The tabby she-cat scented the air, purring in delight at the sweet smell of grass and heather. She waved her fluffy tail slowly, starting to walk along the mysterious clearing. She'd never seen a place like this before.
The cool, nighttime air chilled her pelt, and she fluffed up her fur to try and keep warm as she stirred a pebble in her paw, letting it skip along. She purred and swatted it, it skid out of her view and slammed into something hard. The tabby swiveled to look in its direction.
She paused, tilting her head and eyeing the tall rock that arched over it all. But before she could pad forward to examine it, a nasty tinge bit the air.
The molly bared her teeth in disgust, pawing at her muzzle. Her pale green eyes narrowed to slits. Her hackles rose off her back and neck. Something wasn't right.
A sudden, harsher wave of the stench wafted over her, and she scrambled for cover, ducking into the quiet shade of a gorse bush.
As soon as the spiky green leaves shrouded her pelt, an explosion of cats lurched into the hollow clearing. Cats started to bound out from behind rocks and plants to meet them, the tabby didn't know how she'd missed so many cats lying down around her.
The two groups slammed against each other like waves. But instead of spitting foam, they spat teeth and claws.
Two cats came tumbling by, one a muscular white tom with black splotches, and the other a skinny pale she-cat. The tabby backed up beneath the bush, her haunches bumping against the trunk awkwardly. He ripped a chunk of fur and flesh from her shoulder, and she screeched in agony, lashing out at his face with her back claws. Both cats rolled away again, still wrestling and clinging at each other.
The tabby panted in terror and darted out from her cover. She began to sprint. Aiming for a gap she could see in the brush that surrounded the clearing. And sweet safety.
Her paw struck something and she fell. Rolling tail over nose onto the ground. She laid in a pool of something hot and sticky, and she stumbled to her paws, shaking out her fur and glancing back at whatever she had fallen over. Her blood ran to ice.
It was a cat. A patchy pale tabby. She realized with a jolt that his throat was torn open, and what she was now covered in- was in fact- his blood. The tabby backed up in horror, slamming into a cat who was behind her. She whipped around to face him.
He was a massive, dark tabby cat. He slowly turned to her, and she only got a glimpse of cold orange eyes before the world went black.
::
Princess panted, bounding to her paws. The bell on her collar clicking quietly. She twitched her fluffy tail, breathing through her mouth and squeezing her eyes shut. The feeling of blood, the smell of death and fear. She couldn't shake it.
She slowly slunk through the house, no matter how hard she tried her bell sang with each pawstep. Princess settled down at the window, looking out at the sky. A full moon and countless sparkling stars glared back down at her.
A pale form snaked around a wall, his narrow face lifting to look at her.
"You alright?"
Princess breathed in deeply before facing her brother, she gave him a weak smile.
"Same old same old." The tabby waved her tail dismissively. "Just a dream."
He padded over to sit beside her, his collar ringing with each step.
"You mean the one about the cats fighting?" He blinked his startling green eyes at his sister, it was impossible to not see the worry in his gaze.
"Yeah, that's the one." She didn't look away from the sky. It was still late. She sighed, flicking her tail around her haunches. "Thanks Rusty."
"You know, we could go out in the forest tomorrow if you want. If you're having dreams of forest cats, it could help with them."
"Easy for you to say." Princess snorted, tossing her head in her brother's direction. "You have forest dreams too, but you just catch a mouse. I'm on a battleground. I don't want to meet those cats in real life."
"We won't go far from the fence." He offered, twitching the tip of his tail. "If we see a really grassy area we'll run right back home. Okay? Those cats are in the grassy spot, not in the woods."
Princess sighed, looking at her idiotic brother with a grimace.
"Fine, but if we get attacked I get all of your treats for a day. Got it?"
Rusty laughed.
"Fine, fine. You win this one."
Princess flicked her tail and turned her back to him, dragging herself back into her nest for another night of fitful sleep. Her paws still felt sticky.