Contents warning: violence, death.
GoGuardian stretched, enjoying the feeling of the sunlight on her dark grey fur. Leaf-fall had only just begun, but the air already had a chill to it. Her ears pricked, catching the distinctive snap of a twig beneath a paw. Someone was trying to be quiet in the brambles that edged the sunny clearing. GoGuardian dropped into a crouch, wincing as her joints protested. The seasons were beginning to catch up with her. She let out a low growl, narrowing her gaze and peering into the bushes.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” She demanded, pelt rising along her spine. A lithe white tomcat stepped out of the brush, pale blue-green eyes blinking lazily. GoGuardian snarled. “Linewize,” she hissed under her breath. Linewize drew back his lips in a malicious grin, tongue swiping hungrily over glinting canines.
“GoGuardian. I believe I have given you time enough to consider our deal, and I come to receive your answer,” Linewize meowed cooly, padding up to the grey she-cat. GoGuardian stiffened and sunk her claws into the dry earth, tipping her chin upwards in defiance. White hairs were starting to show in her muzzle, but her dark blue eyes were clear and determined.
“Then you shall have it. I will never surrender ChromebookClan to you, so long as I live. To give you my clan would be to deliver them into the claws of annihilation. You cannot have them.” GoGuardian stood tall, taking pleasure in her superior size compared to Linewize. Linewize growled, ears flattened back. He clearly had not expected defiance.
“Fine. I think that you have made a poor choice, for the record, but it’s yours to make. If you plan to lead your clan until your dying breath, then I will simply have to kill you, as many times as it takes,” he hissed, claws unsheathing. GoGuardian’s breath caught in her throat. Of the nine lives granted to Clan leaders, she only had three left. Linewize, a warrior of QoriaClan, had only one life to lose, but his skills in battle were known throughout the clans. Before the lithe tom could move, GoGuardian launched at him, claws sinking into the skin along his spine.
Linewize staggered from the impact, twisting around to claw at GoGuardian’s ears. The older she-cat hissed and shook the blood from her torn ears, loosening her grip on Linewize just long enough for him to squirm free, leaving clumps of white fur stuck in GoGuardian’s claws. Linewize struck out with both forepaws, battering GoGuardian before she had a chance to react. GoGuardian dropped to the ground and darted forward under her attacker’s barrage of strikes. She bit down hard on Linewize’s hind paw, pulling it out from under him and flipping him over. Livewize yowled in pain and surprise, the hard impact with the ground knocking the wind out of him. GoGuardian pinned down the pale tom, but his hind paws were already churning at her soft underbelly, and Linewize managed to kick her off him. Both cats stood hackles raised for a moment, breathing heavily and staring at one another. GoGuardian could feel her energy waning. She had to win this fight quickly.
She launched at Linewize once more, but he dodged and rounded on her, leaping onto her back. GoGuardian tried to shake him off, but he just sunk his claws and teeth into her flesh harder. She dropped to the ground and rolled, trying to get Linewize beneath her, but the quick tom released his grip before he could be pinned by GoGuardian’s superior size. Linewize kicked up a cloud of dust to blind and distract GoGuardian, burying his teeth in her throat. GoGuardian looked up with wide, fearful eyes as his jaws closed around her windpipe, leaving her choked for air. With a forceful motion, Linewize ripped out her throat, spraying the ground and nearby brush with hot, sticky blood. GoGuardian’s paws churned uselessly at the air, the hopeless wound in her neck burbling wetly. It had been over so quickly. Linewize watched in satisfaction as the light faded from GoGuardian’s eyes and she stopped twitching, blood still soaking sluggishly from her throat onto the dusty ground.
GoGuardian opened her eyes with a gasp, raising a paw to her throat and finding it intact. The soft green shapes around her focused and solidified into the florid eternal green-leaf of CyberClan, the hunting grounds of her warrior ancestors. She had lost a life. Standing before her was a pale brown she-cat with leaf-green eyes. Pixels glittered like stars in her fur, and flowers bloomed where her white paws touched the earth. GoGuardian sucked in a breath, tears welling in her eyes.
“P-Peardeck,” she whispered, paw lifted in hesitation. The brown she-cat blinked affectionately.
“Sister,” Peardeck responded, stepping forward to press her nose into GoGuardian’s shoulder fur. Peardeck had died in a recent battle with QoriaClan, killed by their leader, Qustido. GoGuardian had been forced to pick a new deputy, and lead ChromebookClan without her beloved littermate at her side.
GoGuardian closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of her sister’s soft fur against her own, and when she opened them, she was back in the clearing with Linewize. Her throat was healed, but the fur was still matted with blood. Linewize was pacing back and forth, waiting for GoGuardian to wake so he could kill her again. While his back was turned, GoGuardian leaped onto him with all the strength of CyberClan. She could almost feel her sister beside her as she gripped the back of Linewize’s skull in her teeth. The Warrior Code says that an honorable warrior does not need to kill to win her battles, but Linewize had made clear that honor didn’t apply to this battle. Rage coursing through her, GoGuardian bit down, feeling Linewize’s skull crack and cave in under the pressure of her jaws, killing him instantly. GoGuardian dropped his body, where it landed with a thump onto the baked ground.
Only the most dishonourable of rogues would leave their enemy to become crowfood, so GoGuardian dragged him to the QoriaClan border, where a patrol would find him soon. With a heavy sigh, she shook the dust out of her pelt and headed back towards the ChromebookClan camp. When she stepped through the tunnel of ferns that marked the entry to the shaded gulley, a pale blue-grey tom ran up to her, blinking with worry.
“GoGuardian! Where were you? Are you hurt-you’re covered in blood!” He exclaimed, sniffing her bloodstained throat. It was her mate, Soraapp. She leaned against him, running her tongue over his ears.
“I’m fine, love. I got in a fight, but I’m not hurt. Just tired,” she purred, walking with Soraapp over to their den in the roots of a tree stump. Her clanmates wreathed around her, murmuring concern for their leader. GoGuardian and Soraapp settled in their nest, and she let her mate groom the blood from her fur. She had led ChromebookClan for many seasons, and would for many more.
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