I don't own anything except the plot and characters.
"Specterstar! AshClan is attacking! We're out numbered!" A ginger-and-white mottled shecat cried, her blue eyes wide with worry.
"Who's out there, Mapleflood?" A thin, onyx black-and-gray shecat stepped out of the darkness of the camp, her dark amber eyes narrowed with fury and her tail lashing. The ginger-and-white shecat shuddered. AshClan was fierce. "Mapleflood. Who's out there?"
"Swallowclaw, Fawnheart, Rubyblood, Cherryfoot, the rogues that they gathered...and Mallowstar." Specterstar snarled. Mallowstar was known for his brutality and ruthlessness, unforgiving of any slight or hint of insult. She bristled angrily, unsheathing her claws quickly. I need to give orders...But if I make them fight, it could be the death for us all! I... Specterstar was indecisive but she knew every minute counted and she was losing time. Steeling herself, she barked out,
"Mapleflood, tell Greycloud, Whitesmoke and the other queens to run. Now. I'll cover you. We fight." There was sadness and horror in her friend's eyes, but she knew that even if they ran, they would still be caught and killed. This way, she'd at least know they fought to their last breath.
Mapleflood nodded, turning and whisking out of the den. Specterstar heard the yowls and screams from outside and shot out of her den into the fray. She saw Mudtail clawing the flesh from a gray rogue, spraying blood on the earth. He has a slashed chest and shoulder and he had a cut over one eye. Tansypaw has exchanging swipes with a tabby rogue alongside her sister Dawnpaw, forcing the tom to flee.
She saw Grousefeather rake the muzzle of a shecat then spin and send a black tom gasping away with his neck torn. The dark tabby tom was missing fur, had a cut nose and claw marks up and down his sides. Darkfur was wrestling with Rubyblood, seemingly winning with a patch of missing fur and a mauled shoulder.
Snaketail had gashes on his flank and a cut ear, gaining another as he was pounced on. Iceflower shrieked as three cats overwhelmed her, sending fur flying and blood splashing. Without hesitation, Specterstar lunged and jumped straight on a mottled shecat who had Iceflower pinned. The shecat wailed as Specterstar clawed her face viciously.
She didn't stop clawing and knew that AshClan was trying to exterminate them. A claw slash later, the shecat cried once and then she stopped moving. A gray tabby tom bowled into her and they wrestled, taking out fur and clawing. Pain welled on her shoulder as the tom scratched her and she retaliated with a bite to the face. He wailed and bit her back, snapping at her neck.
She scrabbled and raked her claws over his eyes as hard as she could. Blood caked her paws and his face. He had lost his eyes. Specterstar kicked him off of her and he stumbled around wildly, swiping at nothing. She ended it immediantly.
Suddenly, a pale ginger shecat sprang in front of her. Cherryfoot. She knew that scarred pelt. She herself had given Cherryfoot three of the worst ones. The ginger shecat's green eyes locked onto her own. It was understood instantly. A death battle.
Specterstar attacked first, swiping dirt into the AshClan warrior's eyes. Cherryfoot screeched and shook her head. She collided with Cherryfoot and bit hard on her back, snapping for the shecat's spine. They rolled, biting as best they could. She winced as Cherryfoot got ahold of her hind leg and bit hard. It burned like fire and she yelped, struggling to remove her teeth.
Kicking out, she heard a yowl of pain and tumbled from her teeth, scrambling onto her paws. Panting, she watched Cherryfoot heave herself to her paws, a gash across her muzzle and over her eye, blood blinding her. She felt her hind leg and assured she could stand on it, slammed into the shecat, watching the scarred AshClan cat's eyes widen as she knocked her over.
Pinning the howling shecat, Specterstar ripped a chunk of fur from her neck, tasting blood and then leaped back as Cherryfoot battered her belly with thorn-sharp claws, feeling fur and skin split open. Fire racked her nerves and anger welled up in her. She twisted under Cherryfoot's belly, feeling satisfaction now as the shecat turned to slash at her from the wrong side.
Wriggling back the way she came, she managed to surprise the ginger shecat and wrap her paws tightly around her throat from behind. Feeling Cherryfoot thrash and curse, she sank her jaws into her spine. Blood touched her tongue. Tossing Cherryfoot's body aside, the weary leader heard a cry. She whipped around. Iceflower was gone, but she'd taken two rouges with her. There was no time to mourn.
The camp was filled with screeching, crying cats. Half racing over to where Dawnpaw had been separated from Tansypaw, she bit a gold shecat's paw as it flew by, yanking the shecat into a short battle. With a bloody nose, scratched ears and heavily bleeding cuts down her belly, the shecat fled, catching her fur in the brambles as she left. Dawnpaw clawed a tortoiseshell, sending her running with no fur and wounds on her shoulder.
A tom pounced on Dawnpaw and refused to budge, even after she battered his belly. Specterstar knocked the tom Dawnpaw was fighting into the bramble barrier and panted, watching Dawnpaw scramble to her paws, eyes wide with terror as she realized she nearly died. With fierce blows created by fear and anger, the gold-and-cream mottled apprentice sent the tom wailing from camp.
Dawnpaw gave a cry. "Tansypaw!" Specterstar jerked up. Tansypaw was struggling under Swallowclaw. Snaketail lay a few mouse lengths away and she realized the tom was dead. She tried to move fast enough. Her wounds slowed her down, burning. She never got there. Dawnpaw screamed and began giving wild swipes at the smug dark brown tabby tom who dodged with ease and went for her throat.
"Not my apprentice, you StarClan forsaken fox!" Grousefeather shoved Dawnpaw out of the way, catching Sparrowclaw's throat in a nasty blow that sent a shower of blood just as Sparrowclaw cut into his neck. Both fell in a wave of red.
So much death for no reason. Why is this happening to me? What did we do to deserve this?! Blank horror consumed her as she stared at the bodies around the clearing. There was a flash of dark brown in front of her and Specterstar jerked.
"Keep your head in the game!" Mudtail hissed at her as he batted a tom and raked his claws over the rouge's neck. Specterstar winced as her wounds stiffened and then she lashed out at the nearest rogue, scraping her claws in flesh.
"Where's Darkfur?" She called to Mudtail over the yowls. The dark tom grimaced, getting nicked on his nose as he narrowly avoided getting his entire muzzle slashed. He shoved the rogue he'd been fighting onto her side and dispatched her, flinging blood from his paws as he struck another rouge.
"He sent Rubyblood fleeing, but she's seemed to have nasty wounds. I don't know if she'll last much longer anywhere. Darkfur cut her up real good." There was pride in his voice. Darkfur had been his apprentice. "He's at the elders den. Nightfur and Skyflower are with him." She called her approval before fighting her way to the elders den, sending another tom and shecat squealing with deadly wounds.
Scrambling into the elders den, she was met with claws at her throat. Darkfur had bad wounds. Rubyblood had seriously hurt him. A part of his ear was gone, his muzzle and nose covered in cuts, his shoulders and back missing fur and shredded and his pelt was soaked in blood, where there weren't cobwebs and horsetail, anyway. When his amber eyes met hers, he backed away.
"Specterstar!" He grinned, though wounded. He gestured to Nightfur and Skyflower. "Lilyfall went around. She has herbs." She nodded, glancing over Nightfur and Skyflower. Both weren't that roughed up. Nightfur only had a few patched up scratches and Skyflower was limping from a missing claw and a bite on her left shoulder.
Nodding to the two elders, she started telling them what had transpired. There was sadness and horror in their eyes. Grousefeather was Nightfur's son and Snaketail had been Skyflower's kin. Afterwards, she was back on her paws.
"Darkfur, stay here and protect them. If something happens, get out of here. Run as far away as you can. They want to annihilate us, not drive us out. Be weary." She spoke, limping back toward the entrance. I need to find and kill Mallowstar. It's the only way this will end. She unsheathed her bloodstained claws and slid quietly from the den, trying to see what else had happened while she was explaining.
Specterstar found that more of the rogues had been killed or driven out. There were only about fifteen left. It was the size of a large Clan, but it was a lot less then when they came in. A gold-and-cream blur streaked heavily with blood skidded to a panting halt next to her. It was Dawnpaw.
"M-Mudtail told me to tell you that we have Fawnheart trapped in the nursery! Mudtail and Rabbitgrowl and Silentpaw cornered her!" The apprentice was extremely excited. She was too. If Fawnheart died, it was the last of the AshClan senior regime. Once Mallowstar was dead, it would be over! But first, I need to drive these rogues out!
"Tell them to kill her. Did the rest of Rabbitgrowl's patrol come in?" Dawnpaw nodded. "Alright then! Go. Happy hunt." She said with a sharp grin. Dawnpaw sped off, slicing a gold shecat as she ran by. The shecat nearly chased after her, but Foxflame, one of Rabbitgrowl's patrol members pounced on her and she shrieked. Foxflame's dark ginger pelt was slightly patched with blood, meaning he'd been winning his battles.
With as much strength as she could muster, Specterstar forced herself to move. Nearly over...nearly over! Lunging at a russet tom, she scratched his hind leg deep, causing him to turn from Squirrelpaw, Foxflame's apprentice to strike at her. She gained another wound when his claws gorged her shoulder.
Snarling, she struck him twice, once on the foreleg and once on the chin to send him reeling and limping. He raked his claws over her ears. Angry, she swiped his nose and gained a nick on the jaw. He swiped at her throat and she tucked her chin and bit his foreleg with a hard crunch. The rogue yelped and yanked backwards. Taking her chance, she released his foreleg and scored her claws over his chest. With an angry screech, he stumbled away.
Turning on the next rogue, she fought beside her Clanmates until, in the end - finally - there were no more rogues. But Specterstar was still weary. Mallowstar hadn't attacked himself yet. Where is he? Is he waiting for something? A howl of victory erupted from the nursery. Mudtail, Dawnpaw, Silentpaw and Rabbitgrowl staggered from the nursery, dragging the body of a dead and heavily shredded Fawnheart.
Foxflame, Squirrelpaw, Redfur, Minnowheart and Oliveclaw stood in the clearing among the bodies of their kin, Clanmates and enemies. They weren't too badly hurt and gave off both gleeful howls and mournful cries. Specterstar wanted to join them, but was on the look out. Mallowstar hadn't made his move yet.
Skyflower popped her head out of the elders den. "Is it over?!" Squirrelpaw gave whoops of laughter and Skyflower called the others in the den out. Nightfur limped out of the den, properly bandaged by cobwebs. Her living Clanmates happily reunited, purring with tails high, bloody, bruised but alive. Mudtail limped over to her, eyes bright, tail high.
"What's wrong, Specterstar? You should be happy!" She sighed.
"Mapleflood told me Mallowstar came here with his group. No one's seen him." At that, Mudtail was on full alert again. He looked around, eyes narrowed, alert and tense.
"Do you think he's still here? Why would he be, though? His group was just destroyed!" He blinked in disbelief. She only shook her head and began walking to the medicine den. She needed to talk to Lilyfall. As she limped to the healer's den with burning wounds, she wondered if Mallowstar really was in camp.
Slipping through the ragged brambles, she had noticed something strange: Lilyfall wasn't tending patients. She usually came out after a few minutes. In the dark of the den, she called, "Lilyfall! Lilyfall!" She's probably in the back cave. Specterstar sighed and stumbled among the healer's precious piles of herbs. But once hearing no noise, she noticed an odor. It reeked of blood in the back cave.
Her pelt's probably bloody from treating the others, She thought. But the scent was too strong for just a few smears of blood. Weary, she caught scent of something else, something that made her fearful. Mallowstar.
In front of her, dark green eyes glinted. "Hello, Specterstar. Have a nice battle?" His voice was smooth and chilly. "Your sister put up quite a bit of a fight for a healer. Unfortunately, I had to put her down." Specterstar felt agony. Deep sorrow. My sister...
"I'll kill you for that!" She spat, claws unsheathed again, fur spiking.
"But I know something you've kept secret: you only have one life left." Shock: How did he find out?! Horror: I can't leave my Clan! Rage: I will kill him! Specterstar howled and lunged, in the tight space barreling into him. Her claws scraped his flesh, but he only laughed. "You've lost yourself, Specterstar! You've fought with the weak and gotten wounded! Now, you will die!"
Something tore across her throat. There was a deep stinging pain. The fluid in her throat tasted salty, irony. It was blood. She coughed it up, hacking. No! My Clan! I can't let him win! But her legs grew too weak, her body shaky, her vision blurred. Specterstar was dying.
There were wails that echoed in her ears as colors and scents blurred. She was tired. Mapleflood would rule well. Mudtail would avenge her. Just let me sleep...
Blackness.