A/N: Guess who found her binders and fanart for this series again~?
:P
Chapter Thirteen
A moon after accepting Pinetail and her kits to the Clan, Sparrowwing noted that the young Queen was settling in rather well. She and her kits, despite having previously been nothing but average Kittypets, were adapting well to Clan life, especially the kits. They sat in around the Elders every day, learning and listening about the Clan History and Warrior Code and tales of battle and the Great Warriors up in StarClan. Pinetail would try and nonchalantly slide over, only to end up curled against the kits, listening with wide eyes and shivering whiskers.
Still, while new blood was welcome, there were four new mouths to feed, and, though the beginning Green-Leaf was looking like it would be very plentiful, the Hunting Patrols were being pushed hard. As a result, Sparrowwing was hunting alone near the WoodClan border when another attempt to take Territory occurred.
"WoodClan, attack!" A yowl tore through the air, startling what few birds were nestled in the nearby bushes, and Sparrowwing threw herself straight up into the air to dodge the opening lunge of a thick-furred orange-tabby tom as he appeared from out of those same bushes. Eyes narrowing as she landed, Sparrowwing threw herself under the lunge of an Apprentice and rolled with a snarl as the large form of a dark-gray tabby-tom with blue eyes slammed into her.
"You're outnumbered," the large tom told her smugly. "We have the upperpaw. Surrender, and there'll be no need to-" Sparrowwing didn't hesitate, twisting beneath his paw and sinking her claws into his mouth, uncaring about the thin scratches his own left behind on her shoulder and cheek. Arrogance is a Warrior's Downfall, she thought, grimly pleased, as blood spurted as she tore into his lips and gums, making the large tom screech and rear away. Immediately, Sparrowwing lunged to her paws and threw herself away from him, using a shoulder to ram the young Apprentice (a lean, brown tom with black spots and gold eyes), sending him sprawling with a yowl and earning an angry snarl from the orange-tabby Warrior.
"Get back here!" He snarled at her; Sparrowwing yowled tauntingly and was gratified to hear them give chase. Glancing over her shoulder, she noted that the gray tabby was the only one who stayed behind, no doubt still stunned by the pain of his mouth being torn open. Grimly determined, Sparrowwing returned her focus to what was in front of her and let herself slow down just enough that the WoodClan cats felt like they were gaining. As she ran, she gave the occasional yowl, both to taunt the WoodClan cats and to alert whichever one of her Clanmates was closer. Windclaw was supposed to be closest, but she wasn't sure if he'd show, with the way he was constantly appearing in areas he wasn't supposed to be. And if he didn't show, it meant that Flowerpaw wouldn't either, as the young Queen tended to trail after her Mentor whenever she could and wouldn't hesitate to move away if he suggested it...
A root sticking out of the ground almost tripped her, and Sparrowwing shook her head sharply to re-focus. A Distracted Warrior is a Dead Warrior! She snarled to herself, ears pinned and eyes narrowing. Thankfully, she wouldn't need Windclaw to show if her plan worked out. All those moons wandering the Territory, being taught by Palestripe and then teaching her fellow Paw's, had left her with a keen idea of where everything was. And, as she slowed down some more, allowing herself to pant obviously, she took careful, attentive looks around as she ran. As soon as a specific bush with a rock shaped like a sleeping mouse came into view, Sparrowwing let herself 'stumble'.
Claws raked her hindquarters, making her yowl and lunge forward. She ran three more fox-lengths, the orange-tabby Warrior and gasping Apprentice on her tail. They were close enough that she could feel the Warrior's next swipe just barely graze the fur on the back of her hind-legs. She ducked her head, hunched her shoulders-
And leaped.
And, within a single heartbeat, she was airborne, hanging in the air at the height of her jump, faster than either tom react to, let alone see why she jumped. The confusion didn't last long, as, not even another heartbeat later, the two toms fell into the ravine that had been hidden by the tall grasses, screeching in fear, then in pain, as they fell, swallowed by the shaded darkness of the ravines' open maw. Sparrowwing cleared the ravine by mouse-whiskers, having jumped upward more than outward in an attempt to further distract the WoodClan cats from the danger, and so when she fell she went tumbling into a roll, sides heaving and dirt being thrown into the air as she dug her claws into the ground as she went.
The sounds echoing up out of the ravine were horrifying, making her ears pin back against her skull. Slowly, Sparrowwing heaved herself to her paws, ignoring the bloody cuts that marred where her right hind-leg and her back met, and the thin scratches on her cheek and shoulder that stung with dirt. Cautiously, Sparrowwing approached the ravine edge, much like one approached a sleeping predator, unsure if the safety was real or just some illusion waiting for you to get into striking distance. Carefully, warily, she peered over the ledge, ears pinned back and mouth open as she panted, tasting the air even as the scent of blood and terror began to rise from the shadowy space.
The orange tabby had fallen slowly silent, blood and dirt darkening his belly, where sharp rocks and a stick had torn him open, spilling gore out into the air. Even as she watched, eyes wide and pupils pin-pricks, his shallow breaths grew quickly thinner, stuttering and tight and wet, and then, it stopped all together. The Apprentice was different, crying out in pain as he curled up against the side of the ravine, a large cut dug into him from his right hip all along his flank and missing the eye on that side, leaving nothing but a gory, gaping hole in his face, mouth open as he gasped and mewed and bled sluggishly.
Eying him grimly, guilt curdling in her stomach along with nausea, Sparrowwing took a slow, deep breath, and turned away for another reason despite the scent making her almost heave. There was no way she'd be able to retrieve the Apprentice and the dead Warrior without some help, after all, she told herself as she took a step away from the scene. And, seeing as how Windclaw had never showed, she would need to hunt help down herself. Nodding tightly, hackles up, she took off along the designated posts for her Clanmates that day. She would get help, and then they would return to get him out soon enough.
Unfortunately for the WoodClan Apprentice, and her guilt, this took far longer than it should have, because she was forced to run all the way back to the Home Camp to find said help. The only thing the long run had given her was time to stew in her frustrated anger at Windclaw, and now she seethed with it, teeth bared and the stench of death and blood clinging to her lungs like an omen.
"Where's Windclaw?" She demanded as soon as she stepped into the Camp, gray eyes narrowed, tail lashing, and ears pinned, temper well and truly riled for the first time in her life. Softtail, Blossomheart, and Foxtail looked up from where they were discussing something beside the Fresh Kill Stone, ears quivering and hackles rising in instinctive alarm at her aggressive, bloody appearance.
"Sparrowwing?" Blossomheart asked, straightening up in surprise as she took in the young Queen's battered appearance. "What happened?!"
"What happened," she growled irritably, teeth baring, "is that a WoodClan Patrol decided to try and retake a few fox-lengths of territory, and, when I called for back-up and lead them on a merry chase, Windclaw wasn't at his reported location. And because of that, I had to take the pursuing WoodClan cats on chase through our Territory, until I managed to land them in a Ravine." She spat angrily, uncaring that her voice rose into an angry screech as her tail lashed furiously. "I now need help reclaiming the dead Warrior and severely injured Apprentice that came with him, and back-up to check the Border again, where I left another injured WoodClan Warrior." Sparrowwing glared around herself at the staring Warriors and Apprentices that had ventured out of their dens or into the camp during her report/rant, Pinetail and Lostfoot being the reason that the curious kits weren't also staring out of their den as the two pulled them back inside with murmurs of stories and sharing tongues. WhisperStar himself was there now, frowning as Rainstorm padded over to eye her injuries from where they'd been hidden within the Medicine Den.
"Windclaw wasn't where he was supposed to be, you said?" WhisperStar asked hoarsely; she bobbed her head, forcing her hackles down in the presence of her Leader, and taking tight, slow breaths as her heart beat too-loudly in her ears.
"I led the cats into the area he was supposed to be," she informed him stiffly. "His scent wasn't even fresh there, not even sun-up fresh like it would have been if he'd been there at all today." His frown deepened, his tail twitching in irritation, before he nodded.
"Foxtail, take Nightfur, Palestripe, and Rabbitfoot to the Border to check and make sure WoodClan hasn't continued its attempt to claim our Territory," he ordered, getting a firm nod from the Deputy as the named cats immediately set out with her stern yowl, disappearing into the tall grasses silently as they went. "Blossomheart, Rainstorm, and Grassrunner, go with Sparrowwing and retrieve the WoodClan cats, dead and alive. We shall return the dead to the Border and aid the living until they're healthy enough to return themselves or WoodClan requests their immediate return."
"Yes, WhisperStar," the named cats agreed simply, obediently as their Leader glanced at them. WhisperStar lifted his head as his ears twitched and cast his yellow gaze over his shoulder towards the other end of Camp. Sparrowwing's eyes narrowed into slits and her hackles started to rise once more when she followed his gaze with her own, because there was Windclaw, carrying a rabbit in his jaws with Flowerpaw at his side, carrying a pair of thrush. As if they hadn't abandoned their posts and weren't in the wrong in any way.
As if they hadn't abandoned their Clanmate.
"I will deal with Windclaw," he informed them quietly, turning and walking towards the Warrior without another word, head eye and gate steady as he went.
"Come along, kit," Rainstorm ordered Sparrowwing sternly, nudging her uninjured shoulder with his own in a firm, guiding motion. "You said that there was an injured cat waiting." Sparrowwing huffed, but obeyed, turning her back on the Home Camp and the confrontation between her Leader and errant Clanmate, leading instead those Clanmates with her back toward the ravine. They ran at a slower pace than she had left it at, due to the exhaustion quickly settling into her very bones, but they still managed to reach the ravine quicker than the time it had taken her to eventually make it back to Camp, thanks in part to the fact she was no longer scenting for fellow Warriors close by.
Luckily for the injured WoodClan Apprentice, the particular ravine Sparrowwing had trapped him and his Clanmate in had an opening that allowed for easier access to its depths, something that let MeadowClan Warriors aide those who fell into it, or retrieve their corpses. The Apprentice was no longer crying, although he was still breathing, which Sparrowwing was relieved to note as she peered at him through the gloom. Instead, he was unconscious, just where she'd last seen him, and the orange tabby tom's body was still there as well, the scent of raw meat, bile, and spoiling blood making the ravine reek of death, the smell seeping into her lungs and fur, and Sparrowwing grimly doubted that she would ever be rid of it, until StarClan claimed her and it was no longer there to haunt her pawsteps.
"It's always unpleasant to see a death like this," Rainstorm murmured, eying the gutted WoodClan Warrior grimly even as he slipped over, barely visibly in the thin beams of sunlight that managed to slip between the tall grass cradling the ravine opening several fox-lengths above their heads. "Fortunately for this tom, his death was relatively quick after the fall. I've seen injures like this that lasted for days, unending pain and terror the likes of which no cat deserves." Sparrowwing and the other Queens flinched, ears pinning down at the thought.
"Well," he sighed softly, shaking his head before flicking his tail at the three Queens as he turned towards the unconscious Apprentice, "Blossomheart, Grassrunner, you two carry the Warrior to the Border. The kit and I can handle the Apprentice." The two older Queens nodded and moved towards the dead tom, while Sparrowwing carefully followed Rainstorms curt instructions until she had the unconscious Apprentice over her shoulders, settled so that his injured side was facing the sun and therefore less likely to be forced back into bleeding from unsteady pressure of her back moving.
Together, they carefully returned to the Home Camp, paws slow and steady as Rainstorm monitored the Paw and Sparrowwing concentrated on every step, fighting off her fatigue as she went. When they finally reached Camp, they moved straight for the Medicine Den, ignoring the curious stares of the rest of the Clan as they did so, and Sparrowwing finally, carefully, lowered the young Paw onto one of the soft nests hidden there. Immediately, she stepped out of the way as Pebblepaw and Rainstorm got to work, packing and cleaning the Paw's wounds and carefully getting a few poppy seeds into him as they moved, muttering and murmuring to one another about each action as they did so.
Sparrowwing stayed as well, choosing to lie down and carefully begin cleaning the mud and blood from her paws and hip. She didn't feel comfortable leaving the Paw for several reasons, least of which him being a threat to the Clan. Mostly, however, the guild gnawed on her like tenacious flees, digging in and making her skin ache with it as she watched the Medicine Cats do all they could to cover his mangled face and side. She had done that to him, after all.
It was only right that she watched the consequences of her actions.
She was there until well past sun-high, after her cuts had been cleaned and taken care of by the Medicine Cats, just watching over the WoodClan Apprentice. No one tried to move her from her vigil, though occasionally a curious head risked Rainstorm's ire by peeking through the moss hangings to peer at her and the Paw, Sparrowwing paid them no mind. Her eyes remained locked on the cobwebs and leaves that wrapped the injured side of the Paw's face, etching it into her memory as best as she was able, to sit alongside the stench of death and bile his Clanmate had dug there with sharp claws and pain-filled cries that would stalk her dreams.
It was near sundown when WhisperStar slipped through the moss-coverings to sit beside her, yellow eyes solemn as they slid over the injured Apprentice.
"Windclaw has told me his reasons for leaving his designated hunting area," the MeadowClan Leader informed her quietly, yellow eyes serious as he eyed the WoodClan Apprentice as he weakly lapped at some water that was held in a hollowed-out branch, Pebblepaw softly mewing at him, gently encouraging and carefully bathing the ear on the uninjured side of his head. "While it was very irresponsible of him, and he shall be punished, it was not something done maliciously. He will be on Dawn Patrol with Foxtail and Rabbitfoot for the next three moons, and banned from Gatherings for five, but that is all I can do without risking injustice." Sparrowwing's ears pinned back, but she nodded stiffly. The two of them watched on as Pebblepaw gently coaxed the Apprentice into nibbling on a mangled mouse, one she had torn into herself so that he could chew easier with his damaged face.
His future meals wouldn't need to be so mangled, Sparrowwing had been quietly informed. He could even attempt to become a Warrior once more, his injury far from something that would see him forced to become an Elder, but it would be a good few moons before he'd recovered to such a point.
"Know this, Sparrowwing," WhisperStar added quietly, finally turning his gaze onto her as she blinked, refocusing on her Leader with a flick of her ear, eyes still locked on the two Paws. "If your injuries had been more severe, or the force had been larger, his punishment would have been far more severe. We do not take the abandonment of our Clanmates lightly, and by leaving his post, Windclaw put not only yourself in danger, but the Clan itself. It would have been far easier for a larger force of WoodClan Warriors to overpower you and make their way into the Camp to cause havoc, had they been inclined, with how thin the protections were between your post and the Camp with Windclaw's movement. The fact he took his Apprentice with him..." WhisperStar sigh had a hoarse, croaking edge to it, something that meant the scar across his neck was tight with tension.
"Flowerpaw will not be punished like her Mentor," he told her, "because she was following the orders of her Senior, as she was supposed to do. It would, however, be best if another took over her Training in the time between sun-high and sunset, for the next few moons, I believe." Sparrowwing paused, blinking in surprise, before looking up at him with twitching whiskers, one ear idly turned towards the Paws across from them as she did so, still attentive even now.
"Are you asking me to Mentor her?" She asked him, confused; whiskers lifting in faint amusement, WhisperStar nodded.
"Think of it as practice, for when you have your own Apprentice underpaw," he told her, before standing again with another hoarse sigh. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting at the Border with WoodClan," he informed her, turning to leave.
"StarClan watch over your Meeting," she called softly; with an acknowledging flick of his tail, WhisperStar disappeared through the doorway, and Sparrowwing returned to her vigil, agreeably sharing a shrew with Pebblepaw when the Apprentice approached her after the injured Apprentice (who had informed them, voice slurred and eye bleary with pain and poppy seeds, that his name was Timberpaw, and that the dead cat had been Bramblenose, his Mentors friend. Said Mentor had been the gray tabby whose mouth she'd torn open, named Thunderstorm) finally fell asleep.
A peaceful rest of the day wasn't foretold, however, as the cry for back-up was called not long after WhisperStar had left with Palestripe and Foxtail to the Border, the sun already beginning to set in the distance and making their Territory steadily more dangerous as it did so. Immediately, however, Sparrowwing was out of the Medicine Den, lunging out of the Camp with Blossomheart and Nightfur at her side as the three of them sped towards the WoodClan border, eyes narrowed and thoughts of betrayal on their minds, Sunset and Blacktail barely a fox-length behind them.
They came upon the Border to the sight of WoodClan and MeadowClan cats fighting together against one of the rarer, but dreaded, sharp-fanged Mountain Lions, it muscles defined beneath sleek, gold-colored fur, amber eyes large and sharp like fire in the dying sunlight. Without hesitation, the newly arrived Warriors yowled a battle cry and threw themselves forward to aide their Clanmates. Those yowls turning to furious screeches as WhisperStar was thrown to the side by one massive paw, the obvious loss of one of his Blessed Nine Lives taking place. A shivery, silver-like glow, a barely-there wisp rose from his fallen form up into the air in response to the grave injury to his side, the outline of his Spirit joining its fellow Lives where they waited in the Starpelt for the day all Nine Lives were shed.
Sparrowwing ignored her once-again stinging wounds and heavy exhaustion as she leaped high into the air, a WoodClan Warrior joining her from the other side of the Great Cat, the two of them barely glancing at one another before they landed on its back, sinking claws and teeth wherever they could as they moved. Absently, distantly, she noted that it was the vaguely-familiar form once-Apprentice tom from the skirmish with the Rogues those many moons ago, the one that had been named Rockpaw at the time. He had no doubt gained his Warrior Name, just as she had. She hoped it served him well even as she focused on digging her teeth and claws as deep as she could into the Great Cat beneath her.
The Mountain Lion screamed in anger, shaking and thrashing, swatting at their respective Clanmates as it tried to attack and defend at the same time. Its fur tasted like pine between her teeth, the smell of thick blood in her nose as Sparrowwing dug her teeth into the meat of its scruff. The blood-scent only barely overpowered the musky, predatory musk of its scent-glands nearby, the ones that made her hackles rise and fear thrill, causing her to dig her claws in instinctively as she struggled not to cringe against her own body's reactions to the large predator, the ones that named her prey.
You are a Warrior of MeadowClan, she snarled to herself, ears pinned, and eyes narrowed. Stop acting like a kit! The other Warrior was struggling as well, his own perch on the Great Cat's lower back far more dangerous, the only thing keeping those massive, snarling fangs from snatching him from his place were the concerted efforts of the Clanmates, darting in and out and around the Great Cat, harrying it from every angle. Foxtail landed briefly on the expense of golden fur between Sparrowwing and the once-Rockpaw, gold-green eyes narrow and dark blood spattered across her white fur as she leaped over Sparrowwing in order to dig teeth and claws into the Great Cat's forehead, gouging wounds that would have been devastating on any single Warrior, but were only shallow, harmless things for the massive predator.
When the WoodClan back-up arrived, yowling as they joined they fight, the Great Cat decided that enough was enough. With a snarl, it rolled so that Sparrowwing and her WoodClan accomplice were finally forced to release their grips, and, with another snarl that made Sparrowwing's ears ache with its harsh volume, the Great Cat loped away, racing along the Border towards the Star Pool's No-Clan Territory. Immediately, Foxtail, Nightfur, and three WoodClan Warriors gave chase, screeching and yowling so that it knew not to turn back.
Panting heavily, Sparrowwing nodded stiffly to once-Rockpaw and limped over to her Leader as he was carefully sitting up, the grave injury on his side already lessoned by StarClan's Blessing. Her whole body ached from the tension and the tumble, having had the Great Cat nearly land on her when it had rolled and ended up rolling herself over the hard ground. WhisperStar glanced around at the panting, dusty cats around him, yellow eyes keen if tired.
"Is anyone gravely injured?" He yowled, voice far hoarser than usual but clearly heard. Immediate meows in the negative rose from the MeadowClan cats as they all checked themselves and their Clanmates, the same rising from WoodClan for their own Leader when she cast an equally sharp eye over her cats. "Well, that, at least, is a blessing," he decided tiredly, shaking his fur out carefully as he regained his feet, Sparrowwing standing to his right and Palestripe on his left as they faced the WoodClan cats. DarkStar's small form was bracketed from where she sat across the Border Line, on one side by an extremely tall tom with gold fur, black spots, and white feet, his green eyes narrowed angrily, and on the other with the familiar form of Ashtail, the gray queen cold-eyed and panting faintly.
"Indeed," the WoodClan Leader meowed coolly, sitting tall as she faced the much-larger MeadowClan Leader, gold eyes cold and hard. "The last thing either of our Clans need is any more unnecessary deaths, correct?" WhisperStar's eyes narrowed as he, too, sat up stiffly.
"Oh, I agree," he responded quietly, seriously. "It's a good thing neither of us is here to start another unnecessary attack today, correct?" The tall spotted tom beside DarkStar snarled, but fell silent when his Leader's tail brushed him, her gold eyes like ice as she eyed them.
"Indeed," she relied, voice clipped. "Now, the return of our Apprentice?" She asked; WhisperStar stared at her for several long moments, before tilting his head.
"Sparrowwing," he stated; Sparrowwing stepped forward, waiting. "Please return to Camp, inform them of the situation, and retrieve the young Paw from the Medicine Den, if you would."
"Yes, WhisperStar," she agreed, turning to do that.
"I recognize you, kit," DarkStar stated as she moved, making Sparrowwing pause to glance over her shoulder. Those gold eyes watched her, uncaring of the stiffness that rose in Palestripe as his hackles began to rise defensively of his once-Apprentice. "I am glad to see you've survived so far." Sparrowwing eyed the other Queen for a few moments, before bobbing her head respectfully.
"The same to you," she replied, before turning and loping away before anymore could be said. She had a WoodClan Apprentice to return, after all, and a Clan to reassure. The way her body ached had her grimacing, ears pinned as she forced herself to keep running. She would no doubt be sore tomorrow, but a Warrior's life was like this. It was pushing forward even when your paws bled and your fur fell out and your bones felt like they'd been crunched between the fangs of some Great Beast.
Forcing her muscles to stiffen, her paws to continue unfalteringly, her eyes to narrow with focus, Sparrowwing clenched her jaws and focused.
She was a Warrior of MeadowClan, and she would not Falter.
A/N: Ta-Da! I had to re-write a large chunk of this due to lackluster fight scenes, but here we go!
…Also, wtf I had to re-read this whole fic and, besides a lot of small, random misspelled words, can I just say that I apparently write Purple Prose battle scenes? Like, what?
Also-also, um, this Mountain Lion just happens to be a large specimen, I've decided. Because the average Cougar is like, in comparison to a House Cat? It would be like a Jack Russel VS a Labrador. Not a little size difference, but two cats (and at one point 3 of them) riding on its back is stretching belief a bit, but I realized this after I'd already written the scene, so (shrugs) w/e lol
Anyway, please Review!