The Queen and Knight are Unstoppable

Silverhawk was already waiting by the entrance to camp by the time Swiftheart made her arrival. His lip curled, though only briefly, at the sight of her. He wanted to spit toward her for being late, but he held his tongue. Instead, he just rose to his paws and dipped his head in a nod. ”Yes,” he said curtly, ”I’ve been waiting for you.” Though the pale she-cat was his senior, Silverhawk waved his tail to indicate he would be taking the lead on this patrol and promptly ducked his way out of camp.

Swiftheart… if he searched far, far away in his memories, he could remember liking her once. When he had been young; still sweet. Silverhawk could not conjure any of those positive feelings for her now. The light that radiated outward from her only served to irritate him. What did she have to be so happy about? Why did she deserve such unfaltering joy? Silverhawk wished he could rip it physically, bloodily out of her to harbor for himself. His envy, his discontent with life, grew teeth. He said nothing while they walked, keeping his head low and focusing instead on the placement of each paw in front of the other.

Silverhawk knew Swiftheart to be a gregarious cat; at least he’d thought so. He’d expected her to interrupt the silence he imposed. Thank the Stars she did not. He wasn’t sure what he would’ve done to her if she had. He pushed onward mechanically until the wind shifted. The scent that blew in with the disturbed breeze was foul; familiar. It made Silverhawk’s hackles raise immediately. With just a few more steps, they were crossing near the source of it. The unmistakable prints of a fox were inlaid in the mud, moving at a lope in the very direction the warriors had come from.

Silverhawk could feel his heart thudding in his throat. The motion felt stiff when he shifted his head to glower at Swiftheart. He studied her for a moment before scoffing and marching briskly past her. ”I have a pelt,” he sneered. Though he said it as if he was bragging, the admission made his throat crawl. Hadn’t he been raised to believe they were foul ornaments--that truly powerful warriors need not announce their strength so brazenly? And what had he killed the blasted thing for anyway? Silverhawk wanted to believe he’d done it so that fox posed no risk to his family and to those he loved. But he had done it for Leopardstar’s attention. He felt sick with himself.

Still, ”I’m not going to let you still an easy kill, though.” With that, he bounded off, disappearing fast back in the direction from which they’d come.

It wasn’t terribly long before Silverhawk came across the beast. The beast was black with threads of silver running through its fur, a night sky whose stars were smeared like mud. The end of its tail was a clean white. Silverhawk had never seen a fox like it.

He wanted it dead all the more.

Without looking to see if Swiftheart had caught up, he moved closer-- closer-- close enough to pounce, and then he gathered his weight and sprang. He threw himself atop the fox’s back, scrambled to its neck despite the way it thrashed. Silverhawk angled his head to sink his teeth deep, deep, deep into the side of its neck. He could tell by the relatively weak pump of blood into his mouth that he had missed the vital vein, but no matter. He would continue biting and tearing until he found it. Even being violently dislodged--which was accomplished by the fox wrenching around to sink its teeth into the back of his neck--would not stop him from finding his mark again. Silverhawk tasted blood and his vision clouded red. Even the throbbing pain barely reached him. Yes; his fangs would find home again. He would be the one to kill this thing, the moment he was free of dangling from its jaws.

Silverhawk used Surprise Attack + Bite, dealing 16 (3+13) damage and costing 15 (10+5) EP.
Fox used Iron Bite, dealing 15 damage and costing 30 EP.

Silverhawk
55/70 (-15) HP
185/200 (-15) EP

Fox
44/60 (-16) HP
150/180 (-30) EP