Warriors: Broken Threads: Between the Lines (Oneshot)

Between the Lines

"No." The words slipped out of his mouth unbidden, but even as their eyes narrowed he stuck with his choice. "I don't associate with bullies. On the topic, I'm afraid I have to ask you to let him go." Cloudpaw squared his shoulders, spreading his feet apart and crouching into a slightly more defensive position.

He was not going to be the plaything of anyone. And he was definitely not going to be the plaything of two bullies.

Volepelt and Hazelleaf exchanged glances. When they turned back to him, it was with evil smirks and lashing tails.

"Very polite, aren't you? Good manners, I must say. Though how you expect to stop us, I don't know." Hazelleaf gestured with her tail in a broad swoop. "Do you not see what you are giving up? The whole Clan fears us! Other Clans avoid us on patrols. Not even our leader takes notice. It is our Clan! Yet you don't want to join us."

Hazelleaf casually padded forward, using a paw to lift Cloudpaw's chin. "What do you think makes you so special?" Then, in a move too fast for his eyes to follow, she knocked his feet out from under him. His head slammed painfully onto the ground as his world turned dizzy.

"You should be honored, really. You of all cats know just how powerful fear can be." Hazelleaf placed a paw on his chest, pinning his body down. "Your loss, I suppose." She whispered in his ear, breath rustling his fur. Cloudpaw hissed when her claws extended, slashing painfully down his belly.

"Volepelt, help me fix Cloudpaw up just like Pricklepaw. Two mousebrained apprentices, trapped side by side in Twoleg waste. It's fitting, don't you think?" Volepelt let out a harsh chuckle and latched onto Cloudpaw's scruff. He began dragging him towards the brambles. Through the cloud in his thoughts Cloudpaw could distantly feel his paws scrambling at the ground, trying futilely to fight back.

"Maybe if we leave them to starve for a while they will become subservient. I do like my cats bowing on the ground." They were in a part of the territory that most never frequented. The Clan avoided the area and its large, red, abandoned rat-infested Twoleg dens. If they were truly left there, it could be a long time before they were found. "Maybe Cloudpaw could learn a lesson."

Cloudpaw could feel a foreign emotion fill his body. His mind cleared for a brief moment before his vision filled with a red haze. With a loud yowl he lurched, flinging his body side by side and knocking Volepelt off of his feet. Cloudpaw flipped around, getting quickly to his paws and poising against the two warriors. Hazelleaf rolled her eyes obnoxiously.

"Never let your lackeys do the work. They always mess up." Volepelt shot her an angry look. Cloudpaw took the distraction.

With a foreign strength, he dashed forward and plowed straight into Volepelt's legs, knocking him into the ground. With unsheathed claws, he scoured his paw into the brown tom's head, drawing blood as he forced the head down. It made a loud slapping noise as it hit the ground, a sound that filled Cloudpaw with a sick glee.

Leaving the tom to struggle, he turned to the mastermind. Or tried to. She was gone. He couldn't see her anywhere...

He heard it before he saw it, a rustling sound and sudden shadow overhead that betrayed her presence. Hissing, he flipped onto his back and caught her mid-fall. He pushed up powerfully with his hind legs, slamming her back into the tree in front of him.

Cloudpaw stood in front of the two temporarily dazed warriors. Oh how the tables had turned. The white tom knew that he could leave them; help Pricklepaw up, and hope that he had taught them a lesson that would stop their irrational tyranny.

Yet something kept him from leaving, a darker force within him that urged him to attack, to teach them a permanent lesson that they would never forget.