Gorsepelt's Insanity

Chapter 7

Gorsepelt ran up the moor. She could smell Hawkcry's scent along the stream. The thought of him made her hiss, "Filthy rat!"

She could feel the wind tugging at her fur, a cold wind that made her shiver. It was nearly leaf-bare and the air was cold, but the she-cat's heart was colder.

Doepaw's head peeked out of a bush, Gorsepelt snarled and leapt at it. "Leave me alone!" Doepaw disappeared into air before she could touch the pale brown apprentice's fur but Gorsepelt could hear her mocking laughter, coming from the cold stars above.

StarClan has abandoned me, everyone has abandoned me, everyone is a traitor! Gorsepelt snarled to herself as she stalked forward. Our lives are just distractions to the fact that in the end, we all rot and turn to dust.

The spotted brown she-cat's ears twitched when she heard a shriek. Pebblelake. Gorsepelt's jaws parted, taking in the traitorous medicine cat's scent. Quieter than a cloud in the sky, Gorsepelt stalked forward, her claws unsheathed and itching for a fight.

***

Schreeching like an eagle, Gorsepelt burst out of a bush and threw herself towards Pebblelake. The medicine cat's eyes were wide, his fur bristling. "You betrayed me!" Gorsepelt howled and prepared to slash his throat. She paused.

Pebblelake was already dead. His throat seeped with fresh, dark blood from a deep bite wound. Bloody pawprints circled around the dead medicine cat, trailing off into the grass. Gorsepelt's lips curled into a snarl, "Hawkcry."

"Dear StarClan!" Gorsepelt whipped around to see Birchstripe, the IceClan medicine cat, staring at Pebblelake, his eyes round with fear

The black striped tom looked at Gorsepelt, he looked half scared out of his wits. "D-did you do this?"

Gorsepelt shook her head, "No! Hawkcry did this! Hawkcry! He murdered Pebblelake to make it look like I did it!"

She took a step forward, but Birchstripe unsheathed his claws, "You beast! Y-you just killed a medicine cat! StarClan will punish severely you for your crimes!"

"What's happening?" Willowtoe, the SeaClan medicine cat mewed and emerged from the bushes. She gasped when she saw Pebblelake's body. But she didn't see Gorsepelt. The MoorClan she-cat had already disappeared, she had one thing on her mind. Hawkcry.

The dark tabby was padding through the moorland grass. He was heading towards MoorClan camp, Gorsepelt assumed he was going to tell everyone that Gorsepelt had killed Pebblelake. What he didn't realize was that his victim was running low to the ground, directly behind him.

Gorsepelt's blood roared in her ears as she followed silently behind her prey. Once she got close, she stopped. Hawkcry didn't stop, instead he padded at a slower pace, Gorsepelt narrowed her eyes. You're mine. She leaped silently on top of a large, flat slab of slate. Hawkcry still had no inkling of her presence. Finally, Gorsepelt dragged her claws across the flat, silver rock. Her hooked claws made a dreadful scraping noise.

Hawkcry whipped around with a hiss. He glared up at Gorsepelt, his yellow eyes gleaming with fury. "You! What are you doing here?"

"You betrayed me Hawkcry!" Gorsepelt felt rage forming inside her, along with the consuming madness. "I thought you loved me, but you called me an abomination!"

"Because you are!" Hawkcry snarled back. He unsheathed his claws, letting them sink into the earth. "Having the ability to see how cats die makes you a monster, after all, you did nothing to help them! You let them die!"

Gorsepelt lashed her tail, getting to her paws. She taunted the dark brown tom, "Why don't you come up here and say that to my face?"

The tabby curled his lip, showing his sharp yellow teeth. "Why don't you come down here and fight me!"

"Challenge accepted." Gorsepelt let out a shriek and leaped off the rock, her claws extended and teeth bared. She aimed straight for Hawkcry's neck.

Letting out a grunt, the brown tom darted out of the way and swiped his claws at Gorsepelt's throat. They missed by a hair. Gorsepelt jumped out of range and bit down hard on the middle of Hawkcry's spine.

She heard a muffled crunch and Hawkcry let out a wordless screech of pain. Gorsepelt watched him crumple to the ground in a broken, tabby heap.

"My back..." Hawkcry groaned, cracking open one eyelid. "I think it's broken." He tried to move, but as soon as he lifted his head, he shrieked in agony and fell back into the dust.

"Serves you right," Gorsepelt turned away. "I was wrong Hawkcry, you're not just a traitor, you're stupider than a lump of soil."

Without looking back, Gorsepelt padded away. She heard Hawkcry call out weakly at her, "Wait, you're just going to leave me to the crows?"

"I planned on it," Gorsepelt swept her tail over the dust, erasing her pawprints. As she walked farther away from camp and the slate boulders, she felt the darkness tugging at her mind. She ignored his wails and cries for help. He would be dead by sunrise anyway, long enough so he couldn't tell anyone about who killed him.

Gorsepelt wrinkled her battered muzzle, wincing as she did so. Hawkcry had missed clawing her eyes, but his sharp claws had struck her nose in the process.

MoorClan wouldn't want her back anyway, that rat-faced Birchstripe probably marched straight over to MoorClan camp and told Shadestar that one of his warriors killed Pebblelake. Gorsepelt sighed, I'm an exile.

The first shelter she came across was a tiny stone Twoleg den filled with piles of dead grass. The tired she-cat flopped down and immediately fell asleep. Pebblelake's cold, dead paws reached out at her from the darkness, crying out for his life had never been spared.

Sooo............yeah. Stuffs gettin serious. This is only going to be 10 Chapters so I'll be wrapping things up soon.