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A bear. A lion. A badger?

He had a thick, fluffy, dark brown pelt and soft golden eyes like the morning sunlight filtering through the clouds. His paws were massive, as well as the rest of him. Sablepaw saw Milkkit shrink back into his mother's pelt, eyes large as little moons, the blue pierced by shards of gold.

"Greetings, Valleystar," the large tomcat growled, giving his pelt a rough shake. He seemed not to be disconcerted by the Clan staring at him, mouths agape as if they had never seen a tomcat before.

Valleystar dipped his head to his brother before turning back to the Clan. He grimaced. "I've been communicating with Battlewish ever since he came from his old Clan. That Clan was GladeClan. He's a medicine cat and he's been trying to figure out why StarClan is gone. StarClan suddenly isn't seeing any other medicine cats now. Not just us." He nodded at his brother. "Mind telling them the story of your name? Let it be a lesson to all young and old warriors."

Battlewish stepped forward, his pelt hanging over him like a bearskin. "It all began when I was an apprentice," he started. The whole Clan listened quietly, surrounding him and crouching down.

"I was a reckless lad.

My father, Clawstorm, was a fighter. He told me to always fight. 'If you need to fight, kill,' he told me one time. 'Your opponent will probably kill you first if you don't kill them.' He seemed to be right - or, at least that's what I thought was right. To the stars, was I wrong.

As a young warrior, my name was Falconswept. I was the strongest cat in the Clan. I was proud of my name and battle skills. I kept on leading the Clan into battles, my father beside me. Now, Valleykit had run away at a young age, so we didn't know what he was like. Who knew he'd return one day with his own Clan? Anyway, after Clawstorm died, I started getting furious.

Ripping the ground with my claws as I waited for approval, I helped lead a battle that proved fatal for many cats. It was all my fault and everyone knew it. My leader, Ferretstar, and his brother and deputy, Flickerdusk, decided on a punishment for me.

'We have let everything else slide, but this is too much,' Ferretstar growled, his eyes wild with grief from the death of his mother. 'You will become a medicine cat and have the name of Battlewish for the rest of your days.'

I remember standing there, shock freezing the water in my body until I felt heavy. My name, my battle skills, everything I loved - taken away. The medicine cat, her name Mahoganytoe, taught me the way of a medicine cat. I learned how to communicate with StarClan and I was still serving as a medicine cat when StarClan stopped responding to us.

I still feel the bitterness of losing the life I most loved, but now I understand my mistake. I've kept the name Battlewish as a tribute to why I'm where I am, even though Ferretstar offered to change it after I became a full medicine cat and changed my ways for the better.

Queens use me as a story to teach lessons to their kits, and I don't mind at all. It's all in what I believe now."

The Clan was the silent for a few heartbeats.

"Battle," Milkkit squeaked, drawing the attention of everyone. Battlewish attempted a smile at the kit, yet it looked sad. Milkkit squealed upon seeing the tomcat's eyes on him and scampered away into Ashenpoppy's warmth.

Sablepaw didn't see the pale golden-brown she-kit. Pushing the worry out of her mind, the bengal molly opened and closed her jaws for a second before finally meowing, "What would you change your name back to if you wanted?"

Battlewish watched as she flinched under his golden gaze. "I would probably change it to Falconstorm, as a remember of who I never want to become. They were surprised when I refused a new name. They said I could pick any name I wanted. Battlewish suits me . . . don't you think?" He showed his yellow-tinted teeth in a real grin. Sablepaw just blinked in awe, her whiskers twitching.

"May I meet your medicine cat?" Battlewish meowed politely, his eyes glowing with excitement Sablepaw wouldn't never thought to see on such a gruff-looking cat.

Valleystar hesitated. "Fine," he meowed nervously. "Sablepaw, mind taking him around camp? And, brother, remember that any talk of StarClan is banned."

Battlewish snorted, giving his long pelt a quick shake. "I'll talk about StarClan when I want to." His yellow eyes flashed with fury. "Because StarClan would never leave voluntarily. I'm going to be the one to find out. Now, show me around, Sablepaw?" he added abruptly as Valleystar opened his mouth to retort. The Clan leader closed it with a snap.

"Erm . . . okay," Sablepaw mewed. She dug her claws into the softened ground, urging her paws to move. The sun had progressed into feeling like a warm layer of fur above her normal coat. She padded to the apprentices' den, glancing behind to make sure the grim-faced tomcat was following.

Assured he was, she started to show him the dens, but he just smiled at her. "Hush, my warrior. I know every inch of this camp - Valleystar never hesitated to tell me anything about ValleyClan - so you don't need to show me. Valleystar knows that as well. I need to talk to you. Come." He beckoned her forward with his tail-tip, slipping in a spot between the warriors den and the nursery.

Sitting down, Battlewish wrapped his plumey tail carefully around his paws and stared expectantly at Sablepaw. She squeezed in besides him, keeping to a corner.

"Your brother has had dreams of a StarClan warrior," the large tabby tom stated firmly. "Valleystar does not want that. But if you can tell me everything he saw and heard, we might be able to get a clue of why StarClan has gone. We might even be able to get them back. So please." He leaned back, eyes brimming with no lack of confidence.

"Then why don't you just ask for Bearpaw?" Sablepaw asked crossly, narrowing her amber eyes.

"It would look suspicious," Battlewish meowed smoothly, his pale eyes showing no signs of a lie or any kind of deceiving qualities. Then a sudden crack made Sablepaw glance up.

It was as if she was watching it in slow motion.

A bright white ton with brown ears was leaping from the trees that surrounded the ValleyClan camp. His claws were outstretched and teeth bared. Battlewish's ear flicked and in a heartbeat he was launching himself at the attacker, his yellowed claws outstretched. They were chipped from lack of sharpening, but blood still sprayed from the white tomcat's neck as Battlewish threw him out of the crack they were sitting in and raced out after.

Sablepaw watched, her eyes wide, as the two warriors lunged at each other, raking their claws across each other's pelts and landing blows on any appendage they could reach.

Valleystar screeched in anger and his paws pounded on the packed earth as he ran to Battlewish's aid. But there was so need. Battlewish had shrugged the limp body from on top of him, covered in blood. Yet it seemed it wasn't his. . . .

"Is he dead?" Pumpkinpaw whispered, poking the fallen warrior. FallowClan scent bathed Sablepaw's tongue as a sudden gust of wind blew the stench into her face.

"Not dead, no," Battlewish hissed. He loomed over the FallowClan cat. "I stunned him, and he may have lost some blood . . . but I wouldn't kill any cat. At least not ever again." The sight of him, with his bloodstained jaws and wounded pelt, only made him more intimidating.

"We should send him back on his way when he . . . wakes up," Valleystar growled, sniffing the still form. "Fadingwave. Fallowdawn. Pick him up and take him to the middle of the camp and make sure he doesn't get away. We might also be able to question him. . . ."

"Why would he want to kill you!?" Sablepaw meowed worriedly. "I don't think he was going after me. He seemed very intent on trying to murder you in front of me."

"If he killed me - which of course would have never happened - he would need to dispose of you, then get the hell out." Battlewish rolled his eyes and Sablepaw frowned at the unfamiliar word. "Either way, someone has tried to plan a badly organized assassination of me. Needless to say, they failed. And they'll probably send a better trained cat again to kill me," he added, almost as if it was afterthought.

"We'll need to protect you," Valleystar meowed briskly, making an fruitless attempt to flatten his bristling fur.

Battlewish gave a hard bark of laughter. "You really think I can't defend myself? I could have killed that foolish lad, yet I didn't. And all I had was a heartbeat of time to protect myself. I was always the better fighter, and it seems I haven't lost all my skills." He licked a large paw and rubbed his ear.

Lost all of your skills? That's an over exaggeration. You haven't lost any skills at all! I'd love to be at least a fraction as good as you are.

"You must join our battle practice," Doetrail meowed to Battlewish, her eyes shining. "Just simple things to help out the apprentices. Even Snailpaw should join."

Someone cleared their throat. Bristleburn had pushed her way through the touch throng of cats. "But before that, I'd like a word with you, Battlewish. May you join us as well, Bearpaw? Sablepaw?" Her voice was cool but her eyes reflected fire.

Bearpaw shrunk into a corner, glancing over at Sablepaw. What now? he mouthed. Sablepaw shook her head. "You tell me," she muttered under her breath.

Three words to sum up the meeting.

Hopeless.

Terrifying.

Traumatizing.

Sablepaw didn't want to grovel in the mud so that Bristleburn or Battlewish would tell her something. She padded away from the entrance of the medicine den, kicking a small stone with her front paw and not feeling the jolt of pain that ran through her claws.

Why did they request their assistance and tell them nothing?! And Battlewish's eyes when he couldn't get enough information. They would haunt her dreams forever.

Bearpaw sulked beside her, his head lowered slightly as he wandered deep into his thoughts.

Would they be okay? Sablepaw didn't know. She just wished she could go to sleep that night, have dreams of glades filled with flowers and butterflies, then wake up to realize that this was all just a nightmare.