But how useful is one cat that can turn into a wolf, really? Doubt dampened her thoughts as Crescentsky pondered beside the camp walls.

I'm not stronger or bigger than any of the wolves that hunt us, am I? Then she realized how crazy her mere thoughts sounded right now.

This is insane! I get to find out what it's like to be inside of a wolf's body. I must be the first cat ever!

Crescentsky opened her jaws to check the air again, but all she could smell was stony river-water, stale reed beds and the swirling night air.

Imagine the other possibilities as well, a voice inside of her head taunted her. She lifted her muzzle, looking up at the pelt of stars.

I could protect all of the clans from dangers like these. Twilight tossed a blanket of indigo across her swirling tabby pelt.

I could guard this entrance each and every night, if I find out how to embrace the gift Starclan's given me. When she thought about it that way, it was kind of neat. It even felt like a blessing, in a way.

A soft wind blew past her face, cooling her muzzle and ears. Crescentsky almost impulsively turned and asked her sister what she thought, but stopped herself. Tinyflame's eyes were half-closed in exhaustion.

She's tired. But I know what she would say anyway.

She could imagine the words now; "Crescentsky, it's dangerous. You shouldn't be excited to use an ability like this. You need to be realistic. Whether you're a cat or a wolf, you're going to get injured!"

And the tabby-and-white she-cat knew that her sister had a point.

I'll think of that when it happens, though. Her white-tipped tail couldn't help but swish across the flattened grass. Crescentsky wished that tomorrow night would come faster, when she would have the freedom to sneak off without so many repercussions for being caught.

I'm a warrior now. And after tonight, my name will be secured.

She scanned Riverclan's forest incline from edge-to-edge, trying to take her job as a guard seriously despite the drudgery. 

Nothing there. The she-cat squinted toward the marshy Riverclan plains that were lain behind a batch of wide-spaced willows. Certain that all was well, Crescentsky bent down and began grooming her belly.

The silence was long. The night dragged on, each gust of wind causing Tinyflame to shiver awake where she sat.

The Clan is asleep. I could ask her if she wants me to change and scout around or not.

But something held her back.

I've broken enough rules. I shouldn't break the law of a vigil as well. Crescentsky sighed despondently and fiddled with a leaf under her forepaw. This was boring.

Then a panting breath split the silence, incoherent and soft, then louder and more brazen.

They almost didn't look up, at first. But when they did, it took the two she-cats awhile to find the source of the sound.

An animal was approaching rapidly. In fact, it looked like more than one. Their burly chests and lean legs blurred together behind the trees.

They're here. And they approached from downwind. Crescentsky and Tinyflame could see their eyes glinting as they passed between the wide-spaced tree-trunks and brushwood. Crescentsky felt her heart drop, even though apart of her had expected it.

"I guess I have to turn into a wolf now," she broke the vigil uneasily. This wasn't the circumstances she preferred for only her second experience of trying it.

Her voice turned assertive. "Go inside the camp and warn the clan. Tell them to climb the trees. Hide in the clefted rock and stay there. I won't let them past the entrance."

Or I'll die trying. A splash of fear tumbled over her pelt, causing Crescentsky's hackles to rise in foreboding.

"I can't just leave you here, Crescentsky. What if you die alone?" Despite saying this, Tinyflame looked petrified.

"I'll be fine. Warn the camp and make them stay inside," the warrior growled determinedly.

"But don't tell them anything yet. Just say... just say-...!" she grew frustrated as she tried to think of an excuse.

"Say that the wolves started fighting each other after I ran into the undergrowth. Uh, or say that they almost killed me. And then they began fighting over me."

That part might ring true since I know I'll have injuries.

Tinyflame had a wild look in her eye as she raised a forepaw, her mouth agape, then lowered it again.

"I don't know, just lie!" Crescentsky snapped and flattened her ears. She could hear their pawsteps thundering closer now. They were so rapid that they hardly missed a beat.

"You have to go!" She tossed a fearful glance to the side, but couldn't catch sight of them between the tree-trunks anymore. It sounded like they'd split up, with the continual panting and loping footfalls coming from two different directions at once.

"No, I won't. I-I shouldn't," her sister spluttered.

"That's wrong, to just leave you here like that. You'll be killed." Tinyflame argued, her jaws gaping as she fought to find the words.

"Tinyflame, seriously? I can turn into a wolf. Go!"

Tinyflame's tail bushed out with terror as Crescentsky was bowled over in front of her, a wolf's kneecap crashing into her cheek and knocking her off her paws.

Tinyflame's disagreements had cost them too much time. The tabby she-cat somersaulted head-over-heels as she was flung rolling across the earth. Before she came to a stop the wolf sank its jaws into her flanks, to which she jerked and writhed immediately.

It'll crush my ribs!

She became a surging mass of tabby fur, flicking out her hindlegs and pushing her forepaws against the wolf's jaws. She sank her teeth into the fleshy part of its lips and hissed with her back claws tearing fur out of its neck.

It let go just enough for her to slip out of its grip, but Crescentsky could feel the blood welling up in the gouges its teeth had left. She rotated right-side-up as she fell to the ground, then streaked for Tinyflame's terrorized form.

Her sisters pelt was so spiky that she looked more like a porcupine than a cat. Tinyflame's spine was arched in a falcated position. She had her forepaw raised in the face of the predator, who was cornering her up against the camp wall.

"Use your teeth!" Alarmed, Crescentsky dodged around a stepping pair of wolf legs. Before she fully cleared it the animal bent down to reach for her, and fastened long curving fangs around her tail. She ripped free by shooting forward. Fur and skin wrenched off, along with a long strip of flesh that left a gaping wound at the end of her tail.

And yet adrenaline only helped dim the pain. Crescentsky winced but didn't falter.

The first didn't seem intent on grabbing her sister and killing her head-on. Instead, each time Tinyflame tried to dodge around it and flee the animal nipped her with vicious fangs and jerked her back. The third time, its teeth found purchase in Tinyflame's chest, and the she-cat yowled with her clawless paws raking over its muzzle. She was lifted off the ground as the wolf reared its head, biting harder to shake her instead of letting go.

Her sister's black tail was lashing above the earth as she jerked and spasmed. She was shrieking as she tried to free herself.

Is it safe to switch yet? What if I hurt Tinyflame?! But her instincts were screaming at her to do something. She couldn't just stand there and watch her littermate die.

Crescentsky's haunches almost slipped from beneath her. But she righted herself and lept for the wolf's face, spitting as loudly as she could until it blinked, flinching, and stepped back.

I wouldn't like it if my prey ganged up on me either!

The Riverclan she-cat was trying to copy the style of intimidating attack that Jadestar had used, spinning so that she was covered on all angles, and smacking the earth between them with both of her forepaws. Somehow, the more you got in their face, closer to their muzzle and eyes, the less confident of a hunter they behaved.

Intimidating tactics actually work, if you use them before they get ahold of you! She growled, pleased to find that it was effective.

But the wolf that she had ran from in order to defend Tinyflame followed her. Now Crescentsky was flanked by two of them instead of one.

She looked fiersome, her fur puffed up and her tail brushing the ground in a curved ridge as she lifted her lip and let out snarl. The one holding her littermate finally dropped Tinyflame, who fell against the earth with her torso bleeding. The smaller she-cat gasped and slowly stood up to begin hobbling away. Her forepaws kept threatening to buckle beneath her.

Starclan, please let her live through those injuries. Don't you dare take my sister!

A trail of blood was streaked across the grass, starting from where Tinyflame had fallen.

Crescentsky didn't think anymore. She just shook out her fur between the wolves and a retreating, wounded Tinyflame.

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