(Warrior Cats)SmokeTrail's fire

Chapter 17- Retaliation

" She brought down my lives one by one. I still have three lives left, though. If she was going to keep doing what she was doing, she would have had to die first anyway. I couldn't let her be leader. Not over my dead body." Adderstar hissed.

Her body was trembling as she wore a sick smile on her face with wide eyes. Her claws unsheathed into the ground.

I stood up and narrowed my eyes. "You're a psycho. Your kits have forgotten about you. It's sad that you've done this out of jealousy, and sad where you will end up." I meowed sorrowfully, and slashed at her neck.

Adderstar sputtered and staggered back. "How dare you!?" She snapped, stumbling before she collapsed to the ground.

I glanced around at the shocked faces. I padded forward and stood over her, watching as she lost her life. This time from the chest up, and again straight across.

I stood there for a bit. It soon occurred to me that she had no more lives left. There was no more adderstar. Who was leader now?

I glanced around again. Everyone looked absolutely terrified.

Peachkit watched me, petrified. Blood stained her tiny fluffy paws, for she was standing in a puddle of blood. She started to cry.

She didn't understand what was going on.

I sighed deeply. I reached over and picked her up, and she didn't mind, clinging fearfully to my pelt. I entered the nursery and ignored everyone but the kit in my jaws. I laid down and her Amber eyes stared right into mine, sparkling with tears.

I licked her clean, then myself.

"What...happened to you?" Aceclaw asked, her tail resting over her kit to prevent her from seeing...this.

"You'll find out soon enough." I meowed, my words ominous but my voice calm.

"Alright..." the queen murmured. Wildkit's eyes were wide with excitement as she bounded over to me, Rascalkit coming over from the other direction.

Peachkit watched them, then sunk back into my fur.

"Sorry, I don't think Peachkit wants to play right now." I purred to them gently. Judging by their names, you wouldn't know that they weren't related until they stood beside their parents.

Rascalkit looked like and acted like Redtail most of the time, though he earned his mother's suddenly dangerous temper. He's normally pretty nice but also a daredevil, and dangerous when angry.

Wildkit looked mostly like her mother, but the markings on her face and paws were dusty brown rather than grey. She had Roughfang's wild spirit considering her name, and her mother's pelt and way she carries herself and handles things.

They were both the only survivors of their litter, since they were born in a harsh extended leafbare.

"Why not?" Wildkit huffed.

"Wildkit, leave her alone. Rascalkit, you too." Aceclaw meowed sternly.

In my mind the words of that starclan cat rang in my head. Fire? Smoke? Water? Embers? What does any of this mean?

I guessed I would find out soon enough.

The two kits flattened their ears and left the nursery.

"Are they gone?" Peachkit asked softly, making me jump.

"Yes, they went to play outside." I replied gently. "Now, we've had a long day, let's get some rest, ok?" I asked softly.

Peachkit curled up in my paws and purred.

Though asleep I eventually felt goldeneyes lay next to me, and heard redtail's shuffling to get past Imeand Aceclaw, and Roughfang's quiet murmuring.

I felt Peachkit purring all throughout the night as I drifted though my dreams.

What woke me up was a huge weight on my back paws. I snapped awake and noise filled my ears. Between my paws, Peachkit was crying and wailing, and the toms were nowhere to be found.

Aceclaw was huddling with wildkit, and freckleface was passed out, rascalkit throwing a coughing fit, though he refused to leave her alone.

The entrance to the den was collapsed with no way to get out. Paws from the outside were scrambling at the dirt and sticks, breaking through just enough to get through.

Aceclaw grabbed rascalkit and wildkit and rushed out. I picked up Peachkit and squeezed through just before it all came down again.

The air was thick with black smoke, flames licking at the trees and everything else.

Trying to exit camp, my path was blocked. The white Tom's pelt was messy with ashes, his deep ocean blue eyes narrowed on me.

"Iceglare...did you do this...?" I asked.

"No." I jumped and spun around. Before me, a tom, his fur pure white. His icy blue eyes locking onto mine. "Ah. Smoketrail." He purred.

The ashy  furred tom padded over to stand beside him.

"This is my kit."

I flinched. This monster had kits? "I..."

"I'm Waterpaw. Nice to meet you-" the light gray tom purred, cut off by his father who nipped his ear, making him squeak.

"in any case, he set the fire. And by the way..."

They began to pad off, but iceglare stopped to turn back to me.

"It's Icestar now."