Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter
Chapter 3
"There aren't any stars here," Honeybee meowed.
"What?" Fernstripe glanced at the golden she-cat that followed her through the thorns. The former ShadowClan she-cat's head was twisted upward as she stared at the branches overhead. Red, orange, and yellow leaves clung unfallen to the withered and narrowed limbs. Beyond the branches, the obsidian-black sky looked as though it extended far, far away in a never-ending expanse but at the same time appeared so near a cat could reach up and touch. There wasn't a spark of light anywhere the black. The only light in the forest glimmered behind Fernstripe in the shape of a cat. Now the vegetation that they pushed through was suddenly more brilliant, but the shadows thicker. The branches and vines rustled as they pushed through. There were no other sounds. No twittering of birds nor wind shoving aside leaves. There was no scent of prey, only the smell of smoke. A typical day in the Dark Forest which seemed to fascinate the StarClan she-cat to no end.
The fluffy, golden she-cat following Fernstripe stared upward, mouth open, like a kit in awe. She had no smell of fear now, and was a little careless with her steps. She pushed heedlessly through the brambles, her fur caught in clumps on the piercing spikes. Her pelt was bedraggled and burrs clung to her.
"No," Fernstripe agreed. "No stars. Never have been. Never will."
"Where are we going, exactly?" Honeybee panted as she fought the twisting thistles and brambles, heedless of the thorns raking her. Before long she'd be bald, which would solve one problem, but then blood might be drawn. That was the last thing they needed. Blood would interest any nearby hunting cat. Fernstripe really had to teach Honeybee how to walk properly. She'd been hoping the other she-cat would notice without behind told, but the little dandelion puff was not very observant. Fernstripe could well imagine she was not a skilled warrior. No wonder she'd died on the Dark Night.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know," Fernstripe meowed. "I don't have a den. It is safer to travel and not settle down. Don't let your scents linger, and all that. Right now I just want to get far away from the three who targeted you. That mouse probably didn't last long."
The only question in Fernstripe's mind was if the trio would decide if it was worth tracking down a StarClan spirit. In the Dark Forest, what else did a cat have to do? She knew they would follow. They had to reach safety before they were tracked.
Snap.
Fernstripe's ears shot up and she stopped walking. Honeybee bumped into her.
"What is it?"
"Shh," Fernstripe hissed. She twitched her tail over Honeybee's muzzle. She held her breath and strained to hear over the golden she-cat's panting. Yes. There. What any other cat unfamiliar with the territory might think was wind, was actually somecat brushing through the thorns. Someone following their trail. Her eyes narrowed on the golden clumps of fur. She spat. Foxdung. She'd been a fool to not think of that danger. It didn't matter how fast they moved, all a cat had to do was follow these obvious signs.
"They're coming," Fernstripe whispered pointlessly. The hunters already knew where they were. Why not just shout? Because, maybe, just maybe, they didn't realize the golden she-cat wasn't alone. Fernstripe was certain her fur wasn't caught on the plants. With the she-cat constantly behind Fernstripe, her own scent might be obscured.
"What do we do?" Honeybee whispered back, ears lowered, body hunching as she turned to face their trail.
Fernstripe knew they didn't stand a chance against all three hunters. To be more accurate, she knew she had no chance. The dandelion at her side was no help whatsoever. There was no way the three hunters would be intimidated by Honeybee. They'd already chased her to ground before. Honeybee was good for only one thing.
-Line-
When the first hunter came, the white-and-gray tom found a bedraggled golden she-cat laying limp half in and out of the thorns, as though she'd grown too tired to shove herself into the tangle all the way. She panted and lay with legs sprawled. The glimmers of light in her fur were like flecks of quartz on a sunny day, illuminating the bent and twisted tree the thicket had wrapped around.
Dirty-snow grinned when he saw the she-cat.
"I knew you wouldn't get far," he laughed.
Honeybee opened her eyes and squeaked in terror. The golden she-cat struggled to get further into the bramble tangle, but the thorns caught on her fur across her chest, keeping her from pressing through the thick overgrown branches at the base of the gnarled tree.
Dirty-snow flicked an ear and yowled, "I found her!"
Fernstripe bit back a hiss. The tabby had been hoping he wouldn't say a thing. Like when wanting to enjoy a mouse in peace, you don't bring others to steal bits of your meal.
Dirty-snow, as Fernstripe had named him for his coat, didn't wait for the others. He bounded forward. Honeybee turned around and tried to brace. The white-and-gray tom slashed his claws across her ears. Honeybee ducked and he got a claw full of brambles. He yowled and stumbled backward.
Honeybee failed to take advantage of his pain, but he was distracted enough for Fernstripe to explode from the burning ivy patch she'd hidden in. She'd regret it later, but the ivy had provided good cover. No cat was foolish enough to even get near the stuff. She was not letting them have her StarClan cat. This was her only way out of the Dark Forest and she would not give that up easily. An ambush had been the smartest move besides abandoning her companion.
If she could fight them off, make them think she was stronger and they didn't have a chance, they'd leave. The only way to do that was to take them out one by one.
She leapt for the tom's back, grabbing hold of his neck, her back claws scrapping down his fur. He yowled in pain and flipped to the ground, crushing her. She released. Shock made her mind go white. No, that was his fur in her face. She could hardly breath from his weight, her nose blocked by his fur. Above her, Fernstripe could hear shrieking and realized that Honeybee had thrown herself on top of the pile, forcing Dirty-snow to stay down. He wasn't intimidated by her. As the golden she-cat struck, he got his back legs under her belly, kicking her away. The action moved the tom off of Fernstripe and she gasped for breath.
He snarled at her and rolled to his feet. Fernstripe had no intention of being his prey. She raked her claws on the ground, throwing sand into his muzzle. The grains hit and he blinked, shaking his head to clear his eyes, giving Fernstripe time to get to her feet and throw herself at him once more. She aimed for his eyes this time.
Dirty-snow could see enough of her and shifted out of the way. He wasn't expecting Honeybee to hook his front paws, making him stumble to the ground.
Fernstripe turned her strike, aiming for his face yet again. If he couldn't see them, he couldn't follow. As her paw swung upward, he snagged her leg with his claws. He pierced her skin as he pulled her closer, mouth opening. She struggled to pull away, but he got a hold on her paw, teeth burrowed deep.
Yowling, the tabby she-cat yanked herself away. She stumbled on one paw, her eyes tearing up. Fernstripe knew she should have taken advantage of the closeness to take out his eyes, but now spikes of pain throbbed in her paw, clouding her mind.
"Fernstripe!" Honeybee wailed. Fernstripe looked back to see that Dirty-snow had pulled himself to his feet and was now coming after her. Fernstripe let herself drop to the ground, rolling across the thorns, getting her legs under him in time to fling the tom up and over with his momentum, much as he'd done to Honeybee earlier.
He didn't go far, heavier and more robust than Fernstripe, but it was enough for her to limp back to her paws and skitter behind the gnarled tree.
The white-and-gray tom growled something nasty in her direction, but she didn't hear him following. He must have thought she was fleeing. Fernstripe gasped for breath and continued around to the other side of the tree to see Honeybee on her back legs, pummeling Dirty-snow's head with her paws. His ears were far from the shredded they should have been. Poor StarClan cat was playing nice, not wanting to maim.
Dirty-snow had his eyes clenched and teeth bared. He shoved himself forward under her assault and head-butted the golden she-cat. She fell down on top of the tom and he dug his teeth into her back leg. Honeybee shrieked, trying to shove him away.
Fernstripe bounded forward and stooped under the pair of them, giving him the same swift bite he had locked on Honeybee. As he released the other she-cat, yowling in agony, Fernstripe gritted her teeth and bit harder. She shook her head, and at tore the ground with her claws. She dragged dirt and thorns in her talons which she promptly shoved into his face when he curled over himself in an attempt to get her.
By now Honeybee had fallen off the tom and she lay, leg extended as she watched the two tussle through the undergrowth. Fernstripe refused to let her grip go. She raked his tail and rump with her front paws as her back legs kicked his muzzle and neck. His own free back claws shoved into her face, one claw near an eye. She could feel the blood start to flow between her teeth. His blood.
"Fernstripe!"
The light tabby could hear the shriek. Another warning? She tried to see what the dandelion puff was wailing about this time. Her distraction was enough for Dirty-snow to rip his leg from her jaws. He scrambled away, pulling himself through the thorns. Fernstripe let him leave, distracted by the two cats that raced toward them.
"Up the tree!" Fernstripe yowled, dashing to the gnarled creature that twisted like an enormous gray snake above them. Honeybee was there first, pulling herself up. Fernstripe heaved herself after, claws catching in the crooked bark.
Warm breath landed on her heels, a hunter close behind.
Fernstripe paused long enough to kick her hind leg firmly into the other cat's jaw. She could hear the scrap of bark as the cat lost its grip and slipped downward. It landed with a thud and the crackling of thorn branches. Fernstripe didn't look behind as she pulled herself up onto a bough, lifting herself next to Honeybee's side where the she-cat had tucked herself into a crook of the tree. Fernstripe balanced in front of her and peered between the yellow leaves to the ground below.
Three cats prowled the thorns below. There was Dirty-snow moaning and shaking his head, a black she-cat just pulling herself upright from the thorns she'd fallen into, and a red-and-white tom, larger than the other two. He glanced at Dirty-snow.
"Ugh, my mouth!" Dirty-snow groaned. He licked his paw a few times, foam starting to form at the corners of his mouth. Good, Fernstripe thought. The oils from the burning ivy were taking affect. Her own wounds were starting to tickle as if ants were crawling through her fur. She knew she'd feel the affects worse too before long if she couldn't rub the oils off, but at least he was in pain now.
"You, Tabby!" yowled the red-and-white tom. "What are you doing?"
"She's helping the StarClan cat," Dirty-snow meowed. His voice was mangled as his tongue worked against the roof of his mouth, making the drool leak out faster.
"Why?" demanded the black she-cat. "Why are you helping her? StarClan sent us here! Tear her fur off!"
"She's mine!" Fernstripe growled back. "You can't have her."
"Be reasonable," meowed the the red-and-white tom. "We can all rough her up. She doesn't belong to just one cat, there is enough of her to go around."
"Hush, Mintpelt," meowed the she-cat. She took a step forward, gazing up through the branches, her voice a little softer now, "Was she your friend?"
"What I do with her is my own business, now get lost before I rip your fur off!"
The black she-cat's ears pulled back against her skull and her tail twitched.
Mintpelt nudged Blackfur aside with a shoulder. "I am trying very hard to understand your protective nature of this she-cat," he meowed. "They forced us here, trapped us. Made us step to their code in life and now force us to waste away in this thorn patch to be cut daily and never allowed to see the sun or stars or to even look upon the Clans. Why protect something like that?" he spat.
"Get your own StarClan cat," Fernstripe growled back.
"Why don't you tell them?" Honeybee whispered.
Fernstripe shook her head at the golden she-cat. She was not giving up her only shot at escape. If she allowed other Dark Forest cats to wait around with them, StarClan was likely to take Honeybee and run, rejecting them all, realizing Honeybee was nothing more than a piece of frog meat in winter—everyone wanting a bite. Fernstripe was putting in the effort of saving Honeybee, so she was the one who would be rewarded, no one else!
Instead of voicing these thoughts, Fernstripe asked instead, "You really want them in StarClan?"
Honeybee glanced away, likely recalling their threats and taunts and their relentless hunting. "No."
Fernstripe turned away from her companion and glared down at the three in the thorns. "Tigerstar has a bunch of StarClan cats, go play with them."
"Oh, she's destined for Tigerstar too," Mintpelt meowed, narrowing his green eyes. "We can have a little fun with her first though. Now, are you going to keep foolishly protecting that waste of breath or join us? Tigerstar gives rewards to those who bring him StarClan cats."
The only reward Fernstripe needed was to be left alone.
"No," she meowed. "You give up, because I'm not."
"Enoff tolg," Dirty-snow meowed roughly. "Shreg 'er ears!"
"Any friend of StarClan is an enemy," Blackfur agreed. She leapt, hooking her claws into the bark. The tree was great for climbing. Its rough bark made wonderful pawholds, and it was bent and twisted, but the trunk was so oddly contorted that the last third curved outward. This was where Blackfur had to struggle to pull herself over the hump to the main branches. Fernstripe bounded down to meet the she-cat, raking the tree to keep herself balanced.
She didn't give the other she-cat the chance to pull herself over. She slashed the black cat's face. Blackfur hissed and refused to let go. Her ears pulled back as she dug her claws in harder and shoved with her back legs. Fernstripe clawed her again, this time aiming for the white paws. She dug her claws in deep, pulling upward. Blood leaked across the fur. Blackfur pulled away, shrieking. She tumbled down into the brambles where she struggled free to her feet and spat upward at Fernstripe. One of her eyes squinted.
"They're on the other side!" Honeybee shouted.
Fernstripe realized the two toms weren't below. She turned, twisting and scrambling back up the branches for the other side of the tree. The yellow leaves shivered and whispered in her passing. She met Dirty-snow, nearly bumping faces with him as he struggled to the next branch. He pulled back only an instant, startled as she was, before launching himself at her. Fernstripe pulled away and he landed wrong, twisting a paw. Fernstripe aimed for his other one and he dodged her, only to slip when he landed. He fell forward, nearly diving toward the ground. His back legs and belly caught on the branch and he dangled, tail waving in the air. Before Fernstripe could get into position to shove him down, something passed overhead like a cloud shadow. She looked up to see Mintpelt hurrying to the branches above where Honeybee was retreating.
"Get to another tree!" Fernstripe shouted. She bounded after. Honeybee's light was blocked in the leaves. Mintpelt shoved through and the yellow foliage brushed together loudly. Fernstripe bounded upward, panting as she pulled herself up each branch. Honeybee had gone far. The limbs were narrower here, more thick with leaves. If any cat fell they could actually break something. In fact, the padding of thorns below might skewer them.
Fernstripe found Honeybee at the end of one limb, the tom joining her on the same branch. There was another tree in the direction Honeybee had chosen, but it was too far away. Only a squirrel could make that leap. Its branches were higher and even more narrow.
Mintpelt heard Fernstripe pushing through the leaves. He looked over his shoulder to growl at her. He took one swipe at Honeybee, not even looking in her direction before doubling over to face Fernstripe. She pulled herself onto the branch and lowered her head, hissing at him.
There was a creaking noise under her. The three cats paused, listening. The creaking turned into a crack and the branch fell from under them. Fernstripe tried to launch herself to another bough. She succeeded, claws grasping the nearest limb, legs swinging. She stared downward as the branch tumbled through the leaves, knocking into other branches. Two cat fell after, bodies hitting limbs in their fall. Honeybee caught on one branch, just one paw latched for a moment, before the tree limb shook, impacted by the broken branch. She was jarred off. White marks were left in the gray bark. The golden she-cat tumbled through the leaves and out of sight, joining the red-and-white tom who had long ago disappeared to the ground.
"No!" Fernstripe yowled. "Honeybee!"
She pulled, front legs shaking as she lifted herself onto the branch. She bolted for the tree trunk, using the sturdy trunk to scramble to the ground below where the other cats had vanished. She was halfway down when the sound of loud breathing startled her. Dirty-snow. He was still in the tree! She saw him hunched over, bracing himself in a dip between two branches.
He didn't even look at her. The white and gray tom's mouth was swollen and red. It was always worse to lick the oil off, so no wonder he was getting the worst of the effect. Her fur had been the best defense. She wondered if anyone else had bitten her. She couldn't remember. Dirty-snow moaned and pressed himself further against the trunk. He was out of the fight. She spat a hiss at him and scrambled down the tree head first.
She followed the glimmer of light shining from a thorn patch. Fernstripe lowered her head and raced through the brambles, ignoring their raking. She dodged the twisting stems and came to where the light was brightest. She pulled herself to a halt, panting.
Blackfur had a hold of Honeybee. The she-cat gripped the back of Honeybee's neck, like a mother holding a kit. But there was nothing gentle about this gesture. Honeybee's eyes were wide and she stared at Fernstripe in a clear plead for help.
Mintpelt was on the ground. He had landed in a heap but was making groggy noises as he revived. One leg was bleeding and his tail was bent unnaturally. Blackfur angled her back leg and kicked him as if that would encourage him to wake up. He made a noise and gritted his teeth, slowly opening his eyes.
Blackfur lowered her head, eyes on Fernstripe. She lay Honeybee down, and pressed a paw against her neck, claws out.
"You want to protect StarClan?" Blackfur bared her teeth. "Then be treated like one."
To Fernstripe's surprise Blackfur jumped away from Honeybee. The black she-cat threw herself at Fernstripe. Fernstripe turned away, as if starting to run. but instead of lifting her feet, Fernstripe swiped her tail against her attacker's eyes. It was a move Fernstripe had learned from a cat whose name had been "Something-shadow". Of course it was a name Fernstripe would remember; that had been the name of her Clan before death. She had met this cat when she and all the others had trained in preparation for the Dark Night. Sadly she couldn't remember how the name started.
Now Blackfur blinked back the pain in her eyes. Fernstripe whirled around and launched herself at the other she-cat. Blackfur must have heard her or seen her enough or something because Blackfur backed up. But Honeybee took advantage.
The golden she-cat shoved herself onto her feet, her legs still shaky from the fall. She stumbled forward and leapt onto Blackfur's back, taking the other she-cat down. Blackfur yowled and twisted. She rolled over and swiped Honeybee's head repeatedly.
Fernstripe growled and darted forward. Mintpelt was on his feet now and he blocked Fernstripe's path. His large paw rose and Fernstripe ducked under him. She nearly shoved passed him, but he tackled her. She had no way to shove him off of her. Any warrior would have given a warning bite and allowed her to flee, but these Dark Forest cats had no morals. He immediately went for the bite. She shoved her head up in time and he connected with her nose instead. He reeled away stunned.
A flash of light filled Fernstripe's eyes on impact and she could feel wet drip from her nose. Her skin tingled at the bite. She twisted to her legs and shoved herself off the ground, continuing her advance toward Blackfur and Honeybee. She threw herself onto Blackfur and latched hold onto the she-cat's throat.
Fernstripe could hear the other she-cat gurgle. Below them Honeybee's eyes widened and she stared up at Fernstripe. Blackfur twitched against Fernstripe's body and suddenly she collapsed. They slid from Honeybee, landing to one side. Fernstripe could suddenly feel her jaws hit each other. She pulled away in shock and when she looked at Blackfur, she realized she could see the ground below the black pelt. The other she-cat was fading!
Patches of fur disappeared, letting the ground and thorns appear below. And suddenly the she-cat was just gone. Only a puddle of blood remained to stain the ground.
"What did you do?"
Fernstripe looked back. Mintpelt had recovered from their tussle and now he stared at her and the puddle of blood.
"What did you do?" he demanded again.
Fernstripe shook her head. Where was Blackfur? She felt as if she was the one falling from the tree. Fernstripe growled and took a step in Mintpelt's direction. He flinched and backed away before fleeing. He limped, but he was still going as fast as he could.
"Run," Fernstripe spat at Honeybee. The golden she-cat got to her feet and together they fled through the thorns. The direction didn't matter. They were getting away from here.
