//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: My Little Warriors: Fallen Stars 
// by Truzzle 
//------------------------------//

                                                                        Chapter 4




Rainpelt momentarily stood where she was among the confusion. Cats of different scents and colors ran around her, snarling and yowling. Her friends leaned against each other around her, and she could see that they, too, were confused and fearful.
But Rainpelt wasn't scared. Since when was she scared? She slightly crouched, her fur bristled, and hissed at all the strange cats around her. She then hissed even louder, but stopped halfway through it when she saw one of the cats got a little closer than usual. She gasped inwardly, and glanced around. Every cat around her and her friends was skinny; she then caught a glimpse of the fresh-kill pile. She knew it was these cats' food source, as she had heard some cats mention it before. The pile, however, was small, with only a few mice and squirrels.
Suddenly, she heard panicked yowls as she was knocked onto her back. She yowled in pain and turned her head to come eye to eye with a large, tortoiseshell tom. The tom was mostly black and gray, with ginger patches around his eyes and dark amber eyes. The tom's mouth parted in a yowl to reveal many sharp teeth.
As her instincts overcame her, Rainpelt bunched up her hind legs, claws out, and kicked the tom in his stomach. This kick sent the tom flying a couple tail-lengths away, where he landed with a loud thud. Glancing around, Rainpelt could see not just the scrawny cats around the clearing, and not just her friends in fearful panic, but blood. Small pools and scarlet drops of blood lay scattered among the cats and the clearing. On the ground, on the cats' pelts, their whiskers and their muzzles, everywhere.
A sudden emotion crawled up Rainpelt's spine; fear. She turned and ran, only to fall on her stomach with her face half buried in the ground. She felt strong paws hold her down by her neck, back, and tail. She made an attempt to yowl, only to fill her mouth with dirt and let out a muffled sound.
Is this the end? she thought. As soon as this went through her mind, the weight of the attacker disappeared, which was followed by defeated yowls of pain and anger. She quickly sat up and gasped. Never before had air felt or tasted so sweet and precious. Looking around once more, she saw the attacking cats fleeing the clearing, letting out only half the yowls she heard. She saw the tortoiseshell tom fleeing away from her, followed by a small, gray tabby tom who had a stubby tail. She recognized this as her mentor, Stormheart.
Just as her friends were coming up to her, they all stopped short.
"Oh...my..." whispered Brightfeather. Rainpelt turned as another yowl broke through the silence of the clearing. However, this yowl wasn't of pain or anger.
In the center of the clearing, two small black and white kits lay still. A brown tabby she-cat stood over the kits, letting off a yowl that began to turn into a wailing.
Rainpelt just stood there with her jaw gaping. For a moment, she just stood there, watching in silence as the cats all gathered around the kits and their mother. Then, slowly, she crept forward a few paw steps, and then a few more. Finally, she was close enough to see the kits and she-cat clearly. One of the kits had a long scratch from its nose to its ear, while the other had a longer scratch down its hind leg. But this wasn't all Rainpelt saw. As she looked at the two kits, she could see a very faint rise and falling of their chests.
A mixture of grief and hope shot up her spine as she sat down next to one of the kits and gently nudged it. Over the sound of the tabby she-cat's wailing, the kit let out a faint mew of protest. Rainpelt's eyes widened upon hearing this. She glanced around, but no other cat seemed to notice. Her five friends sat solemnly in the crowd, half watching Rainpelt and the kits.
Rainpelt ran up to Brightfeather. "Flu-" she began, only to stop short. "Brightfeather! I think the kits are still alive!" Brightfeather's eyes widened. Rainpelt quickly ran back to the kits. "See?" Rainpelt stood next to the kit with the head scratch and nudged it. This kit responded in a faint mew as well.
"Oh my goodness!" gasped Brightfeather. "I-I'll go get Nightleaf." Brightfeather quickly padded through the crowd, and came back moments later with Nightleaf. Without a word, Nightleaf inspected each kit very carefully. After a moment, Rainpelt realized that every cat was looking at them. Even the mother of the two kits had stopped wailing and had begun to look hopeful.
Nightleaf whispered something to Brightfeather, who nodded in return. The two then turned to Rainpelt.
"Stay here and watch over the kits," meowed Nightleaf. "And tell their mother, Thornbranch, that they'll live."