Skyclan returns

Chapter 11

Firestar was immediately in the center of the clearing, calling out orders. "Brambleclaw, get together a patrol of warriors to assist SkyClan, but make sure there are enough cats left to defend the camp, just in case of an attack. Mintfur, tell us exactly what happened."

"We were in our camp, and ShadowClan and RiverClan cats just poured into it," Mintfur gasped, still trying to catch her breath. "We were overwhelmed by numbers, so almost as soon as they came, Leafstar sent me to get your help."

Brambleclaw stood in front of what looked like half of ThunderClan, Hollywing right behind him, watching Firestar and waiting for orders. Firestar flicked his gaze over to the rest of the waiting Clan cats and Mintfur before running out of the tunnel entrance and towards SkyClan's territory.

Hollywing's paws pricked with a feeling of dread as she dashed headlong over the pebbles on the lakeshore, her thoughts in disarray. It didn't bother her so much that ShadowClan had attacked; they had accused SkyClan of stealing prey, and no Clan would let that go lightly. But why had RiverClan joined the battle? Surely if something had been wrong, they would've mentioned it at the Gathering, right? None of it made any sense.

The landscape was in a blur as Hollywing ran with her Clan through ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and finally, SkyClan, territory. As they reached SkyClan's border, Firestar paused, unsure where to go. "Hollywing, do you remember where SkyClan's camp is?" Firestar asked urgently.

"Y-yes," Hollywing stammered nervously, grappling in her mind to come up with the fastest path to get there.

"Lead us there," Firestar ordered. Hollywing nodded and bounded through the hardly familiar territory, heading to where she remembered the camp as being located. It felt like hours or even days as they wandered through the high trees and bare undergrowth.

A high-pitched yowl cut through the night air, heading from the direction the ThunderClan cats were heading toward. Everyone froze momentarily before they barreled toward SkyClan's camp, snarls ripping from more than a few throats.

Hollywing was no longer in the lead as they entered SkyClan's camp, both Brambleclaw and Firestar having gone ahead to meet the onslaught of battle. The scene that greeted her looked hopeless, with SkyClan outnumbered by more than three to one.

She jumped right onto the back of a black tom who smelled like RiverClan and bit down on his ear. He yowled in surprise and pain and rolled onto his back. Hollywing quickly jumped off and swiped an unsheathed claw at his flank, hissing fiercely. The tom whirled around to Hollywing's side and barreled into her, driving the breath out of her stomach for a minute.

By the time Hollywing had recovered, the tom had her pinned down. She clawed at his unprotected stomach with her hind legs until his grip shifted and she was able to slide underneath him. She nipped at his leg, and with a howl, the tom ran out of the camp. Hollywing looked around her, trying to see if any of her friends was in immediate danger.

Cloudtail was fighting side by side with Brightheart and Sorreltail, driving back two toms and a she-cat from ShadowClan. They didn't seem to be in any trouble at the moment, so Hollywing looked away. Two SkyClan cats, Tinyfeather and Rockfall Hollywing thought, were being repulsed by a RiverClan tom and she-cat that both attacked on the worn out cats' flanks.

Hollywing ran forward to help them, sliding her paw under the she-cat's paws so that she lost her balance and fell. Rockfall, the quicker of the two SkyClan cats, was upon the RiverClan tom with Tinyfeather right behind him. Hollywing raked her claws down the she-cat's back before letting go so that the enemy cat could run away, her friend not far behind her.

"Nice job," Hollywing told Tinyfeather and Rockfall, who nodded in response before jumping back into the battle.

Hollywing scanned the crowd of cats again, looking for familiar faces. Brambleclaw was bleeding heavily on his side and could hardly stand as Squirrelflight and Dustpelt fought a few cats that were trying to attack him. Hollywing threw herself at one of the attacking cats, but was thrown off almost immediately. She was just about to stand up again when Leopardstar yowled, "RiverClan, retreat!"

The cats surrounding Hollywing instantly backed away before running off, heading back to RiverClan's territory. The attacking force was down to half its original number and Hollywing knew that if ShadowClan chose to continue fighting alone, they would surely lose. ShadowClan cats stood uncertainly, seeing the defeat that would come.

"ShadowClan, retreat!" Blackstar growled. The ShadowClan cats watched the ThunderClan and SkyClan cats warily before leaving, not once turning their back until they judged they were a safe enough distance away.

"Brambleclaw, are you okay?" Squirrelflight asked, her voice laced with concern and worry.

"I'm fine," Brambleclaw muttered just as his paws fell underneath him and he collapsed.

"We're heading back to camp," Firestar announced.

"Thank you for all of your help," Leafstar mewed. "I'm sorry to cause you trouble."

"It's fine," Firestar replied. "I know you would've done the same for us."

"I would've put my own Clan's best interests first," Leafstar replied unashamedly. ThunderClan was clumping together, the most injured in the middle of the group. "Cherrytail, can you show ThunderClan the way back to the lake? They don't know our territory and could get lost otherwise."

"Yes, Leafstar," Cherrytail replied. She only had a few scratches, the worst of her injuries being her bleeding ear. She padded to the front of ThunderClan's cats and quickly led them back the way they had come.

Hollywing's mind was in turmoil as she tried to calm herself down. Brambleclaw wasn't hurt that badly; he'd be fine. Most of the SkyClan cats Hollywing had seen had been severely wounded, however, and those wounds would take a lot of time in healing. But why had RiverClan retreated when the outcome hadn't been clear yet? Why had they even come in the first place? Would they attack again soon?

Hollywing didn't even notice as Cherrytail left them, Firestar taking the lead, and heading out onto RiverClan's territory. She was barely even aware as they entered familiar territory, too caught up in her own thoughts. It was only when the ThunderClan cats reached the thorn tunnel that she realized she had even spaced out.

Firestar was already in the center of the clearing, cats who weren't at the battle gathering around him to hear what had happened. Squirrelflight was helping Brambleclaw to the medicine den, Dustpelt, with a wounded shoulder, and Icepaw, with a bleeding leg, with them. Leafpool and Jaysight were in the entrance to the medicine den, both with worried expressions on their faces, but Jaysight seemed distracted from his Clanmates injuries.

"We need a hunting patrol to go out," Firestar mewed more loudly so that everyone could hear.

"I'll go," Hollywing volunteered. "I've got hardly a scratch on me."

"Okay," Firestar agreed. "Ashfur, Sandstorm, and Foxpaw, go with her. Everyone else, get some rest. Sandstorm, you'll lead the patrol." Sandstorm nodded, and led the patrol out of the camp and into the forest.

Hollywing knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with her mind in such a busy state, so she might as well do something useful. "Everyone stay close to camp and don't wander too far off," Sandstorm instructed.

Hollywing nodded and wandered off on her own, scenting the air for familiar smells of prey. She halted at the sound of scuffling at the base of a nearby tree, and instinctively crouched down. A small mouse poked its head out from behind a tree root, but it was too busy looking for food to notice Hollywing's presence.

Hollywing inched forward paw by paw, making her steps light, but slow, as not to alert her prey. When she judged the distance was small enough, Hollywing prepared to pounce. The bush behind Hollywing suddenly started to rustle, and the mouse looked up, suddenly vigilant. It saw Hollywing and started running, but Hollywing was faster. She let out a low hiss of frustration and took a large leap, landed on it, and skillfully killed it with one swift movement.

"Nice work, Hollywing," Ashfur congratulated, stepping out of the bushes that had been rustling.

"It would've been easier if you had just stayed silent," Hollywing accused, her tail twitching.

"Sorry, I didn't know," Ashfur mewed.

"Yeah, whatever," Hollywing replied, turning around, still a little mad. "What are you doing over here, anyways?"

"Same as you, looking for prey," Ashfur answered calmly. Hollywing looked back at Ashfur and their eyes met. Hollywing had been expecting to see Ashfur's usually calm and composed face, but now she saw regret and even jealousy in his eyes. Ashfur quickly turned around as he registered the confusion in Hollywing's face, and padded off. "Well, it looks like you have this area covered."

Hollywing sighed. Now she had even more questions and no more answers than she had started out with. She buried the mouse and tried to pick up another scent. She smelled a thrush, and followed the scent to small clearing. The bird was pecking at the ground, eating seeds.

Hollywing bounded over in her haste, not using the proper bird hunting technique, and the bird flew off. Hollywing leaped up and her claws barely caught onto the thrush's wing, bringing the thrush down with her. She swiped her paw across the bird's neck, breaking it instantly, but not before it had time to call out a warning squawk.

"There went any chance to catch more prey in this area," Hollywing muttered. She picked up the thrush and went back to retrieve her mouse before heading back to camp.

By now Hollywing was tired enough that no matter how much she had to think about, she could get to sleep easily enough. As Hollywing entered camp again, it was oddly quiet, even for night. She dropped her dead prey on the fresh-kill pile and started to head to the warriors' den.

Hollywing couldn't drop the feeling that something was wrong, even as she settled into her nest with the other sleeping warriors. Oh well, I'm probably just being paranoid, she thought as her eyelids shut and she was consumed by overpowering sleep.