Paw Prints (Book One in the Trails Series) *BEING EDITED-NEW VERSION WILL BE LONGER*

~Chapter Seventeen~ Magic and Daggers

A/N: I feel like I need to spice things up a little and kill somebody off in this chapter...You know, because that's just the type of person I am and all.

WARNING! VIOLENT CHAPTER! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

***

Sparrow kept her eyes shut tight, knowing from experience that the magic wouldn't take effect until after the poison tried to turn her into a killing machine.

But Sparrow didn't feel like she was drifting away. She just felt a kind of weariness in her limbs. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

She couldn't move her arms, or her legs, or her head. She fell on her back and watched as her father and four sisters approached her, now holding daggers and swords, all pointing at her heart.

Odd, at a time like this, that all she could think about was her family. Their names, their faces, their eyes. She could only drink in every last detail, and, even if she was about to die, at least she would be with her family. She went through their names, left to right.

Kayla, Lyss, Dad, Christie, Julia. She thought, taking in everything. Kayla's green eyes, Lyss's short hair, her father's dark blue eyes, Christie's orange streaked hair, and Julia's dark purple eyes.

Her family. My family.

***

Tiquail ran over the hills, her body and tail close to the ground. Ainnya streaked a few yard in front of her, being the fastest of the three of them, while Tony ran behind, keeping up well since he was a human with only two legs.

Ainnya froze on the next hill, her ears pricked and her tail held straight out. She waited for Tiquail and Tony to join her. "What do you see?" Tiquail asked quietly. Ainnya angled her ears at the next hill over, where people dressed in black were standing in a tight ring around someone.

Tiquail huffed. "That'd be her, alright." She agreed, pressing her ears flat against her head. Ainnya growled low in her throat as Tony slashed his sword in a rather threatening way.

"Let's go," Ainnya commanded, running down the hill so fast she looked like a gold and black blur.

Tiquail raced after her, digging her long claws into the ground so she didn't tumble instead of run. She could hear Tony pounding after her, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Though it had been weeks ago, and he was training again, Tony was still recovering from the poison.

Ainnya pulled to a stop at the foot of the next hill, sitting herself down and curling her tail around her small paws. Tiquail appeared a few moments later, out of breath and hot beneath her thick layer of fur. Tony arrived last, stumbling to a stop a dropping to his hands and knees as soon as he stopped and breathing heavily.

Tiquail padded over to him. She laid her thick tail on his back. "Are you okay?" She asked briskly. Tony nodded and struggled to his feet, shrugging Tiquail's tail away in the process.

"What's...the...plan?" He asked, still panting. Ainnya lashed her tail from side to side. "We'll be attacking from three points on the hill, that way they won't see us coming. Stay quiet, spread out, and wait for my signal to start attacking." She said quickly.

"And what will your signal be?" Tiquail questioned.

Ainnya shot her a grim look. "You'll know." She growled darkly.

***

Sparrow felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She screamed as the pain became worse, as blood began to flow from a fresh wound. Kayla moved away from her, as if her job was done. "PLEASE, STOP!" Sparrow screamed as Lyss walked up to her, holding her sword at the ready. Lyss didn't even flinch. She began to bring her sword down. Sparrow screamed again as pain clouded her vision.

She couldn't see, she couldn't think, she could only feel pain. She could only know that she was going to die, because she couldn't escape multiple stab wounds. She had been lucky, she reflected, to live this long.

Black spots began to dance in her vision. Being a human, Sparrow still felt a need to live, to let someone know that she needed help. So, with everything left inside of her, she screamed. She screamed as loud as she could as a blade cut her neck. She screamed louder as something went through her leg.

As if from a difference, she could hear someone calling her name. Calling her name desperately, as if their life depended on it. She reached out a hand, dimly aware that it was bloody and felt someone grab it tightly.

Blood continued to flow, and with her last breath, Sparrow screamed again. Except this time, she screamed something.

"I-WON'T-LET-YOU-DO-THIS!"

And then, she was ripped away. She didn't know what had happened, only that she could no longer feel.

That had to mean that her chances were gone.

***

Tiquail felt a blast like a gunshot hit her in the chest. She flew backwards and heard other thumps that probably meant everyone else had been blasted too.

Light was flashing, so bright she could tell through her closed eyes. Once the light died away, she slowly opened her eyes, and felt her heart stop.

Slowly, she got to her paws. Fear and anger clawed at her heart as she slowly approached the two broken bodies in the center of the ring of fallen people an animals.

Tony was already there, leaning over the girl. Tiquail walked up to them first, her blue eyes opened so wide you could see the whites.

"Is she...?" She whispered anxiously.

Tony looked up at her, his green eyes full of tears. He shook his head once, indicating that the answer was No.

Tiquail bowed her great head and and moaned. Sparrow was gone.

NO SHE'S NOT! A voice screamed insistently in her head. But the pain in her heart told her differently. Her tail drooped as the full realization hit her. Our weapon, our last of the Chole family! Her heart and her mind wailed in unison.

Turning away, she padded over to the second body on the ground. She knew the body that looked so small now was dead, loosing lives before her eyes, before she even got near.

Ainnya laid sprawled on the ground, a sword sticking out of her flank in a sick way.

Tiquail tilted back her head and yowled. A low, mournful sound that seemed to ring off of the hills. She didn't know if the great cheetah would ever wake up, and though they barely ever agreed, it was still a loss in her heart.

Lives, simply wasted. Precious lives. Animals and people who should have had a lot of life ahead of them, torn away from everything.

Because of him.

Because of her.

Because of them.