Author's Note:
This is a LawlClan entry for their monthly writing challenge. This entry is written in a poem-like format.
Prompts:
1. "Tragedy is tragedy because it's inevitable. You see it coming, but there's nothing you can do to stop it."
2. "Another noble warrior falls victim to the plague of love."
Enjoy!
_-*Doodling Shadows~
Queen of REVENGE:
Every day is a battle in itself,
A struggle that waxes and wanes like the moon does, little by little each day.
You cannot run from the fight for survival,
Nor can you alter it; it is decided, through and through.
But now the latest battle to determine one's survival draws near,
Nearer and nearer, dragging on like the sun pushes itself across the sky.
Slow, so very slow.
Each heartbeat pounds wildly, excited and nervous from the looming danger.
Each paw step hesitates as it brings its owner closer to its possible destruction.
Each tail twitches, waving about above the dry stalks of grass.
Each pair of eyes watched their surroundings with anxious fear, awaiting the leap of an enemy.
But no cat runs, no cat turns away to save their lives; they all know it cannot be avoided.
As they all step out of the forest in unison, they quell their heart and listen to their mind.
On the opposite side of the field, the rouges have gathered.
The battle must now begin.
With yowls of fury, anger, and as much determination as they can gather, the two forces clash,
Unsheathed claws glinting as they were revealed.
Flesh rips and more screams of rage pierce the sky.
Each cat is fighting for a goal.
Now the one who had caused this battle altogether had his own fight to participate in,
But this battle, one not of claws and teeth, or one of ideals, happened to be one on an entirely different level.
He was fighting a battle of mind as he weaved through the crowd;
He was attempting to come to terms with what he had done.
He had to see her.
He had to see Raven.
Hiding behind a wide clump of long grass, he watched as the black she-cat ripped apart another victim.
He had arrived too late to save another soul.
He knew that, his mind screaming as bile rose in his throat,
But nor couldn't just sit here and do nothing, either!
The black she-cat's ears flicked once, twice, three times before she rose her head, muzzle stained with blood.
Two piercing blue eyes stared at his soft green ones, holding tight.
But as the tom observed her, neither a look of malice or fear or even contentment slipped past her stony mask;
She had the look of an experienced killer.
She knew how far she could go, but she didn't gloat, nor did she hide.
She had a goal of her own.
Stalking past the grass, he padded closer to her, ears flat against the din that the cats were making,
All the while staring into her eyes.
A staring contest, silent in the raging ocean of sounds, persisted...
Neither one giving up or looking down.
Each time her eyes blinked, he cursed himself for holding their gazes for another heartbeat longer:
He knew how much he had grown attached to the she-cat in the moons past, and he had been sure he cut the ties.
But no matter how he tried, he couldn't help but stare into those eyes a little bit longer, a little bit deeper, a little more carefully.
He knew how dangerous this she-cat was,
He knew she had used the information he had revealed bit by bit,
How she had used it to strategize a plan.
She had utterly betrayed his trust.
But again, even after he steeled himself to cut her throat, the action just wouldn't come.
The mindset avoided him like the sun on a stormy day.
Two more heartbeats ensued, two heartbeats that felt more like moons-
Slow and agonizing.
The she-cat raised a paw, claws sparkling with blood in the bright light
And he froze as she slowly moved it towards his throat.
She had him, she knew he was now a piece of prey in her paws.
She knew, and made an act to flaunt it.
The claw touched his throat, and quicker than his instincts could process, she slit the flesh with an easy stroke of her paw.
Pain erupted on his neck and he yowled, stumbling.
Another claw scratched his eye...
A bite to his shoulder pushed him to the ground...
Panicking, he looked up at her with wide eyes.
She wasn't the same cat he had loved moons ago, he finally, truly realized.
No... she definitely wasn't.
It now stood out to him, slapping him right on the muzzle,
But he couldn't forget those moons, and it seemed she couldn't either:
She was using his trapped feelings to her advantage.
And now, as the she-cat bent down to whisper in his ear,
He knew his time had come, the coil of dread squeezing his innards ever more tightly.
Blue eyes glistening with malice, she smirked.
"Goodbye, Fernshadow. Pleasure to meet you, pleasure to end you," she murmured in his ear.
Another, deeper slash to his throat ended the deal, and she stood, watching as her fighters swept and ended the enemy.
Her job was finished.
She called back her troops, leaving the bloody corpses on the battlefield,
Using them as reminder of anyone who would cross her newly acquired territory.
She had won.
She killed, yet no guilt pierced the thick casing of her heart.
She had seduced another male for territory,
She had fought and won another battle,
She had slain another opponent and stained her claws with more blood.
A crooked smile highlighted her features as she sauntered back to their shelter before the drawing night settled upon the land.
She had ended another Clan, and now her journey was one-fourth complete.
Looking to the stars, the grin grew wider.
Yes, she had but few more to go.
A few more Clans to vanquish.
Three more symbols of her life to wash away like the blood on a battlefield runs back to the river on a rainy night.
Leading her group back into the shelter, she looked back one more time,
As if she could see the remaining battlefield.
Three more.
Just three more and her task would be complete.