Starlightlynxes: Stars in the Sky #1: Twilight

~Chapter 18~

Hawk felt the blood rush to his head as a wolf jumped and slammed into his head with enough force to knock him to the ground with a thud.

Hawk, still a bit dizzy, felt claws rake against his hind legs, and spun around to lash out with a strike of his own. The wolf had a good grip, Hawk had to admit painfully as he tugged away, feeling the flesh rip.

The wolf- a female, as he could tell now- spat out fur and blood as she launched herself at him again, and he ducked under her stomach, kicking upwards as he did so.

She snarled as he slowly advanced, and she was forced to back away, before spinning around, jumping over the thorn bushes that blocked her path, running away.

Hawk turned and leapt at the next wolf- a younger one this time.

The young male wolf yelped in fear and didn't move to meet him in battle. He just cowered on the ground, trembling.

Hawk hesitated.

"Please..." the young coywolf closed his eyes. "I think this is wrong! Don't hurt me. Please. I don't want to be sent for training as a guard!"

Hawk blinked his confusion. "What?"

"Nightshade was going to send me and my sister to train as guards!" The small wolf said quickly. "But we don't wanna go!"

Hawk felt sympathy for the young wolf. "I won't. As long as you leave now, I won't hurt you."

"Thank you!" He jumped up, running over to where an even smaller female coywolf was crouching, and guiding her away.

Hawk sighed and shook his head. They're driven by fear.

. . .

Storm shook out her pelt as she half ran, half slid, down the slight slope.

The rain wasn't slowing down, making it hard for her to see exactly where she was going, but she would manage. She had to.

Entering the pine forest, she could already hear some yowls and screams, and she picked up her pace. She didn't know exactly what she was doing, or what she would do when she got to the coywolves' camp, but she felt the need to go anyway.

"Storm?!"

Storm snapped her head up quickly to see Starlight, freshly-picked herbs on the forest floor in front of her.

"Hi," Storm nodded casually.

Star shook her head in confusion. "What?"

"I said hi," Storm started walking again.

"Where are you going? You weren't supposed to-" the smaller lynx pricked her ears, then, after a moment, shook her head again. "Can you help me bring some of this goldenrod back to the shelter before you run off on a suicide mission?"

Storm rolled her eyes. "I'm not planning on dying."

"But anything could happen," Star pointed out.

"Well... I'm pretty certain I've decided that my death isn't for a while."

"Love your confidence."

"Thanks."

"I would stop you," Star pushed the herbs into a pile to pick up. "But I believe you'll survive. Or, I was told you'd survive. So go ahead."

"You literally just called it a 'suicide mission'," Storm meowed.

"I know," Star flicked her ears dismissively. "Good luck!"

"Umm... thanks...?"

"You're welcome. Now go... save the world!"

Storm rolled her eyes before she started running again, a new confidence building up inside her.

Once she reached the camp, she saw all the fighting. She also saw that Nightshade wasn't even fighting with his wolves. He was sitting safely on a boulder, watching the battle with keen eyes.

Coward! Even as she thought that, she could see a plan forming in her mind.

Without thinking twice, she backed away from the entrance, and ran to the back, behind the boulder where Nightshade was sitting.

Glaring through the bushes at his back, she took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain shooting through all her still-healing muscles.

Closing her eyes and picturing River, she forced her muscles into a crouching position.

Another deep breath.

I can do this.

She jumped.

. . .

Hawk looked around. He could see the two small wolves running out the entrance..

"Where's my sister?" River asked, coming up behind him. "What happened to her?"

"She's fine," Hawk answered quickly. "She couldn't come. She was injured, and is still healing."

"Who's that?" River glanced up at a boulder.

"Nightshade. How do you not-"

"Not him," the younger lynx growled. "Who's that?"

"Who's..." He trailed off, looking behind the leader coywolf, and saw glowing green eyes glaring. "What?" He knew those eyes...

There was a gray flash.

Nightshade spun around quickly, and a lynx slammed into him. But he was quick enough to rear against the impact, keeping both figures balancing on the boulder.

The smaller one snarled, lashing out with its foreclaws.

The wolf dodged.

"Storm!" River cried.

Storm, distracted for a few seconds while she blinked warmly at her sister, gave Nightshade the perfect chance to return a blow of his own.

Storm was knocked down for a few seconds, but she quickly got up, the rain washing some of the blood off, but most of it was still streaming into her eyes from a large gash above her eyes.

Hawk watched in horror as the fighting on the tall boulder continued. All the lynxes as well as coywolves stopped fighting, and were also watching the small gray lynx as she faced the huge leader.

Nightshade growled something quietly that Hawk couldn't make out, and Storm hissed, arching her back.

"Tell me," she yowled.

Nightshade shook his head, laughing silently, and knocking Storm off her paws again, pinning her down this time.

Storm meowed something again, and, even from this distance, Hawk could see the rage, hope and fear in the young lynx's eyes.

The leader opened his mouth, ready to deliver the death bite.

"No," River whispered, staring at the two figures.

Hawk couldn't even speak.

Storm closed her eyes, blood and rain streaming down her face, then flipped sideways, sending them both tumbling down the huge boulder, plummeting right towards the sharp, jagged stones at the bottom.

"Storm!"

Wow, I honestly can't believe I'm almost done this whole book!
Just a little reminder:

This is MY work, everything in here belongs to ME. 

If you are reading this on a platform other than Wattpad, where I originally published this, beware of various malware and viruses. To read the original, come to Wattpad!

TEENFIC.NET IS STEALING THESE STORIES, I KNOW SOME PEOPLE WERE DIRTY THIEVES AND GREEDY RIGHT AFTER THEY DESTROYED THE FORESTS FOR THEIR JUNK, BUT NOT TO THIS POINT. I AM DISGUSTED IN WHOEVER STOLE THIS, AND I HOPE THAT YOU WILL GET A HARD PUNISHMENT. THIEVES BELONG IN JAIL!

(Credit for that message goes to Ashfur, I just edited it)