Leopardspring's Loyalty

## Prologue

Stormstar gasped for breath as his head emerged from beneath the water. Battle cries filled his ears, and all around him he saw battling cats. Cats from both HeatherClan and IceClan raged on, fighting to the death. Within the struggle, he spotted the pelts of Sunnose, Wildtuft, Rainsong, and his mate Heatherwish. Not far away Stormstar saw Milkbird standing over Rushcreek, who had a nasty wound in his stomach. Rage flooded Stormstar's senses.

*IceClan will not win this fight!* He thought bitterly.

Pain seared in his body as he moved pushed himself up and out of the water. Dirt shifted beneath him as he fell to the ground, groaning in agony. In the corner of his eye, he saw the IceClan warrior Flamespirit leap at him, claws extended. Panic flooded Stormstar's brain, and he struggled to his feet to meet his attacker. Flamespirit crashed into him, knocking him onto the ground and pushing him back towards the pond. Outraged, Stormstar growled, whipping his head back towards the tabby she-cat. She returned his gaze with cold blue eyes, her fangs drawn back as she prepared to aim for his throat. Before Flamespirit could make her move, he lashed out his paw, and smacked the she-cat on the side of her face. She jerked her head back, eyes wide with surprise. But rage quickly flooded back into her eyes as she lashed her tail and flattened her ears. Stormstar twisted his body, attempting to get up, but as he rose from the ground he stepped on a wet stone, which slipped beneath his paw, causing him to fall back onto his side. A second later, Flamespirit lunged forward. Before Stormstar could move, she sunk her teeth into his throat, and jerked him back towards the battling warriors. With a scream, Stormstar thrust his forepaws forward, shoving them against Flamespirit's chest, claws out. Flamespirit grimaced, but held her grip on his neck, continuing to drag the HeatherClan leader across the grass. Desperately, Stormstar hissed, snapping his teeth at Flamespirit's nose, with seemed to spook her, for she released her grip on Stormstar and leaped away, but not before giving him a long cold glare. Stormstar rose to his paws, he felt blood trickle down his fur and onto the ground as his neck throbbed with pain. But despite the pain, he raised his head to look at his surroundings. On his right side, there was a struggle between the Deputies; Jaggedice and Wrenpoppy. Seconds later, Ashfire and Graymoth rolled passed them, clawing and snapping at each other as they tumbled into the water.

"*STORMSTAR!"*

Sunnose's screech split the air, and he whipped around, just in time to see Thriftleap charging him. A moment later, Sunnose and Vixenblaze appeared, tackling the dark grey tom away from the HeatherClan leader. Sunnose lunged forward, grabbing Thriftleap by the scruff and slamming him into the ground. Thriftleap yelped, thrashing his hindlegs desperately as Vixenblaze circled them, eyes narrowed and tail lashing. Stormstar's attention on the three was interrupted when he heard someone else call his name. A moment later, Ashfire rushed over to him

"Stormstar," She gasped. "Y-you need to call a retreat. We're heavily outnumbered by IceClan cats- plus we were losing the moment IceClan and HeatherClan started-" Before she could finish, Stormstar turned on her, snarling furiously.

"You want me to call a *retreat*? This is *our* territory Ashfire! We aren't going to give it to another Clan!" Ashfire flinched slightly, but held her ground and meet Stormstar's gaze.

"Stormstar.." She said tiredly. "I know that you'd rather lose territory than you're entire Clan over a single blade of grass." Stormstar bristled, about to retort, but Ashfire continued.

"Besides, the territory we have is clean and healthy. What more would a leader want for his Clan? We've fought against IceClan long enough, Stormstar. This isn't going to end until one of us submits. How many cats are we going to lose in battles because you haven't yet figured out how to swallow you're own pride. I might not be you or Wrenpoppy, but if I were, I would call a retreat." Stormstar studied the black and silver she-cat, tail twitching. Then he sighed.

"But you know IceClan as well as I do, Ashfire. If we back down Froststar and the rest of IceClan is just going to see it as a sign of weakness and try to steal more HeatherClan territory." Ashfire flicked her ear.

"I'm very much of that, but can we not think about that right now? I believe we have something more important to tend to." She turned and pointed her muzzle towards Sunnose and Vixenblaze who were surrounded by five IceClan warriors, then to the dead body of Rushcreek. Ashfire turned back to Stormstar, brows raised. Stormstar held her gaze briefly, because raising his head to the sky.

"HeatherClan! Retreat!"

## Chapter One:

"No, Leopardpaw! That's not how you do it!" Leopardpaw skidded to a stop, fur prickling along her spine. "Sorry, Sunnose." She mumbled. The yellow she-cat came up to Leopardpaw.

"It's alright, but I know Rushcreek taught you the hunter's crouch." Leopardpaw rolled her eyes. Rushcreek was her first mentor, but he died in the battle with IceClan the previous moon, so Stormstar made Sunnose her new mentor, and to be honest, Leopardpaw liked Rushcreek better.

"Well, that's the way Rushcreek taught me it." Leopardpaw meowed, crouching down while Sunnose fussed over her. Her gaze traveled over to the border, spotting an IceClan patrol marking their side of the border. Leopardpaw raised her head, forgetting that she was supposed to be practicing her crouch. Sunnose growled loudly, but quickly fell silent when she followed the apprentice's gaze. Then the warrior sighed.

"Let's get back to camp, I think that's enough training for one day." Leopardpaw nodded in agreement, and followed her mentor into the trees. Then she heard one of the IceClan cats start to yowl. They clearly spotted the two of them. Out of the corner of her eye, Leopardpaw saw Jaggedice step forward, eyes narrowed.

"I hope you aren't thinking about trespassing onto our territory, Sunnose!" The grey tom snarled. Sunnose bristled. Panic flooded into Leopardpaw's chest as the yellow she-cat turned, fangs bared.

"Why don't you worry about that and mind you're business!" She snapped, taking a few steps towards the border. Leopardpaw flinched as Jaggedice's eyes grew cold. She looked towards the other IceClan cats. Besides Jaggedice, there were three other cats. Following her mentor, Leopardpaw lowered her head nervously. The two cats padded up to the border, coming to a halt on their side. While Leopardpaw hung back, Sunnose marched up to Jaggedice and thrust her muzzle in his face. Leopardpaw watched as the two cats stood nose to nose, tails bristling and claws extended. A few moments later, Leopardpaw looked behind Jaggedice, to see Milkbird and Whorlpaw glaring at her. But to her surprise Whorlpaw didn't seem nearly as hostile as Milkbird or the others were. Her thoughts were inturrupted when Jaggedice lunged forward, barreling into Sunnose. The yellow she-cat shrieked as she was knocked off her paws and onto her back. Leopardpaw bristled, and crouched, ready to defend herself and her mentor. But to her dismay, Milkbird and Skypath surged forward, grabbing Sunnose by her shoulders and pinning her to the forest floor while Jaggedice repeatedly lashed at her muzzle. Leopardpaw snarled, and leaped towards Jaggedice and landing onto his back, digging her claws into his neck. Jaggedice yelped, and shook his body, attempting to free himself of Leopardpaw's grip, but she was determined to help her mentor. She had to turn her attention to Milkbird when the IceClan warrior lunged for Leopardpaw. She lashed out, catching Milkbird behind her ear, but she had to twist in order to do so. Milkbird stepped back, and drew back her fangs. With her attention on Milkbird, Leopardpaw didn't see Whorlpaw come up behind her, and she gasped in pain when the blue apprentice grabbed her by the tail, hauling her off of Jaggedice's back. The pain was quickly replaced with rage, and Leopardpaw whirled around, lunged forwards, and bit down hard into Whorlpaw's ear. He shrieked in pain, and let go of her tail. She too let go and turned to face Milkbird, who was staring at her with wide, outraged eyes. In the edge of her version, she could see that Tigerspring, Ashfire, and Roselight have come to Sunnose's aid, and were forcing Skypath and Jaggedice back, while Rainsong and Snowwater were approaching Milkbird and Whorlpaw, eyes narrowed. Then Leopardpaw could hear her leader's snarl echo across the clearing.

"GET OUT OF HEATHERCLAN TERRITORY." The grey tom roared, racing towards the group of cats. Jaggedice flattened his ears, glaring at the approaching leader.

"Fine!" He spat. "But this isn't over, I promise you that!" With a whisk of his tail, he beckoned with Clanmates to follow him, and the HeatherClan cats watched as they entered their territory and vanished into the brush. Leopardpaw swallowed hard, and turned to look at her own Clanmates. Roselight had a sliced ear, and Tigerspring was sniffing at a scratch on his leg. But Sunnose was the worst. Both her ears were shredded, and all along her hindquarters were deep bloody scars. Ashfire circled the yellow she-cat, nuzzling her friend every so often.

"Leopardpaw, go to camp and tell Sandyblaze that he has some cats to take care of." Leopardpaw jumped, and looked up to see Stormstar looking down at her."

"I-is Sunnose going to be okay?" She asked, fearing for her mentor. Stormstar nodded his head.

"She'll be fine, now go!" Leopardpaw jumped to her paws, and tore across the clearing, and up the slope towards camp. But not before looking back at Sunnose one last time.

*Dear StarClan let Sunnose be okay.*