*****
Bristlekit woke up that morning feeling cold and stiff, his newly red paw seemed to glow in the dim night light. Honeykit and Dovekit were still asleep beside him, their chest heaving in shallow breaths. With a sigh he tried to go back to bed, but his eyes were seemingly glazed open.
With a hiss he sat up, his night vision slowly coming on. He stretched his short legs and made his way to the wood door, "Where are you going Bristlekit?" Spottedkit yawned to the younger kit, her eyes unfocused.
"Um… I have to go to um… the dirt pile…" Bristlekit lied to the she kit, even in the dark she seemed to light up the den…
Spottedkit nodded to him with a smile before laying her head onto her paws once more. Bristlekit let out a soft sigh and slipped out the door.
He walked down the hay filled hallway, his sharp unsheathed claws clicking along the cement floors. He didn`t know where he was going, anywhere would be fine with him, right now he was just restless. Earlier that day Orchid and Lewis had been escorted home, Bristlekit found it very weak of the two not to be able to walk home by themselves and stand up to this, Red.
While thinking of weakness he found himself wandering out of the safe limits of the barn and into the Half-moon light night. Kits were not suppose to be outside without a queen or warrior, but Bristlekit did not really care, he was the strongest when he was alone, and the strongest didn`t need help from others weaker than him.
As he walked further and further away from the barn, towards Deathclan territory, a odd smell rolled across his scent glands. As he followed the scent he noticed that he had crossed the Deathclan border. The scent markings were stale, Aspenrain often was lazy of his borders since he believed that his clan was the strongest of them all and could defend their borders when crossed.
Deathclan hunted at night, tracking down the biggest of night prey, it was rumored that two warriors took down a whole coyote once. Despite this prior knowledge, Bristlekit continued to hop along, following the non-clan cats scent. When he finally heard voices he paused and crawled under a thorn bush.
He crawled slowly to the other side and found himself looking over a gorge, where two cats sat opposite from each other. One was a kit, the other was the biggest golden tom he had ever seen. "Roaring, if you ever wish to take my place as leader of the rouges and loners, you must fight harder!" The golden tom spat to the kit.
"My name is Roaringkit, and I fight harder than any other kit in Deathclan." He hissed back. Bristlekit could hardly stifle a laugh, he fought better than any other WARRIOR in the whole quarry!
"Yes, you may, but what about the rouges? Do you fight better than any of them?" Red asked the kit in a mocking tone. Lunging at the kit, who side stepped expertly, forcing Red to go on the defensive.
'So, this is the great Red, being beat up by a kit…' Bristlekit thought to himself with a smile. But this thought vanished as soon as Red hooked a gigantic claw under the kits stomach and threw him in the air. Roaringkit laid ghostly still, Red gave a small snort and walked over to the golden kit.
Just as Red leaned over Roaringkit he pounced up and sliced his nose, leaving three scarlet streaks across his face. Red growled in anger and lifted a large paw in what seemed to be a fatal blow, but he contained his temper and nodded, "Good, I have trained you well…" He said approvingly.
"I told you, I could probably be better if it wasn`t for Patchkit and Silentkit, and my mom, Flightshadow." Roaringkit growled, sitting on his haunches. "They are so weak, if I had my way, all weak kits would be killed." He added spitefully.
Bristlekit felt his heart drop; he thought that weaklings should be killed off too, but not as mere kits. Kits could be trained, maybe as warriors or elders, but never as kits, that was cruel. Yet Red only meowed his agreement.
Bristlekit began to feel board as they two identical cats continued to fight, carefully he backed up from the bush and ran back to Barnclan boarders, where he could be safe.
*****
It had started out as a light drizzle, but by the time Bristlekit had reached the tall barn silos, it was pouring down faster and harder, slicing into his pelt and bones. Yet he didn`t want to go back to the nursery, instead he wanted to climb the silo to go to the bird loft, where the messenger birds were kept and trained.
Kits were not allowed to climb to the loft, the stairs were high, and sharp, and the birds were even more dangerous than the stairs, the untamed ones that was. Yet that didn`t matter, he was strong and independent.
The steps were very slick and steeper than they had appeared, yet he clambered upward, the rain pelted down, and for once he felt free up so high. As he reached the top, he stood there, at least 500 deer paces up he stood. The wind rustled his yellow fur, the darkness of night engulfed him as the rain fell around him. The sensation was great as he looked around, but the chattering of birds brought him back to reality.
He crawled into the small hole in the metal, his eyes had to readjust to the darker light, and when they did he was amazed. The birds were divided into sections in order of rank, one section for apprentices, one for warriors, deputies, leaders, and finally elders.
Bristlekit walked along the numerous rows of species, until he stopped at the leaders bird, his mouth dropped open at the sight at his sharp beak and razor like talons. A gorgeous hawk, whose name Bristlekit remembered as Samson.
'One day I will have a hawk too… no… not a hawk, an eagle!' He thought to himself with pride, when he became Bristlerain, he would make everything better in all the clans, everything would be better…
*****
*I love Bristlekit…*
*Elemental… you get way to over hyper about these things…*
*OK, you know what Helper, you need to shut up.*
*Oh please…*