This is chapter seventeen! Or, alternately, chapter fourth-from-last!
DISCLAIMER: Warriors... is... um... mine? =is shot= ...Alright, so I don't own Warriors. Happy?
Seventeen
Alarmed cries - cries of Ivy and Pine - rang in Chicory's ears as she turned back and plunged into the darkness, fighting against all her instincts. Guilt overrode them. Strangely, she felt she had to rescue Snapdragon to feel whole again... Or perhaps it was not so strange. After all, Chicory had already come to terms with the fact that she felt a motherly protection towards Snapdragon, much like she did towards Chrysanthemum.
It was odd that she should feel so motherly at the tender age of eight moons. What about her other companions? she wondered. Pine? No, no, she was certain that she felt as a sister, not a mother, to Pine. And Ivy? Certainly, she did not think of him as her kit, but... what, then?
She was prevented from pondering this any longer, however, as she reached the den of scrawny cats. A smudge of bright ginger against the gloom, Snapdragon had his jaws wrapped around a strand of one of the cages, and was obviously trying to tug it loose. The cat trapped in the cage didn't seem at all grateful - his eyes were bulging as though the moon had alighted on his head.
Aargh, it's useless! Chicory felt like howling. She wanted to grab Snapdragon by the scruff so that they could leave, but she had seen a determined glint in his eye. Next to nothing could deter him from this.
All the same, Chicory was still going to try.
"Come back, Snapdragon!" the white she-cat caterwauled desperately. "Don't you want to leave?"
Snapdragon released the cage - his efforts had yielded no results - and turned to Chicory.
"What are you doing here?" he spat, looking hurt and a little betrayed.
"I-" Chicory was bewildered.
"It doesn't matter!" shot back Snapdragon before she could form a single word. "I know you don't care about anything that happens to these cats, but I do!"
"Snapdragon-"
"I don't like you anymore, Chicory!" Time seemed to freeze as Snapdragon choked these words out, paws wide apart and fur bristling. Chicory was silent as she digested the force of what Snapdragon had uttered.
Luckily, as it saved either of them from having to say anything else, three sets of pawsteps drummed on the ground somewhere to their right; two sets light, one set heavy.
Two lithe, nimble cat bodies flew down the short flight of stairs. Chicory scented them before she saw them - Ivy and Pine. But what of the Twoleg? Surely-
A thunderous growl of rage reached Chicory's ears just before the hulking shape of the Twoleg appeared.
"Chicory, hide me!" Ivy dashed to Chicory's side and lay for a heartbeat, trembling, in her silhouette, before seeming to remember himself and getting up again, somewhat abashed.
"Are you okay?" Chicory gasped, glancing at Pine. "What happened?"
"Later," panted Pine. A bloody scratch ran down his left cheek.
Chicory was on the verge of expressing further concern when the Twoleg made a lunge for Snapdragon in her peripheral vision.
"Snapdragon!" she shrieked.
Pine had noticed, too. "Move!" he yowled, barrelling into Snapdragon just as the Twoleg's paw curled into a fist. The dark brown tomcat raised his own forepaw and delivered a glancing blow to the Twoleg's. "Snap, get out of here!"
"Not until-" Snapdragon began fiercely, but Pine was now involved in dodging badly-aimed grabs from the Twoleg and was no longer listening.
Crashes of metal on a stone floor distracted Chicory. She whipped around - Ivy had wriggled behind the masses of shiny meshing and was now forcing the cages to the ground.
Chaos reigned - amongst the bang, bang, bang as cages toppled over and hit the ground, locks breaking, terrified cats wailing and scrambling to escape, the Twoleg bellowing wildly, and Pine's occasional snarls, Chicory could barely hear herself think. Ivy's done it, she managed, Ivy's freeing them.
"Get them!" Ivy screamed from some higher vantage point, pushing out strongly with his back legs and sending yet another cage flying. Chicory registered that the tortoiseshell tom was yelling at her and hastened to obey, headbutting cages off mildly wounded and weak cats. With some annoyance, she noticed that not one of them mewed a word of thanks, simply making for the exit.
With Pine, and now Snapdragon attacking him - Chicory would have worried about the recklessness of it in other circumstances - the Twoleg was pretty much helpless. A roar erupted from his throat as he tried, and failed, to swat Snapdragon away.
Failed, because Chicory had taken the tomcat by the scruff, and, like Ivy and Pine, was now running.
###
Cats were still streaming out of the Twoleg nest in a river of black, white, orange, and fawn fur when Chicory, Pine, Ivy, and Snapdragon reached the outside.
However, the four of them - or, in truth, three, as Chicory was still grimly gripping Snapdragon - dared not stop until even the scents of the place were a memory.
There, in the dirty grass beside a Thunderpath, they collapsed, hearts thudding and legs weak.
After a while; "I'm sorry, Chicory," meowed Snapdragon, meekly, not meeting her eyes.
There was a moment of silence. Chicory mulled this apology over, noticing with a twinge that his left ear was matted with dark blood. There was so much she wanted to reply, scathing, frosty, and harsh, but Snapdragon was only a kit...
In the end, all she said was, in a whispery mew, "You're such a drama queen, Snapdragon."
A pregnant, lengthy pause followed.
"I can't be a drama queen, Chicory. I'm a tom."
The feeble joke broke the tension.
Chicory purred roughly and pulled herself closer to him so she could clean his wound.
Oh... this chapter was painfully short... I'm sorry, guys. I give you full right to kill me for this. =sigh=