Prologue

The young silver furred cat looked down at her paws and then out to her back yard. It's been awhile since she's explored, her cat door had been left locked and forgotten about by her people for a few days, but they seem to have realised it was closed.

She ran her dainty paw across her head and purred, very comfortable. Instead of heading outdoors, the small kitten curled up to sleep. "It's nice in here, no danger, always peaceful, my people are kind to me, why should I leave?" At that moment a cold wind shook her fur and lifted her up onto her paws. Yellow eyes wide in shock, and fur fluffed up she scanned the room, "wha- what was…"

"Only strangers can calm the forest of fury," the words entered her mind as if she had known them her whole life.

"Who's there?" She frantically searched the room for another cat, and then saw a orange tabby standing outside her screen doors looking at her. Tail swishing back and forth and rear end facing her, the sight of him brought sudden anger into the silver tabby's mind. "You can't just scare a cat like that!, get out of my yard!" She yelled before giving chase to the mysterious orange cat. The tom stuck his annoying tongue out at her before fleeing to the bushes at the side of her house which lead to her front lawn. "What are you playing at?" She hissed loudly as she gave chase, her legs pounding on the ground, they were made heavy by her round, fat stomach. Her purple collar jingled as she panted and her ears were flat against her head, but no matter how fast she chased the strange cat, his lengthy, fit legs just carried him around another bush, over another fence, and around another obstacle, while her short legs made things difficult. Eventually the worn out can stopped next to a road to catch her breath which was coming in rasps. Not even remembering why she had been chasing the other cat so enthusiastically, she felt a warm fur besides her and a voice, "Only strangers can calm the forest of fury."

She looked up and saw the tom licking his chest and sitting next to her, his orange fur seemed to be so clean that it glowed and yet his muscular body showed signs of hardship. The worn out she-cat opened her mouth to growl something at him when he finally looked her in the eyes. "Cleo, there is a cat that needs you."

Cleo scoffed, "what can I do? Why should I help? And most of all, who do you think you…" She stopped questioning when she gasped, in the road, sprinting across was a small orange and white tom kitten, only a few moons younger than Cleo herself was. She watched in horror as another cat chased the kit in front of a moving car both cats were hit, and both lay in the road. "No!" Cleo screamed as the blood from their bodies ran like a river towards her and swallowed her up into darkness.

"Help me!" She screeched as she awoke from the dream. Cleo was sitting next to her door liking her paws, "d-did I fall asleep? What's going on?" She swung her head back and forth looking for that annoying tom and the kitten in the road, but there was no trace, she was at home. However something was off, she could smell the large cat's musky, wild odor and a breeze seemed to infiltrate her home and whisper in her ears, "go!"

So she ran, outside her cat door, into the back yard, through the bushes, across roads, and under fences. She ran harder than when she had been chasing the orange cat and seemed to feel him next to her yelling in her ear, "faster, faster!" Panting she finally found the place she had visited in her dream.

"Raaaaaawr! Get out of my territory!" She turned to the outraged sound of a cat coming from inside the forest on the other side of the road. Bursting from the foilage the orange and white kitten burst into the highway, his eyes wide with panic he paused on his side of the road, turned his head and a white and grey striped cat tackled him. Screeching and scratching, blood and fur covered the ground around them until finally the kit escaped, fleeing across the road. The white cat didn't hesitate in her fury to chase the kitten as a car speed towards the two.

"Watch out!" Cleo screeched, but neither heard her over the car's engine as it flattened to two cats. Cleo got on her paws and rushed onto the asphalt, "stay awake, are you awake? Are you even alive? Where, what should I do?"

"Take the kit to your twoleg, the warrior is dead, but the kit wasn't hurt as bad." The tom's voice spoke in her ears, "honestly, are you stupid?" The tom scoffed in her ear as she obeyed too panicked to fight against the verbal abuse.

Cleo picked the unconscious kit up by the scruff and began running for home. It made squeaking noises if she bumped him against stuff, which happened a lot. The kitten's injuries left blood marks on the grass and Cleo wondered what animals had smelled the distress.

When she dragged the kitten in her door, she could no longer feel her jaws. It was hard work, but it wasn't finished. Taking a deep breath, Cleo yowled as loud as she could. It was sunhigh so her people were all busy doing things with their light boxes, and paper books, that it took three long pleading yells and a bite to the leg to get them to notice her present. When one of them did notice, to Cleo's despair, it was the smallest one. A young kit, she grabbed the orange wild kitten and screamed and sobbed loudly and ran to her parents who also began yelling. If it wasn't such a dire situation, Cloe might think that their panic was funny.

"Stupid kittypet, you had the same reaction." She looked over to where the orange cat's voice had come from but didn't see him.

"Stupid wild cat at least I got him here." She hissed back as her people placed the kitten in a box and left the house.

"Me? Stupid?" The cat appeared before her, spooking her enough that her fur fluffed up. Green eyes bore into her, analyzing her, before nodding and slowly dissolving into the air.