Waging War Book 4: Empty Peace {COMPLETE}

Chapter 13

Leopardpaw dropped her prey on the fresh-kill pile, her paws numb and her nose running just like the previous days. The hunting patrols had been working hard, making sure that the fresh-kill pile was full. Leopardpaw had been working every day hunting until her paws were numb. She would keep running all over the territory, and their hard work had been paying off. The fresh-kill pile was well stocked and they would be prepared for the storm.

The dens had been reinforced and the designated cats had been working hard on their herb training. Everything seemed to be going well for MoonClan, and Leopardpaw had hope that they would come out of this storm just fine. After storing her caught prey away, she padded into the apprentice den to warm up. Despite everything going well, she had been missing spending time with her family and friends. She barely got to see Ripplepaw who despite his injury being better was still in the medicine cat den and helping reinforce that den and collecting herbs. Leopardpaw wondered if her brother would be switching to a medicine cat apprentice or not.

Regardless of what he wanted to do, Leopardpaw would support him, she just missed spending time with him. Her parents had also been busy, even though she was on the hunting assignment with her father, they always hunted separately and she hadn't been working with Berryheart either. The same could be said for Shellstorm who was either reinforcing the dens or out on patrol, she barely saw him and when she did they didn't have any time to spend together.

Despite the threat of the storm, she was looking forward to sharing a den with him again for as long as the storm persisted. She also hoped that her warrior ceremony would follow soon after, she was still young but she had basically been working as a full time warrior due to the circumstances.

"Violetstar!" A loud voice called from outside her den, causing Leopardpaw to jump and pulling her from her thoughts. She hurried out of the medicine cat den and saw as Berryheart led her patrol in, with Swanfeather, Meadowsong and Minnowstream behind her.

The MoonClan leader soon appeared from her den with Swiftheart and Brokenclaw following behind her. Leopardpaw could see that the patrol was visibly agitated. "What happened?" The leader asked, also sensing the patrol's mood.

"AshClan has been near our border again." Berryheart reported. "We tracked their scent and it looks they went to MountainClan, but not before stopping by our border to make their presence known."

Violetstar hissed and lashed her tail. "The arrogance of that she-cat!" She paced for a few moments, rage clearly burning in her eyes. "That's it." Her claws flexed, digging into the snowy moorland below. "MoonClan is done taking her abuse, she clearly doesn't care about anything I've said. I was going to talk to her...but not anymore." Violetstar raised her head high. "We're attacking AshClan tonight!"

Leopardpaw's eyes widened, she wanted to protect her Clan as much as any other warrior but a fight? With only two days before the storm arrived? She shifted her paws nervously, wondering if this was the best decision to be making.

"Are you sure, Violetstar?" The intrepid voice came from Oneflight who had left his den. "The storm is coming, I don't need an influx of injured warriors when I will be treating our sick cats in the storm."

"Trust me, Oneflight." Violetstar assured the medicine cat. "This won't be a long attack, if she can make statements then so can I. We'll attack and retreat, but not before making Riverstar realizes that we are not afraid to shed blood! We leave at dusk, the moon will protect us as it always has."

The cats of MoonClan seemed to be divided, Brokenclaw, Swiftheart, Berryheart, Meadowsong and Ferretpelt all seemed to be excited, while others like Leopardpaw seemed to be a bit more anxious, but she would follow her leader.