Warriors: The Chosen Warrior: Final Darkness (Book 6)

Chapter 18

The island was chaos. There'd been multiple times where the Clans had their pelts bristling and the tension was as palpable as a humid newleaf day, but they had never come to actual blows as they always had the awareness to not displease StarClan in the back of their minds. It seemed the moment StarClan was blind to the territories, havoc broke loose.

Darkflight had watched in pure terror as the four Clans turned on each other, skirting from the fighting as much as he could, simply fleeing and getting lost elsewhere in the crowd if someone decided to pick a fight with him. He was aware of the circle of Dark Forest warriors merely standing and observing the battle. They only had one of two expressions on their faces: pleasure or amusement.

Thankfully the fighting calmed down enough where it stopped all together, but he found out with dread that it was because Leafsong and Owlheart had begun fighting. His paws were fixed to the ground as he looked on, feeling a collective shuffle of the bodies around him as they witnessed Owlheart move from one spot to the other, without even having to lift a leg.

Darkflight physically flinched as Leafsong was thrown to the ground and Owlheart pinned her down. An inner alert shot up inside him, and he started to walk forward, closer to them, but a multitude of menacing growls sounded behind him. Slowly he glanced over his shoulder to see the line of Dark Forest cats glaring at him with warning, their fangs revealed and claws flexing. Tensing, he faced forward again, glancing at the cats around him. Were they really just going to let Leafsong be killed like that, without any objections?

But he wasn't doing anything about it, either. Collectively they were terrified, frozen to their spots in the hopes that the Dark Forest warriors wouldn't attack them for making a single wrong move. They were just here for one cat, and that cat happened to be the Chosen Warrior. So what if one cat died? The rest of them would still be alive -

But wish they had died too.

Owlheart spoke to Leafsong as the Chosen Warrior was held to the ground, but Darkflight was too far away to hear any bit of it. He desperately wondered what she could be saying. And while she was distracted, taking her time to deliver the killing blow, where was StarClan at? Surely they would have come by now, either in their spirit forms like the Dark Forest cats were or in the form of Leafsong herself. However, what Darkflight could see of Leafsong between the bodies of numerous cats, it was as if all the life was already seeping out of her just from Owlheart's words alone. His muscles tensed even more.

He had to do something.

He had to save Leafsong, the love of his life.

Disregarding any growls or claws to the back he was going to endure, the black tom darted forward, dodging between the first group of spectating cats.

A sudden burst of movement caught his eye ahead, and he paused where he was at. A tremendous yowl came from the cat followed by Owlheart's own screeches of fury. Among the hisses and growls of the two, the tom found time to call out, "Leafsong, run! Run, Leafsong! Go! Run!"

Whitesnake had thrown Owlheart off of Leafsong and was fighting her as if his own life depended on it.

In between the heads, Darkflight spotted a glimpse of Leafsong running, shoving cats out of her way if they didn't move. Quickly, the black-furred tom followed her gaze; she was heading to the tree-bridge, trying to leave the island. He began to make his way toward her to help, for it was impossible for her to reach the other side of the clearing without being intercepted by another Dark Forest warrior.

As he tried his best to quickly get to her side, some of his obstacles were other cats who were also pushing among the crowd, battle fury in their eyes. His heart sank. Are the Clans going to start fighting again? But then the few glances he took to the edges of the cluster told him otherwise - some Clan cats had begun to fight the surrounding Dark Forest warriors. His spirit now soaring as the Clans finally started to fight back, he searched for Leafsong again in the throng.