Ch 9 Our First Battle

We decided after a while that when the vampires did come, we were determined to stay. We hadn't really liked the old town, so we'd used the vampires as an excuse to leave plus, we hadn't really been ready altogether. We liked the forest and we were NOT leaving. With any luck, the vampires expected the untrained, unskilled, cowardly girls they'd met at the Lily Wilderness Academy, but they weren't expecting what they would get: 5 highly trained, fiercely protective, extremely ready Warriors.

We could sense they were coming before they hit a hundred miles out. We wanted to be prepared for them coming, so we'd started doing what the Warrior cats did: border patrols. We'd worked out a general border, which basically means 'we figured out how much land we could cover and hold if it came to a fight.'

Each of us was strong, but we hadn't ever fought a vampire, we'd only practiced on each other. However, since we had practiced on each other`, we knew each other's moves as well as we knew our own. In any situation, we knew exactly how each different Warrior would react. In a fight situation, Autumnlily would be trying to watch the gaps in the border that we couldn't cover, Waterlight would be front and center, Flowerleaf would be protecting as many of our backs as she could, Silverfire would be dodging around the enemies with a speed that could make a Warrior dizzy, she was a silver shadow, barely a blur, and I would be keeping as many enemies as I could off of my Clanmates.

I used to be a loner, but having a Clan wasn't half bad. You could always depend on them to have your back. I liked thinking about what Bluestar told Rusty in the Warriors book 'you'll always have the fellowship of a Clan, even when you hunt alone.' It turned out to be very true, I could always count on the other girls and they could count on me.

Then the day came. Autumnlily was on patrol, and then suddenly she came flying back into camp like all the cats of the Dark Forest were behind her. We all jumped to our feet at rocket speed, ready in a heartbeat. When she calmed down enough-which took approximately 2 seconds-she told us that she sensed at least a hundred vamps strong. We instantly darted to the border.

We separated quickly, Autumnlily darted off to the right side, Flowerleaf slipped off behind us a few meters, Waterlight stood, hidden, but ready and center. Silverfire and I were on opposite sides of Waterlight. I was on her left, Silverfire on her right.

The vamps were loud enough that even if we'd been asleep 15 miles away, we'd have still heard them coming with time to prepare. They were noisy! We were hidden, hoping for a sneak attack on our part. We figured our scent was around here enough that they might not notice the freshness of it.

When they came into view, my heart missed multiple beats. Kristin was in the front lines! She might be a psycho vampire who wanted to kill me, but there was no way in StarClan's name that I could kill her!

I heard Flowerleaf's slight whimper of terror from behind me, I turned silently, and then followed her line of vision. I had seen her siblings only once before, but I recognized them with surprising ease.

Autumnlily slipped over beside me and stared at the vamps, her face nervous. Her eyes flickered silently down the line, and then her nervous expression blended into one of pure terror. She silently pointed to a girl down the line. I glanced at her blankly before she signed 'THAT'S MY SISTER!' I knew in a microsecond that none of us could kill our siblings. I suddenly had an idea. I quickly signaled the other Warrior girls to get their attention, and then signed 'CLAW AND BITE ONLY! DO NOT KILL! WE'LL SHOW THEM NOT TO MESS WITH US THEN GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO LEAVE! FOLLOW THE WARRIOR CODE!' The other girls looked relieved, Waterlight nodded, the others followed. Then they came past our spot.

Kristin led the way, following our scent. Flowerleaf's brother suddenly sniffed the air, turning slowly. He nodded towards Waterlight's hiding spot. She signaled frantically to us and I gave the signal.

We lunged from our hiding spots with a Warrior's grace, speed, and strength. I smashed straight into Flowerleaf's brother and gave him enough scratches to know for absolutely positive not to mess with us again. I looked around just in time, another vampire lunged straight for my throat, but I zipped around her and smacked her in the head with enough force to smash through 10 meters of cement. I think it's safe to say that she had a headache for a while. Silverfire was fighting 7 at once and she looked like she was doing totally great, she was doing her silver shadow effect that always made everyone too dizzy to think straight. She looked like she was having a great time as they grabbed at her blindly. I looked off towards the others who were clawing through whichever vampires got in their way.

Suddenly Flowerleaf yowled in fear and pain. I darted to her side and slashed the vampire that was holding her arm. It fell to her side at an awkward angle. I quickly told her to heal herself then get back in the fight. While she focused, I hurriedly stood up. As the vampires lunged for my wounded friend, I fought with all the power of LionClan. As I protected her, the vampires kept coming.

I realized now that when Autumnlily told us they were 'a hundred strong' that means 'at least a hundred'. I'd been sure until then that we would win. As soon as that clicked, I wasn't at all sure.

As Flowerleaf lunged to her feet, she took out a vampire that would have had my head. I turned back to see all the others fighting in pairs except Silverfire.

Waterlight and Autumnlily had teamed up and Flowerleaf and I were now fighting back-to-back. The vamps had moved into three groups. The stupid ones all went for Silverfire, and were taken down in nanoseconds. The slightly smarter ones came at Flowerleaf and me, and we sent them running before they could say 'yipe.' The smartest vampires were ganging up on Waterlight and Autumnlily, but even they were holding their own.

As I watched, they teamed up on my Warrior friends, I felt like I was about to explode because of how mad I was that I couldn't help them directly because I had about 10 after me. I felt like I had pure fire running through my veins instead of blood. Flowerleaf maneuvered expertly away, drawing vampires with her.

I lunged through midair instinctively, twisting past 6 vampires at least and clawing a bunch more. As I flew, I felt something shift. When I landed, I landed on four paws versus two feet. I didn't spare a microsecond to wonder what in StarClan's name had just happened, I just lunged back into the fight, slashing vamps and sending them into the bushes before they could turn around. A few turned when they heard their comrades scream and then bolted.

I looked at my Warrior Clanmates, suddenly worried that they might attack me next, but they had transformed too. Now that I could actually see someone besides myself, I could tell we'd turned into giant cats. I started multitasking, size wise I would estimate we were about the size of the wolves in Twilight; our fur colors matched our hair when we flared and our eyes matched too. I got all this by looking at my Clanmates in the few nanoseconds I had to spare between vamp attacks. I was actually comfortable as a cat; it was as natural as climbing or running.

Just as we sent the last vampire screaming into the undergrowth, they sent the next wave. We might have been a little tired, but we were still more determined than ever. We sent them running into the undergrowth before they could get through it properly. As they left I signaled the others, we easily transformed back to human. It was just as instinctive as the other transformation, almost automatic. They didn't send any more, but we kept up the border patrol just in case.

I took the next shift of patrol because, rather than draining me, the battle had left me with energy to spare. I kept my senses on full range, being overcautious. I casually hiked around the border, feeling completely energized. I took the high trail, in other words, I jumped around in the trees, getting a vantage point.

The only thing I worried about was how many other Warriors might have already or might be dying at the vampires' schools. I finally headed back to camp, feeling annoyed that we couldn't help them.

As I headed back, I smelled cooked meat a half mile out. I looked carefully for Twolegs, and then flashed back the rest of the way. I got there as the other girls started eating. They grinned laughingly, and then Silverfire signed 'WHAT DID YOU GET LOST?' I grinned back; they knew I was usually the first
one ready to eat, so they nagged me playfully whenever they beat me there.

We'd learned very early in our Warrior training not to get mad so I didn't let it bug me. When we did have issues, just turn on the TV and look for either forest fires or volcanoes, anything that even MIGHT have fire involved. We tried very hard not to do anything like that, but I never was into history, so I didn't know if a Clan like ours was ever behind something like that.

We usually just talked about whatever at mealtimes. Today I brought up a question I was just dying to ask.

"Do you think there are other Clans out there like ours? It would be totally cool if we could find a bigger group of Warriors from our Clan element or whatever." Flowerleaf responded first.

"First off, Warriors don't do Clan elements. It's like the Warrior Clans in the books, but with different names. ThunderClan, SunClan, WindClan, StormClan, ShadowClan, ShadeClan, RiverClan, StreamClan. StarClan's the same though." She said calmly. I answered with a laugh.

"I don't do history; you know that as well as any cat." I said as the other girls burst out laughing. I still don't know how Flowerleaf managed to keep a whisker-straight face while saying that. I would have said that it was as impossible as me loving to swim. (SO NOT HAPPENING!)

We stopped conversation and finished eating. Then Flowerleaf left on patrol. I got drowsy and curled down for a catnap, Waterlight went off to do whatever, Silverfire and Autumnlily played cards quietly across the clearing. (I don't know why, I could sleep with noise.) Though I didn't mean to, I ended up sleeping all night.