Tigerclaw’s Fury

Without stopping to speak to Fireheart, Whitethroat flung himself onto the Thunderpath. Tigerclaw took a step back as a monster blasted past, flinging grit and foul smoke into his face. When the air stopped whirling, he saw Fireheart staring in horror at a black-and-white shape that lay in the middle of the Thunderpath. The monster hit Whitethroat! Tigerclaw narrowed his eyes. Will ThunderClan still attack?

On the unforgiving black stone, Whitethroat stirred. Fireheart ran over to him. He crouched down and seemed to be speaking to Whitethroat, but his words were drowned by another monster roaring past. By the time Tigerclaw could see Fireheart again, he was standing up. Whitethroat was sprawled at his paws, eyes glazed and open, a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. Tigerclaw felt his fur prick. Fireheart was staring straight at him.

“Is chasing puny cats to their deaths the best you can do to defend your territory?” Tigerclaw yowled.

In answer, Fireheart hurtled toward him, narrowly missing two monsters, and launched himself at Tigerclaw. Taken by surprise, Tigerclaw staggered backward, feeling the scents of ThunderClan rise up around him from the thick grass. Fireheart’s paws pummeled his ribs, but Tigerclaw wrenched himself free and reared up, flinging the ginger cat onto the ground. Tigerclaw let his full weight crash down on him, sinking his claws into the fur around Fireheart’s throat. Fury burned inside him.

“Are you listening, kittypet?” he hissed. “I will kill you, and all your warriors, one by one.”

Suddenly there was a roar of thundering paws, and a voice meowed in Tigerclaw’s ear, “Did you think we would let you fight alone?”

He turned and looked into Blackfoot’s hungry gaze. “No, my friend,” mewed Tigerclaw. “I knew you would come.”

Blackfoot had brought nearly every cat that wasn’t sick with him—including Russetfur and Ratscar, Tigerclaw noticed. As the ShadowClan cats hurtled across the Thunderpath, Mousefur and Whitestorm burst out of the undergrowth. They fought bravely, but the ThunderClan warriors were sorely outnumbered. Even though Fireheart had managed to wriggle free from Tigerclaw, this wasn’t a battle that ShadowClan would lose.

Mowgli rushed forward and sliced at Fireheart’s hind legs with his claws. Fireheart stumbled and Tigerclaw reared over him, bracing himself to deliver the deathblow. Mowgli’s eyes glittered in triumph. There was a searing pain in Tigerclaw’s belly and he looked down, baffled. A broad gray tabby warrior had lunged into Tigerclaw’s exposed stomach, tearing at the newly healed wound. Graystripe! What is he doing here? He lives in RiverClan!

Tigerclaw fell onto his paws and looked around. His cats were fighting more than the three ThunderClan warriors now. It looked like a whole RiverClan patrol had come to Fireheart’s rescue. Always relying on others for help! Tigerclaw spat. He braced himself as Fireheart and Graystripe tackled him side by side. Tigerclaw was forced back toward the Thunderpath, then his paw got tangled up in a bramble and he fell heavily onto the ground. He looked around for Mowgli or Blackfoot, but they were wrestling with fish-scented cats. Clawface and Russetfur had retreated to the edge of the Thunderpath, flanks heaving and covered in scratches.

Fireheart glanced up to look at the ShadowClan warriors who were leaving, and Tigerclaw felt the ginger cat’s weight shift on his shoulders. He wrenched himself free and raced for the Thunderpath. He heard the other ShadowClan cats fall in behind him, but he didn’t slow down until they were all deep inside the pine trees. He limped to a halt beside a patch of brambles, his belly burning with pain and his muzzle stinging from scratches. Around him, the other cats slumped onto the ground and began licking their wounds.

A thin voice whined in Tigerclaw’s ear: You ran! You should have stayed and fought! Never start a battle that you cannot finish, you fool.

Tigerclaw lifted his head. “We must let the rest of ShadowClan know that we were attacked without provocation,” he ordered. He caught Clawface’s eye and waited for the brown tom to nod. “Tragically, Whitethroat gave his life trying to save his Clanmates from ThunderClan’s savagery. He died at Fireheart’s paws, trying to reach the safety of his own territory.”

Flintfang snarled, “No warrior kills one of my Clanmates without answering to me. Let me go back to ThunderClan now and avenge Whitethroat’s death!”

Tigerclaw let his tail rest on Flintfang’s shoulder. “Have patience, my friend. Those RiverClan cats might be waiting for us still. Wait until the ThunderClan warriors have to defend themselves alone, and then we will destroy them without losing a single drop of our own blood.”