HIGHWAY HOUND [✨] WindClan Battle Patrol

[SCORCHSTAR]

All credit that Scorchstreak may have given to Howlingstar for her valiant display of alliance is lost when the old bat says the word LionClan. How much of a fool is she? To play at being the bigger cat, the more righteous clan, and then to bring up an old queen’s tale as though her clan could ever compare? The calico grits their teeth, hackles rising. They hope that Sootstar gives the order to attack. They hope that the patrol is allowed to tear this muddle-minded elder to shreds. Who allowed her to lead a clan, anyway, when she’s halfway to her grave already? Scorchstreak is already flinging insults in their head, teeth bared, preparing to launch themself at their smoky leader’s command.

In this moment, even with Rattleheart at their side, Scorchstreak finds themself thinking not as a cat, not as a tunneler, not as a warrior, but a dog. ThunderClan has fought the beasts before, lost their former leader. She’ll gladly set her fangs to another’s throat for the sake of her clan, at her leader’s word. But Sootstar calls for them to leave, and so the calico aims to bump her shoulder against her black and white sister’s before turning and following after their leader. "We will slaughter SkyClan anyway, no matter how ThunderClan tries to stop us," she mutters, mostly to herself, but loud enough to the rest of the WindClanners on the patrol to hear.​

[ LIKE A RATTLESNAKE ]​

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[HOWLINGSTAR]

She can sense her clanmates tensing at her side, preparing for a fight. Sootstar's words cut her. Yes, they'd all be going to their deaths, most likely. But Howlingstar would rather die an honorable death than live a coward's life. "A ThunderClan warrior fights for what's right," She retorts with a lash of her tail. Her muscles quiver with adrenaline, claws unsheathing as her head lowers in preparation. StarClan, help us.

But it's over before it can even begin. Sootstar calls it off, ordering her clan to go back around to the thunderpath. She can hardly believe it. Breath hitching in her throat, she holds her stance until the last of the WindClanners disappear back into the heather. The older woman lets out a gasp of relief, legs feeling as if they've been turned into water as she crumples to the ground. She feels as if she's just watched all nine of her lives flash before her eyes! But Flamewhisker is right. SkyClan is still in danger.

As she tries to steady her breathing, Howlingstar rounds on the warriors beside her, ears pricked and eyes wide. "Go run and warn SkyClan. Hurry." She knows she's not fast enough to keep up. But Flamewhisker and Oakfang, they're quick. She would only hold them back. Glancing back in the direction of the thunderpath, she narrows her eyes. I'll stay back and follow them from the undergrowth. I'll make sure they don't think about stepping foot into our forest! ​

 

[BLUEFROST]

Bluepaw is tense beside Sootstar, doing her best to hide the pounding of her heart. She’s the only apprentice in the battle party, and she’s both proud and daunted by her presence here. ThunderClan’s scent envelops them, and her mother calls to a familiar tabby figure flanked by a warrior on either side. Howlingstar. She sits primly beside Sootstar as words are exchanged, as requests become demands, as demands are rebuked.

The small gray she-cat narrows her eyes at the ThunderClan cats who insinuate awful things about her mother. How dare they? She had always thought Howlingstar one of the few leaders with any honor left, but she denies WindClan passage out of some misaligned sense of justice. Her mother tells Howlingstar she will regret it, and Scorchstreak hisses to the small patrol, “We will slaughter SkyClan anyway, no matter how ThunderClan tries to stop us.” Her Clanmates tear away, pelting back toward their territory.

Bluepaw gives the ThunderClan leader a long, lingering look from slanted green eyes. She wonders, briefly, if anything Howlingstar had said has any merit. Any weight.

My mother is right. You will come to regret this. All of you will. A little thrill runs through her as she thinks this. The voice in her head had been her mother’s.

// out; sorry it’s late but I wanted to get her in here <3
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[ PENNED BY MARQUETTE ]​