The chilling breeze of the wind blew from the moorland, ruffling a tom's fur. He starred at the she-cat in front of him, once seeing her as a friend. Now, anger seemed to fuel them both as they glared at each other, seeing the other as nothing but a target. An enemy. A threat.
"For the last time Sunbird," the she-cat snarled, her tan striped tabby fur bristling on end. "Give me Runningkit!"
The brown tom looked down at the she-kit, his dark brown eyes and mind filling up with one thing. To protect.
"No," the medicine cat told her.
"What!?" the warrior hissed.
"I said no Snakewing," Sunbird repeated, anger in his voice. "You're not taking my daughter into that Clan full of murderers!"
Hearing this, the queen yowled and dove for the WindClan medicine cat. Sunbird ducked, then twisted and slashed the warrior's muzzle with his front claws. Snakewing brought her front paw down hard on Sunbird's head. The tom looked at Runningkit and struggled to fight his, now hated, friend while not trying to land on her.
Finally, Sunbird reared up on his back legs and brought his full weight down on the ShadowClan warrior. Snakewing got up and went over to the ShadowClan border, defeated. Sunbird hissed at her. The medicine cat gently picked up his kit with his jaws and limped back to WindClan's territory.
Swallowfeather ran to Sunbird as he collapsed from exhaustion. Runningkit tumbled to the ground, letting out a squeak of pain. Aspenstar raced to the kit and quickly picked her up. He took her into the nursery and found Daisyblaze in her nest. "Daisyblaze," the leader's words were muffled by the kit's fur.
Aspenstar put Runningkit next to the queen and then nodded. "Please, care for this kit. Sunbird brought her."
The queen put her paw up to stop him. "I understand," she replied.
Aspenstar padded out of the nursery and saw Sunbird in his den.
Swallowfeather got the ragwort and gave it Sunbird, who consumed it. The brown medicine cat looked up at the deputy. "Where's Runningkit?" he asked.
Swallowfeather flicked her tail toward the nursery. "Daisyblaze is caring for her."
Sunbird relaxed. Seeing that Snakewing did a number on him, he grabbed some cobwebs and pressed them into the skin under his fur. After, he got some burdock leaves and put them on his wounds. "Give Aspenstar my thanks," he said as he laid his head on his paws.
The WindClan deputy nodded then padded away to the fresh-kill pile. As the tom laid there, he sent a prayer up to the sky. StarClan, please forgive me.