Chapter 1:
The night of the Takeover
Midnight
"I don't understand, mother?" Said Shadekit, "why did we have to leave camp?"
The kit was practically invisible in the dark, her dark grey, almost black, tabby fur melted into the swirling shadows. The only thing that was visible was her bright, glittering green eyes as she looked up at her mother who stood in front of the Moonpool, the reflection shimmering in her blue eyes.
The two looked nothing alike. Whilst Shadekit was an almost black toned cat, her mother, Brightfeather, was a white and ginger queen with beautiful, mesmerising, crystal blue eyes. It was almost impossible that they were mother and daughter.
"We're on an adventure, Shadekit," said Brightfeather, but her voice was gripped with worry and fear.
By extension, this made her own kit feel worried too.
"But this is boring, mother," sighed Shadekit, "can't we go back to camp, the nursery is much warmer than out here. This is just a boring old pond."
"Shadekit!" Scolded Brightfeather, "this is the Moonpool, it is sacred and must be held in the highest regard. This is where we speak to Starclan."
"Starclan?" The kit removed herself from the shadows and walked into the moonlight, "like from the elder's tales?"
Brightfeather regarded her kit. Though she was standing directly within the light, her eyes did not reflect the glow of the moon. She burnt with her own inner light, one that her mother could not comprehend.
"Just like from the elder's tales," her mother confirmed, "we communicate with the spirits here, at the moonpool."
"Can I speak with them?" Asked Shadekit, eyes filled with wonder.
"I-" Brightfeather paused, she didn't know what she would do.
Her brother, Pinefur, was the Thunderclan medicine cat and had told Brightfeather that to communicate with Starclan, you must drink water from the Moonpool and fall asleep. But, that came with problems. All Brightfeather wanted to do was reach out to her ancestors and seek their guidance, but that left her and Shadekit exposed to attack.
And the risk of an attack was certainly impending.
Brightfeather pricked up her ears, but there were no sounds of anything other than the lapping of water and the shuffling of her kit's paws.
"You can't speak with them, Shadekit," she sighed finally.
"Well, what's the point of me being here?" The kit sounded tired and confused, "I want to go back to camp, I'm cold, mother."
"We can't go back, Shadekit."
The little kit blinked, "why not, mother?"
"Because there are some very bad cats there, they might try to hurt us?"
"Why?"
"Because they don't follow the Warrior Code like we do," she explained to her daughter, "they think that they can do whatever they want to whoever they want."
"Oh," Shadekit nodded as though she understood, but she was too young to fully comprehend the current situation.
Brightfeather hated doing this to her kit when she was only two moons old. But Thunderclan, or any clan for that matter, was no longer safe for them to live in. It hurt her to say goodbye to her home, her family, but the consequences of what could happen to her if she returned…
Worst of all, what could happen to her kit…
Brightfeather glanced back at the Moonpool, the overwhelming feeling of wanting to seek comfort from her warrior ancestors threatened to pull her in, but that would mean leaving Shadekit and herself exposed.
"Mother?" Asked Shadekit, padding beside her so she stood at the edge of the pool, "are you going to speak with Starclan?"
"No," Brightfeather said softly, "I…" She sighed, "we have to leave…"
"Are we going back to Thunderclan?" Shadekit's ears pricked up.
"No," she murmured, just loud enough for the kit to hear, "we're going to have to go very far away."
"Will we come back?"
"Probably not."
Shadekit's face fell, crestfallen, "I won't get to become a warrior?"
"I'm sorry, Shadekit," Brightfeather wanted to cry, "but, one day, you'll understand why we had to go away."
"But, mother, I don't want to leave the clans, I have lots of friends there and I have to become a warrior, you told me I could become a warrior!" Her voice, whilst still kit like, was accusatory.
There was something terrifying about little Shadekit in that moment; the way her little green eyes blazed as though they were burning with an inner fire. The way her her dark fur was fluffed up in anger and the fact that her little claws weren't that little. Brightfeather, in a distant, detached way, observed that, maybe someday in the future, Shadekit would make a terrifying warrior.
"I'm sorry," Brightfeather apologised a second time, "but we have to."
"It's not fair!" Sulked the kit, "I'm going home."
The grey she-kit, with all the distaste a cat her age could muster, turned around and began to stride away in her anger. At any other time, Brightfeather might have found her temper and snappiness amusing, but this wasn't a time for this. They were both in real danger.
"There's no Thunderclan anymore, Shadekit," Brightfeather finally sighed, "there's no Thunderclan to go home to."
Shadekit blinked her big, green eyes and turned back around.
"Did the bad cats destroy Thunderclan?"
"Yes," nodded Brightfeather solemnly, "they destroyed and every other clan because they thought that they were wrong for following the Warrior Code."
"But the Warrior Code protects us!" Pointed out the kit as an exclamation.
"It does," nodded the queen, "but they don't think it does. They think that they are right and only they are right. They don't follow the Warrior Code or Starclan. If we stay around, they might hurt us. And I don't want you to get hurt, Shadekit."
"Is that why we have to run away?"
"It is," Brightfeather nodded, "there is a cat that will meet us here soon, he's going to show us where to go."
"Who is he?"
"His name is Red, he's a rogue," Brightfeather continued, "he will know where to take us. They will be a place we can stay, a place where we'll be safe."
"What about Thunderclan?" Gaped the kit, "will they be okay? We can't just leave them!"
"There's nothing we can do," she shook her head.
"But I don't want to live with a mouse-brained rogue!"
"Shadekit!" Scolded Brightfeather, "we mustn't say things like that. Red is a very trustworthy cat. He's probably the only cat we can trust right now," she added the last part on with a mutter.
It was a mutter loud enough for Shadekit to catch, "the only cat?"
"We can't trust any other cat right now," confirmed her mother.
Shadekit blinked, "then what about him?"
Brightfeather, heart racing, followed where Shadekit was pointing with her tail and felt her heart stop.
A handsome, tall tom standing at the top of the path leading down to the Moonpool, looking down on the two she-cats. He looked almost like a silhouette in the night if it weren't for those cold green eyes that seemed to glow brightly in the dark. He was grinning, Brightfeather could tell from this distance, a grin of victory.
Behind him, the figures of other cats stood, waiting for his command.
"Shadekit," she said as calmly as she could, "you need to hide."
"Hide?" She asked, "is that a bad cat, mother?"
"He is," she tried to regain some confidence, "he is a very bad cat."
Nodding, Shadekit slinked back into the shadows. But, at this point, Brightfeather realised how pointless it was. If he had found her… That means someone must've betrayed them.
'I should've known not to trust Red!' She inwardly cursed herself.
"Brightfeather," greeted the tom smoothly, "it's been a while."
"Not long enough, Darkfall," she shot back through gritted teeth.
Darkfall, the tom, made his way down the slope, other cats following him and surrounding the Moonpool. Brightfeather glanced around herself, she was completely surrounded. And where was her kit? Would they find her?
"I should've known you'd be here," sighed Darkfall, suddenly right in front of her, "where else would a Starclan-worshipper like you be?"
He was much, much taller than her. His body was lithe, slim and athletic. He was not terrifyingly large with bulging muscles, but his figure was built in a way that suggested him being a powerful enemy.
"How did you find me?" Her mew was bitter, icy. The tone that she had spoken to her kit in was gone, leaving behind a true warrior.
"We came across a rogue wandering around," said Darkfall with a cocky grin, "I asked him where he was going and he told us that you were here."
"You tortured him," accused Brightfeather, "you tortured Red into giving you the information!"
Darkfall didn't say anything, but he was exactly rushing to deny it.
There was an overwhelming feeling about him. He radiated a kind of likeable charm but, at the same time, came off as a loathsome, despicable cat.
"You're sick and evil, Darkfall," she told him, "I wish you were dead."
"Wow," he pretended to be hurt, "that's not a nice thing to say, now, is it? Honestly, Brightfeather, I was just wondering where you were."
"Then why bring your lackeys with you?" She glanced around at the other cats surrounding them.
"You mean my soldiers?" He didn't spare a glimpse at them, "they're here just in case."
"In case of what?"
He didn't answer that question straight away, he just dismissively flicked an ear and sat down, as though he wasn't in the middle of a tense confrontation right now.
"Just in case you wouldn't come home," he finally said, "this doesn't have to end up in a fight, Brightfeather."
"Of course it does, Darkfall," she spat at him, "I would never return to you or your little group willingly!"
There was a glint of frustration in his eyes, a moment where is cool, charming and calm facade slipped to reveal the monster.
Then he put the mask back on.
"My 'little group' is not just any group, Brightfeather, you of all cats should know this. We are the Glorious Ones, we are just trying to give the clans a better future."
"A better future?" She was bewildered and angry, "how do you plan on doing that? Killing all of them?"
"No," he shook his head, "of course not. We're here to show them a new way of life. A life that doesn't need those lies you call the 'Code' or your little star-cats that prance around in the sky."
His tone was mocking, frustrated, but still calm and controlled, somehow.
"The Glorious Ones are a delusion," Brightfeather's eyes narrowed, "you're deluded." She then turned to face all the other cats, "you're all deluded!"
The soldiers around the moonpool stirred angrily, their claws unsheathed as they glared at Brightfeather, their eyes sparkling with irateness.
Darkfall signalled with his tail for them to calm down and turned back to Brightfeather.
"My soldiers don't appreciate it when you insult them," he said it in his usual tone, but there was a trace of iciness still there, "I can forget this little mission of yours to escape if you just come back to the Glorious willingly."
She made eye contact with him.
Her blazing blue eyes connected with controlled, empty green ones that stared down at her expectantly. He flexed his claws, in a subtle, but threatening manner.
"Never," she said, "I will never return to the Glorious, ever!"
The mask fell off.
A cold, icy cat was exposed, his face twitching with frustration and anger. He suddenly seemed so much taller.
"Well," he growled, "let me reiterate."
Brightfeather's heart pounded with a sudden, creeping fear.
"Return to the Glorious willingly or die."
"No." She said firmly, hiding her fear as best as she could.
He sighed, deep and tired; his exasperation showing.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Brightfeather," he said, "Smokefoot is very angry with you, of course. But can you blame him? You betrayed both me and the rest of Glorious, you lied to us all. The only reason that I haven't been ordered to kill you was because I convinced Smokefoot that you were a good cat. Don't prove me wrong."
Brightfeather's face turned stony, "I am a good cat. I follow the Warrior Code, I worship Starclan, but there is one thing I will never do."
Darkfall's face was suddenly overcome by anger.
"I will never follow the Glorious," she finished, spitting at him.
It was so quick, Brightfeather didn't even feel it until it was over. In an instant, Darkfall, using his powerful claws, swiped at the queen, landing a heavy blow on her face, knocking her to the floor. She let out a yowl of pain and blood began to drip from the wound at an unstoppable rate.
Glancing at her reflection, four claws lines marked almost the entire right side of her face. Boiling with anger, she stood up.
But Darkfall was already standing over her.
"Let's get to the point then," he said icily, "where's the kit?"
Brightfeather growled, "How do you know about her?"
"Answer the question," he snarled at her, "where is the kit? Or have you already killed her?"
"She's my own kit! I would never hurt her!"
"Really?" He laughed, a cold, humourless sound, "that's not what I heard. In fact, I heard a conversation between you and Lightstar claiming that you were terrified of your own kit."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said but her body had gone completely rigid.
"'My kit can do strange things,'" He mocked her, "'My kit isn't normal, she's dangerous.' Does it ring a bell?"
Instantly, in that one moment, Brightfeather leapt forwards like a snake, aiming right for Darkfall's neck, her teeth bared. He was quick too, swiftly dodging to the side and pinning her to the ground.
Using his tail to signal, two of his soldiers came round and pushed Brightfeather until she was on her back, pinned to the ground with her head hanging over the Moonpool.
She glared at Darkfall, but her vision was bleary and sleep was threatening to overwhelm her.
"I'm going to give you one last chance, Brightfeather," he said in his usual, calm, collected voice, "tell me where the kit is and you get to live."
She stared at him, one last time. There eyes connecting for the final time ever.
She growled, "no."
Her head was shoved under the water. Panic overtook her instantly. She let out a silent scream and thrashed about, trying to escape.
This was it, it was the end.
She stilled herself and closed her blue eyes for the last time.
Tucked away in a small, shadowy alcove in the rocky slopes that surrounded the Moonpool, the small, two-moon old watched on in horror as her mother's body stopped moving as she was pushed underwater.
Why hadn't she done anything? Was this her fault? Had she done something to deserve this?
Why wasn't Brightfeather moving? Had she given up? No, the answer was obvious to the kit at what had just happened and, as Shadekit thought, it was probably going to happen to herself as well.
That thought was terrifying, the thought that, at any moment, Shadekit would be found and end up dead, just like her mother. Like her mother… Her mother was dead… The she-cat that had devoted herself to her kit for two moons, looking after her, caring for her when Shadekit had no other parent to support her. Brightfeather had proved herself time and time again that she was the best mother any kit could wish to have.
And now she was dead.
And Shadekit was left without a mother.
She shivered, but it wasn't because of the cold. It was because she was so, so afraid in that moment. Afraid of the dark grey tabby who had just killed her mom.
She slunk further back into the shadows, trying to stop her body from shuddering as the tom's green eyes scanned the area.
"The kit's still here," he said, "find her."
Following the order, the cats surrounding him split up and began to scan the area.
Shadekit, who probably should've taken more notice to this, continued to stare into the dead, lifeless eyes of her mother. Alone. She was alone.
They continued to look for her, but her pelt melted into the dark shadows; as long as she didn't make a sound, she would be okay…
Just stay as silent as possible…
But her mom. Why did Brightfeather have to die? She was still hardly a warrior, let alone a queen. Too short a life.
Shadekit would have a much shorter life if she wasn't careful.
But, as she was hardly a day over two moons old, she could hardly comprehend anything except that 'her mother was dead.'
How was she supposed to know that the cats that were looking for her were far more dangerous than any other?
How was she supposed to know that these cats had just caused destruction for all four clans in one single night?
How was she supposed to know anything?
She was a kit.
A very lonely and a very afraid kit. What came next for her? Not even Starclan knew as Shadekit stood there, shaking, fearful and angry.
Oh Starclan, she was angry, angry at this tom for killing her mother. Angry at Starclan for doing nothing to stop it. But, most of all, she was angry at herself for being so useless.
Angry.
She let out a low growl. Not very loud, not very scary or intimidating. But loud enough for the dark, grey tabby tom with piercing, cold green eyes to catch. He turned around, his eyes narrowing in the direction that Shadekit was hidden in.
He couldn't see her straight away, it was too dark for that. But eventually, his eyes adjusted to the shadows in the alcove and managed to make out a pair of glinting, green eyes and a faint outline of a kit, crouched in the darkness.
Shadekit was in trouble now.
There was no escape now.
Was she going to die? Maybe. Probably. But why?
He was right in front of her all of a sudden, his eyes gleaming in the darkness as he stared down at the kit. He was maybe twice, or possibly even three times her height. He easily towered over her.
"Shadekit?" He said, looking down at her.
The kit suppressed a shiver, fluffing up her fur to make her seem bigger than he actually was. It didn't work.
"What are you doing here on your own?" He asked, but his grin was mocking, degrading, "it's cold."
"Who are you?" She asked in a tone that was supposed to angry but only came out as a squeak.
"My name's Darkfall," he said, "I'm here to bring you home."
"Home?" The kit was bewildered, and very angry, "you killed my mom!"
For a brief second, he looked surprised before recovering. "Don't be silly, now, Brightfeather is fine."
"No, she's not!" She glared at him, her tone accusatory, "I may be a kit but I'm not stupid. You killed my mom, you're evil!"
"Now, now," he shook his head, "there's no reason to be hostile. I'm only trying to help."
How dare he try to be nice after what he'd done? Shadekit shivered again, this time in pure hatred.
"I'm going to kill you," she spat at him, "you're evil!"
Anger flashed in his eyes and, suddenly, he was a lot closer to Shadekit, looking down at her through cold, furious eyes.
"Listen here, kit," he was filled with disdain, "you're going to do what I say or you'll end up just like Brightfeather over there."
Somehow, that shift in his tone, that look in his eye, made Shadekit a lot more afraid than she had been before. Instantly, her brain screamed at her to follow the order. She didn't want to die, she couldn't! And this tom definitely seemed like the tom that would kill her, no regrets.
Then she glanced around him to the body of her mother. Her mom, who had remained defiant until the very last moment.
Shadekit would make her proud.
And she would see her again one day.
In Starclan.
"No," she said, her voice bitter, "I'm not going to do what you say."
Darkfall's eyes blazed, "well then-"
Shadekit closed her eyes.
Starclan, her mom would be in Starclan and she'd see her again.
Shadekit was going to die.
No.
She couldn't die.
Not today. Not tomorrow. Not for a very, very long time.
She opened her eyes.
Shadekit's pelt had heated up, her paws were burning against the stone floor.
"I'm not going to die," she said, slowly, firmly.
Darkfall stumbled backwards in a reaction to something that remained unknown to Shadekit at first.
Then, she looked at her paws.
From her own, tiny paws, a fire was sparking. Was this real? Was any of this real?
Using the distraction to her advantage, she sprinted out of the alcove and towards the path that led away from the Moonpool. Her small legs stretching long distances. She stumbled as she forced herself up the hill, not daring to look behind in case she was jumped on.
Someone was blocking her path. Like a snake, she slid through their legs, using her short stature to her advantage.
Her paws hit grass instead of stone.
What was happening her mind was a blur.
The hill curved into a steep, downwards slope all of a sudden and Shadekit found herself tumbling down at an alarming, uncontrollable rate.
After what felt like forever, she dug her claws into the soft mood and glanced up. No one was chasing her.
Without even taking another moment to think or assess what had just happened…
Shadekit ran.
A/N: The allegiances will be coming out next chapter, I just wanted to get this one up asap.
Hello, just thought I'd let people know that this isn't my first story. In fact, this is my third account (I know). I used to be known as Cityskyliinee and wrote stories such as 'The Frost will Settle' and 'The Cursed Trilogy.'
If anyone who may know me from that old account wants to contact me then please do so on this account as I can no longer access any of my old ones.
Thank you!