Warriors – A Broken Tale

Chapter 1

It was very dark. And this was because it was night time. Fluffybunny was having the dream again. In the dream she was standing on the high-rock looking over the cats gathered around her. The cats below were chanting, "Fuzzybunny!" "Fuzzybunny!" over and over again.

Fuzzybunny cleared her throat.

"Ahem. Cats of FrostClan, thank you for being here tonight," she squeeked modestly. "We have come through dark times. There have been many trials and much suffering. But we will not dwell on that tonight. Tonight is a night when we put aside our rivalries, put aside our ambitions and our concerns and turn our eyes to a new dawn. That dawn is coming when mice will be plentiful and greenleaf will be long. When the prey will be fat and the moss beds will be soft. And tonight marks the end of rivalry and the beginning of prey leaping from your paws into your mouths because you have chosen me as your leader," she purred.

"Liar!" came a ragged screech from a wretched cat haunched on a bolder at the edge of the clearing. Gasps arose from the gathered cats. "Liar!" the cat screeched again. "You must not let this cat become your leader. She will destroy you. She will bring destruction to the clan and in the end will make you nothing more than slaves and servants to her ambition.

"I... I..." Fuzzybunny stammered.

"If you choose such an evil cat as your leader the days of the clan will be numbered. By leafbare you will be nothing but loners and rogues."

"How can you say that?" protested Fuzzybunny. "That really hurts my feelings!"

But before she could protest further she was drowned out by a herd of cats bounding up the rocks, swarming over her in a sea of paws and teeth.

Fuzzybunny awoke with a start. Her white pelt was glistening with sweat. Her lungs heaved inside of her. She didn't know what frightened her more, that she would ever be accused of bringing about the destruction of the clan or that she could feel the sweet seduction of the dark red flower of ambition blossoming in her heart.

"Good morning, Fuzzbun." "Good morning, Fuzzbun!" It was Flamefoot and Icefoot, twins, except for their paws. They always went everywhere together and some said they had a special bond that only twins share, but other cats thought they were just a little weird. They liked to play practical jokes and everyone pretended that they were completely fooled by Icefoot pretending to be Flamefoot or Flamefoot pretending to be Icefoot. But in reality all anyone ever had to do was look down at their paws. Icefoot had white paws and Flamefoot had golden paws, but that didn't stop the two boy wonders from faithfully practicing their synchronized moves. They would walk side-by-side, marching in step. Or they would pretend the other one was a mirror and carefully move their heads unison.

"Good morning Flamefoot, Icefoot." Fuzzybunny nodded in their direction on her way to the fresh-kill pile, which wasn't much of a pile this early.

"Today we're gong to get to show Blacktooth some really cool moves," enthused Flamefoot.

"Really cool," repeated Icefoot.

"We developed one called the bludger," continued Flamefoot. "Because we use our twin powers to confuse our enemy."

"They think they are fighting one of us, when whammo! here comes the other one of us!"

"Whammo!" echoed Icefoot.

"OK. Go get 'em, tiger!" Fuzzybunny cheerfully squealed before pivoting on her paws, making a direct line towards the fresh-kill. Flamefoot and Icefoot leaped up and down batting each other's ears as they disappeared over the rise towards the training area. "Okaaay," muttered Fuzzybunny to herself as she surveyed the mouse and sparrow. She stared, somehow expecting the choices in front of her to improve.

Fuzzybunny gulped down the mouse as Elderberrypaw came by. "Sparrow," harrumphed Elderberrypaw. "And they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"You want to go hunting?" mewed Fuzzybunny as Elderberrypaw made short work of the sparrow, feathers flying.

"Sure," he replied. "Be good to get out before some old cat asks me change their bedding."

"Let's go down by the rushing creek. Maybe some juicy water-voles there." As they padded down towards the creek Fuzzybunny could feel the gentle breezes of greenleaf. It has been a hard leafbare, but now the woods had woken up and were settling into a rhythm of cool nights with days warm and full. By the edge of the water a ribbon of deep green was flecked by yellow buttercups.

Fuzzybunny opened his jaws to scent the air. The tang of mouse and water-vole made his stomach rumble.

"Shhhh..., you'll scare all the prey from here to high-rock," she teased. Elderberrypaw dropped to a crouch his tail indicating she should stand back while he crept up on his prey. With a swift leap he landed on an unsuspecting vole and bit down on its neck. He raised his head in obvious delight. Scurrying up the slope he meowed, "Your turn."

Fuzzybunny pranced down to the water's edge. No sense in getting wet paws. She turned up towards the tree line and scrambled past some boulders. She spotted her prey, not yet aware of its fate. She circled back and sniffed the air. Dipping her head she indicated a large squirrel nervously edging around a wide oak. "Follow me," she motioned to Elderberrypaw . "Let's get this one together." Each maneuvered to a different side of the oak and then sprang up the trunk, closing in on the startled squirrel. Blinded by the thrill of the hunt Elderberrypaw leaped higher and higher. Suddenly Elderberrypaw realized he and Fuzzybunny were perilously high. "What happened to our squirrel?" he panted.

"Maybe it was a flying squirrel," she said stonily. A simple shove and Elderberrypaw seemed to be swimming through the air while Fuzzybunny looked at him falling away from her. "How odd," she mewed to herself and then lightly leaped from branch to branch as if nothing had happened.