[WARNING: Includes bl00d, injury, and d3ath. Please do not proceed unless you are comfortable] Echoheart's plan had been easy, simple, and smooth. But now she realized that had just been wishful thinking. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Echoheart!" It was Sorrelclaw's frantic voice that cut through Echoheart's dissociation. When the crocodile had snapped it's jaws down on Mossstar, Echoheart's vision tunneled and her mind reeled. She felt detached from her own body- like she was watching the whole scene play out without really being there. It wasn't true. It wasn't happening. There was no crocodile. Right? "Echoheart!" Echoheart felt paws on her shoulder, shaking her. She blinked a couple times, her mind snapping back to the swamp and immediate danger in front of them. Sorrelclaw stood next to her, his eyes wide with terror. The crocodile was a couple feet away from them, but thankfully hadn't noticed them yet. Echoheart spotted a small bush a couple feet away, and she ushered Sorrelclaw over behind it. "What... what are we going to do?" Sorrelclaw whispered, panicked. "Mossstar's gone. There's no way he's coming back after... that." Echoheart nodded, her mind still reeling slightly. "Even more pressing..." Sorrelclaw continued. "How are we going to get out now? We don't know where Briarrose is, we don't have the horsetail, and we're blocked in." Echoheart peered through the mist. The rising sun had thinned it, revealing the crocodile more clearly. She could see it as it stretched its huge jaws open wide before settling down into the murky water. She could see the horsetail faintly behind it. If only there was some way to get past it... "I think... I might have a plan," Echoheart said slowly. She was starting to get an idea. Maybe, just maybe, would they make it out alive. "But we need to move quickly. We don't have much time." Sorrelclaw nodded slowly. "But... what about Mossstar? What are we going to do about him?" Echoheart narrowed her eyes slightly. "He's beyond our help now. All we can do is remember him and work to make it out alive." "I... alright. So, Echoheart, what's your plan?" Echoheart snuck out of the bush. The crocodile was still lazing about in the middle of the marsh, it's eyes half-open. The warm sunlight shone down and the mist had mostly evaporated. Echoheart crept behind thick clumps of cattails and marsh grass till she had circled around to the side the crocodile. She had a clear view of the bush where Sorrelclaw was waiting. Waiting for her signal. Echoheart steeled her nerves. It was now or never. Echoheart leaped out, landing on the crocodile's back. She clawed wildly as it let loose a low, guttural roar and started thrashing. She dug her claws into it's scales as she was thrown about. Miraculously, she managed to cling on. The crocodile turned it's head around, roaring and trying to bite Echoheart. She scampered up its neck till she was practically on it's head. She clawed it again, but it's scales just deflected her blows again and again. She saw a flash of orange as Sorrelclaw flew past her towards the horsetail. She had to find some way to keep the crocodile occupied just a little longer. The crocodile twisted it's head again, almost flinging Echoheart off. It's eyes darted around, trying to view it's attacker. Suddenly, Echoheart got an idea. She raised her paw and slashed down on the crocodile's right eye. The crocodile roared in agony and shook again, flinging Echoheart off and into the thick mud. Bl00d was gushing out of the crocodile's wound, so Echoheart couldn't tell the damage she'd done. But from the way it was thrashing, she guessed she'd taken out his right eye altogether. Suddenly, she felt someone nudging her. Sorrelclaw was besides her, his mouth full of horsetail, pulling her up and out of the mud. Echoheart's pelt was filled with the thick muck and she felt weighed down. Nonetheless, she pulled herself up with help from Sorrelclaw, and the two ran as fast as they could out of immediate striking distance from the crocodile. Suddenly, Echoheart caught sight of another pair of beady eyes gliding through the murky water. And then another pair. "There are more of them?" asked Sorrelclaw in a hushed, yet panicked, voice. He had dropped the horsetail in astonished terror. A couple low growly-roar noises came from the two new crocodiles which emerged from the muck. "Hide," Echoheart whispered back to him. The two ducked behind some thick marsh grass. The guttural noises echoed around as the two new crocodiles saw the blood gushing from the original crocodile. "Echoheart, we should run," Sorrelclaw whispered, his voice quavering. "Wait," Echoheart hissed back at him. ++
++ If they ran now the crocodiles would spot them - and even with one injured, they could move a lot faster through the muck than she and Sorrelclaw could. The injured crocodile made a noise at the other two, who had started poking their snouts into bushes. "Echoheart, please!" Sorrelclaw's hushed voice was even more panicked. "Wait," she hissed anxiously back at him. The injured crocodile made a noise again - a noise that almost sounded annoyed to Echoheart. It spread it's jaw wide, and the two other crocodiles gave a little growl before turning and swimming away. The crocodile growled, then started trying to wipe blood away from it's wounds. "Let's grab the horsetail and get out of here," Echoheart told Sorrelclaw, who nodded and picked up the horsetail he'd been carrying. The two sprinted away, exiting the Toad Pond at first chance. They ended up on a small hill overlooking the pond. As they sat there, panting from exhaustion and also relief, Briarrose came running up. "Oh my Starclan!" she nearly shouted, her voice loud and panicked. "I couldn't find you, and then I got lost and barely got out-" "We got trapped by the crocodile!" Sorrelclaw interrupted. He started to retell what had just happened, and Briarrose began to retell her story. The two were talking over each other, so Echoheart sort of tuned them out as she gazed over the Toad Pond below. She could make out the injured crocodile easily - it wasn't that far away. If she were to yell, it would hear her easily enough. Just as she turned to warn her clanmates, a voice called from behind. "Echoheart." It was an all-too-familiar voice, one that Echoheart hadn't heard in many moons. She spun around. "Wrenscar?" she said in disbelief. There, before her, stood her mentor. Her mentor who'd been de@d since before Mossstar's leadership. Wrenscar's red fur sparkled with the magic of Starclan as she stood there in all her glory. "Have you forgotten the lessons I've taught you?" Wrenscar demanded, her voice sharp and commanding. "The crocodile's still a threat until it's dead." Echoheart's eyes widened. "Finish it." Wrenscar commanded. Echoheart looked down at her claws. Her claws which had brought so much death and pain already under Mossstar's rule. "No." she said softly. "No?" Wrenscar's voice was furious. "What good would killing do?" Echoheart asked, her voice wavering slightly as she looked at Wrenscar. "Mercy is a skill that all of Cloverclan needs to learn to use. We lost that skill under Mossstar." "But-" Wrenscar cut in, her eyes narrowed. "My best friend is dead! My leader is dead! My son is injured! The crocodile is half-blind! The blood we shed, it never dries!" Echoheart's voice rose in anger. Enough was enough. There had already been enough death and destruction under Mossstar. "Is this what it means to be a warrior of Cloverclan?" She spun around so that she was facing the swamp. "Don't!" Wrenscar called out sharply. "Hey, crocodile!" Echoheart's voice carried over the swamp. The crocodile looked up, catching sight of her. Sorrelclaw and Briarrose stopped conversing and stared at her, bewildered. "When we first came, we were peaceful! We didn't attack you! But you fed your inner beast!" Echoheart didn't care if the crocodile understood her or not. It didn't matter in this moment. Echoheart needed her feelings out - all the pent-up rage and anger and fear that she'd been holding in since Mossstar made her deputy. "But my clanmates will not die in vain." She also didn't care what Wrenscar thought in this moment. She knew Wrenscar had good intentions, but death didn't always have to be the answer. Letting someone - even if it was a murderous crocodile - live, didn't that say something about one's heart and morales? "Remember them - the next time that you dare choose not to spare! Remember them. Remember us. Remember me." That's right, Mossstar. Echoheart thought. Remember me. Remember how I knew the right thing to do when you didn't. Remember how I survive - and how your time is over. "I'm the reigning leader of Cloverclan!" Echoheart shouted to the crocodile, but really, she shouted to wherever Mossstar was now. She was leader now. For the first time since Mossstar had been e@ten, those words truly sank in. She was in charge. She could fix the alliances Mossstar broke. She could finally bring Cloverclan back into the light. Echoheart stared up at the sky. It's my turn now, Mossstar. she thought before shouting, "I am the undaunted Echostar!" ----------------------------------------------------------------- to be continued this is part 3 of 4 next part here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1188944830
