Hazepaw padded alongside redshadow and ashblaze, tail twitching nervously. There was going to be some kind of fight, surely. She could feel it. The trees, towering above the patrol, blocked most of the light, though in a few patches of sunlight dotted the forest floor, illuminating the fall grasses.

 Hazepaw turned to see hawkpaw walking up to her. "There's going to be a battle. And then your going to die." He told her, scowling . 

 "It isn't my fault mouseface was to scared to go on patrol!" Hazepaw snapped, then flinched inwardly when she realized what she had said. 

 "yeah, but it is your fault for killing her." Hawkpaw growled , looking at his mentor, redshadow, who met walking on as if nothing had happened.

 "She deserved to die!" Ashblaze spat when hazepaw didn't respond . "Mouseface was a traitor to the clan!"

 " She- "he stopped. "she was my mother! I have the right to be sad!" hawkpaw corrected himself.

"yeah, but I'm pretty sure that's not what you were going to say..." Hazepaw replied, rolling her amber eyes, before starting to walk faster towards the border. She hasn't deserved to die.

"I hope you die! " hawkpaw called after her. She flattened her ears, ignoring him.

As the patrol neared the IceClan border, hazepaw caught the disgusting scent of IceClan. Her ears perked up, alert.

"Quiet. " redshadow commanded, pushing both apprentices down with his tail. "Goldstar will attack us any chance she gets."

" Why? " hawkpaw asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Later." Ashblaze growled , "we will need to remind you of the ways of the clans!"

Hazepaw flinched . When she had been taught how the clans worked, ashblaze had given her a nasty scratch on her flank. Of course, frostfire, the SparkClan medicine cat, had put some cobweb and oak leaves on the wound, but only since she was a new apprentice. Since she was getting close to ten moons old now, any injuries would have to be treated by herself. Hazepaw sighed. Why was the clan like this?

The IceClan scent began to get stronger, and hazepaw felt redshadow stiffen beside her. His muscles rippled under his red pelt. 

 "A battles coming." Ashblaze hissed, and hazepaw thought she could hear a little bit of pleasure in her voice . She was exited, not scared like she was supposed to be.

 "What is SparkClan doing on our land?" Hazepaw jumped at the voice.

 She poked her head out from the grass to see three cats standing in front of them. The one in the front was a dark ginger tom, with black paws. One was a snow white she-cat, with black spots and tail, and the other was hidden by the shadows of the trees.

"We're marking our border, like we're supposed to." Said ashblaze , straightening up. Then IceClan patrol leader winced. Ashblaze was a feared warrior through all the clans. "What are you doing so close to ours?"

" Marking our border. Like you. " growled the cat in the shadows. 

Hazepaw Stifled a gasp. It sounded like one of the voices from the dream she had last night! But how was that possible? She hadn't even recognized any of the voices, and most had been impossible to distinguish. But she felt so sure... 

"If you want a fight, we'll give you one." Ashblaze offered, unsheathing her claws, and raising a paw.

"goldstarwon't be liking that." The ginger tom growled .

"Smokestar won't either, Gingertuft." Redshadow told the IceClan warriors .

"As if her so anything about it." The she she-cat snorted. " He likes fighting, and is a bloodthirsty murderer! What's your precious leader gonna do about it? "

" Blizzardstorm... " Gingertuft warned. 

"What? Just because she's the amazing and perfect deputy of the amazing and perfect SparkClan doesn't mean she rules the world! Neither does smokestar, you know. All he wants is for more cats to die for meaningless reasons, why we sit back and do nothing about it!" Blizzardstorm contorted .

 "W-we can do something about it!" Hazepaw said, finally gaining the courage to speak. "We could go tell smokestar right now that your... Your..." She trailed off, trying to find a good excuse . There was the obvious one, of course, but she agreed with it, which made it really hard for hazepaw to speak against it.

"Traitor." Ashblaze spat .

"If you want a fight, we'll go ahead and give you one!" The shadow cat growled .

"Go ahead." Hawkpaw agreed . "Someone here needs to be punished."

Hazepaw gulped, knowing he was talking about her. Ashblaze hissed, before leaping on the IceClan  patrol , and onto Gingertuft. He shrieked, and pushed her off. Blizzardstorm rushed forward, and knocked hawkpaw off his paws, sending  his flying against a tree. Hazepaw began to crouch lower, and to sneak away. She didn't want any part in this battle.

coward. Said a small voice in her mind, that didn't sound at all like her own. Fight, you coward, to scared to unsheath your claws.

Hazepaw growled. She shook her head, and leaped up when Blizzardstorm ran past, landing on her back. Blizzardstorm reared up, pushing the gray apprentice off. Hazepaw darted between her legs, and But down, hard, on one of them. Blizzardstorm shrieked, and pulled away.

Now go again. She is weak. Go for her legs again. Hazepaw heard the voice again, rasping and disgusting, in her mind.

And why should I listen to you? She demanded.

Because you'll die of you don't. Probably. Now go. There voice commanded her again. 

Hazepaw hissed in frustration, but did as the voice said. She clawed at Blizzardstorm's legs, while the white she-cat scratched back at her. But in the end, Blizzardstorm toppled over, writhing in agony, her fur no longer white, but red with her own blood, and maybe a bit of hazepaw's. 

Did i... Did I just kill another cat? She wondered.

Oh, yes. You did. But YOU didn't die, did you? Isn't that what you want? To not die? And that traitor might be okay, if treated in time. Which I doubt she will be. The voice answered, surprising hazepaw. Oh, and you might want to duck.

Suddenly, hazepaw was knocked off her paws, sending her sprawling on the ground, scrambling to get up. WHhen she finally managed to start seeing through the pain, she saw the large ginger and white tom, Gingertuft, standing over her.

Hazepaw looked around frantically. Redshadow was battling with another cat. IceClan just have brought reinforcements. But s so had SparkClan, apparently, since she also saw blueclaw fighting a black and white cat. 

"You" Gingertuft spat. "Killed my mate. You will die."

Roll ... NOW. The voice in her head told her, and she did as it commanded. She rolled, and scrambled up. Then hazepaw began to dim in the direction of camp. Coward coward coward! You know, I knew hi couldn't take getting hurt, could you? Oh, think about what your poor father will think?

don't. Hazepaw commanded, call smokestar poor. He killed cats.

But her mystery friend replied, but haven't you?

A/N

And the plot picks up! Who is this cat? Is it... The cat from the patrol in the shadows? Is it... The cat from her dream that she actually SAW? hint: someone who you hadn't met until now is going to be VERY IMPORTANT. take a guess? And it's not Blizzardstorm, she died. I promised there would be death, didn't I?

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