An Unexpected - Yet Expected - Visit

[Meany]

In the long shadows that moon cast, a large patrol of cats silently slunk through the valley of Darkclan. They padded so lightly that they barely left paw prints, but their large claws left gouges in the very earth.
Abyssclan.
At the front of the patrol, Shadowstar, leader of Abyssclan, stalked forward, tail and head held up proudly. The scars on his neck gleamed eerily with his icy blue eyes, cold and unblinking.

The great force slipped into the camp which was guarded by a single young tom, which Shadowstar knocked out easily.

Shadowstar nodded to the cats behind them and they swarmed to the Warriors and apprentice den, dragging out the occupants.
"Pitiful," Shadowstar spat. "Only seven cats here, but five at the Gathering? This clan is weak!"

Lightningpelt, a golden furred she-cat, spat, seeing that her brother, Smokepelt, was unconscious.
"Coward," she hissed, "sneaking into our camp like common rats!"

Shadowstar laughed.
"Perhaps. But I simply had to see what Thornstar had against me, and it turns out I was right all along: Absolutely nothing. Now tell me, she-rat," he leaned close to her, "What ever happened to all of your other Warriors?"

Lightningpelt spat, saying nothing.

Shadowstar clouted her over the head with his reinforced claws, leaving a great gash in the side of her face, and he moved on to Sleetcoat.
"Well?"

[Guest]

Sleetcoat looked intimidated, and he backed away from the others then whispered into his King's ear,
"Many of the cats left to hide, a Rebellion of sorts. Apparently the Deputy of Darkclan is leading them in all of this. Also, Thornstar has only two lives left," Sleetcoat stepped back, growling and bristling at Shadowstar.

Woebringer smirked. Sleetcoat was from a long line of spies who lived in Darkclan, as it was meant to be. Each spy was always half the clan they were spying on, and half Bloodclan. Of course, no one ever caught on to it.

Boneless, standing behind Bloodclaw, watched the raid in partial interest. Going into the clan's
camp was ridiculously gutsy, but she never expected any less from her beloved clan.

[Longstorm]

A short time later, Thornstar, leader of Darkclan, padded into the camp - and stopped. He saw the knocked-out Smokepelt and he bared his teeth, now stalking into the camp. When he saw Shadowstar and his Warriors, he yowled,
"What are you doing here!" He padded right up to the smaller tom, but the Warriors around the Abyssclannian swarmed forward, snarling.

Gingerleaf considered snarling, but he kept his mouth shut.

[Meany]

Shadowstar looked at Thornstar calmly.
"Funny, don't you think, Woebringer? This tom sought to threaten our beloved Clan, but he has nothing to threaten us with. Nothing but pitiful sickness and empty snarls." He chuckled and walked past the tom, saying, "I own you. You and your small Clan." Shadowstar looked over his shoulder. "Cross me again and I will have your Warriors." With a flick of his tail, he and the full patrol streamed out of the camp, vanishing into the darkness.

As they left, Smokepelt staggered to his paws, shaking his head.

Lightningpelt went over to her brother, checking him over in a worried way.
"Are you alright," she mewed.

Smokepelt nodded, angry at himself.
"I should have caught their scents sooner!"

Lightningpelt shook her head,
"No, no, it's not your fault! Abyssclan fights dirty, we didn't know!"

Smokepelt just shook his head, and, tail drooping, went into the Warrior's Den.

Lightningpelt could only watch her brother go.

Robinsong stalked up to the Warriors and hissed,
"What happened here?"

[Longstorm]

Thornstar cut in,
"I can guess. Shadowstar came in and made us all look like fools." He spat on the ground and spun around, stalking back to his den, snarling curses and vulgarities.

Gingerleaf watched Thornstar leave and felt somehow responsible for all the crud that had been going down.

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