitfrost’s side, a deep wound in Thornpaw’s leg and wrapped cobwebs around Adderpaw’s ear.
“We’ve won, looks like you owe me a mouse!” Scarletwhisker twitched her whiskers at Icegaze.
“What’s this about a mouse?” Rabbitfrost asked. Icegze just grumbled and finished smearing the salve on Rabbitfrost’s wound.

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