The Sunlapse (A Light in the Mist AU/rewrite)

XV

Song of the Chapter:
Maudlin of the Well - The Ferryman

The twilight was deathly. It hung in the form of a choking mist, with a coldness that strangled the dead shadows of trees and flooded the rotting black mud underpaw as Shadowsight and Rootspring made their way towards the lake. The soulless heavens didn't hold the vast freedom of a Greenleaf sky, or the wonder of a starlight night sky. Just the dull, yawning blue of a gloomy dusk. It was as though the death and evil of this dreadful forest itself tainted the air.

Shadowsight's pelt spiked as quiet footsteps broke the eerie quiet of the wind's whimpers, and Rootspring seemed to notice it quite quickly too. There was a slight mumble, too quiet for him to reach. Then the footsteps got louder, and a tom he didn't recognize whispered, "Did you hear something?"

"Quick, hide!" Rootspring whispered as they rushed into the nearest bush. Poisonous thorns prickled Shadowsight in a tight, tangled prison of brambles, but it was better than the burning agony of claws to the throat! Every fur on his body stood up as he heard the footsteps grow louder, until it sounded like they were only pawsteps away from the bush they were hiding in.

"No, don't see anything," a she-cat meowed. His heart nearly melted with a flood of newfound relief.

"Check the bush, I think that's where the sound came from." Within one moment, all his hope was drained and his heart became as heavy as a stone, dropping from a wound in his chest as a face peered into the bramble bush. Fear stabbed into Shadowsight like a dagger, his terror spiking to a fatal high. he and Rootspring flew out, having to crash through a wall of poisonous thorns. 

"Get them! We're bringing these spies to Ashfur!" The tom spat, and suddenly a huge body struck Shadowsight. It was such force that for one tiny fraction of a second, he felt senseless. He tumbled into the murky sea of black, as though every bone in his body had shattered, and he opened his eyes to see a yellow and black she-cat, her pelt darkened by the dusky shadows.

"Look at this! One even has stars in his fur!" A huge tom meowed as he eyed Rootspring.

Shadowsight immediately unsheathed his claws, a beast inside him wrestling to get out. He struck out for the she-cat, but she threw a paw to press it on his chest. "Are you ready to die?" she mewed. Her voice sounded silky, as though she was trying to tease him.

Shadowsight's fear was suffocating. It came over him in waves of heat, his body shaking in a spasm of utter, cold terror. His mind began to spiral into vertigo, until a tom spoke. "Guys! We don't have to kill these kits. Just knock them out so that we can drag them to Ashfur."

The intense, dizzying terror faded to a grim anger and hopelessness. He couldn't die here. He couldn't come to the Dark Forest just to help his friend only to end up getting killed with him.

Shadowsight felt as though the weight he twisted under had shattered with this new rage, and that beast finally broke out. He lashed out, pressing his paws from bellow into her chest and sinking his claws into her flesh. The she-cat screeched and lifted her grip off him in shock. He threw off the last of the weight crushing him and stood back up. "What are you doing?" she shrieked.

"Escaping, you maggot-infested lump of rotting sheep milk," he spat. Shadowsight turned to see Rootspring battling a much larger gray and white tom, and though the tom was much more muscular he still seemed to keep fighting without going down. Triumph lifted Shadowsight, and he was prepared to fight.

"Rushtooth! Get Maggottail, Mapleshade and Silverhawk! And if you can, get Ashfur!" the she-cat hissed as she turned, and Shadowsight threw himself forward, grappling on with his impact. She turned and hissed as he bit down on her throat, sinking his teeth through her thick fluff into the meat. Then he felt something strike him again, and there was a burning flash of pain in his cheek.