Coming Dawn

Chapter 03: Unspeakable Evils

The warriors surrounded them, pouncing on the queens once they were cornered. A large dark brown tom leapt forward and cut Shrewpelt's throat with a single flick of his paw, spraying the dusty clearing in dark blood. Dawnkit had to bite back a scream.

Duskstream, who had realized long ago that they were not leaving, leapt readily over a charging warrior and aimed herself toward the nursery. A female warrior, an orange tabby, caught Duskstream half way there, and they rolled against the ground. Duskstream was able to put up some fight, but other cats joined the tabby she-cat and Duskstream disappeared inside a mass of cats angry spitting cats.

Smokestorm screeched as warriors covered her with blows, though she did try to fight back as well. But being in a nursery for months with barely enough room to walk around did not give her the strength to do so. Eventually one cat got a hold of her neck, snapping it with ease.

Featherdust stood in the center of the clearing, untouched, but she had not moved. She looked around, with a calm expression, and Dawnkit thought it was the calmest that Featherdust had ever looked in her life. Dawnkit tried to get away, tried to stop herself from seeing this massacre, but a vine form the bush tangled with her paw, stopping her short and forcing her to watch.

"Your friends are dead, traitor!" Dovestar yowled, in a type of delight that made Dawnkit shiver, not that she hadn't been shaking before. Dawnkit couldn't breathe and she hoped this was a nightmare. Some stupid, fever sick nightmare. But when the smell of blood hit her hard, and she knew it wasn't.

"Aren't you scared to die?" Dovestar snarled, jumping down from her spot on the high rock and in front of the former medicine cat. Featherdust held up her head, not blinking and looking past Dovestar.

"I'm not afraid to join Star Clan..." She murmured solemnly, blinking slowly and taking a deep breath. Her mother was truly ready to die. The burning tears tat were swelling in Dawnkit's eyes blurred her vision, and she bent down to rub her face against her paws. Why was this happening? Why would they do this?

"You know Featherdust... HE was supposed to be MINE. YOU corrupted him with your taint and your disgusting ideas." Dovestar roared, and Hollyberry glanced at her leader disapprovingly. It was obvious that Hollyberry was just as authoritative as Dovestar.

"Dearest Leader, control yourself." Hollyberry murmured, her voice low but all the same threatening. Dovestar looked back, and though Dawnkit could not see her face she sensed it was filled with fury. In that moment, without hesitation, Dovestar jumped forward toward her mother and clamped her jaws around Featherdust's frail neck. Her mother did not react, nor did she scream, but she instead looked straight into the brush where Dawnkit was hiding.

A tiny sad smile crept across her face as she watched her daughter, some final last unspoken statement to prove to Dawnkit she loved her. Tears gleamed in her sapphire blue eyes, illuminating the last light before it went out.

Featherdust's neck snapped in two, and her head nearly came clean off. Dovestar had not held back when executing her mother. Dawnkit felt bile rise in her throat, but she forced herself to swallow it, because if any cat smelled it she would be dead. She needed to get back to the nursery, she needed to try and get them out. If they weren't already dead.

Dawnkit pulled against the vine that had captured leg, but it only bruised the flesh under her skin. As painful as it might have been, Dawnkit pushed through and pulled again, straining even more this time, but being careful not to cut herself.

"Dovestar..." Hollyberry's voice came through the silence like a claw through water. "What of their kits..." Hollyberry voice was nowhere near a question, it was an order. Suddenly the vine snapped free, rattling the bush vaguely. Hollyberry's ears flicked toward it, but she made no action and simply ignored it.

"What about the kits?" Dovestar's voice sounded confused, but Dawnkit knew what Hollyberry meant. If their mothers were tainted then they were too, but Dawnkit didn't stay to hear what Hollyberry had to stay. Whether they planned to kill Dawnkit, and the other kits didn't matter because she didn't want to stay anyway. They had killed her mother; just as they had killed her den mate's mothers.

The moment she scrambled into the den she was not able to hold back the bile rising in her throat, and it came out all over the floor. Heaving, it came up once more, and a new wave of swelling tears spilled down her cheeks.

No one had come into the den, but the kits were all huddled together looking like they'd just seen ghosts, but nothing nearly as bad as what she had just seen.

"Who... Who screamed..." Rosekit asked, shaking from head to tail.

"We need to leave. Now." Dawnkit managed to choke out through the stinging in her throat, taking a few steps forward before her legs failed and she tripped straight into Kestrelkit.

"Wh-Why? What happened? Dawnkit!" Kestrelkit panicked, but Dawnkit shook him off. She needed to focus, she needed to get them out. She needed to save them.

"They're all dead." Was all she could spit out at first, the taste of vomit still plaguing her tongue. "Shrewpelt... Duskstream... Smokestorm... All dead. They killed them all." Dawnkit held back an oncoming sob that rose into her throat, and held her head up. Her body shook, but the moment she mentioned that his mother had died she lost Kestrelkit's support to stand up. All the kits stared at her with wide eyes and Ivykit, the smallest of them all, immediately burst into tears.

"What do you mean they're—" Brindlekit started, looking just as shaky as his brother. Emberkit sat in between her brothers in shock, her mouth hanging open.

"Something about them not being true warriors. It's was just pure evil... And evil has no mercy for anyone." Ivykit stared at her in shock as she swore. "We need to leave now, before they come in for us next." Dawnkit snapped, beginning towards the back of the den.

"There is a little hole back here. We can all slip out." Dawnkit ordered, and most of the kits followed her, dazed with the shock. Kestrelkit stayed toward the back, making sure every other kit got through the hole before he did. It was a tight hole that Dawnkit had carved out of the thorny branches, but it was big enough for even Brindlekit to squeeze through.

The next step was trying to get out of a forest they've never been in, at least it was the morning. Without any more thought, the kits began their great escape.