Chapter Seventeen

Fighting Lion

We lived in the ShadowClan territory for those three days. The BloodClan cats seemed thrilled with the idea of a possible battle. I wasn't. Not that I was afraid, I was the silver fighter, after all. But that didn't mean I wanted to fight. Small fights were fine, this was an all out war. I knew that many cats would die in the coming fight, because the BloodClan cats were ruthless like that. I guess it should seem like I'd be all for killing, what with my tendency towards violence, but personally, I never saw the point of killing a beaten enemy.

(***)

When the day came, Scourge and Bone led us to the same clearing we had met in before. We waited on the outskirts, until we saw a brown she-cat below. Then Scourge led us into the clearing, and called out, "I know you're there! Come and give me your answer."

For a moment there was no response, then the other cats entered the clearing, led by the red tabby.

"Greetings," Scourge meowed. "Have you decided to leave? Ot do you presume you can fight against BloodClan?"

"We don't have to fight. WE will let you go back to Twolegplace in peace," the red tabby meowed.

"Go back? Do you really think we're such cowards? No, this is own home now."

"The forest is ours. We rule here by the will of StarClan."

"StarClan! Tales for kits. Forest fool, StarClan won't help you now," Scourge meowed. He jumped to his feet, then snarled, "Attack!"

I rolled my shoulders, getting ready to leap in. Fox nudged me with his shoulder, a quick version of his friendly head-butt.

"LionClan, attack!" the red tabby yowled in response.

Then my fighting instincts took over.

(***)

Fox and I fought side by side for what seemed like moons. We did our best to not kill any cats. Around us, the fight was more violent. At one point, a long-furred grey tom was fighting me, and he was good. I was truly shocked by the abilities of some of the forest cats. I had the advantage of size and strength, but they were all using moves that were clearly learned and practiced. Fox and I had seen this training while we were staying with TigerClan, but I hadn't imagined that it would work so well.

I started to chase the grey tom off, but paused and glanced back at Fox, who was fighting a tortoiseshell she-cat. With Wren gone, I had turned my protectiveness onto Fox. It wasn't necessary. When I had first met him, he saved me and my sister from a giant dog, after all. With that in mind, I brushed a cat aside and ran after the grey tom.

I was knocked aside suddenly by a thin, sleek black cat. He was much smaller than me, but he had taken me by surprise. "Leave Graystripe alone," he hissed in my ear.

The grey tom returned on my other side, "Ravenpaw," he acknowledged the black tom. I was forced to pull back from the two of them, but I didn't head back to Fox's location immediately. I found my way to the outskirts of the fighting cats, just to get a look at what was going on. The number of cats seemed to have lessened slightly, from being chased away, or unfortunately, killed. After a moment of watching, I threw myself back into the fight.

I found Fox surrounded, and jumped onto one of the cats he was fighting. After a moment, the cat ran off, so I turned to face another. Soon, Fox and I were side by side again.

"This is ridiculous," he hissed under his breath.

"I know," I agreed.

"Why do we even want to live here?"

"We don't."

"Why did we join this clan?"

I shrugged. "Did we really? We just share the same living space. Scourge's admitted that he can't control me."

"Then why did you let him drag us into a fight?"

I cuffed his head playfully. "That's great, Fox."

He purred, just as a small brown cat rammed into his side. He was knocked onto his side, but he rolled over and leapt at the cat. I recognized it as Oakfur. The tom hissed angrily at Fox.

"Traitor."

"Not a traitor," Fox replied calmly. "Your 'great' leader just wasn't very good at picking clan members," he let the cat up, who bolted away.

In that time, I had started fighting a light tabby she-cat.

Then, loud yowling filled the clearing. "Scourge! Scourge is dead!"

I gave the tabby a sharp slash on its shoulder, and then turned to leave. If Scourge was dead, then there was no one keeping me here. It was then that I noticed that Fox was gone. I ran through the crowds of cats, and saw other BloodClan cats doing the same. But they were fleeing the LionClan cats, I was searching.

"Fox!" I yowled loudly. I almost couldn't hear myself over the yowls from other cats.

"Shatter!" a dark shape appeared in front of me, and I froze. Russetfur blocked my way, her fur stuck up angrily. She hissed. "How could you do this to us?"

"I didn't do anything," I protested. I hesitated a moment later, and then jumped over her. I felt her claws graze my tail as I rushed off. I shouldered my way past various other cats, before I finally saw Fox up ahead of me. I yowled his name again, and he turned.

His light green eyes met mine.

Then he crumpled to the ground.

(***)

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. The cats around us grew blurry as I approached Fox's side. He was facing me, and his eyes were still glued to mine.

"Fox?" I meowed shakily.

He blinked at me. "Shatter… he's dead? Scourge?"

I nodded, while I glanced up over trying to find the reason for the collapse. Then I saw the deep claw marks on the back of his neck, the blood had blended with his dark red fur. "Fox-"

"I know, stupid hedgehog," he purred quietly. "I know."

"Fox…" it seemed to be all I could say.

He weakly reached up with his paw to nudge my shoulder. "It doesn't hurt, Shatter." He paused. "Do you think it hurt Wren?" Then he met my gaze again, before his eyes closed for the last time.

My world fell apart.

Everyone I had ever cared about was gone.

It took me a moment to realize that almost all of the BloodClan cats had fled, except for me. I lingered a bit longer at Fox's side, wishing frantically that what had just happened was a dream. Maybe I'd wake up and the day of the fight would be starting again? But I knew that wasn't true.

I buried my head against his shoulder and took a few deeps breaths. Then I jumped over him and ran.

Disclaimer: Again, quotes from 'The Darkest Hour'. ~ Capitaine Jaf