"You and your Clan are full of heartless monsters!" a dark gray-black tom snarled, ears pinned back against his head and his teeth bared, causing the four jagged scars across his muzzle and face to scrunch up and become more prominent. His white tail lashed wildly, puffed up in fury and his yellow eyes glowed with anguish and rage. He sat beside a black-and-white tom, a golden tabby she-cat, and a dark ginger tabby tom on top of a large stone that jutted up from the earth; he faced a tall, bright ginger tom whom looked back at him, though there was no hint of remorse on his face or in his eyes.

"What happened, Crow Star?" the dark ginger tabby tom asked with a confused look that he and the black-and-white tom and golden tabby she-cat shared. He tilts his head though he could sense the tension building up. All the cats gathered from each Clan below also sensed this, thus the reason they had hushed to listen more closely.

Crow Star grits his teeth now and he has to calm himself down if he were to speak without lashing out at the bright ginger tom. He takes a deep, shaky breath and finally lets his words spill.

"Four days ago, a ShadowClan patrol was sent to hunt in the direction of the WindClan border. It was just a normal day, until they caught scent of WindClan entering into our territory. They went to check it out and didn't think they'd find anything, until they came upon the lifeless bodies of ShadowClan apprentices, Seedling Paw and Tiger Paw, lying in their own pools of blood. Murdered. With WindClan warrior stench all over them."

Gasps instantly erupted from the hollow of gathered cats below the five leaders. Many of the Clan cats immediately turned to the WindClan cats and raised their hackles, hissing violently and spitting, though none threw claws yet. The other three leaders had similar reactions and almost simultaneously turned to face the WindClan leader.

"Not only did those WindClan warriors break the warrior code by trespassing, but they murdered two ShadowClan apprentices in cold-blood. There was no reason for murder. There is plenty of food, WindClan has enough territory that has remained the same for seasons upon seasons, and there was absolutely no need to gang up on two apprentices and kill them and leave them like some discarded carrion!" Crow Star continues to snarl, his harsh gaze and pain could be felt by all the Clan cats. They all knew that the murder of two innocent apprentices was horrible, thus the reason they were beginning to turn on the WindClan cats gathered below the Great Rock.

"I expect those WindClan warriors to be exiled for this horrendous action!" the ShadowClan leader demanded as the other leaders watch on, seemingly in agreement.

However, the tall ginger tom simply puffs his chest in a deep breath before speaking, even the hissing cats below halted to hear what the WindClan leader had to say.

"I ordered my WindClan warriors to chase down those two apprentices," Crow Star and the others look on in confusion but their anger doesn't die down. "I was informed by my warriors that they had seen the two hunting on WindClan territory. And as a result, ordered that patrol to chase down the two apprentices to ensure they do not ever enter WindClan territory again."

"So, yes, those warriors did break the warrior code by trespassing, but ShadowClan too broke that very same code with the two apprentices hunting on our moors. However, I and my warriors have followed the warrior code, they challenged the trespassing apprentices, and as their leader, my word is the warrior code. You have no right to call WindClan 'monsters' when your own apprentices can't even follow simple rules. I broke one code, and so did they, but I and my Clan upheld it further than you or any ShadowClan cat could."

Silence filled the tense air after the WindClan leader speaks, his voice calm and cool but the cats close to him, the leaders and deputies, could hear the sinister and mocking tone in the tall tom's voice. However, that silence didn't remain long as Crow Star hisses again.

"That reasoning is fox-dung! Murder of two innocent apprentices is far beyond just sliding it under a rock and forgetting, Flame Star-" the dark gray-black tom is interrupted when said WindClan leader grins widely.

"There is no rule about not killing enemy cats in the warrior code."

With that, Flame Star leaps off the Great Rock and begins leading WindClan out of Fourtrees, ignoring the hisses and snarls of the other Clan cats. As much as they all wanted to swipe and claw the fur off of the WindClan cats, they all knew better, as one of the warrior codes, they were prohibited from fighting under the full-moon truce of the Clan Gatherings.

But Crow Star immediately jumps off the rock and attempts to chase after Flame Star, furious and vengeful, until he's stopped when his Clan's medicine cat runs after him and prevents the ShadowClan leader from going any further after the other cat. The very pale gray tom sadly shakes his head, ears flat against his head in sympathy for the dark tom who just collapses where he was and begins sobbing.

ThunderClan's and RiverClan's two leaders rest their tail tips on Crow Star to show their empathy before they too disperse and begin to lead their own Clans away from the clearing, leaving Crow Star and ShadowClan in the hollow where they gathered around their distraught leader.

A large, dark brown tabby tom with pale green eyes watched on from ThunderClan's group, a deep frown on his face while he stared at the ShadowClan leader completely in shambles. He lowers his ears and head slightly in respect to the two murdered apprentices and in respect to the entirety of ShadowClan. No Clan deserved to get such horrible news.

"Come, Buzzard Wing. Flame Star and WindClan will be punished by StarClan soon enough. For now, we can only hope that something like this won't happen again, and that Seedling Paw and Tiger Paw can rest in peace with StarClan now," meowed a ginger tabby she-cat as she nudges the larger tom to the retreating ThunderClan group.

Buzzard Wing nods slightly and rises to his paws, letting his former mentor, Broken Stripe, go first while he began to follow. But not before glancing back at the grieving Crow Star. He felt horrible that the ShadowClan leader had to experience two apprentices being murdered who were so close to becoming warriors.

Seedling Paw showed great skill and patience when it came to hunting, his long tail came in handy with that too. Buzzard Wing was sure that when he became a warrior, he would be able to find and catch prey even in the desertedness of leaf-bare.

And Tiger Paw was special in his own way. Though he lacked the physical strength of typical ShadowClan cats and wasn't the best at hunting, the tom was mentally strong and a strategist. Tiger Paw would've become a great leader one day, if he had lived, Buzzard Wing knew that for sure.

Though the dark brown tom knew Crow Star doesn't mean it in any mean way, he believes the leader grieves Tiger Paw more.

Buzzard Wing tilts his ears back harder when he hears a distant but still haunting, broken wail full of grief as he trails after his Clanmates. He has to bite his tongue in order not to feel a sharp pang in his chest.

After all, after the death of his mate who's been with him since his early warrior days, nearly twelve moons ago, Crow Star was left with Tiger Paw as his only remaining family.

(1270 words)
A/N: Just so no one is confused, rule 14 of the warrior code doesn't exist yet. This whole story is based around this rule's creation.

I want to explore more things about the warrior code, though this kind of sounds like the TBC plotline (don't want to spoil anything in case people haven't read further into The Broken Code yet).

And so, I decided that instead of making more Clans and stuff, why not just put it as a connecting (sort of) story to the whole original Night Dancer's Revenge timeline? Of course, this is technically Ancient ThunderClan, so it's not the same time period, but the future of this story is the present in NDR, if that makes sense.

Otherwise, another story to add onto the "I probably won't be updating often because I have too much stress, but maybe, I don't know". Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading the Prologue! I hope to be more descriptive and express characters' personalities more and better! Thank you for reading! Go Beyond! Plus Ultra!

-Thorn/Thornsight