Chapter 11

                Crazypaw looked up at the sound of Cloudstar’s voice. Nodding her good-bye to Oakstream, she rose to her paws and caught up to Morningpaw, who was walking at the back of the patrol.

                Crazypaw could hear Leafstorm and Cloudstar talking quietly at the head of the patrol. She struggled to hear. “-has been quite hostile lately,” Leafstorm was saying. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Rabbitstar is planning to invade our territory.”

                “Yes, it’s true that they’ve been showing signs of aggression lately,” Cloudstar replied. “But I chose to ignore them, hoping that Rabbitstar wouldn’t break our trust. Apparently, I was wrong to do so.”       

                The patrol slowed at the border before continuing onwards at a normal pace across the moor. Suddenly a massive light brown tom with black stripes appeared on the horizon, fur bristling. He was leading a patrol of his own, and he glared at the ThunderClan cats with blazing blue eyes. “What are you doing on WindClan territory?” the cat demanded.             

                Cloudstar dipped his head. “Greetings, Rabbitstar,” he meowed with cold politeness.

                 Rabbitstar paused. “Actually, I can guess why you’ve come,” he meowed. “You wish to discuss the tunnel-battle.”

                “Yes, I do,” he hissed, an edge to his voice.

                Rabbitstar narrowed his eyes. “What do you wish for me to say?” the WindClan leader spat. “Did you come to apologize?”

                Cloudstar looked surprised for a moment before regaining his composure. “Apologize?” the ThunderClan leader snarled. “APOLOGIZE? How dare you say that? If anyone should apologize, it’s your own warriors!”

                Rabbitstar’s fur was fluffed up with anger. “Apologize? For what? For not letting you have the cave? Were we supposed to leave just because you arrived after us?” the WindClan leader growled furiously.

                “What?” Liontail demanded, pushing his way to the front of the patrol. “We didn’t ask you to leave the cave! We just asked to pass through to the narrow tunnel on the other end!”

                Rabbitstar looked bewildered for a moment. A black tom appeared on the horizon, heading towards his leader. It took a little while for Crazypaw to recognize him. It was Smokewhisker!

                “Smokewhisker!” Rabbitstar spat. “Is it true that ThunderClan did NOT try to take the cave? That you simply wouldn’t let them pass through because you’re an arrogant mouse-brained furball?”

                “No! They’re lying! They’re fox-hearted cowards!” Smokewhisker meowed unconvincingly, not looking Rabbitstar in the eyes.

                “Right,” Rabbitstar meowed, clearly not convinced either. “Go back to the camp NOW.”

                Smokewhisker spun around and dashed away. “My deputy and I will have to have a word or two about honesty. You have my apologies, Cloudstar,” Rabbitstar told the ThunderClan leader.

                Cloudstar dipped his head. Rabbitstar signaled with his tail for his patrol to turn back towards camp. “I should’ve never chosen him as deputy,” the WindClan leader muttered to a silver tom. “Just because he’s my son doesn’t mean-”

                The WindClan leader stopped abruptly when the silver tom nodded back towards the ThunderClan cats. Rabbitstar sighed. “I’ll send…” he began.

                Cloudstar stepped forward. “We don’t need an escort, Rabbitstar,” the white tom meowed. “I think we’ve already proven that our cats are more trustworthy than your own.”

                Rabbitstar looked frustrated because he couldn’t say anything in reply. And also, perhaps ashamed. He gave Cloudstar a curt nod, then whipped around and stomped away.

                Cloudstar turned back towards the forest and gestured for his cats to follow.