snakepaw

~~~

SNAKEPAW COULDN'T EVEN explain what happened. One moment, he was taking a nap in his nest, all curled up and comfortable. In the next, yowls had filled the air, the stench of fish had infiltrated ShadowClan's camp, and he was fighting for his life.

RiverClan and WindClan cats were everywhere. It was difficult to tell where one body started and ended. Everything was blurred together in fur and claws.

Snakepaw swiped blindly, snapping his jaws at whatever he could. His teeth sank into a cat's tail, and thankfully, it was a fish scent that greeted him rather than pine. So, he bit down harder, until the cat pulled away from the fight, snarling, and spun around to meet him.

Snakepaw recognized this cat almost instantly. Dapplepaw. And from the glint in the silver bengal's blue eyes, she remembered him too. Perfect. After Dapplepaw beat him - rather viciously - in RiverClan's last attack, he'd been itching to get revenge, to show off his newfound skills.

"Look who it is," the bengal taunted. "Have you grown out of your fluffy kit fur yet?"

Snakepaw didn't say anything, instead replying by leaping on her, sharp claws extended. Dapplepaw hissed in pain as he raked her pelt, and she twisted quickly, sending a swift blow to his stomach, knocking him off.

The gray tom snarled as he rolled on the ground, quickly climbing to his paws. He'd gotten better, but it seemed like Dapplepaw did, too. She was not someone to mess with.

To attack this time, he tried something different, swiping at her front paws, forcing her into a rear. This left her belly exposed, and he took his chances, landing blow after blow on the soft fur. Dapplepaw retaliated to this quickly as well, dropping back to all fours and lashing a claw out at him, knocking his head and leaving a gash in his cheek, narrowly avoiding his eyes.

Snakepaw blinked in horror as he felt the sticky red liquid coat his face. That was close. Otherwise he'd be blind. "Low blow," he growled, "going for a warrior's eyes."

"If I were going for your eyes, I wouldn't have missed," Dapplepaw snapped. "A cat like you deserves some humbling! If you weren't Mintpaw's brother, I'd go a lot harder."

Snakepaw stiffened, remembering the sight of his sister and the RiverClan apprentice talking during the Gathering. "Mintpaw? You're friends now?"

"Yes, though I'm not sure Mintpaw would appreciate me going easy on you," the silver bengal hissed. "She doesn't seem to be very fond of you."

"She refuses to talk to me, it's not my fault!"

"Well you're not making much of an effort either, are you?" Dapplepaw challenged coldly.

Snakepaw growled, frustrated. "I don't need you to go easy on me. Now are we going to talk or fight?"

Dapplepaw was the one that launched the attack this time, darting around Snakepaw and clamping her jaws down on his tail, revenge for what he'd done to her. The ShadowClan apprentice yelped in pain, twisting and scratching blindly to try and get her to let go. It seemed to work with the sharp pressure left his tail, though he was certain it was bleeding horribly.

Before he could recover, Snakepaw felt a harsh shove behind him. Dapplepaw had pushed him to the ground, and now the two were rolling around, a ball of fur and claws, biting and clawing wherever they could. When they broke apart, Snakepaw's chest was heaving, and both apprentices' pelts were coated with blood.

Snakepaw couldn't tell if it was his or Dapplepaw's. Probably a mixture of both.

And suddenly Dapplepaw was jumping at him again, this time making him land on his back harshly. Snakepaw sent a blow, but the silver bengal dodged it, darting around his attacks, maneuvering to plant a hind paw on his tail and her two front paws on his neck and chest, successfully pinning him down.

Snakepaw's breathing labored as Dapplepaw added pressure to her front paws. "You've improved, but not enough to be better than me. I'm afraid you'll still need to work harder." She's wearing a teasing smile now as she pressed down harder.

I'm going to die, Snakepaw thought, twisting wildly, trying to get air. It was a horrifying realization, washing over him like a cold wave.

"Dapplepaw!" a voice snapped; a dark brown tom came into Snakepaw's wavering sightline. "What are you doing? You know Rainstar specifically ordered that there'd be no kills!"

The silver bengal huffed, and released Snakepaw. The ShadowClan apprentice gasped for air as she climbed off him. "I know, Otterstrike, I wasn't going to kill him. But even if he happened to die, I don't know why Rainstar would care about some measly apprentice."

Snakepaw scrambled to his paws, panting, looking at his two opponents. If he couldn't beat Dapplepaw, he certainly couldn't defeat her and a full grown warrior. He was planning his escape route - probably to disappear into the crowd somewhere - when a loud yowl came from their left.

"Splashfoot!"

It belonged to a golden bengal, who Snakepaw recognized as Leopardlight from the last RiverClan attack. She sprinted to the foot of the Clanrock, and this commotion seemed to catch everyone's attention. 

As Dapplepaw and Otterstrike looked at each other, confused and worried, Snakepaw took this as his chance. He spun around and bounded into the large mass of cats, searching for Frozenpaw and Viperpaw. He hoped they were okay; based on Viperpaw's fighting skills, his brother may have run into some trouble.

After a quick scan, Snakepaw couldn't find either cat, and curiosity got a better hold of him, so he started to squeeze through the crowd, toward Clanrock. The closer he got, the stiller the cats around him were, he realized, seeming frozen in shock.

A small frown tugged onto the gray apprentice's face as he pushed through the last group, and came to the front of the scene.

There, laying at the foot of Clanrock, was RiverClan's dead deputy. His neck was bent in an awkward position, clearly broken, blood seeping in a pool around him. And, standing over Splashfoot, panting, was ShadowClan's leader.

Ivorystar growled, her claws tainted with crimson. "What?" she snapped at the crowd around her. Snakepaw had never seen her like this before, green eyes so dilated, as though she wasn't herself anymore.

"You killed him," Leopardlight whispered. "You snapped his neck like he was a piece of prey."

Ivorystar blinked, her eyes returning to their normal appearance, shaking her head as she backed away from the cream-colored tom's bleeding form. "I- I what?"

There wasn't much time to say anything else before RiverClan quickly called a retreat. Without a leader, they were disorganized, and it was easy for ShadowClan to chase them out. Yowls of triumph followed, the pine forest cats rejoicing in their victory.

To say their camp was a mess is an understatement, but nobody had enough energy to try and fix it up tonight.

"Dawnfoot, Shadestrike, Birdfrost," Ivorystar meowed, calling on the less injured cats. "Go make sure the entirety of RiverClan is gone. Nightstorm, could you go to the Battle Cave and fetch Clearfrost, please?"

The selected cats quickly left camp, and the rest helped the heavily injured ones to the medicine den, giving them water and doing their best to stop the bleeding. Snakepaw sighed as he made his way to the medicine den. It was going to be a long night.