The Hidden Secrets of the Graveyard

Prologue & Allegiances

The black and white she-cat launched herself at her attackers, latching onto a brown tomcat's back and digging in her thorn-sharp claws. He yowled in pain, but she did not relent. She planned to banish these dishonorable cats from her territory with a fight they would not forget. She sank her teeth into his ear, pulling backward until she felt it tear. The tomcat screeched, jerking his head out of her grasp and escaping back to his territory.

She whirled around, searching for a new opponent, and threw herself into the heat of battle with a cry strong enough to instill fear in even the most experienced warriors. Her claws tore through enemy fur with the vicious rage of StarClan. The ground near the border stream began to pool with blood from both groups of cats. The she-cat remained unharmed.

As she was swiping her unsheathed claws at the nose of a ginger tabby, she heard a sharp cry emit from one of her clanmates. Hissing at her opponent, she slashed his face one last time before streaking off to the source of the cry.

"Nightwing, watch out! Behind you!" one of her clanmates yowled in alarm. The black and white she-cat whipped around and sank her thorn-sharp claws into the back of a dark gray tomcat's shoulder. He let out a yowl of pain and Nightwing bit down hard on his neck. The enemy warrior fell to the ground with a soft thud, blood pooling out of the open wound like a raging river. But the dead tomcat lay laying limply underneath her paws wasn't the only thing stained with the crimson red substance. As a matter of fact, the ground beneath her was stained with the blood of both her enemies and the blood from many of her fallen clanmates.

"Nightwing, help Ashscar, quickly! She's running out of time!"

"Where is she, Moonfire?" Nightwing mewed, blinking and tilting her head to the side. The dark ginger she-cat pointed with her tail to where another black and white she-cat was trapped under a heavy looking tomcat, her back legs were weekly kicking at the tomcat's flank, but it was no use, and her attempts were futile.

"Nightwing help me!" came another yowl from a sleek-furred jet-black she-cat, she was pinned to the ground by a dark brown tabby, who had his jaws clamped down on her neck. Growling with rage, the black and white she-cat leapt at the tabby, grabbing onto his back and scratching at his wide shoulders as she scrambled closer to his head. He began to rear up, freeing the she-cat beneath him, but the cat on his shoulders was faster; she extended a paw with claws unsheathed and slashed at his eyes, raking her claws through the soft material. The enemy cat let out a pained caterwaul, and as the black and white she-cat hopped down from his shoulders and growled, the blinded tom stumbled dazedly back to his territory.

The black and white she-cat turned quickly to the cat she had saved. "Nightfang! Are you hurt?"

Nightfang lay still on the ground, but her tail twitched rapidly. She took a moment to respond. "No, I'm just shocked."

"About what?"

"That I nearly died, mouse-brain," she growled back, but her eyes held amusement. "This is no time to joke, though. Keep fighting, I'll join you soon!"

The black and white she-cat ignored her entirely and waited until Nightfang had risen to her paws to fight. The two she-cats then worked as one, clawing at enemies from both sides and pinning them down, one raking their exposed underbelly or clawing at their faces. They had chased off multiple enemy cats, but their Clan was still being pushed back. The attackers were strong and much greater in number, not to mention fueled with the promise of new hunting territory and prosperity. LightClan was losing.

The she-cats rushed to the back of their defending line, where a long-haired she-cat crouched low to the ground, hiding from their rival Clan.

"Where in the name of StarClan are those slimy, no-for-good shadow-slithering fools?" the black and white she-cat yowled, glaring up at the sky as she stared back at Nightfang, who looked back at her with the same annoyed expression on her face.