Shattered Sky

She dashed at Juniperclaw again, bunching her muscles to leap upon his back. But at the last moment Juniperclaw reared onto his hind legs and twisted to one side, pinning Twigpaw to the ground. The ShadowClan warrior’s glaring eyes and sharp teeth were less than a mouse-length from her face.

“You’re good, apprentice,” he hissed. “But not that good.”

Unable to breathe under his weight, Twigpaw tried to bring up her hind paws to bat at the ShadowClan cat’s belly, but Juniperclaw was too heavy; Twigpaw couldn’t push him far enough away to get any strength behind her blows.

What do I do now? she wondered, fighting off panic.

Suddenly a silver-and-white blur flashed across Twigpaw’s vision as Ivypool leaped right over her, knocking Juniperclaw away. The ShadowClan cat fell to the ground, paws flailing, while Ivypool followed up her leap with a couple of hard blows across his shoulders.

“Scram, flea-pelt!” she snarled.

Juniperclaw scrambled to his paws and fled; Twigpaw lost sight of him among the battling cats.

“Thanks, Ivypool,” she gasped, forcing herself upright again.

“My pleasure,” Ivypool mewed swiftly; then she hurled herself toward Lionblaze and Dovewing, who were battling three of the rogues.

Her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath, Twigpaw took a moment to look around. Everywhere cats were locked in combat. Her spirits rose as she realized that the Clan cats seemed to be winning the fight. She saw Bramblestar knock Rain to the ground, while Cherryfall was darting to and fro, slashing at Sleekwhisker, whose efforts to defend herself grew feebler with every heartbeat.

Twigpaw was about to leap back into the fray when she spotted Onestar, who had Darktail pinned to the ground. Onestar’s forepaws pummeled at Darktail’s face, leaving bloody slashes across his cheeks. Darktail barely struggled, gasping for breath.

Onestar must be taking revenge for his lost life, Twigpaw guessed.

But as she watched the two leaders fight, Darktail heaved himself up and tumbled Onestar to the ground. He staggered toward Onestar and murmured something, his mouth close to the WindClan leader’s ear. Onestar’s eyes widened into a horrified stare as he rose to his paws and drew away from the rogue. His message—whatever it was—delivered, Darktail sagged to the ground again. Twigpaw could see that his white fur was smudged with red from injuries on his sides and chest.

She tensed, expecting Onestar to lunge at Darktail and deliver a killing blow. But the WindClan leader backed away. Why doesn’t Onestar finish Darktail off? Twigpaw wondered. That’s the whole point of this battle!

Instead Onestar raised his head to let out a loud yowl. “Cats of WindClan! Retreat! Back to the camp!”

Twigpaw let out a gasp. She couldn’t understand why Onestar would call his cats out of the battle, especially when he had been so adamant that they drive the rogues out at last.

What could Darktail possibly have said to him?

“WindClan! Retreat!” Onestar yowled again.

Twigpaw caught no more than a glimpse of the WindClan cats breaking off their tussles with the rogues before something hard hit her in the back and bowled her over, knocking the breath out of her. Too late she realized that she shouldn’t have been staring at Onestar instead of paying attention to the battle around her.

Summoning every scrap of her strength, Twigpaw twisted around to see Yarrowleaf glaring balefully down at her, the hostile she-cat’s breath riffling Twigpaw’s whiskers while her claws dug into her shoulders. Twigpaw heaved upward and managed to dislodge the ShadowClan cat so that she could rake her hind paws across her belly. But Yarrowleaf still kept a grip on her and bent down, jaws parted to sink her teeth into Twigpaw’s throat.

Twigpaw strained away from her, bracing herself for pain. Then Ivypool appeared once again, fastening her claws into Yarrowleaf’s neck and hauling her bodily away.

After flinging Yarrowleaf to one side, Ivypool crouched to pounce on top of her, but before she could move, Tigerheart appeared, thrusting himself between the two cats and giving Yarrowleaf the chance to scramble away.

Ivypool straightened up, glaring at Tigerheart. “What in StarClan’s name do you think you’re doing?” she snarled. “Yarrowleaf isn’t your Clanmate now. You’re supposed to be on our side!”

Tigerheart cast an anguished glance after the fleeing Yarrowleaf. He opened his jaws to answer, but before he could speak he was interrupted by an angry yowl from Lionblaze. The WindClan cats were streaming away from the ShadowClan camp in the paw steps of their leader, leaving the remaining warriors at a serious disadvantage.

“Stop!” Bramblestar yowled.

“You can’t leave us! We agreed!” Mistystar added.