LostHope's Path

Chapter 14

Thunderblaze glared at Heatherfrost menacingly. He crossed the room and guarded his kits protectively. 'You can tell ThunderClan that...that if they lay one paw on my kits...I'll...I'll..."

"You'll what, Thunderblaze?" Heatherfrost whispered. "We have lost so much already. Th-They outnumber us, and the battle is not going well outside...''

"How dare you!" Losthope cried, outraged, then lowered her voice and turned to her startled children. "Kits, go with Parrotfur and tell her not to go outside, no matter what. She will keep you safe."

Specklekit blinked, and mewed in a voice like the fragilest snowflake, "Okay."

The little balls of fur turned tail and scampered off deeper into the nursery, yowling, "Parrotfur! Parrotfur!"

Losthope flinched and turned to Heatherfrost. "I will fight for my kits, and my Clan."

Her mate twined his tail with hers. "No, my angel." He gave the confused Losthope's ears a loving lick. "You are still laden with milk, a-and, the kits. If-If you die..." he whispered, "our family will be broken."

"And if you die it will be the same!" Her yellow eyes flashed neon fury. "Let me fight. You don't have a choice."

"Okay, Losthope," mewed Heatherfrost. "Come. And please....be careful. Our Clan and your kits need you."

Losthope swallowed and glanced but at her kits. Maybe for the last time. She shuddered into Thunderblaze, then braced herself to charge out and into battle.

"I'm ready."

***

As soon as the trio set foot out of the door, ThunderClan seemed to freeze, their gazes flashed, targeted on Losthope and Thunderblaze.

A huge tom leaped over his Clan and landed with a thump! in front of the petrified she-cat. His long, fluffy tail swished, and he smirked.

"First things first." The tom laughed coldly. Cruelly. Greedily. "The kits. Give them up! Or-"

"No." Losthope glared at him, her eyes sharp yellow slits.

Russetstar gave a mrrow of cold amusement. "Wrong answer!" he sang. "Guess again."

Losthope flattened her ears. "We said no. Our answer."

A dark auburn paw flashed out in a flurry of claw and fury and scored. the she-cat's cheek. The air tensed as everyone stared at the four blazing cats.

"Don't touch her!"' A hoarse voice hissed. Raggedstar....What?

"I do whatever the dirt I'd like, thank you, Raggedstar," the cat snorted. "if you're really that sassy, Losthope darling, I shouldn't think ThunderClan would want any of your kits."

My kits are perfect!, Losthope wanted to scream. And so cute that I'd bet you'd die when you saw them! But you can't lay one filthy paw on them without getting past me!

Tanglemeadow stepped forward, snapping a twig. "Then leave, Russetstar."

"Do you think we are such cowards we would not fight you anyways?''

Heatherfrost''s gaze widened. "But that's against the warrior code!"

"ThunderClan cats are not cowards." Russetstar repeat in a voice dangerously calm.

That was it. "You're right, Russetstar, you aren't cowards!" Losthope spat, her ratty fur in spikes. "You're demons. You're cruel. You're kit-stealing. over dramatic wannabes that have NEVER. FREAKING. EVER. FOLLOWED THE WARRIOR CODE!"

Silence fell as both Clans stared at each other in pure hatred, the tiny dark ginger she-cat controlling the biggest cat in the forest, who lead the biggest Clan.

"If you want a battle?" He murmured. "Then you're getting a battle. Now, ThunderClan!"

Maybe four cats barrelled straight into Losthope, but she was prepared, and she dodged and deftly pounced onto the knocked-down ThunderClan cats, scoring her claws into their backs and shredding their ears. A blur of fluffy gray fluffy swept the tiny she-cat off the heap and deposited her next to him.

"I can fight my own battles, Thunderbutt." She teased, leaning up to give his ears a quick (but loving) lick. "I'm not a damsel in distress."

"Yesh, you're anything but that. More like a distressing damsel than anything," Thunderblaze growled as he shoved a ThunderClan she-cat into a tree, who crumpled in a tortoiseshell heap with a mrrow of pain, then silence.

Maybe she was dead. But Russetstar had practically asked for this battle, and the blood of his fallen Clan would be all on his paws, not ShadowClan. And Losthope, quite frankly, did not give a darn about the fate of any cat who threatened her kits.

ShadowClan rhythmically matched ThunderClan's moves, knowing their foes strike by tackle, claw by bite. It was a cloudy day, and for sunset's fire-shade cusped the clearing, the drop-off of the cliff in ShadowClan's territory looked frothy with blood, an ocean of dead.

An omen?

Maybe,

But then again?

Maybe not.

A/N: Because I don't feel like writing an actual ending, have some mystery! <3