Warriors: The Prophecy

Chapter Twenty Six

Brackenheart's head thudded against the stone hard ground, causing him to gasp in pain.

"I've heard you've been training." Autumnleaf growled with a laugh as she circled him with wild eyes. "Seems to me you're still the weak, lousy fighter you were the last time we fought, Brackenpaw."

Brackenheart blinked away the rain falling into his eyes as he stumbled to his paws.

"It's Brackenheart now." He hissed, his eyes glaring daggers.

"Brackenheart!" The she-cat laughed amusingly. "You think getting a warrior name means anything? It means nothing!"

She stumbled forward, her shoulder bleeding deeply from where he had bit her.

Cats all around them screeched and tackled one another viscously, but Brackenheart's eyes remained on hers.

"It means everything." He snarled. "It means I'm a warrior. A fighter. And I will get revenge!" With that, he leaped forward, jaws open, ready to clamp down hard on her throat.

With a yowl, the she-cat dodged his attack, causing him to roll over, spinning around to face her again. Autumnleaf hissed and swiped a claw. He turned his face away, only for pain to flood the side of his neck.

He screeched and leapt at her again. They toppled over one another until he pinned her, banging her head against the ground.

"How does it feel?!" Brackenheart yowled over the battle cries around him. "How does it feel knowing everything you've done was for nothing!"

The she-cat glared up at him, her nose bleeding into her snarling mouth.

"Because you've lost, Autumnleaf!" The tom continued. He leaned in closer until his mouth was just inches away from her ear.

"Just thought I'd let you know, since you won't be alive to see you tribe fall." He whispered.

Autumnleaf screeched in fury, flinging Brackenheart off of her with strength he didn't even know she had. The tom went flying through the air, landing on the ground with a huff. The wind was knocked out of him, and he began coughing for breath.

The she-cat approached him slowly, watching as he tried to regain his composure.

She then leaped on top of him, digging her claws into his shoulders as she pinned him. He yowled in pain, and gazed into her eyes with fury.

"Like I said." She meowed with a sneer. "You are weak."

He spat blood on her face with a hiss. She licked it away, glaring down on him before raising an unsheathed paw.

Brackenheart's glare fell as he realized his fate.

No...no this can't be the way this ends.

He raked his mind, trying to find a way he could survive this.

"So long, Brackenheart." Autumnleaf sneered.

What would Pebblepaw do?

He closed his eyes.

No. What would mother do...?

His eyes snapped open.

"Wait!" He screeched.

Autumnleaf blinked in surprise.

"I...I know your pain." Brackenheart whispered, forcing the sympathy into his voice.

"Silince!" She yowled, raising her paw again.

"Flames!" The tom meowed desperately.

The she-cats paw lowered a little, and her eyes blinked in surprise.

"That was his name right?" Brackenheart continued. "The cat you're doing all of this for. The cat that was killed during the Great Battle."

Autumnleaf shook her head, raising her paw again.

"Leave his name out of your filthy mouth!" She hissed.

"You loved him didn't you?"

She looked away from him, pain filling her gaze.

"You told me you were doing this all for him."

"And I am!" She growled. "I am doing what he couldn't." Her voice cracked. "He would have been proud..."

"Well I didn't know him." Brackenheart whispered. "But are you sure this is what he would have really wanted?"

Her furious gaze turned back to him. "You know nothing!"

"Well then is this what you want? To rule the clans until you die? Because lets say you do win this battle! Then what?"

"Then Flames will finally be at peace!" The she-cat hissed, tears forming in her eyes.

"But what about you? Will you be at peace?"

Autumnleaf blinked, her eyes looking down soullessly. Thunder suddenly sounded loudly above them, causing her to shake her head in anger.

"Your words have no meaning to me!" The she-cat hissed. "It too late to turn back now!"

She raised her paw once again, ready to strike the final blow. But before she could, light flashed before their eyes, and a strike of light crashed above their heads. A loud and sickening crack sounded from four trees, and large flames broke out from its leaves.

"FIRE!" Cats began to screech and yowl in fear.

Autumnleaf's eyes were wide in terror, and with her distracted, Brackenheart bit down hard on her front paw. She screeched, allowing him to kick her off of him.

He turned in gasped as the flames scurried down the bark of the large tree, reaching the ground where the cats stood.

The tribe cats noticeably were backing away in fear as the battle began to cease.

A loud yowl of pain sounded, and all heads turned to a skinny looking tribe cat who had been caught in the flames. The cat was engulfed in fire, and shriveled to the ground until it was nothing.

There were shrieks of terror, and many tribe cats began running into the trees, away from the flames.

Brackenheart watched Autumnleaf look around in horror as her followers began to run away from the battle.

"Don't flee!" She yowled. "The battle isn't over yet!"

"Brackenheart!" Fernwish leapt to his side, a noticeably large gash on her forehead bleeding down onto her face. "The tribe cats are fleeing. I don't think they have ever seen fire like this before."

The tom nodded, and he could suddenly breath again. He turned to Autumnleaf.

"You've lost. Your so called army is leaving. Give up."

Her furious gaze turned to him with wild eyes.

"As long as I am alive, they will return! We will return!"

"I don't think so." Fernwish growled. "Your army was never secure in the first place. Too many have died from this battle. It's time to surrender."

Autmnleaf looked around again, as cats began to stop fighting and back away from the hot flames in fear. Her eyes then landed on Fernwish.

"No...I will never surrender."

Brackenheart spotted her gaze and yowled, leaping towards Autumnleaf. But his paw caught on a hidden root sticking up from the ground, and a snap was heard from his ankle. He screeched in pain, toppling to the ground.

"Brackenheart!" Fernwish yowled, before she was tackled by Autumnleaf.

The tom screeched in pain, trying to scramble to his paws. But every time he moved, pain flashed up his leg.

He turned his head to see the two she-cats rolling around in the ground, and he gasped as they inched closer and closer to the hot flames.