Warriors: Stripeblaze's Path

Chapter six

Weak dawn light poured through the crevice in the rock where the medicine cats slept. Stripepaw woke up with a start, looking around. For a moment he wondered where he was, until he remembered that he was being held prisoner in WindClan.
He grumbled and stood up, hoping the rest of the camp would be asleep so he could slip away back to his territory. He padded to the exit of the medicine den, and cautiously looked around. A few warriors were clustered in the centre of camp, with Stoneleg sorting out the dawn patrol. Mothstorm and some other orange-and-grey tabby tom padded out of camp with Stoneleg. Stripepaw took this as his opportunity to leave, and snuck out into the open, praying no one would see him. He let out a squeak as he was stopped in his tracks by someone standing on his tail. He turned around and saw the pale tortoiseshell, Breezefaith, from the previous day.
"I don't think so!" she growled. Stripepaw groaned and struggled.
"Let me go! I didn't do anything to you! I just want to get back to ThunderClan!" he whined. Suddenly, he heard a small rustle in the bushes surrounding the camp. He looked up and saw the glowing amber eyes of Turtlestar. He let out a caterwauling battle cry and ThunderClan cats pooled in from every side of the camp. Breezefaith screeched and jumped away from Stripepaw as Mistpetal leapt on her, digging her thorn-sharp claws into her side. Stripepaw bounded away to the side and watched the fight go down.
"Stop!" Ebonystar cried out pleadingly. Everyone stopped and looked at her. Turtlestar padded over to her, his strong muscles rippling under his pelt. He towered over the small WindClan leader, but she stood up straight.
"Ebonystar, you held our medicine cat apprentice as a prisoner, for no reason. The medicine cats are always peaceful, and you forgot that. For all we know, you could've been hurting him, and I don't tolerate these sorts of things. You will pay." He let out another cry and leapt on the WindClan leader, and all of the warriors went back to the battle.
Stripepaw couldn't bear to watch anymore and looked away. I caused a battle, I feel horrible. No! This is Browntail's fault! He's the one who snuck off to see a kittypet, who's expecting his kits...
He looked back at the battle and watched as one WindClan cat clawed at Birchsong's ears. A loud screech split the air and Stripepaw quickly looked over and saw Mothstorm pinning Flamelight to the ground, his claws piercing her skin. Every warrior was battling, clawing at others, drawing blood. He watched Turtlestar's personal battle with Ebonystar. The frail black she-cat finally gave up and stared at him with defeat. She whispered something to Turtlestar that Stripepaw couldn't quite make out, and then he slashed her throat. Stripepaw flinched and jumped back. Ebonystar fell to the ground, blood gurgling at her mouth and staining the grass red.
"No!" Stoneleg cried out and raced over to his leader. "What did you do?" he yelled at Turtlestar. The leader only flicked his tail and walked away.
"Come ThunderClan. It's time we left," he meowed, slumping his shoulders. Stripepaw followed his leader and padded beside Browntail. The grey-and-brown warrior looked at him and smiled.
"Well, I got help! But that battle was a heck of a-"
"I know about Taylor and the kits," Stripepaw broke in. Browntail's eyes widened, but he shook his head.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he mewed, not making eye contact.
"Browntail, unless my ears like to make things up, I know what I heard." Stripepaw stared at him firmly.
"Alright, you caught me. I've been sneaking off to see her for a while now. And she's expecting my kits," Browntail meowed in defeat. Stripepaw shook his head in disapproval.
"That's breaking at least two rules in the warrior code," he meowed.
"I know but-"
"Stripepaw!" A voice cut into their conversation and Stripepaw turned around and saw Hazelbelly only just managing to support a very weak Flamelight. He gave Browntail one last angry look and raced over to Hazelbelly and Flamelight.
"What's wrong with her?" Sripepaw asked.
"It was Mothstorm, he basically tore her apart!" Hazelbelly meowed sorrowfully as she supported her mother. The fiery orange she-cat had scratches covering her body from nose to tail-tip. She had a very prominent slash on her belly, letting blood pool out.
"We need to get her back to camp," Stripepaw meowed hurriedly. He pushed against Flamelight on the other side of her and gave her more support. Following the Clan, Stripepaw and Hazelbelly half-led, half-carried Flamelight back to camp. As soon as they got there, they took her to the medicine den, where Mosssting was sorting through herbs.
"Mosssting! Come quickly!" Stripepaw called out. Mosssting turned around and raced over to them, cobwebs covering his paw. He gave the cobwebs to Stripepaw and explained what to do.
"Cover the heavily bleeding wounds first, then we'll make a poultice to stop infection, and give her some poppy seeds."
Stripepaw nodded and took the cobwebs and stuck them over Flamelight's wound on her belly. He flinched when Flamelight placed her orange paw on his light grey paw. He looked into her amber eyes and felt sympathy when he saw the pain. She shook her head and whispered, "It's my time, let me go."
Stripepaw looked over at Mosssting, and, to his surprise, the old medicine cat nodded. Hazelbelly pushed through Stripepaw and glared at him.
"Well? Don't just stand there! Help her!" she growled.
"There's nothing we can do. It's her time to go," Mosssting meowed with sympathy. Stripepaw opened his mouth to agree, but Hazelbelly snarled at him, baring her teeth, and stormed out of the den.
The two medicine cats sat by Flamelight for a while, and were interrupted when Turtlestar called a Clan meeting.
"You go, I'll stay with Flamelight," Mosssting meowed. Stripepaw nodded and padded out of the den, into the clearing where the rest of the Clan had gathered. Turtlestar had a small smile on his face, and he looked out over the clustered cats.
"WindClan has started a battle, and it could go on for a while. They will have a new leader, Stonestar, and they will be stronger than before. They will make this known at the next gathering in half a moon. But, you all fought valiantly and there are two cats that need to finally get their warrior names."
As he said the last part, Stripepaw heard a squeak come from Berrypaw and Branchpaw. The two apprentices raced to the front of the group of cats and looked up at their leader. He smiled at them and continued.
"I, Turtlestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn." He looked at the two apprentices. "Berrypaw, Branchpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
The two litter-mates exchanged excited glances and both nodded.
"I do!" Berrypaw meowed enthusiastically.
"I do," Branchpaw meowed softly but firmly. Turtlestar nodded.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names. Berrypaw, from this moment on, you'll be known as Berryclaw. StarClan honours you bravery and determination. Branchpaw, from this moment on, you'll be known as Branchheart. StarClan honours your skill and intelligence." He jumped down from the Highledge and landed gracefully in front of the new warriors. He placed his nose on each of their heads in turn. They both licked his shoulder in respect and turned around to face the Clan.
"Berryclaw! Branchheart! Berryclaw! Branchheart!" The Clan erupted with cheer for the new warriors, who had always been quite popular in the Clan. All was quite happy, until Mosssting padded out of his den with a solemn look on his face. He padded over to Turtlestar and whispered something into his ear. The leader looked at him with sadness in his eyes, and scrabbled back up the side of the cleft onto the Highledge. He silenced the Clan with a flick of his tail.
"Mosssting has just given me some sad news; Flamelight has joined StarClan. She will be missed by all, and we will all mourn her death. She died a noble warrior's death," the leader meowed. Hazelbelly let out a wail and raced out of the camp entrance and into the forest. Stripepaw looked at his paws, feeling like he should've been able to do something, but the orange she-cat had said that it was her time, and he had to respect that. He looked at Mosssting who just flicked his ear and padded back to his den. Stripepaw followed his mentor and padded into the den, relishing the warmth it gave as opposed to the cold and unprotected den of the WindClan medicine cats. He curled up in his nest, wanting to get a good rest, even though it was only just past dawn. He fell asleep nearly instantly and his dreams were filled with mice and shrews.

{I'm so sorry it took so long to update this! I had some writers block, and then school started back up but this book is back up and running, and I'll have a couple more chapters up very shortly! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
warriorcats-mlp out!}