"Tallstar, Tallstar, Tallstar," a voice drawled behind her. Tallstar's eyes shot open, and with a pang of dizziness, she found herself pressed against the back of her facing the voice.

Adderclaw, she thought to herself. Adderclaw was the deputy of Thunderclan. A few moons ago, he had faced a warrior from Riverclan with scars of claw marks on his muzzle, just like Adderclaw's. The next day, that warrior was found dead by the riverbank. Since then, he had never been himself again - sneaking off several times a night, hunger in his gaze every time he saw a queen nursing. And now, here he was, exactly at moonhigh, in her den. Tallstar straightened up and gave her fur a few licks.

"Adderclaw, what are you doing here?" Tallstar rasped suspiciously. She had just lost a life due to greencough and had not fully regained her strength.

As if he had not heard her, he carried on.

"This is your last life, is it not, Tallriver?" He suddenly stood rigidly still and looked directly into her eyes. Unease sparked her pelt. Only medicine cats knew how many lives a leader had left. He chuckled. "I've been counting."

Adderclaw paced around her den, swishing his tail back and forth, stirring up dust. Tallstar's eyes darted around the den, looking for a path out. Adderclaw's sharp blue eyes suddenly fixed on her again, full of rage and hate.

"Have I ever told you about my mother?" He oozed. " Her name was Dawn. She was a rogue, but all of you know that, of course. She had long, graceful ginger paws, round amber eyes, but you of all cats should know that appearances don't matter.

Tallstar stiffened. She had never once heard him talk about his mother. Everyone knew that bringing this topic up would result in shredded fur and blood. Adderclaw didn't seem to notice her behaviour.

"And then, she met my father. Arrogant and handsome. The worst mistake of her life. After she had me, he left. He left for another pretty she-cat. This destroyed her. She started to look at me differently. We had the same blazing blue eyes, same white socks on each paw --" Adderclaw stabbed a claw at the hideous four claw marks over his blind eye. "She did this to me! It seems impossible that such a kind, caring cat I had met in the first few moons of my life would change so quickly." He murmured, staring blankly as if Dawn were right in front of him. 

Adderclaw's eyes became alert again, fixed on Tallstar's wide afraid eyes and sneered, "But she did teach me one thing."

He leapt onto Tallstar, claws digging into her fur, one claw pinning her down, one claw slashing at her muzzle as she struggled to get free, but the harder she fought, the stronger the blaze of pain in her shoulder was. Tallstar's vision started blurring into red as her strength began oozing away. 

"There is always one cat above all others - one cat who holds all power--" Adderclaw raised one claw for the death blow, "--just too bad it isn't you anymore."

And it all faded to black. 

Hi guys, I'm really really sorry if this story was too dark for you guys. You guys can enter the contest too! Just click here, then go onto the book labelled GreenLemonLemonade's Short Story Contest to see the details. Good luck if you are!