A New Dawn 2

Eddieleap shrugged and turned his head to the other cats, saying, "True true, it does have its ups and downs but I think-"

Suddenly there was a loud violent hissing sound. Springheart whipped her head around to find out what was going on and Eddieleap was cut off mid sentence. She saw a black and white tom strike a brown tom with green eyes on the shoulder. Springheart gasped when she realized it was Patchpelt and Brookclaw fighting.

Brookclaw spat and dodged out of the way as Patchpelt swiped at him again. "How dare you!" He screeched.

Patchpelt grinned and had to duck to avoid a hit to the head from Brookclaw. "Well as far as I'm concerned the warrior code is nonexistent. Who cares if Splashpaw and Frogpaw see twolegs? All they - we - get is free food by the looks of it. Who cares if they pick them up or take them in their den?" he snarled.

Springheart watched as Brookclaw glared so hard she was certain his face was going to get stuck like that. "Thanks to you Frogpaw is stuck with the twolegs! Who knows what they could be doing to him? He's my son and now he's gone!" Brookclaw leapt suddenly at Patchpelt and bit the nape of his neck.

The two cats tumbled to the ground, twisting and whirling around until Brookclaw pinned Patchpelt to the ground. He growled and Patchpelt sank his body to the ground in defeat to yield.

Brookclaw paused for a moment, and then loosened his grip of Patchpelt cautiously. Suddenly, he sprang upwards, knocking Brookclaw onto his back. The cats who had gathered around to watch the fight gasped in shock and horror as Patchpelt slashed at Brookclaw in the neck with claws unsheathed. Brookclaw had barely dodged the attack, thankfully, but yowled in pain and shock.

Patchpelt backed up with a horror stricken face as Brookclaw lay on the ground, clutching his face with his paws, and said something inauidible. Carpsong, the RiverClan medicine cat, rushed over as fast as she could. She called out, "Someone fetch cobweb and marigold, quick!" Springheart thought that she could hear an edge of panic in the cat's voice as he had said it.

Springheart saw Eddieleap jump up to help. She chased him to the medicine cat den and followed him through the entrance as he pawed franticly through the storage. Springheart sniffed some marigold, having in her clan been required to learn the basic herbs, and picked it up. By the time she headed through the entrance, Eddieleap burst through behind her holding a huge wad of cobwebs in his mouth.

Springheart was met with a small crowd of cats who were at the entrance, also trying to help. She squeezed past them, also making a way for Eddieleap to travel behind her. She leaped over to where Brookclaw lay and dropped the marigold beside Carpsong, who was trying to hike pressure to the cat's face to help stop the bleeding.

Carpsong snatched it from the ground, quickly saying thanks to her, and took the cobwebs Eddieleap had laid down as well. Springheart backed away a few paces and watched as Carpsong mixed the marigold into the cobweb. He began to plaster it onto Brookclaw's face.

Springheart saw a cat suddenly appear in her peripheral vision and backed out of the way just in time to avoid Swirlsun running into her. She held a water vole, which she immediately dropped as she ran towards Brookclaw. "Brookclaw!" Swirlsun called, her voice tinged with fear and worry. "What happened?" She asked, whipping her head to Carpsong.

"Ask Patchpelt," Carpsong grumbled. He finished patching up Brookclaw and stood up.

Swirlsun turned to Patchpelt, her eyes filled with disbelief. "Did you do this?" She hissed, threateningly.

Patchpelt stared for a moment, still shocked, and then shook his head. "I-I didn't mean for it to happen..." he apologized. "I'm sorry-"

"Sorry doesn't catch prey!" Swirlsun growled. "Sorry doesn't change the fact that you hurt Brookclaw like that! Was there a battle? No. Did he threaten your life? No!" She stepped towards Patchpelt. "Did you strike out against my mate with claws unsheathed and possibly blinded him? Yes."

Patchpelt lowered his head in anguish and guilt. Springheart could tell that Patchpelt severely regretted what he had done. "How do you know if he threatened my life or not? You weren't there to see the fight," he managed to say.

Swirlsun looked taken aback. "Excuse me? I know Brookclaw! He wouldn't kill a cat even to defend his territory! He's noble, unlike you. So I do know he wasn't a threat to you. Brookclaw isn't the kind of cat to start fights." Swirlsun said with confidence and anger.

"But he *did* start the fight," Patchpelt insisted.

Before Swirlsun could make a retort, Frostfern spoke up. "It's true- Brookclaw did attack Patchpelt."

Swirlsun turned to glare at Frostfern, and when she saw that it was him, her gaze softened and turned into shock. "No, he wouldn't-if he did he'd have to have good reason that's for sure."

Frostfern dipped his head. "Do you really think I'd lie just to make Brookclaw look bad? If anything, I'd lie to make it seem like he didn't start the fight. Brookclaw is my best friend! No-it was for a good reason. Frogpaw-Patchpelt had been leading a group of cats to go visit the twolegs to beg for food, and of those cats were Frogpaw and Splashpaw-"

"What?" Swirlsun exclaimed, interrupting Frostfern. "How dare you!" She turned to Patchpelt. "No warrior has any need to visit-"

"You didn't let me finish," Frostfern continued. "Frogpaw was kitnapped by the twolegs and stuck in one of their dens, according to Patchpelt and Toadclaw. Patchpelt left him there and ran away with Toadclaw, Splashpaw, Sparrowpaw and Summerrust."

Springheart amongst the other cats, mainly RiverClan, watched as Swirlsun's eyes grew larger word by word of Frostfern's explanation. "You *what*?" She yowled, turning on Patchpelt. There was a dangerous edge to her voice and Springheart shivered, glad she wasn't Patchpelt.

Patchpelt bristled. "What do you expect me to have done? Attack the twolegs that are five times our size along with their monsters? No thanks."

Swirlsun growled. Her eyes narrowed and she leapt to attack when Currentstar stepped into the crowd and let out a yowl, saying, "Stop!" Swirlsun, in the middle of her leap, had turned her head to look at Currentstar as she had commanded it and because of that she fell over onto her side on the ground. She was a few paces away from Patchpelt and Swirlsun got up and shook her pelt free of the dirt and hissed at him. Swirlsun then turned and fell silent like the rest of the cats, waiting for Currentstar to speak.

Currentstar padded through the crowd of watching cats and spoke, her voice ringing clearly throughout the camp, "There will be no more fighting on this subject while I am here. Now, I will handle this and we will fix this once and for all instead of mewling and bickering about it like kits." Her gaze looked around the warriors and she continued. "I will lead a patrol of warriors to help save Frogpaw. If I catch any one of you visiting the twolegs like that again, especially with apprentices, there's going to be trouble. Understand?"

Patchpelt, his head hanging low, was the first to nod in agreement, followed by the rest of the cats gathered. Swirlsun was the last to accept it, but eventually caved in and twitched her tail in acceptance. Currentstar nodded and stood up even straighter. "Now, all we need are warriors to come. Anyone who is willing to help save Frogpaw, come forward!"