The Rule Of BloodClan- Book 1

Chapter 21

Greystar opened one sleepy to find himself in a strange nest. He panicked for a moment before remembering where he was. There was no one else in here. They had all woken up. Greystar staggered to his paws and stretched. He padded out the den and into the cold sunlight. He heard a cat shouting at the other end of the gully and padded over to see what was happening. Dagger was standing over a skinny looking white she-cat. Before Greystar could question what was going on the white she-cat broke into a bout of coughing. Dagger hissed. 

"Well if you don't sort this out cough you will be banished. Is that clear?" Dagger hissed. 

"I.. I can't just stop it", she choked ," I need medicine.." 

"Well get the medicine then!" Dagger growled. 

"I don't know what to get!" she rasped. Her gaze was cloudy and desperate. Greystar wished he could help but he was just as useless as she was when it came to herbs.  

"Well if it doesn't go away by sun-rise tomorrow you will have to leave!" Dagger hissed witheringly. The she-cat didn't reply, instead she just remained where she was, shaking with fear and illness. Greystar guessed it was white-cough because that was a common Leaf-Bare sickness.  Some cat suddenly shoved into him. It was Dart. 

"Hey! Stop standing around and get to work, unless you want to join that she-cat tomorrow!" he snapped. 

"What is there to do?" Greystar asked. 

"Go hunting or something!" he growled. Greystar raced into the forest for a quick hunt. He wasted no time and had caught a squirrel, a thrush and two mice before it was even sun-high. He brought them back to camp and dropped them on the prey pile. Dagger padded over, looking impressed. 

"How did you catch all that so fast?" he asked. 

"Just skill I guess. When your a rouge you need skill or you won't survive long", Greystar replied.

"And did you just figure out these 'skills' by yourself?" Dagger was looking at the plump thrush and soft warm looking squirrel on the prey pile. 

"Yes", Greystar lied. It had really been his mentor but he couldn't tell Dagger that! Just before Dagger could take the Thrush a yowl split through the air. Greystar spun round to see Spirit standing on the branch of a scraggly tree poking out the side of the gully. 

"Cat's of KillClan, please gather for I have plans to share and.. bad news to give" he yowled. The cats all gathered below and looked up at Spirit expectantly. 

"Firstly I must sadly say we lost three warriors today", he began. The cats almost immediately broke into meowing and gossiping. Dagger hissed loudly and the cats quickly stopped. 

"We lost Venus, Mud and Xander. Venus will be buried under the cherry blossom and the other two will be buried in the dirt patch", he announced.

"Why does Venus get buried in a better place?" Greystar whispered to Dart who was sitting not far from him. 

"Because Venus was a KillWarrior and Mud and Xander weren't, they were just regular", he whispered back. Greystar nodded and continued to listen. 

"And for the plans, we are going to attack the river camp in BloodClan territory. Scourge thought it was smart to divide his clan up like  that but it was not! It was stupid! Now we can destroy his clan bit by bit!" he yowled. The KillClan cats below caterwauled with him. Their glares were bloodthirsty and fierce. Greystar shuffled uncomfortably. 

"What is it Claw Fur? You scared?" Dart sneered. Greystar jumped at his voice. 

"Eh.. No, of course not! Why would I be scared of a bunch of Kittypets with spiked collars?" Greystar growled back. He kept using this unnatural tough voice and it hurt his throat, but he knew if he spoke in his natural voice then the KillClan cats might recognize him. 

"When will we attack?" a cat shouted from the crowd. 

"I plan on attacking tonight while their all asleep. Several cats are going to stay here as guards not including our two queens and our elder", Spirit called back. The cats started chattering again. 

"Quiet! There is more tactic to this battle though! We are going to sneak round the back of the pines and through those jagged rocks behind the moor until we can reach the river unseen!" Spirit explained. By jagged rocks does he mean HighStones? Greystar wondered but kept listening. 

"Half of us will attack camp directly and another quartre will stay in cover as back up in case the attacking half need backup. The remaining quartre will stay by the borders in case there are patrols out or if another camp comes to attack. If this does happen you will fight them off and at least one of you will run back to warn the rest of us. Is that clear?" Spirit explained the battle plans. The cats mumbled their agreement. 

"Good, we leave tonight so make sure you get something to eat. Dagger I want to discuss with you who is doing what", Spirit closed the meeting and the cats started to break away. Dart came up to him before he could go anywhere. 

"I saw how you caught so much prey this morning. I want you to show me your techniques", Dart told him. 

"Err.. Ok?" Greystar answered awkwardly and padded off into the marshy and dusty woods. 

After a whole Sun High of hunting Greystar had returned to camp, paws sore. Greystar had caught two blackbirds, four shrews, a thrush, a squirrel and a pigeon. Dart however, had only caught two voles, a magpie and a mouse. The prey pile by now was massive. Greystar put everything on the preypile but the pigeon which he ate. Dart looked frustrated. He'd found just about as much prey as Greystar had but missed so many times. After eating the sun was getting low and Greystar decided it would be a good idea to get a bit of sleep before the battle. He had thought about sneaking away before it but he actually wanted to be in the battle. He wanted to attack BloodClan! It would benefit DawnClan too so it wasn't that bad. Greystar circled his nest for a bit until he found a comfortable position to rest in, avoiding the twigs that would jag into his back. He closed his eyes and let himself drift into a short but well needed doze.