Chapter 69: Broken Intent

I'd decided to check in on Brokenpaw's training with Splitpelt. Honestly, I couldn't help but worry for the little guy. The last time I'd seen him, he'd had so much suppressed rage paired with a growing disassociation with common morality. I knew Splitpelt was putting the apprentice through his paces for physical training and social training, but Splitpelt did have a flaw. He keeps his emotions mostly concealed, which I worried Brokenpaw might pick up as a habit.

I found the pair out by one of your training grounds. Splitpelt was currently going over the topic of morale. I decided to sit in and listen as he explained.

"Morale is the willingness of a force to continue to fight. This is what settles the battles of the clans. Say for example, two patrols get into a conflict about border markings. Each side has three cats. This is still a hypothetical but imagine one cat on side one is renowned for his skills in combat. That's a morale hit for side two. Now the fight begins. Side two gets lucky and manages to drive off the renowned cat. They suddenly get a surge of morale given that it becomes known. Now, every second of a fight is eating both side's morale until only one side can continue. Basically, fatigue and pain are also factors in morale. Driving off a cat is the easiest way to increase one side's morale and decrease the other. The only thing harder hitting is a death. Death hits both sides incredibly hard to the point where usually both sides cease fighting. The clans disallow killing because, not only does it deprive a clan of a seasoned warrior, it forever makes a grudge between the two clans. Death is not something to take lightly and should rarely be a tool." Splitpelt lectured.

I knew for myself how death could wound. The clans tell my story like I'm some kind of demon despite only killing three. It is because I was a banished warrior who knew the code and defied it did my story become one of caution and infamy. I did two of the few things warriors weren't allowed to do. That isn't to say I agreed with the rule. All I killed broke the code as well. There were no innocent victims. Regardless, I bore the weight of sin for my actions.

I decided to step in. "Killing does have its place in the world, but it is never to be taken lightly. To kill is to forever remove the existence of your target. Killing doesn't just end a life, it is an end of a future."

Brokenpaw seemed mystified by the idea. "Killing does all that? Why do cats kill in the first place?"

Splitpelt decided to answer. "Sometimes it is by accident. Sometimes a warrior gets a bit too excited in the fight and gets carried away. Sometimes the enemy doesn't know when to retreat. The ones to look out for are the ones that are deliberate. Those cats are killing to further a goal and don't care who they trample on the way. Be wary of cats that kill deliberately. You never know when they'll turn their claws on you."

Brokenpaw seemed to consider it for a moment before turning to me. His mind clearly was already onto the next topic, not ruminating on the topic of killing.

"Ooh. Mapleshade! Can we fight?! Splitpelt showed me some new moves. I want to show you them." Brokenpaw said excitedly, forgetting his façade of a snarl.

"Sure my kit. Why don't you show me what you know, and I'll teach you a trick that made me a fearsome warrior." I replied.

The sparring was fun for the most part. Brokenpaw had the strict motions down and was a bit creative in their use, but each attack was just the standard technique. There was nothing that screamed Brokenpaw. It left him predictable.

"I think it's time I teach you a special lesson. Now, we're going to continue to spar, but I want you to forget technique. Fight without thought. Your body will do things you never thought to do. Memorize these, because these will become the foundation of your style." I mewed.

Brokenpaw nodded excitedly at the idea. Soon we were circling each other again. He seemed wary at first, not understanding how this fighting without thought thing worked. To get him started, I threw some basic attacks, forcing him to dodge instinctively to get him into the mindset. I had to coax his aggression out. After a while, he got into it. He became aggressive. He fought mercilessly. My only issue was that he was striking at a rather dangerous angle. I fended him off easily, given that I'm the more experienced fighter. It was starting to become a problem. I pushed him back to try and signal a stop before sitting down. Brokenpaw must still have been running high on battle fury because he didn't stop. I didn't react in time. With one swipe filled with lethal intent, Brokenpaw slashed my throat. I was lucky that I was me. No other cat could possibly survive that strike. My powers stopped the bleeding and kept me going, but the intent behind the strike turned out to be just as dangerous as the strike itself. It kept the wound from closing.

Something I'd yet to mention thus far is that living cats carry a lot more intent than the dead. When you've died, you lose a sense of desperation to live. This desperation manifests itself in easier use of Darkforest powers. Thus, the wound I received would be on par with if Splitpelt had been trying to kill me.

I left quickly. Splitpelt remained behind to lecture Brokenpaw about what he'd done. I made it back to camp, but the intent saturating my wound and the constant upkeep of keeping myself from fading left me woozy. Thankfully Boragepelt and Leafear got to me. I was quickly dragged into the medicine den for the pair to seal the wound.

It turns out practicing medicine does counter intent. My best guess was that since medicine was made for the express purpose of dealing with a wound, it is filled with a counter intent. Unfortunately, it wasn't an instant cure. Like with my creations spreading, the medicine would need time to suppress the killing intent keeping my wound open and active. I'd have to stay in the medicine den for a while so our medicine cats could keep me under watch and change out the medicine when their intent runs too thin. When Splitpelt showed up later, I ordered him to under no circumstances teach Brokenpaw to fight instinctively. Whatever was harming the apprentice's mind and making his soul darker was bleeding into his instincts. If he relied on them too much, he'd become a deadly killer.