Warriors #6: A Kittypet's Destiny

Chapter 33

Swiftflight's POV

My heart seemed to rise with urgency and determination as I ducked my head and leaped to my side, getting out of the way of my pursuer. 

I then quickly swerved around to their back side, proceeding to swipe a claw across one of their hind legs. Just as I had hoped, the slash caused the Dark Forest spirit I was fighting to lose their balance, allowing me to leap forward and press them into the ground. 

I looked down at the skinny white tom that was now trapped under my grip. "Given up yet, Snowtuft?" I hissed at the Dark Forest warrior that I had once considered a fellow trainee and mentor. 

Despite Snowtuft's lean and leggy frame, I struggled to hold him in place with his forceful squirming. "Giving up to a cat that left the Dark Forest by choice?" he barked back up at me, his blue eyes blazing with anger. "What a joke!"

I held back a growl and sank my claws deeper into the warrior's shoulders. Unfortunately for me, Snowtuft had not been the only Dark Forest cat to taunt my sudden disappearance from the Place of No Stars in this battle. "I'm laughing so hard," I sighed sarcastically.

"Just think, Swiftflight," Snowtuft went on, continuing to wriggle under my grip. "This fight could have been so much easier had you been on our side, had you decided to keep letting us train you!"

I shook my head slowly, lowering my head so that Snowtuft and I were almost muzzle to muzzle. "Any battle feels easy when you have something to fight for," I muttered, my heart beginning to well up with pride. And there's so much for me to fight for now. I wouldn't have known that if I'd stayed in the Dark Forest.

To my surprise, Snowtuft let out a hoarse purr of amusement at my words. "See, it's talk just like that! Do you hear yourself? Since you've left us, that little heart of yours has gotten the best of you."

I shut my eyes, Snowtuft's words actually striking a nerve with me for a moment. His words were already beginning to echo in my own mind. Since you've left us, that little heart of yours has gotten the best of you.

"Swiftflight, you could have had it all! You could've learned so much...  you could've become so much stronger and tougher!" Snowtuft went on, and I opened my eyes again to meet his vindictive, mischievous gaze. "You were so close, and you threw it all away!"

I finally let the growl that had been rising in my throat escape my lips, and the frustration that had been rising up inside of me was practically boiling at this point - frustration at the Dark Forest cat's words, and the fact that I'd let them get to me for even a single heartbeat. 

With unsheathed claws, I shifted Snowtuft so that I could pin him down - his back on the ground rather than his stomach, causing us to be face to face. "Close to what? Close to completely shutting off my Clanmates? Close to becoming a vile cat with not even an ounce of feeling in his heart?" I snarled in response to Snowtuft's taunting words. "If I've learned anything from my training in the Dark Forest, it's that being tough and strong is not all that matters." 

I then looked away from the white tom for a moment, feeling my heart almost physically grow with warmth as I thought about just how true my own words were. Once I got past worrying about things like valor or strength... that's when I was able to find all of these things that I'm fighting for, I realized. Goldenshine, Snowstorm, Ivypool... all of my Clanmates...

I then almost felt that I would topple over by how much my stomach seemed to flutter. Cherrypaw...

The thought of the ginger tabby she-cat, amidst all of the other cats I cared about so deeply, caused my determination and certainty to surge even higher as I looked back down at Snowtuft. "Which is why, Snowtuft, I'm not going to kill you unless you continue to give me a perfectly good reason to."