Goldenwillow lunged forward predictably. Mistlestar sidestepped her, but the lithe warrior managed to snag a claw deep into her fur and yank her backward. "Oomph," Mistlestar hit the ground with tremendous force.
Making an awful face, Goldenwillow jumped on top of the leader. Triumphantly, she rose a paw to signal her victory. But in doing so, Goldenwillow relaxed considerably, allowing Mistlestar to easily knock her paw away and throw the golden-brown she-cat off.
"Beat that," mouthed Mistlestar.
"Watch me," Goldenwillow snarled aloud. Mistlestar made a leap for her rival, but unfortunately misjudged it and ended up sailing over the she-cat's head. In landing, Mistlestar's paws skidded every which way. Goldenwillow was shocked at first, but quickly recovered to renew her attack on Mistlestar. The skinny warrior sprung up to land on Mistlestar's back, but she reacted quickly and dove under Goldenwillow's momentarily exposed stomach, raking her claws as she went.
Both she-cats were heavily panting now, and Mistlestar was pretty sure she was wearing her opponent down. Darting in expertly, she faked a blow to the underbelly and leapt on top of Goldenwillow's back. Goldenwillow reared in protest, and Mistlestar went sprawling through the air to land with a deep crack on a rock.
Goldenwillow, giddy with excitement, paced over to see what had happened. Mistlestar was lying motionless on the dark ground, scarlet blood trickling down the side of her wounded head. Goldenwillow placed a paw on Mistlestar's open chest, and raised the other, a needle-sharp claw extending slowly and leisurely. She carefully drew it down to rest on her enemy's neck.
The camp went black as the final rays of sunlight hid behind the horizon. A show of clouds covered the night sky with a thick layer of darkness, blocking out the moon and stars. A series of yowls erupted suddenly from the edge of the camp, and there was a banging and a scuffling.
A wisp of cloud slipped away from the bright moon, revealing two hunched shapes at the end of the clearing. One appeared to be bending over the other, a single claw glinting in the moonlight. An array of gray clouds followed the first to show a bold dark brown she-cat with a black underbelly and matching speckles, one snowy paw resting on the chest of another cat, and the other held forward, claw outstretched. Her emerald green eyes glinting in happy relief.
The other cat was in much worse state. She was panting hard, her pale brown underbelly soaked in blood and the mouse-colored stripes mingling with red scars on the matted golden fur. She glared up at Mistlestar with one ice-blue eye, the other swollen shut from the previous battle.
"I won," breathed Mistlestar, and then she succumbed to the dizzying wave of blackness overtaking her body.