Chapter 11

Petal

Her eyes clouding into a dark, stormy blue, the silver she-cat unsheathed her claws, staring into the great green depths of the eyes of the speaker. She crouched down, pressing her stomach flat to the ground in a vain hope that they wouldn't see her shape stretched upon the rough cobblestones of the alley. But of course, several pairs of eyes followed her descent, and remained staring at her for impossibly long without blinking.

And then her mind went blank.

She glanced sideways at Dimitri and Galestorm ― the older of the two was frowning, his eyes flitting this way and that, as if planning some escape, whilst the ginger kittypet was just standing there, his eyes fixed on something in the distance in a possessed manner, his stance stock-still and his paws planted firmly on the ground. Petal was not Snow, but she knew how to read obvious feelings, and she could tell that Dimitri was scared.

"Amber," this time, a different voice spoke up, the owner of which being a tom with amber eyes, one very much smaller than the other; a little light touched his pelt, giving away his brown tabby stripes.

Petal's eyes widened as several cats stepped forwards, the largest of which grabbed her by the scruff and held her swinging form as if she were a kit. She was quite big for her age, but she'd never seen a cat that was simply this…large.

She struggled against her captor's grip, but they merely dug their teeth harder into her fur and she finally gave up, gasping in pain ― and she was surprised to find that she was set down again, and opened her eyes to look straight into a pair of amber ones, which didn't belong to the brown tabby tom.

"You're walking," the cat growled; and it turned out to be a she-cat, not a tom, like Petal had thought. "But if you struggle anymore ―" she raised her paw and Petal caught a glimpse of her long claw as it found the light, "― I can't say I won't harm you."

She pushed herself to her paws, tossing her sleek silver head determinedly.

"You don't scare me," she hissed, barring her teeth.

Amber sighed; she had guessed right. The silver she-cat before her could be no older than nine moons, but she was very much determined to fight, and probably one of the cats to which loyalty mattered the most. She must be one of the East Side scouts Amber had seen skulking around earlier, trying whenever possible to cross the boundary into the West Side. She raised her large amber paw, drawing it back for height and momentum.

Petal narrowed her eyes to slits, waiting for the unsheathed claws to come tearing down on her shoulder, until she noticed movement behind the huge she-cat. The brown tabby tom rested his tail on her paw and spoke to her, as if he was a person held in her respect and esteem.

"Don't," he said softly. "Sometimes, using softer methods helps," he swivelled his gaze onto Petal. "I'm Snitch, second-in-command of the Guardians of the Night ― and you're coming with me."

xXx

This had been her only chance.

Her only chance to find her father, and get her mother and siblings back, and she'd failed.

Snitch was padding unconcernedly ahead of her, finding his way easily through the broken glass that littered the alley; the whole place was desolate, ash and dust and glass in every nook and cranny, bits of the dingy buildings spread over the sidewalk. She wondered where they even were ― there was obvious signs of fire damage, but how had it happened? According to Silver, twolegs could easily control fire to do their bidding. Had perhaps the twolegs abandoned it because it was not good enough for them, and then left it to burn because they didn't care about it?

She bristled. She'd been taught that nothing should be wasted, even if it was prey in greenleaf; if you have enough, then why kill it? It seemed as if the twolegs could not be satisfied with anything they got.

"What is this place?" she found herself asking Snitch, to both her and the tom's surprise.

He glanced at Petal slightly doubtfully, and gestured for her to catch up to him, which the silver she-cat did with a little hesitation. If she remained behind him, then she could pounce on him from behind, knock him out and then flee the area, and hopefully never see it again. The only issue was that she had absolutely no idea where she was going, and she really need Dimitri…she didn't have to have Galestorm, but she'd made a promise to him, and she, for one, didn't take promises lightly.

"This is the West Side of Broadhinny," he meowed. "The Guardians of the Night used to have control of the whole city, both East and West Sides, until the Betrayal. The Betrayal was conducted by the Betrayer, me, and Amber, that she-cat you met back there," he jerked his head back to show where he meant. "We were angry at the creator of the Guardians of the Night because he treated us unfairly ― she-cats weren't allowed to be scouts or fighters, just bearers and learners of herb lore."

When Petal looked at him blankly, her eyes flickering uncertainly from silver to blue, he laughed.

"You start off as a fighter, trained under a senior fighter," he explained. "Once you've finished your training, you stay as a fighter, but if you do well you're moved up to a senior fighter; and if you are a good senior fighter, you're promoted to a scout. They scout the borders, and sort out all of the fights that are caused from East Side ― wait for it ―" he said quickly as he noticed Petal opening her mouth, "and they also deal with anyone who tries to escape into the East Side. Oh, there are also messengers, who carry messages with speed between two cats or two parties of cats; mostly, the ones that don't like fighting because they're too small are made messengers. I suppose you might call bearers queens, kit-mothers or mothers, take your pick, and learners of the herb lore study medicine; they help you if you're injured or sick, and they also help bearers deliver kits."

"Oh!" Petal put in. "Like medicine cats!"

Snitch looked at her curiously but didn't press a further question to her. Instead, he looked at his paws briefly to find his way, and then quickly glanced back up.

"The gist of the Betrayal was to give everyone a level of fairness," Snitch continued. "She-cats were treated like vermin ― some of the first leader's scouts and senior fighters held she-cats in the dark cellars of warehouses for days on end, simply for the purpose of having a good laugh. Of course, they're all held under tight guard," he added, pointing with his tail towards probably the least destroyed building of the whole lot; it had bars instead of windows, and four strong, swarthy cats stood by the entrance, looking proud and foreboding. "It was a similar position for fighters. They were tortured to some extent, but I received probably the worst injury. My eye was clawed this way by a scout when I refused to do his bidding. I didn't stand up for myself, because you couldn't, otherwise you wouldn't survive properly for another day. That stuck-up scout got what he deserved," he flexed his claws. "The Betrayal came round soon after that, a protest against its creator and the then ― well, not a leader ― a controller, let's say. But everything has its consequences, and some of the former fighters and scouts, who had not entirely agreed with the controller, fled the headquarters and taking the more loosely held East Side for themselves, because they feared a worse reign under the Betrayer.

Yet before that, the first leader started a fire in the West Side, one so large that sent twolegs fleeing from their homes and jobs, because this once was where lots of the twolegs worked, and there were very few houses. They didn't even bother trying to control it. We were fighting through flames and thick ash, but somehow we won, with only a few casualties. The Betrayer, however, got burnt and almost lost his voice, but thanks to Willow he regained some of it. Some of the stronger cats chased after the tail ends of the former leader's followers, catching some of them. We've kept them here ever since, thanks to Amber, who organised a place for them to stay, and the regular guard.

"The East Side cats now fight us at every opportunity, because they think we're treating these cats unfairly, when we're actually not. It's because most of them have relatives here, and they don't want them suffering without them ― or something ridiculous along the lines of that."

"You don't have relatives, do you?" Petal accused him.

Snitch shook his head.

"They died, in the fire that the first leader created," he said sadly.

"Where did he go?" Petal asked.

"Where did who go?" Snitch frowned.

"The first leader," she said.

"Oh, him," the brown tabby meowed. "We're not exactly sure, but one of our scout parties, led by Amber, of course, followed him all the way up to the foot of the mountains, and even up the slopes for a while. There is a group of cats up there already ―"

"The Tribe of Rushing Water," Petal muttered.

Snitch, being quite absorbed in his speech, did not hear Petal, and merely continued unhindered.

"― but he was too proud to join them, so we're guessing he settled somewhere quite far away from them, trying to restart the Guardians of the Night, an attempt which failed. We believe everyone in the remaining eight or nine cats died, but we're not entirely sure."

"Wait, in the mountains?" she meowed, slightly shocked.

Had she been living in the mountains beside this…this monster?

"Spill," Snitch growled, the first sign of hostility he'd shown to her.

"I lived with the Tribe of Rushing Water," she said, a tremor in her voice. "They were the group of cats your party found, living in the mountains. I was leaving with my mother and my siblings…" she trailed off, and Snitch narrowed his eyes interestedly.

"The Tribe of Rushing Water," he said softly. "Yes, I've heard the name. Off some nutty East Sider who was chatting to Sophia, the leader of the opposing force. They were passing a bit too close to the border for my liking, so I gave them a couple of scratches and that got rid of them soon enough."

Sophia, Petal thought, wondering if she'd heard the name before. Deciding she hadn't, she shook her head and continued walking beside Snitch. It was then it struck her; only a distant memory from moons ago, but still there, an image that wasn't entirely certain.

"This leader…what was his name?" she asked.

Snitch hesitated, his eyes clouding over as he tried to remember. He frowned, shook his head, frowned again, and then nodded.

"I believe it was Storm."

And then it all came crashing down.

Author's Note: Obvious cliffie, much? So, I bet you're all going to ask this question, 'why does Petal know Storm's name and Thunder doesn't?' Well, Storm is possessing Thunder, so he has access to all Thunder's memories, and everything he's ever felt, so that means he can change, alter and twist every memory or just keep it away from him. Sad, isn't it?

Would you believe it? *counts reviews* For the first time, I got five reviews! It must mean there's something special about Chapter 10 that people like. It must be the Guardians of the Night, or Snitch power! Everyone loves Snitch, don't they? Well, hopefully I'll get five reviews this chapter, and everyone who reviewed last chapter gets a free Snitch plushie. Sorry for rambling! Next chapter is Thunder, and it'll be good, I promise you. And after that, the Guardians of the Night again ― we won't see Blizzard for a while now, sorry, because I have the most awesome event planned! Bye everyone!