Amberpaw groaned as Shadowbreeze shook her awake. It's too early!

"Get up," Shadowbreeze pleaded, "we're on the predawn patrol." Amberpaw sighed, pushing herself up. Shadowbreeze smiled.

"Good," he said, "now go get Tigerpool and Frostfoot." Amberpaw frowned. Tigerpool was always so bossy, and thought she was better than all the apprentices. Does Brightstar hate me?

Amberpaw stood over Tigerpool, smiling mischievously. Frostfoot sat quietly at the entrance to the warriors den.

"Dogs are attacking the camp!" Amberpaw exclaimed in a worried voice. Tigerpool jumped up, her eyes lit with fear. She sat there trembling. "Just joking, we just need to go on the predawn patrol." Tigerpool's eyes slowly went from fear to anger.

"Don't scare me like that!" she hissed, still trembling with fear. She had almost died from a dog attack when she was a kit, and had been terrified of dogs ever since. Amberpaw rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's go!" she exclaimed, pushing through the den entrance. She ran up to Shadowbreeze, Frostfoot and Tigerpool following close behind. They headed out of camp.

The moon was low in the sky by the time they reached the border with SunClan. Amberpaw checked for signs of fresh SunClan scent, but their border markers were stale. Why do we bother with so many patrols! They haven't been here since sundown! Brightstar had ordered Brackenlight to set a constant watch on the border, resulting in five border patrols a day. Sighing, Amberpaw started setting scent markers.

The dawn patrol had already left by the time they returned. Amberpaw's sister, Seedpaw, ran up to her.

"Brackenlight said he'd take me battle training! Can you come!?" she asked excitedly. Amberpaw looked to Shadowbreeze.

"Can I?" she pleaded. Shadowbreeze nodded. Ever since the clans have declared war against each other Shadowbreeze had been trying to cram as much battle training in as possible. Seedpaw squealed in excitement.

"Come on! Let's go!" she exclaimed. Seedpaw and Amberpaw ran out of camp, their mentors following close behind.

Amberpaw stood facing her opponent. She went over the battle moves in her head. Suddenly Seedpaw leaped at her. Amberpaw slid out of the way, reaching up a paw to knock her out of the air. Seedpaw managed to twist in the air just in time to land on her paws. As Seedpaw struggled to find her balance Amberpaw leaped, twisted and landed on top of her. Seedpaw suddenly rolled over, knocking Amberpaw off. Before Amberpaw could find footing Seedpaw landed her paws on top of her, smashing her to the ground.

"Very good," Brackenlight purred, "you both did well." Seedpaw backed up, letting Amberpaw get to her paws.

"Maybe we should try fighting as a team next," Shadowbreeze suggested, "I'll be a HeartClan warrior, and you can attack me together." Amberpaw smiled at Seedpaw. They were the best at fighting together. They quickly dashed to either side of Shadowbreeze. Amberpaw leaped on his back. Shadowbreeze reared onto his hind paws, giving Seedpaw time to dive at his stomach. She knocked him backwards so fast, Amberpaw had just enough time to jump up. Shadowbreeze fell onto the ground, Amberpaw landing on top of him. Seedpaw took advantage of the breath being knocked out of him and took the chance to run around and land a blow on his head. Dazed and confused, Shadowbreeze swiped a paw at Seedpaw, which landed clumsily a mouse length away from her. Amberpaw batted at his stomach, leaving him confused at where to attack.

"Okay, you can get off of him now," Brackenlight purred, "I think he's learned his lesson." Amberpaw leaped off of her mentor, landing gracefully by Seedpaw.

"Let's head back to camp," Shadowbreeze said, stumbling to his paws. Amberpaw tried hard not to laugh. No cat would stand a chance against us!

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join beneath the fallen tree for a clan meeting," Brightstar called out. Amberpaw and Seedpaw exchanged a glance before darting towards the entrance to the camp. Warriors were gathering to hear what Brightstar had to say. What's going on?

"Leafbare is coming, and all the clans are trying to gain strength," Brightstar continued, "If we weaken one clan now, they won't have time to recover," she pointed out. "SunClan is the strongest clan. They always have prey through leafbare and are strong fighters. They're our biggest threat. We will weaken them, and take them over!" the clan cheered. We're all power hungry. But we need to be in order to survive.

"We'll attack three times. First we'll attack their camp. We'll leave them weakened. Next we'll move the border in. They'll be too weak to fight back. Then, in leafbare, we'll take over their territory. They'll have to give us hunting rights and rights to gather herbs there. If they don't, we drive them out." Amberpaw gasped. Murmurs of worry rippled throughout the camp. "Keep in mind," Brightstar continued, "with the clans at war, we'll have trouble surviving this leafbare. We need the herbs and prey to keep our strength up." Amberpaw had to agree with this. I'll risk the lives of another clan in order to keep ours alive. "The first attack will be held tonight at moonhigh. Your goal is to cause chaos. Attack cats, tear down dens, destroy their fresh kill. While you attack, cats will be distracted. This will give us time to have a small patrol sneak into the medicine den and destroy their herb store," Brightstar said, "I want Shadowbreeze, Brackenlight, Amberpaw, and Seedpaw on that patrol. Once you destroy their herbs you may join the attack." Everyone was watching her with big eyes. Amberpaw's paws tingled with excitement. SunClan won't know what hit them.

Amberpaw padded silently through the forest, Seedpaw at her side. She hesitated as she reached the SunClan border. Brightstar turned to face her clan.

"No attacking elders or kits. And I don't want any cats killed. Understand?" she said. Amberpaw nodded. As they neared the camp, Shadowbreeze and Brackenlight led them around to a spot where they could wait for the attack to start. Shadowbreeze pointed out the medicine den to her and Seedpaw. Amberpaw watched as her clanmates surrounded the camp. With a sudden screech, they all ran towards the camp. Cats started tearing down the dens and attacking the cats inside. Amberpaw watched in satisfaction as confused cats stumbled out of their dens, too tired to fight well.

"Their confusion won't last long," said Brackenlight, "let's go." Amberpaw silently slid down towards camp. She helped tear a hole in the back of the medicine den, relieved to find it empty. Amberpaw got to work at tearing up herbs, throwing the scraps into the pool of water to rot. Soon their were no herbs left. Seedpaw and Amberpaw ran out of the medicine den to join the battle.

Amberpaw leaped at a SunClan warrior. The warrior tried to run forward, only to be met with Seedpaw's unsheathed claws. Amberpaw landed gracefully on top of him, digging in her claws. The warrior shook her off, turning towards her. Blood stained his muzzle. Seedpaw bit down hard on his tail, causing him to yowl in pain. Amberpaw sliced her claws down his face and neck. Blinded by blood, he struck out a clumsy paw. Amberpaw darted to the side, scratching her claws down his flank. As he turned around, she darted under him, scratching his belly, and biting hard on his leg. She cringed at the foul taste of SunClan blood. She was faintly aware of Seedpaw doing the same. Amberpaw darted in front of him to distract him, giving Seedpaw time to leap onto his back. The warrior collapsed under her. Will a purr of satisfaction, Seedpaw and Amberpaw started biting and scratching him.

Suddenly, Amberpaw felt a sharp pain in her side. She stumbled over, feeling claws rake down her muzzle. Amberpaw felt herself hit the ground. Looking up, she saw claws heading towards her. Suddenly everything went black.

"Amberpaw, wake up!" a familiar voice said. Seedpaw was standing over her. Amberpaw stumbled to her paws. The attack was still going on. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Amberpaw lied. She looked around. Cats were fighting and falling all around her. Not a single cat wasn't covered in blood. Amberpaw decided to join a group of her clanmates tearing down the nursery. A terrified queen sat guarding her kits. Amberpaw let out a sigh of relief as she saw no one was attacking them. Suddenly Amberpaw was knocked backwards. A RiverClan tom stood over her, claws digging into her shoulders.

"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" Seedpaw called out. In the moment the tom was distracted Amberpaw dug her hind claws into his stomach. He screeched in agony. Seedpaw leaped at him, knocking him onto his side. Amberpaw twisted, bringing her paw down on his head, keeping her claws unsheathed. Amberpaw held him down, ducking out of the way as Seedpaw batted at him with claws. Seedpaw leaped on him, knocking the breath out of him. Amberpaw took the chance to slam his head to the ground. Seedpaw bit his tail. He yowled in agony, swiping a paw at Seedpaw and knocking her over. Amberpaw rushed to her sisters side, keeping a close eye on the SunClan tom. He stumbled to his paws. As he was finding his footing, Amberpaw leaped on top of him, making him trip over his paws. Knowing what Seedpaw would do next, Amberpaw dug in her claws. As she had expected, Seedpaw ran and slid underneath him, raking her claws along his stomach. The SunClan warrior reared onto his hind paws, giving Seedpaw time to dive at his stomach. She knocked him backwards before he knew what was going on. Amberpaw thought quickly about how they had trained with Shadowbreeze. She jumped up, landing on top of him as he fell onto the ground. Seedpaw took advantage of the SunClan tom being out of breath, and darted around to land a hard blow on his head. Amberpaw batted at his stomach while Seedpaw bit hard into his ear. His paws flailed around, clumsily hitting the ground. Amberpaw and Seedpaw silently agreed on a finishing move. Amberpaw bit hard into his leg. He sat up, trying to swipe at her. Seedpaw quickly darted in and grabbed his scruff in her teeth, digging her claws into his front legs. Amberpaw reared up on her hind paws, using her tail for balance. She swiped at his face with quick paws, causing blood to spray out. Seedpaw dropped him, leaving just enough time for Amberpaw to knock him backwards. She stepped back to let him stumble to his paws. She watched in satisfaction as he tried to limp away, eventually collapsing over his paws. Amberpaw looked around. We're winning this battle!

Amberpaw and Seedpaw fought together for the rest of the battle. One of them would leap on a warrior while the other attacked in quick, strong blows. Together they had defeated four different warriors. As Amberpaw looked around to see if any of her clanmates needed help, she heard Brightstar call out.

"Cats of WinterClan!" she exclaimed, "We have won this battle!" cheers sounded from her clanmates. Amberpaw watched as her clan left the defeated SunClan camp.

As Amberpaw left she looked back at the camp. Cats lay wounded everywhere. The fresh kill was trampled, and the dens were torn down. The injured cats had no herbs to heal them, and if any would catch sick they'd be weakened greatly. The elders and kits were unwounded yet frightening. We've won.