Author's Note: To the guest that wanted to translate my work. Go ahead. If you want to take the time to translate my work, I encourage it. I don't mind if someone decides to spin off this story. Just remember to credit the original work and I'll support it.
Chapter 44: No Cat's Land
It was coming to be a routine, check in with the Unseen Stars, walk the territory with Splitpelt and Frecklewish, dote on Crookedpaw when available, and then visit my kits. Now with my protection hovering around them, I could see the visible progress of their experiences aging them. Starclan had no formal way to address my kits coming of age, but quietly, Birchface, Ravenwing, and I began calling them by their paw names. The barrier area grew, but it stopped eating into both Starclan and the Darkforest becoming a growing territory separating the two distinct afterlives. Unfortunately, the new territory wasn't just a haven for those of the Darkforest to meet those of Starclan. Aggressive forces from both sides of the border were congregating, misunderstanding that this between land was not a gate into the other land.
I was on my way to visit my kits again with Frecklewish when I sensed violent intent. The barrier did me no favors hampering my senses. Regardless, Brichface, Frecklewish, and I all sensed this intent. It was like when the forest went silent. Every remaining sound suddenly had much more precedence than they did before. Each light snap of a twig or brushing of leaves could be a threat approaching. We all positioned ourselves around my kits and Ravenwing to intercept any incoming attacks.
The first assault came from the Darkforest direction with three cats with ragged mangy pelts crashing in. They were ferocious, but the starvation and drought in the Darkforest did them no favors. Even though I wanted to obliterate these cats for even attempting to hurt my kits, I could feel a malicious smile begin to creep its way across my face. My bloodlust tended to emerge at the strangest of times. With a thundering yowl, I threw myself at one of the aggressors. He was a decently built tom who had patches of unmatching fur dotting up his legs. His eyes were wild, feral, and somehow confused. Even without my soul sense, it was obvious what was wrong with him. He'd absorbed too many echoes and now had no sense of identity, just a desire to be complete. I couldn't save him here. I likely couldn't save him even in the Darkforest. I could only provide him with a mercy. It didn't hurt that the mercy would satisfy me as well.
The mad cat's claws flashed out at me, but he had no semblance of training. It was wild and unrefined, likely how the cat ever managed to best another Darkforest cat. After dodging one of his swipes, I pressed forward, getting too close for clawing range. Then with my weight advantage, I tackled him to the ground. He writhed like a worm during a rainstorm, but I didn't once have the nickname fox trap for nothing. When I fought, opponents only left when I let them, and this tom had caught his neck in this old fox trap. There'd be no escape for him.
I raked at the tom's belly leaving long scratches while I waited for my opportunity to end the fight. Then I saw an opening, and when for a killing bite, but the feral was more wild than I thought. He managed to thrash a paw past my defenses and left a long dragging scratch across my whole face. I reeled back hissin g at the unexpected strike and almost went again for a finisher, but some cat beat me to it. A small brown blur lunged into the cat I had pinned and sank its teeth into their neck. It was Larchpaw.
Larchpaw gripped the now dying and thrashing cat tightly as the life faded from its eyes. Once the cat stilled, Larchpaw slowly released his grip, blood dripping from his maw and a wild look in his eye. He must have inherited my bloodlust. He looked somehow both content and vicious at the same time, and I couldn't be prouder. I stepped off the body to let it fade and began grooming my kit. Birchface and Frecklewish had finished their fights faster than me, but they'd let their cats retreat. As Larchpaw came down from his battle high, regret began to make itself known.
"I killed him. I killed him ma. I really killed him… I…" mewed my kit in obvious distress.
"Shh. Its ok. That cat, well, he was very sick."
"Sick?" Parroted my kit.
"Yes. He was sick with something that only happens when a cat kills too many or hunts echoes. That cat didn't really have a mind, not anymore. That thing could hardly qualify as a cat anymore. It held so many conflictions within itself that a mind could not remain, only a desire to kill and absorb more. Maybe if it wasn't here the cat was felled, I could have done something, but what you did was not wrong. You put something very sick out of its misery. That thing knew nothing but pain and how to inflict it. You ended that. It can't feel pain anymore."
Larchkit hiccupped a sob, but he looked less guilty than before.
"So you reveal yourself as a monster and are now trying to train your spawn to be just like you. How typical of you, but here you don't have the protection of the border. Here I can make things right. This Place is your grave Mapleshade. I'll make sure both you and your progeny don't see the end of this day." Starclan Frecklewish ranted from the direction of Starclan in a self-righteous madness.
The Starclan version of Frecklewish emerged from the bushes, and something was terribly wrong with that cat. Her eyes weren't like the ferals we'd just fought. They weren't like Splitpelt's in a good fight. No. These eyes were evil, filled with malice, cold and calculating, the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. Her body bore a number of new scars, likely the results of her new training. She walked in a hauntingly aggressive pace. This Frecklewish was made to kill, and it scared me. I no longer had the advantage of creation to best a foe like that. I'd gone to lazy with internal techniques making me vulnerable here. I couldn't retreat since my kits were here. I didn't know what to do, but then my Frecklewish stepped in front of me, her fur spiked with aggression. She looked ready to take on the world, and it was strangely beautiful.
"If you're going to want a shot at my mate, you'll have to go through me!" My mate hissed with a fury greater than I'd ever witnessed. I could feel my ears getting hot at that. I could feel my heart pounding but not in fear. This side of Frecklewish was very attractive.