Flaw: A Narrative Fiction
Prologue
The dense undergrowth gifted comfort to the pads under her auburn tinted paws as light shone from the stars of silverpelt onto a freshly wept tear, which caught the light briefly and rejected it moments later. It trickled down a broad white face struck with the dead song of pure and utter sorrow. Thick, once exuberant fur ran in the breeze like the tawny-furred rabbits on the moorland.
Claws were unsheathed to assist the brawny feline in coming to an instantaneous halt. A bundle of fur was gently released from the jaws of the nurturing mother. Salty water gathered in a teardrop and dodged through white, grass-like fur until it had run so far that there was no more land for it to cover and in result it fell to the earth, silent and …show more content…
bitter in it’s deathly plummet.
Cold, luminescent eyes watched intently, from the shadows of the towering trees, envisioning what would prove their cannibalism and reveal the bloodthirsty desire that had taken over the hearts of noble, respected warriors.
Fear struck the disheartened queen like the horror of sighting a starless night. Even with the knowledge that she was impossibly outnumbered, the unflinching she-cat knew that she had to persist in order to bring back wings to those who had lost the memory that their ancestors had fought courageously and died with honour to give them the power to tame the skies.
The ravenous creatures pursued their kill. The she-cat ran on, only taking brief pauses to determine the distance between herself and the pursuers.
At last the sky-scraping trees gave way to vast open land, littered with dry grass. The remaining live grass seemed to cower beneath the shadows of night, granting the faded light of the stars and moon safe passage to the ground it generously gave lumination to.
The pearl-white she-cat, spotted with reddish-brown socks and muzzle, gathered what little energy still supported her. After a quick, uneasy glance over her shoulder to check the amount of land she had left between the bringers-of-death and her life, she raced off across the almost barren land at the fastest speed her legs could carry her. Faster than the swiftest cats of Windclan.
Suddenly her pursuers could pursue no more. They watched furiously at the impossibility of the sight that they were witnessing.
The she-cat, half dead after her long escapade, had taken to the skies.
The small and helpless kit still hanging from it’s scruff in it’s mother’s jaws.
Chapter 1
The dim light of dawn filtered through lively, jubilant, multicoloured leaves. Ferns grew plentifully under the warmth of green-leaf’s sun. The grass was moist and covered in dew from the previous night’s rain.
A short-furred golden tabby she-cat pushed at some leaves overhanging the exit from the camp before encouraging two small kits, with soft nudges, to follow her. Realizing the two kits, one with a white and gold coat, the other with a ginger tabby coat, were still deciding on whether it was safe to venture out into the untamed forest, the she-cat sat down just beyond the camp entrance and cocked her head to one side impatiently while beckoning with her tail for the kits to hurry up and follow her.
The orange tabby kit, who resembled his father, prodded a small blade of grass tentatively as if to check that the ground would not collapse beneath his miniscule, orange paws as soon as he left the safety and security of the camp. The white and gold furred kit looked inquiringly at her brother with a curious gleam in her eye. She seemed to be saying “Is it safe, do we …show more content…
go?”
Eventually, after several more moments of hesitation, the two small kits followed their mother into the saturated forest.
The undergrowth was soft and soggy under their tiny paws.
Sugarsnow, the kit’s mother, purred in amusement at the squeaks the kits made as the mud squelched when they trudged through it.
The small group roamed around their forest territory. Occasionally they would stop to look at the cobwebs shivering in the sheltered nooks in the trees or to examine the grubs squirming in the rotted wood. Sugarsnow even went so far as to show the kits some hunting techniques.
It was just as the trio had reached the waterfall, that they spotted a limp body huddled at the foot of one of the large boulders that surrounded the waterfall. Sugarsnow signaled to her kits to find somewhere they could camouflage themselves.
Keeping her body close to the ground, Sugarsnow crept closer toward the unmoving body. Light from the glistening water reflected onto the creature, who Sugarsnow identified to be a cat, creating the illusion that the golden-auburn cat’s coat was lit on fire. As Sugarsnow crept closer she noticed that the tomcat was barely the size of a newly apprenticed kit. He wouldn’t pose much of a threat to her kits, she supposed, so beckoned the two kits
over.
Obviously, while their mother had been investigating the two kittens had had a quarrel over something, likely to be unimportant. After a quick scolding and a light cuff over the ears from their mother the kits bounded over to the motionless tomcat.
The golden-orange cat’s ears twitched under the warm, milky breath of the young cats and, as though they hadn’t realised this cat was alive, they jumped back in fear, the timing of their jumps synchronized.
Suddenly the cat’s eyes opened, revealing fear-filled, luminous, fluorescent colours. A bright cyan-turquoise fading into a forest-green.
It was at that moment Sugarsnow discerned a small mark underneath the tom’s right eye. A loud shriek pierced it’s way out of the mouth of the she-cat as she recognised the mark to be one of the ancient, died-out cats of Eagle-regiment.
The tomcat drifted off, into sleep, again rapidly. Comprehending that this was her chance, Sugarsnow seized the cat’s scruff in her jaws and sprinted off toward the camp, momentarily forgetting the two tiny kits she was leaving to fend for themselves while she was absent.
Chapter 2
Copperkit watched in despair at his mother hurtling through the sludgy forest. Angelkit burrowed her face deep into her brother’s short orange fur to block out the world that she thought had deceived her by acting heavenly and then revealing it’s true heartless self.
Angelkit’s deep navy blue eyes locked with Copperkit’s chocolate brown eyes and they shared each others fear, hatred and longing for revenge. Had their mother not cared enough to guide them back to the camp? Why did she abandon them?
Inky grey clouds begun to gather in a cluster, plotting to cover the sun and replace the light with a gloomy shadow. Heavy rain poured down from the sky; drenching the forest yet again.
The two kits gazed at their misfortune and searched around the cascading waterfall, in hope of finding a decent shelter.
Copperkit scurried toward a cave, he spotted, hiding behind the rushing, teal coloured waterfall. Angel kit followed desperately after her brother, determined not to lose him.
Sweet-tasting water sprayed onto their sopping coats while the kits peered anxiously into the cave, which they could detect no end to. Stalagtites hung threateningly from the roof of the cave, accompanied by teeth-like stalagmites on the floor of the cave.
Being forced to bide in a seemingly endless cave with teeth is quite an irregular and terrifying thing for two tiny, young kits to do and so it should not be a surprise that these two kits were very terrified.
Huddling together behind a large stalagmite, in the hope that it would occlude the wind and rain from reaching them, the titchy kits drifted into sleep.
That night, whether it was the cold of the wind or the dread in the rain, no one knows; but, whatever it was, it hardened two young, innocent hearts. It turned them bitter and spiteful. Full of hatred and unreasonable hostility.
Chapter 3
Sugarsnow arrived at the camp entrance with eyes full of fear and panting unsystematically. Her regiment mates stared in shock as Sugarsnow headed straight for Rosey’s den.
Rosey was Cloud-regiment’s leader. Her den was off limits and cats were only permitted to enter on emergencies.
Unlike the distant clans, a regiment leader’s name is changed by, instead of changing the second part of the name to star, the second part of the name is simply forgotten in the stars.
Chapter 4
Opening their eyes slowly, to let their eyes adjust to the bright light gradually, the kits woke. They gaped at the sight. The winking stars were still out and there was no sign of dawn commencing to cover the blanket of denim blue yet somehow there was an unusually vibrant, golden light filling the dusky cave.
Turning around in alarm and anticipation, the kits blinked at the brightening of the, already blinding bright, light. A fire blazed abundantly before them, only several fox lengths away. The kits were even more terrified at seeing this as there was no wood or grass that a fire could have sprouted from or maintain a blaze from. Unlike a typical fire, this fire seemed restricted to a certain area near the center of the cave.
Occasionally a courageous spark might bounce off the flames and land, too closely for comfort, in front of Copperkit or Angelkit.
The inconceivability of the moment was extraordinary. Only one thought ran through the kit’s minds. It’s impossible.
At the exact moment they thought this, an almost vivid picture appeared in the flame. A cat carrying a kit. The vision faded into a fox carrying a kit. Suddenly an eagle appeared in the image. Moments later, the image, once again, transformed into a new picture. This time it was a tomcat. The kits recognised him to be the cat their mother had taken when she abandoned them.
An unusual surge of understanding washed over them and a small spark of hope, determination and forgiveness warmed their hearts as swiftly as they had been frozen.
Chapter 5
The pool of ghastly silence had deluged his mind for too long. Clouds of misery had rained over his soul for the last time. The presence of death had been waiting on his doorstep for a closed door to open; but, as much as he longed to open it, the door would not submit into letting him unlock it. It was as though something had some savage intention to torture his mind and soul for eternities without offering him the opportunity to scarper from the merciless chamber. Sleep would refuse to lend itself to him as if in alliance with the tormenter, putting him through an even intenser agony.
Chapter 6
Hastily, Desertstorm, Cloud-regiment’s medicine cat, gathered some herbs and a wad of moss soaked in water; then dashed into Rosey’s, cave-like, den.
After rigorous studying of the Tom’s condition, Desertstorm confirmed that she could not restore the cat to health.
The several other warriors, gathered in the den, gawked at her with fury and incredulity.
“ And you call yourself a medicine cat?”
The dense undergrowth gifted comfort to the pads under her auburn tinted paws as light shone from the stars of silverpelt onto a freshly wept tear, which caught the light briefly and rejected it moments later. It trickled down a broad white face struck with the dead song of pure and utter sorrow. Thick, once exuberant fur ran in the breeze like the tawny-furred rabbits on the moorland.
Claws were unsheathed to assist the brawny feline in coming to an instantaneous halt. A bundle of fur was gently released from the jaws of the nurturing mother. Salty water gathered in a teardrop and dodged through white, grass-like fur until it had run so far that there was no more land for it to cover and in result it fell to the earth, silent and …show more content…
bitter in it’s deathly plummet.
Cold, luminescent eyes watched intently, from the shadows of the towering trees, envisioning what would prove their cannibalism and reveal the bloodthirsty desire that had taken over the hearts of noble, respected warriors.
Fear struck the disheartened queen like the horror of sighting a starless night. Even with the knowledge that she was impossibly outnumbered, the unflinching she-cat knew that she had to persist in order to bring back wings to those who had lost the memory that their ancestors had fought courageously and died with honour to give them the power to tame the skies.
The ravenous creatures pursued their kill. The she-cat ran on, only taking brief pauses to determine the distance between herself and the pursuers.
At last the sky-scraping trees gave way to vast open land, littered with dry grass. The remaining live grass seemed to cower beneath the shadows of night, granting the faded light of the stars and moon safe passage to the ground it generously gave lumination to.
The pearl-white she-cat, spotted with reddish-brown socks and muzzle, gathered what little energy still supported her. After a quick, uneasy glance over her shoulder to check the amount of land she had left between the bringers-of-death and her life, she raced off across the almost barren land at the fastest speed her legs could carry her. Faster than the swiftest cats of Windclan.
Suddenly her pursuers could pursue no more. They watched furiously at the impossibility of the sight that they were witnessing.
The she-cat, half dead after her long escapade, had taken to the skies.
The small and helpless kit still hanging from it’s scruff in it’s mother’s jaws.
Chapter 1
The dim light of dawn filtered through lively, jubilant, multicoloured leaves. Ferns grew plentifully under the warmth of green-leaf’s sun. The grass was moist and covered in dew from the previous night’s rain.
A short-furred golden tabby she-cat pushed at some leaves overhanging the exit from the camp before encouraging two small kits, with soft nudges, to follow her. Realizing the two kits, one with a white and gold coat, the other with a ginger tabby coat, were still deciding on whether it was safe to venture out into the untamed forest, the she-cat sat down just beyond the camp entrance and cocked her head to one side impatiently while beckoning with her tail for the kits to hurry up and follow her.
The orange tabby kit, who resembled his father, prodded a small blade of grass tentatively as if to check that the ground would not collapse beneath his miniscule, orange paws as soon as he left the safety and security of the camp. The white and gold furred kit looked inquiringly at her brother with a curious gleam in her eye. She seemed to be saying “Is it safe, do we …show more content…
go?”
Eventually, after several more moments of hesitation, the two small kits followed their mother into the saturated forest.
The undergrowth was soft and soggy under their tiny paws.
Sugarsnow, the kit’s mother, purred in amusement at the squeaks the kits made as the mud squelched when they trudged through it.
The small group roamed around their forest territory. Occasionally they would stop to look at the cobwebs shivering in the sheltered nooks in the trees or to examine the grubs squirming in the rotted wood. Sugarsnow even went so far as to show the kits some hunting techniques.
It was just as the trio had reached the waterfall, that they spotted a limp body huddled at the foot of one of the large boulders that surrounded the waterfall. Sugarsnow signaled to her kits to find somewhere they could camouflage themselves.
Keeping her body close to the ground, Sugarsnow crept closer toward the unmoving body. Light from the glistening water reflected onto the creature, who Sugarsnow identified to be a cat, creating the illusion that the golden-auburn cat’s coat was lit on fire. As Sugarsnow crept closer she noticed that the tomcat was barely the size of a newly apprenticed kit. He wouldn’t pose much of a threat to her kits, she supposed, so beckoned the two kits
over.
Obviously, while their mother had been investigating the two kittens had had a quarrel over something, likely to be unimportant. After a quick scolding and a light cuff over the ears from their mother the kits bounded over to the motionless tomcat.
The golden-orange cat’s ears twitched under the warm, milky breath of the young cats and, as though they hadn’t realised this cat was alive, they jumped back in fear, the timing of their jumps synchronized.
Suddenly the cat’s eyes opened, revealing fear-filled, luminous, fluorescent colours. A bright cyan-turquoise fading into a forest-green.
It was at that moment Sugarsnow discerned a small mark underneath the tom’s right eye. A loud shriek pierced it’s way out of the mouth of the she-cat as she recognised the mark to be one of the ancient, died-out cats of Eagle-regiment.
The tomcat drifted off, into sleep, again rapidly. Comprehending that this was her chance, Sugarsnow seized the cat’s scruff in her jaws and sprinted off toward the camp, momentarily forgetting the two tiny kits she was leaving to fend for themselves while she was absent.
Chapter 2
Copperkit watched in despair at his mother hurtling through the sludgy forest. Angelkit burrowed her face deep into her brother’s short orange fur to block out the world that she thought had deceived her by acting heavenly and then revealing it’s true heartless self.
Angelkit’s deep navy blue eyes locked with Copperkit’s chocolate brown eyes and they shared each others fear, hatred and longing for revenge. Had their mother not cared enough to guide them back to the camp? Why did she abandon them?
Inky grey clouds begun to gather in a cluster, plotting to cover the sun and replace the light with a gloomy shadow. Heavy rain poured down from the sky; drenching the forest yet again.
The two kits gazed at their misfortune and searched around the cascading waterfall, in hope of finding a decent shelter.
Copperkit scurried toward a cave, he spotted, hiding behind the rushing, teal coloured waterfall. Angel kit followed desperately after her brother, determined not to lose him.
Sweet-tasting water sprayed onto their sopping coats while the kits peered anxiously into the cave, which they could detect no end to. Stalagtites hung threateningly from the roof of the cave, accompanied by teeth-like stalagmites on the floor of the cave.
Being forced to bide in a seemingly endless cave with teeth is quite an irregular and terrifying thing for two tiny, young kits to do and so it should not be a surprise that these two kits were very terrified.
Huddling together behind a large stalagmite, in the hope that it would occlude the wind and rain from reaching them, the titchy kits drifted into sleep.
That night, whether it was the cold of the wind or the dread in the rain, no one knows; but, whatever it was, it hardened two young, innocent hearts. It turned them bitter and spiteful. Full of hatred and unreasonable hostility.
Chapter 3
Sugarsnow arrived at the camp entrance with eyes full of fear and panting unsystematically. Her regiment mates stared in shock as Sugarsnow headed straight for Rosey’s den.
Rosey was Cloud-regiment’s leader. Her den was off limits and cats were only permitted to enter on emergencies.
Unlike the distant clans, a regiment leader’s name is changed by, instead of changing the second part of the name to star, the second part of the name is simply forgotten in the stars.
Chapter 4
Opening their eyes slowly, to let their eyes adjust to the bright light gradually, the kits woke. They gaped at the sight. The winking stars were still out and there was no sign of dawn commencing to cover the blanket of denim blue yet somehow there was an unusually vibrant, golden light filling the dusky cave.
Turning around in alarm and anticipation, the kits blinked at the brightening of the, already blinding bright, light. A fire blazed abundantly before them, only several fox lengths away. The kits were even more terrified at seeing this as there was no wood or grass that a fire could have sprouted from or maintain a blaze from. Unlike a typical fire, this fire seemed restricted to a certain area near the center of the cave.
Occasionally a courageous spark might bounce off the flames and land, too closely for comfort, in front of Copperkit or Angelkit.
The inconceivability of the moment was extraordinary. Only one thought ran through the kit’s minds. It’s impossible.
At the exact moment they thought this, an almost vivid picture appeared in the flame. A cat carrying a kit. The vision faded into a fox carrying a kit. Suddenly an eagle appeared in the image. Moments later, the image, once again, transformed into a new picture. This time it was a tomcat. The kits recognised him to be the cat their mother had taken when she abandoned them.
An unusual surge of understanding washed over them and a small spark of hope, determination and forgiveness warmed their hearts as swiftly as they had been frozen.
Chapter 5
The pool of ghastly silence had deluged his mind for too long. Clouds of misery had rained over his soul for the last time. The presence of death had been waiting on his doorstep for a closed door to open; but, as much as he longed to open it, the door would not submit into letting him unlock it. It was as though something had some savage intention to torture his mind and soul for eternities without offering him the opportunity to scarper from the merciless chamber. Sleep would refuse to lend itself to him as if in alliance with the tormenter, putting him through an even intenser agony.
Chapter 6
Hastily, Desertstorm, Cloud-regiment’s medicine cat, gathered some herbs and a wad of moss soaked in water; then dashed into Rosey’s, cave-like, den.
After rigorous studying of the Tom’s condition, Desertstorm confirmed that she could not restore the cat to health.
The several other warriors, gathered in the den, gawked at her with fury and incredulity.
“ And you call yourself a medicine cat?”