The Forgotten Warrior

“See? It’s greenleaf now, so the water level is very low. Nothing at all to worry about.” She seemed hesitant as the cats gathered around her. “I wonder what’s best…” she murmured, half to herself. “Attack or defense?”

“Don’t you even know that?” Thornclaw snapped. “What did you get us down here for?”

Toadstep shot Thornclaw a sharp look, though he said nothing.

“I didn’t spend my time down here fighting,” Hollyleaf retorted. “I had no enemies because I saw no other cats.”

That must have been so lonely, Dovewing thought, with a sympathetic glance at the black she-cat.

“But you know more than any of us about moving around in darkness and confined spaces,” Brackenfur meowed. “That’s what will be helpful. What should we do if a patrol of WindClan cats ambushes us here?”

Hollyleaf gave him a brief nod. “Right,” she began. “You need to remember that the space is small, so you have to change your fighting moves. Keep your blows short and tight, otherwise you risk knocking your paws against the walls.”

Toadstep reared up on his hindpaws, keeping his forelegs tucked into his body while extending his claws against an imaginary enemy. “Like this?”

“Very good,” Hollyleaf mewed. “But don’t rear up unless you know there’s enough space above your head. Braining yourself on the tunnel roof would be a bad idea.”

Dovewing stifled a mrrow of amusement. “Is it better to fight in the light or the dark?” she asked.

Hollyleaf paused for a moment. “It depends,” she replied. “If you think you can beat your opponent, lead them away from the light so you can take advantage of the darkness. But if not, keep them close to the light so you can aim your blows accurately.”

Dovewing glanced around the cavern, suppressing a shiver as she imagined it full of clawing, screeching cats. The advice Hollyleaf was giving suddenly made the coming battle seem closer.

“Right,” Hollyleaf mewed briskly. “Let’s practice. Toadstep, you seem keen, so you can be a ThunderClan warrior. Dove-wing, you be the WindClan warrior that’s attacking him.”

“Great!” Toadstep crouched down, lashing his tail. “Come and get me, WindClan scum!”

“Scum yourself!” Dovewing retorted.

She leaped at Toadstep, but forgot what Hollyleaf had said about keeping moves small and tight. As Toadstep dodged aside, her leap took her too far, and she narrowly missed charging into the cave wall. Her paws skidded, while Toadstep took the chance to deliver a couple of hard blows to her hindquarters.

“Well done!” Hollyleaf called.

Dovewing gritted her teeth. Turning tightly, she reared up as Toadstep came in for the attack, and used the backflip she had learned in the training session with Bumblestripe. Toadstep saw the move coming, but too late, and lost his balance. Dovewing leaped on top of him, battering at him with her forepaws.

But as Toadstep rolled over, wriggling to free himself, one of Dovewing’s flailing paws hit the wall. She let out a yowl of pain. Taking advantage of her brief distraction, Toadstep threw her off and wrapped his forepaws around her neck. However hard she struggled, Dovewing couldn’t dislodge him. Their fight had taken them right up against the cave wall. Heaving Toadstep around, Dovewing managed to trap him in a corner. Though he was still clinging to her neck, he had no way of escaping when she raked at his belly with her hindpaws.

“That’ll do.” Hollyleaf came to separate them. “Very good, both of you. Dovewing, that was a good move, to keep him pressed up against the wall like that. Do you know what you could have done?” she asked Toadstep.

“Not much. I’ll have bruises for a moon,” Toadstep muttered.

“I’ll show you. Brackenfur, come over here and shove me into the corner.”

As the ginger warrior charged at her, Hollyleaf sprang up against the wall and pushed off in an enormous leap that carried her right over Brackenfur’s head. She landed lightly and spun around, ready to attack.

“Brilliant!” Dovewing exclaimed.

There was a murmur of appreciation from the other cats.

“You need space, of course,” Hollyleaf meowed, dipping her head. “And you have to be careful not to scrape your pads. The walls aren’t always smooth. Why don’t you all pair up and practice that?” she suggested.

Within a few heartbeats the cave was full of leaping cats. Dovewing took Ivypool as her partner. It took a few tries before either of them could do the move effectively.

“This is hard!” Ivypool panted. “But it might come in handy you-know-where,” she added in a lower voice.

“Think of it as stalking and pouncing on prey,” Dovewing mewed. “I’ve found that helps.”

“Okay,” Hollyleaf called. “Now I want to try something else. Brightheart, you’ve developed new fighting moves to take advantage of your blind side. Is there anything you can tell us that would help us here?”