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| - A dappled brown she-cat forced herself to her legs, pain surging through her. It had been a bloody battle with ShadowClan over a small stretch of land on RiverClan territory. Adderstar claims we won, But how is it winning; Shedding less blood isn’t winning, it’s losing. Suddenly, a pale-brown shape came towards the stream. Distracted from her thoughts, instinctively her hackles raised. Her hackles flew down and concern flashed through her when she realised it was her daughter, with tears in her eyes. “Dappledmist, they killed father!” her daughter yowled in shock. “Bring me to his body Hopesong,” Dappledmist said, with a shaky voice. They raced through the Bloody battlefield in silence, Maybe Hopesong is wrong; maybe I’m dreaming, thought Dappledmist. Despite her desperate hopes, she knew she wasn't dreaming. The scars of battle were too painful to be dreaming. Suddenly they stopped. “Over here!” shouted Hopesong, pointing her muzzle. Hope flared in her heart. This cat’s fur is russet, several shades away from his golden fur! but hope quickly turned to icy horror as she recognized the unique stripe down his back. She looked closer and noticed that the tom’s fur wasn't red, It was bleached with blood. No not my mate not, Ripplethorn! She looked down at her mate’s battle-scarred body feeling numb with pain, as she stared at his lifeless blood bleached body. Flashing before her eyes were images of her other lost love - her son, Brownbirch,who had recently died of greencough, and her father, Mudspots, who had died of old age. Is StarClan punishing me for something?
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