A.N: Hello! I know, surprising, right? Well, I'm putting off AP work, so this is a perfectly normal way for me to avoid... EVERYTHING. I don't know about this chapter, I feel like I'm getting repetitive and tired of butchering ThunderClan. Who to butcher next... WindClan? I think so )
I hope I haven't ruined too many people's sanity ^.^
Lionblaze looked back and forth between the two, then raised his tail as the patrol raced down the slopes to begin the ambush.
His massive shoulders slid between the fronds of lengthy thorn bushes and brambles with the fluidity of a stream, with two gray she-cats at his shoulder- one who he loved like a sister, and the other like a mate. Both of which were at risk from this mission. With the greenery on one side and the open forest to the other, the cats slunk down the sides of the hollow with the two tomcats opposite of Lionblaze and the she-cats. Together they would come at the entrance from the two sides, and WindClan's cats would lead them out of the camp with their own plan.
They sat in wait, eyes glowing from whatever shade they could find. He searched the opposing foliage for the remaining two members of his patrol, but no matter how much he squinted, he couldn't make out the two cats. He didn't know if that was good or bad.
Soon, there was a rustling in the bushes, and all the cats turned to look, eyes wide when they saw who appeared.
She was no more than an apprentice, with short gray and white fur and a round face. Her eyes glittered as she looked back and forth hesitantly as she scanned the bushes and an ugly wound was apparent on her shoulder, dripping blood that marred her pelt. It was WindClan warrior, that much was apparent, and Lionblaze didn't know the cat's name. But as she got closer, it became apparent that the wound was dark juice, nothing near the color of blood really; the wound was faked to make the cat looked injured. She stalked forward, making as little noise as possible in order for the ambush to work.
Sunlight glimmered through, completely out of place in this desperate and foreboding situation as the small cat ambled forward quietly, seemingly set on her course. Lionblaze watched as she passed quietly through the grasses lining the well-worn path and vanished into the light streaming from the camp filled with inhabitants that never belonged.
Voices became apparent soon after she disappeared from sight, and soon enough she came crashing back out, legs pummeling in the mud as she raced away into the forest. Behind her, the Dark Forest cats flocked like birds and followed their supposedly injured target- their willingness spoke of hours of boredom without reprieve or supervision.
"You dirty traitor!" the calls rang through the eerie forest and Lionblaze felt his head snap around of his own accord. The cat had been one of the Dark Forest spies? 'Hopefully her loyalties aren't split.'
Bumblestripe was the first one to leap up from the bushes, appearing from a dappled bush with Cloudtail close on his heels, who had just been crouching defiantly in the barred shadow of a small elm. Dovewing stood, her ears flicking as she flicked out orders with her tail. Cinderheart nudged Lionblaze as she jumped out onto the trail as well, and turned to her lighter Clanmate. The feathery she-cat murmured quietly, "Two guards at the entrance of the den, and that's all that's left."
Without waiting, she leapt forward, shoving through the tunnel with a quiet battle cry. Bumblestripe looked at Lionblaze for a second, then shrugged and followed the vivacious she-cat without another pause. Cloudtail and Cinderheart barged ahead of him again, and so the golden tom took up the rear, checking behind them to check the others really had gone.
Leaping after them, he ran straight into a warm flank; he backed away and tried to see over Cinderheart's ears, which were flattened to her head in despair.
Before the patrol, in the clearing, Brokenstar stood with his claws unsheathed, standing over Briarlight. The younger, incapacitated cat tried to turn to the approaching cats, revealing a mask of blood that had once been her face. Her eyes were gouged out, leaving bloody sockets in their wake. The cats had frozen when they saw that the Dark Forest tom had his claws hovering over the cat's neck, and Bumblestripe let out a strangled cry.
Within a heartbeat, the past ShadowClan leader struck down, slicing through the thin skin of Briarlight's throat and kicked her aside, letting the she-cat drown in her own blood as it pooled on the over-saturated mud of the clearing. Her body was wrenched with spasms as the cats took in the sight that they couldn't from the top of the hollow.
Next to Brokenstar was a pile of cats- much like how the prey had been stacked when the Clan had been in control of the area. But these pelts were matted with blood and some bodies still twitched, making a macabre scene in front of the rescuers. Lionblaze could hear cats choking- the ones with him, on bile, and the ones around the clearing, on blood, as he looked away in horror, ears flat. As if looking away from the clearing would make the images disappear from his mind as well, most of the patrol stood stalk still, avoiding the display of cruelty.
A snarl contorted the air as Bumblestripe leapt forward, wrestling Brokenstar in a mess of teeth and claws. Cloudtail followed quickly and Dovewing sped away to a shady part of the clearing, closer to the Apprentice's den. The golden tom blinked and turned back to the pile, feeling himself walk to it. Though they were there to retrieve the living members, he felt the overwhelming need to know who had died as well.
At the bottom, there was a scrawny brown pelt, one that had been lying in the elders den since before his own time even. Atop the elder were two almost-matching pelts- one gray and white, the other black and white. Lionblaze hissed quietly and pressed his nose into their fur, inhaling the scent of blood as he attempted to respect a long tradition. After a brief prayer to his ancestors, he large tom looked up, past Cloudtail and Bumblepelt tussling on the ground of the clearing to the entrance of Firestar's old den. Well, what used to be his den. Cinderheart stood on her hind legs, cuffing a Dark Forest cat over the ears with her claws unsheathed. He sparred one last glance for the cats who had perished before springing up the rock fall to help her, slicing a powerful blow to the cat's stomach while Cinderheart kept it occupied.
The cat yowled and backed away, quickly finding out that there was no place left to retreat to, on the edge of the small precipice. It wasn't too far to jump down to, but it would definitely wind a cat at the least. In the cat's distraction, a gray flash sped by Lionblaze, and before he could stop her, the she-cat had shoved the dark warrior off with her own momentum.
His heart plummeted as the two cats fell out of sight. He raced to the edge and stared down before breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed that Cinderheart had forced the cat to land on its back, heartily winding it as she tore into its soft underbelly and neck. As the black liquid spilled out around the battling pair, the golden cat felt he was not needed, and turned to the entrance, facing down a single tomcat who was much smaller than he. With a small smirk, he batted the small she-cat aside, slamming her into the unforgiving stonewall. A small part of his brain felt remorse, but a larger part- one that took pleasure in the defeat and death of his enemies- knew that this was better. He reached down slowly, aiming for her exposed neck when the cat became a small ball of fury.
It sliced into Lionblaze's face, smiling as his eyes were covered in blood before he could wipe it out of his face. Striking out blindly, the larger cat felt fur and hooked his claws in, grunting as he scraped deep cuts into the smaller cat. Shaking his head to clear his sight, he realized that he had the flank of the cat stuck in his claws, preventing her from turning about as much as she struggled. It was sickening to feel the ghostly flesh given way underneath his force, but he grit his teeth and ripped even further inside. Blood spurted out in a way he had never seen, and he felt bone somewhere inside as he leapt onto the cat's back, clamping his jaws down for a killing bite. She struggled beneath him, but couldn't escape as he sank his fangs down into his flesh. Once, twice and again, blood and gore began to make the rocks slippery under their battle as Lionblaze kept up his onslaught until the little cat stopped struggling beneath him. Even for a few heartbeats afterward, he stayed, perched atop of the she-cat, making sure it was really dead before stepping off and spitting the vile substance that counted as blood from his mouth. Kicking the body down into the clearing below, he turned to the dark entrance of the cave, unable to scent anything through the nauseating perfume of blood. His lips twitched into a snarl as he uneasily crept forward into the shadows. That should've been all the guards that Dovewing spoke of, but Brokenstar was here and it seemed that he had caused more damage than the other cats had already.
"Hello?" A hoarse voice called out from the shadows. Lionblaze stiffened and refused to reply, instead he attempted to wipe his nose clear, but only achieved to smear his face with more revolting grunge. "Lionblaze?"
Eyes glimmered in the dark, and the tomcat felt unsure whether to keep up his hostile approach. He stalked forward just a little more, and glanced down when his paws touched something soft, pushing it across the floor unintentionally. It was heavy, and in the dull light, he could make out a dark pelt with tabby stripes. One that he somewhat remembered? "Purdy?" The cat bent his head down to touch his nose to the ummoving- 'Why is he so cold?'- fur. "Purdy?" He called quietly again, and a tail touched him on the side gently as he blinked in grief. The old loner hadn't been very close in the Clan, but the warrior could still remember when he got Hollystar and himself out of the barn and away from the dogs.
"Lionblaze…?" The voice said again, and he finally recognized it as Rosepetal's voice. The cream she-cat seemed no worse for wear, amazingly. Behind her, Blossomfall was pressed against the back wall, eyes wide with fear. The tortoiseshell's fur was matted with numerous scratches and other mutilations; one ear seemed completely destroyed, and her fur seemed mostly torn out- but she was alive at least. "Tell me, did you see my brother?" She murmured, desperate to know, yet so used to her captivity that she stayed back in the shadows.
"I-" He bit back his answer and glanced back out into the square of light that was the clearing. "I'm very sorry, Rosepetal. He's… outside." The cream cat looked shocked, then thrust past, throwing herself into the sunlight. "Toadstep? Toadstep?!"
"I'm sorry," Lionblaze called after her, stunned. He wouldn't know how to deal with himself if Jayfeather died. When Hollystar had disappeared, he had though just that- she had disappeared. He couldn't imagine his resourceful sister as dead.
Blossomfall shivered against the back wall, multicolored fur bristled with dried blood and fresh, which clogged her face and neck. Patches of skin showed beneath the sorry excuse for a pelt and Lionblaze felt nothing but pity as he stepped forward to comfort the cat with gentle purrs and touches of whiskers. Eventually, he brought her out into the sunlight, where the world wasn't any better; she sagged against his shoulder for support at the sight of the broken bodies and pooling blood. Cinderheart stood at the base of High Ledge, tabby pelt ruffled from claw marks. Yet the Dark Forest cat that had been pursuing the two of them was nowhere to be seen- either she ran off or perished- and Lionblaze was okay with that. Over in the shadows of the morbid clearing stood Dovewing, supporting Ivypool much like the tomcat; but Ivypool somehow seemed much worse than Blossomfall had been. Even from across the clearing and purely through watching the cat's movements, he could see that there was something deeply wrong with the silver and white cat.
"There are more coming, we have to get Rosepetal and Blossomfall out of here." The young gray cat shouted, blue eyes wide as Ivypool flinched at the loud noise and shirked toward the ground with a soft keen.
"We haven't found either of the apprentices." Bumblepelt called, facing back into the camp with Cloudtail close behind. "Berrynose and Mousewhisker are missing as well."
"Foxdung," The golden warrior swore from the rock fall, casting about the open space to check again that the two light pelts weren't hiding in the shadow. With the thick sludge that lined the floor and the sheer amount of blood on each of the bodies, it was impossible to tell if the two elder toms or the apprentices were still alive or among the casualties.
Dovewing didn't move apart from tempting her sister up from the ground with a few quiet words, trying the reassure the broken she-cat. Recognizing the decision that he had to make, Lionblaze shook his head. "We have to meet with the other Clans; if they were crafty enough to escape, they should be able to find us. If not, well." A small half-smile found its way to his mouth, "Berrynose has proven that he can take care of himself.
Cloudtail, help Dovewing, Rosepteal with me, Bumblepelt, your sister." He snapped out order in a heartbeat, leaping down the rocks and past the gray tabby still standing there. "We need to move as quickly as possible. They can't follow us back."
Without pleasantries, he moved up next to Rosepetal and helped her limp along as fast as she could. His tail flicked in irritation as Ivypool wailed loudly behind them, giving away their positions to whatever was listening in the shadows. Cloudtail backed up a step, as it seemed he was the catalyst for the violent reaction, blue eyes troubled. "Shh!" The tom implored as the sound of paws thrumming against earth got louder and louder. Lionblaze shot a panicked glance to Dovewing before he realized that the she-cat was not paying attention to the well-being of all the cats, intent on protecting her sister.
"Bumblepelt, Cinderheart," He hissed, passing a wheezing Rosepetal off to Cloudtail whom could not even approach the silver and white she-cat he had originally been charged with. It was ludicrous that the patrol had only made it to the edge of the clearing and the injured cats were already spent.
The three warriors squared up, shoulder to shoulder in a reminiscence of the battle line they had formed before ThunderClan had fallen. They faced the oncoming danger with dread as the growls grew closer and closer before shadows flooded into the clearing.