Bluestar's Prophecy

Bluepaw stared up at the RiverClan cats bristling atop the rock. They were all bigger than her! Blood pulsed in her ears as Sunfall charged up Sunningrocks, shrieking like a fox. She hurtled after him, ears flat and eyes round; a screech tore from her throat that was driven more by terror than by rage. Had RiverClan brought its whole camp?

Let Stormtail come soon!

Hailstar howled as Pinestar crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. Sunfall sent a white tom rolling across the slab of stone with a vicious swipe, then leaped on top of him, sending fur flying as he shredded the tom with his flailing forepaws. A RiverClan she-cat with a mottled pelt raced alongside Bluepaw. Thinking fast, Bluepaw ducked and nipped the she-cat on the hind leg as she flew past.

The RiverClan warrior shrieked and wheeled around. Shock pulsed through Bluepaw as the warrior’s eyes fixed on her. They were blazing, lit by the sun and by fury. She was going to attack! Bluepaw crouched and braced herself. As the mottled warrior leaped, Bluepaw darted forward, slipping under the warrior’s front claws and shouldering her way beneath her belly. The she-cat’s claws scraped stone instead of pelt as Bluepaw pushed up with all her might, unbalancing her enemy. She spun to see the she-cat tumble sideways and felt a surge of triumph.

Yowling with rage, the warrior scrambled back to her paws and turned to attack. Bluepaw prepared to lunge, aiming again for the belly, but the RiverClan cat was ready. She came in low, knocking Bluepaw’s front paws from under her and sending her spinning and rolling along the rock. Grasping at the stone, Bluepaw’s claws frayed without getting a grip, and she found herself tumbling and sliding over the side and plummeting into the snow piled below.

Struggling free from the drift, Bluepaw sneezed the freezing snow from her mouth and nose. She paused to catch her breath, then began to creep along the base of the rock with her mouth open and her ears pricked, testing the air for any sign of RiverClan warriors. The frozen river bubbled a tail-length away, swirling into blackness under the cloudy white ice. Steep rocks trapped her on the narrow riverbank. She could recognize the howls and shrieks of her Clanmates battling above.

From the stench coating the snow she guessed RiverClan had swarmed from there up the rock. Following the RiverClan scent, Bluepaw sought a way up the cliff. As she searched for cracks and fissures, trying to work out where she might get a hold, snow crunched behind her. Alarmed, she spun around, her hackles lifting.

Crookedpaw.

Relief flooded her.

“Thank StarClan!” she mewed.

But his eyes were dark with fury.

Didn’t he remember her?

“We’re enemies now,” he hissed.

Bluepaw froze. He was going to attack!

He sprang at her, knocking her into the snow. She gasped as his forepaws punched the breath from her body. Terrified, she struggled as he raked her back with unsheathed claws. As pain shot through her, she twisted her head and bit his forepaw with such fury she felt his fur split and her teeth scrape on bone.

Crookedpaw yowled and kicked her away.

Screeching in shock, Bluepaw tumbled toward the river. Terror shot through her. She couldn’t fall through the ice! She plunged her paws through the snow and dug her claws into the solid ground underneath, halting her fall as her hind paws slid flailing onto the ice. She hauled herself forward and shot up the bank, slamming into Crookedpaw.

With a yelp of surprise, he staggered, unbalanced.

Bluepaw spun around and nipped his hind leg, spun again and nipped his fore, then reared and lunged, sinking her teeth deep into his scruff. Digging her hind claws into the ground, she tried to drag him backward. He was too heavy! He thrashed from side to side, jerking her head back and forth until she let go. Then he turned on her, his eyes flashing.

“Don’t expect mercy from me!” he spat.

Panicked, Bluepaw reared up and began swiping desperately with her forepaws. But Crookedpaw kept coming, hitting back, his blows stronger and fiercer than hers. She managed to flick a claw across his muzzle, but he clouted her ear and she felt the wetness of blood as pain seared like fire. How could she beat him? Suddenly a yowl sounded behind her.

Snowpaw!

Bluepaw glanced over her shoulder and saw her sister’s pelt flash in the shadows, felt her rear up beside her and fight, matching her blows paw for paw until Crookedpaw began to slow and then back away.

“Keep aiming at his muzzle,” Snowpaw hissed in her ear.