Private Thread Plot Thread Drums of War

Survival demands caution, but greatness requires daring
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Skyward eyes carried news long before cats ever did. High above the trees black wings beat and glided between the branches. Keen eyes watched below as ThunderClan's patrol broke from camp at a run, pelts brushing foliage in their haste. Their scents mingled with urgency. RiverClan had struck near Stream Clearing just as planned...

The raven banked silently overhead, never calling out once.

Below the patrol followed the quickest route southwest, paws pounding through familiar trails until the ground beneath them softened. Sandy Hollow waited ahead, its pale basin cradled between rising banks where sightlines disappeared and sound could be coralled. Once the patrol's foot falls galloped over the sand, the raven folded her wings and fell down in a swooping arc, momentarily shadow under the sun as her talons opened.

Two large earthen pods tumbled from her feet - straight onto the ThunderClan patrol below.

Each ruptured into thick clouds of pale brown spores, rolling low across the hollow before blooming upward into choking plumes that swallowed the patrol whole. Visibility was thinned. Every gasp for air tasted heavy and like dirt and blinking stung. Moosestar's voice lifted through the spores, but a blur of cinnamon broke through, barreling from the haze and the chocolate tom was knocked away from the rest of the group.

In his wake, more would come. Jasper, Basilisk, Aurelius, Magdelen, and Cordelia, SkyClan's strike force. Their pelts caught the muted light strangely, certain patches carrying an almost damp sheen while the rest of their pelts were dry...And only on their vitals.

Kosmo's gaze ignored every warrior around him and focused through the confusion erupting within the hollow. Moosestar was the only cat that registered in his vision, the force of his charge knocking the ThunderClan leader away from his patrol.

One life would not end this....Not two...Not three. Today he had come for every heartbeat StarClan had ever stole.

Komso circled the ThunderClan leader without speech, eyes narrowing as he pressed his advantage. Moosestar was momentarily knocked off balance, combined with his confusion and the chaos, was already on his back, claws swiping up towards him. Blood scent quickly filled the air...

The best are often found in midst of thunderous chaos.

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One moment they were racing through Sandy Hollow and the next, the sky launched an attack. Something struck the ground and Moosestar instinctively threw himself away from it too late. A suffocating brown cloud exploded around them, filling his nose, his eyes, his lungs. He coughed hard, blinking against the burning grit as the world dissolved into a wall of swirling spores.

"Stay toge - " But his warning never finished leaving his mouth. A solid weight slammed into his shoulder with enough force to send him sprawling. The breath exploded from his chest as he rolled through the sand, vision swimming. Moosestar barely had time to brace before he was thrown onto his back. He lashed upward with all four paws, trying to force space between them but the tom stayed on him relentlessly.

Who was this cat? They didn't smell like RiverClan...! Kosmo shifted his weight for only a heartbeat, giving him an oppertunity to lunge for this cat's throat. His jaws snapped shut around the stranger's neck with every ounce of strength he could muster, teeth sinking through fur in a desperate attempt to wrench the tom away from him...

Then -

Something slick tinged across his tongue, a horribly bitter coating...and revulsion hit him instantly. Moosestar recoiled with a violent gag, releasing his grip almost as quickly as he'd found it. He spat frantically into the sand...

The strange sensation was spreading fast...and something was terribly wrong.