Chapter 11, Trapped!
The two cats wrestled together. Russetstar was a good fighter, but Demonshadow was better.
Demonshadow scratched her underbelly, and Russetstar bit her shoulder. Demonshadow yowled and raked her claws down the opponents flank, and chest. She bit her tail and hind leg.
Russetstar lashed out and her teeth sunk into Demonshadow's foreleg. Demonshadow clawed her, and Russetstar clawed right back. They were a furious ball of claws, teeth and fur.
Mud sloshed onto Demonshadow's fur, and rain splattered her pelt. Blood trickled down the side of her face, and rushed out of a wound on her side and one on her shoulder. She wanted to get away, but ambition was filling her entire body.
She whacked Russetstar, but it wasn't hard enough. She strained her muscles, and her strong paws and long sharp claws hit the leaders back so hard she collapsed, motionless.
Russetstar didn't move, and Demonshadow knew she was losing a life.
Russetstar stood up and Demonshadow dug her teeth into her throat. She hung on, while Russetstar thrashed and yowled, until her struggles grew weaker, and she lay absolutely still.
The leader didn't rise. Demonshadow watched and watched, not knowing what to do.
A warrior sat up. "What?" he asked when he saw the blood.
"She was crazy," Demonshadow invented. "And she attacked me. I…had to kill her. There was nothing else I could do."
The warrior, Smoketail nodded. "I assume I'll be the new leader, as Tawnypelt is dead, I can see."
Demonshadow stopped, dead still. She had been so stupid! Why had she thought she would be the new deputy? Smoketail had an apprentice, and he was much older then Demonshadow!
He walked out of camp, ready to get his nine lives.
OoOoO
"Demonshadow will be the new deputy of ShadowClan!" yowled Smokestar.
Demonshadow watched with narrowed eyes. Well, she might as well be deputy…
OoOoO
Demonshadow sat in a starry forest, waiting for the young tom.
The silver cat padded up.
"Demonshadow," he whispered. "I'm glad you came."
"I didn't come, you called me," she meowed.
"Yes," he mewed. He scooted closer until his face was only a mouse length away.
He looked at her. "Every time you speak with Hawkfrost, I am there," he whispered.
Demonshadow looked at him taking in every detail of his pelt.
"I recognize you from somewhere…but…I don't know where," Demonshadow meowed.
He looked into her amber and green eyes. "You are a special cat," he whispered.
"Why?" Demonshadow asked.
"Someday…after you die, you will be able to be an energy cat, like me."
Demonshadow stared. "You're dead? How do you know I will?"
"Yes, I died a long time ago. I was a different cat then. I wasn't even a cat, I was a wolf."
"Stone!" Demonshadow cried. "Are you Stone?"
"I was Stone." He meowed. "I died killing my pack leader, Star. I died, and your mother, Rainfeather was there."
Demonshadow nodded, in awe. "When I die…will I come back as another different cat, like you?"
"You may or may not be a different cat," Stone meowed. (AN: I know that sounds weird, Stone meowing, but he isn't Stone anymore)
Demonshadow looked at him. "Thank you for teaching me this. When will I come again?"
"I don't schedule nights," he said. "I just call for you, anytime I think is right."
Demonshadow nodded. "Thank you…"
OoOoO
Moonhowl plunged into the lake.
"StarClan help-," she yowled, but her words were cut off as she fell into the icy water.
She fell down and thrashed her paws desperately.
Her head bobbed up and she opened her eyes, and sunk down again. "Help!" she yowled each time she came up.
She choked on a mouthful of water and thrashed her paws. They caught onto something.
She hauled herself out of the water and pulled herself onto something.
She lay on her side, panting, with her eyes closed.
Slowly she opened them and looked around. She was in a small cave, on the side of the cliff. Water rushed into the room, and mold grew on the walls.
Moonhowl was so happy she was safe she just kept lying down, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
OoOoO
Moonhowl woke, still in the little cave. She sat up and looked around.
Long vines hung off the walls, and she could see that the cave went farther back. She started walking down, when something silver caught her eye.
A few tail-lengths away was a plant with purple leaves and a silver stalk.
Moonhowl grabbed some in her jaws and hurried to the entrance.
How could she get out?
Moonhowl looked up. Maybe she could climb the cliff, up into RiverClan territory?
Moonhowl secured the plants in her jaws and turned over on her back. She jumped, and latched her front paws onto the cliff edge.
She was terrified. With her hind paws Moonhowl kicked, until she got a grip. Then, slowly, she moved her left front paw up, and shifted her weight. Then the next one, then her hind paws. She was a tiny bit higher.
Slowly she kept moving her paws, until she reached the top.
She pulled her self onto the path, and started trotting away.
She passed near the ShadowClan border.
I'll help them, Moonhowl decided. She trotted into the camp.
Ravenshadow was the only one to see her. Moonhowl laid a leaf in front of him. "Eat that," she commanded.
He started to chew it. He looked at Moonhowl, and his eyes fixed themselves.
"Moonhowl" he exclaimed. "I'm not insane anymore!"
"Yes," she whispered. "Ravenshadow…I…I...love you."
His eyes filled with sympathy. "I love you too, Moonhowl. I was stupid earlier. I was jealous when I saw you with Thornclaw."
"I don't love Thornclaw," Moonhowl reassured him. "Do you love Tortoiseshelltail?"
"No. I made that up to bug you. She isn't going to have my kits either. I made that up, too."
Ravenshadow turned his head and Moonhowl saw that there was a big scar on the side of it. Now that she thought of it, he was skinny, and his fur clung to his ragged frame.
"Are you alright?" Moonhowl asked him.
"Yes," he meowed.
"I have to go heal the other cats now," Moonhowl meowed. She stood up, but suddenly there was a cry of, "Oh no you don't!" And a dark ginger tom leapt on Moonhowl, and pounded her into the ground.
Ravenshadow leapt at him, but the tom whacked him aside and tossed the herbs into a stream. He grabbed Moonhowl and carried her away.
Ravenshadow struggled to his paws, watching as the big ginger tom grabbed Moonhowl and sprinted away, fast.
The ginger tom dove into the lake and started swimming across.
Moonhowl looked out, and bit her lip with worry.
Suspense! Review please! What do you think of that action!
