Warrior Cats: The Winding Path (Book 1)

Chapter 21 (Nightpaw)

Nightpaw nearly jumped out of her fur as Mudstar padded out from his den. The WindClan leader gracefully leapt onto his gathering rock and let out a yowl to summon his Clan. WindClan warriors and apprentices gathered close to their leader but sent the ThunderClan cats wary glances. They were all thin and worn down, as if just being in camp tired them out. Nightpaw felt a pang of sadness, she hated seeing any cat look like this. 

"ThunderClan has offered us help against the rogues that terrorize our Clans! I have agreed to let them see the threat that has caused two long moons of little food any many battles," Mudstar announced.

"How can we trust them?" Nightpaw recognized the tortoiseshell she-cat who spoke as Petalwhisker, the warrior that had attacked her when she was first apprenticed.

"Spiderstar has shown me that I can trust ThunderClan to help us defeat this threat," Mudstar meowed patiently. Nightpaw's ears pricked, what exactly did Spiderstar say to the WindClan leader in private?

"Who will escort them to see the rogues?" Squirreltail asked.

Mudstar looked thoughtful for a moment, "I shall take Cloverstem, Birdgaze, and Toadleap to escort me and the ThunderClan cats to the horseplace." Squirreltail looked a bit dejected but didn't speak up against his leader. "The rest of you, stay here and guard camp!" Mudstar yowled. The Clan mewed their agreement. "Clan dissmissed! Cloverstem, Birdgaze, Toadleap, meet me at the camp entrance," he added before the cats began to disperse.

Mudstar led the ThunderClan cats to the camp entrance with Squirreltail hanging around awkwardly.

"Squirreltail, stay behind and take care of camp," Mudstar ordered the ginger-and-white tom. The deputy fluffed his bright ginger tail in frustration and practically stormed away like a kit.

"Quite the temper," Blacknose whispered into Nightpaw's ear. Her whiskers twitched with amusement but instantly stopped at the brown leader glanced back at them.

Mudstar rounded up the three warriors before padding out of camp. Nightpaw followed close behind, feeling the wary eyes of the WindClan warriors burning into her pelt. They padded up the moorland's grassy slopes until they reached a tall thing that the WindClan cats called the barn at the edge of WindClan territory. There was a long "fence" line that stretched from the barn to into the distance. It barricaded larger animals from stepping onto the inside's short cropped field.

"Stay low and stay quiet," Mudstar warned as he slipped into a crouch. The two Clans crept along onto they reached a small pond of water fenced in by some more of the white wood. A large brown tabby tom with gleaming amber eyes was seated by the water. He was tearing into the corpse of rabbit and gulped down the prey with only a few ravenous bites.

"Bramble! Look what I found!" a black tom slinked out from behind a bush, pushing a small cat with his tail. Nightpaw recognized the cat's scent as WindClan, it looked to be one of their apprentices.

"Darkpaw!" one of the WindClan warriors gasped quietly. "We must help him!"

"If we move from out spots now we'll be spotted and forced into battle, Toadleap" Mudstar meowed. Before Toadleap could argue any further Mudstar silenced him with the lash of his brown tail.

The brown tabby named Bramble sat up, leaving the rabbit carcass at his paws. He padded toward Darkpaw, his claws unsheathed and his amber eyes flashing with mischief. The dark rogue leapt at the apprentice and easily pinned him to the grassy ground. Darkpaw writhed beneath the tabby's firm grip but could break free from his paws.

"Say hello to your precious StarClan for me," Bramble hissed. He sank his teeth into Darkpaw's neck and a bloodcurdling screech erupted from the apprentice.

Nightpaw couldn't stand another heartbeat of this. She flung herself at Bramble without a moments hesitation. Taken by surprise the tabby tom staggered back only to whip around and easily regain his balance. Nightpaw could hear her father's cry for her to stop, to run away, but she couldn't. She couldn't let this cat die, not when she could do something about it.

"Puny Clan cat filth!" Bramble lashed a paw at her but was toppled over again by another cat. Mudstar loomed over him with teeth bared and neck fur bristled.

"Leave my Clan and all the other Clans alone!" Mudstar yowled. He raked his claws along Bramble's flanks only to be pushed away easily by the rogue. Bramble loomed over the WindClan leader and the two sprang at each other into a fight. The two toms writhed in a pile of fur and claws across the grass. The other rogue from before had already fled into the safety of the bushes farther away from the battle. Finally, Bramble had Mudstar pinned to the ground with a deep gash across his shoulder and multiple wounds along his sides. The rogue sank his teeth into Mudstar's throat and tore violently at his sides. Nightpaw went to help the WindClan leader but was pulled away by the scruff from Toadleap.

"May this stand as a lesson for all you Clan cats!" Bramble snarled as he lifted his blood splattered muzzle. He had one paw over the bleeding neck of the WindClan leader. Nightpaw shuddered, she could sense Mudstar was losing one of his nine lives. "We shall take the forest as our own!"