Prologue

A Chapter by The Know-It-All

The sliver of a moon was just rising over the forest as two cats weaved through the undergrowth. The first - a dark-furred she-cat with emerald-green eyes - held a tiny bundle of gold-and-orange fur in her jaws, being careful not to drop it. The kit was mewling pitifully, and couldn't have been more than four moons old.

"Come on, Jade," growled the second cat, looking back over his shoulder at the she-cat. "Get a move on. Let's get this over and done."

"I can't hurry, Kink," Jade said through a mouthful of fur. "I don't want to drop the kit."

Kink snorted with amusement, then continued moving through the forest. "You don't wanna drop 'im? We're gonna drown the fur-ball anyway, so what's it to us if he gets dropped? It'd be better that way actually, then we wouldn't have to go to so much trouble gettin' rid of 'im."

Jade sighed, realizing that Kink had a point. She hated doing this, going into the forest in the dark to get rid of a kit. if Jade had her way, she would've just left the little scrap at his mother's side.

But you have to be strong to survive, she thought, and the strong don't think twice before knocking off a kit. So why should I?

Heartbeats later, they pushed through a clump of bushes and found themselves on the banks of a river, swollen and swiftly-moving from yesterday's heavy rain.

"All right, gimme the little brat, and let's get this over with," Kink said gruffly.

For some reason (maybe her motherly instinct?) Jade felt reluctant to hand over the kit to Kink. She knew this had to be done, and that it would benefit her and a lot a of others if the kit died, but she didn't want to see such a young life lost, and so cruelly.

Mustering up all the courage a thin little rogue could possibly have, she said: "No."

Kink stared at her, genuinely surprised. "No?" he repeated, an edge of anger rising in his voice. "Did you just say 'No'?" His eyes were blue flames of fury, burning into her as he slid out his long, curved claws and raised his bristly fur.

Jade shrank back, the mewing kit still in her jaws, and prepared for the huge tom to bowl her off her feet, or scratch her eyes out, or something. But he just stood there on the bank and said in a voice full of cool menace, "Very well. Since you have chosen to side with that kit, who must die, then you must die as well."

Without warning he sprang at her, claws unsheathed, and slashed at her face. Jade jumped back, and the kit squealed in terror. But she didn't jump back far enough, and Kink's claws scored deep gashes across her face. Fiery-hot pain coursed through her, and Jade thought, Is it really worth being killed to save this kit's life?

But she already knew the answer; Jade could never live with the death of an innocent kit on her conscience. She had to get this kit to safety.

Jade sprang away into the forest and away from the river, running as if her life depended on it - which it probably did. The kit bounced against her with little squeals of fright - plus he was heavy - so Jade found she wasn't running nearly as fast as she could with no three-moon-old kit in her jaws.

The claw marks in her cheek and above her eye were emanating blood and the pain was still intense, the warm scarlet liquid dripping into her eyes and making it hard to see. She could barely see the trees until they were just in front of her, so she hardly had time to swerve before she slammed into them. She was gasping for breath from running so hard, and was almost running blind in the darkness.

Behind her, she could hear Kink's paw steps, drawing closer and closer with every heartbeat.

Suddenly, Jade tripped over a tree root and fell flat on the ground. Kink instantly caught up to her, putting his front paws on her back so she couldn't get up.

"Now, Jade," he snarled viciously, leaning down close to her ear and digging his claws deep into her pelt. Sharp pins and needles went up Jade's spine, and she suppressed a howl of pain. "Give me the hairball, and everybody goes home happy."

Turning her head to give Kink her most heartfelt glare under the circumstances, Jade growled, "Never. I've realized this kit's life is more important than expanding my hunting grounds." She could feel her strength giving away quickly, and closed her eyes, already feeling almost nothing.

Kink hissed, "Then prepare for a slow, painful death."

Just as he was about to rake his claws across her pelt, the sound of cats crashing through the undergrowth made him pause. He glanced fearfully in the direction of the sound, then, giving Jade some vicious slashes, bolted off into the undergrowth.

The cats leaped out into the small area of open grass just an instant later, to find a pitifully whining kit in the jaws of a dead she-cat.

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