Chapter 66: Blood of the Covenant

As it always does, time marched on. One thing about the afterlife is that, it is very easy for things to get boring. Too much is guaranteed. I was starting to fall into a bit of a slump. The two subfactions were handling recruitment, so I wasn't needed for that. Dawnstar had the main camp handled. To top it off, Frecklewish decided to do a bit of soul searching and went on a solo trip to where I had my meltdown. Meanwhile Splitpelt seemed to have started on his own project. He was setting up some sort of curriculum for his new student Brokenpaw. I decided to just leave that to him. He'd become too accustomed to just following my orders.

My two biggest pastimes were observing Crookedstar and Tiny's visits. There was something to that kit that made him stand above other cats. He had this bravery that inspired strength in those with him and fear in those against him. His ice blue eyes just seemed to pierce even the fiercest of guards. Thankfully, underneath that was a secretly caring soul. For all his ruthlessness, was an underlying compassion. The 'streets', as he called them, were a constant battlefield of rogues versus rogues. Death was frequent and order was nonexistent. I could see in his heart he wanted to change it.

I was watching him as he tried to snap his collar off with a dog tooth from some olde mutt who could hardly move. Instead, it got wedged in his collar giving off a fierce look. My dear kit looked downcast as he saw his efforts fail. It was only half of a day later when some other cats took notice. The most major of which was a small three cat group, all of which sported collars of their own. Unlike Tiny's, theirs were worn with age and stained from the many vile fluids a rogue might have to traverse.

"I've heard you killed a dog to get that tooth. That true?" Asked the burly middle one who was black and white in color.

As Tiny pondered his answer in a worry, I sent him a whisper. "Sometimes it's alright to lie. I'll aid you if you need to back it up."

Tiny's eyes widened when he heard my words, but I detected a faint nod before he responded. "Yes. I killed a dog. It wasn't even really a fight."

I didn't know if Tiny's boast was smart or stupid, but the three seemed to have taken it seriously.

"Then you wouldn't mind driving off a specific dog for us, right? Down a couple blocks is an alley where the best food scraps are tossed, but that dog has been keeping us out of there. He's already gotten three cats killed, but if you could get rid of him, we'd share the food." Responded the lead tom.

I could feel fear course through Tiny's veins, but he held himself determined without even a shake of fear visible. Tiny followed them out to the location of the dog. The day was starting to fade to night, with the main source of light being those strange metal trees with the tiny stars at the top of them. The dog resided at the far end of the alley with only a corner between the group and the dog. The three held back as Tiny started his approach. Tiny briefly spied on the dog to get a sense of its location before backing up.

Tiny was a clever kit. He knew he couldn't actually take on the dog on his own, but he needed a plan. After looking around for a moment, he noticed his shadow and how its form was much bigger because of the back lighting. He silently prayed to me.

"Mother, please aid me in what I'm about to do. I don't know if it will work, but wish me luck."

Tiny climbed atop a ledge and edged closer to the source of the light to enlarge his shadow. It was nearly enough, but I decided to lend him some additional aid. I lent him my shadow, a much more burly and intimidating form that I'd take back as soon as the dog got running. Tiny began a deep guttural growl, and I watched as the dog suddenly perked up. It was a somewhat scrawny thing, but it was still twice as big as a cat. It searched for its foe before witnessing the shadow. Tiny lashed his paw out, as if to make his shadow strike the dog. The dog panicked and bolted up right and fleeing further into the Twoleg place.

Tiny leapt down to inspect the results of his ruse. The dog was gone, and it seemingly hadn't been successful in accessing the dumpster where the scraps were tossed. Tiny let out a victorious yowl which drew in the trio who asked for Tiny's aid. The trio couldn't believe it. Some of the toughest cats around couldn't get that dog to move, but this kit had. They had to know he was something special.

"So kit, you did what you said you could. You got a name?" Asked the lead tom who now looked at the kit with a great deal more respect.

Tiny pondered a bit before he remembered a word from his birth mother's warnings. "Scourge. That's what you can call me. I'll be a scourge to dogkind. Maybe then we'll get some kind of semblance of order here."

The big tom's eyes widened at the sheer thought. Order was a completely foreign idea. They'd been living so long in a wild chaos that the idea was equal parts frightening and tantalizing.

"Name's Bone. So, Scourge, what would you do to get this 'order' that you're after." Asked the lead tom.

"Well, we've already gotten one of the best food sources in the town. We've probably got enough food to feed us four and then some, so we can use it to get cats to do things for us. Things lie, fight a cat harassing us, scout out some other cats who we could get under our control, set up a territory, and even help establish another food source. Honestly, there's a lot we could do. The issue lies in trust and strength. Do we have what it takes to defend what is ours, and what can we do to make our control complete?" Answered Scourge offhandedly.

Bone seemed to ponder a bit before replying. "I think I want that. I want this 'order' you suggested. Can you lead us to it?"

I felt a surge of pride for my youngest living kit who seemed to have already have set himself up as a leader.

"I'll lead as I can, but I need you to swear loyalty to me. Swear on more than just your word. Swear on your bloodline that we will be as kin, as blood. We'll be Bloodclan. Our bonds of loyalty and duty thicker than the bonds of kin." Scourge commanded.

Bone and his two companions bowed as they spoke their oath. "We'll be kin thicker than blood. Our loyalty and future lies in your paws."