Warriors: What Is There To Do?

Chapter 32- First Fight

Let me think about it.

Starclan, she was such a mouse-brain. She would think about it?! Aggghh! What was she going to do?! Rapidflame stared at her a moment more, head cocked to the side, and opened his mouth as if to say something when the reeds parted. A cat that she couldn't name was in front of them in a heartbeat, his golden tail erect and eyes wide. His chest was heaving and he struggled to speak. Rapidflame rushed over and seemed to catch the wheezy mew that the cat released before collapsing.

"Is he okay?" she asked worriedly. Rapidflame just flicked his tail.

"We have more urgent things to worry about. Eaglestrike says that there is a battle skirmish on our border with Shadowclan."

He had been about to head that way when he seemed to remember her situation.

"Well, here's your chance to claw up some Shadowclannies. I'll have them quivering behind their little pine trees and you can finish them off, 'kay?"

Splitrain felt chills run down her spine. She was chilled to the bone, but it wasn't the cold. Could she really do this? Did Sharpstar notify anyone of her task, or did she keep them in the dark so their reactions would be more believable? In that case, she would be against real teeth and claws. No pulled swipes, and no sheathed claws.

With a jolt, she realized this would be her first real fight. Sure, she had done plenty of practice as a 'paw, but this was real. There was a possibility of death. She felt excitement despite the current situation. She would get to put her teachings to work!

Only it was against cats she cared about.

She addressed Rapidflame, "I'm right behind you."

She tried to gather her courage as she pounded through the seemingly endless reeds, following Rapidflame's grey tail as he expertly weaved through the tall growth. Excitement was flowing through her, mixing with the cold feeling of dread that made the upcoming fight seem okay. So what if she just practiced a bit? Even if it was just a border skirmish, she could say she had actually fought.

Her nose picked up the tell-tale pines and she felt a twinge of longing. Oh, how she missed those trees! Where in Starclan did Riverclan sharpen their claws? The yowling took her back from her thoughts as her and Rapidflame passed the last of the reeds and they stopped abruptly. The ground below was thriving with spitting, hissing, and screeching. Rapidflame did not hesitate to pounce into the mass with a roar and narrowed eyes.

Was this really what a fight looked like? There were twice as many cats as she thought there would be — at least as many as her claws. Even from countless tail-lengths away and below them, on top of the small hill she was taken aback.

Rapidflame was batting unsheathed paws full of anger at Driftswipe, she realized with a pang of guilt. The grey she-cat was the only one without a cat at her back to protect her as the gold tabby tom that had alerted them pounced on her from behind, latching onto her hindquarters and taking her to the ground.

Not thinking clearly, she leapt down from her perch of horror with the intent of just doing something — she couldn't think clearly. Her head was pounding; vision was melding with the excitement that coursed through her body, making the appeal of just sliding her claws out a bit not that bad, right?

She settled her eyes on Blackrose, the black she-cat that had always gotten on her nerves slightly. Might as well prove to Rapidflame and the other Riverclan cats that she was on their side, by attacking her? It seems okay to her. She wouldn't fatally wound the cat, of course, but she was sure that a little bit of claws-on-claws wouldn't hurt anyone — too badly, that is.

Trying to keep all of the fighting moves she had learned over the past six moons in her head she pounced on her from behind, eyes making everything tinted red in her excitement. Too late, Splitrain realized two things:

One, she didn't have a Partner. Almost every move she knew was using a Partner, and the ones that didn't require were not offensive. Strictly defensive. The moves were for escape, or stalling until the said Partner could save them.

Two, Blackrose had one. And she was mad.

Oakcloud was a blur as he streaked from chasing a Riverclan tom, all laid back ears and bristled fur. He and Blackrose went to the automatic side-by-side, and a small spark of hope came to life. She had studied fighting techniques enough to know what they were about to do. Oakcloud was going to sprint away to take her by the side while Blackrose occupied her attention with annoying cuffs to her ears that were made to confuse her to the real threat: Oakcloud's unsheathed claws going straight for her flank; or her chest and throat.

Glittering eyes were met by Splitrain's defiant gaze. She was at the disadvantage, but she wasn't hopeless.

Oakcloud, already running at her left flank, distracted her from the first cuff to her muzzle. She felt the warm, sticky trickle begin almost immediately as Blackrose hissed, teeth bared, and reared back her paw for another rough hit. She could guess she only had seconds before claws tore into her flank and she should escape. She gathered her haunches and leapt just half a heartbeat too late; Oakcloud's claws left shallow wounds that hurt nonetheless and Blackrose hooked her exposed belly when she was jumping.

Wincing as she landed, jolting her hind legs, she cursed to Starclan. If only she could separate them, then she could let her natural instincts take over! She was sure that despite bleeding from multiple wounds, although none were close to fatal, she couldn't take both of them at once. She growled in frustration as she turned to face them once more. Maybe if she could—

She is suddenly pressed against the ground by a mass of greyish blue fur. Amber eyes meet hers, and above that the cold grey rock under the small overhangs that marked the border between the two clans.

Moongaze.

Her chest ached to nuzzle him, apologize, to make okay the wrong. He had other ideas, though.

"You seem to be having too much fun with your job, silly Splitrain."