Crime and Punishment

Some cats are born evil, and some are made evil. Tell you the truth; I'm not sure where me and my brothers fall into those categories. You see, we weren't always evil. We were born to a very sweet and kind she-cat. One day while she was out hunting with us, a badger attacked and killed her. We ran away and soon were accepted into an order of rouges. That's where we discovered our natural talents. They renamed us to fit our talents. I was named for my ability to trick others without getting caught. My older brother was named for being able to tell lies with a straight face. And my younger brother, well, he was named for his skills in killing cats. Due to these skills, we gained rank quickly and soon became the leaders of the order of the rouges. Sometimes, we're called the three evils.

I'm called Deceit. I may sound a little fierce and evil but I'm not as bad as my brothers. My brothers Lie and Murder are the ones you should always look out for. If it wasn't for them, my reputation wouldn't be as bad. Lie is that dust colored tom while Murder is the grayish brown tom. I would avoid them if I were you. As you can see, I'm just gray in color. Perhaps one of the few things we share is our silver-gray eyes. Of course, they're different shades of grey but hey- it's something we have in common.

Maybe I should tell you what's going on. One of the duties of being leaders is knowing of every kit born and every cat that died. Mostly we deal with the second one but today we're seeing kits being born. Judging by my brother's expressions, they aren't too thrilled about this. They'd much rather be killing some cats instead of this. They really like to kill cats. I'm not trying to exaggerate or scare you- they just like to kill things. I prefer life over death, thank you very much!

Since we got there late because I had to convince my brothers to come, we missed the arrival of the first two kits. Both were she cats. The older one was white with brown spots and brown paws. The other she cat was golden with darker stripes on her back. It wasn't long until the third kit was born, a strong looking tom with light orange fur. The cat we had put in charge of healing, Sage, looked over to me and smiled.

"We're just about to name them."

I nodded my head and looked over the kits again. "Name the tom Blaze for his orange pelt. The golden she cat should be named Horizon. I'm not sure about the other she cat though."

The father of the kits lifted his head. "She should be called Zephyr. It means gentle breeze."

I could practically hear Murder and Lie gagging. They weren't fond of sweet or gentle things either. I rolled my eyes and let out a silent groan. Then while watching Sage to see how she treats her patients, I noticed how her ears perked up. She turned back to Mia, the black and white she cat who had the kits, and tilted her head in confusion. Then after just a few moments, Mia let out an ear piercing shriek. I shrank back a little in fear; I had no clue what was wrong with the queen.

Sage put a paw lightly on Mia's stomach. She tilted her head and muttered. "This is strange….."

"What's wrong?" I asked

"Her body is telling her that she still is having her kits but there's only supposed to be three kits…"

"That's strange."

"I know, I never seen anything like this before." Sage stated

"Is there anything you can do?" Leaftail, the father of the kits, asked with panic in his voice.

"There's no herb that can stop this. All we can do is hope and pray to Starclan that she'll be alright."

After several painstaking minutes, a fourth- and impossibly small kitten was born. From the look of things, he was only half the size of his littermates and didn't have a good chance of survival. Sage turned to me and commanded

"Lick the kit's fur the wrong way!"

"Wha-"

"DON'T ARGUE WITH ME!" Sage shouted at me

I whimpered and started to lick the tiny kitten, willing him to live. For a heartbeat, I wasn't sure whether I could save him. Just as I thought all was lost, I heard a faint mew. With a sigh of relief, I picked the kitten up and showed him to Sage. She purred

"Aw….. He's adorable and so tiny…"

I heard Murder growl from the entrance of the den. I nodded my head to Sage and turned to him. Through a mouthful of kit fur I asked

"What's your deal?"

Murder came over, and with a low threating growl he stated. "Kill that- that thing NOW!"

"I won't kill him. What would we even gain from doing so?"

"Don't you see what he looks like? That kit is obviously cursed and you know it!"

I placed the kit down so I could get a better look of him. He had mainly black fur, a fluffy white tipped tail, white paws, a white dash on either side of him, and a white underbelly. The bottom half of his face was also white giving him what appeared to be a black mask that comes down from his ears to his nose. There was a small triangle of white separating the mask. I could see why Murder was afraid of this kit. I knew it and deep down, I was also scared. I muttered

"A kit with the fur pattern of a badger..."

"Exactly….. You know why you have to kill him now." Lie smirked, walking over to us

I glanced down to the kitten, he was just so sweet and innocent looking. Was it truly wrong to kill a kit with its eyes closed? Of course it was. However, this was a cursed kit and that made things different. At least I hope it did….

"Well?" Murder pressed "Are you going to kill it?"

I looked at the kitten and made my final decision. "No."

"What? Why not?" He demanded

"I'm not letting you kill an innocent kit that probably won't even survive long on his own."

Murder hissed and walk out of the den. "This'll be the death of us and you know it!"

Lie followed him out soon afterwards. I shook my head in disbelief and brought the kit over to his parents. Mia purred

"Thanks. I thought for sure they would kill him!"

"I wouldn't let them. Anyways, what do you want to call him?"

Mia tilted her head. "Hm…. I not sure about that one. Leaftail? You got any ideas?"

He nodded "Just one- Aeolus."

"Aeolus? What does that mean?"

"It's a twoleg term. It means the god of the winds. You know- so he knows that he's part Windclan because of me."

Mia nodded and smiled "That's a good name for him. It's just too bad that he won't be raised in a clan."

"That may be true dear but which clan would we have raised him in? You being Riverclan and Shadowclan and me being Windclan?"

"I would've gone to Windclan to be with you…"

I never heard the rest of their conversation as I was focused on Sage. She was so deep in thought and that was never a good thing. After a few seconds her forest green eyes widened and shifted to look first at me and then at Aeolus. Sage motioned me to come over with a flick of her tail and I obeyed. She whispered into my ear.

"I just received an omen from Starclan!"

"Well what did they say?" I asked

She took in a deep breath. "Three evils rule the land; one will dare to challenge them. Lies and tricks will take away what matters most but the cat will not give in. Then the murderer will kill one cat too many. War of the shadows and wind will rage, but the strike of a badger will end it all."

"Let me guess- you also are suggesting that I kill him?"

Sage opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but thought against it. After a few seconds she replied. "Yes. I strongly advise it but I'm not forcing you to kill him. Aeolus will kill all three of you if my understanding of the prophecy is correct."

I frowned. "Everything will be fine, I'm not hurting him."

Little did I know but that would one day be the worst mistake that I ever made.