Thirteen heads spun towards the entrance to the puddle (now widened, allowing the eight much larger cats to fit in… allowing Longstar in as well) to see the most cruel cat alive. Longstar was blocking their only escape exit. There would be a fight.
Tearpath was not going to wait for Longstar's move. If she had to face this cat again, she was going to, and she was going to put up a fight. She launched herself (and found Snarltooth and Leapwing jumping at the same time) towards Longstar, throwing the she-cat off balance. She ripped and bit, and got ripped and bit, until she backed off to see… a dozen more warriors joining the fight. She sighed. Fireprint had joined the fight and was battling a burly black tom with piercing yellow eyes that burned with fury and hatred. Tearpath realized that he had once been Leapwing's mentor.
Honorheart, across from Fireprint, was facing off a heavy-weight she-cat, and Preyfur was with him. When she turned her head, she could just see her kits and their friends all fighting a kit that looked about their age. Though he was badly out-numbered he seemed to be doing quite well, yelling taunts and taking bits of their fur with him whenever they managed an attack on him.
She concentrated on her own fight, jumping and rolling, scratching and yowling, biting and screaming victory. Longstar finally fled and Tearpath turned to another warrior.
She found herself fighting alongside Honorheart and Preyfur, still battling the large she-cat, but another cat had joined an even larger tom. He looked mad, with yellow eyes and fangs that glowed clearly red in the moonlight, he was snarling and his pelt was gnarly, he was as ugly as Longstar herself.
Tearpath allowed herself to attempt and lead the large tom away from the fighting warriors. Seeing her, the unintelligent brute began following his new bait. He leaped surprisingly high for his weight, and landed squarely on Tearpath's shoulders. She yowled in fear and surprise. "Snarltooth!" she cried desperately, knowing her brother would always come. She could see him finishing a battle, coming to her aid, but before he made it his eyes widened in fear. Fear, not for her.
Tearpath closed her eyes as Honorheart's terrified and horror-struck scream lit the night and reached StarClan. A sob, a yowl of fury, a terrible, horrible sound, all in one. But it was not caused by his own pain.
Tearpath could do nothing but watch as Preyfur fell to the ground, staring unknowingly at the cats that Tearpath couldn't see. Blood was gushing from a wound in her neck, and the she-cat they had been facing was grinning smugly.
Her victory was short lived. All battles had halted, warriors and kits alike were all staring at the duel between Honorheart and the she-cat. It was the shortest ever. In seconds, a large cat hit the ground with a thud, the surprise still in her eyes.
"No! Mattedfur!" Longstar screeched unpleasantly. She turned on Honorheart, but before she could leap, Snarltooth and Tearpath, who had slipped out from under her opponent, were blocking Longstar's unruly attack.
They knocked her to the ground and watched as she moaned pitifully. "Get out! Get out!" Tearpath yelled.
"Form a shield around the kits!" Longstar commanded her warriors. A circle of two dozen warriors formed quickly around Tearpath's kits. She felt a moan build in her chest.
"NO!" she screamed. She attempted to race forward to save her precious kits, but the goal proved pointless. Leapwing leapt forward and fastened his teeth around Tearpath's scruff and ripped her backwards. Tearpath sobbed miserably, and Leapwing was beginning to think he could barely keep her under control, much less sane when she began to stop struggling, though she continued to sob.
They were still struggling to pull Tearpath away when a voice rang out from across the clearing.
"It's alright Tearpath! I'll watch after them! I'll look out for all of them!"
It was a light yellow she-cat with brown spots. Tearpath remembered her as Mallowspot from gatherings.
Tearpath allowed herself to be dragged away keeping her eyes fixed on her savior. The last thing Tearpath remembered was seeing Longstar turn on Mallowspot and rake ten long claws down the flinching she-cat's muzzle.