He made a promise and intends to keep it.

Walking into camp with his head hung low and tail dragging on the dirt, Troutstep sat down in the middle of the clearing. The tom had laid by his dead mate's site for who knows how long and decided to tell his clan about ThunderClan. "Make sure... They know... Thund-Thunderclan did this..." He repeated her words over and over in his head, scared of losing the sound of her beautiful voice. Troutstep buried his mate by the river, wanting her to have a peaceful resting place. Those mangy ThunderClan foxhearts won't get away with this. Troutstep hissed under his breath.

He'd made a promise to Heronwing and intended to keep it, even if it started a war. Everything that mattered in his life had been taken from him, so the least he could do was warn his clan. Giving a short yowl, half from loss and half warning, he sat there, waiting for clan mates to crowd around.

Fogheart's nose immediaty lifted to scent for who had just entered camp, but knew when a yowl sounded from not too far away. Leaving her half-eaten fish behind, she approached the cat. When she was close enough to smell him, she recognized him as Troutstep. Alarmed by the scent of blood, the blind warrior let out a sound of surprise. "Troutstep! W' 'appened?" Pacing around the tom, she found trace scents of her sister, which only heightened her wariness and anxiety.

Blue eyes flickered open in the shadows of the apprentice den, a soft annoying marrow raising from the tom's throat as a yowl echoed thoughtout the camp. Who was making all that racket? He pushed himself up to his paws in a tired daze, shaking his head a few times to remove the remaining fog before he padded forward and peered out into the clearing. Then the scent of blood hit his muzzle. His eyes suddenly widen as he stepped futher into the clearing, quickly forgetting about the tiredness and annoyince he had felt a few moments later. His teeth beared as his fur prickled, his tail lashing as he quickly stormed his way over to the bleeidng warrior. His mouth opened a few times as he tried to think of something to say, but found his words burned away in his anger so he stood there, his claws digging into the ground as he waited for more of his Clanmates to gather around, to learn what extactly happen and then take measures. Whoever had done this, they were going to pay for making his Clanmate suffer!

Ivyfall was doting on her lone kit, fluffing up her nest to keep the little one warm when the scent of blood captured her attention. The she-cat sniffed the air, it was Troutstep, her sister's mate. Fear began to unfurl within her, had something happened? Was it an invasion? For a second, as she got up to leave the nursery and find out, her paws trembled, what if some cat attacked camp. Could she protect all her kits and her brothers? Were they strong enough, or would they lose like they'd lost Lilacpaw? No. She forced herself to calm down, squeezing out of the walled nursery out onto the clearing.

Her nose had been right, it was Troutstep, but most of the blood didn't look like his. Who's was it? "Troutstep?" She queried, walking over to the warrior and pressing herself against him to support him. At moments like this, she cursed StarClan for depriving them of a medicine cat when they so clearly needed one.

Fishstar emerged from her den next, ears pricked at the harsh yowling of a voice that she couldn't quite place just by the sound of it. She spotted a cat standing at the entrance of the camp and squinted. A few others had already gathered tentatively around them, all looking quite surprised and alarmed. Is that Troutstep? Yes, it is.. What..?

The silver she-cat padded hurriedly over to the scene. As she approached the tom, the musk of blood became more and more apparent. From afar it would appear that the blood was Troutstep's, but upon closer inspection, one could easily smell that it was not, in fact, his own. Fishstar narrowed her eyes, but opted not to make any sort of judgement calls just yet. Troutstep didn't look to be in a very good emotional state, anyhow, even needing Ivyfall's support. "What in StarClan's name happened?" she inquired, fur prickling dually with concern and confusion.

Seeing he'd gotten his clan's attention, Troutstep looked towards Fishstar. "ThunderClan killed my mate Heronwing." He didn't waste any time and spared the details. "Who knows if this was just a murder, or a warning, but either way, I think we need to be prepared." The tom meowed, looking around at his clan mates. Her death would not be in vain, he'd make sure of that.

Reedfang had just heard the commotion as he was returning to the camp. He saw Troutstep in a mess of sorts, and his clanmates up in arms too. The brown tabby approached just as he heard the other warriors deceleration that Heronwing was dead. His sister... was dead? Part of his family was gone? The brown tabby tom clenched his teeth together tightly as his fur prickled at the thought of those fish brains taking his family. He was going to get them back for taking his family. He wanted revenge. He walked over towards Ivyfall, standing next to her. Hopefully she could tell he was angry, and wanted revenge, and he hoped she agreed with him.

Ivyfall visible flinched at the news, accidentally knocking into her brother, Reedfang. Her pupils narrowed into thin slits as she bared her fangs at the news, once she'd gotten over the initial shock. How dare they! She met Reedfang's eyes and while she'd never been too close to her siblings outside of Rainstorm, but in that moment, they were one and the same. They'd lost a sister, Heronwing, a bright young she-cat who was clever and sweet, someone who didn't deserve to be slaughtered by the scums that hid in the forest. "This was no warning. They killed her!" She snarled, clawing at the sandy earth. "They think us weak, cowards since they've taken Sunningrocks back. Fishstar, please, let us take back those rocks and honour my sister. She deserves better than to remain unavenged. I don't want to wake up tomorrow to the news another has been taken from us. What if it's one of the apprentices next?" Ivyfall thought about her children, Elmpaw, Frostpaw, Possumpaw, Jaypaw, Hollypaw and Rosekit. What if those codeless scum took them next.

Halfmoon ran out to see Troutstep's face, and heard him say that... That..."No, not Heronwing...' she murmured. She buried her face in her uncle's fur before looking up at him. Poor guy. He had lost so much already... "We must teach ThunderClan a lesson," she growled with rage, walking over to stand by Ivyfall. "They don't deserve Sunningrocks. Or the name of warriors. Murderers, the lot of them!"

Fishstar could've sworn her heart stopped for a moment.

Heronwing had been murdered at the paws of ThunderClan. A rush of emotions surged though her body and made her fur prickle - Grief and shock at the mention of the warrior's demise, confusion at what had occurred to cause this tragic event, and most prominent of all, rage. It consumed her whole being in an instant, like an angry, overflowing river. Her blood ran hot and her vision was clouded with red. Automatically, she unsheathed her claws and dug them into the marshy ground beneath her paws. All she could hear were all the thoughts whirling around in her head. Her voice shook with fury as she spoke.

"ThunderClan.. Those filthy murderers," she snarled, whirling around to pace in the opposite direction. Her tail lashed. "They already got what they wanted. They took Sunningrocks from us, and they murdered one of our own apprentices in battle when all they were trying to do was defend our camp, they cast false accusations on us at the Gathering, they attacked us while were still in our dens.. And now, one of those rats has killed one of our loyal warriors." She couldn't believe this. Was there not a single cat left in that wretched forest that had even a shred of honour left? Spottedstar had less sense than a kit. She had less decency than a fox. It was absolutely unbelievable that StarClan had allowed such a bumbling, blood-thirsty fool to take charge of ThunderClan. Fishstar had always despised ThunderClan. She could remember making jokes with her sisters about them when she was still only a kit, but she hadn't had the slightest clue of how inhumane they actually were when she'd been so naive and young. Now, of course she knew.

Turning back to Troutstep, she said, "Tell me exactly what happened. Tell me so I can spit it into Spottedstar's face."

Fogheart couldn't believe what she was hearing. So it was Heronwing's blood she smelled, and at the suggestion of Thunderclan she could now make out traces of their musty scent. Her thin grey fur raised so that she looked like a vengeful spirit. A malevolent poltergeist. Heronwing had been the sibling she had been closest to. Now, ...now... . She couldn't focus. Her grief, combined with her fury, was like when water is thrown on a grease fire. Nothing, no one would stop her from defending her clan and avenging her sister. This was the last straw from an already small pile. Thunderclan would not get away with this. And it seemed her clanmates felt the same, the blind warrior could feel them becoming stiff and the tone in their voice suggesting hostility, which filled her with a sense of definite purpose.

Looking to Fishstar, he gave a small smile. "Gladly." Sitting up a bit more straight, Troutstep looked around at his clan. "Although I came after the battle, it was obvious they showed no mercy. And they made it clear that they wanted something." Taking a deep breath so he wouldn't get to worked up, Troutstep looked from his clan mates to Fishstar once more, wondering what she would say.