Post by Venomstrike on Sept 15, 2009 20:02:57 GMT -6
(Prologue)
The dawn sun rose over the ThunderClan sky. Most cats were still asleep at this hour except for one. She sat soundlessly just outside of the Medicine Cat den, waiting for some kind of answer to her question. StarClan had given her a grave warning that something awful was about to happen in the near future. But before they could tell her what exactly the danger was or how to protect themselves from it, her dream was interrupted by a nudging to her side, it had been a queen who thought her kit was sick, but of course after she checked it, she found nothing wrong. “New mothers can be so over protective at times…” She had thought after the two cats had left her den. Sageleaf decided that she should take a walk out in the woods and maybe there she would find some answers to her question.
Prey scurried about on the forest floor. Normally, she would have stopped walking long enough to hunt it to provide her clan with something to eat. However, that was not her main intention now. The sounds of the forest echoed around her as she walked through the dense undergrowth of the ThunderClan forests. Still, nothing came to her that provided any sort of answer to the omen that StarClan had given her just a few nights ago. Sageleaf stopped in a quiet and some what isolated clearing that she had never noticed before. In fact, it wasn’t really a clearing at all. It was just a small area of flatted plants. It was almost as if something had made a nest or stopped here. Sageleaf scented the air around her, it appeared to be cat, but it wasn’t any clan she’d ever come across. She laid down in the clearing to see if any dreams came to her in this strange place.
Not long after closing her eyes, Sageleaf found herself in a forest, but it wasn’t ThunderClan’s forest. Frightened, she began to walk around her new surroundings. The same scent as before still hung in the air, but this time it was stronger then ever before. It held the scent of cat, perhaps a band of rogues that lived far from the four clans. Not sure what any of this had to do with the omen given to her by StarClan, she continued on exploring, until she spotted a place that looked like it would be well suited to be a camp for a group of cats. Somewhat excited now, she ran forward toward the camp. Upon arrival, she noticed how large the entrance was, it was much taller then it had looked from afar. The strange scent was even stronger here. “This must be where the live.” Sageleaf entered the camp and noticed that the dens there were also larger then ones back home in ThunderClan camp.
Peeking inside the largest den, was a sight that stopped the flow of her blood. Inside the den, were huge cats. They were as big, or bigger, then badgers. Sageleaf held her breath, not wanting to disturb the massive beings. “Don’t be afraid Sageleaf, they cannot see you.” Slowly, she turned around, only to be greeted by a starry warrior. She left out a sigh of relief, glad that one of the huge cats had not spotted her. “They are called bobcats. They lived in your forest long ago and now they plan to take back what was once theirs, by any means possible.” She stared at the StarClan warrior, eyes wide, and too afraid to say anything. “So this is what StarClan were warning me about, a bobcat attack.” She opened her mouth to ask further questions, but the starry warrior had already faded. Sageleaf blinked, and found herself back in the place she had received the dream. She stood up and shook her herself off, trying to forget the image of the bobcats and their murderous ambitions. She had to warn the clans, then she remembered the tonight was a gathering. “Perfect.” With luck, the other clans would believe her story, if not they would very soon see that she has been right all along.
Sageleaf followed Oakstar, the ThunderClan leader, down the path toward Fourtrees. Earlier in the day, she had told him all about the dream that she has received, and he had given her permission to announce it to the clans after all of the leaders had shared their news. The ThunderClan leader had seemed to believe her tale, and he seemed to be startled by it. Mostly because they had no idea when or where the bobcats would invade or how many of them there were. Up until that point, the only action that was physically taken was that Oakstar had increased patrol numbers and the number of cats on guard at night. ThunderClan was the last clan to arrive at the gathering, and as soon as Oakstar hopped up on the rock to join the other leaders, Swiftstar of WindClan began speaking.
The leaders had just shared the same old boring news, prey was running well or a new apprentice had been named a warrior. Sageleaf hadn’t really paid much attention to what they were saying, but before long, Oakstar had called her up to the rocks to share the warning from StarClan. As she looked down upon the other cats, she noticed mixed expressions. Some seemed worried, while others seemed to not even really care about a warning from StarClan. “Cats of all clans.” She began slowly. “StarClan have given me a warning that we are going to attack by large cats very soon. They are called bobcats, they are bigger then badgers and they come in large numbers. We must unite to defeat them.” Silence. Not a sound was heard for heartbeats. It seemed that the cats weren’t even there anymore, because they were lost in thought. Then, after what seemed like forever, Shallowstar, of RiverClan, broke the dead silence that had fallen over the cats at the gathering. “I believe she is absolutely right. The bobcats are a big threat to all of us and we must unite as one to defeat them.” Sageleaf looked at the other two leaders to see what they had to say. Nightstar, leader of ShadowClan, grunted in agreement. He did not seem to really like the idea fighting as one, but saw that it was necessary to survive. Then Swiftstar broke in. “WindClan is with you in the fight. All I want to know is when they will attack so I can prepare my warriors.” That was what Sageleaf wanted to know too. “Well… StarClan did not say exactly when they are going to attack. Just that it is going to be very soon.” Swiftstar took a moment to consider this. “In that case, I think that all clans should prepare their warriors for battle at any given moment.” The other leaders seemed to agree with the plan. With that, Sageleaf jumped down from the rock and headed back over to where most ThunderClan cats sat.
The gathering didn’t last much longer after. No one else had anything to mention that was more important then the news of the coming bobcat invasion. So the clans began to walk back towards their homes without a word. “Just let us stay safe and win this battle.”
(Half Moon Later)
Something nudged Autumnburn’s side, and she open her eyes and looked up at the cat that had awakened her. “Dawn Patrol.” She hissed in annoyance, ever since Sageleaf had warned the cats of the possible coming danger, patrol sizes had doubled. At first, she had believed the medicine cat, since she was probably right. But the gathering where she had announced it at had been about a half moon ago and there was still no sign of the bobcats. Sleepily, Autumnburn heaved herself out of her warm and cozy nest and out in the chilly morning air. “Oh come on, maybe today will be the day when we something!” She appreciated her sister’s enthusiasm but she just wasn’t that excited as Sunflare was. From the beginning, Sunflare has thought that bobcats attacking could be fun, but Autumnburn wasn’t so sure. From what Sageleaf had said, this could be a very bloody battle.
As Autumburn swallowed the last piece of her mouse, Sunflare came up to her and announced that it was time to go. Lazily, she rose to her paws and followed her golden furred sister. The patrol was made up of 7 cats total, much larger then what was normally sent out to patrol borders. However Oakstar said that the large patrol size was necessary for the clan’s own good. No cat objected, it was a wise move. 7 cats could most likely fend off a bobcat or two before they reached the camp. Redfur, the clan deputy, led them out the tunnel in the bramble barrier. The drop in temperature was instantly obvious because of how cold it was compared to inside the camp. LeafBare was drawing near, Autumnburn could only hope that if the bobcats attacked, they would do it before the dead of LeafBare, when the clans were at their weakest.
They were only half way through the new and extended patrol route and she was already tired. The route took them around the entire border, the entire way they had to be on the lookout for anything that seemed not normal. Checking every tree and bush in sight was tedious work, but Redfur had said that they were not aloud to hunt on this border patrol so that they could stay focused on looking for any sort of sign of the bobcats. The dark ginger tom was starting to annoy her. If Autumburn or any other cat even considered hunting, he'd tell to get back to marking the borders. Just then, she spotted a squirrel sitting on a fallen tree limb not to far ahead of where she stood. Making sure that Redfur was preoccupied with something else, she unsheathed her claws. Dropping in the hunter's crouch that had been passed on through countless generations of ThunderClan warriors, she began carefully stalking the mouse. She had to be careful, if Red fur noticed, she be in trouble for hunting. If the squirrel noticed her, the chance of hunting would be completely lost.
There she was, right up behind the squirrel, and it didn't even know that it's life was about to come to an end. In one swift motion, Autumnburn leapt up into the air and onto the tiny animals body. Her claws ripped through the soft flesh of her prey. It had turned out to be a clean kill. Picking it up in her mouth, she walked over to where Redfur still was sniffing around. She dropped it at his feet. "For you, Redfur." With that, she turned away from him and went back to want she was really supposed to be doing.
(2 Moons after the Gathering.)
With every day, more and more cats began to give her looks of disbelief. It had been two full moons since the gathering where she had announced the coming of their impending doom. Now cats from all clans, mainly ShadowClan, told her that she had been wrong and that this was all just something that she had made up. Of course, they stopped after she reminded them that StarClan had told her this and that she was not making it up. But now, even she was beginning to believe that StarClan had been wrong. It was weird to think that their warrior ancestors could have been wrong, they had never been wrong before. Whenever those thoughts rang in her head, Sageleaf simply reminded herself that StarClan had never said when the bobcats were coming, but never when exactly. That meant that they probably were going to attack soon.
Sageleaf hoped that they wouldn't attack, if all, until NewLeaf. Because already the cats were growing skinny because of the lack of prey in the forest, that meant they were weaker then ever before. Now would be the perfect time for the bobcats to strike. They would probably win, easily. ShadowClan had given up all hope that there was even going to be an attack. Sageleaf also thought that pretty soon RiverClan and WindClan would forget about the idea too. "Please StarClan... stop them from coming." Tonight was another gathering, maybe they would get a sign showing them when the attack was going to happen. Just then a harsh wind began to blow, sending snow everywhere and temporarily blinding Sageleaf.
(Later that night)
A storm had blown it's way to the forest earlier that day. It was still as freezing as it was when it had begun snowing. Even though the snow was so deep that it brushed up against her long pelt, Oakstar said that they still had to go to the gathering. Many of the cats moaned and complained about this decision, none of them really wanted to leave the camp. Even Oakstar didn't like it, but he said that is had been many seasons since ThunderClan had missed a gathering, and a little snow was not going to put an end to that. Looking at him now, Autumnburn thought that he now regretted saying that. Fourtrees seemed much farther away then in the snow, and Autumnburn was ready to fall asleep by the time they arrived.
ShadowClan never did show up, and the only thing that was really reported was the lack of prey and the rough journey all three clans had taken to get here. After Shallowstar had finished speaking, the gathering was just about to break up so the cats could walk home through the deep snow. However all of a sudden, there was a rustling sound coming from the undergrowth. Autumnburn turned around to see what was coming through the bushes, expecting to see ShadowClan arriving late. But what she saw was from from ShadowClan, what emerged from the bushes was a large group of huge tan striped cats. From somewhere behind she heard a cat speak. "The bobcats have come!"
(End Prologue)
At first, now cat moved. Seemingly unsure of what to do. Were the bobcats here to attack them? Then the largest bobcat took a step forward away from his pack. He spoke to the clan cats in a deep gravely voice. "Greetings, clan cats. Long ago, you forced us off of these lands and took over. We are here to take back what is rightfully ours." Autumnburn unsheathed her claws and ruffled up her fur, waiting for the order to come from any of the leaders. But none came. She turned to see the leaders looking at the bobcats with wide eyes. There was about the same number of bobcats here as there were in one clan. "This may be difficult after all..." All around her, there was a mixed array of expressions from the clan cats. Some looked ready to fight, while others looked like the were ready to run for their lives as soon as the bobcats attacked. Then the call came, and the bobcats were running towards them. The leaders sprang from the rocks as the warriors ran forward. All hell had been unleashed.
Autumnburn launched herself at the huge cats. Almost instantly, the bobcat flung her off and she went flying. "They are strong..." It would take about three or four clan cats to even take down one bobcat. Then before she could jump back into the battle, an enormous paw smashed down upon her.. The sheer force of the blow knocked her to the ground. It took a few heartbeats for her to recover and then, the bobcat bit down on her stomach. She let of a cry of pain and slashed the eyes of her attacker with her claws. The bobcat went screeching away from her, and let go. Autumnburn was bleeding badly from her stomach, you could almost see her insides through the laceration. She limped at first, running towards a group warriors trying to fight off two bobcats. Her side hurt like nothing she had ever felt before, but the warrior code said to put your clan before everything. On her way over, a brown tom was bitten by a bobcat in his neck, killing him instantly. She was shocked at first, but as she looked around, she noticed that the bodies of many clan cats lay scattered. But no bobcats had been killed yet. The battle looked to be almost lost.
With terrible pain in her stomach, Autumnburn launched herself at the nearest bobcat, biting down on it's head. The huge cat reared back, trying to shake off it's small attacker. Autumnburn just bit down on it's skull harder. Blood oozed from the bobcat's eyes and it fell to the ground, defeated. She wanted to purr in joy for aking down the first bobcat, but there was still many dead clan cats and only one dead bobcat. Then, an ear shattering battle cry was heard. The fighting stopped for just a few moments. ShadowClan was heading down the path armed with many warriors. "They have reinforcements!" The bobcat leader hissed commands to his warriors. "No mercy! Kill them all!" The bobcats sprung into action instantly and the fighting resumed. The ShadowClan cats really did make a difference, they were going berserk attacking the bobcats. A ThunderClan messenger had been sent to go and get more warriors for backup. Autumnburn then say the terrifying sight of a bobcat, striking her sister, Sunflare. Running towards her litter-mate to help her out, Autumnburn tripped, and blood gushed from her side. A rock had torn the wound open even more then it had been before. She squealed like a kit in pain, suddenly felt dizzy. "I've lost a lot of blood..." Still though, she continued onward to help her sister.
By the time she had limped over to where her sister was, more cats had already come to her aid. Autumnburn forgot about her pain and tried hard to focus on the problem at hand. Swiping blindly at the bobcats stomach, she missed. Her eyesight was growing. The bobcat had obviously seen her weak attempt attack it, so it struck at her with its claws unsheathed. The blow struck Autumnburns in the same side as the other bobcat had before. She collapsed on the ground and everything began to spin. Then, everything turned black.
(Epilogue)
Autumnburn opened her eyes and looked around. She recognized the place she was in as the ThunderClan medicine den. "Good, I'm alive. And if I'm in the ThunderClan camp, we must have won the battle." Just then, she heard a rustling sound and some cats stepped in. "Oh good! You're awake! I was afraid we'd lost you." She looked up into the eyes of Sageleaf, and knew for sure that everything must be all right. Sageleaf went on to tell the story of how the clan cats had overthrown the bobcats when all four leaders killed the bobcat leader. Many cats had died from both sides. "What about my sister? Is she okay?" She had almost forgotten about her, she had been rushing in to help Sunflare, but the bobcat had been too fast and knocked her out cold. "Sunflare is fine. She returned to her warrior duties last sunrise. You may have lost your life had she not attacked the bobcat that struck you." Autumnburn stared at her in shock. Her sister had saved her life! All she could think about doing now was going to let Sunflare know she was okay. She tired to get up but couldn't, it hurt too much. "Careful! The wound you got on your side is pretty bad. You should remain still until it heals. I can go tell your sister that you are okay, if you'd like." Autumnburn nodded, all she wanted to do was see her sister again.
In the following moons, Autumnburn returned to her warrior duties. It was tough for her to get back in the swing of things since she had been in the medicine den for about three moons. The wound had hurt her muscles pretty badly so at first, it had been hard to move. To help sharpen her warrior skills again, Sunflare became her temporary mentor. After about a moon of that, everything she was once again a strong and alert warrior. Sunflare was then made deputy of ThunderClan and Oakstar retired before that. ThunderClan is now led by Graystar. NewLeaf brought lots of prey to the forest and once again the clans are strong.
(3 Moons later)
Autumnburn looked down happily at Hazelpaw. She was receiving her first apprentice. "...And until the day you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Hazelpaw." Graystar paused to let the clan cheer the new apprentice's name. Autumnburn, you have proven yourself to once again be a strong warrior of ThunderClan once more. You will be Hazelpaw's mentor. Autumnburn dipped her head and licked her new apprentice's ear.
Post Word Count: 3746
Total Word count: 3774
Main Characters: Sageleaf, Autumnburn, Sunflare.
Completion: Yes
The dawn sun rose over the ThunderClan sky. Most cats were still asleep at this hour except for one. She sat soundlessly just outside of the Medicine Cat den, waiting for some kind of answer to her question. StarClan had given her a grave warning that something awful was about to happen in the near future. But before they could tell her what exactly the danger was or how to protect themselves from it, her dream was interrupted by a nudging to her side, it had been a queen who thought her kit was sick, but of course after she checked it, she found nothing wrong. “New mothers can be so over protective at times…” She had thought after the two cats had left her den. Sageleaf decided that she should take a walk out in the woods and maybe there she would find some answers to her question.
Prey scurried about on the forest floor. Normally, she would have stopped walking long enough to hunt it to provide her clan with something to eat. However, that was not her main intention now. The sounds of the forest echoed around her as she walked through the dense undergrowth of the ThunderClan forests. Still, nothing came to her that provided any sort of answer to the omen that StarClan had given her just a few nights ago. Sageleaf stopped in a quiet and some what isolated clearing that she had never noticed before. In fact, it wasn’t really a clearing at all. It was just a small area of flatted plants. It was almost as if something had made a nest or stopped here. Sageleaf scented the air around her, it appeared to be cat, but it wasn’t any clan she’d ever come across. She laid down in the clearing to see if any dreams came to her in this strange place.
Not long after closing her eyes, Sageleaf found herself in a forest, but it wasn’t ThunderClan’s forest. Frightened, she began to walk around her new surroundings. The same scent as before still hung in the air, but this time it was stronger then ever before. It held the scent of cat, perhaps a band of rogues that lived far from the four clans. Not sure what any of this had to do with the omen given to her by StarClan, she continued on exploring, until she spotted a place that looked like it would be well suited to be a camp for a group of cats. Somewhat excited now, she ran forward toward the camp. Upon arrival, she noticed how large the entrance was, it was much taller then it had looked from afar. The strange scent was even stronger here. “This must be where the live.” Sageleaf entered the camp and noticed that the dens there were also larger then ones back home in ThunderClan camp.
Peeking inside the largest den, was a sight that stopped the flow of her blood. Inside the den, were huge cats. They were as big, or bigger, then badgers. Sageleaf held her breath, not wanting to disturb the massive beings. “Don’t be afraid Sageleaf, they cannot see you.” Slowly, she turned around, only to be greeted by a starry warrior. She left out a sigh of relief, glad that one of the huge cats had not spotted her. “They are called bobcats. They lived in your forest long ago and now they plan to take back what was once theirs, by any means possible.” She stared at the StarClan warrior, eyes wide, and too afraid to say anything. “So this is what StarClan were warning me about, a bobcat attack.” She opened her mouth to ask further questions, but the starry warrior had already faded. Sageleaf blinked, and found herself back in the place she had received the dream. She stood up and shook her herself off, trying to forget the image of the bobcats and their murderous ambitions. She had to warn the clans, then she remembered the tonight was a gathering. “Perfect.” With luck, the other clans would believe her story, if not they would very soon see that she has been right all along.
Sageleaf followed Oakstar, the ThunderClan leader, down the path toward Fourtrees. Earlier in the day, she had told him all about the dream that she has received, and he had given her permission to announce it to the clans after all of the leaders had shared their news. The ThunderClan leader had seemed to believe her tale, and he seemed to be startled by it. Mostly because they had no idea when or where the bobcats would invade or how many of them there were. Up until that point, the only action that was physically taken was that Oakstar had increased patrol numbers and the number of cats on guard at night. ThunderClan was the last clan to arrive at the gathering, and as soon as Oakstar hopped up on the rock to join the other leaders, Swiftstar of WindClan began speaking.
The leaders had just shared the same old boring news, prey was running well or a new apprentice had been named a warrior. Sageleaf hadn’t really paid much attention to what they were saying, but before long, Oakstar had called her up to the rocks to share the warning from StarClan. As she looked down upon the other cats, she noticed mixed expressions. Some seemed worried, while others seemed to not even really care about a warning from StarClan. “Cats of all clans.” She began slowly. “StarClan have given me a warning that we are going to attack by large cats very soon. They are called bobcats, they are bigger then badgers and they come in large numbers. We must unite to defeat them.” Silence. Not a sound was heard for heartbeats. It seemed that the cats weren’t even there anymore, because they were lost in thought. Then, after what seemed like forever, Shallowstar, of RiverClan, broke the dead silence that had fallen over the cats at the gathering. “I believe she is absolutely right. The bobcats are a big threat to all of us and we must unite as one to defeat them.” Sageleaf looked at the other two leaders to see what they had to say. Nightstar, leader of ShadowClan, grunted in agreement. He did not seem to really like the idea fighting as one, but saw that it was necessary to survive. Then Swiftstar broke in. “WindClan is with you in the fight. All I want to know is when they will attack so I can prepare my warriors.” That was what Sageleaf wanted to know too. “Well… StarClan did not say exactly when they are going to attack. Just that it is going to be very soon.” Swiftstar took a moment to consider this. “In that case, I think that all clans should prepare their warriors for battle at any given moment.” The other leaders seemed to agree with the plan. With that, Sageleaf jumped down from the rock and headed back over to where most ThunderClan cats sat.
The gathering didn’t last much longer after. No one else had anything to mention that was more important then the news of the coming bobcat invasion. So the clans began to walk back towards their homes without a word. “Just let us stay safe and win this battle.”
(Half Moon Later)
Something nudged Autumnburn’s side, and she open her eyes and looked up at the cat that had awakened her. “Dawn Patrol.” She hissed in annoyance, ever since Sageleaf had warned the cats of the possible coming danger, patrol sizes had doubled. At first, she had believed the medicine cat, since she was probably right. But the gathering where she had announced it at had been about a half moon ago and there was still no sign of the bobcats. Sleepily, Autumnburn heaved herself out of her warm and cozy nest and out in the chilly morning air. “Oh come on, maybe today will be the day when we something!” She appreciated her sister’s enthusiasm but she just wasn’t that excited as Sunflare was. From the beginning, Sunflare has thought that bobcats attacking could be fun, but Autumnburn wasn’t so sure. From what Sageleaf had said, this could be a very bloody battle.
As Autumburn swallowed the last piece of her mouse, Sunflare came up to her and announced that it was time to go. Lazily, she rose to her paws and followed her golden furred sister. The patrol was made up of 7 cats total, much larger then what was normally sent out to patrol borders. However Oakstar said that the large patrol size was necessary for the clan’s own good. No cat objected, it was a wise move. 7 cats could most likely fend off a bobcat or two before they reached the camp. Redfur, the clan deputy, led them out the tunnel in the bramble barrier. The drop in temperature was instantly obvious because of how cold it was compared to inside the camp. LeafBare was drawing near, Autumnburn could only hope that if the bobcats attacked, they would do it before the dead of LeafBare, when the clans were at their weakest.
They were only half way through the new and extended patrol route and she was already tired. The route took them around the entire border, the entire way they had to be on the lookout for anything that seemed not normal. Checking every tree and bush in sight was tedious work, but Redfur had said that they were not aloud to hunt on this border patrol so that they could stay focused on looking for any sort of sign of the bobcats. The dark ginger tom was starting to annoy her. If Autumburn or any other cat even considered hunting, he'd tell to get back to marking the borders. Just then, she spotted a squirrel sitting on a fallen tree limb not to far ahead of where she stood. Making sure that Redfur was preoccupied with something else, she unsheathed her claws. Dropping in the hunter's crouch that had been passed on through countless generations of ThunderClan warriors, she began carefully stalking the mouse. She had to be careful, if Red fur noticed, she be in trouble for hunting. If the squirrel noticed her, the chance of hunting would be completely lost.
There she was, right up behind the squirrel, and it didn't even know that it's life was about to come to an end. In one swift motion, Autumnburn leapt up into the air and onto the tiny animals body. Her claws ripped through the soft flesh of her prey. It had turned out to be a clean kill. Picking it up in her mouth, she walked over to where Redfur still was sniffing around. She dropped it at his feet. "For you, Redfur." With that, she turned away from him and went back to want she was really supposed to be doing.
(2 Moons after the Gathering.)
With every day, more and more cats began to give her looks of disbelief. It had been two full moons since the gathering where she had announced the coming of their impending doom. Now cats from all clans, mainly ShadowClan, told her that she had been wrong and that this was all just something that she had made up. Of course, they stopped after she reminded them that StarClan had told her this and that she was not making it up. But now, even she was beginning to believe that StarClan had been wrong. It was weird to think that their warrior ancestors could have been wrong, they had never been wrong before. Whenever those thoughts rang in her head, Sageleaf simply reminded herself that StarClan had never said when the bobcats were coming, but never when exactly. That meant that they probably were going to attack soon.
Sageleaf hoped that they wouldn't attack, if all, until NewLeaf. Because already the cats were growing skinny because of the lack of prey in the forest, that meant they were weaker then ever before. Now would be the perfect time for the bobcats to strike. They would probably win, easily. ShadowClan had given up all hope that there was even going to be an attack. Sageleaf also thought that pretty soon RiverClan and WindClan would forget about the idea too. "Please StarClan... stop them from coming." Tonight was another gathering, maybe they would get a sign showing them when the attack was going to happen. Just then a harsh wind began to blow, sending snow everywhere and temporarily blinding Sageleaf.
(Later that night)
A storm had blown it's way to the forest earlier that day. It was still as freezing as it was when it had begun snowing. Even though the snow was so deep that it brushed up against her long pelt, Oakstar said that they still had to go to the gathering. Many of the cats moaned and complained about this decision, none of them really wanted to leave the camp. Even Oakstar didn't like it, but he said that is had been many seasons since ThunderClan had missed a gathering, and a little snow was not going to put an end to that. Looking at him now, Autumnburn thought that he now regretted saying that. Fourtrees seemed much farther away then in the snow, and Autumnburn was ready to fall asleep by the time they arrived.
ShadowClan never did show up, and the only thing that was really reported was the lack of prey and the rough journey all three clans had taken to get here. After Shallowstar had finished speaking, the gathering was just about to break up so the cats could walk home through the deep snow. However all of a sudden, there was a rustling sound coming from the undergrowth. Autumnburn turned around to see what was coming through the bushes, expecting to see ShadowClan arriving late. But what she saw was from from ShadowClan, what emerged from the bushes was a large group of huge tan striped cats. From somewhere behind she heard a cat speak. "The bobcats have come!"
(End Prologue)
At first, now cat moved. Seemingly unsure of what to do. Were the bobcats here to attack them? Then the largest bobcat took a step forward away from his pack. He spoke to the clan cats in a deep gravely voice. "Greetings, clan cats. Long ago, you forced us off of these lands and took over. We are here to take back what is rightfully ours." Autumnburn unsheathed her claws and ruffled up her fur, waiting for the order to come from any of the leaders. But none came. She turned to see the leaders looking at the bobcats with wide eyes. There was about the same number of bobcats here as there were in one clan. "This may be difficult after all..." All around her, there was a mixed array of expressions from the clan cats. Some looked ready to fight, while others looked like the were ready to run for their lives as soon as the bobcats attacked. Then the call came, and the bobcats were running towards them. The leaders sprang from the rocks as the warriors ran forward. All hell had been unleashed.
Autumnburn launched herself at the huge cats. Almost instantly, the bobcat flung her off and she went flying. "They are strong..." It would take about three or four clan cats to even take down one bobcat. Then before she could jump back into the battle, an enormous paw smashed down upon her.. The sheer force of the blow knocked her to the ground. It took a few heartbeats for her to recover and then, the bobcat bit down on her stomach. She let of a cry of pain and slashed the eyes of her attacker with her claws. The bobcat went screeching away from her, and let go. Autumnburn was bleeding badly from her stomach, you could almost see her insides through the laceration. She limped at first, running towards a group warriors trying to fight off two bobcats. Her side hurt like nothing she had ever felt before, but the warrior code said to put your clan before everything. On her way over, a brown tom was bitten by a bobcat in his neck, killing him instantly. She was shocked at first, but as she looked around, she noticed that the bodies of many clan cats lay scattered. But no bobcats had been killed yet. The battle looked to be almost lost.
With terrible pain in her stomach, Autumnburn launched herself at the nearest bobcat, biting down on it's head. The huge cat reared back, trying to shake off it's small attacker. Autumnburn just bit down on it's skull harder. Blood oozed from the bobcat's eyes and it fell to the ground, defeated. She wanted to purr in joy for aking down the first bobcat, but there was still many dead clan cats and only one dead bobcat. Then, an ear shattering battle cry was heard. The fighting stopped for just a few moments. ShadowClan was heading down the path armed with many warriors. "They have reinforcements!" The bobcat leader hissed commands to his warriors. "No mercy! Kill them all!" The bobcats sprung into action instantly and the fighting resumed. The ShadowClan cats really did make a difference, they were going berserk attacking the bobcats. A ThunderClan messenger had been sent to go and get more warriors for backup. Autumnburn then say the terrifying sight of a bobcat, striking her sister, Sunflare. Running towards her litter-mate to help her out, Autumnburn tripped, and blood gushed from her side. A rock had torn the wound open even more then it had been before. She squealed like a kit in pain, suddenly felt dizzy. "I've lost a lot of blood..." Still though, she continued onward to help her sister.
By the time she had limped over to where her sister was, more cats had already come to her aid. Autumnburn forgot about her pain and tried hard to focus on the problem at hand. Swiping blindly at the bobcats stomach, she missed. Her eyesight was growing. The bobcat had obviously seen her weak attempt attack it, so it struck at her with its claws unsheathed. The blow struck Autumnburns in the same side as the other bobcat had before. She collapsed on the ground and everything began to spin. Then, everything turned black.
(Epilogue)
Autumnburn opened her eyes and looked around. She recognized the place she was in as the ThunderClan medicine den. "Good, I'm alive. And if I'm in the ThunderClan camp, we must have won the battle." Just then, she heard a rustling sound and some cats stepped in. "Oh good! You're awake! I was afraid we'd lost you." She looked up into the eyes of Sageleaf, and knew for sure that everything must be all right. Sageleaf went on to tell the story of how the clan cats had overthrown the bobcats when all four leaders killed the bobcat leader. Many cats had died from both sides. "What about my sister? Is she okay?" She had almost forgotten about her, she had been rushing in to help Sunflare, but the bobcat had been too fast and knocked her out cold. "Sunflare is fine. She returned to her warrior duties last sunrise. You may have lost your life had she not attacked the bobcat that struck you." Autumnburn stared at her in shock. Her sister had saved her life! All she could think about doing now was going to let Sunflare know she was okay. She tired to get up but couldn't, it hurt too much. "Careful! The wound you got on your side is pretty bad. You should remain still until it heals. I can go tell your sister that you are okay, if you'd like." Autumnburn nodded, all she wanted to do was see her sister again.
In the following moons, Autumnburn returned to her warrior duties. It was tough for her to get back in the swing of things since she had been in the medicine den for about three moons. The wound had hurt her muscles pretty badly so at first, it had been hard to move. To help sharpen her warrior skills again, Sunflare became her temporary mentor. After about a moon of that, everything she was once again a strong and alert warrior. Sunflare was then made deputy of ThunderClan and Oakstar retired before that. ThunderClan is now led by Graystar. NewLeaf brought lots of prey to the forest and once again the clans are strong.
(3 Moons later)
Autumnburn looked down happily at Hazelpaw. She was receiving her first apprentice. "...And until the day you earn your warrior name, you will be known as Hazelpaw." Graystar paused to let the clan cheer the new apprentice's name. Autumnburn, you have proven yourself to once again be a strong warrior of ThunderClan once more. You will be Hazelpaw's mentor. Autumnburn dipped her head and licked her new apprentice's ear.
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Post Word Count: 3746
Total Word count: 3774
Main Characters: Sageleaf, Autumnburn, Sunflare.
Completion: Yes