Bluestar was woken up by Thistlestar's yowl that rung through RiverClan's camp. She stalked out of her den and glared at him as he strode through the camp.

"Thistlestar," she meowed. "Come into my den and we will talk privately. Mossdapple, Stonefur, come with me."

With a final scowl at the bossy ThunderClan leader, she turned and padded back into her den, tail lashing from side to side. She was aware of Thistlestar following her, his vibrant mood vanishing like mist as he took a step into her den. She sat down and studied him as her medicine cat and deputy padded into the den.

"So?"

Thistlestar glowered at her, not saying anything for a few moments. "This is your last chance," he meowed quietly. "Join ThunderClan to become TigerClan or we will wipe you and your pathetic Clan out of the forest."

"What?" Bluestar asked, taken aback. "What about the gathering?"

The ThunderClan leader let out a mrrow of amusement. "I was just saying that. Are you saying you really thought I'd let you join me whenever? I'm going to go to each camp to say the same thing once you've joined me, and-"

"Once?" Bluestar asked with a disbelieving chuckle. "We're not joining you, Thistlestar."

Thistlestar paused, looking surprised. "Oh-" He burst out into laughter, eyes gleaming with amusement. After he stopped, he stared at Bluestar with unblinking eyes. "I'm not giving you a choice."

The tom's claws sunk into the ground. "If you don't join me now, I'm going to have to destroy RiverClan! You do realise that, right? Either way, you will not be a leader of a Clan. It's a perfect plan, right?"

"We'll stop you," Bluestar snarled.

This only made Thistlestar more hysterical, almost insanely so. "You'll stop me? I truly admire your determination, Bluestar. But your pitiful Clan could never destroy mine. My warriors have been training for battle and are extremely strong now! So good luck. It seems you've made your choice as to what you'll do."

With an innocent glance, he smiled. "I'll miss your cats. It's sad that they will pay for a decision that you made."

Stonefur growled from behind Bluestar, reminding her he was there. "We'll train twice as hard, then. This is not a battle you will win, Thistlestar."

Thistlestar smirked. "Oh, I think you'll find out soon enough that it is. Good day, Stonefur and Mossdapple. I wonder what it's like for you to have such a petty mother?"

He turned and padded out, leaving the cats' fur ruffled and eyes narrowed.

Bluestar flicked her tail. "If he wants a battle, he'll get one. Stonefur, we will focus on battle training. Get patrols to go out and train for the war that Thistlestar has brought upon us," she meowed gravely. "If that foxheart wants a fight, he will get one."

--

Bluestar led a patrol to RiverClan's training hollow. Whiteclaw, Beetlenose and Reedpaw followed her. She turned her head as they arrived, looking at her former apprentice with admiration. Now he had a mate, kits and an apprentice. She remembered when he was first learning to hunt or fight.

"Alright," she meowed, looking at the three cats. "Who'd like to start?"

Whiteclaw stepped forward, eyes glimmering with a challenge. "Me!" He meowed eagerly.

Bluestar nodded. "Okay. Let's have a fake battle to see how rusty you are. Remember, claws sheathed. You win if you pin me down and I can't get up, or vice versa. You also win if I say 'I give up.' Sound good?"

Whiteclaw nodded, slipping easily into a crouch. "Who starts?"

"You can attack me," she meowed calmly.

The black tom looked back at his apprentice. "Watch my moves and see how I do things, okay?"

Reedpaw nodded, looking excited and in awe of his mentor.

Whiteclaw turned back and out of nowhere leapt at Bluestar, his eyes fixed on her shoulder. She jumped neatly away, fake raking her claws along his side.

Whiteclaw turned and scowled at her, rearing up on his back paws to strike on her spine. Bluestar was ready and swiftly moved to butt him in the chest with her head. Whiteclaw realised and took off the weight on one paw, falling onto his side and rolling away. He quickly leapt back up to his paws, snarling at her. "I'll get you!"

Bluestar grinned. "You can try-ah!"

Quickly Whiteclaw ran over to her and swiped at a forepaw, making her lose balance and fall onto her back. He stood over her, looking triumphant. Bluestar used all the strength in her hind legs to kick up at his stomach and push him off, quickly jumping to her paws.

Whiteclaw seemed to know this was going to happen, slipping under her stomach once he got up and pretend raking it and then biting softly onto her tail. Then he lowered and before Bluestar realised what had happened, nipped at her hind legs and drove her back. She found she wasn't ready when Whiteclaw pushed her over and pinned her down once more, but stronger.

Bluestar looked at him angrily for a second, before dipping her head. "Good work, Whiteclaw! I trained you well."

The warrior grinned, letting her up and butting her shoulder playfully. Bluestar snickered. "Beetlenose, try battling Reedpaw. Don't be too hard on him, as he's new to this. Whiteclaw, we can sit down for a few minutes if you'd like. I'm exhausted!"

Whiteclaw huffed in agreement, sitting down with a thump. "That was fun," he meowed. "I haven't done anything like that in a while!"

Bluestar nodded, sitting down quietly next to him. "It was very fun," she agreed with a sigh. "But we need more than that if we want to beat Thistlestar and ThunderClan."

Whiteclaw looked at her sympathetically. "You know," he meowed with a purr. "I think we can do it. Surely Thistlestar was exaggerating?"

"Thistlestar never exaggerates," Bluestar meowed wryly.

Whiteclaw shrugged. "Well, if we just train a bit every day, we'll grow strong enough to take on those foxhearts ourselves!" He purred. Then he paused, glancing at the leader with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, you used to be part of them, so-"

"No. I agree with you. Most of them are foxhearts," Bluestar replied simply. She lifted her muzzle to the sky.

Whiteclaw's words gave her a flicker of hope no other cat could.