Chapter 85: History Repeats

Unfortunately, Ashfur and I were not quick enough. Brightpaw and Swiftpaw had already made their approach. The tension in the air was oppressive. I skidded to a stop, and Ashfur, trusting my instincts, dropped in beside me. The wind began to shift, blowing the scents of Snakerocks our ways. The odor I caught coming from the clearing made my fur spike. There was definitely the scent of dog, but I already knew for a fact that there wasn't just one. You see, a trick among rogues for assessing a dog threat is scent density. Dogs have a rather distinct scent when they sleep. You could guestimate how big the average size dog is in a group with it. I may be rusty at that skill, but what I got off that scent was that the dogs were at least three times as big as the average cat, putting them in the Pitbull, German Shepard range.

Brightpaw and Swiftpaw must have sensed how much they just screwed themselves. Their ears were alert as they frantically tried to locate the source of the scent. A snuffling sound began coming from behind one of the rock piles. Soon enough, that sound began to multiply. The sound of scraping replaced the first noise as whatever was making it attempted to climb out of its burrow or cave. Then the beasts emerged, Rottweilers, and there were four of them. I could smell the fear drifting off Swiftpaw and Brightpaw as they realized what they were really up against. I couldn't blame them. Not even in my wildest dream would I ever want to face down four of those dogs, but here we are. We wouldn't have much time.

I quickly turned to Ashfur, who seemed stunned by the sheer size of the approaching hounds. "Ashfur. I need you to run to camp now and get every able-bodied warrior headed this way. We'll need the numbers."

Ashfur's daze was broken at my order, but that didn't prevent him from arguing. "But what about you? You are already an eye down, and you were the one whop taught me to protect the ones I care about. I can't leave you to them alone."

I met Ashfur's eyes unwaveringly. "Ashfur. Right now, I have a duty to protect every cat of ours I can. It is my job as the acting deputy to save those two apprentices from their foolishness. I'm going to buy some time, one way or another. The best way you can protect me is to run as fast and hard as you can."

Ashfur stared at me a moment pleadingly before finally accepting his task and bolting to camp. Thankfully, the dogs hadn't been alerted to my position by Ashfur's sudden departure. Unfortunately, that did not remedy the situation. I needed to find a means to distract four very large and very powerful hounds while only having vision in my right eye. These beasts were far too big to fell with my claws or teeth. Could I find a large sharp stick? Maybe poison them? Lead them to another deadly beast?

That last option seemed to resonate with someone. Mapleshade's ghost made her appearance. She stared out at the four dogs circling the two apprentices. They were just toying with them at the moment. "I could feel your thoughts and came to assist. You wish for a creature that could fell the beasts. By chance, this place is the home to such a creature, one I once used for a similar purpose. Once you get the dogs' attention, follow me." She mewed cryptically, but for some reason I could just feel she wasn't lying.

I approached, maintaining my stealth since I didn't want to be caught out in a fight with my current debilitating condition. Even if I could see with both eyes, I'd probably have made the same choice. I needed to wait until I could draw all the dogs' attention at once. I needed to be their target, but Swiftpaw and Brightpaw were drawing too much attention.

The initial brawl began. Swiftpaw and Brightpaw made quite a pair, protecting each other's back and keeping the dogs from pushing them into a wall. The dogs couldn't find the room to full on bite the two, so the apprentices were instead knocked around and nipped at every available chance. The problem with a defensive battle like this is that it only takes one slip up for the whole defense to fall through. One slipped between Swiftpaw's and Brightpaw's guard, landing a full-on bite to Brightpaw's face. I heard her screech in pain as the dog lifted her into the air and began to violently shake her back and forth. Brightpaw's body was flung from the dog's mouth as something gave in first. The dog seemed briefly confused at what happened, now holding only a chunk of fur, skin, and flesh. Swiftpaw was stunned at what happened to his fellow apprentice. I could only imagine what kind of thoughts were blazing through that apprentice's head.

Swiftpaw let out a tremendous howl of rage before throwing himself back into the fight. The sheer anger backing his new assault drove him to strike fiercer and harder, actually scaring the dogs somewhat. Despite Swiftpaw's newfound desire and rage, he was but one cat. He could not watch every angle. As he leapt at one of the dogs, another clamped his jaws around Swiftpaw's body. This is when I had to act.

Bursting forth from my hiding spot, I charged the dog holding Swiftpaw. It hadn't yet begun to shake, to saw through Swiftpaw's body with its sharp teeth. With a precise leap, I got myself up to the beast's eye. I swung my right paw forward with claws extended, scratching through and destroying the beast's right eye. In shock and pain, the dog dropped Swiftpaw who fell bonelessly. He was clearly unconscious and actively dying. I needed to act fast, somehow get rid of the dogs now. I held all their attention. Then I spotted her ephemeral form. Mapleshade knew the way.

I raced after the spirit cat with four very angry hounds on my tail. Thankfully, I was faster so I was getting some extra ground. I did not want to lose the dogs, but I also wanted some time to act. Mapleshade briefly vanished before reappearing atop one of the stone mounds. I somehow just knew she wanted me to get up there. I bound up the rocks, taking care to not lose my balance by toppling some of the smaller rocks. As soon as I touched her, I swear I began to see out of my left eye, but the time of day was different and there was no dogs. I found myself sinking into the same position I saw Mapleshade in from atop the pile of rocks, One paw almost teasingly placed upon one of the loose rocks, grinding it in place.

One dog was in the lead, the one I'd half blinded. It was charging me, almost frothing at the mouth. In my other eye, I saw a yellow molly doing the same. I could feel an intense hatred for her. She wronged me, stole something precious from me. This same hatred echoed and multiplied with my thoughts on the dog. It hurt two cats of mine and possibly killed one. I knew part of these thoughts weren't mine, but Mapleshade and I were in sync at this moment with only one thought. REVENGE. Beat for beat, history was replaying itself at this moment. An enemy most deserving of our hatred was single-mindedly charging us, and a sinister smile crossed our faces, as we knew what to do. We waited for the perfect moment, when our enemies were but a tail's length away, when we finally did it. We slid the rock to the side, revealing the killer within, who'd become agitated due to our incessant grinding of the stone.

A snake lunged out of its den, striking our enemies, the dog and the cat called Frecklewish. It was an Adder, a snake with poison enough to kill the dog and cat that drew our ire. Either Starclan or luck seemed to have a sense of humor because the snake struck the same place on Frecklewish and the dog, latching on tight and pumping more venom into them. My left eye returned to darkness when Frecklewish fell, but the dog was still standing on my end. It was crying in pain as it tried to dislodge the snake from itself. Since the bite was so close to its brain, the dog eventually collapsed, thrashing as the poison finished the job. The other dogs looked at their fallen packmate in fear before retreating. I briefly watched the dying dog with vindictive amusement before remembering I still had two apprentices to save. I bound off my position hoping I wasn't too late.