Moss could hardly hear the comforting words her mother murmured into her ears, the screeching was too loud that it pierced the nest under the holly bush her family made their nest under. A golden tabby she-cat blinked her only good eye at her sister before covering her tabby ears with small dainty paws. "Are these the same cats who blinded you?" A grey tabby tom hissed to her sister.
Moth nodded anxiously, her one golden eye glistening with fear. Their mother covered the small kits with her bushy tail before hushing them all with a soft hiss. "Mom?" Moss asked, buring her nose in her mother's faded calico fur. "Are we going to die?"
Patches shook her head as she placed a lick on her kits head. They had lived at the edge of the clan's territory since the kits had been born early last winter, but prey had been harder to find as of lately. The group of cats had taken to hunting on Slateclan or whatever the called themselves land when the prey was scarce. Patches had always preached to her litter to never take more than they needed from the land, but the clan had noticed.
"Your father will drive them from the camp." Patches muttered to her daughters, while her son glanced out the holly bush for a heartbeat. Jasper had always been a brave tom. Too brave for the six moon old toms own good. "Dad isn't doing so well! He's grappling with a large tom and it looks like he's losing!" Jasper gasped as he disappeared from the nursery. "I'll go help." Rumbling a loud roar sounded from outside the nursery, as Moss heard the solid smack of claws against bone. Stars help her father, Moss prayed, Nean sounded like he could use the help.
"Jasper!" Moss yowled as her mother panicked. Her mother fled the nursery, fur bushed on end. The tiny tortoiseshell pressed against her sister, covering her eyes. Moth shivered against her for a heartbeat. A earth-shattering wail sounded in the air, rising and falling with her mother's normally soft tones.
"Moss?" Moss raised her head, meeting her sisters one good eye. Moth placed her paw under her smaller sister's chin before sighing. "I'm going to make a break for it." Moss shook her head before pushing her sisters paw away. "I'll come get you when it's safe, okay?" Moth breathed as licked her sisters ear. "It may be the only way to save dad. If I make it the farm, Rocky and Susie will help us fight these cats off." It sounded like they were losing, the wails and clash of teeth and claws were almost fading.
"I love you." Moss could only whimper as her tabby sister bunched up her hind legs before dashing out of the den. The remaining kit buried her face in her paws and flattened her ears as if to block out the sounds of the battle.
"Oceanstar, come quick! A kit is still alive." Moss heard a voice call above her as a pair of jaws grasped her scruff. Shock had set in the small dark body, and the green eyes had closed in exhaustion. A l yellow she-cat with bright amber eyes held Moss in her jaws very gently.
Panic flooded Moss's mind as she was drug from the den, and her eyes flashed open. Less than a dozen bodies littered the clearing and Moss heard a loud wailing sound. Was that her? "Stop your wailing! Your family brought this upon themselves." A tom called, his pecan brown fur torn and matted with blood. His yellow eyes were harsh and arrogant as he kicked a large faded calico body. The corpse's belly was still loose from Moss's birth.
A large light grey tabby tom with wavy darker stripes appeared from the shredded brambles that Nean had fashioned into a nest for Lacey and Hector. Moss's shocked eyes drifted to the small boned female with cream and white spots that laid a few feet away from their nest, and her dark brown mate's lips snarled in defiance.
"A kit?" The large tom repeated as he padded toward Moss. His eyes were the same soft green-blue as the sky in summer. "I found her hiding in a nest under the holly bush," The yellow cat replied around the bundle of fur. "She must have been either the cream cats or the calicos."
The grey tom shook his head in disgust. "So much death, Sunpelt. At least this small life was saved." He turned to the half grown brown tom who prodded Patches pelt with distain. "Hawkpaw? Are you injured to bad to carry this kit home?" Hawkpaw gaped.
"You can't be serious! This kit is rouge born, and if she's anything like this one," Hawkpaw dug his white claws into the matted queens fur. "She will try to murder us in our sleep." Moss gasped. Was he the one who killed her family? Jasper lay cold and still next to their father, a small grey tabby bundle next to a larger muscular brown-black tabby.
Moss could barely hear what they were saying as she was passed to another she-cat's jaws, this one with black spotted pelt. All she could hear was the brown tom bragging to Oceanstar about his battle with Patches. A fragile boned she-cat with white paws padded from the direction of the road, her fur bloody.
"Hazelpaw?" Oceanstar asked the small tabby. She explained that a golden cat had tried to escape but had began to fight her, and had run into the path of an oncoming monster. Hazelpaw seemed so distraught as the blood was washed from her pelt. "I almost pushed her into the way of it."
Moss let out a shriek. "Not Moth too!" She wailed before being shushed by Oceanstar. "This is the way of the warrior life." His eyes burned into hers.
Dovemoon shuddered as the medicine cat placed a broad paw on her belly with a flick of his long whiskers. "Well you shouldn't be expecting kits any time soon." Turniptoe confirmed to the matted haired grey she-cat. "You aren't pregnant."
It had been one moon since Hawkclaw had forced himself on her, and a moon and half since his mate had been announced to be expecting his kits. Dovemoon nearly cried in relief, her blue eyes miserable as Turniptoe cocked his head to the side.
"Is there something you need to tell me?" His voice soothed as lapped at the frightened she-cat's soft grey fur. Dovemoon shook her head, unseathing her claws into the soil.
"You'll just call me a liar like Oceanstar did!" Dovemoon snarled as she rose to her paws. The leader had chased her from his den when she had gone to him asking to punish his son for mating with her without her consent.
"Hawkclaw would never do such a thing!" Oceanstar had snarled, his blue eyes blazing. Dovemooon took a step back, confusion lighting her gaze. "Why would I lie about it? Hawkclaw forced himself on me!" Oceanstar bristled his fur along his spine. His long-furred pelt spiked with anger. "Hawkclaw is a model warrior and more importantly a good tom with a loving mate and litter of kits on the way! Dovemoon, if I hear that you have been spreading these filthy lies about my son again I will have you punished myself!" Oceanstar had roared as Dovemoon turned tail and fled. Tears dampened her muzzle.
"It was Hawkclaw wasn't it?" Tuniptoe guessed, his ginger paws turned the soil in the medicine cat den. Dovemoon nodded, her fur bristling along her spine, the light grey fur speckled with darker flecks, a sooty streak up her muzzle and speckles across her cheeks and nose.
"Vixenpaw came in about three moons ago saying the same thing." Turniptoe turned away, his white fur flecked with herbs as he disappeared farther down into the tunnel. Dovemoon could just barely make out his white with orange patches pelt in the darkness before he returned.
In his jaws there was clamped around a flower with thistle like purple petals, a large leafy green bundle, small blue plump berries and leaves, and a white and purple flowers. He placed them at the she-cats paws with a flick of his tail.
"Pennyroyal, blue and black cohash, and parsley." He stated with a sigh, his yellow eyes worried. "Take that just in case. I'm certain that you aren't expecting, but it never harms it make sure." Turniptoe wrapped his tail around his paws.
Anger laced the toms face. "You happened to be luckier than her." His tone was filled with loss and bitterness as he turned away. "She actually needed it." Dovemoon nodded as she swallowed the herbs. So that was why Vixenpaw had been confined to the medicine cat den for a short while.
"How many times has he done this?" Dovemoon's stomach ached and her body spasmed as she downed the herbs. Bile coated the inside of her throat. Turniptoe glanced out into the camp through the entrance, his eyes narrowed at the nursery.
"Four, including you. Two with Vixenpaw and one with Hareleg when she was an apprentice with him." He ground his teeth before sighing. "I spoke to Oceanstar about it sortly after Hareleg but he refused to speak on the matter. He doesn't want to belive it."
"He will be judged by Starclan, Dovemoon. That's the only comfort I can give you." Turniptoe pressed his nose to her ear, his sweet scent of marigold and grass lacing into her nostrils. "I'm so sorry." He pressed his body to hers as he lapped at her head.
That's it? The ancestors will judge him is the best I can hope for? No punishment? This is a load of fox dung if I ever saw! Then Oceanstar expects us to swallow the crap like it doesn't even taste bad and then turns a blind eye to his son! Ancestors bugger the entire family into their graves, and curse them to to place of endless night! I say no more, I'm getting my revenge.
The peak had always been one of Dovemoon's favorite spots to go and think, her father had shown it to her when she had been an apprentice. It jutted far enough out that a few cats could rest comfortably on it with out fear of falling, and the wind didn't blow so harsh it might knock a cat off. The crag stuck out from one of the mountain trails that Slateclan used to hunt, and one could see almost to the Twolegplace. That was some two days walk from camp if a cat was fast, something Dovemoon wasn't.
Three days had pasted since her chat with Turniptoe, and Hawkclaw would leered at her when no cat was watching. His sisters on the other hand primped and preened, rarely helping but complaining. Hazelfur was gushing over which-ever tom had caught her fancy at the time while Mallowdapple slept and stuck closer to her sister's side than a burr.
Mallowdapple seemed more content at the moment complaining that she hadn't had kits with one of the senior warriors, whichever tom that was. Dovemoon had more important things on her mind. She could almost picture the tom that Mallowdapple had been trying to seduce for moon. What was his name again? Slickpelt or Slugstone or something along the lines of that?
Dovemoon shook her head as she padded along the trail. She glanced at the loose slate colored stones that tumbled down every so often, but stalked down the small worn path. Her sky blue eyes flicked down to the edge of the mountain, and for a split second she imagined tumbling a brown tom down it. Hawkclaw would surely perish then.
A slender tortoiseshell cat with patches of sunlit gold slashes, blazing ember swirls, smooth cream speckles, sat on Dovemoon's ledge muttering to herself. Flicking a ear, Dovemoon slunk closer as she strained to hear what this cat was saying. It sounded like some of Dovemoon's clanmates names, but she couldn't really tell.
A pebble shifted underneath Dovemoon's hindpaw and the tortoiseshell spun around wildly with a snarl. White claws slide out from the grey cat's paws as the tortoiseshell narrowed her eyes. The intruder twitched her tail at Dovemoon before sighing.
"Dovemoon?" Moss asked, before relaxing. "That's your name? Sorry, I can't remember all of your names." Dovemoon nodded. Moss turned her face back to the sunset, her tail lashing. "I'm just watching the sunset." Dovemoon padded next to Moss, her tail touching the taller cats tail gently. The sunset reflected the bright colors on Moss's pelt, and it reminded Dovemoon of what the elders called an eclipse, the perfect balance of light and dark. Beautiful and deadly.
"My name is Mossdusk." Moss finally spoke, her eyes flicking down the mountain. "I guess that Oceanstar doesn't announce prisoner's warrior names." Dovemoon shook her head, a sweet scent underlaided the disgustingness of the prisoner hole that stuck to Mossdusk's fur. "Here to kill yourself then?" Mossdusk said, her tone even as cool.
"W-Why would you say that?" Dovemoon stammered, fur bristling along her spine. Embassement sparked underneath her pelt, causing her fur to bush out. Can she read my thoughts? Mossdusk turned toward Dovemoon with a smile, her eyes glowing with amusement. She kicked a pebble down the cliff, the clacking echoing in the grey cats ears.
"I may not be allowed to leave often, and can only hunt with an escort, but I have plenty time to watch the camp and I notice small things," Mossdusk stated, her green eyes narrowed, "You have been padding around camp like I killed your family." Dovemoon had been an escort for Mossdusk several times, and the outsider was a skilled hunter. She never really talked though, just staring at Dovemoon with eyes that glowed.
"It's not that is it?" Mossdusk moved closer to Dovemoon, pressing her shoulder comfortingly into the grey fur. Mossdusk's tone was soft, and warm, but not pressing. "It has something to do with your problem. You can tell me if you want," Mossdusk purred lightly, "Who am I going to tell?" Dovemoon let out a giggle at that. Shock turned Dovemoon's stomach a heartbeat later. Was it that obvius? Did others notice too?
"I don't know what your talking about!" Dovemoon snapped, pulling away from her. Mossdusk blinked, then smugly let out a soft purr. Her eyes were half lidded with amusement, and she wrapped her tail around Dovemoon's shoulders.
Mossdusk raised an eyebrow. "You don't, huh ?" The torieshell let out a chuckle. "I should know about your little problem, considering I have it as well." Dovemoon blinked in shock. A blush spread underneath her pelt, making her grow warm and squirm. "It's not a problem you know? It's a natural thing, no matter what your stuck up clan says- especially that brute Hawkclaw." Mossdusk confirmed, green eyes scanning Dovemoon for a reaction.
The reason Hawkclaw did what he did, was to change Dovemoon. To punish her. Dovemoon liked she-cats, and it wasn't accepted freely in the clan. Hawkclaw had heard her confession to Turniptoe when she was an apprentice, and had begun harassing her in front of the clan. Mallowdrop and Hazelfur had made her life awful, teasing her and encouraging Hawkclaw as well. They made her an outcast in her clan. Most cats in the clan were accepting of Dovemoon, and the others didn't seem to care at all. It was comforting to know that Mossdusk, a prisoner, liked she-cats as well. Hazelfur and Mallowdrop made her feel like a freak, like no other cat like their own gender.
"I'm glad." Mossdusk purred, her tail flicking teasingly. "Because you're a cute little thing. Hawkclaw is just jealous, you're one of the only she-cats in the clan who isn't fawning over him and telling him how great he is." Dovemoon glanced down at her paws. The praise made her feel odd, warm inside she hadn't felt for moons. Why was Mossdusk calling her beautiful? She was boring grey, and she didn't really stand out in the clan. She kept to herself. "I respect that in a she-cat."
"I know what you want." Mossdusk cut to the chase. "I've seen it in your eyes, because I want the same thing against that cursed tom." The tortieshell rose to her paws, placing her face a whisker-length away from Dovemoon. Dovemoon felt dizzy staring into the endless green pools of Mossdusk's eyes. Her fur held a faint scent of dark cherry, and pine. "You want revenge." Dovemoon nodded without thinking.
Is that what she wanted? To see Hawkclaw dead? Dovemoon pictured the brown tom dead more often than not, it had become second nature. Inwardly if Dovemoon admitted it, she did want to see him gone. Not just him, his stupid sisters, his unborn kits, his fluff filled mate, his lying father. "They all deserve to die!" Dovemoon agreed. Confusion sparked underneath her belly, making her feel almost giddy.
"Mossdusk? Why do you hate them so much?" Mossdusk had just appeared one day, in the jaws of a patrol. Dovemoon had been a kit at the time, and the memory was foggy. It was tinged with white static at the edges, and all the grey cat could remember was Mossdusk huddling in the corner of the nursery. She had been shivering and whimpering.
Flames lite in the green pools, and fur bristled along Mossdusk's spine. A snarl formed on her jaws, showing white teeth as sharp as needles. "I want to take away their family," Mossdusk paused, her tail lashing, "Because they took away mine!" White claws dug into the stones. "What do you think of warriors that kill innocent kits and a nursing mother?"
Dovemoon shuddered. "I believe they should die." She concluded, pressing her nose into Mossdusk's pelt. Tension seeped out of the beautiful cat's muscles, and Dovemoon nuzzled her shoulder. "I believe that tom's who do things like that to cats who don't want it, deserve to be killed. Most rouges have enough honor to not do that. How many has he done it to?" Mossdusk murmured.
"Four."
"We have to kill him, to prevent this from happening to others. Do you agree? That this is for the best?"
Dovemoon nodded, and Mossdusk let out a purr that rumbled both of their bodies. Warmth seeped into Dovemoon's pelt. Mossdusk twined her tail with Dovemoon's, whispering if it was alright for her to do so-stammering in a way that Dovemoon found adorable.
"I promise that I will follow with whatever you have planned, Mossdusk."
"I promise, Dovemoon, that they will be punished. Listen to me and I can make is happen."
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Authors note- So this was an drabble that happened. It turned into two beautiful characters, both with scarred hearts, minds but long to love. Will they have their revenge? Do I write this to make gay people 'evil'? No, I wanted to write a couple that would love each other will all their hearts, and would work toward a common goal. They were going to be straight, then I realized that the characters I had fleshed out didn't seem to fit into the mold i had planned for them. I made them how I saw them. I want them to be happy. Sadly many people are discriminated against because of their sexuality. This was originally written for Pride Month. No Flames- Only love. 3