Disclaimer: I do NOT own Warriors. Erin Hunter does
Leopardfur snarled as she moved to dislodge Tallstar, who despite his weakened state, still managed to make her bleed in several places. Blood dripped into her eyes as she hooked her claws into him, wanting to slam him down but the stubborn male wouldn't fall. They stared each other down for a moment, Tallstar noticing the swath of white cover the bottom half of Leopardfur's left eye. Well, that explained her size. And now it just meant that Tallstar could relish in making her bled more!
Tallstar opened his jaws wide, clamping them hard against Leopardfur's shoulder, the pain made the molly buckle and she fell where Heartseeker and Clawface swarmed her, trying to do as much as they could against this large beast of a demon.
Leopardfur snarled and with a mighty heave, shoved the two cats away before biting into Tallstar's flesh, just behind his foreleg and the pair stayed like that for a few seconds, just sinking their fangs as deep into each other as they can.
Beyond them, Morningflower yowled in pain as she was being pinned by two gray toms and a dark brown tom with white paws. The fourth cat tried to even out Leopardfur's fight by hurling herself at Clawface, latching on to his ear and yanking as hard as she could.
Hissing in pain, Clawface did everything he could to get the cat off him, but as he backed away with his opponent stubbornly staying on, his body started to tremble in exhaustion. None of his companions had the energy to fight the RiverClan cats off,it would take a miracle. Or...
Tallstar heard Morningflower's yowl. He could see and smell her blood soaking the earth. For just a moment, everything went blank, this was one of the cats who sought him out, she was going to die here, after everything that happaned, she was going to die. By filthy fish eaters who wanted to take his home away. Again.
A low rumble began to build in his throat and with a strength that he body didn't have, he flung Leopardfur away with a flick of his paw, slicing her shoulder down to the bone and making it so that she is slow to get up. Tallstar hung his head where he stood, but even though he stood still, the wind suddenly began to pick up, enough so that it brought the fighting to a lull as the battling cats all looked to Tallstar.
The wind seemed to almost wrap and weave around the WindClan leader, like an old friend that missed him and wanted to be near. But when Tallstar picked up his head to glare at the RiverClan cats, his eyes were devoid of all emotion, except one. Hatred. He took a deep breath and yowled to the sky, the wind grew stronger, the sky darkening and all cats began to tremble and back away in fear.
Once Tallstar was done yowling, the wind seemed to rip at his pelt, causing small cuts to form, but the tom didn't seem to notice. He glared at the tom still pinning Morningflower to the ground and bared his fangs. With blood and fur whipping around him, Tallstar crouched and only opened his mouth once.
"Die."
It was barely a whisper, none heard him and not even the demons was able to predict what would happen. Leopardfur blinked once and when she opened her eyes Tallstar was gone, yet there was an increase in the smell of blood behind her.
Turning her head, the RiverClan deputy looked to see Whiteclaw standing, looking confused, Tallstar by his chest. Beneath the WindClan's paws was the other tom, still struggling. Suddenly, three large gashes appeared on Whiteclaw's chest and he cough, spewing blood. He looked down at his own chest before turning his dimming, terrified to Leopardfur and tried to speak.
"L-Leopard-" It was all he got out before his head suddenly fell from his body, Tallstar was now standing by Whiteclaw's other side, his fur, muzzle and paws drenched in blood. The wind moved Whiteclaw's body away, and Leopardfur just noticed the body of her other warrior being carried lifelessly away as well.
"Whiteclaw, no!" Leopardfur howled at she staggered to her paws, only to be viciously knocked down down, Tallstar standing over, the wind now tearing at them both, it also making it near impossible to breath.
She then understood, Tallstar did it. Tallstar killed Whiteclaw and her other warrior. He used the wind to move so fast that he couldn't tracked with the naked eye. Now he was going to kill her too.
Tallstar leaned in close and baring his fangs, showed her a mockery of a grin that soon turned savage and hate-filled. "May your blood be scattered to the glorious wind. May every gale bring you agony and fear!" Those words made the wind blow harder, now slicing hard both into Tallstar and Leopardfur, who closed her eyes in pain. As she did, she could hear Tallstar letting out a deranged laugh, louder even than the wind itself.
It hurt, everything hurt. Even though Tallstar and Leopardfur were in the center of it, the other cats were affected by Tallstar's gale too. They were pinned and even moving an inch was painful, but Clawface looked up, he could see Heartseeker trying to shield Sandspirit and Morningflower with her own bigger body, after she managed to fight through and get the WindClan molly to her. But it wasn't enough, they would all be killed at this rate, and what would have been the point of finding WindClan if the leader was just going to die here?
"No...S-stop..." Clawface forced his body to inch toward the rapidly bloody gale storm and managed, somehow, to find the strength to push through the cutting wind and clamp on to Tallstar's tail, giving it just enough of a jerk to get the bi-colored tom to stop laughing and look down on him.
"Ah, the little Shadow tom! Come to join us? Perhaps I'll make your death painless, you did help my Clan after all." Tallstar rambled off lowly, giving that same mocking, fang-filled smile to Clawface.
Clawface tried not to shudder, even as the wind cut him much more deeply. "Please, Tallstar. Stop, think of your Clan. Think of Morningflower. You saved her, she's alright. But if you don't stop, she's going to die. You will kill her!"
It was surprising how fast Clawface felt the wind drop, though it still raged all around them, just not to murdering levels anymore. "Morningflower...I killed-?"
"No! She's still alive but if you don't stop she will die. Please, the cats who threatened her is dead. Leaopardfur...is dealt with. You can stop. Please, stop."
Tallstar looked down at Leopardfur, the golden mottled demon had passed out and was bleeding heavily. The leader snarled and picked up on paw, ready to gouge at her when he just as quickly put it down. He turned his gaze to Clawface and hung his head. The wind fell even more and the WindClan leader wobbled, nearly collapsing beside the RiverClan deputy before righting himself and walking over to the three mollies.
"Morningflower..." he rumbled as Heartseeker didn't move, wary of the WindClan leader. But it was Morningflower herself that wriggled from the tabby's bulk to lean against Tallstar.
"I'll stay with him, he needs to get away from this place."
As she talked, Sandspirit, still partially hidden under Heartseeker, notices the two surviving RiverClan cats dash forward to get Leopardfur and carry her back to their own territory. "What do we do about them?"
Clawface sighed and looked to Tallstar and Morningflower, the WindClan leader still looked somewhat deranged and angry but he managed to speak to them.
"They are my problem. Go back to your Clans. If RiverClan returns, I will...deal with them."
"But..." Clawface starts, only to be silenced with a growl by Tallstar.
"Thank you for everything you have done for WindClan, we won't forget what you've done. Now, go!"
The party had no choice but to obey, but even as they parted ways, Morningflower called out to them, thanking all of them, especially Clawface.
And, despite everything that has happened, Clawface couldn't help but feel warmed and grateful for her thanks.
XxXx
The trio limped to ShadowClan territory, no one saying anything for the longest time. When it was time for Clawface to go on without them, he turned to the mollies and dipped his head. "Thank you, for everything. I know I wouldn't have been able to do this without you. Please, be careful on your way."
Heartseeker stepped forward and pressed her nose to Clawface's, her muzzle curling into a gentle smile. You have suffered much, but you have done what you set out to do. You earned your atonement."
Clawface smiled too, despite his hurts and he lifted his tail, feeling just a little proud of himself. But just as it came, it left as he looked to where they had came, and his eyes darkened.
"I hope WindClan will be strong enough to face what will happen. RiverClan won't take this lying down, even if they did trespass."
Heartseeker titled her head before sighing softly. "That isn't our concern to worry over, though we should report it. For now, let us bask in our victory. We found WindClan and brought them home!"
Sandspirt nodded, smiling a little. Despite what happened, she was only eager to think of Firepaw now and wanted to hurry back to her own home to her. Heartseeker seemed to sense this and bowed her head to Clawface, grinning. "We have to go. Be well, Clawface."
"And you too. And thank you, again. Give Bluestar my regards!" the burly tom replied, watching them turn and go before he did the same. He was now ready to sleep in his nest, beside his brother.
XxXx
The two mollies only made just barely through the front entrance of the camp where they fell to the ground in a heap. Even though Heartseeker did her best to protect Sandspirit from Tallstar's attack, the smaller warrior was still heavily wounded. She laid against her with closed eyes and the tabby could barely fault her. Tallstar's slicing wind cut deeper than any claw, he was intending to kill.
The older molly could only sigh and nuzzled Sandspirit as she noticed with the last of her consciousness, Darkstripe and Bluestar sprinting towards them...
Sandspirit woke up with the smell of herbs in her nose and the feeling of another, slightly smaller body pressed against her. It didn't take her long to realize the flame colored fur covering a small part of her vision.
She slowly sits up, wincing in pain and almost immediately has Yellowfang glaring down on her. "What are you doing?" she grumbles, a lower fang poking from her muzzle in the beginnings of an annoyed scowl.
"Sitting up, I just woke up." Sandspirit muttered, trying to keep from sliding back down in her nest.
"No, you will lay get back down. If you move too much, you'll make your wounds bleed more and you'll pass out again."
The pale molly grumbled, but decided it was better to do as she was told than to make Yellowfang mad. Yellowfang huffed softly before turning her back to count and sort berries. As Sanspirit slipped back down into her nest, Firepaw stirred and she rasied her head, smiling as she realized that Sandspirit was awake.
"You're up! Thank the Allmother!"
At that, Sandspirit grinned as she leaned forward to lick the top of Firepaw's head. The younger molly purred softly as she twined her tail with Sandspirit's. "I told you that I would return. I did swear by the Firstborn." the warrior gently reminded her, which earned her an even louder purr.
They fell into a comfortable silence for a while, the pair just enjoying each other company until Sandspirit looked around to see they were alone.
"Wait, where's Heartseeker?"
"She kept complaining about the herb smell and Bluestar offered her den to her. I gave her the herbs she would need to heal that tabby and that was that. She's probably sleeping at the moment."
"We can visit Heartseeker later. Right now, you should take it easy." Firepaw said, licking Sandspirit's paw where a cut was that Yellowfang didn't manage to get. Sandspirit nodded at first, placing her head over Firepaw's own paws. She had just woken up but she still felt very tired.
"Don't worry, Sandspirit. Sleep, I'll be right here. I promise." Firepaw vowed, smiling as her dear friend slipped back into unconsciousness.
A/N: Annnd I'm back. The party has returned to their own Clans but not without some horrible events beforehand. What will come of Tallstar killing two RiverClan cats? How will this affect ShadowClan and ThunderClan? Is Clawface's role now over? Find out in the coming chapters and as always, enjoy.