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"Apart from us, only the cats with the possessed souls visit this place. Who are you?"
They had appeared like shadows, six cats as small and thin as newly appointed apprentices. With spiky fur, they stood at some distance at the foot of the angular slope. Despite their menacing appearance, there was also mistrust, coupled with a suppressed trace of fear in their expressions.
Without taking his eyes off them much, Cloverdapple hissed, "What do we do now?" His body was so rigid that Larkwing almost had the impression that he wasn't breathing.
Growling softly, Crowshadow let her bushy tail sweep across the ground. "If they've come to fight us, we definitely have the advantage," she remarked, snarling. "With half portions like that, we should be done in no time."
Lakepelt said nothing, just unsheathed his claws and cowered down, his paws tucked under his body. His blue eyes suddenly lost their lustre as he fixated on the strange cats as if they were nothing more than prey to be caught and killed.
Exactly the same expression as back then. Shuddering, Larkwing shook herself and backed away, intimidated. Since when has Lakepelt been so keen on fighting? We don't even know yet if these strange cats are hostile.
"Keep your fur smooth," Redleaf commanded his cats with a warning undertone. "First of all, no one is going to attack anyone here. As long as we don't have access to herbs, a fight is basically the direct route to StarClan. Besides, this is probably their territory. What's the point of invading someone else's land and attacking the rightful occupants?"
Larkwing twitched her whiskers slightly, relieved that Redleaf didn't share the others' belligerence. Attacking cats in their own territory? Hm, the Shadowless could certainly chirp a thing or two about that.
Visibly ashamed, Crowshadow licked her chest fur and turned her ears back. All the aggression she had hitherto radiated disappeared in an instant. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice as soft and breathy as a breeze.
Larkwing was not particularly surprised by her behaviour. Crowshadow had once been one of the SnowClan cats who had held Larkwing captive as a young apprentice.
What worried her far more, however, was Lakepelt. He, too, had smoothed his pelt again and there was nothing more to be seen of the flashing, thorn-sharp claws, yet he seemed somehow frustrated, or even disappointed.
Uneasily, Larkwing stepped from one paw to the other. It made her stomach twist to see Lakepelt like this. Stars in the sky, we shouldn't trample on the code of combat and our conscience with our hind paws, she thought to herself. After all, we are warriors and not mindless, bloodthirsty...
