Evectri hissed under his breath as his unsheathed claws dug themselves further into the ground. His amber eyes remained narrowed with concentration and focus as he stared at no spot in particular. He felt Cura moving his wing, just like she had since sunrise, and immediately he felt pain, which made his muscles tense even harder.
"Stop moving, Evectri!" Evectri's sister ordered him as she continued to prop up the wing. "You're just going to make it worse!" He heard movement behind him, and once again he felt more pain. He wasn't able to tense further, so he began to hold his breath.
"How broken could it be?" asked Evectri impatiently. "You've been working on my wings for what seems like moons!" The grey Volan exclaimed, though he wasn't really mad at Cura. In fact, he was glad that he was finally getting his wings properly treated.
"It's not my fault this wing is broken in twelve places!" Cura yelled back to him, though she, too, wasn't angry at him. She was probably just irritated with the state of his wings. "I mean honestly, the next time our father fights with another Volan, I'm going to make sure I have at least twice as much cobwebs!" Evectri smirked, laughing a bit as he tried to think of things that had nothing to do with the pain.
"What's exactly wrong with them?" asked Evectri, trying to continue a conversation. "I can feel that the bones have not exactly healed together since I've been gone." Another round of pain shot through his body, making him suck in his breath as Cura laughed slightly.
"You think? It all healed together like a knot in a line of moss." Cura stated. "It would probably be less painful if it hadn't healed so strangely. No wonder you had a crash landing." Evectri laughed, though it transformed into another hiss as more pain came to him.
"Alright," she told him a few a few moments of comfortable silence that wasn't filled with pain. "I just have one more thing to do before I can wrap it in cobwebs, but it will hurt a lot more than the other twinges." Evectri nodded in understanding, though he was reassuring himself more than his sister. "One...Two...Three!"
Evectri gave a very loud hiss, the agony coming from his right wing scorching through his skin as it rippled throughout his body. He closed his eyes, as if hoping that would mask the pain, and waited quietly as Cura wrapped it in sticky cobwebs. The pain ebbed away the more she wrapped it, and soon, he opened his eyes to see his sister in front of him.
"All done." She said, sighing with relief. Evectri nodded, carefully standing as he noticed that his wings were wrapped up to allow him to move. His sister noticed this, and smiled slightly. It turned into a smirk slowly after, as if she did that for a selfish reason. "Now you can't make it worse by moving it." She said, proudly walking out of the den as if she'd won some sort of verbal battle. Evectri rolled her eyes before following her.
"So is there any news that I should know about?" asked Evectri, hoping to get an edge on what was being planned out so that he could figure out how to protect the cats. Cura's expression grew darker, her eyes looking to the ground as they walked.
"Ever since you left, there hasn't been a balance in the flock," Cura murmured softly after a few moments of silence.
"With your intellect, battle strategies were less of a massacre and more of an actual plan to keep the cats down like all of our generations have done. With that intelligence and balance gone..." Evectri stopped as she finished, his eyes narrowed with determination. She looked at him, giving an expression that made it seem like she accidentally told him something that he wasn't supposed to know.
"How many have died?" Evectri demanded. "How has my father and brother been sending out battle patrols? How...have the little ones been trained?" Cura shrank back a little, as if his shouting was hurting her. He didn't let up on his expression though—he needed to know.
"Evectri, don't think badly of our brother or father," Cura pleaded. She sighed, looking at her paws again. "Patrols are sent out daily, and they are of large numbers. The deaths are increasing, and now it's not uncommon to have fifteen cats set in their graves every moon. A-and the little ones..." Cura drifted again, probably having an idea how much the last answer would affect her brother.
"Cura, it's okay, just answer my question." Evectri reassured her, though he still made sure he sounded demanding. This was one of the most important question, because training effected everything, and since training was what forced him into this situation in the first place, he really, really wanted to know.
"More of them are turning out to be soldiers than solid fighters or hunters," Cura said, looking angry with herself. "I see at least three of them in my den a day, and all of them have wounds that no kit should carry. It's like they're creating more grown cats like you and Intono than Tavo and Laidia. It's not right, though. The training you received was for a valid cause, not a selfish need, and—"
"Cura, stop," Evectri told her, interrupting her rant. His amber eyes shined with a certain knowledge that only few would understand. "I know that if they push the younger cats into the training that I had to commit myself to, it will only end in more rebellions. I will deal with this, no matter what our father says. However, at the same time, you need to stay strong." He looked at her with a reassuring expression to which she smiled slightly at. "Let's move onto brighter news—how many mothers have there been since I've been gone?" Cura smiled widely at the change in subject.
"Many!" she answered gleefully. "Klan, Lucio and Ferg are all expecting kits now, and the orphan Faliva opened her eyes a half moon ago. Oh, and Iveria has raised Zinder, Siseo, Vidius, and Mofeta very well. In fact, they will be put into training really soon." Evectri ignored the last sentence and raised his eyebrows.
"Really? Well then, I'd say you're doing a very good job, Cura," Evectri said, making his sister look at him happily. "If you've managed to have such patients with three expecting mothers, and have raised Faliva on your own with the help of Iveria for the milk, I'd say that you're one of the best Healer this Flock has seen. Not to mention the best Princess." Evectri winked, and Cura blushed slightly.
"Well, I must say that you—"
"Prince Evectri! Prince Evectri!" called Tanzen, a very young fighter. The dark brown sprinted toward him, that being faster than flying in a crowded jungle in which they lived in. Tanzen breathed heavily as he explained. "Lady Laidia has...returned!...She is...heavily wounded...And th-three fighters have...been killed..." Evectri's eyes narrowed once more, his mind formulating what could have happened. "The King...wants you...there..."
Evectri nodded, before looking at his sister. Cura also nodded, her eyes narrowed in determination. Both sprinted forward, making their way through the Jungle to the landing area. Evectri wasn't worried for Laidia. He was worried of what his father would do once he figured out that three of his fighters were killed in one battle patrol.
My father isn't one to let these things slide so easily. He'll want to take immediate action against the cats, and kill the ones who killed his fighters. Tavo will jump right into that, probably, and so will everyone but probably the pawns. Intono will definitely have a smarter solution, and so will I, if I'm allowed any say in this matter. Hopefully, with any luck, I will be.
As Evectri broke through the bushes and ran to the center of the landing area, he found himself shocked at what he saw. Eight cats lay remaining from the eleven that went out, and they were all stained with their own blood. All of them could barely stand, and their leader, Laidia, was one of the worst.
Her wing was unquestionably broken, which seemed to give her the most pain, and her wounds were deep enough to make Evectri wonder who had done such a thing. No average cat could have defeated Laidia so gruesomely, and that was something Evectri knew for sure.
"What happened?" asked Evectri as soon as he stopped beside his brother. Across from him stood his mother and father, who looked just as curious about the events that led up to the catastrophe in front of them. Cura didn't need an answer—she quickly got to work by cleaning out the wound and sending others out to go get some herbs that she knew she needed.
"What didn't happen?" Laidia hissed with irritation, her fur bristled with frustration as she bared her teeth. She was furious, and her eyes were narrowed tightly. It made the younger ranked Volans flinch. "I attacked just like I'd planned—"
"That was not an authorized attack!" Negro growled loudly, his voice booming throughout the clearing. "I was not informed of any of this until just now, and if any of you remaining here were aware of it, I would like to know now so I can slit their throats!" Evectri growled lowly in warning to his father, having not seen him this angry in a long time.
"Never mind that—what's happened has happened," Evectri told his father, his amber eyes glancing over to Negro carefully. "What's important now is to figure out exactly how their strategy failed." With those words he looked back toward Laidia and nodded for her to continue.
"I don't need your permission to continue speaking, prince Evectri," Laidia hissed, her eyes narrowed dangerously before she went on. "But anyway, as I was saying. We successfully managed to break past their guards, making it into their camp. It was easy enough to scare them, and we were actually defeating many of their best fighters by surrounding them and fighting them in their own home." Laidia paused, as if trying to decide something. She sighed as she seemed to choose.
"I went into the Commander's den, and I managed to find the Princess, Huntress, standing like a scared kit in the back of the den so I played with her." Laidia said. Evectri's heart leapt, but he didn't show the emotion that he was feeling. He was now furious at Laidia for trying to hurt Huntress, but he couldn't say anything. "Three fighters followed me, leaving the big bad kitty cat shake as if an earthquake was beneath her. I talked to her for a while, but then I was interrupted.
"Apparently, she's gained a friend lately. A new servant—one I'd never seen before, at least—was caught sneaking into the den, and so I ordered the three cats to kill him so that I could kill the princess. I was just about to do that when I realized all three of the Volans that had come with me were dead. He came toward me—quite quickly might I add—and he attacked. I attacked back, of course, but he was different. His blue eyes were darker, the star scar on his shoulder was glowing and his was powerful. Very powerful.
"He managed to almost rip my wing off, and the worst part is I didn't even get to kill the princess! I managed to get out before he could actually do some real damage, and these seven followed me." Laidia stopped, hissing slightly as Cura tended to her wounds.
"So you're trying tell me that a servant did this to you?" asked Negro, his amber eyes flashing with anger. Laidia hissed, her eyes getting dangerous again.
"Yeah, but he's not just a servant," Laidia growled, her tail lashing. "He's faster, stronger, and more insane than anyone here is. He has a certain power residing within him, and he's no doubt getting worshiped by Shadow and all of the other cats. After all, with the fact that he can see through Kreis Operio, he's probably becoming a sighter right now."
"What do you mean?" asked Evectri, his stomach churning slightly. "No cat can see through the Kreis Operio—it's impossible." Laidia laughed. It sounded so dark, and it as something he'd only heard himself do, which scared him slightly.
"Everything impossible with this cat could be possible," Laidia hissed, her eyes narrowed still. "A mere servant shouldn't have been able to defeat me, and yet here I lay almost dead. At this point, I don't think anybody but your royal family could kill this monster." Evectri narrowed his eyes in confusion, this having not been his first thought when he heard Laidia had returned from her three day disappearance.
"This cat must be destroyed!" came a voice in the crowd. "No being that is able to defeat us so quickly shall be left untouched! We need to get revenge!" The crowd gave loud murmurs and shouts of agreement, and Negro had the only choice of replying.
"We shall get our revenge." Negro said confidently, standing as tall as a leader should. "Tavo, get your fighters together and make sure they're ready. We shall attack the Cats of the Storms tomorrow at dawn, and they shall feel the wrath of claws." Evectri tensed slightly, his heart beating quickly as he tried to think of a way to save the cats, or at least by himself some time.
"King Negro," Evectri interrupted the cheering crowds. "The cats will already know that this patrol will be coming, having also witnessed how many that servant killed. Wouldn't it be a smarter idea to wait, and then surprise them once they believe we didn't have the cats to send out an ambush?" Negro's eyes narrowed, his tail lashing furiously as Evectri finished.
"You want us to look like cowards?" asked Negro, a low growl erupting from his throat. "Are you that incompetent that you would suggest leaving the cats alone? What kind of—"
"Father, wait, I think Evectri's plan actually makes sense." said Tavo, interrupting the angry king. Negro's eyes flashed over to his first son before narrowing tightly once again. "Hear me out. Maybe we could wait, and make it seem like we don't have enough fighters to ambush, and then attack. They will be surprised, and we will have the advantage. Heck, we could surprise them further by retracting all current battle patrols from their land." Negro's narrowed eyes changed into that of confusion, his tail staying still for a few moments.
"If we were to do this," Negro said after a few minutes of silence. "We would be risking the possibility of losing our own territory as well as the borders we've already set up in their land. It would go against everything we've ever done or known." Tavo nodded in understanding.
"Yes, but what about the good things?" Evectri's brother asked. "We could surprise them enough to make them retreat. The ambush could finally leave us with victory over the whole war!" Evectri listened to his brother with worry clouding his thoughts. This could definitely make the tables turn, but that wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want the possibility of Huntress being dead in his mind. Just the thought made him shiver slightly.
I could just tell them to send a spy in to kill the servant, Evectri thought. He decided against it a moment later. No...I'm treading on thin ice, and if I suggest that they'll think I've made alliances with the cats. All I can do is think of a way to warn them about the attack.
Rain's blue eyes looked at the she-cat—who identified herself as Cheetahfur—and wondered exactly why she was in his mind. However, other thoughts also clouded his mind. He couldn't get over the fact that he was supposed to know the pretty she-cat, and that she'd saved his life.
"Don't act so surprised," Cheetahfur scolded, a small smirk on her face as her blue eyes glittered. "It's not like I'm Windstar or anything. Besides, you've seen me before so you shouldn't be this caught up in awe." The last sentence snapped Rain out of his thoughts, making his head tilt slightly as he narrowed his eyes with confusion.
"I've seen you before?" he asked curiously. "I-I don't quite remember..." Cheetahfur frowned as she heard this, being slightly disappointed, it seemed, that he didn't remember her.
"I was afraid you'd say that," she murmured softly, her eyes glimmering more as she seemed to fight back tears. "It was expected, sadly enough, but I was still hoping that you would remember." Rain sighed as well, his eyes narrowing slightly with frustration.
"Why can't I remember?" Rain asked, looking at his paws as he tried to hide the sorrow he felt. "I know that whatever happened to me was really important, and if I remember I could probably save or help the cats who seem to be calling. But I just can't." Cheetahfur gave a small purr of encouragement.
"Don't worry, little one, you will get your memory back soon," Cheetahfur told him softly, her angel-like voice soothing him. There was a few moments pause before she continued. "Come with me, Rain, and I will show you some answers to questions you may have." Rain's eyes looked up, and his expression turned hopeful as she smiled and started walking away.
The grey and white servant quickly stood up and followed Cheetahfur the best he could. She was walking briskly, though, so it was difficult. Rain couldn't exactly tell what their surroundings were, mostly because everything came out so fuzzy. It was a light grey and green colour, making it look eerie, and it was too blurry for him to make out.
"What is this place?" Rain asked curiously as they walked. "It's familiar, but at the same time, distant. Is it a place I visited before I lost my memory?" Cheetahfur nodded, answering his question as she took on a sudden look of vacancy, as if she'd just lost herself in her own thoughts.
"Yes, Rain, this is a place you knew when you were younger," Cheetahfur answered, her eyes narrowing as she seemed to focus once more. "We're still in your mind, trust me, but because you're memories are gone, it is filled with almost nothing." Rain tilted his head to his side.
"Almost? Why almost?" asked Rain, picking up his speed as she did. His tail flicked with curiosity, and his eyes glanced around the forest every once and awhile to see if his surroundings had changed. They didn't.
"There are a few things that have been shown or told to you that your mind has kept close, because it realizes that is linked to the memories it's missing." Cheetahfur explained, making Rain narrow his eyes in confusion.
"Wait, the memories are still there, aren't they? They're just locked up so that I can't reach them...right?" Rain asked, tilted his head. Cheetahfur's face darkened once more, and though she continued walking, he could tell by her eyes that she was remembering something unpleasant.
"No, unfortunately that was not what happened," Cheetahfur answered, her voice softer than before. "Someone took your memories, Rain, and that's why they won't return to you. However, not all hope his lost. Soon, you will be able to remember, you just have to keep living." Cheetahfur walked a little faster after that, forcing Rain to speed into a trot, which was choppy and very gruff compared to Cheetahfur's smooth gait.
I guess...I guess I shouldn't worry about it too much. She said I'll remember sooner or later, and for some reason I can't help but believe her. Besides, what could I do about it? It's not like I can go looking for whoever took my memories—that could take a life time!
StarClan, you're annoying, Jactur said irritably, startling Rain slightly. All you can ever think is how weak you are. I know it's because of how much you don't know, but still. It's frustrating some times when someone with your past refuses to recognize his power. And don't give the excuse that you don't know your power—you've witnessed it more than a few times. Rain shrugged.
I was just wondering why you're still here, Rain said honestly. I mean, I'm in my head. Shouldn't you be in actual cat when I'm in here?
Eh, not when StarClan is around, Jactur answered, sounding as if he didn't truthfully like the she-cat he was following. I kinda like our stuff to be secret. Rain shrugged again.
Okay, easy enough to understand, he told the demon cat before once again focusing his thoughts on Cheetahfur, who had now stopped. In front of them was nothing but darkness. Rain stopped, his eyes widening at the sight. He didn't dare look down, but his eyes were drawn to the scene, so he looked to Cheetahfur. "What is this?" he asked aloud.
"It's the place where your memories should be. It was once plentiful with friends, family, enemies, and even important events." Cheetahfur explained, her tail flicking slightly. "Every dream, every nightmare, and everything told to you is put here. Jactur, when you've had a very stressful day or night, comes here to soothe down the emotions, considering how dangerous it could be otherwise." Rain looked back to the abyss, his senses reaching out to see if he could find anything in there.
"Rain...remember the...keep your...please...don't go..."
"Ah!" Rain shrieked out, quickly jumping back as the whisper caught him by surprise. He hadn't seen anything, but the voice was familiar. It was just like the one he'd witnessed earlier when Catena and Cadeno was healing him. The she-cat—at least, by the voice, that's what he thought it was—seemed to be calling out to him, and because it was unfamiliar as to who the voice belonged to, he was somewhat scared.
"Be careful, Rain," Cheetahfur warned him, her eyes flashing with a serious expression. "In there lies the key to many memories that you do not want to open at this time. The voice you just heard was from your past, but because you don't remember her completely, you will become crazy by listening further. You must never come here, not until you've taken back the memories stolen from you." Rain narrowed his eyes in confusion as he tilted his head.
"Is that what you've come to tell me?" he asked curiously.
"Yes," Cheetahfur murmured, her voice strong now. "Keep in mind, however, that in your past, you have cats and relatives that are counting on you. As a sign from StarClan, take the next words seriously: when someone worth saving has been accused of something worth death, help them. This cat will in turn help you with the upcoming confrontation." Rain nodded, his eyes narrowed with determination as he took in the advice. This turned into confusion as she began to fade.
"So...will I ever see you again?" he asked. Rain had to admit that she had told him more than usual, so he was very disappointed that she was leaving after only a short time. Cheetahfur smiled warmly, her expression becoming bright once more.
"It depends on your choice, and the choices of those around you," Cheetahfur said, speaking in a riddle now. "It would be nice to see you once more, though. Good-bye." She faded completely after that, leaving Rain alone for a few moments.
Oi! Jactur called to him through his thoughts. Miss Ripple sunshine has noticed you've healed, and she's calling the whole Clan in to her den to see the 'miraculous event'. If I were you, I'd wake up before you're shaken rudely. Besides, there's a ceremonial day ahead, and the title will be taken away if you don't wake up soon. Rain smiled slightly, curling up into a ball and closing his eyes before he replied.
Then make me wake up, oh great one. Rain remarked, making Jactur laugh slightly.
Hey, I could get used to that nickname! Jactur responded.
I bet you could, Rain replied before letting himself drift away into reality.