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Swirlingpaw Speaks; The Death of Two Sisters |
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And another story! Again, this was requested from my friend. She wanted me to write about how her cats' sisters died. And here it is! I hope you like it!
It had started as a normal day. The sun shone brightly overhead, even though it did nothing for the freezing weather.
Hello, I am Swirlingpaw, an apprentice of ThunderClan along with my sisters Leafpaw and Nightpaw.
This day, I was out on patrol along the Fernsky, Dawnpelt, Tawnyclaw, Songstream my mentor and my sister Nightpaw. It had been going fine. We were setting markers along the ShadowClan border when the peacefulness was suddenly broken.
I heard a sudden yowl and when I looked over I was taken by surprise as a tom named Cloudnose lunges at Dawnpelt and they go down in a tussle of fur and claws. The one thing that surprised me more than anything, however, was that Cloudnose was no warrior of ShadowClan. He was a warrior of RiverClan!
I heard hissing to my side and I looked over, Fernsky had her back arched as she glared and slashed at another she-cat RiverClan warrior named Icebranch. The white she-cat of ThunderClan didn’t even take her eyes off the silver cat in front of her. “Swirlingpaw, go. Get help!” She hissed at me, dodging a lunge from the cat.
“But-” I began, about to protest against the prickly warrior.
“I said now!” She cried at me, still keeping her attention on the other she-cat.
With a sigh, I turned and raced off, streaking through the familiar forest, dodging trees and jumping over a fallen log as I went. The ground beneath me was beginning to frost over and I crunched whenever I landed, stepping on the fallen leaves.
All the trees were bare of leaves as Bare-leaf had fallen upon us long ago.
This path was so familiar and I traveled it many times in my life, and though I know it didn’t take too long to get from where we were to get back to camp, it felt like it was taking moons.
Finally, I saw the familiar entrance and camp bursting into the camp with a yowl, feeling some brambles scrap my fur as I went.
I spotted Talonstar already racing to me as I panted heavily.
“What is it?” The brown tawny warrior asked me, his brown-golden eyes concerned.
“RiverClan, on the ShadowClan border. They attacked us!” I cried.
Talonstar nodded and turned around. “Foxfang, Runningstorm, Leafpaw, Wolffur, Moonheart come with me! Bloompetal, watch camp!” He cried before turning to me. “Lead the way, hurry.” He said as the cats he called joined him.
I nodded and turned, taking off once again, going the direction I had come from. I felt as though my paws were dragging, making me go slower than ever. But suddenly, we came bursting into the clearing that the RiverClan and ThunderClan cats fought in and I sighed before I heard Talonstar beside me.
He yowled a battle cry and took off on the other side, launching into battle straight away.
I glanced around, trying to find my sister. After a moment, I spotted the familiar bluish-gray pelt of Nightpaw as she wrestled with a RiverClan apprentice. Turning, I sped down to join her, feeling more than seeing Leafpaw beside me.
Together, we launched as one onto the back of a cat coming up on Nightpaw. I dug my claws into his side and listened as he yowled at our combined attack. Before he could roll onto us, I launched myself off, hearing Leafpaw do the same.
Whipping around, I was about to launch myself back into battle, but was tackled in the side and went rolling down a small hill for a moment. Once we landed, I clawed my hind legs on the soft underbelly of whoever was on top of me.
I heard them cry out and I wiggled out from under the cat and stood up before I raked my claws down their face.
With a hiss, the tortoiseshell RiverClan she-cat lunged and swiped at me, nicking my ear.
Quickly, I raked my claws down her side but was suddenly overcome by her larger frame as she bowled me over with her shoulder and then pinned me down. I struggled against it for a moment, but she merely dug her claws into my neck further so I did the only thing I could think of. I fell limp and made my breathing slower.
The she-cat, I could feel, relaxed her grip and was bending down. Quickly I threw myself up, and shoved the cat away. ‘Thank you Songstream for telling me the story and showing me the move Firestar used a lot.’ I thought before I braced myself for another attack from the she-cat.
“Why are you attacking us?” I hissed at her.
“You’re stealing our prey!” She cried at me and only thing did I notice how small she looked.
“No we’re not!” I cried back, but that didn’t convince her and she lunged again, slashing at my face.
I quickly sidestepped and head-butted her in the shoulder before I bent down and bit into her tail. The she-cat screeched and raced off. I raced after her and watched with satisfaction as she ignored the fighting and went screeching into the river and across to ShadowClan.
I smiled to myself for defeating a warrior all on my own until I felt rather than heard a cry. Pain seared through my heart as I subconsciously flicked my gaze over to my sisters, not even knowing how I knew where they were.
My eyes widened in horror as I looked down upon the scene. Nightpaw lay motionless under the bigger warrior of RiverClan, Berryeyes. The gray she-cat towered over my smaller sister and I watched, with ever growing panic and horror, as if in slow motion, the she-cat leaned down and bit into my sisters’ exposed throat.
I vaguely thought I felt a pain seer through my own throat, but my eyes and concentration were focused on the blood that oozed from the fatal wound. With sudden anger and shocked pain, I yowled angrily and launched myself down the hillside.
With a screech, I lunged and felt my claws dig into the she-cat’s side as we went down, rolling. Wrestling with the bigger cat, I pummeled her with my hind legs and cried angrily before I bit at her.
Berryeyes cried out and shoved me away and I watched with satisfaction as blood oozed from her shoulder.
“Why? Why did you do that?” I cried.
“Because, you, all of you, are half Clan. That no good fox breathe of a tom had a mate in a different Clan. He went against his Clan! Betrayed us! The best way to hurt him even more, to kill his daughters!” She screeched crazily, her eyes glinting as I stared with ever growing terror.
“You’re mouse brained!” I cried as she laughed before turning and running off, into ShadowClan territory.
Turning around, I raced back to Nightpaw and sniffed at her, nudging her. “Nightpaw, come on Nightpaw. Wake up.” I murmured. When she didn’t move I leaned back and yowled sadly.
Leaning my head back down, I looked around for my last sister Leafpaw. What I saw next tore my heart, breaking it even more than it had already been broken.
Leafpaw, in a rage of fury and pain, had thrown herself at the nearest cat and began to claw him to death. The tom, Rockfur of RiverClan, could do nothing more than fight back. Even when she was bleeding so much that a normal cat would have had to have laid down, or just collapsed, Leafpaw fought on.
Finally, I watched as the tom slashed at my sister, for the last time. Leafpaw went down, blood coming out of her throat as the tom took off, away from the sight of my second dying sister. “Leafpaw!” I chocked out, feeling my sorrow make me blind to everything.
Launching myself forward, I raced through the fighting, getting stopped only once, but dealing with the cat easily. Coming to a halt next to Leafpaw, I sniffed at her. She moved slightly and I choked out a nervous laugh. “Come on Leafpaw, don’t scare me like that. Come on, I need to get you to Reddawn.”
“No, Swirlingpaw… You know as well as I, that I’m not going to make it. So don’t bother. Let Reddawn deal with more pressing matters.” She gasped, breathing heavily as she spoke. Her black and brown tortoiseshell fur rose and fell shallowly.
“Stop! Stop talking that way! I’ll get you help and then you’ll be all better!” I tried to convince myself just as much as I convinced her.
“I can already hear them. StarClan is calling to me, welcoming. I hear Nightpaw and mother, Swirlingpaw, there’s nothing you can do. Remember, I love you, we all do. But live, grow up and become something great. Make something of your name, of yourself, make us all proud. We’ll be watching.” Leafpaw mewed as her voice got slower, weaker, and quieter before, at last, she fell completely silent and her eyes became void of all life.
I yowled in grief as she lay at my paws, dead. “Leafpaw!” I cried out, ignoring the sounds of RiverClan cats racing back to the border and of ThunderClan cats yowling their triumph.
I felt two tails wrap themselves around my shoulders as a gentle presence wreathed around me and I looked up, tears in my eyes. There both Nightpaw and Leafpaw stood. Starshine shone in their pelts as they smiled at me. Their wounds and blood were gone. In between them stood our mother, Mistheart, smiling down at me.
“We love you Swirlingpaw.” Nightpaw mewed.
“Never forget.” Leafpaw spoke after her.
"I'm so proud of you." Mistheart whispered last, resting her head on mine before pressing her nose to mine. "Grow up and be a great asset to your Clan. We love you, good bye, until we meet again. But not for many, many moons." She mewed before they all vanished, starshine twinkling a moment longer until that disappeared too.
I blinked tears back, staring at my paws where Leafpaw’s body still lay, motionless. Then, another tail lay itself on my shoulders again. This time, when I looked up, I saw my mentor Songstream smiling sadly at me. “Come on Swirlingpaw, lets get them back to camp. They’re already home.” She mewed quietly to me.
I nodded, trying to not cry anymore. With a sigh, I picked up Leafpaw by her shoulder and began to drag her back to camp. Silverpelt shone happily overhead and I knew, two new cats had been added this night. Possibly more, I wasn’t sure. But at least I knew my sisters were happy and finally with mother. ‘Like I want to be, but not dead. I want them all here. With me. But I love you all, I’ll make you proud.’ I thought, looking up at the starry night and swore I saw three twinkling stars that shone brighter than all the others. ‘Thanks.’
 angels_dance · Tue Jul 15, 2008 @ 03:02am · 1 Comments |
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