Blades of Death
An angry snarl escaped Elektra's lips when the blackbird fluttered away, tweeting angrily. So close...But close didn't count, the hole in her stomach stayed and the sun was almost touching the horizon.
She turned around to look for Dark, who was sniffing a deserted mouse hole a few tail lengths away. He hadn't had any luck either, even though they had set off at sunhigh. But his face showed no sign of anger or frustration.
It didn't show anything.
Elektra could still very well remember the cheerful tom he had once been. As a young cat she'd spent a lot of time with him, even had a crush on him for a while. But that had been before...before the dog.
Almost six moon had passed since Cora and the kits had been caught unawares by the beast that had escaped its twolegs. Six moons since Dark had stood over their bloodied bodies, howling in anger and pain. Six moons, and not a single word.
Sometimes Elektra wondered if he even still had a voice. Or if the death of his mate had taken that with it as well.
But he was still her friend, and Elektra enjoyed hunting with him. He might not be the inventive marauder she had played with as a kit, but there was something soothing about his presence. And his dark blue eyes still shone with warmth, despite the sadness that clouded them. Elektra felt safe with him.
Under normal circumstances she'd never have ventured this far into the forest at the foot of the mountain, especially not now that the Clans were starting to sniff around here. But there was little that could threaten her as long as she was with Dark. The brown tom was almost twice the size of a normal cat, and incredibly strong. Elektra doubted that even a badger would dare to attack him.
"Just a bit further, don't you think? To that clearing up there? There has to be prey somewhere," she meowed cheerfully. Dark nodded and followed her. His big black paws were moving almost soundlessly across the forest floor. Elektra had always envied him for his hunting skills. She was barely half his weight, and he still caught more prey than her.
Suddenly Dark's head shot up, his ears pricked. Elektra froze. "Did you smell something?" she whispered. Dark didn't react, but his fur bristled. With a nod he motioned for her to stay back and silently started to creep forward, vanishing between the darkening trees.
Elektra hesitated. If Dark really had spotted some prey she didn't want to disturb it. But she knew him too well to miss the worry flickering through his eyes. Whatever he had sensed, it wasn't a mouse. Slowly, she started to move.
Dark turned his head, glowering at her, but Elektra ignored him. If Dark wanted her to stay, then he could tell her so. Not bloody likely.
She opened her mouth to taste the air. First there was nothing but the scents of the forest...trees, earth, tiny animals crawling below the leaves. Only then she noticed the scent of snow, coming down from the north. She frowned.
There was always snow in the mountains, even during the heat of green-leaf, but normally it was barely noticeable, rather like a memory than a real sensation. But this...Her fur bristled almost on its own accord. Something wrong, very wrong.
"Dark," she whispered, unable to keep the nervousness from her voice. "The snow – do you smell it?" He nodded pausing to look at her. Slowly, his head started to turn right, and he unsheathed his claws. Then everything happened very quickly.
A quiet hiss rang through the forest, almost inaudible. Immediately a black shadow jumped form the bush next to them, lunging at Dark with the same strange hissing noise and baring sharp white fangs. Two more fell from the trees above them. One landed directly on Dark, boring its pointed claws into his back, while the other touched down in front of Elektra, snarling at her.
Before she had even registered what was attacking her it was there, snapping at her throat. Instinct took over and she leapt back, lashing out at him. Her claws met her attacker, but it wasn't fur she was piercing but smooth skin, like that of a two-leg.
It yowled in pain but lunged itself at her again. This time she was prepared, and her claws found its face before it had reached her. Another painful cry and it retreated, giving her a short moment to breath.
Finally she could get clear look at what was attacking her. At first sight the creature that what pawing at the bloody scratches on its nose with low whimpers looked like a black cat. But it didn't have any fur, and his ears resembled the wings of a bat. Its eyes were too small as well, and too round for a cat, not to mention the strangely segmented paws, looking almost like the talons of bird. But was truly shocked her was the long blade that was protruding from the tip of its leathery tail, black, shining, and sharp as a knife.
Elektra felt ice seep into her stomach. What the hell was that?
She quickly glanced towards Dark. One of his attackers was lying on the ground, his neck apparently broken, but the other one had bit down on his shoulder, its sharp tail sweeping dangerously close to the tom's throat.
Elektra had no time to help him. Her own attacker had recovered its courage and ran forward again, more careful this time. She snarled at him, thinking quickly. The creature's strong point was obviously the blade. Its claws where shorter than hers, as were its teeth. She'd just have to watch out and keep it from turning its back on her...
She leapt forward, but her opponent had learnt from its mistakes and avoided her sweeping claws. Instead it let her sped past him, lashing its tail at her as soon as her claws had missed him. Elektra howled as burning pain shot through her right side
Her opponent sensed her weakness, attacking faster now, less careful. Suddenly Elektra knew what to do.
She turned around and raced towards the nearest tree, as fast as her bleeding side would allow it. It was a thick oak with low branches. She dug her claws into the rutted bark, too weak to jump, and dragged herself upwards.
The hissing of her attacker grew louder, and she could practically feel his cold breath on her back when she finally reached the first branch and hoist herself on it. Ignoring the stinging pain and the blood now freely running down her pelt she turned around, just in time to lash out at the snout snapping at her paws. Her attacker wailed as the claws found his face again, leaving deeper gashes than before.
It fell back to its paws, angrily swinging its tail at her. But Elektra was too far up, out of its reach. It realized it and sprang forward once more. Elektra watched nervously as it made its way up the tree with surprising speed. Those strange paws had obviously been evolved to climb.
But she was ready for this. Had waited for it, in fact. Scaling the tree her attacker was vulnerable, unable to avoid her claws. She smiled grimly, and hit.
It took the first to lashes with courage, climbing upwards with a determined snarl. But when her teeth sank into its front paw it slipped, crashing down to the ground with a pained yowl. It lay there for a moment, and when it had scrambled back to its paws it didn't attack again, limping into the bushes and out of sight.
Elektra sighed in relief and lowered herself back onto the brunch, panting heavily. Her side was stinging madly where the blade had hit her, and her legs cramped from the effort of climbing the tree. Slowly she turned her head to look at Dark, who had sunk to the ground as well, the bloodied body of his second attacker still under his paws.
She noticed several deep cuts on him. "Dark? You okay?" The tom merely nodded, not turning around. The red she-cat clenched her teeth and forced herself to slowly climb down to the ground again. She didn't dare jump, for fear of injuring her leg further. Finally on solid ground again she slowly limped over to Dark, giving the dead creature whose neck Dark had broken a wide berth.
With another exhausted sigh she slumped down next to him. "What the hell was that?" she meowed finally, as the reality of what had just happened caught up with her. Dark merely shrugged. Despite the deep cuts scattered over his pelt, and several missing patches of fur, he seemed largely unharmed. But he didn't look like he was planning on moving any time soon, either.
"Did you see those blades?" she muttered, shaking her head. Dark nodded soundlessly, his blue eyes unmoving. She groaned. "Seriously? You're gonna keep this no talking thing up even now?" Finally he turned his head, and Elektra shuddered involuntarily upon seeing the sorrowful shadow in it. It had been there for moons, and she still had trouble getting used to it. Only then she noticed that something had changed. The dark eyes were still full of sadness and devoid of any hope, but now there was something else there, too. Gratitude, and... Relief?
"Thank you" His voice was quiet, barely more than a croak, sore from the long moons of silence. But it was still full of the warmth she had missed so much. "Thank you for not giving up on me" He smiled, but it resembled more a painful grimace than an actual smile. "Now go" With a heavy pant he lifted himself to his paws, visibly struggling.
Elektra gasped in horror when she saw the bloody hole that had once been his stomach. Dark trembled, but he didn't fall down again. "Go!" he repeated, more urgent now. "More will come. I can buy you time, but not much."
Elektra shook her head, still reeling in shock. "I-I'm not gonna leave you behind!" she meowed, ignoring her churning stomach. She didn't need one of the medicine cats of the Clans to know that Dark was as good as dead.
"Elektra!" he pressed between clenched teeth, his face a mask of pain. "There's nothing you can do for me anymore. You've got to go, you've got to warn Destiny and the others!"
She hesitated. A loud hiss sounded out from somewhere between the trees, closer than she'd anticipated. Her stomach lurched when she saw the dark figures stalking through the trees, heading towards her. There were more than she could count. Her gaze met Dark's, and the brown tom smiled weakly. "Good bye, Elektra. Run." With that he turned around, facing the crowd of pointed, hate-filled faces surging towards them.
Elektra swallowed hard and finally started to run. Tears hampered her vision as she was trying to find her way back through the darkening forest, the snarls and howls of the attackers sounding out behind her. Darks voice was clearly discernible from their hissing. "Cora!" he boomed, again and again. "Cora!" Even when the yowling of the monsters had faded, his battle cry was still ringing in her ears.
Then it died too, and she was alone. Her flank hurt like hell and she could barely feel her leg. But she staggered onwards, further and further, expecting the monsters to catch up with her any second.
Surely the valley couldn't be this far away?
Dark...However much she tried to supress it, he kept appearing in front of her inner eyes, the red blood flowing from his wound, his face white in pain. Good bye, Elektra. Tears filled her eyes once more, and the forest in front of her started to blur. Dark...
She didn't noticed the attacker until it sprang out in front of her, blocking her way with a murderous hiss. Only then she realized that the cold scent had returned, coupled with the menacing snarls of her pursuers.
A quick look over her shoulder showed that the other attackers were still at least a hundred fox lengths away from her. She turned around again, just in time to dodge a murderous swipe of the blade tail. Her opponent stumbled, losing his balance through the force of his own blow, and Elektra used her chance to bite down hard on his hind leg, felling him completely.
She put all of her pain and anger into the bite, and only let go when she hurt a menacing crack, emitting a pitiful whimper from the monster. Then she quickly stepped back and flew around, starting to race towards the valley once more. Twenty more tail lengths. She could do it.
She yowled in pain when sharp teeth pierced her wounded leg. The fallen attacker had somehow managed to drag himself around, and was now clamping down on her himself, crashing her to the ground as well. Ending her chance of escaping.
They rolled across the floor, hissing and lashing out at each other, ripping at fur and skin. Elektra managed to snap his tail at the base of the blade. It flapped uselessly, attached only by a few inches of skin and spraying hot blood over both of them. But in return the monster rammed its claws deeply into her belly, cutting through fur and flesh. Elektra cried out when red-hot pain shot through her.
Dark's stomach came back to her mind, nothing but a red ruin. Deep down she knew that hers didn't look much better. But she refused to give in and fought on, ripping his leathery ears with her fangs. The other pursuers were less than ten tail lengths away now, but she didn't even notice them anymore.
Her world was reduced to a swirling storm of pain and blood, claws and fang, skin and fur. White bone shone through where she had torn open the monster's leg, and she could feel her life seep out through her stomach. But she fought on, knowing that she couldn't win.
If she died, she wanted to take at least one of the bastards with her. On and on they rolled over the leaf-covered forest floor, snarling, howling, dying. Suddenly something else appeared in the corner of her eyes, something that didn't fit into her world of pain and monsters.
An enormous, golden brown figure stepped out between the monsters, who scurried away from him, clearing a path towards her. For a mad moment she thought it was Dark, that he had somehow survived and had returned to save her. But the glittering eyes that met her now were golden, not blue, and when it opened its mouth the same hissing noise that the monsters made came out.
The pursuers paused, and for a moment her opponent did, too. And then there was suddenly nothing, and she was falling, falling, falling...
Destiny awoke with a start. It was the middle of the night, and thick clouds covered the sky. Only here and there a few stars shone through, dimly illuminating the gorge.
An owl called in the distance, but that wasn't what had woken her. Something else was in the air, a quiet whisper, like wind driving through trees. But the air was still, with not so much as a breeze to be felt. Destiny sat up, pricking her ears curiously. The sound seemed to come from the north. Sometimes one could hear avalanches tumbling down the mountains. But not this far into leaf green. And not this close.
Destiny rose, careful not to wake any of the others. Chase twitched in his sleep and kicked at some invisible foe, but he always did that. Nobody else seemed to notice the strange noise. Cautiously she started to move north, towards the strange sound.
It grew louder, and after a few tail lengths she realized that it wasn't buzzing, but voices. Howling and screams from dozens of cats. Destiny felt her blood run cold. She remembered the angry Clan leader that had arrived two months ago. They'd be able to manage against one Clan – but what if the other one had joined them after the strays had refused to help with that prophecy? Had the Clans decided to get rid of the strays once and for all?
She stood at the foot of the cliff with fear gripping at her heart, unable to move, unable to raise the alarm. The screeches and yowls grew louder and louder; they had to be directly at the edge now. Destiny shuddered. What kind of cat sounded like that?
And then she saw them. Two figures, tiny from down here, tumbling over the edge, locked in combat even while falling. For a moment everything was silent as they fell, almost in slow motion. Then the screams started up once more, louder this time. The figures screamed as well, screeching in fear in their long, inevitable journey downwards. Destiny snapped her eyes shut, but she still heard the terrible sound of something breaking as they hit the ground.
She swallowed hard, opening her eyes once more and searching the cliff top. For a moment she thought she saw a large, golden cat standing between the trees, but then she blinked and it was gone. Even the eerie howling had stopped. The valley was completely silent once more.
Destiny hesitated a moment before she started running. Behind her there were confused voices as the other cats finally woke from the noise, but Destiny ignored them, racing across the stepping stones that led to the other side of the river.
The closer she got, the further her heart sank. One was barely recognizable, half buried in the hazel bush it had landed in. The other was definitely a cat – and it looked terribly familiar.
"Elektra," she gasped, coming to a stand in front of the shattered body. What she saw made her stomach churn. The she-cat looked as if she had been dead before falling down the cliff. Her fur was hanging in shreds, and one of her hind legs was torn off almost completely. Her belly looked as if a badger had eaten from it, and its contents were spread over the surrounding rocks.
She stared at the corpse in silence, fighting tears and bile rising in her stomach. Only when the other cats started to arrive their shocked mews shook her out of her shock. "Have the kits stay back," she meowed quickly, struggling to keep her voice from trembling. "They shouldn't see this."
Reed nodded without a word, quickly herding off her three kits back towards the river, ignoring their protests. Behind her, Chase violently emptied his stomach on a rock, and even Splitter seemed shocked at the sight. "What happened?" she asked tonelessly.
Destiny shook her head. "No idea. There was something at the top of the cliff. I heard voices...lots of voices. She wasn't alone, there was someone else falling with her. They were fighting." She pointed to the hazel bush with her tail tip, not really wanting to go closer for fear of what she might find.
"She was out hunting with Dark," Dizzy meowed quietly. Destiny paused, looking at the terrible injuries on Elektra's pelt. Why would they have been fighting? And who had it been on top of the cliff?
A snort sounded from behind her. "Doesn't look like Dark," Drivel growled from where he had started to pull the second body out of the branches. "Doesn't look like anything, actually-" He stared blankly at the corpse in front of him Destiny felt her fur bristle. "By the gods-" Splitter whispered.
Destiny didn't say anything, silently staring at the strange creature in front of her. "I think it's time we visited Icestar," she finally meowed. "And tell him that we will help the Clans."
