Cedarfur woke to the noise of a Twoleg's voice. He suddenly sat up and smacked his head against the top of something. Suddenly, all the mornings terrors came back to him: the trap, being captured by a Twoleg, and finally ending up here, in the belly of a loud monster. Through the confinement he was in, see could see out of the crystal clear ice of the monster. Then something familiar caught his eye: the jagged peaks of the Highstones. He had only been there once, when his mentor had taken him there two sunrises before he was made a warrior. Cedarfur scratched at the silver mesh and tried biting at it with all of his strength. But to no avail. Cedarfur sighed and let out an involuntary cry of sadness. He felt like he had lost his whole will for living: his clan, his home, his friends, and his mate and kits. He thought about them now, wondering what they were doing and wether they were missing him or not and if Firestar would send a patrol to look for him. As he thought these sad thoughts, he slowly drifted back into sleep.
* * *
Leafstorm crouched in the corner of the camp. A scrawny mouse sat in front of her with a small bite taken out of it. She didn't have an appetite. Her clanmates had comforted her and Waspclaw had let her stay off patrols for the rest of the day. But nothing was the same. Her mate was gone and she might not ever see him again. Sadness made her heart ache. She got up and padded to the gorse tunnel and crept out of the camp and up the steep ravine. As she walked along through the undergrowth and stopped, smelling the air. She smelled a scent that should not be there, not a Twoleg or a loner, but a clan scent. It was the sout smell of Shadowclan. Leafstorm moved to where the scent was coming from and stopped in her tracks. A huge Shadowclan patrol was coming across the border, the last warrior rushing across the Thunderpath. Jaggedclaw, huge black and white tom led the way. Leafstorm raced back to camp for the second time that day and burst into camp. " Firestar! Shadowclan is invading!" For the second time that day, cats poured from dens and Hazelpelt rushed from the medicine den. Firestar and Waspclaw rushed from the den and Leafstorm told them what she had seen. " This does not sound like a patrol coming to talk.", Firestar mused. " It must be a battle patrol! Waspclaw, you stay here with Foxfoot, Blueleap, Thorntail, and Aspenfoot. I will take Leafstorm, Stoneclaw, Graystripe, Runnningfoot, Oaktail, Pinewhisker, Sunpaw, and Dawnflower." " Dawnflower? But she has kits!" Dawnflower's mate, Stoneclaw, meowed to Firestar. " Our kits are 5 moons old Stoneclaw. They will be apprenticed in about a moon. Besides, I need to get out of camp. " Stonelcaw seemed about to protest then nodded."Lets go then.", Firestar said. They dashed out of camp and up the ravine. Right into a patrol of Shadowclan warriors.
* * *
Cedarfur woke to the sound of many cats meowing. He sat up and stretched. He was in another enclosure and could that there were many other cats in cages similar to his. " Look, there's a new cat!", called out a silver and black tom. " Where do you come from?" a ginger she-cat asked. " I come from Thunderclan.", he responded blankly. " Leave him be." said a voice in the cage next to his. Cedarfur snapped his head around. That voice was familiar. Cedarfur strained his eyes in the gloom to see who it was. The shape of the head was very familiar, but there was one thing that Cedarfur recognized on the cat: the top half of his right ear, jagged at the tip. " Pebbletail, is that you?", Cedarfur stammered. Pebbletail of Riverclan had gone missing countless moons before when he was out fishing. " Yes, its me.", Pebbletail replied. " Who is that?", he asked." Cedarfur of Thunderclan." Cedar meowed softly. " I thought I recognized a clan scent." Pebbletail mewed wistfully. " Did they capture you as well?", Pebbletail asked. " Yes. I thought I smelled a cat scent under Snakerocks and I went to investigate and this thing with teeth grabbed onto my leg." He held up his paw to show Pebbletail. " Yes. I was caught by one of those too. Another cat said that they are used to catch loners and rogues and then they bring them to a shelter.", Pebbletail told Cedarfur. " What's a shelter?", Cedarfur asked. " Its the place where we are right now. Two legs will sometimes come here and look at us and they will be aloud to take a cat out so they can touch it with their pink paws. ", Pebbletail informed him. " I have been here for moons and nobody has even looked at me." " Don't you want to get out?", Cedarfur asked, surprised. " I tried when I first came here. I chewed the mesh until my teeth were dull, scratched the cage until my claws ached, and yowled until my throat was dry. None of it worked.", Pebbletail told him sadly. Cedarfur was quiet for a few heartbeats, his mind racing. He thought back on what Pebbletail had told him about the Twolegs. He leaned closer to Pebbletail's cage and whispered, " I have a plan."
* * *
Leafstorm pounced onto a tortoiseshell she-cat, claws extended. The she-cat whipped around and slashed at Leafstorm's face. Leafstorm ducked and darted to the side, lashing out her paw as she went by. But as her tail brushed the she-cat's face, she bit down on it with immense strength. Leafstorm howled with fear and rage and kicked out with her hind legs and she felt her claws dig into the she-cat's chest. Leafstorm turned just in time to see the she-cat run into the bushes. Leafstorm turned and saw Firestar wrestling with the Shadowclan deputy, Talonclaw. He caught her eye and yowled " Go find Sunpaw and tell him to go to Windclan for help." Leafstorm nodded and scanned through the mass of screeching cats. She spotted Sunpaw's yellow pelt and started over to him. But just as she was about the reach him, a huge weight fell on top of her. She surged upward and threw her attacker off. She whipped around and faced him, a tom named Snakeclaw. She growled and sprang at him, claws outstretched. She felt her claws dig into him as he howled and he gave a quick slash at her face as he turned away from her and back into the throng of the fighting cats. Her face stung as her eyes found Sunpaw. She ran over to him and yowled: " Go to the Windclan camp and ask them for help. Quick!" He nodded and ran off through the bushes. Leafstorm knew he was the second fastest cat in Thunderclan, but she wasn't sure he would make it in time. Thunderclan cats were running to Elmshade, the medicine cat's, den. A few of them would come out, but more were going in than coming out. Leafstorm felt blood drip into her eyes and suddenly felt the pain of the wound Snakeclaw had inflicted. She knew she should get some herbs applied to that wound if she wanted to keep fighting. She ran over to Elmshade's den and gasped as she saw Wintercloud, Cedarfur's best friend, on the floor, legs splayed, blood pooling from a wound in flank. She jumped as someone touched wet moss to her head. " W-will he be alright?", Leafstorm asked him hesitantly. " I don't know, I'm doing everything I can." Elmshade replied. Leafstorm winced as the herbs began to do their work. Suddenly, Sunpaw burst into the medicine den and breathed breathlessly: " Windclan are being attacked by Shadowclan too!" Leafstorm gasped in shock and disbelief. " Go to Riverclan, as fast as you can!", she told him, before remembering that she was not the leader, or even deputy. Sunpaw hesitated but turned and ran as fast as he could. Elmshade nudged her and Leafstorm dashed out into the clearing. It was not a pretty sight. Her clanmates were bedraggled and bleeding, doing there best not to show how tired they were to the Shadowclan enemies. She saw Cloverpaw fighting a warrior twice as big as her. Leafstorm rushed over to help her. She snarled at the large warrior, Boulderwhisker, as he lunged at the small apprentice. She ripped Boulderwhisker off the wailing apprentice and growled: "Pick on somebody your own size. Shadowclan has never ought fair." He yowled and through her off, knocking the wind out of her. She got up, panting, and bit down on his tail with all her strength. He screamed and lashed around and swiped at her throat. Leafstorm ducked just in time, feeling his claws brush her neck fur. " Go for his shoulders!", Leafstorm shouted to Cloverpaw. Cloverpaw matched Leafstorm blow for blow until Boulderwhisker turned and ran into the bushes. Sunpaw came up to Leafstorm as she caught her breath. " You'll never believe this, but Riverclan is being attacked as well.", Sunpaw told her. " What?!", Leafstorm gasped in disbelief. Sunpaw just shook his head and leaped back into the battle. Leafstorm's head snapped up as a cat screamed: " Darkstar has lost a life!". The Shadowclan cats stopped fighting immediately, looked at each other, and fled the Thunderclan camp as quickly as they had come.