Whassup my homies?
Hollyflame: I'm glad you think I'm good at leaving cliffhangers! I do try…
Spyrofan: See! See! I updated!
Please review so I know people are reading my story! On with the show!
Skypaw's mind awoke before her body did. She could hear her captors, but she could give no reaction as to what they were saying. I guess that's convenient. For now.
"Why did he want us to capture them?" a rather high-pitched voice asked.
"It does not matter why. If Dusk asks, then we will do," the silky voice of a she-cat purred. That sounds like the gold cat I was fighting. She heard heavy paw steps coming in her general direction.
"Well, it would appear that you are good for something, mangepelt," a rough voice meowed. Skypaw heard a thump and a shrill squeal. And there goes one of 'em. "Feh! It looks like you're wrong, Dusk! He can't even take a pat on the back without acting as if his spine was ripped out!" The brutal cats seemed to think this thought was absolutely hilarious.
"Look. The gold one's waking up."
"Huh? What's going on?" Lionpaw slurred sleepily. "Hush, now. Everything will be explained as soon as your friends wake up," the she-cat mewed silkily. Skypaw could hear the sound of yawns as Rubypaw and Frostpaw awoke from their forced slumber. She felt a strange tugging sensation on her intangible self. I must be waking up. She jerked awake, ready to take on the brutes if they tried to drug her again. She heard chuckles as she drew her lips back and growled softly. "Oh, calm down dearie, we don't want to fight anymore," the gold she-cat said, slithering up to Skypaw's ear. "Besides," she hissed quietly, "we could take you down in an instant." Satisfied that the former humans were properly scared out of their wits, the grown cats got down to business.
"Now, I'm sure you're wondering why we drugged you and dragged you out here, correct?" At this, the apprentices glanced around, discovering that they were on the precipice of a very high cliff. "The answer to your query is simple. We are protecting you from yourselves." The young cats shared bewildered looks. "It's all right, kits. We know that you have been misguided, and are here to show you the path."
What exactly have we been 'led astray' in?" Frostpaw inquired; sarcasm evident in his tone. The massive gray cat with jagged scars covering his body leaned towards them. "Don't play fool! We are trying to show mercy, but we can easily toss you off the cliff! Or rip out your insides!" He seemed to get grotesque pleasure out of watching them quiver in fright. "Stop, Dusk. They are only confused, and only we, the chosen ones, can help them," the she-cat said placidly. Turning back to the 'kits' she began to explain her purpose in a calm, mellow tone. "I am Leopard. These are my comrades, Dusk and Coyote," she said indicating the shrill voiced tom. "Our purpose in this life is to assist confused Clan cats in their journey to Star Clan." Skypaw was shocked, to say the least. How could cats who obviously weren't Clan-born or former humans know about Star Clan? Oh no. What if… they used to be people too! Reading the looks of bewilderment on their faces, Leopard hastily explained. "Star Clan does not belong to any one group of cats. Star Clan must be shared with and loved by all cats. The Clans are simply our next target- err, mission. You must embrace your ancestors, or your soul will go to the Dark Forest, where you will roam hellish fires and be damned for all eternity!" Leopard finished her sermon of religion with heaving sides and a crazed look in her eyes.
Her composure slowly returned to her, and her fur once again lay flat on her spine. "Well? What do you say? Will you join us in our eternal quest to save cats from themselves, and become a preacher of Star Clan?"
"Well… I certainly don't want to be 'damned for all eternity' as you so dramatically put it. But I don't believe that Star Clan is like that. They don't really have any power over our daily lives. They're simply our warrior ancestors in the sky, who sometimes try to warn us about dangers to come," Lionpaw meowed earnestly. With a start, Skypaw recalled the two prophecies. I'll need to sort them out later. "And they are where we will go to rest and guide the Clan cats who come after us," Lionpaw finished. "That pretty much sums them up," Skypaw said, remembering the Star Clan of the Warriors series.
"That! That is blasphemy!" Leopard howled like a crazed animal. I suppose that she is a crazed animal. "They must perish for destroying Star Clan's legacy! Die, heathens!" she screamed, throwing herself at the apprentices. "No." Dusk stuck out a paw, preventing the lithe she-cat from destroying the young cats. Didn't think that Dusk of all cats would come to our rescue.
Dusk turned to them, revealing his left side, which was covered in long, terrifying scars. He turned his eyes- No, eye! He only had one eye! That in itself wouldn't have been unusual… nut it was simply an angry red socket, crisscrossed with scars and scratches… As if some cat had torn his eye out of his socket. She shivered in disgust, attracting Dusk's attention. "Oh, you think this is bad, kitty? Wait till you see what we'll do to you. "But first! The real reason we drugged you and took you here!" Coyote exclaimed with glee, as if he were reading from a script. "We saw how close you came to the body of… Blackivy. You knew too much, and we were simply going to throw you over the cliff and be on our merry way… but then Leopard had an idea. We snuck up on you, put you to sleep, and carried you out here. Depending on your reaction to our plan, you would have either become one of us… or died. Just like the rest of your Clanmates will."
"What do you mean?" Skypaw asked, shivering in fright. "We have discovered through… certain means that the older Clan cats will not accept our views and claim their salvation. It would appear that only kits will have the sense to come with us… you just disproved our theory that apprentices would too. So we had to resort to a different method to bring the Clans to their knees and embrace the light."
"You're all insane," Rubypaw said in horror, slowly backing up. "Ee hee hee! That's right!" Coyote yowled, reveling in the madness. "Oh no," Leopard said, coming forward. "We are quite sane. It is you who is crazy." With that, the three religious anarchists lunged.