Warriors: Bumblestripe's Insanity

Chapter Ten: A Battle

Dovewing leaned in close to me; her breath felt warm on my ear. "I didn't do it."

I met her gaze, my breath taken away yet again by those gorgeous green eyes. "You're just using me and playing with my emotions. You always were. I was blind to love you."

"I know you're trying to help me the most you can," she whispered. "You still love me."

I gritted my teeth. "That would imply I ever loved you."

I did. But that was before I knew you were a traitor.

She sighed miserably. "Thanks for doing this for me."

I unsheathed my claws. "You won't be thanking me soon. Now are you going to attack first, or should I?"

Dovewing leapt at me. I hit the ground and the force of the impact knocked the air out of my lungs. Gasping for breath, I kicked her in the stomach and knocked her off of me.

"KILL HER, BUMBLESTRIPE, KILL HER!" Birchfall screeched.

Bramblestar shot a glance at the senior warrior. "Stop distracting them."

I felt rage build deep inside me. Strength flooded through my body. Dovewing deserved to die a lonely, slow, miserable death. She betrayed me and this Clan even if she didn't actually murder Icecloud.

I charged towards her and slid off to one side, swiping my claws down her side. An apprentice move, the first one they taught us at that. She can't even avoid that!

Dovewing blinked with surprise as I neatly swept her hindlegs out from under her. I planted my left forepaw on her chest and began to rake my claws across her side. She screamed in agony and I shuddered. It still hurts me to see her in pain. But I'm just being weak. She deserves this and much more.

I focused on my tangled mess of feelings and blocked them out, like a warrior stops his brain from thinking about the pain in a battle. I receded back into a numb, emotionless mental state and then resumed clawing at her stomach.

Dovewing writhed within my grasp, trying to escape but failing. I could see nothing but pure terror in her green eyes; I think she was worried I'd kill her. Maybe I will.

Dovewing fell still beneath my paws as she let out another scream. "OW!!!! Please, Bumblestripe...it h-hurts so bad...please stop!"

Birchfall cheered from the crowd. "Give her a slow, painful death, Bumblestripe!"

I relaxed my grip since she had stopped struggling and glanced for a moment down at my paws, which were stained with scarlet blood. That was a mistake. She heaved herself upward with all of her remaining strength. I staggered backwards and lost my balance, landing on my right side with my belly exposed.

Her eyes glowed with uncharacteristic rage. "Let's see how you enjoy this."

Before I could climb back to my paws, her forepaw was pressing down on my chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs. I opened my mouth and gasped for breath, feeling dizzy and light-headed from lack of oxygen.

Then next thing I knew, her claws were digging into my stomach. Flames shot through my whole body, filling me with a burning sensation. I gritted my teeth to keep myself from releasing a yowl of agony.

I tried kicking her in the stomach to knock her off of me again, but she had a tight grip. The only result was a muted gasp of pain.

"Just die already, Dovewing, just die!" Birchfall shouted.

Her father's words seemed to distract her and I felt her grip loosen ever so slightly. I slithered out of her grasp and scrambled to my feet. Before she could react, I sprang onto her back. My greater weight brought her cascading to the ground.

I raked my claws across her stomach over and over again as she howled in agony repeatedly, the sound echoing across the hollow. Birchfall was screeching at me to finish her off while ignoring Bramblestar as he ordered him to stop talking. I waited until she wailed, "I surrender!" to quit.

She struggled to her paws, but as soon as she stood, her legs buckled underneath her. She lay on the ground, eyes half-closed and having difficulty breathing. The grass was stained crimson from the blood oozing from the wound on her stomach.

She tried again to rise to her feet, and this time didn't fall over immediately. She took a few wobbly, shaky steps before collapsing again. Maybe she'll die. I hope she dies from blood loss.

A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, please comment!