What if Mapleshade's kits lived

Chapter 11

With no time, she turned, yanked Larchkit to his paws and tried to make a run for it. But it quickly failed, with the first opponent already on them, Beetail himself throwing himself onto Mapleshade's side with the weight of boulder, causing her to be thrust towards the ground and Larchkit being knocked away, both dangerously close to the Thunderpath. All the instincts, training, panic and savagery just took over. Spinning, she gripped Beetail's neck with her forelegs, knocking him away. However, it only caused him to stagger a few paces away. But Mapleshade wasn't given time to even breathe as the next opponent came bolting in, a hate-fill Frecklewish. Oh, this had been something she'd waiting for!

Both cats reared onto their back legs, trading blows. Using her anger to foul her, she flicked away Frecklewish's pathetic swipes before countering with a swipe of her own, her claws easily slicing through Frecklewish's chest fur. Too occupied with the speckled she-cat, Dawnfeather was easily able to come in, tearing through the tip of Mapleshade's ear. The blood gushing out. Hissing out slightly, Mapleshade just barely kept the former Queen back by blinding her with a thick tail, only able to fight one opponent at a time.

Focusing back on Frecklewish, she continued to pound down. However, Frecklewish ignored the pain of Mapleshade's blows, twisting round Mapleshade's outstretched paw, lunging forward like a speeding pike, biting down hard into her neck. Frecklewish's weren't the only fangs inside her, as a now recovered Beetail chomped down deep into her back leg, leaving a painful wound, dragging her down. Dawnfeather was quickly behind him, aiding him with bringing Mapleshade down. A constant need for awareness of the Thunderpath, less than a tail-length away now. The constant roar of speeding monsters pounding in her ears, just as much as the claws ripping through her fur like thin grass.

All while Mapleshade was overwhelmed trying to tussle with the three warriors, Larchkit was having a battle of his own. Instead of trying to battle two grown cats like a mousebrain, he used his smaller and light build to dodge and weave in-between the constant swipes of Bloomheart and Deerdapple as they struggled to pin him down. Like trying to swat a fly out of mid-air. But Larchkit wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, they needed to get out of here now.

Trying to gather her strength, she kicked out against Beetail's and Dawnfeather's heads, making space for herself. Blinking heavily as blood poured down her head, threatening to blind her. The deep hole in her back leg, draining of blood as well.

In desperation, she sent frantic endless waves of slashes in every direction possible, in an attempt to keep the three warriors at bay. Managing to split Beetail's nose. However, Dawnfeather ducked into Mapleshade's blind spot. Before she could turn round to face her, Mapleshade gasped as Dawnfeather's fangs dug deep into her scruff. Beetail and Frecklewish now lunged on top of her, piling on top of her. Their combined weight overpowering. All she could do was cover her face.

A sudden squeal made Mapleshade's eyes to flick towards Larchkit. Deerdappple had the brown kit pinned by his tail effortlessly with a single paw. He squirmed as the silver warrior hissed in his ear, "Stop struggling before you hurt yourself.", she warned. Yet he didn't, his legs wildly flailing like a fish. Despite how much she wanted to, she couldn't break away from the powerful grip of the three warriors as they kept trying to claw past the paws that covered her head, to the variable face underneath.

Bloomheart kept tightly circling the two cats, but Dawndapple kept her back to him, blocking him from reaching Larchkit under her paws. Mapleshade barely made out Bloomheart's angered words in amongst of the inraged growls of her attackers, "What are you doing?", he demanded, "Let me get to him!". What was he doing? Both Beetail and Dawnfeather seemed to think the same thing, as their attacks ceased as their attention focused on their arguing clanmates. Only Frecklewish didn't seem to care as her mouth hung open to show off fangs as sharp as pine-needles. Her head edged closer to Mapleshade's neck, clearly going for the killing bite, with Mapleshade, still on the floor, barely holding her back.