Chapter 27
"I was born in a field a couple of day's travel away from here. I had three littermates, all brothers. Their names were Rookie, Shadow, and Max. All four of us had black pelts. My mother was Rosemary and my father was Sage. Both of them had night black pelts; that's was where we had gotten it. They used to be kittypets; their twoleg was some kind of medicine thing. My mother said that's why they were named after plants. When my mother found out she was expecting, she was thrilled. She and my father have always wanted kits."
"But the twoleg seemed to think otherwise. He somehow knew she was expecting us, so one night he took her in his big monster and drove off. When the twoleg reached the field where I was born, he stopped and threw my mother out. She wasn't badly hurt but she was so frantic. She was on her own for the first time ever. And when you're expecting kits, you need to be comfortable and relaxed. My mother was the exact opposite. Plus, she missed my father. They loved each other very much and she desperately wished he was there to comfort her and take care of her."
"By some miracle, he found her. He said he had followed his heart, but I think her scent trail was what led him. By the time he found her, she was a sight. Even pregnant with four kits, she was terribly skinny. Her fur was ungroomed and there was no spark of life in her eyes. When he saw her, he was disheartened. He couldn't believe that the she-cat he loved, who had been glowing with health, was a shell of her former self. Of course, as soon as they saw each other, the spark of life and love returned to her eyes. And as much as my father didn't want to leave her after only just finding her, he knew she needed to eat something. He went hunting right away. At night, when they used to live with that twoleg, he could slip away outside into the night. That was how he knew how to hunt."
"She never joined him; she was never interested. Her whole world was in that twoleg was why she didn't know who to hunt. When he brought back the prey, she swallowed it down. Then the two of them laid together, swapping news and grooming each other. When the day finally came, the day my brothers and I were born, both of them were ecstatic. My mother was in a great deal of pain. After we were all born, I was last, times were quite peaceful. My father would go hunting, to feed my mother while we played happily. Then we would get to feed from her. When we got older, my mother went with him so she could learn how to hunt."
"We would beg them daily to take us, but they would always say we need to be older. When the day finally arrived, we were so excited. Rookie was easily the best out of the four of us. It seemed to come so natural to him. Shadow and I were good at it, but Max couldn't get the hang of it. When my mother would send us out hunting to practice, my father would go with him, to give him more one-on one help. He finally managed to get the hang of it, and we were all so happy and pleased. My father said once that he couldn't have been prouder of his family."
"But then a storm came. It was a bad one; there was so much lightning and it consonantly flashed so it didn't seem like it was night. And the thunder was so loud, my ears were practically bleeding. Shadow and I were out night hunting, farther out than we usually go. I didn't know my life would change drastically that night, forever nor did I know I would never see my father, my mother, or Max and Rookie again. To this day, I still wonder about them."
"When we looked up, we could easily see the path that led into the mountains. The rest of my family was safe, in our den. We had no choice, but to take that path. The mountain had always frightened me, but our den was too far away to provide us any good. We climbed the mountain for ten minutes. Then Shadow and I found shelter in a small cave. The storm lasted a long time, three days. By then we had forgotten which way was home. We stumbled around the mountains for a quarter moon before they found us."
"It was Blade, Scar, and Raven. The first time I saw him absolutely terrified me. Even if he didn't have as many of the scars as he has now, he was the most frightening cat I ever saw. Shadow seemed to know how I was feeling, because he pressed close to me. Or maybe he was scared too. Both of us were paralyzed, expecting them to attack. They didn't. Instead, Blade said we had to join them. Or else he would kill us. So of course we agreed. He seemed to like our fear of him, the fact he had power over us."
"At the time, we didn't live in the cave. And there definitely wasn't as many of us. Some of the cats there didn't seem to be surprised by our arrival. They were all fighting each other, and it was the merciless thing I had ever witnessed. I didn't know that would be me and Shadow shortly. I wasn't thinking about that at all. The next day, we were forced to join in. No one taught us any moves, so it was fighting for our lives. We went to sleep every night with new scratches. Most of them scarred. But we survived. We managed to learn all the moves, and ways to counter them and defend ourselves. In no time at all, we were as dangerous as any of them. But Shadow and I were different in that we didn't think dangerously like they did."
"Sometimes late at night, we would talk of home, and returning. But we knew it was impossible. They would track us down by scent, and find our family. We would all be killed, no questions asked. So we stayed. Every day, more new cats came in. The fighting would get tougher."
"I could feel that something important was going to happen. And then one day, Blade had an announcement. He had an attack planned for the next day. Our target was The Tribe of Rushing Water. Blade wanted all their territory. He hated how honorable they were. He absolutely despised them."
"The next day, I was sick to my stomach. I had never killed another cat before. I wish I could still say that. But Blade was adamant that we kill every opposing cat. And there were plenty of cats who would turn us in if we disobeyed. The Tribe of Rushing Water died that day, and ruefully I helped in doing that. We took over their cave, getting rid of their scent and replacing it with our own. To me, our scent is similar to death and blood. I think we reek of it. Shadow was hurt badly in the battle, but he pulled through, and is stronger because of it now."
"That was about four moons ago. Blade still brought in cats to join us every day, and we still trained. Then a moon and a half ago, one of the cats that was brought in was Ice. Back then, his name was Icewind, and he said he came from a group of cats called ShadowClan. He had been found alone coming out of a deep tunnel, at the edge of our territory where mountain gives way to moor and forest. When Blade asked him, Ice told him all about the clans. It was easy to see he was reluctant to do so, but he must have sensed Blade's anger and power. That's when Blade got the idea of wiping out all four clans and taking the territory for himself."
"He has been bringing in more cats in every day, from who knows where, and training us harder than ever. When he brought you in and I heard your name, Shadepaw, I knew you must be from the clans too. Your name was in the same style as Ice's was. And I could see how worried you were. So I know it would be safe to talk to you. I told Shadow I was going to, and then asked Blade for permission to go hunting with you."
Shade was stunned into silence.
A/N: Whoa two chapters in one day! NEW RECORD! Yay. Anyway, I bet you didn't expect all that did ya? Well maybe you did, but anyway. The next couple of chapters will be fast paced. And Shadepaw will finally return home, to some very big changes… stay tuned!