The black and white tom traced his long claw on the stone next to the sleek, green Twoleg. The mass of cats began to growl or murmur to each other. The tom spoke up against the cats,
"First of all, my name is Leader Of The Creatures. My master is Leader Of The Land. You may call us Creat and Land. Look like you mass of stone-brains moved your way into the great Power room. Also, per say, you have lost all hope and faith, and shall die in the paws of my knights."
Darkclaw shuddered next to me. I pressed my flank against his in attempt to calm him down. "We will be fine, don't worry." I whispered. My conscience kept yelling that statement is not true. The cats snarled and growled louder, filling the room. As the cats were distracted, Darkclaw replied, "Thanks for helping."
"No prob-" My voice was cut off as he gave a quick lick on the back of my ear like a mother doing a quick wash to her kit. My pale yellow fur grew hot with embarrassment. "We don't have time for this. Especially not now!" I muttered through clenched teeth. Creat flicked his tail and two huge monster things came crashing down through the stone roof.
"Attack!" A random cat's yowl pierced the air. The parade charged and split to fight both the huge monsters. Darkclaw went into the different group and gave a quick nod before he nearly got knocked over by the cats behind him. He ran off and climbed onto the monster. Then the cats behind me pushed me to the roaring beast.
I scrambled up its hind leg and jumped onto the plats jutting out of its body. Below, I saw cats raking their claws on the dark blue creature's legs and back. Leaping onto one more plate, I started to claw at the scales. Scratches appeared on the skin, until eventually it broke into a pink under skin. My front paws ached from the work, do I scrambled above the hole in the scales and clawed at it with my hind claws.
"Well, this is useful." I muttuted. The scent of blood filled my nose as the under skin gave away and a gash appeared. I lost control of my muscles and fell back onto the plate. It moved a lot due to the monster trying to shake the cats off like an elder trying to get ticks out of its fur. Once I got control, I scrambled upwards to join a group of cats who were making a hole on the creatures back.
Gray and brown pelts pressed together as they clawed through the weak, thin skin. Blood sprayed out of the wound, covering my face. I spat out blood that got in my mouth on another cat. "Watch it!" It hissed. "Sorry." I mumbled, as the monster shreiked in pain.
Then a light brown tabby she-cat climbed onto the monster's neck and bit down as hard as she could. I squeezed through the cats and went to help her. I clawed at the back of the neck and the monster threw back its head, nearly throwing us off. Holding on, I bit down where I clawed at the scales. Then the monster fell and for a moment I was hanging in midair.
"Gosh darn it."The she cat growled as we failed downwards, landing on the limp body of the creature. The other cats moaned and stretched as they got up. Then the other monster crashed down on top of us, and I wasn't fast enough. I got stuck and pain pierced my flank as the other monster landed on top of me. "Help! Darkclaw!" I yowled, trying to claw my way out.
A reply sounded from the outside. It sounded like "Agoning, you're live!" I clawed faster until my front paws ached from the work. Darkness swelled on the edge of my vision and I sank into blackness.
After a while, I woke up on the stone ground, my body as heavy as a boulder. A brown, blurred tabby loomed above me, as if expecting for me to wake up. Once my vision adjusted, the brown tabby was Darkclaw. I croaked, "Is that you, Darkclaw?" An unexpected purr burst from him, and he replied, "Thank StarClan your safe. Now let's get back home."
"Wait, what-" The massive dark tabby tom picked me up by my scruff and carried me the best he could out of the twoleg thing. He padded towards a black hole in the middle of the ground. Then he asked through fur, "Can you walk?" "I think," I replied as he put me down.
Pain throbbed in my forepaws while I was trembling on fours. Then Darkclaw jumped into the black hole and I jumped after him. We appeared in the FireClan camp, screeches of battle in the distance. I walked awkwardly around the empty camp until I stumbled over a hole. Catching myself, I only heard the medicine cat den shake and the elders chatting.
A gray-blue she cat ran up to me and asked, "Dragonwing, where have you been?" I shook my head, my mind whizzing with thoughts. She lead me to the medicine cat den where Snowcloud was organizing herbs and twoleg boxes. She looked up and her dark blue eyes grew wide with shock. "What, where, how?"
Moonfrost help up a paw and flicked her tail towards a moss nest. As I layer down in it, I asked, "How long was I away?" The puffy white she-cat replied, "Half a moon." Half a moon! So much time for what felt so short! Then Darkclaw padded in and a pale red she-cat followed him.
"Dragonwing?" The she-cat asked. Forgetting every cat's name, I asked, "Who are you?" Moonfrost ordered before the forgotten she-cat answered, "Can you stretch out you front leg for me? You can go on." I stretched out my foreleg for Moonfrost to wrap comfrey around a stick on the back of it. The red cat continued, "Remember me? I'm you former mentor, Rosefur."
My mind cleared as I exclaimed, "Rosefur!" I shifted in my moss bedding and Moonfrost hissed to keep still. I settled back and glanced at Snowcloud treating a wound on Darkclaw's shoulder. He sometimes shuddered but winced on an occasion. Then I turned my head back to the dark ginger she-cat and asked, "So what happened while I was gone? Where are the warriors?"
Rosefur flicked her tail, "Well, the warriors are fighting with the new AirClan cats for territory. EarthClan came to help, but IceClan stopped them. The reason for this is because the developing AirClan wants as much territory as possible. The leader, Falconstar, has chosen some of the best warriors from our Clan, so we are at a disadvantage. Cats come back and forth for healing wounds. The AirClan warriors are mainly from FireClan, but there are some IceClan cats in the large group. So we are slowly fighting them off, which is very hard to do. Well there is one good reason you didn't stay,"
"Hey!" Darkclaw retorted, "I wouldn't go with them anyways. My heart lays with FireClan, and nothing will change that." Snowcloud backed away and meowed, "You are all finished. You can go to the battle now." "What about me?" I complained. My now cast leg is sticking out of the nest, only my paws can move. "Well, you rouge mouse-brain," Moonfrost mocked, "you should realize you have a broken leg." I bared my teeth in the beginning of a snarl, then Moonfrost backed away in fear.
"Don't you dare mess with me." The silver she-cat hissed. As rage flared inside, I stood up awkwardly on my paws. "You know I hate being called a rouge now, right?" I growled, my neck fur bristling. Darkclaw backed up to the entrance, and Snowcloud ran past us to her den. "You should realize that though." Moonfrost retorted.
"Shut up!" I flung myself at her, tumbling her out into the camp. Pain pierced my front leg, but I didn't care. I ran out and pounced on Moonfrost, raking my back claws down her flank. She turned and threw me sideways, making me skid on the ground of the camp. I staggered up and glanced at fresh wounds of Moonfrost's claws on my shoulder. Then I ran towards her and did the move of jumping at her and knocking her legs with my paws, but my claws were unsheathed and raked at her foreleg.
"Stop this at once!" Darkclaw yowled. I turned my head while Moonfrost slowly stood up. Moonfrost scolded, "She attacked me first.""Well you started the whole thing." I retorted. The dark brown tabby took a step towards us and growled, "You two should stop acting like stupid kits and go back where you need to be. You should be ashamed of yourselves!"
"Woah." I thought out loud. Moonfrost flicked her tail in amusement and stalked to the medicine cat den. Then Darkclaw turned his head to me, sunlight hitting his pelt and making him look like copper. Lowering my head, I limped towards him and sat awkwardly next to him.
"I'm sorry, my temper gets away easily." I murmured. Darkclaw meowed, "Oakstar will be mad about this for attacking your own Clanmate, but I still will be by your side no matter what." Then out of nowhere a purr burst in my throat and I craned my neck to lick his ear. He purred as well, and twined his tail with mine.
For information, I asked, "Why arn't you showing your love for me where other cats are around?" Resting my head on his broad shoulder, Darkclaw replied, "I always thought that I would look less powerful if I ever showed affection to a she-cat. My father, Oakstar, was made fun of for his love to Rainpool. He thought he looked like a little kit compared to the rest of the warriors. But Rainpool helped him and he became deputy, then leader. Then my mother had me, Thorntalon, and Bluetail."
"Thorntalon was your brother?" I was completely shocked. "And Bluetail?" Darkclaw nodded his head. Then he stood up and padded to the warriors den. "Wait for me!" I yowled, limping as fast as I could. Once we got to the warriors den, it was unsurprisingly empty. Overgrown brambles stuck into the celing, and holes were in the sides that needed to be patched. The leaves of the branches were turning to bright firery colors like red, yellow, and orange.
Using scent, I found my nest and slowly lied in the mossy bedding. My broken leg stuck out and brushed the sandy floor. Darkclaw sat in his and gave himself a thorough wash. My eyes closed, guilt and pain felt like a hollow in my heart. Why did I do something so foolish and attacked my best friend, who is now a medicine cat apprentice?
Then old memories played in my head. When we were apprentices, when we fought the adders, when we became warriors, and the minor times I helped her. Then a thought struck me while Darkclaw bounded out of the den.
What is Moonfrost thinks I don't belong anymore from that small battle?