A Fury Divine [Bloodstar]

"Bloodstar!" Beechfang's yowl split the quiet evening air as she stumbled into camp, sides heaving. She hadn't stopped for rest, hadn't slowed her pace at all. Exhaustion and guilt clouded her expression, rage the only thing keeping her standing right now.

"They're beyond highstones, we didn't find their camp, but they found us." Her voice was hoarse, and she was dully aware that the wounds across her right shoulder stung, but they were unimportant. The sting was nothing compared to the heavy weight of guilt in her chest, or the acid that stung the back of her throat at the news she needed to share. "They attacked before we could back off. They... have Hollyshine. Dawnhawk didn't even follow me." She wasn't sure she could handle telling Primroselight that her daughter was gone. They'd let her go. Let her go and taken Hollyshine. "If he wanted us both dead, he had the numbers to see that happen. It's not like I'm the fastest cat, either." She stated flatly, tail lashing as she paced, hardly even aware she was doing so as anxiety all-but rolled off of her messy fur. Dawnhawk was toying with her like he'd toy with fresh-kill when they were little. She was absolutely sure of it. The rogues had Hollyshine... And Beechfang knew better than to believe that Dawnhawk would make it a quick death for Hollyshine. Beechfang? Yes. But Hollyshine? He'd deliberately not given chase to Beechfang and had his filthy kits surround her instead. She had a use, Beechfang thought, and not a use that they were going to like.

Again, they'd fallen right into his scheming. Again, they had failed. The tom they'd tracked hadn't hidden his scent at all... And hadn't that been awfully sloppy of anyone working with Dawnhawk? She'd had time to mull over that as she'd raced back towards Skyclan camp. "That tom we tracked... He was sloppy. Too sloppy. I think they knew exactly what they were doing." She growled, continuing to pace back and forth. Unable to sit still. And how could she, when Dawnhawk had one of her clanmates in his filthy paws?

Bloodstar's heart went from steady to racing when he heard Beechfang's cry. Abandoning whatever chore he had assigned to himself, he bolted like a mad dog toward his daughter. What happened? He could smell blood... no! Once he finally spotted her, he slid to a snowy stop in front of her, immediately noticing that Hollyshine was not present. His eyed widened and his heart dropped into his stomach. They have Hollyshine... He almost didn't register what else Beechfang was saying.

Bloodstar grit his teeth and a deep growl rumbled in his throat. His claws tore deep into the ground and his fur bristled, making the huge tom look even more massive than he already was.

"STARS-FOXING-CURSE IT!" He bellowed, startling songbirds from their perches in the trees above. The striped Skyclan leader whirled on a nearby low hanging branch and threw a heavy clawed paw into it. It gave away immediately with a crackling snap. It wasn't enough. He was tense for only an instant longer before he whirled on another one and tore it down as well.

"How far passed Highstones?" He snarled, though he was now panting with fury and facing away from her. His eyes were bright and intense and he didn't bother wiping the strong of drool leaking out from the gaping hole in his lip. Every time... I should have known better... As much as he hated it, he knew that retaliating was probably what Dawnhawk would want. At the same time... how could he just sit and do nothing?

Bloodstar's fury had been expected, mirroring Beechfang's own easily. She said nothing as he took out his frustrations on the surrounding area, only continued to pace, her own claws digging into the earth as her tail lashed in frustration.

"Not far at all, though I expect Dawnhawk started scheming the moment he let me leave." She huffed, "Didn't find their camp, but where we encountered them was close enough, I'd imagine." She had to wonder how long Dawnhawk had been holed up there. Given that they hadn't seen hide nor hair of him in twolegplace, Beechfang thought it must've been since well before she'd gone on that trip with the medicine cats...

And how had the medicine cats not encountered any of the rogues on trips to the moonstone? If they had, surely it would've been mentioned? The thought made her fur bristle even more as she continued pacing. And Hollyshine... Dawnhawk had another one of her clanmates. Again.

...Foxdung. "Dad... How in the void are we supposed to tell Prim that he has another of her kits?" Guilt and panic were enough to dilute her own anger for the moment. Why had Dawnhawk taken Hollyshine and not her?

The exact location of camp wasn't known... and they had Hollyshine now. Bloodstar had an awful feeling that Dawnhawk wasn't going to let this one go as nicely as he had with Dawnfeather. That and now they had to tell Primroselight. It was all his fault... any time he tried to do anything about Dawnhawk it always blew up back in his face. How? He was at a loss of what to do and it only made him angrier.

"I don't know... I don't know what we can do." He sat in the snow with a loud plop. He kneaded the earth under his claws furiously, his brain whirling. "I don't want to believe this but Hollyshine is probably lost to us." His own words stung him. "I think the only thing we can do is retaliate but I fear that if we do he'll be ready now. I don't know what to do."

He glowered at the destroyed earth under his claws. Maybe he would bring this up with the rest of the clans at the next gathering. Maybe if they all stormed the supposed camp, rather than only one clan, they could finally end this. He was clearly a threat to all clans at this point, so why wouldn't they help?

"I need time to think about what we're going to do. I'm tired of chasing him. I wish we had a way to make him come to us for a change."

"Foxdung." Beechfang muttered, "He's a stars-cursed good-for-nothing foxheart." He should've been dead and left for the crows a long time ago. Of course, they could never be that lucky.

"You mentioned that Murkystar had approached you about being attacked... Going after him on our own has never worked out." Bringing the whole forest down on Dawnhawk's head might be the only way, at this point. "No clan would be so stupid to help him or give him shelter again, right? Windclan willingly let him slip through their paws and look where that's gotten us all." She would never let that go. It wasn't something that could be let go at all, not after everything that Dawnhawk had done.

"Dawnhawk has no honor or morals... Maybe we shouldn't either. Though I somehow doubt he'd miss any of his kits if we took one of them. He's always been cold."

Bloodstar couldn't agree more with Beechfang's statements. He had to think about this carefully. "I think I will mention this at the next gathering. Even for those who don't know Dawnhawk I have a feeling they will eventually. I want them to take this seriously, and now maybe they will." Now that they were experiencing losses and attacks themselves. Now that they were personally involved. Fools... maybe on some level Bloodstar felt like they deserved this. Nothing like an attack on your camp for a wake up call.

"I think I should be able to rally everyone together. Hopefully Dawnhawk doesn't expect more numbers than Skyclan has. I want to go myself and lead warriors from many different clans with you to guide us where to go. I want to end this. Before Newleaf."