A Snake's Prey
It was nighttime and the forest was silent tonight. In a twoleg place, outside of the clans, there was a large aquarium-like cage that was labeled Shabaka and held a giant, female python with coils on her tail and brown eyes. The lid was covered with stacks of paper and heavy books; in fact, the entire room of where the snake is, was a mess. Stacks and piles of books and papers filled the office, a world globe fell off from one of the stacks and it hit the cage. The pressure from the stuff on top of the cage was bad enough, but the globe finally made the glass shatter and pieces of it fell to the ground. Shabaka slithered out of the cage and looked around. The stacks of books and papers made the room impossible to see, but there was an open window. Shabaka slithered towards the window and climbed on the piles in order to escape. Once she was out, Shabaka looked around and realized that she was free. She slithered into the woods, looking for a place to rest, and tomorrow, to find prey. In the office, an old man entered the room and was shocked to see the shattered cage. He looked around and didn't see Shabaka in sight and started to panic. Shabaka in question was a python, a snake that while it doesn't kill its prey with a bite, it strangles its prey until its last bit of breath. When it was morning, the clans would wake up, but so would Shabaka, and chaos would soon erupt. By midday, everyone was awake and Alderheart was outside of camp and was collecting herbs. He was in Shadowclan territory as it wasn't against the medicine cat code to trespass on another clan's territory. These past few moons have been hard for Alderheart, he lost his mentor Jayfeather and now, he was loosing a lot of friends and family. At least he had his apprentice to cheer him up, but even now it was hard for him to concentrate. Alderheart placed the herbs down and started gathering cobwebs. Out of the corner of his ear, Alderheart could've sworn he heard slithering or hissing behind him and turned around slowly. A few feet behind him was Shabaka and she was the biggest snake that Alderheart has ever seen. Alderheart couldn't move, he couldn't think straight as, he wasn't sure if he should run or fight; then again, he wasn't a good fighter, so running was the option. Shabaka smiled at the sight of scared prey and slithered a bit closer to Alderheart. Alderheart cowered in fear and backed up a bit, but stopped. Now, Shabaka was closer to Alderheart and was hovering over the scared tom. Alderheart was terrified and prayed for Starclan for help, but also accepted his death, partly. Suddenly, Shabaka's eyes started changing colors and Alderheart couldn't help but stare and feel entranced by the sight; he even thought he heard Shabaka speak.
"Loook deeep into my eeyes." She said.
The multicolored, spiral eyes of Shabaka, reflected off of Alderheart's as he dropped the herbs, started to calm down and started to sit down. His thoughts started to change and he suddenly felt more at peace than ever before, but for some reason, he was starting to forget his friends and family. Unbeknownst to Alderheart, Shabaka started to wrap around him softly and once Shabaka had Alderheart completely wrapped like a cocoon, she rattled her tail. Alderheart's head was still visible from the cocoon-like grip, and soon, Shabaka lifted him up and swallowed him whole. In Shadowclan territory, Pouncestep and Lightleap were out hunting. Both she-cats were on high alert, ever since the bodies of Mothwing and Puddleshine were found dead at the lake. Surprisingly, the sinkholes had stopped, but the charred bodies of Bristlefrost and Rootspring sure caused alarm to everyone. The clans knew that a new threat was coming to the forest, but they didn't know who had did this or why. Pouncestep and Lightleap were near the Thunderclan border and both she-cats stopped when they thought they heard slithering or hissing. They peaked through a bush and saw a large snake devouring its prey whole. Both she-cats were shocked, this was the biggest snake they had ever seen and they weren't sure or knew what to do. Pouncestep looked at the dropped herbs and her stomach dropped and felt cold. She leaned towards Lightleap's ear.
"Lightleap, did Shadowsight leave camp?" Pouncestep asked whispering.
"No, I saw him in the medicine cat den, before we left." She answered.
"Then, who's herbs are these?" Pouncestep asked.
"I don't know, we're near the Thunderclan border. You don't think it's Alderheart or Fawnpaw, do you?" Lightleap asked worried.
"I hope not. What are we going to do with the snake?" Pouncestep asked.
"I don't know, do you have any ideas?" Lightleap asked.
"No, no I don't." Pouncestep shook her head.
"Excuusse meeee?" a voice hissed.
Both she-cats looked up and saw Shabaka hovering over them. Unbeknownst to them, Shabaka had heard their little conversation and had slithered over to find the source.
"I couldn't help bit listen to your little converssation and now I find more prey to devour, very interessting." Shabaka continued.
Without warning, Shabaka struck Pouncestep and Lightleap, but both she-cats dodged the attack and Lightleap leaped and clawed and bit Shabaka's back. Shabaka screeched and looked to see Lightleap slowly climbed her back and still clawed and bit her back. Pouncestep leaped at Shabaka and bit her tail hard and clawed it so hard that it draw blood. Shabaka shook the two she-cats off of her and both cats flew off and landed on the ground hard. Lightleap managed to get up and leap at Shabaka again. This time, she managed to reach her head and bit her neck hard. Meanwhile, Pouncestep was slowly getting up, but she hit the ground so hard that she had a hard time getting up. Shabaka looked and realized that now was her chance. She managed to get closer to Pouncestep and while shaking Lightleap off of her, Pouncestep looked up and saw Shabaka's color changing eyes. After a few minutes of staring, Shabaka managed to shake Lightleap off of her. Lightleap landed on the ground, she wondered why Pouncestep wasn't helping her, and started to get up.
"Pouncestep, why aren't you helping…." Lightleap meowed, but was cut off.
"Look deep into my eyess." Shabaka hissed.
Lightleap looked up and saw Shabaka's eyes. After a few moments, the multicolored, spiral eyes reflected off of both of the she-cats eyes and both she-cats started to calm down. After a few moments of staring, their thoughts begin to change and they soon were forgetting their loved ones. Shabaka smiled and she wrapped around the two she-cats until they were wrapped like cocoons with their heads poking out. She then ate both she-cats and swallowed them whole. By sundown, Shadowclan was getting worried and Tigerstar sent out patrols. He lead one of them to the Thunderclan border, where they begin to slow down when they heard rattling. The patrol looked and searched for the source, Tigerstar peaked his head through some bushes and saw Shabaka sleeping underneath a shaded tree. Tigerstar was shocked, he had never seen such a big snake and it was right in front of him. He silently signaled his clanmates to come here and Dovewing was the first to peak her head through the bushes. The rest of the patrol wasn't too far behind and Dovewing too was shocked to see a giant snake in front of her. The rest of the patrol was shocked and amazed and Dovewing leaned closer to Tigerstar's ear.
"Tigerstar, do you see those herbs underneath it?" she asked whispering.
"Yes, I do. I don't like this, do you think Alderheart or Fawnpaw were here?" he meowed.
"I hope not. Tigerstar…look…" Dovewing chocked.
Tigerstar examined the snake. Top to bottom, he couldn't believe the size or how long the snake was, but his heart dropped and stomach churned when he saw the snake's stomach. The snake's stomach was full; full of food, as if three cats had been eaten and digested. The whole patrol looked at each other, hoping to Starclan that what they were seeing was true and hoping that the fate of their missing clanmates wasn't true. After a few moments, the patrol put the pieces together and everyone started to mourn. Dovewing wailed for her lost daughters and tears streamed from Tigerstar's eyes as he was full of rage, and the rest of the patrol grieved. Surprisingly, this didn't seem to bother or even wake Shabaka at all.