Bearbelly had never seen so many twolegs.
The sound was deafening: the foreign shouts of twolegs, the cries of his clanmates, the roar in his ears. He stood motionless at the edge of camp for a heartbeat, unable to force his paws to move.
"Bearbelly!" A familiar shout brought him to his senses. Whipping around, he located the source: a strange, shiny den. There was long, glimmering strings of stone across the entrance, but in the shadows beyond he saw the glimmer of amber eyes.
"Larkstar!" He darted over to her, his paws barely missing the hard paw of a twoleg. He stopped at the entrance of the den, peering in.
His leader was crouched inside, her legs too tall to straighten in the cramped interior. Still, her eyes blazed, but from terror or rage Bearbelly couldn't tell.
The brown deputy hooked his teeth around the cold stone bars, but they didn't budge.
"Bearbelly, stop!" Larkstar yowled over the commotion.
"Wha-"
"Go help your Clanmates!" Larkstar's eyes were round with desperation, but her words were firm. Bearbelly tugged at the den entrance with his claws, but stopped when pale claws swatted him. "I said now!"
Bearbelly heard the call of a twoleg, and felt heavy pawsteps approach him across the forest floor. His yellow eyes darted first to the approaching twoleg, and then to the tan tabby trapped beside him. Then, with a brisk nod, he streaked past the twoleg and further into the camp.
All he saw was twolegs at first. His heart skipped a beat as he saw the same types of den Larkstar was trapped in at the edge of camp, with the unmistakable scent of not only his clanmates, but those from ThunderClan, WindClan, Shadowclan...
He then saw his own clanmates, running from place to place in the camp. Heatherpaw was cornered next to the small dens, hissing in terror at the pale paws reaching down for her. Russetstorm was writhing wildly in the clutches of a twoleg, screeching profanities as she was shoved away into one of the dens. Bearbelly jumped to help, but backpedalled as a large, heavy pair of paws as big as him stepped in front of him. He didn't have time to look as he darted between the legs of the twoleg, feeling more than ever like the mice he hunted.
How could this be happening? His heart lurched as he saw Deerspots, feeble in her old age, be swept into the air by giant, furless paws. He was deputy for StarClans sake, but even he couldn't stop his mind from whirling.
"Get away from my kit!"
It was Rosecloud. The short tawny queen was trapped between two twolegs, and under her thick belly fur was a round-eyed kit: Poppykit.
Bearbelly made it to the pair just as Rosecloud was captured. The queen yowled, clawing wildly in desperation as she was forced to leave her only kit vulnerable. Bearbelly didn't have time to think before he darted in between the spindly legs and grabbed the scruff of the squealing kit.
"Rosecloud!" He yowled. She gave him a single look: one of pain as clear as greenleaf sky. He returned it, and feeing as though his heart was tearing in two, he ran for the edge of camp.
"Bearbelly?" A hiss came from the bramble thicket a few foxlengths away. Bearbelly felt a soar of relief as a white head poked out from the bush, normally calm blue eyes full of fear.
"Frothbelly, thank StarClan you're okay!" His purr was strained as he set the trembling mass of fur in his mouth at the white warrior's paws. "Where's your brother?"
"Bubblefleck is up a tree in the training clearing, with Redpaw and Thornbite. I saw Tricklestream somewhere around there too." They motioned begins them with a flick of their ears. Then, the warriors blue eyes shifted to Poppykit, who shivered pitifully between the two, eyes wide and ears low. "Where's Rosecloud?"
"She..." Bearbelly couldn't choke the rest out. Frothbelly nodded in understanding, and drew Poppykit closer to their chest.
"What should we do?"
Before any answer could be raised, Frothbelly's eyes rounded in terror. Bearbelly felt paws grab his scruff, and let out a screech.
He twisted and flailed, hissing and clawing, but to his horror, he was lifted effortlessly further into the air.
"Take Poppykit!" He screeched. The distance between he and the white warrior was growing, as was his own terror. "Take her and hide!"
The white warrior remained motionless. The twoleg holding Bearbelly motioned with its other paw to another. It had the same trap-dens.
"Go!" His screech tore across the chaotic clearing. Finally, the white warrior obeyed his orders.
The last thing Bearbelly saw before he was closed into the den was Frothbelly's black tail disappearing into the foliage.
