Chapter 82: Scourge and Tiny
My dear Scourge's plan was starting to build to a crescendo. The many factions of the Twoleg Place fell to his wrath. Like a constrictor, he encircled their homes and crushed their resistances. With their subjugations, a sort of order was formed. The wild and ungrouped rallied under Scourge's leadership while the former ruling groups sulked in their newfound weakness. Scourge's forces were simply superior.
Scourge's cats were superior. With order came stability. With stability came exploration. Those who could not fight sought out ways to make themselves known. Those that could, pledged themselves in the search of strength. The hunters became specialized. They knew all the rodent hot spots and all the places Twolegs dumped the best of their leftover food. An efficiency was built that was unrivaled anywhere else. Even Scourge's warriors became specialized.
Besides Scourge's guard, some sub-guard groups formed. From the shadows lay the night watch, cats so interested and practiced in stealth that they could pass a whisker length from your face without noticing. They were taught lethal instant kills, but their primary purpose was information. They wouldn't win a straight up fight, but they never sought to engage in one. Killing an individual was their chief skillset.
Then there was the walls. They were a sub guard of heavily built cats. These cats specialized in defensive techniques. It was common knowledge that a wall guard could keep fighting for half a day straight without showing significant fatigue. These cats were masters at rolling with blows, deflecting attacks, and generally outlasting their opponents. Several of the rival factions had been simply stomped down by the walls pushing into their camps. They never had all that much striking power, but they made up for it with their unyielding nature.
To complement the walls were the claws. The claws were cats specialized in damaging attacks. Besides Scourge's guard, these were the cats to wear dog teeth on their claws. In fact, it was a right of passage among them to have a new member act as bait on a stray dog hunt. If the hunt was successful, the newcomer could claim some teeth for their claws. If not, they were subjected to a fight to prove their desires. Needless to say, the claws were the most battle experienced, scarred, and most lethal of the sub-guards. These cats were effective, but under Scourge's rule, also the most clean in execution. They killed swiftly, never drawing out the fight more than necessary. Playing meant letting the opponent have a chance to turn things around. That is why they ended lives swiftly, officially.
Above them all were Scourge's guard. These cats were the elite of the elite. These cats were specifically picked by Bone for their skill and discrepancy. Several members were previous members of the sub-guard. Tthus, their position in the hierarchy was absolute. Only the best of the best made it in. They were revered as the strongest, most capable, and the most trustworthy of Bloodclan, but they were also keepers of a secret.
With Scourge's conquest came the careful spread of misinformation. Of which, the young were targeted the hardest. Elder propagandists were specifically set up to spread the lie, the lie that depicted Scourge as a monster. They claimed that before Scourge came into power, there was another power, one who ruled through love and not force. They were called the Mother's Kits. This was the false paradise Scourge conceived. This fantastical faction still knew when to sharpen their claws, but they also knew when to talk. The same way they loved their birth mother, there was another beyond the veil of life who they loved as a mother, the one who watched over them all.
With this carefully crafted lie came new faith. Those kits and young toms came to believe in their supposed ways of old. They prayed to the mother beyond life. They prayed to me for salvation. It would be heartwarming if it weren't for the fact that they wanted one of my beautiful kits dead. I knew it was Scourge's plan, but I still did not wish his coming fate upon him. Apparently, Scourge's propagandists felt the same way. They knew the reality and did not want Scourge totally seen as a monster.
They concocted an extended mythos. From it was born a hidden legend of a cat who stained himself black. In their story, the world was once made of light. Everything was light, vibrant, and bright, but with this came flaws. No cat could tell distance or hide from those who would do them harm. Then came Tiny, a cat as white as snow. Tiny could not hide in the grass or trees with his pale coat. Thus, Tiny sought a solution. Tiny looked under trees, in caves, and even climbed a mountain. None offered a solution he could use. He was stumped. Then a voice from beyond came to him.
"What grieves you my dear kit?" Asked the voice.
"I cannot hide from hawks, foxes, or dogs. My pelt gives me away. There is nothing to hide me." Mewed Tiny.
"Look to the sky deary. Look for what lies between stars and pull it to you." Spoke the voice.
Tiny looked to the sky, littered with stars and points of white, but what lied between was mysterious. It was not vibrant or bright like everything else he'd seen. It was the opposite, definite, and concealing. Tiny reached to the black, pulling it into the world, staining his pelt black and pulling shadows into existence. With his new pelt, Tiny and every other cat could hide and conceal. They could sneak. There were those who hated this new darkness, seeing Tiny a monster. They hated the darkness not knowing the treachery of vibrance. When Tiny eventually died, they rejoiced, living and using his gift without ever really knowing Tiny's sacrifice. Tiny didn't mind. He protected them, as he always desired, and he ascended to the voice's side. The voice turned out to be the Mother, the one who loves all. He watches with her from the spaces between the stars.
I had watched as Scourge first heard the story from one of his guard, the only ones who knew what he was like when he wasn't publicly appearing. The sunk in embarrassment. Bone and his cats chuckled at my dear kit's expense. Every kit wanted to be Tiny without ever realizing that was the name of the cat they thought a monster. Tiny was their hero while Scourge was their villain. Ironic that in the end evil and good bore the same face.