Troublepaw swallowed, hard, and left the medicine den. He had always thought of Cherryleaf as a cheerful, happy-go-lucky kind of cat. She had always played with the kits. She was among the youngest warriors, along with Mintheart. She had an adorable, obvious crush on Nettlejaw. But her words as she talked about murder... The worst part wasn't even the words themselves. The worst part was her tone, hard and cold, a tone that Troublepaw never could have imagined Cherryleaf being able to make.
He passed Nettlejaw, who was going into the den, hopefully to check on Cherryleaf. That would make her day, and perhaps take her mind off murdering mostly innocent RiverClan cats. Troublepaw strode over to the fresh-kill pile, which didn't have much prey. A lot of cats had been sent on the patrol to Sunningrocks, as Rainleaf had obviously expected resistance. He plucked one of the two shrews, going over to eat at the apprentice den. Nearby, Shortstride was relaying his version of events to Bluetwig, who had apparently been out hunting. Troublepaw listened intently, having left before Cherryleaf could finish.
"I thought Mintheart was dead, and Cherryleaf was going to be. She had the element of suprise, but Mistyshade had recovered and was fighting back. Well, I had to get help. I fended off Stormeyes, who Nettlejaw was losing to, and ran. I've never run so fast in my life. When I got to camp, I yowled 'Help, Help! RiverClan attack at Sunningrocks!' And then I turned and ran back, with Rainleaf and Spiderscar and Redscar and Cloversky on my tail. We got back, and Cherryleaf had defeated Mistyshade... Kind of horrible, actually... But then she kind of just collapsed, panting. She was bleedin' a lot from that wound, see, and she couldn't walk very well. But Cloversky and Redscar rushed over to Mintheart, and Redscar said she was still alive, and Cherryleaf tried to get up again. Spiderscar was helping Nettlejaw with Stormeyes, and then Eagerwhisper, who I had completely forgotten about, grabbed me and threw me into Rainleaf. We weren't to happy about that, let me tell you, and we cornered her. Backed her up against a tree, cause everyone knows RiverClan can't climb. But then who should come out of the water but Beaverbriar, the RiverClan medicine cat, with the tom Cherryleaf had pushed into the river. He was all, 'there's no reason to fight' and Rainleaf said 'Except that you're on our territory!' Beaverbriar was all calm, saying that we could mark the border there for a moon— only a moon! It's our territory! But then he said, 'I am quite sure that Mossystar will want to revisit this tonight'. Well, I had completely forgotten it was the gathering! But he was obviously saying all of this to buy time, because RiverClan had lost and they knew it, too. The tom grabbed Mistyshade and retreated, and Eagerwhisper sprinted out from between us while we were distracted. Stormeyes was still pinned under Nettlejaw, but Rainleaf said 'And I am quite sure that next time your warriors trespass, you won't be here to save their sorry pelts' and Nettlejaw let him up. They all ran away, the cowards, so Nettlejaw helped Cherryleaf walk and Cloversky and I lifted Mintheart onto her father's back. Rainleaf and Spiderscar stayed behind for a bit to mark the border, and then they caught up to us. Couldn't go too fast with injured cats."
Troublepaw had finished his shrew long ago, but he listened, entranced, to Shortstride's story. Though amazed at the bravery of his Clanmates, Troublepaw vaguely wondered how Mossystar would present the interaction and if it would cause any trouble. Maybe he would get to see it. The prospect of his first gathering cheered him, and he headed into the apprentice den for some rest if that was the case.
