Warriors: 9 Lives of TERROR

Blood drips down my whiskers and claws, all this terror that I have caused!

Chapter thirty-six

Houndear, a russet tom with white splashes on his muzzle and ears stared down at the body of the SkyClan apprentice. The RiverClan cats had turned tail and fled, there was no way they were catching them before they got backup.

"Now what do we do?" asked Rowanfang, a red-brown tom with a beige back and yellow eyes. There were also two thick brown stripes that ran from the back of his ears to his hindquarters.

"I don't know," hissed Deerstride, a shiny brown she-cat with a stumpy tail. "You're the one who killed her!"

"Well what would you have done?" Rowanfang shot back, fired up now because of her tone.

"What we should have done is have kept her hostage! Now RiverClan is going to have a head start on us and Froststar is going to shred us!" Deerstride yowled.

"Enough!" Houndear hissed, cutting them off. "What is done is done. The SkyClan apprentice is dead, and there's nothing we can do about it now. What we will do, though, is cover up her death. We'll bury her and pretend it wasn't our fault." Deerstride and Rowanfang nodded.

"Good plan," Rowanfang muttered. No, it really isn't. We just killed an apprentice, our leader is helping ThunderClan destroy all the other Clans, and we're scared that we'll be torn to pieces by this leader. Oh StarClan, what has our life become?

~~~~~~~~

Brackenfoot lashed his tail. "I can no longer stand here and watch this! We have to do something!" he snarled.

"Like what? It's not like we could go down there and kill him ourselves, the Dark Forest would be on us in heartbeats," Hopelight replied. "Because if I could, I would. He threatened my kits, he's turning one of them bad, and he killed my mate and myself."

Splashstar sighed. "I fear this was my fault. I couldn't see what he was doing, I was blinded by grief," he pressed against Hopelight as he said this.

"No, it's my fault. Maybe if I hadn't taken another mate after you died, Brackenfoot, Froststar wouldn't have been so angry," Willowlight murmured.

"It's not your fault, mother," Stormlight said, nuzzling her. Brackenfoot nodded in agreement. He loved his mate, and was happy that she had moved on and had Stormlight. "We need to stop playing the blame game, and take action."

"I may have an idea," Cragstar said, who had been sitting quietly the whole time. "We may not be able to stop Froststar, but we can help RiverClan. We can warn them."

"I already did that." Brackenfoot jumped, as a young she-cat materialized next to him. "My name is Lilacpaw, and I did just that."

"What do you mean?" Brackenfoot asked.

"That's how I died. I warned RiverClan and ShadowClan cats slit my throat," she said bluntly. "But I think we need to go down there again. Wavestar may be preparing her warriors to fight when they should be running."

Brackenfoot glanced at the others, and they nodded. "Alright then, Lilacpaw. Lead the way." They ran, the ground blurring beneath their paws. The ground twisted and morphed into RiverClan's landscape. They stopped at their camp. "Stormlight, please stand guard." The former ThunderClan deputy nodded. Bracing himself, Brackenfoot pushed through. He padded forward, gazing around. The RiverClan camp hadn't changed much since the times he had been there when he was alive. The StarClan cats crept forward, invisible.

"The ShadowClan cats- they killed the poor apprentice!" Cindertail exclaimed. She was talking to Wavestar, Cindertail had been at the head of the patrol. Her voice had a note of hysteria in it. "ThunderClan and ShadowClan are attacking, she said! We have to prepare!"