“Nice work!” Graystripe called.
As he spoke, two ShadowClan cats slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. The larger of the pair, a black tom, pressed him to the ground, while the smaller white she-cat reared on her hind legs, flexing her long claws, ready to crash down on Graystripe’s head.
Orange fur blazed past Lionpaw as Firestar flew at the white warrior. He threw the ShadowClan warrior backward and slashed her cheek with a well-aimed blow.
Lionpaw leaped onto the black tom who was pinning Graystripe to the ground. He dug in his claws and bit hard into the tom’s shoulder. The warrior let go of Graystripe and reared backward. At once Hollypaw darted behind him and knocked the tom’s paws out from under him. Lionpaw leaped off as the warrior crashed down.
“Great move!” Lionpaw called to Hollypaw.
“He’s not finished yet,” she warned.
The black tom was already on his paws, hissing ferociously, but Lionpaw and Hollypaw faced him side by side, and, jabbing and slashing with their forepaws, they drove him back toward the border until he was panting and streaked with blood.
Suddenly Lionpaw spotted Oakfur slinking through the bracken toward Firestar, a fox-length away. The ThunderClan leader still had the white warrior pinned to the ground, unaware of Oakfur’s stealthy approach. Before Lionpaw could warn him, Oakfur had leaped onto Firestar’s back and grabbed the ThunderClan leader’s neck in his jaws.
The white warrior struggled from Firestar’s grip and nipped at his front paws until the ThunderClan leader fell to the ground. He vanished beneath the two snarling ShadowClan warriors.
“Can you manage by yourself?” Lionpaw screeched to Hollypaw.
“I’ll help her,” Graystripe growled, leaping in beside her.
Lionpaw threw himself at Oakfur, clamping his jaws around the ShadowClan warrior’s tail.
Oakfur screeched and let go of Firestar. Firestar leaped to his paws and whipped around to grab Oakfur by the scruff. As he held Oakfur in his jaws, he kicked out with his powerful hind legs and sent the white warrior sprawling into the bracken.
Then he flung Oakfur with all his might against a tree.
Oakfur hit it with such force that the branches trembled and he fell to the ground, dazed.
Seeing that Firestar was safe, Lionpaw turned back to Hollypaw. He expected to see her still fighting beside Graystripe, but she stood alone in a space among the battling cats. Graystripe had left her undefended.
“Watch out!” Lionpaw gasped, his heart lurching as he saw
Smokefoot rushing up behind his sister. Graystripe was two tail-lengths away, pulling a ShadowClan warrior off Millie.
The former kittypet leaped to her paws.
“Go back and help Hollypaw!” Millie yowled to Graystripe. “I can take care of myself!” She lashed out with her front claws at the ShadowClan warrior and sent him screeching away with a blow that sprayed his blood across the forest floor.
Smokefoot was on top of Hollypaw, raking his claws along her flank, but Graystripe wrestled him to the ground and pummeled his belly with his thorn-sharp hind claws.
Lionpaw darted to Hollypaw’s side as Smokefoot yowled in pain, and Graystripe let the tom flee across the border.
“Drive the rest into the brambles!” Graystripe ordered.
“What?” Spiderleg yowled in disbelief.
“That’ll only make it harder to fight them!” Birchfall called.
“Harder for ShadowClan!” Hollypaw hissed in Lionpaw’s ear. “They don’t have brambles in the pine forest.”
Firestar nodded grimly. “They’re not used to fighting in undergrowth!” he called. “Do as Graystripe says!”
“Everyone, spread out behind me!” Brambleclaw’s order split the air. He had spun around so that his back was to the ShadowClan border.
The ThunderClan cats drew away from their enemy long enough to reposition themselves around their deputy.
Confused, the ShadowClan warriors stared about them.
Suddenly they were trapped on the wrong side of their
border. Then Brambleclaw charged forward, his warriors flanking him on either side, and they began to press the ShadowClan warriors deeper into ThunderClan territory, where a tangle of brambles covered the forest floor.
Lionpaw spotted Jaypaw lashing out at Owlpaw. The ShadowClan apprentice was playing with Jaypaw, ducking the blows and teasing him with jabs and taunts.
Lionpaw raced to his brother’s side. “You’re nothing but a coward,” he growled at Owlpaw.
Owlpaw thrashed his tail. “I’ll show you I’m not a coward!” He lashed out and caught Jaypaw’s muzzle with his claw.
Jaypaw gasped with pain, but he didn’t recoil, flailing his unsheathed claws more fiercely than ever.
“He’s ducking,” Lionpaw hissed to his brother.
Jaypaw instantly aimed his blows downward and raked Owlpaw’s ears. Jaypaw gave a yowl of satisfaction.
“He’s trying to get behind you now,” Lionpaw warned as Owlpaw scooted past Jaypaw and balanced himself, ready to leap at the tabby apprentice. Lionpaw spun around, every instinct crying out to take Owlpaw on himself. But he knew Jaypaw would never forgive him for fighting his battle for him, and besides, Jaypaw had already turned nimbly around and was pummeling Owlpaw with his forepaws. Owlpaw tried to duck, but Jaypaw had learned that trick, and the instant Owlpaw lowered his head, Jaypaw leaped on top of him and rolled the ShadowClan apprentice onto his back. He clung to his fur and raked his hind claws along Owlpaw’s spine until the ShadowClan apprentice begged for mercy.
“Get off!” he shrieked, and Jaypaw let go.
Owlpaw scrambled to his feet and spat at Jaypaw, ready to attack again, but Lionpaw fixed him with a threatening stare, and Owlpaw, faced by the pair of them, backed away, snarling.
The ShadowClan warriors were beginning to trip on the brambles, struggling as much against the thorns that clawed their pelts as against the ThunderClan warriors who were forcing them farther and farther into the bush. Sandstorm’s tail lashed triumphantly as a ShadowClan warrior cowered beneath her blows. Beside her, Whitewing nipped at a mottled apprentice as he tried to battle past her out of the clinging thorns. Brook and Stormfur worked together, jabbing at Smokefoot with merciless claws as he struggled farther into the brambles to escape them.
Russetfur stared in dismay at her warriors thrashing helplessly in the undergrowth. “Retreat!” she yowled.
The ShadowClan cats scrambled out of the brambles, leaving clumps of fur behind as they pelted past the ThunderClan warriors and fled back into their own territory.
Lionpaw scanned the battered ThunderClan cats. “Hollypaw!”
“I’m over here!” Hollypaw squirmed backward out of the undergrowth, her bushy tail pricked with thorns.
“Is everyone okay?” Firestar staggered out, his muzzle crimson with blood.
“Sandstorm’s twisted her paw.” Brambleclaw was standing beside the ginger-colored warrior as she licked at a forepaw.
“It’s just a sprain,” she reassured him.
“Stormfur?” Firestar looked at the gray warrior. “That looks like a bad cut on your shoulder.”
“It’ll heal,” Stormfur replied.
“I’ve lost a chunk of fur from my tail,” Spiderleg spat. “But it was worth it if ShadowClan thinks twice before trying to steal our territory again.”
“We need to make sure they’re all gone,” Firestar meowed.
