So, yeah, eight chapters. Well, I read a comment and it made me think, yeah that guy is right it is kind of a risk to give nine lives to an insane cat, well, slightly insane. At times. Getting her nine lives is supposed to help her, but today we aren't focusing on Redstar! Today I am going to paint a picture of how messed up the clans are in the future :D. They are pretty messed up :P. This takes place over a moon. I kind of did a crappy job with this chapter. Also school is back on, if you get three updates during the week please don't complain, it won't make me update faster.
Silentwind P.O.V.
I walked out of the warriors den, my black pelt bristling in fear. I have short scruffy fur that didn't like to stay down and orange eyes like fire. Today I sensed something was very wrong, and some of my fellow warriors did too. WindClan was harsh, a hasher clan then the others.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around to hear my words!" Heatherstar ordered.
We gathered around obediently, not speaking a word. Apparently WindClan used to be a kinder clan, but now we wouldn't speak without being told to. Some warriors though, they liked this, because they were the favorites. They followed Heatherstar and the deputy, Flowerseed, blindly. They also killed without question, even if it was a kit.
"A moon ago the queen Firespirit had given birth to deformed kits. Firespirit, bring them forward!" He curled his lips in detaste.
Trembling, the queen who happened to be my friend brought them forward. "Here they are." She meowed.
He looked at them, like it was there fault for being born like so. One kit was perfectly fine, but the fear of bad blood was great so he also would receive the same fate as his sisters. One sister was missing an ear, the other was missing an eye. Bad blood somehow, but they could have been warriors.
"Being merciful, I will simply kick them out." Heatherstar meowed. "Your kits have bad blood and you are forbidden to have another litter." He said. "Meeting dismissed."
Firewisp let out an agonized wail while some warriors lead her kits away. I wanted to comfort her, but then the clan would scorn me too. Something crossed my mind than, a clan was a community that helped one another, and Firewisp needed her friend. Boldly I walked up to her and laid a tail on her shoulder.
"Am I bad?" She asked.
I shook my head. "You are good, but there has been a plague of hurt kits. I think StarClan is displeased." I admitted.
"You are no medicine cat, do not let them hear you guess StarClans will." Firewisp sneered.
I shrugged. "They don't even want me near you, but we are friends." I meowed. "I say ignore them for a while, maybe a few hours."
She grinned weakly. "Maybe." She walked off, and I had a bad feeling it would take moons for her to truly recover.
I left the clan with plans to hunt.
Hawkstrike P.O.V.
"Hawkstrike, patrol!" The deputy yelled in.
I jumped up. "On it." I promised and ran out. Today we would hunt the mighty fox that had been bothering our clan.
Fangstar would be leading our patrol, which was an honor. "Get ready cats, and keep an eye out for Redheart." She sneered the name. "She might come back for her revenge." She laughed, and the others joined her.
I felt kind of bad, I liked Redheart, she was kind and brave. A rare combination.
We set out at a fast pace, eager to drive out, or kill the fox. We followed the scent, and made plenty of noise, confident with our numbers. A fox couldn't take on ten cats! I held back a confident laugh as we followed the trail. As we got closer though, the smell of milk came to our noses.
We approached the fox who was enjoyed some prey. Fangstar let out a feral yowl and launched herself at the fox, attaching her claws in its face. We streamed in after her, overwhelming the fox. The continued scratching and enemies not staying down after a weak hit scared the fox off. We let her run away into WindClan territory.
I heard a yelping, and so did other warriors. Carefully we searched for the source and found two fox cubs. They were young, which explained the milk scent. The fox we drove off was a mother!
Fangstar grinned viciously. "We found treasure! Kill them, now!" She demanded and walked off.
A nasty warrior named Bluepelt glared at the fox cubs. " I hate foxes, let me kill them." He meowed.
We shrugged, what ever got the job done. When he went up to the fox cubs though, I felt suddenly uncertain. What was Bluepelt planning? I saw the others leaving, confident in Bluepelt, but I wasn't. I stayed in the shadows, staying as still as a statue so he wouldn't notice me.
Bluepelt gleefully approached the defenseless foxes. He didn't kill them, but instead he picked one up and tossed it towards the den celling. It squealed in pain as it hit the celling, then the ground with a light thump. He laughed in horrible joy.
A paw flew out towards the fox and he batted it towards the wall, killing it on impact. My stomach heaved at the way he was killing the cubs, why didn't I intervene? Why didn't I act!? Bluepelt rounded on the other cub and grinned like a psychopath. No doubt he had some sick plan for that cub too.
Bluepelt didn't bother with killing it, he took the fox out of the den and carried it like a kit. I followed at a slow pace, not letting him know I was there. Bluepelt walked to the lake and I stared on in fear. The sick bastard dropped the fox in the lake, then took it out. He repeated the process until the poor cub died of exhaustion.
I looked away in shame. Why didn't I call out and kill it mercifully myself? Then I knew why, because ThunderClan wouldn't care, only one cat would have and she had been exiled. My supposedly perfect clan had a rotten core, and no one cared. I walked away from the crime scene, maybe I would look for something to give me hope.
Nightfur P.O.V.
I lay in the nursery with my beautiful kits curled near me. I loved them so much, my three moon old kittens. Purring happily I let sleep take me.
When I woke in the morning I looked at my stomach with love, to check on my kits. My pelt bristled in horror, where were my lovely kits! I jumped up and looked around, they weren't in the nursery. I sniffed the air, the scent was stale. There scent and Longstar, the leader of ShadowClan.
I burst from the nursery and looked around wildly, my kits weren't in the clearing. I checked the whole clan and couldn't find them, when someone noticed my search. "What are you doing Nightfur?" Longstar purred in amusement.
"My kits, they are missing!" I wailed.
Longstar flicked his tail boredly. "Oh them? I made them into apprentices. Did you already forget what I did with the last litter to reach three moons of age?" He asked shocked.
My blood ran cold, yes, I had forgotten the horrible incident. The newly made apprentices had been taken for battle training, with full grown warriors. They stood no chance, and only one of the four kits survived. I played it cool though and simply nodded my head.
When Longstar had left me for about half and hour I left camp as if I were going out to hunt, best not to arouse suspicion. Once outside the camp though, I found my kits trail. To my horror, I noticed the deputys' scent with them. The deputy, was a mean cat who enjoyed playing with his food before catching it, if Hollowtree was the mentor of one of my kits… I couldn't bare the thought!
I followed them to the training area and smelled blood. Unsheathed claws, my fear grew. I looked into the training area and saw Hollowtree looming over the weakest of my three kits. "Again!" He snarled.
He whimpered and lunged at his brother. His brother reacted, and dodged slowly. They moved sluggishly and this displeased Hollowtree.
"Faster!" He demanded. "Or must I motivate you?" He unsheathed his claws and I gasped.
"Don't hurt my kit!" I pleaded and walked in.
Hollowtree sneered. "Back off Nightfur, I train them now." With that his huge paw flew at my weakest kit and hit him in the head.
My kit flew into the nearest tree and I reached over. Oh my kit, my poor kit! I looked down and whispered. "Wake up Marshkit, wake up."
He didn't move and my other two kits came over. "Why isn't he breathing, mommy?" His sister asked.
I looked at his chest, it wasn't moving, and I didn't hear him breathing. "Wake up baby!" I begged my lifeless kit. "Hollowtree won't hurt you ever again, I promise!"
Hollowtree came over to poke my kit. "He is dead, you idiot. You two, with me." He ordered my kits.
The protective mother in me came out. "Back off my kits!" I raged.
Hollowtree looked at me with shock, as if he couldn't believe I was ordering him around. Didn't he understand how much kits mean to a mother? I took a protective stance over my two remaining kits. Unsheathed claws was no way to train, and these kits were 3 moons old too boot.
"Another idiot in ShadowClan dead." He shrugged and lunged at me.
I rolled with him. "Run! Tell the medicine cats!" I screeched to my kits, and watched them flee.
I clawed at his exposed stomach when he tried to pin me down. He held me down with strong paws though, and was much bigger than I. Hollowtree began to gouge long claw marks into my stomach and I yelled with pain. The deputy was a better fighter than me, and I knew it, but I sacrificed myself for my kits.
I stopped fighting quickly, the pain was too much. Soon it made me black out and before I did I felt myself bleeding to death. Goodbye ShadowClan, if I survive this, I will get my kits back and leave before they died like there brother.
Stripefur P.O.V.
RiverClan was relaxed and confident. We had every right to feel we were the best, because we were, right? Wrong. There was a new system in the clan, and it had been there for three leaderships, which lasted very long. There were new ranks too, two new ranks. The Secrets, who watched for traitors, and the Elites, who were the most loyal and followed blindly.
Secrets were everywhere too, in the nursery, the apprentices, and the warriors. Even our medicine cat could have been a secret and we would never know. My best friend, if I had one, could be a secret and I wouldn't know. They had no special privileges besides having a better chance of being deputy. They always found out your deepest secret though, and they told the clan leader everything.
Elite were the known warriors, who didn't have special privileges, but it wasn't wise to cross them. To be elite was to be better supposedly, but everyone knew you just had to always agree with the leader and deputy. It was annoying and everyone hated them, if they weren't on there good side. Me, I was never picking sides and everyone hated me for it.
Inside RiverClan there was a civil war brewing, the leaders and deputies were picked by how much the leader liked them, rarely by skill or how much effort they put into the clan. Warriors disliked them and a silent war raged on. I just sat there though, hunting and patrolling.
Finally the leader, Fishstar, had discovered a plot. With the rebels unearthed almost all of them had been killed or exiled. He never did find them all, but the rest became to scared to act out. As always I didn't pick a side. This time I would pay for that.
"You look pretty nervous today." Minnowstripe commented. He was a large burly tom with a grey pelt and dull yellow eyes.
I shrugged. "Not really. I feel like today is like any other."
Minnowstripe eyed me, today was supposed to be the assassination attempt, but they were found out. Since then the elite had taken a large disliking to me. He left the warriors den and I soon followed. Let them wallow in suspicions, I just wanted to serve my clan and the present leader.
I decided to do some hunting and I was going to leave when a popular she-cat named Moonglow asked to join me.
"Sure." I replied.
She was as pretty as her name suggested. A pure silvery white pelt that was shinny and always well groomed. She had two large blue eyes that could melt most toms hearts, not mine though. I never got a crush on cats so shallow. She was as shallow as she was pretty too, so I often ignored her.
We got to the river and she eyed it. "I'm not sure I want to ruin my pretty pelt in hunting. I mean, aren't I so pretty?" She sighed delicatly.
"Yes, and everyone knows it." I meowed calmly. I couldn't bring myself to insult someone so… Naive.
I struck out a paw and caught a fish. I dragged it out and killed it, then admired my prise. One large fish, enough to feed a heavily pregnant queen.
"Oh, thats such a big catch!" She complimented me.
"Thanks." I meowed and went back to eying the water. Minutes later I caught a much smaller, common fish. Minutes after that I caught another one.
"Could we share one?" She asked in her light breezy voice. It suggested friendship and kindness, but I knew the type of cat she was.
"Ok." I meowed and set it down.
Dear StarClan she even ate prettily. With small delicate quick bites she ate her half. There was no mess, if that was ever possible. I ate it like a normal cat though, in large noisy bites as I enjoyed the flavors.
"So. Today would of been the assassination of our glorious leader." She meowed and began to groom her already perfect fur.
"It was stopped though." I meowed. "No one is going to kill her today unless another clan attacks for no reason."
"Point taken, though there are still murmurs that some brave cat should try." She meowed.
I silently wondered how she knew what the word murmur meant while I answered. "Yeah, try and die." I snorted. "To many elites."
She sighed dreamily. "Those elites are sooo strong. Maybe I will take one on as a mate." She added slyly while eying me, hoping to get a reaction probably.
I didn't care much for mates. "I am no expert there." I told her.
"No expert? I could teach you." She giggled madly.
The conversation was starting to annoy me, but I kept my temper on a tight leash. "No thanks." I declined.
She poked me with a claw, but didn't harm me. "You are no fun!" She complained. "Why are you so… Neutral?"
"Because I have no need to take a side. I just want to be a good warrior." I snapped back. Wow, she was getting on my nerves.
She suddenly looked worried. "Shh, speak carefully. If you don't pledge your loyalty to Fishstar…"
She trailed off and I got suspicious. Why was she acting like so, and why did she even want to come with me? I was a nobody everyone hated, and she had accidentally hinted twice that she was brighter than she appeared. Twice, no bright cat would slip up twice.
"Are you a secret?" I asked in a whisper.
Her eyes were scared. "Tell no one." She ordered and left.
I shuddered. Finding out a secret could be consider traitorous, and cats already hated me. I was screwed, I had to leave! Jumping up I ran away from the river, and accidentally bumped into a patrol, with one elite in it.
"Why you in a hurry, Stripefur?" The elite, Fuzzybur spat.
I acted calm. "I wanted to see how fast I was." I replied.
"How fast are you?"
"Fairly fast." I shrugged.
"Finish this patrol with us." He ordered.
Since I had no satisfactory excuse to decline, I followed along, acting as if all was normal. All wasn't normal though, at this moment they could be plotting my exile or death. When we finished the patrol and got home a meeting was called.
"All cats old enough to swim on their own, join us for a clan meeting!" Fishstar meowed.
We gathered below, curious to who was going to get killed or exiled next.
"A secret has been found, and she will be exiled today for failing at her duties. The tom who found the secrets true identity shall be exiled with her."
My bones went wobbly with relief of not getting killed, but soon my relief vanished at his next words.
"But not before we teach them a lesson." He growled. "Elites, bring up the two cats!" Fishstar ordered.
The elites who were at camp brought us before the leader. I glared at Moonglow. "You told and risked yourself?" I hissed.
"Not I, another secret." She meowed with a bowed head.
"To beat fear into your bones, we are going to beat you and throw you out." Fishstar explained. "Elites, teach them a lesson!"
The elites tore us up. The beating was harsh, and felt like it went on for hours instead of minutes. We were bloody and bruised by the time it was over though, so Fishstar was happy.
"Cast them out." He meowed.
They dragged us out of camp and threw us on the ground. "You have until sunset to flee!" They cackled and left us.
I looked at Moonglow. "You really aren't that shallow are you? I can't stand stupid cats."
"No, now lets leave. I can prove my brains to you later when we are out of this territory." She meowed.
"Agreed."