A Clan's Tragedy #1

Chapter 9 (COMPLETED)

 Chapter 9

 After a nights sleep. Hazelfur woke to a cold morning. She stretched and yawned. She went over to the other three cats and shook them each awake.

   "Come on," she mewed loudly."We need to track him! We almost caught him yesterday!" Hazelfur felt a stab of impatience. They all were slow and she had an idea that these cats could help them kill Fireclaw and take him back to Rippleclan. Rabbitstar propably won't like it, but then he won't have to risk other cat's lives and they won't have to come all the way back here. Fox and Jay were sitting up and washing themselves. Frostail was fast asleep. Hazelfur prodded him with her paw.

   "What?" he mewed sleepily." I was dreaming about catching a mouse!"

   "Then you can catch one for real here!" she meowed. "And we need to find Fireclaw."

   Frostail reluctantly sat up and yawned. The four cats started on the journey to find the killer. Hazelfur padded at the end of the group to watch where Fox and Jay were leading them.

   "Hey!" Frostail said suddenly."I found his scent trail! He was here only yesterday night!"

   "Great!" mewed Hazelfur."I think it goes through that bush, and over to the trees." The cats went over to the trees and sniffed a fern patch. "He slept here so he must be close. And I think I smell other cats...." she trailed off. A pair of green eyes peered at her through dense thorn bushed.

   "Guys..." she whipered, not taking her eyes off the green gaze. "There is a cat in those thorn bushes." The three cats glanced at the pair of unblinking eyes. They turned into a frown. "Run." She bolted over to the pains once more and the other cats followed. 

   Suddenly a group of cats jumped out and chased them over the pain. There was about five of the including the green eyed cat. They looked to be rouges, but Hazelfur was busy running for her life. Frostail tripped and fell over a large rock. The rouges were gaining on their fallen prey. Hazelfur turned back to help her clanmate. She jumped on the nearest tom, and clawed his eyes with her back claws and bit his neck. Frostail quickly got up and attacked a black she-cat. She screeched in pain. Hazelfur felt a hard bite on her tail and swang back to claw a she-cat with part of her ear missing. The tom she attacked threw her off over the she-cat's head. They were out numbered! Hazelfur saw Fox fighting a gray tom and Jay fighting a red-ish tom. Hazelfur jumped on a tom Frostail was fighing and bit hard on his tail. He screeched in pain and tugged his tail free and ran off towards the trees. Four more to go. She thought.

   The tom with the green eyes had a orange pelt and was fighting with Frostail.

   "Hazelfur!" yowled Jay."That's Fireclaw!" He pointed to the tom. Hazelfur spat curses at the black she-cat that landed on her head and shook her off. She ran over to Frostail and clawed hardly at Fireclaw's back, but he swung around and hit her hard on the head. She fell over from the impact and the black she-cat jumped on her and started clawing her belly. Pain made Hazelfur angry and she rolled over to leave the she-cat landing on the ground with a thud. Hazelfur bit her neck hard and the she-cat got up and bolted over the pain to the dam. Three more...

   As she thought that, she jumped on the she-cat with the missing ear that was battling Fox. Fox hit a hard blow on the she-cat's head and Hazelfur slid under her and clawed her belly. The she-cat gave up and bolted off to the trees. Hazlfur spotted the russet furred tom claw Jay's ears, but Jay whipped him over and bit his throat. The tom screeched in fury and got up and ran off. Jay clawed his tail for good measure. The only cat left was Fireclaw, and he had Frostail pinned. Jay and Fox were licking their wounds so that left Hazelfur to help him. She ran to the side of him and hit her head hard against his flank. He toppled over from the impact and Hazelfur hit a blow to his head. He got knocked out because she hit him hard with fury.

   "Thanks." mewed Frostail."You had some good battle moves." He got up to check the gash on his side.

   "Yeah." Hazelfur mewed back." I'll go get some marigold for that. And look out for Fireclaw to make sure he doesn't get up." She padded over to the forest and found a great stock of it growing, and she also found some poppy flowers. She grabbed some seeds and the marigold and brought them out to her traveling companions.

   "Here." She meowed to Fox who had a ear bleeding at a scratch on her tail. "Put this on your scratchand your ear. It wil heal it." Fox nodded and did what she said. Hazelfur check on Jay. He only had a small scratch on his flank. Frostail had no wounds at all exept his throat was sore from Fireclaw. Hazlfur's tail hurt from the black she-cat. And she had a nick in her ear. She put some cobwebs on it.

   "Is every cat okay?" she called. Cats nodded in anwser and went back to cleaning their wounds. They caught Fireclaw, but how are they suppost to bring him home? Hazelfur tried to think. We could force him to come, now that he didn't have his allys anymore. Yes, that's what we'll do. 

   "Hey, Frostail!" she meowed."We could force Fireclaw to travel back with us. Do you want to do that?"

   "Actually, I have another idea." he responded. "We could give him dark-berries." Dark-berries could kill a full grown cat in less than a heartbeat. Hazelfur shuddered. She didn't allow those kind of berries in the camp.

   "How?" she asked."He knows what they are and won't eat them."

   "We could stuff some in a mouse, then give it to him." Fox said. She and Jay were listening to their conversation. 

   "Good idea." mewed Frostail. "I'll go get the mouse."

   "And I'll get the berries." said Hazelfur. She walked over to the forest and spotted a dark green bush with bright red berries on it. She carefully nipped off a stem and carried it back to the cats. Frostail had a mouse with a stick. He stuffed three berries down the mouse's throat with the stick.

   "There we go. Wake Fireclaw." He commanded. Jay walked over to the knocked out tom and bit his tail. Fireclaw bolted up. "Here. Eat this." Frostail meowed sharply to him.

   "Why?" said Fireclaw suspicously.

   "We don't want you complaining on the way back!" Hazelfur snapped. "Now hurry up."

   Fireclaw slowly ate the mouse. At once he started gagging and was trying to breathe. 

   "This is what you get for killing our apprintice!" hissed Frostail. "Now you will die."

   "I won't regret killing him. And you better watch out, cats. I-" he started coughing." I will kill you all...." he meowed his final words, then his head flopped lifelessly onto the plain's ground.