I lay curled with my tail covering my muzzle as a cold wind blew into the medicine den. âBRING HER OUT HERE!â Howled shadowclanâs mad leader. Paws steps drew closer, my ears perked as I stood up from my make-shift nest. The scent of holly, pine and decay filled my nostrils as a warriorâs shoulder brush mine, his thin tail resting on my back. We padded until he stopped and I stopped with. Sitting down with my head lowered I strained my ears, swivelling the around as the presumed meeting took place. âSNOWSTAR. TONIGHTâS THE LAST SETTING SUN, YOUR LIVES END HERE.â Jaggedstar announced. I lifting my head turning it to his voice, purring as smile creped on my lips.Â
âIs it you will be taking my life this time, or are you to cowardly to fight and stead get your clan-mates to kill me?â I challenged unkindly- assuming I was facing him. âYouâre a fool Snowstar, and so are the stars above when they choose a blind cat to lead Riverclan. I, as Shadowclanâs leader; gave my cats the privilege of taking a leaders life in battle- not that it was any battle. But to answer youâre final question, Iâll be the one taking youâre last life~â His tone was calm, powerful, smooth. With a thump to the ground and a heartbeat later the tom that once standing above the clan now stood a mere whisker away from me. I tilted my head, feeling his breath gently brush my ear tips with warmth. âNow, what Iâd like to know little kitten, is how did you become a warrior in the first place?â He growled.
And with a toothy grin I purred âIâll show you.â Lifting my forepaw I smashed it into the side of the leaderâs face, feeling my claws rake through fur and flesh. I jumped back leading crouched with my body arched and tail curled defensively. Paw steps rumbled around me as clancats began hissing ad yowling. âQUTE!â Jaggedstar ordered, his steps began to circle and I followed with my whisker barely off the ground, I concentrated on his scent alone, drowning out all the others. Soft vibrations ran though my whiskers and the faintest but growing scent of the misty river began to drift through. I decided to move fast and we began to circle each other with unsheathed claws âSo tell me little kitten. Why fight now, when you couldâve fought days ago?â
âMy fight is with you, Jaggedstar. No one else, not a warriors, apprentice, deputy over Stagstar.â I growled, breathing deep, taking in his scent narrowing down where he stood and in that moment I pounced, sprinting quick and leaping high until I landed on the leaderâs back biting down on thick fur until the taste metallic taste filled my mouth. My claws raked and dug into his back as he rustled us to the ground, in an instant his flesh was ripped away fro my teeth and a sharp agonizing pain engulfed my shoulder, claws began to dig into my side and back as the taller leader began to dominate to battle. Reeling around I latched myself to his side raking my claws deeper ad deeper into to flesh an coat. With ringing ears the clearing around us grew into battling yowls and cries from other cats. Blood, Pine, River, Oak and Moorland scents began to swirl around me as Jaggedstar grabbed my hind leg and began swinging me back and forth. I turned lashing out at him biting my teeth into the tomâs neck fur clawing into his shoulders as my hind-paw twisted with a painful crake. I bite down harder into his flesh as to stiffen my screams of pain. âAGK!!â He let go of my paw with a wet gurgle as blood seeped and spilled into my mouth pouring from my lips and cheeks. The shadowclan leaderâs body stumbled, collapsing to his side once I let go, his blood poured out into a blood around me as the battling yowls ceased in shocked surprise. âSnowstar, this way!â âShadowclan! Windclan! Kill them!â Stagstar cried, his scent was overwhelming his paws pushed me sideways to a heap. With a life-giving gasp I knew that Jaggedstar was back up. Squinting my eyes and sprinted around feeling my whisker brush past moving bodies and hanging pine needles, leaping up into a lowly hanging branch and climbing to it peak with Shadowclans leader in toe. âWhere do you think youâre going little kitten!â He hissed raking his claws into my already bleeding paw. Hissing in pain I looked down with perked ears, hearing a set of branch moving high above me as his scent drift further and further away until it was above me. Smirking I crouched low ready to pounce, concentring on where his scent was coming from and soon a soft purring filled my ears- his purring. âMouse-brained fool am I? I think notâ I thought to myself, leaping up into the branches felling my boy colie with anther, our claws entangling our blood matted coats. As we fell through the branches into a den below the yowling increased, my paws landed silently on what felt like moss and too many feather- maybe it was all feather even.
I stood u with a groan, sniffing around; All I could smell was Pine needles an decaying roseâs- his scent was gone, twitching my whisker I could sense the slightest bit of movement. I prepared myself, crouching to the ground. His voice filled the den in an eerie laugh âI see, you are quite skilled for one thatâs sightlessâ I perked my ears in his direction, now I knew where he was in the den. I remained silent as the battle continued to rage outside.Â
Outside this den I could hear my clanmates calling my name but my paws stayed put firmly to the feathered ground. âWhy are you doing all this?â My question rang throughout the den soon being drowned by battle cries. âNo point in telling a cat that going to die soonâ He mewed, his presence stalking closer. Bracing myself for pain I turned around sprinting through thorns and leaves as hey clawed at my pelt. âRetreat! RETREAT!â Poppypetal howled from a distance. A slim body collided into me with speed, the she-cats reed-like scent darting past mixing with a kittens pine scent. Biting my lip I stayed with perked ears as moving bodies of Thunderclan and Riverclan brushed past me. âSnowstar! Youâre suppose to already be at Thunderpath, Why are you still here?â
 Crookedfrost hissed, his body pressed to mine. âIâm Riverclans leader. Iâm no coward like Jaggedstar, my warriors arenât alone in this and I will see to it all of them return to camp.â I stated running back into the bloodied campground as our scents mingled. I could still hear cats fighting from all sides until I heard to frightening cry of a she-cat; I knew her voice. I raced in her direction pushing bodies as we collided several times. My hind paw ached and stung as my muscles charged with energy. Twitching my whiskers I began to concentrate o the sounds and scents around me, slowly mapping everything out. Soon I knew that she was nearby shadowclan apprentice den, where the windclan appretices currently stayed. I remember Honeypaw and Firepaw leading me their, and I quickly remembered that fallen tree overtop the medicine den leads right overtop there too. I darted past and climbed atop the decaying log swiftly sprinting to itâs stump and with a mighty leap I pinpointed him.
âSorrelfeather! Take the kitten and run!â I demanded charging at Jaggedstar once my pads hit the ground, I swiped up as he narrowly dodges my attack biting down on my side as we rolled in the dirt and needles. Hissing and growling like feral rouges. I raked his side with my claws as I bite down on his leg drawing blood, he teeth where fix to my tail as he tore us apart from our fight, out of breath and crouched, feeling warm liquid dribble down the side of my face. Leaping toward him, we met in mid-air as his claws etched themselves down the side of my neck and underneath my chest, at the same time my teeth met with neck as I bite down in pain attempting to drown the ain I was in. The feeling of fire burn the open wound as my momentum overpowered the mad leader. His surprise quickly becoming gurgles of blood. I took m chance and ran sprinting out with my deputy in toes as we quickly made ground toward the Thunderpath.
