Open to Join Snake in the Grass

Spidertongue nodded, already searching the air for scent of prey, and of course, other cats. He caught a small whiff of mouse, angling his ears towards it and glancing at Greenfang. Then he dropped further into a crouch, narrowing his eyes slightly. Creeping carefully towards the scent, he couldn’t help but wonder why the mouse was so close to danger…

“I’ll go left.” He whispered, angling his ears in that direction. They needed to work together. They might only have one shot at this.

The dark brown she-cat trekked by the slate and stone, scenting the air until she caught the scent of the mouse that her Clanmate had scented moments before. Her chin jutted down, tail tip twitching with agreement at his direction. If he was going left, then she would cut right. Head down she approached the smell, finding her pawfalls quiet despite the leaf litter. 

Pressing her advantage right, she waited until she spotted its small ears emerge from its den before she launched forward in all motion. In the heat of the pounce there was no regard for the soreness of her limbs. Her jaws flashed to snap up the tiny creature and it squeaked in fleeting protest before its cries fell silent.

One mouse alone did not a satisfied Clan make, however, there would be more that would need to be felled if everyone was to be fed. Passing through two unevenly stacked rocks, she crept low, nostrils angled towards the next prey scent and while her eyes lifted she couldn't see the adder curled in its den underneath a score of similarly brown leaves. 

As soon as her leg prowled across the opening, it's fangs shot out, clasping its elastic jaws around her upper front right leg. With a yowl, the she-cat battered at its head, and after a few well placed bops flinched away indignantly. Grumbling, Greenfang inspected the wound and sneered after the snake, hoping to identify if it had been a snake or something more dangerous.

Spidertongue’s head snapped towards where Greenfang was, ignoring the caught mouse and heading over to the older she-cat. “Are you okay, Greenfang? Did a snake bite you?” He asked, ears twitching as he looked over at her in concern.

He… didn’t quite know what to do. He twitched his ears again, expression downcast and serious. Well… he could start by trying to catch the adder to make sure it wasn’t venomous. Darting towards the flick of a scaled tail escaping towards some rocks, he unsheathed his claws, pouncing at it.

He caught and killed it, although he thought that it might have bitten him as well… Now it was even more important to identify it. Grabbing the limp creature, he brought it back to Greenfang, twitching his ears as he set it down. “I don’t recognize this one. Do you have any idea what kind it is, Greenfang?” He asked, tilting his head while carefully and observantly watching to make sure she didn’t collapse or something.

While the immediate action was shock at being bitten, the next that settled in her arm was pain. Pain from the bite. She scowled and blinked at the tom as he rushed off to dispatch the scaly culprit. She padded after him, ready to intervene if anything happened. She wasn't sure, but she peered down at the snake. Seemed to have a zig zag pattern. "Yeah, but doesn't seem to be a rattle snake...But might certainly be an adder."

Her voice was one note and was already thinking about where they might wash off the bite. It should be rushing water, but there wasn't any nearby water source. "Pick up the snake, better prey than not. I'll get the snake." She was about to help back to their Camp in the Two-Leg Trees, but she was taken aback by a silent body that streaked passed her...

Cordelia of SkyClan had followed the alarm of bird cries as it guided her towards the contested area of Snakerocks. Wordlessly she hunted the pair as they disappeared among the rocks, and thankfully, the involvement of the adder would work wonders in distracting them both. The wizened, wrinkled she-cat was of little threat to her...So her target would be the warrior that had done nothing during their take-over.

From behind rocky cover, the muscular warrior exploded without yowl or taunt, straight for the black striped tom as she launched at the tom's back to try and grapple him to quick submission.

Spidertongue’s head shot upward as he felt the weight of a cat slam onto his back, and he felt the cat’s claws digging deep into him. He pushed upward, trying to roll over to throw the cat off of him, clawing somewhat blindly upward at the cat on top of him. That had certainly caught him off guard. Growling, he tried to dig his teeth into the cat on top of him while he struck at the cat blindly.

As the cat on top of him forced him onto his belly, Spidertongue thrust his paws upward, attempting to push the cat off of him and rake her belly. He felt heavy blows striking his own flank and belly, making his vision flash.
Temporarily blinded by pain and the shock of being attacked, he continued to strike, screeching wildly as he pummeled his back legs through claw, not deep wounds into the cat’s belly, but shallow repetitive ones, also using his front paws and claws to strike towards the she-cat’s muzzle and head.

If he was going to go down, he’d go down fighting.

The sudden barrage eventually made Cordelia recoil as claw passed by her head, catching the thinner skin there.  For a breath, the muscular she-cat released her grapple entirely to blink away the sting before the blood began to drip. She only had a similar exhilarated determination cross her face as she lowered her body.

Compressed and shoulders bunching beneath her fur, she ducked low and surged forward, sweeping one forepaw low across the ground to swipe at his legs. Better now to create an opening than grapple without the advantage of surprise.

With her eyes fixed upon him Cordelia barely realized that the old she-cat was stumbling on her paws. Greenfang's wound had begun to swell, vision swimming before she launched herself none too precisely into the fray, before she tripped over some stones and lost her footing. "Poison...I'm heading back to Camp...I'll g-get warriors."

Spidertongue didn’t have time to answer. He had to get this cat off of him. But… it was hard. He couldn’t see quite right because of pain and panic. His blows felt really heavy and uncoordinated…

But he wouldn’t give up. He couldn’t. The Clan needed him. His kin needed him. Claws shooting out furiously, he attempted to aggressively drag his claws repetitively over the she-cat’s face, neck, chest, and belly. All the weak points. Although he wasn’t aiming for any specific place. He was just trying to strike in those general areas, preparing his back legs so he could eventually thrust the cat off of him.

Cordelia barely acknowledged Greenfang's words before claws struck her, forcing a sharp twist as her shoulder absorbed the blow. The strike raked across her shoulder, forcing a sharp twist of her body as she absorbed the blow. Pain flared hot beneath her fur and the scent of blood hung strongly in the air, but this wasn't a time for retreating - it was a time for killing or to be killed.

Her gaze flicked briefly toward the older she-cat as Greenfang stumbled away, then snapped back to the tom before her. She slipped toward his side, angling beneath his reach before lunging upward, jaws opening as she sought the vulnerable flesh of his throat.

As soon as the she-cat’s fangs clasped around his neck, he knew it was over. Spidertongue stopped struggling, orange eyes flashing as his eyelids slowly closed. Life was such an amazing and fragile thing.
As his breathing slowed, a low, rumbling purr stirred in his throat. He hadn’t noticed before, but the forest looked so much more beautiful in his eyes, even from his low vantage point. If only he could have shown somecat else what it looked like in his eyes.

Of course, there wouldn’t be much of a point in that. Beauty had a different definition for each cat. Besides, best not to dwell on ‘if onlys’. He hoped and wished that the Clan would do well without him. And of course, Smallbird and Greypebbles, wherever they were and whatever they were doing.

Heh. He’d had so much fun. He wished it could have lasted forever. But, of course, all good things one day come to an end.

His strength was slowly dying out, and that rumbling purr was fading. With his final breath, he uttered his final words. The words meant for all of ThunderClan. The words meant for the cats that had made him laugh. The words meant for the cats that meant the most to him.

”Thank you.”

And with that, his heart beat it’s last.

A lucky strike and Cordelia found her target true. Fangs sunk into the yielding flesh of his throat and she held him there as if she were squeezing out the life of a hare. Greenfang's quick thinking might have saved him today if not for the adder bite, where she inevitably collapsed just at the boundary of the Two-Leg trees, her aged body struggling to fight the poison as it pulsed through her veins, a somber reminder that even here ThunderClan wasn't safe.