"Max, you go and check the boarders," Angel growled, her tail twitching. A shudder went through the assembled mountain cats at her words.
"What?" Max demanded, unbelieving as her hackles raised, white and black-spotted fur bristling.
"Because I said so," Angel hissed in spite of the drawn lips from her fellows. "We all have to. We all go hunting, and we all go boarding. If you want, Iggy will come with you."
"What? No way. You guys know I'm the best hunter. Besides, there are only five of us. With the Snow Season coming, we have to eat as much as we can. And you can't eat when you're boarding! You'll be out 'till moon-set!" Iggy wined, forgetting his narrowed eyes in his indignity.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter," Nudge hissed as she washed her orange and black-spotted fur. "Max, what does matter is if you're going to put that whatever-her-name-is in her place, or what?"
"What-ever-her-name-is?" Angel growled unbelievingly. "You don't say that to me!" and without another word she launched himself at Nudge.
Max flicked her tail to stop the fight and Storm froze, dropping to the ground half way in between Snow and herself like a raindrop from the sky. For a while there was silence. Max suddenly spoke up again. "Nudge, you come with me and Fang to hunt. And Angel, you aren't the leader here. I am. And even if you are the second in command, you cannot speak to me that way- ordering me around like a helpless newborn." Her words were met with sighs of relieve.
"Now, unless you want to feel how sharp my claws are, you will go hunting with Gazzy." And just to add insult to injury, Max told Gazzy, whom was at the bottom of the pack, to lead the patrol.
A snarl was thrown out of Angel's grey muzzle and she leaped forward, intending to beat Max in a fair fight and throw her at the bottom of the pack with Gazzy and Nudge, where she could fight her way back up to the leader's position, where Angel would be waiting, claws sharpened.
But lithe Angel was no match for powerful, muscular Max. As soon as Angel's misty grey and slightly muscular body left the ground, a sound like a roar vibrated from Max's broad chest as she leaped from the rocky ground, sending pebbles streaming down the cliff and making Gazzy, Nudge, and Fang flinch as Max rose to meet the challenge.
They clashed in midair, Max's weight working in her favor as she landed with a grunt on Angel. Angel writhed beneath her as Max sunk her long yellow teeth into Angel's grey ear, her claws embedded in her oppenents fur which was already matted with the blood, dirt, and snow that churned underneath her. Angel clawed uselessly at Max's underside, desperate for the prize of leadership she received if this battle was won, but afraid of the consequence of the bottom of the pack she got if she lost.
Snarling, Max suddenly jerked her head up, tearing the ear of Angel right down the middle and ripping at the once-clean fur. Angel went limp, knowing that she had lost, but not comprehending. Max's teeth were at Angel's throat, but they paused, unsure.
"No," she growled to herself. "She-it," she sneered, "has endured enough embarrassment today. I must let it live." And with that, she drew away, leaving Angel's body curled unnaturally in the bloodstained snow, now glinting with the early morning sun.
Suddenly Angel's head rose sleepily. "What? What? I was just taking a nap." She yawned and stretched, to much raised eyebrows of the leopards that had started to walk away to tend to their tasks at hand, and to gossip over the fight.
Max's eyes winded beyond belief. "Have you forgotten your place?" she hissed.
Angel rolled her eyes, seeming bored. "Yeah, it's at the very top, in front of you, cat."
"Cat?" Max asked quietly as Iggy started edging away from the cliff, in case she decided to throw Angel over the edge in response of the insult. Suddenly Max leapt forward, seaming to hold Angel in her paws as she carried her to a wall of the cliff, slamming her to the wall, and standing on her hind legs.
She spat at him, saying, "You will not talk unless talked to. And if I find out you talked, you will go seven sun-rises without food, with a guard by your side, and you will not loaf your way through those seven sun-rises, you will toil as hard as the rest of us, dragging meat through the snow, and keeping guard with your guard. Now, this is for the rest of you," Max added, turning away from her and letting her fall like a rag doll, her shoulders slumping and her grey legs stretched out in front of her, her eyes closed. "Fang is now second in command, Iggy is in third, Nudge places in fourth, and then Gazzy is fourth." She didn't bother mentioning the fifth and final leopard, Angel. "Gazzy, I think you are trustworthy enough after the revolt you led against me to guard it."
Instantly, Gazzy leaped forward, eager to prove himself worthy and snatched Angel by her grey scruff, hauling her unceremoniously to the path that was carved out of the mountain by a stream thousands of moon-aboves ago. As Angel looked back, Gazzy snapped at her muzzle, making her wince. He strode up the rocky path, white nose high in the air. Angel glanced back once more, and in response, Max lifted her chin, and growled a long drawn out growl.