Ivypaw wakes up and races off to see Firestar, blowing off Cinderheart in the process. But once in Firestar's den she feels suddenly self conscious, wishing she had thought out what she wanted to say. Giving her time to gather her thoughts, Firestar goes back to his conversation with Brambleclaw and Graystripe about the ShadowClan border. Seeing an opening, Ivypaw takes it. Scared they won't believe her, she tells them she had a dream of ShadowClan invading. In it the stream runs with blood and the ShadowClan cats speak of taking more land since Firestar gave them land already. When she is done the three cats discuss whether or not ShadowClan might invade. She is told not to tell anyone, even Dovepaw, about her dream. She leaves excited that they believed her, and eager to tell Tigerstar.
Briarlight has caught the cough that Littlecloud warned Jayfeather of. He isn't sure what to do to help her. Dustpelt comes to collect him, telling him that Firestar has called a meeting a discuss something. Briarlight assures Jayfeather she will be fine so he leaves. At the meeting Firestar tells everyone of Ivypaw's dream, and how he thinks it is a sign from StarClan. Jayfeather admits he hasn't had any dreams about ShadowClan lately. As the warriors talk things over they decide they should attack first. Firestar says before they do he wants to give Blackstar a chance to do the right thing and give them back their land. He tells Brambleclaw and Jayfeather to come with him. Jayfeather wants to tell Lionblaze what is going on but Firestar tells him there is no time. They meet with Blackstar who is furious with Firestar's demands. Firestar warns him that at dawn the next day they will be reclaiming their land and leaves. Jayfeather hopes that Ivypaw's dream was correct.
Ivypaw waits for ShadowClan to come. Beside her Dovepaw is trembling. Ivypaw wishes Dovepaw were not there. She feels that since Dovepaw has not received extra training she cannot possibly survive the battle, and despite the condition of their relationship they are still litter mates. Blackstar arrives and the battle begins. The sisters become separated and Ivypaw fights like a warrior. Blossomfall is impressed, commenting that Cinderheart must be a great mentor. Ivypaw goes off to look for her sister since she figures she must need help.
The battle erupts and Dovepaw feels overwhelmed. Her senses are working overtime trying to keep all the noises straight and she is having a hard time fighting on the slippery grass. Ivypaw finally reaches Dovepaw and Dovepaw is shocked by the moves Ivypaw is using, since they look like killing moves. Some cats regroup and Thornclaw passes on the news of Brambleclaw's plan. He wants the cats to invade ShadowClan. Dovepaw points out that it will only make the ShadowClan cats fight harder, but the counter argument is it is a terrain the ThunderClan cats are used to fighting on and it is a risk they have to take. The ThunderClan cats run into ShadowClan land, much to the shock of the enemy warriors. They race up the trees to hide as ShadowClan follows them in, then drop down on them from above. Dovepaw lands clumsy, but is able to recover from it. She sees Tigerheart attacking Toadstep and feels torn. She knows she should help her clanmate, but Tigerheart is her friend. As she hesitates Foxleap comes to the rescue, much to her relief. She watches her sister fight and is impressed by how good she is. Then, she sees Tigerheart about to attack her sister and calls out a warning that is lost in all the noise, but she sees something shocking instead. Tigerheart does not attack Ivypaw, instead they nod at each other and jump back into the fight, attacking other cats. Dovepaw feels a mixture of emotions, mostly jealousy. She didn't like the way Tigerheart looked at her sister and fears his friendship with her is actually just because he has feelings for Ivypaw. She wonders if this is why Ivypaw has been so distant. She tells herself to get back to the fight but then she sees Lionblaze. Russetfur has Firestar down and Lionblaze is trying to get her off. He succeeds, but blood is pouring from Firestar's throat.
Lionblaze is deep in the fight when he gets the feeling that maybe this is wrong, maybe this fight isn't supposed to be happening. He shakes the feeling off, feeling that since it was Ivypaw who had the dream, and Ivypaw os Dovepaw's sister, this is correct. He sees Russetfur attacking Firestar and pulls her off. But then Owlclaw cries out that Russetfur is dead and Lionblaze is shocked, since he didn't actually attack her. Brambleclaw declares the fight over and that ThunderClan won. Blackstar is furious, but agrees, saying the land was never worth the blood spilled. Then Sorreltail cries out that Firestar is losing a life. Lionblaze looks around in shock. One senior warrior is dead, a leader is losing his life, warriors and apprentices are hurt. leaf bare is around the corner, and now both clans are weak. Lionblaze realizes StarClan would have never wanted this fight and with a sinking feeling wonders if the dream came from the Dark Forest. As he looks at the damage over a piece of grass that is worthless to both clans he knows this battle should never have happened.
I cannot believe Ivypaw told Firestar that ShadowClan was going attack - I mean, I know she doesn't know it is a lie, but the news was from Tigerstar of all cats! Everyone grows up listening to stories of him being a murderer! And she believed him! Even ShadowClan want nothing to do with him. At first I was upset that Firestar took her word, but then the more I thought about it it made sense. He would think she was telling the truth since prophecy and special powers run strong in his family. But I am glad Lionblaze realized, even if it was too late, that the prophecy came from the Dark Forest. He is right in that StarClan would never want a fight that would end in the death of Firestar and Russetfur. Jayfeather, too, wondered if the prophecy was true. I wonder why he didn't speak to StarClan - or why StarClan didn't speak to him? And since Lionblaze knows the prophecy was a lie does he now suspect Ivypaw? And the descriptions of Ivypaw in the fight were creepy! Dovepaw was going on about her killing blows and blood stained teeth. But she didn't piece together that her sister is with the Dark Forest, even though Tigerheart is. But maybe she doesn't realize Tigerheart is? Jayfeather and Lionblaze have been keeping things from her since she is so upset. I went back and looked, they talked of Tigerheart being in league with Tigerstar, but that conversation Dovepaw wasn't there for. And when they tried to talk about Dark Forest cats in the clans she ran off, accusing them of suspecting everyone. And what was with her freezing so much during the fight? She fought awful. She was so overwhelmed. I wonder why that was? And Ivypaw's attitude towards her sister during the fight was odd too. Ivypaw's belief that her sister is incapable of fighting because she hasn't received extra training? Most cats don't. So really, Dovepaw was on the same level as everyone else. It is Ivypaw who is a step above. And Ivypaw clearly knows other cats are training in the Dark Forest too, since she and Tigerheart did not attack each other. Which makes me wonder where her loyalties really lie. Hawkfrost called them a clan, and Ivypaw thought he meant ThunderClan, and he didn't correct her. But now Tigerheart is part of this clan? Which means she now knows it is not ThunderClan, but a blending of clans, and she is okay with this? To refuse to attack an enemy warrior on the field is a big deal. This means her loyalty is to Dark Forest first, and ThunderClan second. This is disturbing.
What is also worrying is Dovepaw's torn loyalties over Tigerheart. I really need to know if he is playing with her - which I now suspect he is. At first I genuinely thought he cared for her, but his first loyalty too must be to Dark Forest, not ShadowClan, since he refused to attack Ivypaw. Which means if his first loyalty is to Dark Forest, and they are sowing seeds of discontent, then it makes more sense to play with Dovepaw's emotions then to love her - especially since in Spottedleaf's story love was seen as almost a weakness. I just feel that if Tigerheart is truly loyal to Dark Forest then there would be no room for loving Dovepaw, but there would be plenty of room for playing with an apprentice who has special powers. I wonder just how many plots Tigerstar has going on. Did he have Tigerheart entering ThunderClan territory to stage the fake prophecy? Does Tigerheart know this? Was Tigerheart in on the invasion? Or is Tigerstar just using him too? It seems to me he is maneuvering the clans to right where he wants them - weak, and at each other's throats. At least Lionblaze knows this, but will he tell Jayfeather? And will they tell Firestar? And will Firestar believe them? And will they suspect Ivypaw? And who else in ThunderClan is training in the Dark Forest? Thornclaw, Spiderleg (who I don't think we have really seen in this book series), and Berrynose are all hot headed - Blossomfall a bit too, but she thought Ivypaw's moves were because of Cinderheart and Dustpelt is far to loyal to Firestar - but that doesn't automatically make them part of the Dark Forest. But I cannot believe it is just one cat from ThunderClan. And with cats in every clan (because I am sure some RiverClan cats are too) reporting to Tigerstar, as well as Tigerstar's (and his Dark Forest allies) ability to enter the real world or anyone's dreams, there is no secret to be kept from him.
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