Hunted [SITEWIDE]

Brackenpaw was quick to pull away from Ambersun the second the grip on his scruff loosened. He stumbled forward, disorientated, almost falling off the branch and towards the snarling wolf below. The tom let out an unbecoming squeak, his nostrils flaring and eyes as wide as saucers. Fear and raged coursed through him, Ambersun's sudden movements had completely blind sided him, throwing him out of step. Terrified eyes turned to face the warrior at the realisation of his defencelessness. There was nothing he could do, he couldn't protect himself and he couldn't protect his sibling.

"What have you done?" croaked Brackenpaw blinking the tears in his eyes away "I've probably already lost everything I have to the wolves so thanks for nothing, Dungface."

he turned his back on Ambersun, staring at the scene below: the wolf snapping at the cats perched in the trees and the littered, mutilated bodies of other cats across the lake. Any of those bodies could have been his littermates... and he was here... useless. His shoulders slumped, as he suppressed a sob. In real time he could feel himself and his hope slipping away. "Honeypaw, Harepaw, Shatteredsky... please... please begged Brackenpaw his voice hoarse.

"I need to trust you."

Brackenpaw's head snapped round, cold rage burning in his blue eyes. "Oh, you can trust me." he meowed calmly. "I have new promises to keep if my littermates aren't unharmed." He didn't bother waiting for Ambersun, before leaping to the next branch, and the next. His mind elsewhere as he thought of how to repay Ambersun for her kidness and heroics.

Brackenpaw is hopping away in the trees

TW: mild gore

Teeth frothing with spit glinted in the moonlight, her green eyes wide but the fear in her heart quelled. Heatherberry had never really thought about her own mortality before, but death was not something she feared for herself. Not when her own sacrifice could let a loved ones heart beat a few more precious times, no matter how little time they may have had left. Even as searing pain ripped through her skull as one yellowed canine met her left eye - hot breath and warmth of her own blood enveloping her head - she was content with the decision she had made.

But that was not what played out. Being the hero was not in the stars for ShadowClan's medicine cat.

The wolf in front of her was now replaced with an image of her loving father, teeth once pressed into her eye now embedded into him with a resounding and nauseating crunch. It dragged out in front of her for what felt like ages when it had only taken mere heartbeats. The world around her grew muted as the ringing in her ears grew louder and louder. There had been many signs that Echomist would not be long for this world, but it was so incredibly cruel the way he was taken from her. From Leopardstar and Badgermask. They had only just started talking again! It had been a long time since she had felt such a visceral anger, but at who? Herself? The wolf? StarClan? Her father who used his last remaining breath on her--

No. That wasn't quite right. If she blinked, she would have missed it, but his eyes moved from her to someone next to her: Badgermask. Her heart dropped. She had told Badgermask to flee, to take the last of their herbs and run. Commanded it! Why hadn't she listened? She shouldn't be here to see this. Not after Batswarm and Moondancer.

"Please.." The ringing in her ears began to fade, all focus honing in as Echomist's mouth moved in a desperate plea to his last remaining daughters. "Please continue to live for me." A heavy paw had raised to fight the beast once more, but it quickly fell back into the snow. As much as her heart hated it, she couldn't risk Badgermask's life too. It felt even worse that she had full intentions of leaving Echomist's body here for the wolves, her sobs returning his declaration of love: "I love you, too, dad." Gritting her teeth, her face scrunched in a snarl as she turned her attention back to the wolf. It was hard to keep her focus, her body running solely on adrenaline as blood poured from the socket of her now missing eye. She had limited time to care for her wound before she passed out. It was now or never. With a hefty shove to her sisters shoulder's, she redirected the both of them back to where they had started: the makeshift medicine den. "Grab. Go. Don't look back." Was all she could say before she nabbed a bundle she had abandoned as this all began, urging her sister to do that same. In her rush, Burdockroot's badger pelt did not go unnoticed. Slung over her shoulders, she pushed back through the dens entrance.

Heavy breathing of burning lungs and crunching snow were the only sounds between the two sisters as the trees at the mountains base came into view. ShadowClan would meet them there.

Heatherberry used Disengage on Wolf  #5, using all remaining SP and removing herself and Badgermask from the fight.

A shiny sliver of shock-white framed the dark expanse of Kestrelkit's gaze; a twin mirror to the roiling turbulence of the late hour, the deep staining of fear leaching deep into the spindly green fibers that coiled neatly around her pupil. Even the familiar presence of Daffodilkit could do little to assuage the white-hot-cold torrent of fear and adrenaline simmering alongside the intrinsic pulse of blood, fueled further into the blinding depths of rising panic by the sharp stench of blood coiling atop the frigid air. It was difficult to catch proper sight of the calamity unfolding, little to discern beyond an unseemly cacophony of noise and gleaming teeth lurching just beyond the yawning maw of darkness.

In the shaded reaches of her panicked sight, the great creatures loomed like monstrous ghosts.

"I-" Kestrelkit's trembling, fraught whisper of response to the terse intonation of Crocusfrost was effectively staunched atop her dried tongue- devolving into little other than a frightened squeak as she and Daffodilkit were promptly snatched up. I may hurt you. Endure it. The sharp bearing of Crocusfrost's teeth against the tender, scuffed pelt of her nape was nearly lost to the ferocious battering of the frigid winds; the prickling, pointed lashing of snow and ice and wind tearing viciously against the soft curve of Kestrelkit's face as the little trio made to forge ahead. The stench of her own humiliating fear did little to cover the smell of death lingering on the too-still bodies they happened to pass.

Endure it. Kestrelkit merely made to curl up the best she could in the tight confines of Crocusfrost's jaws, tucking her chin and lifting her paws in hopes of shielding herself further from the cold and violence.


The iron-hot stench of blood clung curiously to the soft muscle of Jaykit's tongue, a queer stickiness that coated in the tender inner-sides of his teeth and throat. It clung to him as though an invisible curtain of fine mesh, delicately threading to the fine fur decorating his scruffy little face as though a secondary skin. An odd, itchy sensation atop the dark rimming of lashes framing his wide gaze. The thrashing sea of bodies, and the magnanimous glossing of the terse darkness, obscured the worst of the unfolding violence from view- though, somewhere in the shaded reaches, the live wire of his synapses made an idle connection between Egretswoop and the dark glossing that framed her eerily still shape.

He didn't want to think about it much, even if the newly-discovered shapes existed as lasting impressions behind his eyelids.

Remaining still only long enough to ensure that Minnowkit was now safely clutched in the frayed reaches of Harebounce's protection, the little tom made no further protests or attempts at grandiosity as his mother was quick to snatch him up. Jaykit was already a touch too heavy to be easily carried for any significant amount of time, heavy enough to risk being decorated with the faint remnants of wounds lining his scruff after mere moments, but the sticky whispers of pain felt secondary against the frigid current of adrenaline sleuthing through his nervous system. The world streaked by, a monotonous whirl of darkness and snow and cold and violence, as Grebedance and Harebounce fled into the relative safety of the night.

Jaykit did his best to flatten his ears, a weak attempt to dissuade the noise from reaching his memory.

Cloudypaw's heart raced as Gouge approached her, her ears lightly flattening. His familiar presence sent shivers down her spine as her mind raced through all of the implications. His murmur of acknowledgment did not help - it felt like she was being suffocated. He knew. The fear of exposure clashed with the urgency of helping Goldengale, intensified by Gouge's quiet suggestion that she'd abandon everything she has ever known for him. Galepaw's presence added a layer of complexity - would he hurt her again? She tried to keep her composure, swallowing hard, but it quickly crumbled.

"Gouge, I can't!" She stammered - her voice shaking and unsure. She felt so... Small? "I didn't.." Expect you to find out? Things to get so serious? Want to see you here? I don't know. What didn't I mean? She couldn't think. "I-"

Before she could make an excuse or explain anything, Galepaw's urgent plea and Daisyfang's hard nudge towards the thicket of trees brought her back to the moment. Goldengale was going to die without action. She tore her gaze away from Gouge to glance at Galepaw and Tallshadow desperately trying to lift up her limp body. She couldn't afford to turn these stones now - she feared what lurked beneath them. More importantly, her clan depended on her loyalty. WindClan had to take precedence and Goldengale had to survive.

She flashed a soft and apologetic glance at Gouge and the unfamiliar rogue before she nodded. "Yes, Daisyfang!" She chirped back at the instructions, beginning to follow the medicine cat's lead. Her paws were moving clumsily with a newfound sense of urgency. Admittedly, in the moment she barely absorbed what Daisyfang had said. Though, she couldn't help but be grateful that Daisyfang had saved her.

He had whoever that was - the small black tom. Gouge wasn't alone. He'll be okay, she thought - comforting himself. She failed to realize how terrible Gouge truly looked.

---

Tux had been searching for any sort of empathy in the eyes of these clan cats. They all dismissed him despite his pleas, or responded with aggression. These cats don't care whether we live or die. He thought, flattening his ears defensively and deciding to leave. I don't care about you either. As the tortoiseshell tom released an unexpected snarl, he winced and his eyes darted to meet the cat that approached behind him. "You're here!" He exclaimed, recognizing the tom from before, though there was a twinge of confusion. How does a cat survive a run-in with a wolf? His eyes darted between the injured tom and the cat's body in the clearing that the clan cats were swarming over. Isn't that the normal result?

To be fair though, the tom looked awful. He was bleeding everywhere. He flinched as the scent of the tom's fresh blood hit his nose. He opened his mouth to tell Gouge this group of clans was a lost cause, but it just simply hung open in shock when the tom spoke to one of the younger clan she-cats. As she rejected his offer to join his group, it suddenly made sense. At least, Tux thought it did. This 'Gouge' character had simply lost too much blood, and he was talking out of his head. He was crazier than a fox in a fit to believe that she'd leave her cult to join his group. While Tux picked up on the fact that the she-cat used his name, he was naively under the impression that Gouge jus thought this random she-cat was pretty.

"Gouge," Tux mewed, nudging the tom desperately, hoping that using the tom's name would snap him out of this. "We have to go! You're losing too much blood - you're acting weird. You don't know her. We have to get you somewhere safe!"

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The little felines were practically throwing themselves into their mouths as the wolves besieged the hoard of little felines that had ventured into their home and territory, some of them were bold and attacked its packmates but it had no concerns other than deciding on a fun name to call them. But here and now, a lanky grey and white feline stood in front of it and the easiest meal of its life, and annoyance made its brow pulse. Whatever, once it was done with this one, it'd have two maybe three snacks to munch on! They had no sympathy and did not notice nor care for the inner turmoil in the cat before them, instead, in the moment of distraction the wolf lunged forwards and snapped its jaws around the cat shaking its head with a violence.

Bones crunched beneath fur that was swiftly turning bloody, pops and cracks of joints as the wolf shook its head sending the feline flying from its jaws as it swiftly turned its attention to other easy meals.

Wolf #9 has killed Perchstar!

Perchstar already knew it was coming. There was very little chance to do anything other than brace herself as the jaws headed straight for her. At least, she told herself, she was taking the blow this time. Not Egretswoop. Not Cindersky. Not Rowansong. Not Littlepaw. Not Poppyshine or Mistwalker or Willowwisp or Wrenpaw. They would all be all right. She could take a little pain. Wasn't that her entire purpose for existing? Everything else around her peripheral vision shut out as she tightened her muscles. Then, it happened. Sharp teeth. Piercing agony. She didn't scream--her throat, thankfully, punctured too quickly. She would hate to draw her Clanmates' attention away from their own escape. She could take it with dignity. See? Though the pain was fierce, it faded quickly along with the rest of her senses, swiftly subsumed by crimson red. It would be fine. They would all escape, and no one else would have to die. Her sacrifice meant their safety. As always--whether it be the sacrifice of her time or her food or her life--it meant her Clan's safety. They would live.

All ended as her body went completely limp, tossed to the ground like so much fresh-kill. But she'd done it. She'd taken the hit. It was all she could think about as thought fled.

--

"Perchstar? Perchstar, get up."

As always, there would be no time to rest. Perchstar opened her eyes and forced herself to stand up, vaguely noticing that the movement required no effort for once. It was because she had become a ghostly spirit, residing momentarily in StarClan while her body recovered its life. This was... how many times now? It felt like just yesterday that the illness had taken one of her lives. The fox, her own exhaustion, the monster, the blizzard, the illness, and now this. Six times. That left three. Three lives left. Three more lifetimes to agonize and bear the weight of her Clan. She let out a quiet breath, despite her lungs being incapable of such a motion.

Three more times to face the jaws of death, until I am banished unto the stars for good.

For some reason, the thought felt more exhausting than anything. Some quiet, tired part of her wished nothing more than to remain here... but she knew that wasn't an option. Until her breathing ceased forever, she would fight for her Clan.

Who had spoken? The voice had been familiar. Perchstar cast her eyes around until she saw the diminutive starry figure, standing beneath a willow tree. It was Shellwater--one of the StarClan cats who had given her a life. A black-and-orange calico, covered in razor-thin scars that patterned her entire frame. The leader dipped her head in recognition and greeting.

"I would offer you a better greeting, but I am afraid there is no time for pleasantries," Shellwater said. As before, the sweet pitch of her voice did not mesh with the heaviness of the words she spoke. "Your Clan is being threatened even as we speak... and I don't mean by those beastly wolves that sent you to me."

Perchstar's shoulders tightened at the reminder. As if she could have forgotten. The knowledge that had loomed over her every day she lay comatose, every night she shook with fevered visions, had never left. "Beechfang is still out there. Her Clan protects her and defends her murder, even now." Though her veins were spiritual and bloodless, they still froze ice-cold when she pictured the sheer delusion in Birdchaser's eyes. The way Littlepaw had shaken when he realized he could be targeted next, the way that the whole Clan now had to distrust any possible alliance because of the betrayal... it sickened her still. If her legacy was this broken trust and she never even achieved Cloverheart's vengeance, then she would never rest.

Shellwater nodded. "A murderer shelters, fat and happy, in your enemy's camp. Death. How many more will it take? How many more will you allow?"

A low growl echoed through the stars. "None."

The scarred she-cat paced back and forth, her small ears pinned back against her head. "You are aware of what you need to do. Your way has been barred, but no longer. Words cannot solve this. Time cannot solve this. The only remedy is justice. I gave you this life for the strength to deal justice to any who would oppose you, to any who would threaten RiverClan wrongly. What will you do with it? Will you make nice with a threat that spits on your honor? Will you befriend those who openly admitted to caring nothing for your justice, for the corpses lying in their wake? Will you allow there to be more?"

"I will not. There will be no more. I've... we've lost so much already." When she had initially received the life of justice, she'd thought of the Dark Forest hanging over them. She'd thought of Poppyshine being maimed within an inch of her life. Little did she know that just moons later, the very medicine cat who had accompanied her to the Moonstone would have her life stolen in the most dishonorable, the most unjustified of ways--and that the punishment she sought would be trodden in the mud for moons while its perpetrators masqueraded as allies. She thought she almost felt her heart pumping hot, despite her disconnect to her physical body. "I know what I have to do. I will, Shellwater. I promise. For you, for Poppyshine, for Hawkshriek, for Cloverheart, for all who have been wronged." Her eyes narrowed to ice-crystal slits. "I will not rest until Beechfang lies dead at my paws."

Shellwater unsheathed her claws in response. "I fight alongside you. I, and all who have faced injustice. We watch you from the stars, Perchstar. You do not fight alone. And... you do not fight alone in life, either. You have your Clanmates and your true allies by your side. Her orange eyes glowed, and the stars in her fur shone brighter. "Though you may not see me, I'll be there. You have to live now--live, for your Clanmates. Live and fight on. Lead them to victory. Show those scum that they can't tread on RiverClan and live. Justice and vengeance."

Perchstar closed her eyes, feeling the strong emotions that poured through her. As a younger cat, she'd never known the depths of sorrow that one could feel... and how with that came the white-hot rage of a million stars burning into her pelt. How the life of justice had branded her, and how it scalded her tongue even now. How she could not back down. Not when the lives of her Clanmates rested on her every move. The words spat venom as she repeated them. "Justice and vengeance."

--

Distant screaming. Heavy pawsteps on the snow. An unreadable tangle of scents--not least of which Perchstar could identify as blood. Her own blood. Another day... another death. Once again, light blue eyes flashed open. Thankfully it seemed that the wolf had been content with her death, and had run after easier prey. One huff of breath made her wince. She'd been healed, but just barely enough. Though her wounds were closed, her gray and white fur was still matted completely with blood. Her legs ached as she stood up, but no matter. Her Clanmates were what was important. She flexed her limbs and looked in the direction she'd told them all to run. Thankfully, she could recognize almost every pelt retreating. They would be safe... they would be safe, and all she'd had to sacrifice was one life. If I'd jumped in front earlier, than maybe Egretswoop would have lived. Maybe Cindersky and Rowansong wouldn't have-- She gritted her teeth and forced the thought away. Later she could beat herself up. Later, always later. For now... she, too, would leave.

--

Dovepaw is being carried away by Murkyriver.
Bubblepaw is fleeing with Bearpaw.
Hedgekit is escaping with Pineblossom.

"NO!"

It was a guttural scream that left Badgermask as she struggled to come to terms with the scene in front of her. It had happened so fast.

The wolf had turned, quicker than she had expected as it lunged towards Heatherberry. Fear rooted her in place - that she would lose another sister. Visions flashed before her eyes - the unmoving calico pelt of her brother. His well groom fur fluttering in the gentle breeze - perfect as always...Other than the crimson that pooled out of his missing throat. The grey tabby fur of her sister, her green eyes one moment clouded with grief and shock...Then cloudy and dull the next time Badgermask went to meet them.

She couldn't breathe as she blinked as the wolf's jaws closed on black fur...Speckled with orange. It was not her sister in the beast's grasp but her father as he screamed and then was dropped to the ground. It wasn't until she could see his pelt shift beneath the crimson - that he was alive that she finally found the voice to scream as she darted towards her fallen father - but his broken voice, his earnest plead, caused her to freeze.

"Leave!"

Leave? She couldn't - she couldn't leave him! She could hear his words, she knew what he meant but she... She couldn't fail another family member. Even if he was to die, then she would take his body! But she couldn't move - not as she heard his final words and tears started to roll down her face. She...She had never told him that, did she? That she loved him? ...Had she told any of her family how she felt? She took in a deep inhale - to say something perhaps but the force of something ramming into her snapped her back to the true present - of the danger she was in. A hiss escaped her as she nearly raised a paw to swipe before she realized it was Heatherberry shoving her back towards the camp.

She mindlessly allowed her paws to stumble backwards, but her eyes widen as her gaze glanced over her injured sister to the still body of her father. "Wait- we can't!..." she started, but her voice died out as she glanced back at the crimson that ran down her sister's face. They were just going to...? She tried to find the words to speak but all she managed was a sobbing gasp. She hated this - she hated this so much! She had sworn she would protect her family and she failed.

She had failed Batswarm, Moondancer, Leopardstar and now Echomist. Heatherberry had been injured and she had done nothing. A snarl rose in her throat beneath the sobs - a snarl at herself, claws digging into the ground as she silently spat every curse she could think of at herself before she finally relented - leaning down to grab the bundles of herbs she had dropped in her vain attempt to save her father and ran...

Hating herself even more with every heavy step.

Badgermask has been forced to disengage, costing all of her remaining SP.